I know the feeling.. you start something, then later on you find out someone has already implemented a main feature/concept of your game and polished the hell out of it, and you're just left there, in the dust (literally). Don't let it discourage you, though! Remember the goal isn't to be the best, it's to be your best. There's always someone better than you out there, that doesn't mean everyone should just stop working, or the human race as a whole would quickly stagnate.

Hehe, there will be always this kind of game sounding a lot like yours. But it doesn't really matter at all, because your game will be different. Eventually if someone like to play kronos, like this kind of game, he will most likely search for similar games too.

There's such a thing as being so polished, it doesn't feel 'indie' anymore. Which is fine, but I think it'll help Goblinson Crusoe stand on its' own that it's polished-indie looking and not super-polished professional looking.

I see alot different in Goblinson Crusoe. The first and most obvious being the theme, color pallets, and mood, but also gameplay-wise the crafting and quest-like mission goals.

I hear you loud and clear.... I see the same thing on my projects.... implement something then someone else comes along and does it, and releases it before I am remotely close to being done... then I haven't even touched gameplay on what I wanted to do, someone else releases that as a similar option.... SIgh....

Thanks for the encouragement guys. That is a seriously pretty game, but I think Servant of the Lord sort of hit the nail on the head for me. It's a bit too "professional". And yeah, GC does take a little bit of a different tack.

I am actively working on it again, the sickness is past, so there is that at least. Of course, spring is the busiest time of the year for me, so exactly how much progress I'll make in coming weeks is anyone's guess.

I think that the biggest thing I could do to spruce up GC is to add a bit more detail. Nothing I have done so far is intended to be final artwork. Rather, it's been to hammer out the pipeline. I think that there are a couple things that will help once I start on official stuff. If I work out the details for implementing LoD, then I can use higher-detail textures and models for near-scene which will let me cram more detail into the normal map and terrain textures. Additionally, I plan to decorate the tiles with more stuff. Right now, the hills and mountains and flats are all rather plain, just textured meshes, with the sole decoration being the tree resource tiles. However, I intend to more fully flesh-out and detail the world by decorating the tiles with additional details: rocks, stumps, stuff like that. Here is a real quick shot of a couple higher-detail mountains plus some really quick tree decoration on one of the mountain tiles, that demonstrates how even a little bit of additional detail can really help.



Even though it was quick (just amped up the texture size for the normal map on the gray mountains, and toned down the Gaussian blur pass on the geometry generation phase, then scattered a few trees on the dirt mountain) I think it does make a difference.

So maybe I shouldn't worry too much. I think that with a little bit of work, I can make something that looks good enough.

Looking back, that game got fairly slated as being uninventive, with weak AI and slow gameplay. relying on pretty models and die hard fans.

Yours looks totally original, you have revisited the AI a few times, and is evolving into a unique experience.

It's a no brainer.