Jay's game thread (The Towers of Trembolon)

[zany_001]

Some games have it so you are one character until you come to a place where you need them. Then, they either 'come out of' the player, or walk into the room/area.

[Jay]

The 'come out of the player' doesn't seem to fit for a 3d game, but the idea that they come when you need them... Maybe i make it so that you can call them, then comes a black fade out, the character is teleported, and then you can choose their abilities that you want to use... But the idea that they come into the room is definitely a good one.

But in order to make boss fights more interesting, i would need more characters than just one... Maybe i can make it so that you select 2 or 3 of the characters before the battle and then fight in these small groups.

[Agentarrow]

that sounds pretty cool. I'd love to see a general scope of what you plan for this game.

[SV2.0]

Maybe you can set it up like the parts in Gears of War where you split up with your squad for a while. If you haven't played it, basically the path splits and you go your separate ways, but the paths intersects every once in a while (but you're still separated, like a road and an overpass or divided highway) and the characters need to cooperate to solve a puzzle and continue. Seems like I played an RPG that did dungeons that way on the PSX, but I can't remember the name.. It also had bossfights where you would be fighting directly with the boss to wear down his defenses while a party member was up on a balcony waiting for an opening to land the killing blow. Just suggestions and probably really difficult to pull off with RF, but it'd be a cool direction to take it in.

[Jay]

@SV2.0: That's a good idea, maybe i'll do that.

The general scope of what i plan for the game actually is too huge to complete. I'll just have to stop at a point where it is 'good enough'. I have a few screens for you, though, since i am currently testing out spells and how to do them.

What i have a problem with, though, is how to represent the 'light' spells - fire is easy, and water is very similar, for ice i have something in mind, and the others i haven't thought about yet.

I have added a feature to my version of the source code that allows me to add pawns as i like in any script. All the spells in the game will actually be pawns - also known as 'Scripted Projectiles'. Right now i have the base form of the 'Silver' spells in development. They have a target searching feature included as of now. I am not sure if i will keep that. Maybe i make an evil version of it that is an insect swarm (not too difficult to do, i sometimes get the impression of white flying insects when i look at them moving):


Fear the wrath of the holy light!


The holy insects are coming! bsssssss.....


With no mana consumption implemented at the moment, i will leave you to the question who won that fight...^^

If you have any ideas how you imagine the 'light-energy' in as light-particles then feel free to give me advice...

Movement is much more important than before. The yellow bar you see is a stamina-bar which shows if you can sprint - which is 4 times faster than walking. This gives you a benefit in battle as you can outmaneuver your enemies.

The amount of weapons has been drastically reduced. There will be now a few base types, and you can select extra weapons per character - probably around 4-7 weapons. Those have additional attributes that make them stronger against special types of enemies (for example the Dry Blade, which has the 'Dry' attribute, making it effective against water creatures). Those few base types include light weapons (short sword, dagger, rapier), one-handed weapons (long sword and broad sword), light/medium/heavy nice guy swords, and Twohanders. You can equip one weapon in each hand, but doing so is not always be a big damage boost. It all depends. You can, for example, equip 2 light nice guy swords - one in each hand - but you won't go crazy as the berserker of the century if you don't equip +speed armor. In fact, this style is so slow that you don't have the normal advantage of having more attacks per second. But if you have +speed armor then you will have an advantage because it will count for both of your arms. Just one weapon would probably be better with +str, if you want to max your melee damage.

The casting is also different, because i changed from the static 'cast' system to a dynamic system in which you load up your spell by up to 3 levels over time (1 second for each level, is my current plan). Then you can do that spell on either your weapon for additional melee damage or as a ranged spell to have, well range (as there will be no bows or crossbows). So if you like, you can kite your enemies by using sprint and casting spells, or charge into the group of enemies and do a big whirlaround (i was actually inspired by Ocarina of Time with the 'load up feature'^^, the big whirlaround will only be as the 3rd level cast on sword, and it is quite powerfull, as you can hit up to 8 times in one go; the 1st level is usually 2 or 3, and the 2nd level is 4 or 5)

At the moment the game plays fast, not so slow as the demo i once released. I like this much better.

[Juutis]

If you have any ideas how you imagine the 'light-energy' in as light-particles then feel free to give me advice...

I'd probably go for a combination of a corona and some minor sprites/sprays. Also if it's possible with these scripted projectiles (which sound awesome, BTW) you could add a flash of light when the spell hits. Like, if the camera is facing the spell the whole screen could flash white for a brief moment.


As for the other stuff: I'm a man of no opinions. I kinda like the 'load up feature', as you call it. But I like my beer more, so...

[Jay]

A yes the thing with the corona is a good thing, i will certainly add one. The light flash is also a nice idea. As for the possibilities of the "ScriptedProjectile": I don't think that's a problem. The "ScriptedProjectile" is just a dynamically added pawn (Those enemies you saw in the pictures were also dynamically created). Think ScriptedPlayer only with a projectile instead of the player. I noticed that when using scripted projectiles, the amount of 512 dynamically added Pawns can be a bit limiting. (Those spells you saw actually consisted of several ScriptedProjectiles fired in intervals of 0.1 seconds) Not that i try to use the whole amount all the time, but at peak times there could be a bit more than 512...


EDIT: LOL I just saw that the wordfilter changed "b astar d sword" to "nice guy sword".

[zany_001]

Can you get the source code that allows pawns to be created by script released? It's a feature several have wanted for a while.

The rest all sounds good, keep it up!

[Jay]

The project does not continue in its original form and many parts had to be redesigned. I am dropping the RPG part. There will be no character development, moreover there will be a system like in the zelda games, where you get a new tool each dungeon, and can get power-ups and make your equipment better. If you get more health and mana, i am not sure at this time. But you will get better weapons and shield and armor over time.

Ok that was enough. I wanted to post a lot of thinghs, but... better post them when they are finished.

[Jay]

Day 1 of the big redesign - New Fight system code 100% finished and working.

Screens:

Fight Style 0 - All Weapons in sheath
http://www.mediafire.com/i/?wn2dmg4hygj

Fight Style 1 - Sword and Shield (or just Sword, at the beginning when you don't have a shield)
http://www.mediafire.com/i/?1ljq2ddjmd0

Fight Style 2 - Two Swords
http://www.mediafire.com/i/?42zzjwazdjg

Fight Style 3 - Twohanded Sword
http://www.mediafire.com/i/?i2ynnzjd4az

And that's it. You will be able to pick up better weapons in game. If you try to pickup them and they are better than your current equipment, you will automaticly replace them. You will have a total of 2 Swords, 1 Shield, 1 Armor and 1 Twohanded Sword at all times.

The only thing at the moment is that the animations for the Twohanded figting style - which is good against heavy armor by the way (while two swords is better against light armor) are not ready and now it looks as if you are using one really big sword with one hand^^

[Jay]

Day 2 of the big redesign - Inventory code 50% ready and working.

http://www.mediafire.com/i/?yhthcnldzom
This is the first screen of the new inventory layout. Moving the mouse over the icons brings up further information, which is displayed in the middle part of the screen.
On top are the Main Weapon (which is always used when using a onehanders), the Auxiliary Weapon (which is used in combination with the Main Weapon when fighting with two weapons), the Twohanded Weapon and the shield.
On the bottom are the quest status (holds current objectives, may change icon in the future), the potions, the Spellbook and the Armor.

[Jay]

Day 3 - Worked on the inventory a bit more, can now display potions, and began with quest status information. Spellbook will be done when spells are implemented. (Inventory ~80% done)

Also i added an animation for blocking. Parrying has been dropped, instead you can crouch and crawl which also increases your defense a bit.

Attacking is done with left mouse button, blocking / crouching with right mouse button. You cannot crawl with a shield.

Blocking
http://www.mediafire.com/i/?meg22vjneyh

Crouching
http://www.mediafire.com/i/?qnxthytgnjo