[insert robot sounds here]

Actually I wanted to start writing the skill system but-OH GOD WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING?

Beep-boop-vrrrrr!

I read some robot stories yesterday and couldn't resist.
Maybe a good setting for a tech-demo? Who knows?

Until next time!

A look at the dialogue system (alpha)

Hi,

today I want to show you a little bit of ToFs dialogue system. The design is, as always, work in progress but the technical background is ready to use.
As you can see I have outdone myself from a literary point of view while writing those testdialogues.

Such a deep and intelligent conversation!

The system itself is quite simple, but considering the textflow you can do a lot of stuff with it. From normal sequential text to complex dialogue trees everything is possible.

Until next time!

The new interface explained

To cut a long story short: I've been polishing the interface. Shiny buttons instead of writing!
Also the group system is implemented now!
But see for yourselves:

Next point on the list is the dialogue system. I'm looking forward to that. Writing those dialogues is a little bit like writing assembly code. Huzzah!

Until next time!

A brief look at the character individualization

Hi,

let's take a very quick look at the character individualization:
Tower of Fentrax will feature 3 different ways of customizing your characters basic appearance (Skin, Hair and Beard). There will also be 9 item slots for equipment. Every equipped item alters the characters appearance. So all the armor parts you equip will be visible on the character. A few examples:

The item design is of course still w.i.p. but I just wanted to show you that there are quite some combinations possible with this system. That will naturally affect NPC design too.

You might have also noticed that the relation between pixel- and character-size of these characters is a little bit different to that of the knight which was on all the previous screenshots. Of course the knight was just a placeholder but the main reason is that I'm also changing the tileset size at the moment (from 50x50 to 32x32).

Until next time!

On the subject of survival

Today I want to write a little bit about the survival system.

The system is handled by a certain amount of character states (most of them independant from each other) respectively several little state machines or state sequenences to make it more understandable (the states are not really sequential though).


There are some very basic state sequences:

Eat nothing for days => starve => stats heavily decreased => die of starvation
No sleep/rest for days => exhaustion => stats heavily decreased => fall over somewhen
Drink nothing for days => stats heavily decreased => die of thirst


There are also some less obvious state sequences:

Sleep outside in bad weather => probably get sick => stats decreased => no treatment => dead
Walk far with one pair of boots => boots destroyed => boo-boo on feet => stats decreased
Eat poisonous plants => diarrhea => no treatment => dead
etc. etc.


Of course there are ways to prevent suffering and death.
You can break almost any sequence at any point by an action that sets back the particular sequence (unless you are dead sick or already crapping your pants for the third time). The thing is, the further you go into a sequence, the harder it might be to get into the initial state again.

There are also survival skills which might help you. Like medical treatment, basic repair, tracking etc.
We will cover the skill system another time though.

Until next time!

A few thoughts about middleware

 LupLun wrote a comment in the last posting that made me think:

 You're doing it wrong. Get some cheap middleware to handle the behind-the-scenes B.S. for you so that you can focus on content. Otherwise, your game will be crap. Don't take my word for it, ask the good people at Viridian.

So why didn't I get some middleware like GameMaker, UDK etc.?
I will be completely honest: It did not come to my mind. I definitely thought about UDK earlier but not while planning this project.

But in fact that has a certain reason. I don't think writing the whole framework by yourself is really the problem when it comes to focusing on a certain part of the game. Be it code or content.

In my opinion it's rather a matter of planning.
The planning stage is one of those stages that are dangerously underrated. Not only in game development but in any project, anywhere on the world, anytime and most likely forever. It's like the bane of modern software production.
Plans have to be really well rounded. Especially considering content creation planning should not only be about scheduling but mostly about structuring your work.

Let's play this through. In my opinion it works like this:
You plan your game and then you wait some time. Yes that's right. You wait some time and then you plan your game again. And again and again and again.
It's like smoothing a board. Take your time! It's like choosing between time-honored cabin work and out-of-the-box furniture shop products.
And you know what the best thing about time-honored cabin work is? It lasts.
You'll thank yourself for the long plan(n)ing (what a pun) period later.

So after planning the game plan your framework. It's basically the same process of writing down stuff (with the games ideas in mind of course) and scrap it again until the thing seems "rounded" and optimized.
After planing your game and your framework you start writing the framework. You will be surprised how easy it suddenly is.
Well and once you have finished your framework you make your content with it (which you have hopefully already planned). Most important here: Be flexible (so it's no problem to make some minor changes in the framework or whatever) but stick to the plan. No journeys into the unknown and no messing around anymore. That's what the planning stage was for. Same goes for the "Stuff takes longer to make than to play"-problem. Try to already address that in the planning stage (which is not easy at all of course).

I also know it is very hard to keep every workstage consistent. I find myself working on maps and tiles where I should work on the script language. I'm only lucky to have a soft spot for modular design and software architectures. So most of the stuff I write is completely independent and does not stand in each others way.


Of course you can still call it a bad habit, if someone wants to write everything by himself or ask for the justification of it when there is stuff like the UDK or XNA or whatever.

But you have to consider one thing: Once you write everything by yourself you're in total control.
I wouldn't even dare to say: "Well my framework handles this or that basic algorithm better than the UDK/XNA/GameMaker etc". That's just insane. But there is one thing i can say for sure: If problems arise I know what's happening in the background.

The last thing that comes to my mind when I think about this topic is that I also enjoy writing core code. I know it's a sloppy excuse but still. This and and an elaborate plan make the whole development process very worthwhile. That doesn't mean I wouldn't use middleware. Just not this time.

Talking about time: Until next time!

P.S.:
However the post at Viridian was a most interesting read.

Some more screenshots

Hi there,

I was working on tilesets and the mapeditor yesterday. So I thought maybe you might want to see some more (wip) screenshots:

A small part of the worldmap.

Testing the dungeon tileset.

The mighty map editor (invisible on this picture: startup bugs)

There isn't much more to say. I'm going to start working on the script language soon. After that I should be able to finish the interface (technically). Apart from the battle-, dialogue- and skill-system the engine should be done then (so you could also say 40-50% are still missing).
I'll let you know as soon as I have some new stuff to show.
Until next time!

P.S.:
Follow DG on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/#!/Dynamic_Games

Follow Dynamic Games on Twitter

Yesterday I thought "When you're developing something there is so much to say. But a lot of things can be said in a sentence or two so nothing is really newsworthy."

One could say I finally found an excuse for using Twitter.

So if you want to read something about all the little steps I take while developing Warlock or just want to make sure I haven't died from one day to the next feel free to follow Dynamic Games on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/#!/Dynamic_Games

Announcement: Warlock - Tower of Fentrax

Would you look at that. Barely any design improvements on this standard blog and already a game announcement? Well, the generic look will not hinder us and so I'm very glad to announce a classic RPG.

What is it about?

Tower of Fentrax will be a roleplaying game that focuses on the dangers of the world in which it takes place. But where the main threats in other RPGs are your foes ToF pays more attention to natural dangers. What if you get sick on your journey through the world? What if the forced march of the last few days has destroyed your boots? Or even simpler: What if you are hungry and have nothing to eat? What if you are tired and far away from home? These (and many other) questions, just like the consequences of your response to them will play a major role in ToF.

However there are also more direct dangers. The world will be full of wild animals, bandits and even much worse foes.

Who is the target audience?

Definitely people who enjoy very classic RPGs. Especially fans of the old Ultima games will be glad to hear that part four and five of the series where a big inspiration for ToF.

There are no triggered quests and you're completely free to go everywhere and do everything from the beginning of the game. ToF will not feature any ingame maps or quest log. 

You might wonder: "Why not? I like my modern RPG interfaces!"

The answer is: Immersion. A game session should be more than just sitting there and taking things as they come. You're supposed to combine activities and immerse into the world. Write down information, think about it and read things up. And to make sure you don't say "Oh reading and writing is just tiring!" a big part of the developement of ToF will be polishing the background and make it as interesting and enjoyable as possible.

So as we said, playing the game is like detective work, taking notes, combining facts and using the material you have.

Speaking of material: The game will come with a hand-drawn map and at least two handbooks, filled with lore and information on various topics concerning the game world.

What does it look like?

Well actually nothing is ready to be presented right now. The game uses a pre-Alpha tileset and developement focuses on the technical background at the moment but whatever.

Have a little screenshot to get an idea what the game will be about:

Oh boy, look at those mountains! Nothing final here.

That's all folks!

Hope you enjoyed reading this little announcement.
Feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions.

Until next time!

Hello World!

Why hello there and welcome to the blog of Dynamic Games.
Here you will find information about games developed by my humble self and maybe even a little bit more.

Have fun reading!