Ruby Radiance

This review is for the IGMC 2014 version.

The game opens with a panning shot that is much too long, I already know the name of the game from the title card, I don't need to spend 45 seconds with a panning shot in the background to tell me that. There is also an odd musical choice in that the title screen has some interesting custom music but the intro falls back on to RTP.

So once we're past the opening we get the story intro, or as this is a dungeon crawl, the reason to enter the dungeon. In this case it is to retrieve the magically imbued ruby shard that protects the character's home village of Plume from the ravages of the Night Beasts that appear every lunar eclipse. This magical object fell through a sudden crack in the earth for no apparent reason (or at least none as the game starts) and since you appear to be the only person of less than middling years it's your job to go get it.


But lunar eclipses can happen months or years apart, surely we're got enough time to get a real hero.

Relevant information is displayed via a small HUD in the top right corner outlining health, magic and the level of sword or pick axe our hero is using as well as a location indicator. The player doesn't advance in skills, the weapons and tools do, and likewise they can be degraded over time. The local blacksmith gives you a basic sword and pick, and the sorceress a magical ring which allows for level one fire, lightning and ice spells, and the innkeeper a flask of life and one of magic which are one shot restoration items. All the helpful residents inform you that if you bring back metals or gemstones they can use them to upgrade your equipment, magic and healing. So it isn't just the ruby shard you'll be looking for in the caves below the village. The rocks that you can mine are thoughtfully differentiated with the metals being in rocks of matching colour, and the gems as nuggets of colour buried in standard brown rocks. Your store of useful metals and gems is shown in your menu, it's just a shame that a crafting menu wasn't included as well, so that you know when you've harvested enough of a particular item to get the next upgrade.


Just the facts.

Weirdly the menu access is set to 'A' rather than X but that's an easy work around, and there is no save option in the menu, which as always is a negative with me, but your mother has kindly given you a get out of jail free card , Rubiplex, a magical artefact which teleports you back home if you are on your last legs. Though as you would then have to fight your way back to whenever you were before you used it, it's no save replacement. Though every third level does offer a site to site transport between spirit shrines.

So into the dungeon you go, dodging rats in a semi puzzle like manner, as they stick to a set movement route and fighting bats, who don't as well as wearing down your pickaxe by mining. Early on mining gems is very destructive to your tools, so metals are the way to go, the first time around you are really only collecting resources to improve your pickaxe rather than actively searching for the ruby shard and the salvation of your village.

Battles are a hybrid of ABS and turn based, and this is touted on the game page as a unique system, it probably is, but I'm not sure it really works well.


Hold on, I need to consult the menu

ABS allows for a fast paced battle system, turn based allows for strategy if the tools to do so are incorporated, this doesn't really allow either. The fast flow of an ABS is stymied by having to choose an action from a menu each round and the strategy isn't available since the choices presented are limited. I applaud the developer for trying something new I just think it needs more polish before it will work the way it should. Sadly battles themselves aren't an asset to the player since the only way to grow in strength is via better weapons, tools and magic, all of which require metals and gems to advance, none of which is provided via the battles, so ultimately they become a waste of time and simply a means by which the player can deplete their resources or simply die without any reward to justify the risk.

There is an unbelievably irritating sound effect going on in the dungeon, I have no idea what it is mean to represent, but it sounds like a leak from an air cylinder going off at a regular (i.e. every two seconds) interval. So the handy F1 comes into play again and BGS goes away, at least for this first level, after that it goes away on its own, so maybe it was supposed to be the sounds the rats make?

Down and deeper you trudge through various levels with the monsters getting progressively more difficult and the mining more rewarding until you make it to the final level and the ultimate boss. How that plays out is of course for you to find out by playing the game. There aren't any real surprises, but then you don't expect any in a dungeon crawl.


This could get ugly.

The music as stated earlier is a mix of custom and RTP, mostly custom and it is used with a bit of finesse, not all of it matches the atmosphere of the section of the game you are in, but most does so there is nothing to complain about. The graphics are all RTP with the possible exception of the forge in the original village, and they are used without any flair. The dungeon under your home village has a variety of conditions, from dusty caves, to ice caverns, to fire dens, but other than the rocks you are specifically required to mine there isn't a single feature in them. No pools of water, no extraneous rock formations, no lava bubbling past, no fungi, moss or algae either. There is one section with some bones and one with gold and bones, but that is used specifically to inform you you're going up against a boss. All the other areas are devoid of any ornamentation at all. In addition for a cave system subdued lighting would make more sense, not necessarily the fog of war but less bright that the sunlit village above would be more appropriate.

Overall Ruby Radiance is a pretty standard dungeon crawler with a resource management and crafting system added in for a bit of variety, and it's a good and well considered addition. But the hybrid fighting style, the very bland maps, the unrewarding consequences of battle and the overly long intro take away from some of the novelty and enjoyment.

The developer has stated that he will be working on the game once the contest is over and I hope that a bit more polish can be applied and some areas tightened up or modified to give a better overall feel to the game and a more rewarding experience for the player.