Thanks! I fixed the book cases, as well as the shadows on the chairs and tables. The only problem is that I had to scale them down so I could fit the shadow into the same tile, but this causes an alignment problem with the chairs. Will have to scale these down as well. And I'm not sure that the player character can walk through the open door spaces, it seems too narrow, but I'll playtest it tomorrow. I also did some crude paintings just to have more decorations for the walls.
She's a great tank and healer. While druids are not the best spellcasters in general, they do have one of the best spells in the game: Insect Plague, which shuts downs the abilities of enemy spellcasters.
The only case in which I could concievably leave her behind is if I created a party of six from scratch, an option that was implemented in the enhanced edition. But I've never done it, since I like the NPCs the game already has.
You're proposed solution about having to sacrifice something is interesting. I don't want to get into spoilers because some other people might not have played this, but there are a few moments in the game when you have to make some significant sacrifices, including stats.
It's true that rolling an evil character / party has no mechanical incentives. In fact, it's actually worse. Good and neutral players get discounts when buying items if their reputation is high. Evil characters dont have this option, since they will leave the party when their reputation starts to rise. They are happy when their reputation is very low, but this means that merchants will charge you an insane amount of money, and in some cases, they will even refuse to sell you anything. And whatever you try to sell them, they will insist on buying it dirt cheap, while good and neutral characters would make a wopping profit from selling the same items. As if this was not bad enough, when your reputation is low, you also get attacked on the street by groups of fanatics who think that evil must be destroyed. So there's really no reason to play evil characters other than roleplay. They do make up for it by being way more overpowered than good and neutral characters, but that always seemed like a clunky solution to me. I think that if a game gives you the option to play evil, there should be some substantial reason for doing do, like the option you mentioned about choosing not to sacrifice gold / stats.
So, another thing I really like is that if the player has choices, then these must really be choices. I know that sounds redundant, so allow me to elaborate on that. Take for example the beginning of Baldur's Gate 2. When you talk to Minsc for the first time, you have the option of telling him to find his own way out of the dungeon. And when you talk to Jaheira, you have the option of leaving her in her cell. Personally, I have never abandonded them in the dungeon, I always make sure to rescue them. After we leave the dungeon, sure, I have no problem in telling them that we need to go own our separate ways, but leaving Jaheira in her cell seems really vile, even when I roll an evil character. The same goes for abandoning Minsc before leaving the dungeon. But my point is, even though I never actually leave these characters in their cells, I like it that the option exists, because then I feel that I have chosen to rescue them. If not, then I'm not really choosing anything, I'm just reading a lot of dialogue over which I have no influence. This is one of the main drawbacks of Icewind Dale: whatever you say more or less gives the same result. Sure, you can choose to be polite or rude to the NPCs, but it doesn't have the severe consequences that it has in Baldur's Gate 2, like actually loosing NPCs.
The conclusion would be that, from a game design perspective, players shouldn't be given the illusion of choice, they should be given actual choices which dramatically alter the events that unfold afterwards.
Looking good. Are you planning on making a swamp tileset? I know you made some swamp plants, but I was thinking about making a whole tileset in that environment, with weeping willow trees, mangroves, etc. Perhaps we can join efforts.
@dorkster: the windows are proving to be a little bit of a challenge, but fear not, I have an idea on how to make them work. The challenge is that since the view is isometric, if you stand inside of the building you wouldn't really see the horizon, or even the sky for that matter. You would only see ground. But I think I know how to work around this, I just have to make it look convincing.
@rubberduck: thanks! Sure, use it if you think it's worth it. What do you mean about the stuff you need to change? Do you mean changes to this room tileset? If that's the case, perhaps I can change it myself so that I save you some time.
True. Here's how the error was caused: I decided to give the tables a top-down lighting so that the cast shadow would fit a 64 x 128 tile. Longer cast shadows will mean that either I split the tables into more tiles or I make them smaller. I think the first option is better.
Almost done with this tileset. Fixed a lot of stuff, and I added some rugs. I playtested it today and the doors are a bit too narrow. Oh well.
Thanks! I fixed the book cases, as well as the shadows on the chairs and tables. The only problem is that I had to scale them down so I could fit the shadow into the same tile, but this causes an alignment problem with the chairs. Will have to scale these down as well. And I'm not sure that the player character can walk through the open door spaces, it seems too narrow, but I'll playtest it tomorrow.
I also did some crude paintings just to have more decorations for the walls.
Makin' progress... got the doors and windows
She's a great tank and healer. While druids are not the best spellcasters in general, they do have one of the best spells in the game: Insect Plague, which shuts downs the abilities of enemy spellcasters.
The only case in which I could concievably leave her behind is if I created a party of six from scratch, an option that was implemented in the enhanced edition. But I've never done it, since I like the NPCs the game already has.
You're proposed solution about having to sacrifice something is interesting. I don't want to get into spoilers because some other people might not have played this, but there are a few moments in the game when you have to make some significant sacrifices, including stats.
It's true that rolling an evil character / party has no mechanical incentives. In fact, it's actually worse. Good and neutral players get discounts when buying items if their reputation is high. Evil characters dont have this option, since they will leave the party when their reputation starts to rise. They are happy when their reputation is very low, but this means that merchants will charge you an insane amount of money, and in some cases, they will even refuse to sell you anything. And whatever you try to sell them, they will insist on buying it dirt cheap, while good and neutral characters would make a wopping profit from selling the same items. As if this was not bad enough, when your reputation is low, you also get attacked on the street by groups of fanatics who think that evil must be destroyed. So there's really no reason to play evil characters other than roleplay. They do make up for it by being way more overpowered than good and neutral characters, but that always seemed like a clunky solution to me. I think that if a game gives you the option to play evil, there should be some substantial reason for doing do, like the option you mentioned about choosing not to sacrifice gold / stats.
Anyways, thanks!
So, another thing I really like is that if the player has choices, then these must really be choices. I know that sounds redundant, so allow me to elaborate on that. Take for example the beginning of Baldur's Gate 2. When you talk to Minsc for the first time, you have the option of telling him to find his own way out of the dungeon. And when you talk to Jaheira, you have the option of leaving her in her cell. Personally, I have never abandonded them in the dungeon, I always make sure to rescue them. After we leave the dungeon, sure, I have no problem in telling them that we need to go own our separate ways, but leaving Jaheira in her cell seems really vile, even when I roll an evil character. The same goes for abandoning Minsc before leaving the dungeon. But my point is, even though I never actually leave these characters in their cells, I like it that the option exists, because then I feel that I have chosen to rescue them. If not, then I'm not really choosing anything, I'm just reading a lot of dialogue over which I have no influence. This is one of the main drawbacks of Icewind Dale: whatever you say more or less gives the same result. Sure, you can choose to be polite or rude to the NPCs, but it doesn't have the severe consequences that it has in Baldur's Gate 2, like actually loosing NPCs.
The conclusion would be that, from a game design perspective, players shouldn't be given the illusion of choice, they should be given actual choices which dramatically alter the events that unfold afterwards.
Looking good. Are you planning on making a swamp tileset? I know you made some swamp plants, but I was thinking about making a whole tileset in that environment, with weeping willow trees, mangroves, etc. Perhaps we can join efforts.
@dorkster: the windows are proving to be a little bit of a challenge, but fear not, I have an idea on how to make them work. The challenge is that since the view is isometric, if you stand inside of the building you wouldn't really see the horizon, or even the sky for that matter. You would only see ground. But I think I know how to work around this, I just have to make it look convincing.
@dorkster: duly noted.
@rubberduck: thanks! Sure, use it if you think it's worth it. What do you mean about the stuff you need to change? Do you mean changes to this room tileset? If that's the case, perhaps I can change it myself so that I save you some time.
So, do I take it that this tileset has in-game potential? : D
Anyways, I'm on it, I'll fix it later today.
True. Here's how the error was caused: I decided to give the tables a top-down lighting so that the cast shadow would fit a 64 x 128 tile. Longer cast shadows will mean that either I split the tables into more tiles or I make them smaller. I think the first option is better.
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