Reload and Restart

Happy 2013 to everyone!

So, I made a New Year’s resolution to finish up my vintage CRPG this year. Needless to say, this is a daunting task. We’ll see how it goes…

I was in the middle of writing and debugging the combat engine the last time I left off with it, and it was very frustrating to deal with. The sprites weren’t showing up as expected, and the whole application was crashing with video-related errors. I’ll have to pick up the pieces there and figure out what was going wrong…

I also need to be wary of going backwards and wanting to revise the RP engine again. I’ve been playtesting the new D&D rules system, and it’s awfully tempting to go back and tinker with the mechanics. That’s fine to do, but I should stay focused on making a working combat engine first… stats can be messed with later.

Posted in Blog, CRPG, Design, Personal, TI-99/4a | 7 Comments

Processing Progressions

So… I’m working on a new game. πŸ™‚

No, the CRPG is not abandoned. I’ve just shelved it for now because I want to work on something smaller scale I can finish. Also something I can actually play and have some fun with; CRPG’s are all static content so there’s no surprises for ME there.

Since Tunnels of Doom, there’s been a lack of procedurally generated content games for the TI. And for that matter, a total lack of Roguelikes for the platform. So my new gaming project is a Roguelike for the TI-99/4a! (Yes, it does have a name. And no, I’m keeping it under wraps, because good names tend to get stolen a lot. See the Indy gaming industry for many examples.)

A main concern I had with starting a project like this was cross-game pollution of ideas from my CRPG. But I think I can use this project as a way to do some things I won’t be doing with the CRPG.

Here’s a list of the expected features:

  • Runs on a native TI (preferably with the classic 32k expansion and disk system, no more)
  • Generates ALL content procedurally for infinite replay possibilities
  • A four-part game (!) which allows you to port your existing character
  • A level-based advancement system with attributes, races, and customizable class options
  • Monsters aren’t just there to be killed, you can negotiate, barter, beg, run away and other options
  • Food and water mechanics
  • A very complex inventory system with containers and encumbrance

Hm, did I say it was small? πŸ™‚

A particularly inspiring series of games (besides the obvious Rogue) for meΒ  include Telengard, Elite, and Warrior of Ras. You can see an advertisement for the last one on the right here. (I always wondered how many of the people shown were real and which ones were actors…)

I don’t necessarily want to copy the gameplay of any of these games… WoR in particular has a funky key-based control system and is horridly random to the point that it’s more luck than skill to reach level 20. But I like the idea of a series of games each introducing new features and content as well as a different style of play, but allow you to continue with the same character. Persistence is a virtue.

Right now, I’m still in developmental stages… mainly I’m working on what kind of dungeon generation algorithm to use for the first game, and whether or not I want to procedurally generate it using static random strings or create an entire set of levels and save it as one big game file. Look for a future post describing some algorithms in detail!

Posted in Gaming, Roguelike, TI-99/4a | 6 Comments

Virtuous Travels

I’m taking a sabbatical from writing my CRPG to playing some at the moment. Hey, I’ll call it research… that’s the ticket. πŸ™‚

Good Old Games recently started offering the first six games of the Ultima series for purchase. They come complete with PDF’s of the manuals and maps, as well as integrated DOSBox set to just the right speed. It’s a great deal; you can get each set of three for only $6 U.S.! They’re the PC versions, so they have some shortcomings… Ultima’s II and III looks terrible in EGA graphics, and neither Ultima IV or V feature music. There’s fan patches available to fix some of this.

I’ve decided I want to play through Ultima’s IV through VI, transferring the same character from each. I have never played any of these through on the PC, actually. I played Ultima’s IV and VI on the NES/SNES console, which are a very different experience. All three games feature turn-based tactical combat, which my own CRPG will have. So I want to see what works and what doesn’t, and what direction I want to go in my own designs.

Ultima IV is where I’ve started, and so far, it’s going pretty well. The game is both more difficult and easier than the NES version, which offers much more static and predictable gameplay.

Some observations on combat:

  • There’s no penalty for using ranged weapons in close fighting and ammo is infinite, so there’s really no point in having melee weapons at all
  • Only shooting in cardinal directions sucks… at least there’s no friendly fire
  • The game is really cruel on mistakes; attempting to cancel an action always ends the character’s turn
  • The hit/miss mechanics, as well as damage, are very wide in range. I’ve had my shepherd character strike with a sling and “heavily wound” a daemon, while a fighter with a bow is just “lightly wounding” them
  • Unlike the NES version, attributes go up with level, which is nice. Your characters get better hit/damage ratios and their survivability goes up without having to enter the rather dangerous dungeons
  • So far, Reapers are the worst enemy in the game. You need to use negate spells to prevent them from putting the entire party to sleep constantly, slowing down combat to the point it takes a half-hour to finish the fight
  • The virtue system isn’t quite compatible with the old school combat. Letting fleeing enemies escape gains you compassion, but killing them gets you valor. Killing non-evil creatures (which are subtly mentioned in the manual descriptions) costs you compassion, and fleeing from any creatures costs you valor. The truly horrible situation is to attain partial avatarhood in compassion and valor and be attacked by non-evil creatures. You’re screwed both ways (Flee and you lose valor. Kill them and you lose compassion.)
  • Music is cool, but the sheer weight of combats you get into would quickly make the combat music the most hated thing in the game. The PC version’s silence is actually preferable
  • Monsters are pretty simple in the game, but there’s enough variety (trolls and ettins have ranged attacks, reapers cast sleep, gazers shoot fire/poison/electricity) that it makes combats interesting

My thoughts for my CRPG after some play-time:

  • I think the best tactic for tactical turn-based combat is to make certain that in 80-90% of combats, it’s over quickly. Long fights should not be a goal, only an accident of design
  • Gosh, it’s kind of fun to grind for experience and levels… maybe removing them was a mistake?
  • Was also slightly tempted to re-add rations/food to my CRPG, but the sole purpose of them in Ultima seems to be to screw you over with mass-gremlin attacks
  • Still bummed I can’t have multiple monster types in combat, due to graphic limitations
Posted in CRPG, Gaming | 4 Comments

Command “New”

Well… not exactly how I wanted to go with it, but PHPAdmin had taken control of my blog, and I wanted it gone. Apparently there’s no way to remove it once it’s in there, unless you’re a serious database admin who knows exactly what they’re doing. So I had to deactivate and reactivate my blog.

When I have some patience restored, I’ll see if I can restore my old posts from a database back-up. I thought about it, and I decided I’d rather have control of things again rather than keep all my old posts.

I’d MUCH rather be working on the CRPG than dealing with blog nonsense.

Posted in Blog | 6 Comments