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Paladin (WIP)


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Nice little game! I love the use of color for the sprites. I think I'll hack a few different monsters in there to make it interesting

Thanks! More monsters will be added later. I'm bogged down doing the boring part of the code right now, so it'll be a while before I get back to them. Also note I haven't gotten around to the stat tables yet, so I'm still using generic stats. They monsters are all pretty much the same at the moment.

 

If any of the artistic types out there want to give a monster sprite a whirl, I'm open to it. It can be up to 15 rows high by 8 columns wide. Each row can be a different color. Any D&D type monster. I'm especially interested in having a orc/goblin or some other "cannon fodder" type monster.

Here are a bunch of D&D type characters I think would look good in this game.

 

They're as follows: dwarf, wolf, goblin, griffin, man-eating plant, orc, werebat, dragon, undead, necromancer. A preview of the magic elements: thunder, hail, whirlwind. and the player knight performing a healing spell. I kind'a went off the specs though. :ponder: The tallest character is 21 lines without the LV indicater as I think using different colors on the characters is a better way to indicate higher LV monsters?

 

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I looked at the code and found room for 15 monster sprites and 3 color tables for the current number that's playable so far. I figure one different monster for each of the 10 dungeon levels and having 3 different frames for each; 1 attacking and a 2-frame animated stand by (between turns in battles). The original 3 monsters that were in there had repeated sprites for up to Lv 5 and only those will show up at the moment. I put in place the dwarf, goblin and dragon though they are still static; I did however animated the knight somewhat using the repeated frames for HP up to 16.

 

 

There are also many sprite changes along the way but instead of me explaining it, just download and play the hacked demo here :arrow: paladin_new_monsters.bin

 

As for suggest- I feel that a separate window for character stats may be better instead of including them under the sprites. I'll post a mock-up soon. I also like the idea of a map as someone suggested earlier.

 

Btw-- How many floor levels and monsters do you plan? I may have a few more monsters waiting.

Enjoy the hack and I hope all the changes won't throw you off too much! :D

 

-David

Edited by espire8
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Go away for a few days and see what happens... :D

 

Glad to see the level of interest being shown in this.

 

David (espire8),

I like the hack and really like some of the sprites. The Goblin (which could also be a Hobgoblin via a color change), Dragon (again endless color variations), Wolf, & Dwarf are my favorites. They have a Rankin-Bass Middle-Earth cartoon vibe to them (which is cool - at least to me).

I'm probably not going to try to do much with the graphics just yet (still a few more game elements to add), but I see a lot of possibilities with some of the stuff you've done and will return to it in the future.

There will be at least the 10 levels we have now. Nothing is really firm on # levels/monsters. Although I put a lot of thought into how the dungeon would work etc, some other things I'm kind of making up as I go.

- David

 

OK. Latest version - still alpha.

 

What's new:

- Added the first objective to the game - Rescue the princess! In the final version, you will need to rescue the princess and kill the main bad guy to win the game. If you kill him without rescuing her, she will be killed and you will not win. The main baddie will always be on the lowest level of the dungeon, but the princess could be held anywhere in the dungeon. She's bound and gagged (if you can't figure out the sprite). If you hit fire, you'll free her (and for the time being, win the game).

- Added a couple of more spell icons. Stop time (the hourglass) hasn't been set up yet, but it will subtract spell points if you select it - so don't. Cure heavy wounds (same icon as cure light wounds but with a hollowed out heart) works, but will only show up if you have taken a lot of damage (and have enough spell points).

- Added LS_Dracon's orc.

- Added more doors/keys.

- Removed the monster levels. I had been planning to have it where the weaker monsters could be on any level and the deadlier monsters only be on the lower levels. After thinking about it, it seemed kind of silly to have levels for them too. Each monster will have a set range of stats it can be generated from. A dragon would be much, much harder to kill than say, a goblin. After we get a firm monster roster I'll set the stats up and have the dungeon getting progressively harder.

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Here is an idea for a menu to help size up the battle.

 

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It's very simple and the mock ups show a sample battle turn sequence to give an idea how i think the menu would work and details explaining what each item in the windows are. This is just an example and is not in the demo/hack although my hack of David's latest posted demo does have the two new character classes you can access.

:arrow: paladin_magicuserand_fighter.bin

I always found it much easier to use icons to identify the different options rather than the abbreviation of words which often confuse me.

I incorporated a MAGIC USER and FIGHTER character icons to separate the options that are just used for spell casting. Of course the magic user can't be attacked at all because he has no hit points. But I included it in the example because i think it's doable according to how the menu is laid out. They can be selectable using the up/down on the joystick during a battle to have them both engage the enemy each turn. This may put a single monster at a disadvantage but i believe there can be two monsters who can alternate turns like the player do without getting complicated, and/or have a fast monster with 2 consecutive moves per turn to balance it out a bit.

 

 

 

I'd set up the battle rules something like this -

* Fighter (FT) is always in position to start the first turn unless the Magic User (MU) is manually selected to begin first, each having only one move to perform before the monster's turn begin. Both the FT and MU should have a 'do nothing' option to skip their turn and let the other party go at it alone.

* Monsters will always counter-attack the character who attacked it first. If it's a fast monster it can make a move on each player in one turn or use both moves on the same character. (this is where the time spell comes in handy!) Monsters never retreat from a battle, that is your option -not theirs -but neither will they give chase.

* I'd have some sort of a single hidden area in one of the dungeon levels with a fountain that will revive a dead MU and can always be returned to when needed, but if the FT ever got killed it's game over.

*Between battles while traveling the dungeons it would be good to be able to cast HEALING spells. Casting spells only during a battle (which the latest demo actually does) I find annoying especially when I use heal just to have it taken away when taking the monster's hit afterward.

*Instead of having the character classes go up in LV based on experience, I'd simply have 3 scattered items that will permanently endow the player (both FT and MU at the same time) when collected. Sort'a like power up items for 3 areas like a shield [incease DEFENSE] to help block multiple attacks, a long sword [increase ATTACK] to inflict heavier damage to more powerful enemies, and a chain-mail helmet [ENDURANCE] to sustain less damage should you be inflicted by powerful attacks from a very strong monster.

 

I have some other ideas that may need mock ups to go with em' so I'll post later.

 

Hope this posting goes along with what you have in mind Dave, this is one that may certainly use a superchip. Keep up the progress ;)

Edited by espire8
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I'll give the hack a spin this weekend. Some of what you suggest (or variations thereof) are already on the to-do list (being able to cast non-combat spells in non-combat situations, magical items that enhance abilities (and the means by which you acquire them), multiple attacks per turn, etc). Fountains may put in an a appearance. Haven't decided yet. It would probably be like Telengard where the color of the water dictates what happens if you drink it.

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What's new:

- Bugs (probably ;) ). I haven't had much time to playtest this. Please report any you may find.

- Hitting fire in a non-combat situation will bring up the magic menu (assuming you have enough spell points). Note: The only place this won't work is in the up/down stairways. Only the healing spells will be available.

- The stop time spell works now. Time will stop for up to 3 of your turns (you will get 3 turns before the monster fights back). If you select evade, you will automatically evade him. If you attack him, you will always land a hit. The monster is frozen for that time period. If you evade or kill the monster before the 3 turns is up time will return to normal.

- Changed the sprite color slightly when you are on the magic menu. Trying to make it just different enough to notice without being distracting.

- Added a attack posture for the monsters. Basically they move their arms or whatever. Just putting it in place for later. I'll be switching over to espire8's graphics once the core game is complete.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Haven't had much time to work on this lately...

 

What's new:

- Time stop bug fixed (thanks to espire8 for bringing it to my attention).

- Footstep noise (there you go vdub_bobby).

- Treasure chests. Monsters may drop these. There is always something good in them, BUT they are booby-trapped. They have 3 buttons on them. You have to press the buttons in the correct order to unlock it. The buttons light up with the following colors:

white - nothing right

red - the 1st piece of the combination correct

yellow - the 1st 2 pieces of the combination correct

green - chest opens

If you get a piece of the combination wrong, the combination resets and a electric shock is generated (causing -1 damage). Note: when I say the combination resets I mean the combination stays the same, but you have to start over from the beginning. Button #'s never repeat in a combination (always 3-2-1, 1-2-3, 1-3-2, etc).

In the chest, you will find one of three magic items:

Elven boots - these will come in to play later after I do the monster tables (yes, I know I keep saying I need to work on them but I will get around to it |:) ).

Magic shield - this is the only thing that actually does something at the moment. If you have it, every enemy hit on you will be at -1 what it would have been. This will be altered a little when the monster tables are done, but you get the idea.

Magic sword - doesn't do anything yet. :evil:

You'll go to a separate treasure chest menu. B1, B2, B3 are used to press the corresponding button. Your HP's also show on the menu. EX drops the chest and drops you out of the menu. If you quit trying to open the chest without successfully opening it, the chest will explode. Whatever was inside will be destroyed.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I updated some of the monsters with an attack frame and a couple of standing frame modifications. I don't know if David will use the 2-frame animated standing sprites for an idea I had of having battles in real time using these frames so you can time your attack to see who gets first hit instead of just exchanging blows to the roll of the dice, but I hav'ent heard from him as of late (guess he's very busy with real life stuff :D ). Been pretty quiet here too so I'll post a hack of the last build with these new monsters in place soon to keep this thread alive. There's only room for 6 monsters in his last build so far, hopefully I can use all 10 in his next build. :)

 

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Edited by espire8
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(guess he's very busy with real life stuff :D ).

Yup.

 

I am still working on it as time permits. I'm currently trying to get it in shape for a demo at the MGC '07.

 

Anyway, your timing is good. I was going to try to get up with you and see if you could bang out a 1 frame attack sprite for the wolf, goblin, & dragon (and the new orc if you have time - I like him a lot). More may come later, but that's what I need for the demo.

 

The next version will be the first using individual stats for the monsters. And some will have individual traits. For example - wolves will be extremely fast and unless you have the elven boots they will get 2 attack turns for every 1 you get. Using the magic sword will be your deadliest attack, but the sword is alive and feeds off the one who wields it. Although it will cause massive damage to the monster, it will drain your hit points every time you land a blow. The more you use it, the more it will drain.

 

Anyway, all this - coming soon!

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(guess he's very busy with real life stuff :D ).

Yup.

 

I am still working on it as time permits. I'm currently trying to get it in shape for a demo at the MGC '07.

 

Anyway, your timing is good. I was going to try to get up with you and see if you could bang out a 1 frame attack sprite for the wolf, goblin, & dragon (and the new orc if you have time - I like him a lot). More may come later, but that's what I need for the demo.

Glad that worked out for ya. I really am having a great time with your game as I have with MM :thumbsup: .

 

The next version will be the first using individual stats for the monsters. And some will have individual traits. For example - wolves will be extremely fast and unless you have the elven boots they will get 2 attack turns for every 1 you get. Using the magic sword will be your deadliest attack, but the sword is alive and feeds off the one who wields it. Although it will cause massive damage to the monster, it will drain your hit points every time you land a blow. The more you use it, the more it will drain.

 

Anyway, all this - coming soon!

Nice to see the magic items about to come into play soon but would'nt it be better to have the sword feed off the spell points? Feeding off the life points don't really sound like a very good compromise. Better yet, upon finding the sword why not add a new option to the main menu and give the player a choice to power up the magic sword at the cost of 1 turn, the monster will have the next turn to attack afterward of course and at least there's a chance the monster may land a hit or miss before the players next turn. That sound like a better compromise along with keeping the option available to fall back on (in other words, no SP drainage for this particular option). There's even other ways the boots can come into play that I can pretty much tell because i been playing your game alot while exploring some possibilities instead of simply waiting for the next build. (and found another bug, will PM you about it shortly) I also redid the look of the treasure chest and magic items and one more treasure as well as some suggested abilities.

 

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I also updated the sprites back in post #45 as some of the pixels had two colors on the same line and had to correct them, namely the orc, dwarf and dragon. i have the still frames layed out here so you can see em' all at once. There's also a new attack frame for the dwarf swinging his hammer upward which looks better to me instead of sideways. I hope you can include the werebat as that's my fav right now, it has that sinister look to it and the attack frame has a nice dynamic feel to it.

 

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Edited by espire8
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Nice to see the magic items about to come into play soon but would'nt it be better to have the sword feed off the spell points?

Well.... my thinking on that is it's kind of like Stormbringer from Elric. It allows you to use it, but it has its own agenda and extracts a price from the wielder. If people complain, we'll see....

 

I envision it more as something that should be saved for emergencies and the really nasty things at the bottom of the dungeon. The dungeon scales in difficulty now. The stronger monster only appear on the lower levels.

 

Also when I say it drains more the more you use it, it's not like it drains 1 hp the first time, 2 the next, etc. It can be used several times draining 1 hp per hit before it increases to 2 and so on.

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