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Demo is available

 
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ringthehat
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Joined: 19 Jan 2009
Posts: 16
Location: Midwestern wastelands

PostPosted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 5:49 pm    Post subject: Demo is available Reply with quote

Here are some screenshots (gif formatted this time, flickr doesn't believe in not converting bmps to jpgs).

The game starts out at night, so the palette will be darker than it is set during the day. The night patelle levels might be a bit too dark, so those might be adjusted. Some other highlights:
-Palette gradually changes during the dawn and evening
-There are some caves where you need a lit torch to see around you; otherwise its mostly dark (no grues though).

From part of the into sequence:
THE_LORE0002

THE_LORE0003

Leaving Orob by night:
THE_LORE0006

Heading east on the road at night:
THE_LORE0008

In a different town later that night:
THE_LORE0009

During morning:
THE_LORE0014

Outside the mayor's:
THE_LORE0015

Talking with a mayor:
THE_LORE0013

An Inn:
THE_LORE0019

Shrine:
THE_LORE0016

Night is falling:
THE_LORE-demo0000

Evening in a small town:
THE_LORE-demo0001

Random battle during the evening:
THE_LORE-demo0011

Boss battle:
THE_LORE-demo0009

Cave:
THE_LORE0023

THE_LORE0028

A different mayor:
THE_LORE0029

THE_LORE0031


Last edited by ringthehat on Wed Feb 11, 2009 2:24 pm; edited 1 time in total
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TwinHamster
♫ Furious souls, burn eternally! ♫




Joined: 07 Mar 2004
Posts: 1352

PostPosted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 6:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey, that's pretty neat if the lantern in the caves works the way it looks in the screenshot!
Otherwise, everything looks pretty solid.

I'll try to check this out sometime soon.
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ringthehat
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Joined: 19 Jan 2009
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 7:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's a choppy gif of the torch being used:

cavewalk
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Pepsi Ranger
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Joined: 05 Feb 2003
Posts: 493
Location: South Florida

PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 6:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The screenshots piqued my interest so I gave it a playthrough.

Is the online demo up to date with some of these screenshots? It seems like there's a date from November on the game, and I'm pretty sure I've done all I can do, and yet your screenshots tell me otherwise.

I'm still trying to find the throwing cards (Orob and the Big River Camp are empty, it seems), and the gold nugget, which I assume is the secret of the Cave of Raeb, doesn't clear the log, which makes me wonder if there's some other secret to the cave that I either haven't found or has yet to be implemented.

In any case, I really like this game. This is one of the few that I'll be looking forward to when it's complete. And judging by the structure of design, it doesn't seem like the wait will be that long.

Suggestion #1: You have some interesting gameplay mechanics in place. You don't, however, have many interesting NPCs in place. You might want to consider differing their conversations a little more. It seems you already have some dialogue plotscripts in place (which is obvious considering some NPCs walk away while you're talking to them--a negative effect to using plotscript for dialogue), so you could use that to create dialogue that depends on the time of day, which I see you sort of do with the "Good Morning" tree, like giving the player warnings of night creatures and whatnot (but in more interesting ways, of course). Right now they suffer from RPG Dialogue Cliche Syndrome, which is an illness where everyone speaks in typical RPG fashion. You're not making a commercial game set aside for millions of people with short attention spans, so have fun with it.

Also, to solve your "Inattentive NPC" problem while keeping your dialogue plotscript intact, you can use the command:

Code:
alter npc (who,npcstat:movetype,0)


to freeze them, and

Code:
alter npc (who,npcstat:movetype,1)


to get them moving again when the conversation is over.

Suggestion #2: You've done a nice job decorating your indoor areas, but at the end of the day they're still basic RPG shops, inns, etc., so you might want to consider adding a couple unique (non-plot-driven) locations for variety. For example, in Level Cleave, you have a nice farming township, but you don't have a barn or a stable. In Eastborough, you have some plot-functional buildings like city hall and the morgue, but where do the people go to eat or dance?

This is especially noticeable in the small townships like Glasston and Nonberg. While I understand that they need to be smaller, when they all have the same basic layout (and offer the same shops), it doesn't make exploration nearly as fun as it could be. And the discovery of new townships is what made this game the most fun for me. I want to see something unique in each design. And townships like Univa that lie in crazy locations should have a backstory to them that make discovering them a treat.

All in all, I think you have a great game in the making (despite the obvious graphical shortcomings). But to keep it memorable, make sure you steer away from town and NPC cliches. You already have the design element pretty grounded. And I don't think I've ever run from so many random enemies in a single game before (and that's a good thing, just to let you know). Just spice up those towns and those townies. And maybe spend a little more time with those maptiles to keep them from being so blocky.

But yeah, I enjoyed this. Nice job.
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ringthehat
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Joined: 19 Jan 2009
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Location: Midwestern wastelands

PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 7:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the feedback, Pepsi Ranger.

[quote]Is the online demo up to date with some of these screenshots? It seems like there's a date from November on the game, and I'm pretty sure I've done all I can do, and yet your screenshots tell me otherwise. [code]

The demo is up to date. The November date on the game is leftover from the last time I worked on the game (ie, years and years ago) before the recent stint.

Quote:
I'm still trying to find the throwing cards (Orob and the Big River Camp are empty, it seems),


There should be guys who chase you during the day in Orob, but at night *hint* they should be away.

The gold nugget in Raeb in the corridor is a hint that the secret is nearby. You might have to go off the beaten path to find it though...

Quote:
Suggestion #1: You have some interesting gameplay mechanics in place. You don't, however, have many interesting NPCs in place. You might want to consider differing their conversations a little more.


Agreed, at this point all the NPCs do is give one of three responses; a 'time of day', or one of two other canned responses. Sometimes the information they give will be useful in completing a quest though, but their dialog does need touching up.

Quote:
Suggestion #2: You've done a nice job decorating your indoor areas, but at the end of the day they're still basic RPG shops, inns, etc., so you might want to consider adding a couple unique (non-plot-driven) locations for variety. For example, in Level Cleave, you have a nice farming township, but you don't have a barn or a stable. In Eastborough, you have some plot-functional buildings like city hall and the morgue, but where do the people go to eat or dance?


Good ideas, thank you. Initially the small towns were there as just a refuge, but they could do with being made interesting at least, other than just by existing.

Thanks for playing and commenting


EDIT: ADDENDUM:

Quote:
Also, to solve your "Inattentive NPC" problem while keeping your dialogue plotscript intact, you can use the command:


Do you know if there isny way to tell what NPC is being talked to other than by using the "Script Argument"? If not, then I'll be reworking the way the generic NPCs come up with stuff to say. Currently it takes in stuff from the script argument, picks a random of three possible responses, and uses that argument to see what to non "time of day" responses the NPC can give as well.
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msw188




Joined: 02 Jul 2003
Posts: 1041

PostPosted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 2:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

When an NPC calls a script it passes 2 arguments. The first is the argument assigned from custom; the second is the NPC reference number to uniquely identify what NPC called the script. If you want to make a generic script to work in any given NPC, you should the 2nd argument to determine what NPC you are stopping. You should also use "read NPC" to determine what type of move type they started with, so you don't turn a pacer into a wanderer after having a discussion.

EDIT: there are also ways to allow one argument to encode multiple kinds of information, as long as the info is relatively small. For example, my version of what you are doing uses the first number of the NPC argument to tell the script how many choices the NPC has for what to say, and the rest of the argument is the textbox number of the first choice. If you'd like advice on how to do this, I can assist you. It might be a good idea to re-ask in the plotscripting forum, so that others can see it as well.
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ringthehat
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 3:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I must have missed the part about the second argument passed in when reading through the plotscript stuff. That is what i needed to know for now. Thanks!
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Newbie_Power




Joined: 04 Sep 2006
Posts: 1762

PostPosted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 10:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think it's cool that the focus of the game is based on running away and choosing battles very carefully, but I don't think the game makes this clear enough. There runs the risk of the player thinking the game is supposed to be played normally.
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