cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

MageWorks

sporx
Adventurer

d33ltnp7hwzr.png

https://youtu.be/YVRHnAW371g


Summary: MageWorks was developed as a prototype for VR + Motion controllers in June of 2016. The game puts the player in the position of a mage with a spellbook in one hand and a staff in the other. Players flip through their spellbooks and use their staff to cast the spell. Players can also customize both their spellbooks and their staffs. After customizing their staff using resources found in the environment, players can 3d-print their designs. MageWorks is currently in development and is available in the Oculus Store Early Access section.

Movement: The game originally used teleporting for movement, however the community quickly requested analogue for more advanced users, so a HoverDrone was added, allowing players to step on their drone to hover around places with analogue controls in addition to teleporting if they choose. 

Gameplay: The game is designed to encourage players to unlock spells found in different environments. The spells are guarded by different configurations of castle or fortress style defenses. These attack/defense points are filled with a.i. that are ranged & melee and can be defeated with the player's spells consisting of five different class types:

  • Long range low impact
  • mid-range location based spells
  • short range high impact
  • summoning
  • defensive walls

Some spells require that a player reach toward the air to cast (Reach-Spells), and some require that the player place their staff close to the ground (Ground-Spells).  Spells can also be bookmarked.  Bookmarking a spell places that spell into a custom spellbook with 10 pages.  When players unlock enough spells, they will be powerful enough to fight the game's boss which is a dragon guarding a vault. 

Crafting: Player's will need to collect flowers to create ink. That ink can then be injected into staff drawing designs to empower their staffs unlocking additional mechanics (coming in a future build). Ink can be created by using the VR motion controls to cut flowers, mill, mix, and bottle the ink. Crystals will need to be collected, shaped and equipped to improve spell power. Wood is needed to create staff parts as well. Players can cut, shape, lathe, draw and CNC staff parts to build a staff that fits their design creativity. These custom staves can be 3D printed as well, and the files are stored in the save game directory for use with a 3D printer.

MageWorks is being developed by a solo-developer small team now, and while there is lots of content to explore in the current build, there is still a lot of work to be done and bugs to crunch.  If anyone is interested in the game, I would be happy to hear some feedback on how I can continue to improve MageWorks!  

[EDIT] Oculus Store Page Here: https://www.oculus.com/experiences/rift/1127921550614118/

30 REPLIES 30

sporx
Adventurer

Calmfixup said:

Wow, I'm really impressed by that intro vid man, great job! Gonna have to give this a go!


thanks Calmfixup,
am interested to hear your critical feedback if you get a chance.  so far, i'm hearing that the tutorial needs to be more helpful, and crafting is too tough.  

Tattoo_Dude
Expert Protege
Purchased! Looks great and I can't wait to play. Keep up the good work!

sporx
Adventurer
thanks for your support @Tattoo_Dude !

Anonymous
Not applicable
I have been playing for a week or so - so many questions.  How do I bookmark??

sporx
Adventurer

CINEXA said:

I have been playing for a week or so - so many questions.  How do I bookmark??


What's up @CINEXA , 

There's a tutorial book on the table across from the spellbook bookshelf that guides through the process of book marking.  However,  I'm in the process of rebuilding all of the tutorials to hopefully make things a little easier to understand.  

In short, with your spellbook open to the page you want to bookmark, press and hold the thumbstick button until the bookmark pops up, then select up/down to choose a slot, and then press and hold again to save that slot.  Then, when you equip your custom book, you'll see the spell in that slot.  

Thanks for checking out the game!  Let me know if you have any other thoughts as well.  Happy to include what i can before i wrap up development in the next month or two.  

cybernettr
Superstar
That "frozen Cliffs" environment looks gorgeous!

Ive been playing this and I've been both frustrated and impressed. Impressed by some of the environments and frustrated by some issues in the game, such as when crafting.

The game is so new, there are no walk through videos for it on YouTube, which is my go to reference when I hit a sticking point in a game. It's cartoony environments hide a surprising amount of depth, which you quickly discover once you get into it (I had no idea there were so many different types of spells)!

Currently, I think the game has 3 stars on the Oculus Store, and the reviewers (including myself) bring up som valid issues. However, the developer seems committed to improving the game. It almost seems like the game should have been put in the Early Access category rather than in Gallery Apps.  

At a measly $5 bucks during the Oculus Summer Sale, you can hardly go wrong with this one!

sporx
Adventurer
what's up @cybernettr , thanks for your feedback! I've just posted a new build which mostly focuses on a new combat training tutorial, and will now be focusing heavily on improving the crafting experience over the next two weeks.  let me know if anything else comes to mind when hopping around the different environments and i'll integrate what i can to keep improving the experience. 

Zenbane
MVP
MVP
I haven't had much time to play yet lately, however, I did spend about an hour in the tutorial sections. Especially the crafting workshop.

Even though I wasn't entirely sure what I was doing I had fun trying to learn. The in-game instructions are enough to guide the player in the right direction, but I didn't know the benefit of shaping my staff, drawing a staff design, nor shaping the crystal. I just assumed it was purely cosmetic, but if there is a true benefit then having that revealed throughout the game would be awesome.

For example, if there are villains/enemies the player fights that have certain crystals, colors, and shapes with their own staves, this will let the player know what benefit(s) can be gained if we mimic it.

Maybe you already have this in mind; I'm just shooting from the hip here.

But all that aside, I ended my first session very excited about going back in and really working on a quality staff design. Once I saw the final product of my first attempt, I instantly wanted to see if I could craft other ideas.

In particular... I must figure out a way to create a variation of the Skeletor Staff:


sporx
Adventurer
great reference image! skeletor has certainly come a long way over the years.  thanks for sharing your thoughts.  a few answers:

yes, staff creation will be beneficial, but mostly with ink injection.  when staffs are created using custom ink mixes, it will empower that type of spell based on the ink used.  i.e. ice ink will empower ice spells.  this system is almost ready to integrate and should be in the next build (about two weeks). crystal shapes will also have an impact on overall spell power, but i'm still testing approaches to this, as crystal shaping is getting overhauled to encourage more crystal collection. 

prefab staff parts will also be available to purchase (using in-game gold, not real money).  the demon level is called 'The Shoppes' in the map book, and refers to a zombie shoppe run by a friendly zombie where players can purchase pre-defined models for their staff, so hopefully this will help your skeletor staff quest :).  This system won't be integrated probably until another month or so, and will mostly be cosmetic.

i like your idea of equipping enemy mages with specific staff types as a hint of power received.  will look into this more, and think this would be really helpful for intuitive gameplay. 

when first building this game, i was considering a variant where well-crafted staves would be rewarded...but i didn't really want to limit what was considered a powerful staff based on personal preference after studying this concept.  i've seen people create some pretty crazy things as they run around smashing skeletons with ball lightning or thorn whips (among other spells) being emitted from giant hearts, smiley faces, or mature-audience themed shapes.  one person actually wrote a brief message as their staff top which was hilarious.  


cybernettr
Superstar

sporx said:

let me know if anything else comes to mind when hopping around the different environments and i'll integrate what i can to keep improving the experience. 


Does the game save your progress? I collected all the crystals, logs, flowers etc on the watermill level and started shaping the log in the crafting room, but when I returned to that level, all the items were uncollected again.