Sudit - you are on0.15 just like me. I know some of my stuff is broken on the latest build, so I just wanted to check.
When I was joking about the developmental history, I didn't really mean to have the town change in game. Just that, as design changes happen, I could use those changes as inspiration for backstory.
Pennomi - I want the player to be able to choose their reward from Gretel, so if you have your Raven Co Shortsword in your inventory unequipped, she'll trade it out for a Raven Co Shortbow, then that for a wand, then back to a shortsword, as long as the weapon is unequipped, so that the player can get a Raven Co. Weapon specific to their build.
I actually ran into a second issue once I got into Averguard Keep (Goblin Warrens), which I don't know if you saw or not. For some horrible reason, the Shamans are still dropping their wands for me, even though I've completed the quest. Grr, arrgh.
I'll probably recolor a zombie for the Priest, and maybe recolor a gravestone. Is it easy enough to just use the magic select and color tools in GIMP to do that? I'd also really like to recolor my NPCs - maybe put Gretel in brown and her lackey in green, Altea into white, and Cedric into white.
Vampiric Items I think would be awesome for sword rewards, and knockback for a bow. How did you like being able to swap out your rewards from Gretel? Was that obvious enough? And did you find the Shaman quest?
Sudit, thanks as well!
Are you on 0.15 or on master? I wrote the whole thing in 0.15, and I hope to update it to master over the next couple of days. I didn't run into the Altea bug on 0.15. You might try editing your character file (or uncommenting the makrohn quest-resetters) to replay the Amulet quest, see if you can get it to happen again?
I think Gretel is the npc I really need to move, as she kind of blends in a bit. I wanted to make sure she was near the docks, though. Is there anyone else you think needs to be moved?
I like the idea of the church entrance being near the graveyard, and putting Altea in there, but pretty soon we'd need to change the name of the Frontier Outpost to somthing that sounds a little more permanent! I'm certainly not against that.
I am slightly amused by the idea of changing the game setting's developmental history into the in-game history. "What started out as a small mining outpost in the frontier soon built it's own church when missionaries arrived in FA (Flare Age) 115. That was the same year that they finally named the town ____."
Submitted for the community to play and to test, and any and all criticism is welcome!
I put a README and a CHANGELOG in the base directory for those who are curious. Essentially, I added two more quests. Though independent, it is easy to stumble upon one on your way to the other.
I also tweaked Madrigan a little bit.
Right now, as written, the quests got me about 2/3 of the way through Level 3. Ideally, I'll be writing in at least one or two more quests to really flesh out the Outpost, and get the player to Level 4 in time for Ydrakka Pass. I'm sure the numbers will be tweaked once the reward_xp attribute is implemented in the main release.
I noticed an interesting "limitation" which would probably never affect the game in any meaningful way, so I'd be hesitant to call it a problem - more of a design consideration for any other modders. I have an NPC called makrohn, whose only function is to reset your quest status and items back to null. Any [dialog] can only take sixteen actions at a time, so I had to split him into two - one to unset_status and one to remove_item.
One bug I cannot wrap my head around is why Cedric doesn't properly reward the player with one mana potion and one health potion. If anyone can shed some light on that, awesome.
Finally, I noticed that quest.txt invokes other .txt files. Can the same be done with items? Could one then divvy up the items.txt file into swords.txt, wants.txt, etc?
As I continue on with this, I need to give the mod a proper name, probably. Unless it gets folded into frontier. Ideas are welcome.
I still have not come up with any original art, because I completely stink at visual art. But hey, that's why this is collaborative, right?
Modified! I added graphics and clickable hotspots as well as some descriptive messages. Each end of the warp point now uses two events - on the "close" end, one event to tell you the warp point isn't active yet, and one to actually warp you, and on the "far" end, one event to activate the warp point, and one to actually warp you.
in frontier_outpost.txt
[event] # Gobling Encampment WP Inactive type=run_once requires_not=gob_camp_wp_active location=42,38,1,1 tooltip=Warp to Goblin Encampment hotspot=-24,-32,48,48 msg=Find the Goblin Encampment warp point first to activate this warp point.
[event] # waypoint to Goblin encampment requires_status=gob_camp_wp_active type=teleport location=42,38,1,1 hotspot=-24,-32,48,48 tooltip=Warp to Goblin Encampment intermap=river_encampment.txt,47,52
[event] #Activate Warp Point type=run_once requires_not=gob_camp_wp_active location=46,50,1,1 hotspot=-24,-32,48,48 tooltip=Warp to Outpost set_status=gob_camp_wp_active msg=You have activated the Goblin Encampment warp point
Ah! Hotspot wasn't that hard after all. Well, okay, I just grabbed the line you presented right there... but it worked!
I've also added a Quest Debugger npc for now, who'll just reset all your makrohn quests statuses and remove your makrohn quest items, in case you want to redo my quests to test them. Yeah, SURE, you could go into your save file, but hopefully this makes it easier. I DID note that remove_item won't take your equipped items.
The gravestone where Altea's Amulet is found now has a hotspot and a tooltip
Altea's Amulet now is a high quality item with a net worth of 120g, sells for 30g.
The Zombie Priest temporarily has a skeleton graphic.
Completing the Zombie Priest quest now grants 225 XP instead of 450 XP.
I'll be working on another quest this morning and afternoon; it'll be granted by another NPC, and the second branch of the quest will be triggered somewhere along the way (by an item drop), so the second quest will be missable if you're not thorough! Being a beginning area, though, it shouldn't be too tough to miss.
I did try to break it a few different ways (and did break it, and fixed it). I may have missed something, but right now, there's a pretty limited number of permutations.
For clicking the tombstone, I'm not sure how to set clickable hotspots yet. The existing files make it seem kind of arcane. I'll poke through the files and see if I can't find a different art piece. Maybe I'll look for a more distinct looking zombie graphic and use that as well. Too bad I can't draw a pixellated miter.
As I put in more quests, I'll probably lower the rewards of each. I did note above that I do intend to drop the amulet to a green, and make it only sell for maybe 30g.
The way I see it, the frontier_plains are a huge area, and should be chock-full of quest objectives. My personal goal is to make that happen, by gradually adding NPCs and quests. I played with creating my own maps, but I don't think I have the patience - I find scripting quest chains (and testing them) to be far more engaging. I would love to work in conjunction with everyone else to get my quests added to the trunk, and after getting through one map, to start populating more maps with more quests. To that end, I welcome any and all feedback about these first ones I've created to test my limits and skills. Also, the NPCs I have are VERY stock at the moment, and I would be downright thrilled if other people created new and better sprite art for them.
The portrait I found by just searching open game art for "portrait," and fell in love with four of the portraits by one particular artist. I imagine all four will turn into NPCs. It's awesome what good art can inspire. It was not posted by the original artist, though, so I'd probably head over to the artists' deviant art page and email her for official permission before widely distributing anything.
And I hope to turn this into a huge set of quest chains, not just a side quest!
And finally, the Zombie Priest I just renamed from a zombie_brute and added a defeat_status, so in the new version I'll probably just recopy it...
So I could use src/ files like PowerManager.h as a guide to seeing what attributes I can assign to various powers (or, in fact, src/*.h for anything from enemy attributes to quest attributes, etc?)
To change some of this on my own personal FLARE build, I think I see what I can change.
To let swords work with mental powers (and create a viable swordmage build), I could add a line in PowerManager.cpp, after line 130,
Sudit - you are on0.15 just like me. I know some of my stuff is broken on the latest build, so I just wanted to check.
When I was joking about the developmental history, I didn't really mean to have the town change in game. Just that, as design changes happen, I could use those changes as inspiration for backstory.
Pennomi - I want the player to be able to choose their reward from Gretel, so if you have your Raven Co Shortsword in your inventory unequipped, she'll trade it out for a Raven Co Shortbow, then that for a wand, then back to a shortsword, as long as the weapon is unequipped, so that the player can get a Raven Co. Weapon specific to their build.
Pennomi, thanks!
I actually ran into a second issue once I got into Averguard Keep (Goblin Warrens), which I don't know if you saw or not. For some horrible reason, the Shamans are still dropping their wands for me, even though I've completed the quest. Grr, arrgh.
I'll probably recolor a zombie for the Priest, and maybe recolor a gravestone. Is it easy enough to just use the magic select and color tools in GIMP to do that? I'd also really like to recolor my NPCs - maybe put Gretel in brown and her lackey in green, Altea into white, and Cedric into white.
Vampiric Items I think would be awesome for sword rewards, and knockback for a bow. How did you like being able to swap out your rewards from Gretel? Was that obvious enough? And did you find the Shaman quest?
Sudit, thanks as well!
Are you on 0.15 or on master? I wrote the whole thing in 0.15, and I hope to update it to master over the next couple of days. I didn't run into the Altea bug on 0.15. You might try editing your character file (or uncommenting the makrohn quest-resetters) to replay the Amulet quest, see if you can get it to happen again?
I think Gretel is the npc I really need to move, as she kind of blends in a bit. I wanted to make sure she was near the docks, though. Is there anyone else you think needs to be moved?
I like the idea of the church entrance being near the graveyard, and putting Altea in there, but pretty soon we'd need to change the name of the Frontier Outpost to somthing that sounds a little more permanent! I'm certainly not against that.
I am slightly amused by the idea of changing the game setting's developmental history into the in-game history. "What started out as a small mining outpost in the frontier soon built it's own church when missionaries arrived in FA (Flare Age) 115. That was the same year that they finally named the town ____."
Submitted for the community to play and to test, and any and all criticism is welcome!
I put a README and a CHANGELOG in the base directory for those who are curious. Essentially, I added two more quests. Though independent, it is easy to stumble upon one on your way to the other.
I also tweaked Madrigan a little bit.
Right now, as written, the quests got me about 2/3 of the way through Level 3. Ideally, I'll be writing in at least one or two more quests to really flesh out the Outpost, and get the player to Level 4 in time for Ydrakka Pass. I'm sure the numbers will be tweaked once the reward_xp attribute is implemented in the main release.
I noticed an interesting "limitation" which would probably never affect the game in any meaningful way, so I'd be hesitant to call it a problem - more of a design consideration for any other modders. I have an NPC called makrohn, whose only function is to reset your quest status and items back to null. Any [dialog] can only take sixteen actions at a time, so I had to split him into two - one to unset_status and one to remove_item.
One bug I cannot wrap my head around is why Cedric doesn't properly reward the player with one mana potion and one health potion. If anyone can shed some light on that, awesome.
Finally, I noticed that quest.txt invokes other .txt files. Can the same be done with items? Could one then divvy up the items.txt file into swords.txt, wants.txt, etc?
As I continue on with this, I need to give the mod a proper name, probably. Unless it gets folded into frontier. Ideas are welcome.
I still have not come up with any original art, because I completely stink at visual art. But hey, that's why this is collaborative, right?
Anyhow, here it is on my dropbox! http://db.tt/XSOVUXiP
Modified! I added graphics and clickable hotspots as well as some descriptive messages. Each end of the warp point now uses two events - on the "close" end, one event to tell you the warp point isn't active yet, and one to actually warp you, and on the "far" end, one event to activate the warp point, and one to actually warp you.
in frontier_outpost.txt
[event]
# Gobling Encampment WP Inactive
type=run_once
requires_not=gob_camp_wp_active
location=42,38,1,1
tooltip=Warp to Goblin Encampment
hotspot=-24,-32,48,48
msg=Find the Goblin Encampment warp point first to activate this warp point.
[event]
# waypoint to Goblin encampment
requires_status=gob_camp_wp_active
type=teleport
location=42,38,1,1
hotspot=-24,-32,48,48
tooltip=Warp to Goblin Encampment
intermap=river_encampment.txt,47,52
in river_encampment.txt
[event]
# Gob Encampment WP
type=teleport
requires_status=gob_camp_wp_active
location=46,50,1,1
hotspot=-24,-32,48,48
tooltip=Warp to Outpost
intermap=frontier_outpost.txt,42,39
[event]
#Activate Warp Point
type=run_once
requires_not=gob_camp_wp_active
location=46,50,1,1
hotspot=-24,-32,48,48
tooltip=Warp to Outpost
set_status=gob_camp_wp_active
msg=You have activated the Goblin Encampment warp point
Ah! Hotspot wasn't that hard after all. Well, okay, I just grabbed the line you presented right there... but it worked!
I've also added a Quest Debugger npc for now, who'll just reset all your makrohn quests statuses and remove your makrohn quest items, in case you want to redo my quests to test them. Yeah, SURE, you could go into your save file, but hopefully this makes it easier. I DID note that remove_item won't take your equipped items.
The gravestone where Altea's Amulet is found now has a hotspot and a tooltip
Altea's Amulet now is a high quality item with a net worth of 120g, sells for 30g.
The Zombie Priest temporarily has a skeleton graphic.
Completing the Zombie Priest quest now grants 225 XP instead of 450 XP.
I'll be working on another quest this morning and afternoon; it'll be granted by another NPC, and the second branch of the quest will be triggered somewhere along the way (by an item drop), so the second quest will be missable if you're not thorough! Being a beginning area, though, it shouldn't be too tough to miss.
I did try to break it a few different ways (and did break it, and fixed it). I may have missed something, but right now, there's a pretty limited number of permutations.
For clicking the tombstone, I'm not sure how to set clickable hotspots yet. The existing files make it seem kind of arcane. I'll poke through the files and see if I can't find a different art piece. Maybe I'll look for a more distinct looking zombie graphic and use that as well. Too bad I can't draw a pixellated miter.
As I put in more quests, I'll probably lower the rewards of each. I did note above that I do intend to drop the amulet to a green, and make it only sell for maybe 30g.
The way I see it, the frontier_plains are a huge area, and should be chock-full of quest objectives. My personal goal is to make that happen, by gradually adding NPCs and quests. I played with creating my own maps, but I don't think I have the patience - I find scripting quest chains (and testing them) to be far more engaging. I would love to work in conjunction with everyone else to get my quests added to the trunk, and after getting through one map, to start populating more maps with more quests. To that end, I welcome any and all feedback about these first ones I've created to test my limits and skills. Also, the NPCs I have are VERY stock at the moment, and I would be downright thrilled if other people created new and better sprite art for them.
The portrait I found by just searching open game art for "portrait," and fell in love with four of the portraits by one particular artist. I imagine all four will turn into NPCs. It's awesome what good art can inspire. It was not posted by the original artist, though, so I'd probably head over to the artists' deviant art page and email her for official permission before widely distributing anything.
And I hope to turn this into a huge set of quest chains, not just a side quest!
And finally, the Zombie Priest I just renamed from a zombie_brute and added a defeat_status, so in the new version I'll probably just recopy it...
Whoops! USe this frontier_plains.txt file instead:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/937624/makrohn/maps/frontier_plains.txt
"I think your suggestion wouldn't work"
It's kind of you to call it a suggestion and not a guess!
So I could use src/ files like PowerManager.h as a guide to seeing what attributes I can assign to various powers (or, in fact, src/*.h for anything from enemy attributes to quest attributes, etc?)
To change some of this on my own personal FLARE build, I think I see what I can change.
To let swords work with mental powers (and create a viable swordmage build), I could add a line in PowerManager.cpp, after line 130,
else if(infile.val=="true")powers[input_id].requires_physical_weapon=true;
Maybe?
To change the XP formula, I should be able to download the source from github, edit EnemyManager.cpp line 278 to change from:
stats->xp+=enemies[i]->stats.level;
to
stats->xp+=enemies[i]->stats.level**2;
Ahaha. Good answer.
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