Lurking II: A Madness
A downloadable game for Windows
Lurking II: A Madness from OKLABSOFT
Classically styled Fantasy Role-Playing Game for Windows
Lurking II presents a dire need for your party of adventurers once more. Several decades of tranquility have passed since the threat of The Immortui was ended and The Necromancer was imprisoned within the orb. But always danger is lurking and a new threat has emerged. One by one, with a peculiar red gleam in their eyes, the people have begun to fall into darkness. Lying, stealing, ranting, harming... even doing murder; 'The Madness' spreads fear and doubt like a magical plague. Deemed by those skilled in leechcraft to be some sort of mystical prion of the soul, your party of adventurers must set out to discover the source of this infection and to find a remedy if they are able. The unexplained coma-like slumber of a young girl named Sparrow is your only clue. Massive exploration, puzzling enigmas, countless in-depth conversations, lost secrets, and harrowing combat in a vast open world await you and your party as you seek answers. But will you prevail in time?
FEATURES:
- Character creation with modifiable skills and attributes.
- 'Paper Doll' style character representation.
- Hundreds of items including clothing, musical instruments, custom forged weapons and armor and various other loot.
- Dozens of magical spells and songs.
- Party of up to 5 interchangeable characters.
- Drop off or pick up PCs during quest at adventurer guilds in towns.
- Tactical turn-based combat.
- Vast 900 x 900 tile over-world map.
- Expansive multi-layer underworld and structure interiors maps.
- Over 500 individually hand-drawn tiles create a diverse and stunning world.
- Beautiful and unique retro pixel art style.
- Nonlinear story progression with completely open world exploration.
- Hundreds of NPCs with extensive keyword-parsed conversations.
- 50+ monsters with unique skills, attacks, and behaviors.
- Plenty of noncritical secrets and hidden areas to find and explore.
- Engaging original musical score.
- In-game mapping function.
- 40-60+ hours of play to complete.
OKLABSOFT Website: OKLABSOFT
OKLABSOFT Discord: DISCORD
Haven't played Lurking I yet?: Lurking I
Download
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Development log
- L2 Version 1.3 AvailableJun 18, 2018
- L2 v1.2Jun 06, 2018
- Low-Res World MapMay 21, 2018
- Lurking II version 1.1 now availableMay 19, 2018
- Lurking II: A Madness v1.0May 05, 2018
- L2 UpdateApr 14, 2018
- L2 Manual First Edition is completeApr 12, 2018
- Lurking II: A Madness / ManualMar 27, 2018
Comments
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Hi devs will this game get the new engine or something i forgot? Sorry left discord had personal issues, also you still plan to try Gog they recently got roa on there?
This is a gem! I'm surprised there isn't a mandatory price. I certainly hope donations have been treating you well :D
Thank you so much!! Please do let me know if you complete the game. :)
Bugs? hints? support? discussion? suggestions? Drop by the oklabsoft Discord...
OKLABSOFT DISCORD
seems major issues are resolved in ver.1.3. (at least in my case)
thanks !!
Excellent! There will probably be at least one more patch with some minor fixes that we are working on (including the problem with reposition of the window when adding characters at the guild which I have fixed). Thanks for bringing that one to my attention! :)
i have encountered several bugs.
most of them caused CTD.
but no community forum here.
where to send/post my report ?
Thank you! An email to oklab.software@gmail.com would be good or you could leave them as comments in latest Dev log post. Much appreciated.
thanks. i will post there soon.
it's pleasure to have found Lurking has got sequel. the course which your dev took is truly not only re-imaging retro style but retrieving long forgotten adventuring heart. such challenge is always welcome. thank you, devs. :)
but i have some complain and suggestion. its about screen design.
its too dim at night/in cave so im overlooking things often on the ground or surroundings. the rain effect as well just becomes annoying. along with combat log, it covers char's graphics.
such "rich expression" is often seen in modern ARPG/Hack'n'Slash/MMORPG but affordable only when in bigger screen layouts which could hold enough space (or adjustable camera view and scales for info related parts) and having separated stats gauges which is kept in standout manner.
a game in lo-res (or lo-res looking game like this) screen needs more clarity than real/rich flavor imo or it gets just losing visibility of vital part, thus cause to be too stressful to play.
the actual drawing space is quite small afterall, isn't it ?
i think its better have options of turning effects off like realtime zone lighting, weather or even day/night cycle, adjustable gamma collection and color scheme if possible unless the screen design gets changed.
Thank you very much! Please keep us posted on your play progress as we love to hear from players.
Regarding the points you make, they are very valid.
I will be working on trying to correct these issues as best as I am able. I can definitely brighten the tiles and will try to find a means to solve these other issues you mention as well.
In the mean time, you may wish to try adjusting the options of narration size to SMALL and nightlite to ON. Please also know that pressing [C] key will clear the narration from the screen.
Thanks again! I will be working on this.
BTW, as I began to brighten tiles and some looked good and some washed out, I started to wonder if you are an artist? Your perceptions were very astute.
i did notice "C" key is handy when logs got increased but didn't notice the differences of Highlight and Narrative (log font size) options' change that much. as to smallest font of Narrative, its hard to read on my 24' monitor. so i can't set it to smallest anyway.
currently im busy on exploring literally step by step.
looking at each objects, searching NPCs to get more infos, checking tiles one by one in dangerous looking place... and so on.
it might sound tedious for non-players but actually, thanks to rich variety of environment, its really fun.
it makes me feel as if the world is emerging gradually from darkness with my own foot prints increasing. this kind of experience is rare these days. :)
i myself, ain't an artist, but i think i might have some kind of such sense through my experience since 8bit era.
old games had only a few colors at the same time on screen and had to use dither or patterned way especially for tile based game.
and there had been already some tricks to put multiple tiles in one grid with transparency. actual result isn't changed since then.
so i know possibilities from the fact how overstuffed/mismatched colors/odd placing of pixels could reduce visibility badly.
Like Lurking I, Lurking II provides minimal guidance. It is up to you to talk with the inhabitants to unravel the mystery and find your way to the end of the quest. While 'character building' is one aspect of the game (you will need accomplished burglars, warriors, mages and musicians before the end), Lurking II is also about exploring the unknown, solving puzzles, using your intellect and wit, uncovering secrets, and experiencing a great story. If you enjoy these things in a game, I believe you will love Lurking II. As a word of warning, if you find games that are not centered solely around getting stronger to be boring, you probably will not enjoy it.
Trying the demo. Hmm. When I ALT+TAB out of the game, I can't ALT+TAB back in. I can hear the game running, but I have to minimize everything to get back to it. When making a character, it's too easy to get all green on attributes. I just have to pick abilities at the bottom and then it feels like character building is really limited. Also, I've spent all my points, I can't take any back. I have to hit roll again.
I have to say, this isn't very encouraging to buy the game. I haven't even started yet and I'm kinda annoyed.
Thanks for trying it out. Sorry to disappoint early. Alt-tab does not work properly with the game. Because of this a Ctrl-M option which accomplishes the equivalent was added but only works once you are in your quest.
When creating a character, points can be taken back by right clicking with mouse or left arrow key when attribute or skill is highlighted. Once last point is distributed it is locked in though. Rolling all greens to start is good to begin but will cause a delay later in progression.
The manual is not packaged with the demo yet but you can download it from the itch page for free also. It explains character creation and has some other good info like a map and bestiary.
Hope you will continue to check out the game and appreciate the feedback!
Just out of curiosity, can you explain a bit more as to why having all green at the beginning would cause a delay later in progression?
Attributes are raised in the game by drinking from mystic pools across the land. There is a pool for each attribute. The effects are determined by level and total of your attributes. So if you have high attributes to start, this is better to begin but you will need to attain a higher level before a pool can affect any attribute further. If you start with lower attributes, you are weaker to start but will be affected at lower levels from drinking and provided you find the pool you seek can have better control over progression. There are pros and cons either way. Hope that makes sense. :)
Not really. It sounds like you just have to wait longer to "level up", but really, you already start stronger. I don't see how that's a detriment... just the beginning will be boring because you're already strong and have to wait to get stronger. Also, the idea of having to randomly find pools to increase my character's attributes is... well it takes away any choice. That's terrible. Either that, or you have to find all the pools and then wait to drink any of them, and then back track to make sure you're drinking for the one that's ideal for your character. I dunno... Feels convoluted. Sorry, I don't think this is a game for me. Thanks for the feedback though.
Good game i love it a lot I like the combat too I can't find reagants tho
Glad you are liking L2 so far. Some of the reagents needed to learn spells are somewhat difficult to track down. Best bet is to take note of who the teacher is (and where they are) and what he or she requires of you. As you travel about and talk to others you will likely find more information to track some of them down. If you want to keep a notepad open for journaling, ctrl-m is a handy way to hide/show the game from within your quest. Of course, if you become frustrated and need a hint just email and my brother or I will get you back on track. :)
Hello i'm thinking of grabbing this game, do i get to play the beta if i buy it? Also is it out soon for 1.0? I'm very interested in this game it looks amazing and I love oldschoolness of it
Hi. Yes, absolutely, and the beta is in a finished state. Just tweaking for release now. Thank you!
Awesome thanks we talked a bit through emails :) Great game I will need to check out the manual and also tell about my oldschool friends
Is there any way to learn spells in first town? I managed to learn songs but not spells, thanks!
spells can only be learned after bringing a requested reagent to the teacher. Characters who begin with a magic skill of 4 or 5 are able to use a ranged magic attack in battle as long as they have no weapon equipped (or a staff equipped). Good luck! :)
Thanks :D
Hey guys, I'm very excited for this game.
Is there any way to pay to get access to pre-release builds, now that the game is feature complete?
Thank you! This is wonderful to hear. We had not yet discussed an early access option but I will make sure that we do and let you know soon.
We will finish up a few things we are working on and post an early access build. The build will be be designated as alpha but the game is quite stable (at least on the systems we have tested it on).
Awesome! I am also in the codex thread you post in, so if you want to use the Codex to organise getting early players and shit like the other user suggested I will contribute feedback in that thread! How much will early access be?
That would be fantastic. Thank you! As far as price goes, we are a bit unsure but were thinking $10.00 from EA through to the bitter end. :)
Lurking II: A Madness is now complete. We are currently playing through the game, fixing any bugs that present, and balancing combat, economics, music, and magic systems.
Lurking II: A Madness is roughly 90% completed. We hope to finish, test, and have select alpha testers playing by the end of February.
L2 Music Sample