The Lost Crypts
October 23, 2013 9:31 AM   Subscribe

The Lost Crypts
A fast-paced dungeon delving webgame inspired by Gauntlet and roguelikes.

I've been working on this ambitious multiplayer game project since the beginning of the year and have now moved it to open beta. I'm very interested in player feedback, positive or negative.

Requires Flash, a keyboard and mouse.
Role: Designer and programmer.
posted by justkevin (19 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite

I only went two levels and died, but it was a good time. The multiplayer aspect is surprisingly nifty. Some elf jumped in in the middle, and it was neat to have someone else around. Very tight.
posted by ignignokt at 9:40 AM on October 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


Nice job on this!
posted by michaelh at 7:51 PM on October 23, 2013


I keep getting terribly annoying security error dialogs in Firefox. Was fun what little I was able to play before getting too annoyed to continue.
posted by JHarris at 7:59 PM on October 23, 2013


Here's the text:
An uncaught error occurred, likely caused by a bug in the client. Try reloading the game. If you received a more detailed error message, please report it to the developer. [SecurityErrorEvent type="securityError" bubbles=false cancelable=false eventPhase=2 text="Error #2048"]
posted by JHarris at 9:24 PM on October 23, 2013


I just had an extremely frustrating game with terrible lag. I would hold a key, release it, and keep walking for several seconds. My character would dance drunkenly and consistently by escape passages while making that obnoxious HURT noise. Very difficult to enjoy at the moment, maybe when lag is better.
posted by JHarris at 11:44 PM on October 23, 2013


Really fun and impressively well executed (love some of the little visual touches (the lighting effects around the magic arrows) and the excellent music)! The multiplayer worked well for me and I had no lag. Amazing work!
posted by raisindebt at 2:32 PM on October 24, 2013


Okay, further attempts at playing --

I tried it in Chrome, which ended the problem with the error messages. I still got into situations where it seemed like the character wasn't responding to my controls. These always seemed to happen in high-tension times too, like when getting hit repeatedly by fireballs, which leads me to guess it might be a focus problem? Lending weight to this is how my game came to an end, which was when moving the cursor up accidently outside the game window, draging straight into a bookmark, causing Chrome to helpfully replace the game window with a Javascript tutorial, dammit.

Still though, when it's working, the game is pretty good. Good work!
posted by JHarris at 8:38 PM on October 24, 2013


Mouse was a little sluggish for me, which is likely my browser, but I didn't have any focus problems or issues with character responsiveness. Got into the game quickly.

I left the high score screen open while I walked the dog, and came back to this error:

An uncaught error occurred, likely caused by a bug in the client. Try reloading the game. If you received a more detailed error message, please report it to the developer. [IOErrorEvent type="ioError" bubbles=false cancelable=false eventPhase=2 text="Error #2032"]
posted by postcommunism at 8:27 AM on October 26, 2013


That was unbelievably addictive/fun!

What was this done in? It's really impressive.

A few notes:

- Ran just fine on Firefox for me [64bit/Ubuntu]

- It was a bit difficult to read some of the explainy text on the top left: sometimes I wouldn't even realize it was there, and by the time I do it fades out: Maybe moving it to the bottom or center or highlighting it in some way would be better? So it took me a while to understand some things and I still don't know what Thrones do or what Combo Up means :|

- Same goes for the gem effects, they're on the bottom left same as all the other pickups, but they get used immediately - it would be cool if the gem effect blinked over the player's head for a second or so so you know you got + this or that.

- There was a slight audio lag on sound effects, don't know if that's from my browser or intentional. But basically killing an enemy would result in the death sound being played 1 second later, same for being hit.

- Invisibility boots [take effect when you're on low health] are awesome!

- I died unexpectedly: It was my second death. But the first one told me I have 3 soulstones. so surely I should have had 2 left and been able to continue?

- I'm glad I died because it's deadline day and otherwise I have no idea how I would have stopped playing. Damn you.

- High score table didn't record my score even though by the numbers it should be there :(

- All the servers are empty so I didn't get to experience multiplayer, but the whole feel here reminded me of Realm of The Mad Gods, so looking forward to a coop session some time.
posted by xqwzts at 2:14 AM on October 28, 2013


This is a great game but it would be much more enjoyable without the time limit.
posted by XMLicious at 1:58 PM on November 5, 2013


I think the time limit is essential to the game actually, as it prevents players from grinding levels from generator monsters.
posted by JHarris at 2:15 PM on November 5, 2013


The time limit is necessary but needs tweaking. I've lost all my lives on a single level multiple times while searching for the staircase at top speed.
posted by JamesD at 5:04 PM on November 5, 2013


Yeah, that's the way I've died almost every single time. Maybe there could be two different versions - one that's all about playing fast and one where exploring is possible.

A more substantial issue: if I go to log in but type the user name incorrectly, such that it's a user name that doesn't exist in the system, I get a PHP error appearing within the Flash application which includes the password I typed displayed as plain text.
posted by XMLicious at 5:33 PM on November 5, 2013


Trace: #0 /var/www/application/controllers/authenticate.php(84): User_model->from_login('blahqzzza', 'blahpwd')
#1 [internal function]: Authenticate->login()
#2 /var/www/system/core/CodeIgniter.php(359): call_user_func_array(Array, Array)
#3 /var/www/html/index.php(208): require_once('/var/www/system...')
#4 {main}
Server: 10.203.26.86

posted by XMLicious at 5:41 PM on November 5, 2013


I've come close to running out of time but haven't. I usually explore at a pretty fast pace though.
posted by JHarris at 7:04 PM on November 5, 2013


I tried it out on a more recent system and it ran much smoother, so that could be the source of some of the apparent lag issues.
posted by XMLicious at 9:44 PM on November 5, 2013


Thanks for the great feedback! I've noted the login bug.

There are a number of things that need tweaking. The level time is controversial, it bothers some people but I think it adds to the tension. I'll probably leave it in, maybe give players a little more time.

Providing information on items/help is something that needs improvement. Having power-ups identified by floater text is a good idea.
posted by justkevin at 10:11 PM on November 5, 2013


I always play as a warrior. Ever since the update that caused the "Equipment" form to appear at the very beginning of the game, I've been unable to inherit any axes. They appear in the list but they're greyed out and their checkboxes can't be ticked.
posted by XMLicious at 10:57 AM on November 17, 2013


Nice game! Have you thought about publishing it on Kongregate, etc.? I can see it being a hit there.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 5:39 PM on December 14, 2013


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