Thanks to everyone for the valuable input!

I think the correct move here is to polish the hell out of a small game with the current assets.

Part of my long-term plan for this engine is to build several similar games. Each time I change or add a feature it's an opportunity to refactor, generalize, improve. Do this over enough iterations and the final result could be a very usable action RPG engine. If I try to build a "perfect" first game I don't get this useful iteration. The second game could be really great if we learn lessons from the first one.

With a small game out and some good-quality preview art for a second game, we should be able to attract attention from artists and devs.

Neat thread, thanks for starting it!

Yeah right now Flare plays it pretty safe. It would definitely be nice to change things up a bit IF the results are genuine fun and make the gameplay actually interesting. Active shielding is an example of something not commonly done but can be fun if done well. It doesn't detract from the fun/flow of the moment-to-moment play.

Some ideas I'd like to think about:

What if vendors don't buy the crap you find in dungeons? What if instead you tore them down to raw ingredients (wood, steel) and could use them to craft/alchemy new things? Or, what if you could turn in these raw materials for reputation, or a war effort, or rebuilding a town, or bonus xp.

What if you got an experience multiplier for defeating enemies quickly? Or for killing enemies in a row without taking damage? Some kind of "combo"ing would be fun, where playing a certain way or with skill is rewarded. What if powers were designed specifically to combo together? What if combos built meter that could be used for crazy powers? What if basic attacks restored MP and big attacks used lots of MP? Anything like this to add to the dynamic of combat could be interesting, especially for melee combat. More melee attack animations could be worth it.

Here's one I really want. I liked experimenting with Powers unlocking according to your base ability scores, but it's very limiting and hard to get right flavor-wise. I think I'd prefer having spendable points to buy/upgrade Powers.

This might be getting too cute but: we have base Ability Scores (physical, etc), Powers, and Items. Each can make your character more powerful. It could be possible to make a system that only uses one of these. E.g. there are only Items, and you build your character completely based on what you're wearing. Find a Staff of Fireball if you want to shoot spells. Get +10 health armor instead of raising your Physical score.

I think a good art direction could help add some needed atmosphere to the game. We're working on that.

This is definitely coming, but the game needs monsters that move differently. Currently monsters only chase the hero dead on. New flying monsters could dive/swoop past the hero and travel along curved paths. Ranged enemies should learn how to run away. Some monsters should have movement tricks (e.g. go through walls, burrow underground). Some monsters should be good at blocks and counter-attacks. Maybe some monsters only move when the hero does something (e.g. look away, move, attack). Maybe some monsters move in specific patterns and it's better to avoid than attack these creatures.

Traps! Now that powers can be spawned from map events it should be easy to make lots of classic traps: spikes coming from the floor, saw blades that race along the ground, dart traps triggered by pressure plates, bladed pendulums, firebreathing statues, teleport traps, rigged chests, etc.

More environmental lore. It's very dull to tell a story through NPC monologue. It's much more interesting for the maps to tell the story. Those books I currently have are a weak example but they help. More runic carvings, secret scrolls, old statues etc. should tell the full story. Also it's much better if the visuals tell the entire story without involving words. Example: a carefully placed skeleton corpse and broken wagon with spears sticking out of it -- don't need dialog, the player can put together a more interesting story in his head than the one we have to tell.

@qubodup: Some of the old art won't be the correct scale. Especially stuff that is supposed to be relative sized to the human e.g. manmade object like benches, containers, doors, etc. Some art like the cave walls/floors should look fine without change (but the minecarts will look too small).

For example: the dungeon tile set has dungeon doors/portcullis that are good for the current scale, but would be too small for the proposed new scale. New doors would have to be significantly taller. This probably means all the walls will need to be taller too.

@CruzR: the idea would be to release a small stand-alone game with the current assets. It wouldn't be a demo. It might exist in the same "world" as future games, but that's about it. Most of the engine and a bit of the art will be reused for the next game.

Life has been crazy lately. Apologies for not addressing this sooner.

Note that I use two different tile sets, one specifically for Tiled and one for actual use in the engine. This is because my engine allows an x,y offset on each tile to allow tiles of any weird shape. Tiled assumes all tiles are anchored to the bottom of the tile, and typically are the same size.

The grass and water tiles are built with the water extending below the grass. This definitely isn't easy to work with. On the grass and water tile set posted here on OGA I made each tile sized 64x64, vertically centered (the base tile is 32px tall; there's 16px above for tall grass and 16px below for water). However this is goofy to work with in Tiled, because the grass area (which I think of as the "floor") doesn't align to the grid and it's hard to tell what tile you're on (grass floats halfway between tiles).

So I experimented with a version of the grass and water tile set just for Tiled, where the offset from the bottom of the tile to the grass is minimized (maybe 8 pixels?), just enough to fit the water. As in, I actually just moved the tiles down 8? pixels on the tile sheet. So the grid still doesn't quite line up with the grass, but at least it was easier to tell which square of grass goes with which grid slot.

All this to say: the grassland tile set is not being used in Flare right now because it's difficult to work with. The version on the website is fine to use with care (but tricky to deal with in Tiled). The Tiled version of the grassland tile set is almost completely useless and should be abandoned.

I'm experimenting with a better grass (and water) tile set that is much more friendly to the grid and more usable in Tiled. As life permits I'll work on it (it's my current focus). Once it's done, if it is hands-down better than the old grass/water, I'd recommend tweaking the bridge and re-rendering it for the new version.

Also, tips for eliminating tile edges:

• Use "Key" instead of Sky or Premul in Render settings
• Mitch 1.50 oversample is good at not leaving visible seams. Some other oversample algorithms might change edge brightness and become visible when tiled.
• Make tiles slightly larger than needed. The tile edge will be translucent, and when you put two tiles together you don't want a partially translucent seam. Make the tile at least a half pixel too large all around and this seam becomes opaque.