Month: July 2009

The lists are getting smaller…

;)… About one page per test play. Balancing is going to take more time then I like I think… argh.. Today same thing.. play and list problems.. I fixed the store to only show items that are close to your level. It is far less confusing now.. I have intro scenes for levels now if there is a boss on the level. If not then you walk right in -).. Back to testing…

2 page list..

So I am at the point of unhooking from the dev platform walking to another room with pen and paper. I then play the systems and write down anything I do not like or feel needs work no matter what.. Then after I have a full list I come back and fix everything in the list before a single build is completed and played. This saves a TON of time and really adds a lot of polish. So that is what I will be doing today. That will be the process up until and through the release candidate stage. I will hopefully be adding more art assets soon for eye candy and when I do they will be shared here =)..

Back to work!

Really moving on

I am creating the 50 different setups that the zombies will have per the 50 levels. There will be random variations but they will still be appropriate to each level. I also have a goal of fixing the wall sliding when you collide with an edge. This should be easy but I have a simple problem in there somewhere. Or at least I hope it is simple =). Other then that I am running through the levels creating punch lists as I go. I believe tomorrow I will be to filling out the rest of the assets. Then the week after that sometime get to testing out the final game hopefully. I want it to be the best I can with the time I have. My time is drawing short though on this project. I need to be able to pay the bills. It would be nice to have all the time in the world to create at my leisure. However, this world really never allows that -)..

Coming to the final stretch

YAY!

Today I will finish the audio for the quest manager as all the quests are spoken by assembled speech. After that I will go ahead and setup the base character skill points and get the save system turned on for final testing. So by the middle of the week I hope to have the whole baby ready for testing. As it is tested I will move to create the rest of the levels and bosses along with the story scenes.

Update: SO the fetid corpse has killed me 20 – 30 times today. … argh.. I am sticking nerf bats up arses right now and making sure the difficulty curve is correct along with tuning skills damage/cost/benefit. A long process but moving along well.. =)

Finishing the base tier and all gameplay..

Still finishing tier one sadly.. but I am adding polish that will carry down the tiers. I am actually just adding in story now along the design.. I expect tier one to be complete within days now.. then I just have to fill in assets and that goes really quick. That is a good thing because pressure is mounting to get it out the door as usual.

GO GO GO SHIIIIP IT.. =P

Things are pretty complete I am just dropping in the story for the story arc and adding to the automatic questing generation and story system that lay under the main story arc.

At its root level the quest manager decides the number of quests you have run and every few it will drop a story line quest. Then it will drop a generated quest. The quests are all spoken by piecing parts together and generating a spoken quest along with a written one.

Back to work.

GO GO GO GO SHIP IT!

Feeling the pressure to get – er – done. This always occurs at the end of a game project. The difference from the studios that live and die is putting that last push of polish time into the project. Sadly until the very end games can be very ugly and all the enormously difficult systems that are created in the begging and middle just are not appreciated as much as the spit shine in the end.

Today: I am going to finalize the store. I was having issues with some of the massive number of items. For example I have 10 handles x 10 mid hilts x 30 blade types number of just WEAPONS for the FIRST TIER. Which the stories, graphics, descriptions, and names are all generated from the descriptors of the items. They are built like this.

QUALITY + DESCRIPTOR HILT + DESCRIPTOR MID HILT + DESCRIPTOR BLADE + AFTER-WORD

So you could have a
Angelic + Shining + Thirsting + Conquesting Axe + of Destruction
That would mean this item has
(+50% effect) + (+10 Agility) + (Steals Life) + (HEALTH REGEN) + (STEAL ENERGY)

Switch that angelic to Decrepid and you loose -75% of its stats. A very complex but easy to understand system lies beneath all that. The models and textures are decided by those names at the time of construction of the item or character.

Anyway I better get to work and stop typing here =).

POLISH TIME

I am very close now to being done with what will be the free lite version. I think this week I could wrap up the lite version but I will not release it until I get the whole version done as they will be released together. Not much to say I am just playing and perfecting and will be doing so for a while. I want to start getting some good long game play videos up for everyone to lay some criticism on. I will update with media as I make it back to work!.

Boss Time..

I am now creating the boss behaviors.. I had Rot gut done but now I need to work out the others. Basically my AI update loop knows what level you are on thus it just updates a switch for that bots brain behaviors during the boss update =)..

More later if I get time.

Thursday after school special…

Getting towards the end of the production cycle finally! =).. The skills are in now I need to go through and tune and polish everything I can to have the best product I can make. Time is starting to become an issue now as eating and mortgage payments are nicer when they are taken care of ;)…

More later!

Update MOVIE!
=)

While Spit polishing this puppy I saw a need for something more in the town. So I tossed a lighting effect into the game. Not to bad .. remember this is on a PHONE ;).. good stuff check it out.. I had an overpowering screen flash and toned it down as to not be annoying and the lightning will be far more spread out in release form….

forget the video youtube screwed the audio again.. so I will just post one later. i have a new music track for the town finally! Good stuff lot more low key..

Back to work

Its a TWAAAAAP

Update: DONE ALL 46 current skills / buffs in and working!… woot!

Hehehe I will get a video of a pickup skill today. It lays a trap that when a baddy walks by it explodes dealing damage to all npcs around! =)..

Today skills will be finished and I will be on to finializing all items in tier one. Play fix time.. Then the final sprint to the finish line by duplicating the game to its full 50 levels deep by creating a lot of cool and scary art.

Update:
Here is the pickup skill trap!.. It lays a trap. It will explode if 1. A bad guy gets to close…. 2. An explosion goes off nearby. 3. A magic spell explodes close…

Man You tube has been giving me some REALLY crappy video quality lately..

And not to be out done here is the Pickup skill Bomb Toss!

You could chain two together can cause some real fun with a mega trap! =)

Same thing today

Today I will just keep creating the fx for the skills. I am really happy how they are turning out. I only have about ten left to complete. I am sure before the final release candidate I will be adding a few more spectacular skills as I think them up. If anyone has any skill suggestions feel free to share! I will post some more video clips as I go today.

Have a great day!
-Ryan

Update: Explosive bolt

Skillzzzzzzz

Today I am going to continue piecing together the skill effects and audio. I am using the usual system of making lots of small building blocks to quickly assemble large scale effects later. I will post some of them as I go but some need to stay secret ;)…

Here is the Valor Tree Rage Explosion. This is a high damage AOE that does more damage the higher level you are. It also damages you a good amount as your flesh is where the energy erupts from.

Back to work
-Ryan

I have placed in 4 more skills so far and tuned many others. It took a little longer for one because I had to create a few new effect “legos” to add to the arsenal. One was a “beam” generator that creates 4 triangles that start with right triangle and its hypotenuse facing away from the player to a rectangle to a reversed right triangle. Simple just takes time to type it all out. Here is an example with the skill lightning bolt:

Well I was going to provide a video but when I upload it to stinking you tube it would drop part of the audio. I think a filter thought the lightning was static.

Here is a direct link.
Snapz Pro XScreenSnapz001
Heck at least it is way better quality ;)….

The Skills as they stand VERY MESSY

Update Video using the skills. VERY EARLY… but starting to show the intended game play =)..

A STRAIGHT MESSY CUT AND PASTE… These are not fully spell checked or finished.. But before I get to far if anyone has suggestions I would rather not fix something only to fix it again. The actual bonus numbers and energy usage is bogus ignore it only read the description if it is decipherable ;)..(they should be in order of skills left to right for the icons I posted first valor then faith.

Today: finish implementing all the skills in game. -=)

HEALTH TRAINING: Each point in this skill will increase your base health by 2%. Each additional point will incerase it by another 2%. This is a passive skill. \n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
STAB: A strong frontal attack. You thrust straight forawrd inflicting 4% more damage for your weapon at a cost of 2 energy. For every skill point you add you will do 4% more damage at the cost of 2% more energy.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
BLOCK: You deploy your shield and have a chance at blocking up to 75% of the damage from a strike. The shield is instantly put up and lasts for 1.5 seconds try to time your attacks wisely. For every point point in this skill you get 1% more damage able to be blocked at the cost of 0.5% more energy.\n (C:10/I:10%/E
STUN: You smash the target for a chance at instantly dazing the target for 2 seconds. For every skill point invested your stun will stretch for 0.5s seconds and have a 2% better chance of landing at the cost of 3% more energy. (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
SWIPE: This is a strong arcing swipe that will crush up to 3 enemies in front of you. For every skill point invested you will do 2% more damage and it will cost you 1.5% more energy.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
ARMOR TRAINING: Each point placed in this skill will increase your armor by 1%. This is a passive skill that is always active.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
FITNESS: Increasing this skill will increase your health recovery by 2%. Each additional point will increase your recovery by 2% at a cost of 2% more energy.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
DEATH BLOW: With this strike there is a 2% chance you will instantly kill the target. This does not work on highly trained pit bosses. With each point you gain an additional 2% chance for an instant kil at 1% more energy.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
JUGGERNAUGHTS RAGE: With this skill your armor is increased by 200% for 5 seconds. Each point added to this skill will increase the amount by 10% and the time by 0.5 seconds.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
BLOOD LUST: Tapping this skill releases an incredible rage that increases your health by 300% for 30 seconds. Be sure to heal up to full health after tapping this skill. Each point in this skill will garner 10% more health at the cost of 5% more energy.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
HARD HEAD: Training this skill will increase your resistance to stun. Each point increases your resistance by 2%. \n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
THICK BLOOD: Traning in this area will increase your resistance to posions. Each point will increase your resistance by 2%.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
ARMOR OF GOD: Using this skill will make you invincible for 10 seconds. Each additioal point will increase this time by 0.5 seconds at a cost of 2% more energy.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
SHOCK WAVE: Using your raw strength you create a shock wave in the surrounding area stunning any target within 4 meters for 2 seconds. Each skill level increases the time by 0.25 seconds at a cost of 10% more energy.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
RAGE EXPLOSION: Using this skill will cause an explosion greatly damaging you and all surrounding enemies with 35 multiplied by your level in damage within a 4 meter radius. \n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
CARDIO TRAINING: This skill increases your energy recovery by 2% per skill point invested.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
HOLY BOLT: This prayer fires off a boly of holy energy from your right hand. Holding down the skill longer will build up a strong blast to be unleashed. For each skill point invested you will do a base of 1 point of damage at the cost of 1% more energy.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
HEAL: Use of this prayer will heal you for 15 points of health at the cost of 17 energy. Each additional point will heal you for another 2% at the cose of another 3% energy.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
STUN BOLT: A prayer that emits a stu bolt. This has a 10% chance to stun the target for 3 seconds and do 1 point of damage. Each point increases the damage by 1 point per level and increases the chance to stun by 5%. \n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
HOLY SPARK: This prayer ignites the air around the caster with holy energy causeing 2 points of damage at the cost of 4 energy to every enemy within 2 meters.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
CURE: A prayer that will cure you of one poision per recitation at the cost of 20 energy. Each additional point in this skill reduces the cost by 10%. \n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
LIGHTNING BOLT: A prayer that sends a bolt of electricity out. Upon image it will cause 7 points of damage with a 5% chance to stun the target for 2 seconds. Each additional point will add 2 damage and increase the chance to stun by 3% at the cost of 2% more energy.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
ICE BOLT: This prayer will create a sharp piece of ice and hurl it in the direction of your enemies. It will cause 5 damage but also slow the enemy by 20% for 3 secnds. Each additional point will icrease the damage by 5%, the slow by 5%, and the length by 0.5 seconds.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
POISON BOLT: This prayer emits a bolt of poisonous gas. It causes 2 damage with an effect of 2 points per second over 10 seconds. Each additional point will increase the damage by 2 points and the length by 1 second. \n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
DEATH BOLT: This prayer emits a bolt that has a 2% chance to cause instant death. Bosses training makes them immune to this attack. Each additional point adds 1% chance and costs 2% more energy.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
HOLY DART: This is a very fast prayer that release low damage but high volume of holy darts. Each will cause 1 point of damage at the cost of 2 energy. Each additional point will increase the damage by your 0.5f * level at the cost of your level in more energy.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
EXPLOSIVE BOLT: A explosive amount of holy energy will be sent out upon reciting this prayer. Upon impact the bolt will cause 10 damage in a 4 meter area. Each additioal point will increase the damage by 2 points at the cost of 2% more energy.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
STUN BOMB: This emits a bomb that will explode on impact causing 10 damage and has a 20% chance of stunning any targets in a 4 meter radius. Each additional point adds 5 more damage, gives 5 more % chance for stun, and costs 10% more energy.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
SELF DETONATION: This prayer causes holy energy to explode from your flesh causing you 20 damage per level and causing 40 damage to any creature in a 4 meter radius. Each additional point does 2 more damage to you and 4 more to surrounding enemies at a cost of 5% more energy. \n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
ICE BOMB: This prayer emits an ice bomb that causes 10 damage to everything in its 4 meter explosion. It also slows the effected targets by 10%. Each additional point will slow the targets by 5% more and cost 5% more energy.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
CARVE ENERGY: This skill teaches one how to carve energy from the target and redirect it back to oneself through mastery of ones body . It begins returning 1% of your total energy per hit. With each skill point you will gaine 1% additional savings.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
VAMPIRIC CARNAGE: Every point in this skill increases your ability to siphon the life out of enemies with each strike. It begins suckling 1% of your total life per hit. With each skill point you will gaine 1% additional drainage.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
OVERLOAD: This will reduce all enrgy consumption to 0 for a very short time of 10 seconds. Each additional point increases this time \n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
TRAP: Using items around you a trap is made. Any enemy walking to close to this trap will see 35 points of damage per skill level. This only effects one target. Each point here will increas the damage per level by 8 and the energy cost by 4%.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
SOUL CHARGE: Using this skill will increase your health recovery by 100% for 10 seconds. Each additional point increases collection by 10% at a cost of 4% more energy.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
INCENDIARY DEVICE: Causes you to concentrate your rage into a ball that is tossed out. At the point of impact an area of 3 meters in diameter is incinerated for instant damage of 25 multiplied by your level. Each point in this skill will garner 5 more points per skill level at the cose of 2% more energy.\n (C:10/I
SUN BEAM: A huge bolt is created causing 500 damage at full charge to whomever is unlucky enough to be in its way. Each point adds another 20 damage at the cost of 5% more energy.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
FIRE BOMB: This prayer emits a ball of fire that upon impact will ignite a 4 meter radius causing 2 damage per second for 10 seconds on anything ignited. Each additional point will add 1 damage per second and cost 5% more energy.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
HOLY SHOCK: A prayer that engulfs the surrounding area in holy energy causing 5 damage to all nearby enemies in a 6 meter radius. Each additional point in this skill will add 2 points of damage and cost 10% more energy.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
BEAST EXPLOSION: This pryer creates a bolt that when it strikes an enemy will cause them to explode in 30 secods causing 100 damage to any nearby enemies including yourself. Each additional point adds 20 damage and costs 5% more energy.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
CHAIN LIGHTNING: This prayer causes a blt of lightning to arc from your hand to 3 nearby targets. This causes 10 damage and costs 4 energy. Each additional point causes 2 points more damage and costs 5% more energy. \n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
DEATH BOMB: Creates a bolt upon impact any creature in 4 meters has a 10% chance of instant death. Each additioal point adds another 2% chance and costs 5% more energy.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
POISON BOMB: A prayer that emits a poison cloud that upon impact explodes poisoning everything in a 4 meter radius. This causes 2 damage per second over 20 seconds. Each additional point will add 1 damager per second per level at the cose of 5% more energy.\n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)
OVERLOAD: Use of this skill will greatly increase your recovery of energy for 10 seconds. Each additional point will increase the time by \n (C:10/I:10%/E:5%)

Red Elf is about to die.

UPDATE: SKILL TREE SHOTS!

Here is the base tree…..
Both

Now the tress with the drop only skills shown according to each tree…

This is the valor tree the ones on the right side are drop or buy only…..
valorTree

This is the faith tree the ones in the valor side are the faith drop or buy only skills.
faithTree

QUITE A SET!.. Even more so in that you can build in either or both trees!.. Not starting over to try out new stinking skills… (worst game design ever imo .. I HATE THAT! 😉 )

Today I am first going to finish the skill icons. Those are the only non generated icons in the game. I generate the other icons by rendering 3d models into textures with a shadow pass under it for a drop shadow effect. After the icons are done and in game I will clarify the text descriptions and then begin finishing them. As I test them out I will continue to refine and perfect the game. I might post the direct text switch here for everyone to read =)..I would like some input and I can always add new skills as drops in the game since you have the custom tree of skills! =)

Have a great day!
-Ryan

Reposting for direct links: Most current video.

Red Elf needs food badly…

Update: Just going to update here. I am still testing and playing.. I am also today implementing all the skills I will see if I can post a list here soon. You have your skill tree. Then you also have skills you can buy or find as drops.. You can only slot5 found or special skills. More later -=) Check out the new video I get dropped hard =)

Just a debug run where I get smacked down by one back of the head blow by Rot Gut… I did not even get to find the quest book =P… It is really starting to show some progress check it out and tell some friends 😉

This morning the player death was finally put in. And two new sound tracks added to the selection of dungeon music. My short term targets are to work on the loot tables. Add in and replace the unfinished sound sections. Lastly I need to add more quest types to the quest manager. I will post a movie of the player dying later. Back to work ..I am really trying to get tier one complete still life really got in the way the last week. 😉

Have a great day!
-Ryan

Buffs!

It is funny how complicated combat code can get. Right now the plan is to get the base damage of the prayer or eweapon strike then process the level differences and armor to the damage or heal along with the skill bonuses. As the final part pass the energy used the attacker and the defender along with the skill being used to the buff system. Then I will apply the final damage or heal to the targets. Now I just need to fond time to work with holidays and family in town tune is tight!

Have a great day!
Ryan