Version 0.1 problems list

Artimidor Federkiel

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Version 0.1 problems list

« on: 28 August 2003, 03:54:00 »

Ok, here are just a few things for now... More to come:

- Pinn's Ball: If you keep Pinn's Ball unrelated to the quest, then the name of the ball is wrong, and so is the description. As I designed the quest so that the ball appears after the player gets to know about it, there is a contradiction here (guess I've provided a neutral description already, though).

- The controlling of the game with the keyboard works fine now, +=up, -=down, 5=In, RETURN=Continue etc. But I can't leave for example the Prosperous Farmhouse by pressing 5 (or anything else).

- The Cookery book is in the closed cupboard. Upon viewing the closed cupboard the Cookery Book is suddenly an item in the room.

- Examining inventory items without taking them is not possible. You can only examine these items in the inventory.

- Using a health potion in the inventory isn't possible, unless it's in the quick slots.

- If a beast attacks, I propose to show the picture of the beast.

- Some sounds are missing I've sent you (drawing weapon, snoring etc.)

- Currently the only weapon in the game seems to be the letter opener. The club, the light axe as well as the kitchen knife cannot be equipped.

- Also the Club doesn't show statistics as the other weapons do.

The Santharian Dream Webmaster - Let Fantasy Dreams come true!
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Humangus

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Re: Version 0.1 problems list

« Reply #1 on: 28 August 2003, 05:46:00 »

Pinn's Ball: O yeah. We had discussed about it. Forgot to make the ball invisible at the start. Will do it soon.

Keyboard Controls: Try pressing 0 on the numpad if you want to exit from somewhere.

The cookery book should be there from the begining. This is what I understood. Now, if you open the cupboard some other items are also made accessible (added to the room)

Health Potions: Fixed.

I haven't added the snoring because it requires looping which is not currently implemented. I forgot the drawing weapon sound. I will add it when combat starts.

The club doesn't show statistics but if you read the description you will now what you need.

You can't use those weapons probably because all your stats (strength and dexterity mostly) are 0. Only the letter opener does not require anything to be used. All other weapons have a minimum strength or dexterity requirement as mentioned in their description. I personally hacked the spiders with the light axe and it was quite easy :hat

The more this game starts looking like a real RPG the more attention you should pay to your stats

And please. Do post some more comments. I 'm getting bored already :lol

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Artimidor Federkiel

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Re: Version 0.1 problems list

« Reply #2 on: 29 August 2003, 04:25:00 »

A few more things:

- Save successful... (no 2 "ll")

- "Mannef" is written with 2 "nn". Dialogue is correct, but the name of the guy only has a single "n".

- Old Cupboard in the Cellar Storage Room is no container, and can't be opened (so no contents viewable)

- Fighting is a really weak point at the moment: How about a more interesting fighting system like in Bard's Tale - ever played that kind of games? Currently it's pretty confusing and not really concise. Also you can do things during combat which leads to some weird situations (sometimes the Attack button doesn't work anymore though you're attacked etc.)

- "Artimidor took 0 piercing damage" doesn't sound like a good message.

- Though you can unlock the cellar door with "use door with key", using "unlock" doesn't work (unlock wouldn't be necessary, but there's a compabitibility problem)

- Automatic taking of things is a problem. Currently if you look at a shelf you simply assume the player wants to take these things (the potions for example).

The Santharian Dream Webmaster - Let Fantasy Dreams come true!
World Development Admin - The Forum where Worlds are born...

Edited by: Artimidor Federkiel at: 8/28/03 12:37


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Humangus

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Re: Version 0.1 problems list

« Reply #3 on: 29 August 2003, 06:59:00 »

- The old cupboard does not contain anything at the moment right? I made it an item but I can change it to a container.

- The 0 damage message perhaps looks strange at start but it will be really helpful when some monsters later will be immune to certain types of damage. If the player attacks and does not see anything he will be more confused. Besides some weapons (e.g. a damaged sword) might not cause damage even on a successful HIT. This situation is also covered. For example in the game the rat and spiderlings does not always cause damage even when they hit while the big spider always causes damage on a successful hit.

- Well, I made it this way to "force" the player to use the same key as with the trapdoor. If I had also implemented unlock then the "use with" would be unnecessary and this was only because you insisted to make the player think. To me the preffered method would be to always use unlock and if the key exists the exit becomes accessible.

- The Board on wall. I made it an item but I can make it a container if you want.

COMBAT
--------------
- Just be more specific about the combat and tell me what you mean by confusing and not concise. First make sure that you completely understand how the real-time combat works. The combat system is already too complex and quite accurate both in real-time and turn based mode.

I 'll describe it a bit here. Whenever you attack the name of the player-attacker becomes disabled. This means that no matter how much fast you hit the attack button you cannot attack again until 7 seconds have passed. That's something like a personal initiative otherwise the enemies would drop very easily after 20 attacks/sec. The same goes for the enemies as well though some enemies might attack faster or slower.

Another thing you should know is that when you attack an enemy and you press the attack button when your turn comes you will continue to attack the same enemy so that you do not have to choose all the time. If you want to select another enemy you must press the "Stop Attack" button first and then the Attack.

So after an attack you cannot attack again immediately or use a special item.

Things seem more organized in turn based combat where you can take your time to take an action only when your turn comes by continuously pressing the 'N' button. This executes the next round in battle and the appropriate anemy attacks. If it is your turn the round ends either after you have taken an action or if you do not want to do anything you can press the 'N' button to skip your turn.

This is basically how combat works in LT.

I have played Bard's Tale in the past but I don't remember that combat system. Generally is was a game that I did not like much despite all the big things said about it. If you have any specific suggestions I would be happy to discuss them.

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Artimidor Federkiel

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Re: Version 0.1 problems list

« Reply #4 on: 29 August 2003, 09:21:00 »

Old Cupboard: This is defined in the Common Static Items (see there) description - the cupboard contains various jam glasses.

Combat: Well, good that there is a detailed system behind the whole thing, but it is not very transparent to the player and not intuitive at all. That's why I thought of Bard's Tale - a game I also didn't really like concerning party handling and meager quest design (especially at the later parts). However, the multiple choice turnbased combat system was very easy to understand, intuitive and also quite "revolutionary" back then, as it offered the player really good strategical possibilites, especially when there were quite a bunch of enemies.

So - though I don't have the exact details in my head - here's a short summary on how it worked approximately:

As soon as you meet some monsters, you get a text like this:

You're attacked by:
4 gargoyles
3 rats
1 snake

What do you want to do?

(F)ight or
(R)un

These first options won't be really helpful I think for us, but anyway. Either you could escape, or you had to fight.

The next step was to plan the combat options for each party member. If you had 4 party members, then you first had to define what the first members doesn, e.g.

Artimidor's turn. What do you want to do?

(A)ttack
(B)ackstab
(C)ast Spell
(D)efend
(U)se item
(H)ide in Shadows
(F)lee

Something like this. Note that certain options are only available to certain types of character classes. For example Hide in Shadows would be something for thiefs. A thief can hide a round, then in the next round he gets the option backstab, where he has a much higher chance to hit and will do a lot more damage etc. (hiding another round can even increase the damage etc.)

Also, the first two (or 4, don't know exactly) party members could attack with melee weapons, while the the others could only use long distance weapons or spells, but had a higher chance to not get hit.

Depending on the menu you select, you get another selection, e.g. what group of beasts you want to attack (area spells were bascially directed at such groups as well I think). Or you can use a health potion, change your weapon etc., but you lose one round for this character if you want to substitute your weapon.

So you could define, e.g.
- Artimidor attacks 3 rats with sword.
- Stella casts Rays of Heat at 4 gargoyles.
- Gnuvo hides in the shadows (succeeds or not).
- Krathan flees from the scene (succeeds or not).

Fleeing for example means the character can't be attacked anymore till the end of the battle (unless the rest of the party is defeated).

If you have a character with a high dexterity, then you can also plan a second move for him.

After you're done with your round definitions (of all your characters and perhaps have defined the additional steps of some fast characters twice), then the combat takes place.

Depending on dexterity of the characters and the monsters one after the other now tries to realize the planned things, characters and monsters alternating. You always need to think what you're doing, because if you attack one beast group with 3 characters, and the first character kills the group already, then the other attacks against this group are lost etc. - It's actually very funny. End fights can really be a strategical challenge

At the end of a successful fight there's loot you can divide among your party members. In BT this loot disappears if you leave something back, important things therefore are put into the rooms directly as far as I can remember.

That's the general system basically.

The Santharian Dream Webmaster - Let Fantasy Dreams come true!
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Edited by: Artimidor Federkiel at: 8/28/03 17:23


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Humangus

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Re: Version 0.1 problems list

« Reply #5 on: 29 August 2003, 13:57:00 »

Hmmm... yes I remember it now. It is interesting and detailed enough. The problem is that it is turn based and if I want to also support the real-time combat it will not work with the number of choices to be made. Even the way combat is at the moment I had trouble to combine the two methods to both work the same no matter what the player chooses.

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