Topic:   Devlog - Hacksilver   (Read 34365 times)


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WarHampster


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Devlog - Hacksilver
« on: December 19, 2010, 10:26:45 AM »
[size=10]I'm going to make a roguelike game using my tile engine. Still working out the details but I have a basic concept in mind.

You are a representative of The People's Intergalactic Globalization Bureau sent on a preliminary mission to evaluate a newly discovered planet for colonization.

Setting: Alien planet it its dark ages

You need to explore a procedurally generated planet, decide whether or not it is suitable for colonization, and then get home. The level of civilization on the planet is equivalent to our dark ages, so lots of random violence and power struggles.

I had some ideas regarding attributes and such. I really hate the usual RPG systems, and I was thinking of doing something like this:

There isn't a overall level for your character, you have separate levels for different skills, which you level up by using those skills (think the Elder Scrolls series). Your overall condition is defined by two variables - Physical Health and Mental Health. Physical health governs use of most weapons, and mental health governs non-combat abilities and magic (don't know if I'm going to have magic. Maybe not.). Your health stats never increase past their starting point, and decrease when you get attacked. You never die in the game, but when your stats get to zero you are essentially a vegetable and can restart.
 
Permadeath: a staple of roguelikes is that once you die the game is over and you need to restart. I am combatting the pain of this somewhat by making the character never truly die, but once all your skills are zero (this shouldn't happen often) you will have to start a totally different character. This A) increases re-playability and B) encourages strategy.[/size]  

The above information is old, but I'll keep it around to show how the game progressed.


« Last Edit: January 15, 2011, 12:37:45 AM by WarHampster »

WarHampster


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Re: Devlog - EldritchRL
« Reply #1 on: December 19, 2010, 11:16:43 AM »
Task #1: Implement pathfinding algorithm for NPC and enemy movement, and maybe also player movement (if I opt for RTS style control). I will probably use the standard A* algorithm.

Charlo


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Re: Devlog - EldritchRL
« Reply #2 on: December 19, 2010, 11:25:33 AM »
Sounds cool!  Pathfinding will be tough but you're a great programmer so it should be no sweat for you.  :P

Are you using SC?

Silverwind


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Re: Devlog - EldritchRL
« Reply #3 on: December 19, 2010, 11:57:48 AM »
Sounds awesome Hammy, and by a strange coincidence I had considered the title Eldritch for a topdown RPG before deciding on the 3D engine. It wouldn't have been set in space though! ;D
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EqwanoX


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Re: Devlog - EldritchRL
« Reply #4 on: December 19, 2010, 12:19:17 PM »
this is an interesting idea for stat progression. what stats are there and what actions alter them? a heal spell should be easy to program. if you dont have magic what else is there besides physical health.
« Last Edit: December 19, 2010, 12:24:50 PM by EqwanoX »

Connors


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Re: Devlog - EldritchRL
« Reply #5 on: December 19, 2010, 01:00:37 PM »
@ Eq: weapon skill, avoiding damage, using items...
Warning: The above post may have been modified multiple times.

"In a great game, the character must never perfectly obey the user's command"
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WarHampster


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Re: Devlog - EldritchRL
« Reply #6 on: December 19, 2010, 02:50:50 PM »
Quote
Sounds cool!  Pathfinding will be tough but you're a great programmer so it should be no sweat for you.  :P

Are you using SC?

Yeah, I'm using SC. The pathfinding is going to be really hard to pull off. The idea behind the A* algorithm is that you choose the next tile in the path based off that tile's heuristic value (which is just the estimated distance from the target) and a value based on how you got to that tile from the previous tile. In an object oriented language I would just have a class or struct representing a tile that would include methods for calculating its heuristic and such, but in SC I need to keep a bunch of arrays to store the different values. We'll see how this works out.

Quote
Sounds awesome Hammy, and by a strange coincidence I had considered the title Eldritch for a topdown RPG before deciding on the 3D engine. It wouldn't have been set in space though! ;D

The setting is more "weird-fantasy" than generic space. I just like the idea of everything happening on another planet.

Quote
this is an interesting idea for stat progression. what stats are there and what actions alter them? a heal spell should be easy to program. if you dont have magic what else is there besides physical health.

Basically what Connors said. Physical skills would be things like Chop (governing axes and swords) and Stab (governing swords and daggers), and mental skills would be things like Personality (makes NPCs respond favorably to you) and Focus (increases accuracy with ranged weapons).

WarHampster


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Re: Devlog - EldritchRL
« Reply #7 on: December 21, 2010, 12:48:37 AM »
I'm going to try to do regular updates.

I've been working on the pathfinding. I started to implement A* but there was really no way it would work in SC without being ridiculously hackish. So as of now I'm using a stack-based implementation of a breadth-first search flood fill algorithm. It too is pretty hackish, but should work eventually. Speed will probably be an issue, but early optimization is the root of all evil. Will try to get it working with correct results first.

Also, design decision: ERL will not have scrolling maps, I don't want to deal with all the complications to enemy spawning (as Silver dealt with in ToF) and pathfinding.

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Re: Devlog - EldritchRL
« Reply #8 on: December 21, 2010, 11:37:46 AM »
Hackish is an odd word, it doesn't necessarily mean it's bad; Usually you can make it look like you knew what you were doing. XD
Warning: The above post may have been modified multiple times.

"In a great game, the character must never perfectly obey the user's command"
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http://connorspuzzles.tumblr.com/

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Re: Devlog - EldritchRL
« Reply #9 on: December 21, 2010, 09:20:50 PM »
By hackish I mean unreadable and unmaintainable, which is always bad.

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Re: Devlog - EldritchRL
« Reply #10 on: December 21, 2010, 10:54:23 PM »

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Re: Devlog - EldritchRL
« Reply #11 on: December 22, 2010, 04:14:08 AM »
Wow! :D Nice one Hammy, can't wait to see it in action.
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Charlo


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Re: Devlog - EldritchRL
« Reply #12 on: December 22, 2010, 09:14:32 AM »
Quote
Me when I got pathfinding working: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3ALwKeSEYs

Video: http://www.screencast.com/users/WarHampster/folders/Jing/media/37f0f1d4-701d-4ea0-a437-89974bda4d54

Here's an explanation of how the algorithm works, it explains it much better than I could: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/AdamSaltsman/20090430/1287/A_for_Artists.php
That's awesome!  And the third link you posted is great, it makes much more sense than the wikipedia articles about pathfinding.

EqwanoX


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Re: Devlog - EldritchRL
« Reply #13 on: December 22, 2010, 12:46:48 PM »
lol uh um variables

the screencast wasnt a good example sinse there was no real obstacles in the way. i would be really impressed if it moved from the bottom left to bottom right. if this is real its a HUGE step for enemy ai

WarHampster


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Re: Devlog - EldritchRL
« Reply #14 on: December 22, 2010, 04:40:42 PM »
Heh, the "uh" variable was the result of one of those "oohhh, THAT'S why it isn't working" moments.

New video: http://www.screencast.com/users/WarHampster/folders/Jing/media/3f2dc082-d913-4502-85e7-6140153c7e30