A Lode Runner Story - 0.9.5

A remake of the original classic combined with popular RPG elements (such as quests, skills, items) and based heavily on player choice.

Mike Doty
(psyguy1)

In "A Lode Runner Story," I began with the core gameplay from the original classic. As in the original, you must navigate various levels, attempting to dig through the ground and acquire gold while evading the bad guys who want to kill you.

On top of the classic gameplay, I add in a number of popular RPG elements. The game will feature a nonlinear quest and dialogue system. As you explore the world, you will have an opportunity to talk with the various NPCs that populate the game.

As you converse with people in the game, you will gain various quests and objectives. The dialogue responses you select during those conversations will determine your reputation and, in time, the path your story will take. Different conversational approaches will yield different rewards, and at times even entirely different quests!

In exactly the same way, many quests will present you with the same freedom of choice. If a citizen asks you to retrieve a special item for you, will you retrieve the correct item, or will you bypass it in favor of a more interesting item that you like better? Furthermore, if you do take the "correct" item, will you agree to return it to the citizen, or will you ultimately decide to keep it for your own use?

The game's inventory / item system allows you to make continued modifications to your player throughout the game. Some items might grant you a speed increase; others might lengthen the duration of the holes you dig in the ground. Higher-level items will mix and match various attributes, even! As you play through the game, you will have the ability to experiment, to learn which item combinations give you the best chance to complete each puzzle and elude the bad guys.

The game is currently still in an alpha state. Many of the listed features are already firmly in place, but many features also remain waiting for their turn in line. I have recently began recording narrated "developer diaries" that take a more detailed look at the game's various systems. I've included links to those videos below, and I'll definitely keep this page updated as I continue to progress toward playable demos and, some month, a final release!

Dev Diary #2 - Reactive dialogue system, quest system
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRvLBfp3dJ4

Dev Diary #1 - Core gameplay, inventory system
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it1k8tcCKiI

Changes

At last! The Bungeling empire has taken over the once peaceful world of Lelandria and now controls all of its rich gold resources. Only you and you alone have the power, courage and intelligence to take back the gold and defeat the menacing enemies!

More Details:

Please treat this as a final release. Ideally, the game will run successfully on your machine with no complaint. If you have any problem with the game, please e-mail aloderunnerstory@gmail.com and I'll do my best to find a solution or workaround.

If you download the Source URI, then you will run main.py from the base directory to start the game. Otherwise, simply launch the windows binary to begin!

2d 783 puzzle 341 action 222 rpg 118 retro 98 singleplayer 27 classic 23

Releases

A Lode Runner Story 0.1 — 21 Jul, 2012

A Lode Runner Story 0.9.5 — 24 Jun, 2015

Pygame.org account Comments

James Lu 2012-08-25 17:48

how do you download?

message

Mike Doty 2012-08-26 16:19

Hey James! I'm still working on the project and don't have a download ready quite yet. I'm hoping to have a demo available soon, though!

message
Alex 2012-11-06 16:14

Love it. Keep up the good work, i'll look forward to the beta release :)

message
Alvaro 2012-11-26 08:17

Looks very good. Can't wait until it's released.

message
Alvaro 2013-03-25 16:52

Dev Diary 3 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Dev Diary 4 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

message

Nonronald 2014-01-17 08:23

Yah bey your game logic is off the chains. I'd love to see that source code. I want to build a 2d adventure oriented on action and RPG skill-systems.

message
myself 2016-04-24 02:17

Great game! I didn't know it was so easy to integrate C and python, even though python is C! :) But what is this whole business about act II? A NPC named Carlie told me about a gate somewhere that led to Act II. What is that, and how do I get to it?

message