Could Moderator Please Delete? (MagicRPG)

[DarknessX]

I am updating this post to accommodate the update to a graphical game, and would like to start on a fresh slate.

[DarknessX]

http://magic-rpg.blogspot.com/

An Update:
I'm working on the Battle Royale tree & battle system. I've got it nearly finished, will be posting screenshots when I get it fully finished. It goes like this:

2 battles, 1vs1 each, and the winners advance and fight. After that, the 2 losers advance and fight, and the winner of each set fights.
I'll be adding a 16 player mode for Battle Royale with up to 4 human players and up to 12 computer opponents (eventually).

Once the 4-player battle royale mode is complete, I'm going to complete the selection of weapons, even them out a bit more, add the spells, potions, and abilities, and then will be starting on the multiplayer-campaign via hotseat.

Another Update:
I have a blog setup now, where I will be reporting the progress of my game. I will copy each post to here, and post it here, along with links to downloads. See the top of the post for the link.

[savage]

I have bumped your post to news item.

[DarknessX]

Yay! It's a news item now. An update from my blog:


Gah! Been working on making a modified battle-system for the Battle Royale mode.. It's quite confusing. Not sure of a short way of doing it; the long way requires that I take my battle system, and check (this is for only 2 players fighting...):
Is turn1 player1,2,3,or4?
if 1...
if 2...
if 3..
if 4..
/end
is turn2 player2,3, or 4?
if 2...
if 3...
if 4...
/end
I need to do this, because the current battle system either forces 2 players, (playera and playerb) or 4 players (playera,b,c, and d) to battle at the same time. So I could either set a temp variable, set the current players, and convert from there, of do the above method. If I do a temp variable, I will have to clone the current battle system and heavily modify it. If I do the above method, I have to make a whole brand-new battle system. Grrr!

[DarknessX]

Well, today I decided on how to do the system. I'm gonna work on it today and probably tomorrow, by making a whole brand-new seperate system for the Battle Royale game mode. This will be a bit extra work, but will make it easier for modifications in the future to JUST the battle royale or just the main game.
I should have this complete by Tuesday, and will hopefully have a demo released by then too.

[DarknessX]

Battle Royale

OK, well, I've gotten the Battle Royale system nearly finished, but I'm trying to locate a bug that closes the program before you can battle in Battle Royale. I'm thinking it has to do with a variable that has no value, or else possibly the way the if.. then.. else's are setup. I'm hoping I can fix it within the next day or so, because aside from that, a full display for the Battle Royale is complete, with up to 5 rounds. The game checks who won the previous round, and depending on the winners, sets the next battles, displays them in a color-coded tree, and then SHOULD continue on to the battle. At the moment, it tells you who fights for the first round, but since I can't go through with a battle yet, I can't ensure it properly tells the people who fight in the second, and more importantly, the third, as in the third round, it pits the losers of the first 2 rounds against each other, and I used a sketchy way of working this to make it work. I'm doubtful that this entire battle system will work without bugs, but once I get it working, I'm hoping that it will at least allow a battle... and finish it.

On another note, I fixed up the user friendliness, by making the "Register Your Character" area force you to input the proper values. IE, for the races, the 4 current races you can pick (will be more, most likely 16+) are Dwarf, Elf, Human, and Orc. So, the register your character forces you to type either Dwarf, Elf, Human, or Orc, or it makes you re-enter the information. Same with the Gender (quite important; as the gender gives certain bonuses aswell!)

I also fixed a loading bug, where you could create a new character, but could not load the character. Now you can, but where it tells you the Game Type, it is blank for now because that is another bug I must work out.

I should have completely finished the Battle Royale mode by tomorrow, and will be putting in music the day after, and then after that I will be packaging a playable demo.

DarknessX

[DarknessX]

Been a bit sick lately, sorry bout the lack of updates. I'm finally over my cold, have 3 non-important posts to my blog. Only new, important thing is this:

I have figured out how to do the battle system, and planned out how and where I'm going after I release the first demo. I will also attempt to port it to linux/mac, as I don't THINK theres any inconsistencies...

I'm going to release a demo, let it get around, and while people are commenting on it, I will start a small, little side project... With graphics. Using it, I will do simple 2D movement, and figure out how everything works in graphics, and then I will begin looking for people who can help me by doing the artwork. Once they are found, I will be working with them for a good while, filling them in on EVERYTHING on the project, and getting some sample work from them.

Finally, I'm going to begin the conversion to a graphical game, starting with just a final-fantasy style, low-graphics (like 16bit) battle system, will practice around, and release another small demo. By then, I hopefully will be at approximately v0.05. A rough check of the time this takes will probably be anywhere up to 2 months, or longer. I'm not making any set times, as I don't know how long it will take to find graphics artists...

Now, a question for you all... Where should I go for looking for some decent graphics artists?

[godbeast]

It's going to be hard finding someone to draw on the net, belive me, it's easier in real live, I've been through it too.

See Artworks forum on PGD. Also checkout these links, there are tons of free sprites, I've your planning something like Final Fantasy stuff (I belive basing on those relases from NES to SNES), you're surely find them useful:

videogamesprites (http://www.videogamesprites.net/)
Sprite Database (http://sdb.drshnaps.com/)
Charas (http://charas-project.net/resources.php?wa=0%E2%8C%A9=fr&area=Charasets&offset=85&howmany=10&fsearch=)
and this site (http://blog.outer-court.com/archive/2006-08-08-n51.html)

[WILL]

If you want to find an artist to do custom graphics for your game, I recommend going to a graphics site with forums and post your request for new artwork.

If you want 2D art, then go to a site that features 2D or 'pixel art'. If you want to get 3D graphics then go to a 3D modeling site. Just know what you want before you start posting about your project.

I'd STRONGLY recommend that you be descriptive though. Not so much about every single detail about your game, but instead a basic concept of your game (gameplay, synopsis of the story, target audience, size/scope, etc) and of course a reasonable projection of how much work is involved. Use figures that can be rationalized by anyone and broken down into a practical time-frame. So avoid just stating 'lots', 'a few', 'many', try to be specific here. It will give them a realistic amount of commitment they will have to put into it.

One of the sites that I know of for 2D graphics is Pixel Joint (http://www.pixeljoint.com/). You might be able to find someone there who takes an interest in your project.

[DarknessX]

Thanks for the answers. It's going to be 2D... But I'm not sure how exact I will be able to be, because I'm quite inexperienced as to how graphics work when making a game... Which is why I'm going to be doing this... 'Project'. I'm probably going to make a 2D fighting game, where you can move left to right, right to left, jump, kick, punch, etc... and scroll the screen. Most likely using stick men for the people, but nonetheless, it will provide me with practice. Once I'm done that, I will definitely go check out the site you provided me with in that there link...

[DarknessX]

Well, demo released. Big post on the blog... magic-rpg.blogspot.com. Check it out! Still not fully un-buggy, but it's working... Just a taster.

[wodzu]

It's going to be hard finding someone to draw on the net, belive me, it's easier in real live, I've been through it too.


I totally agree. For me its a third month of searching some artist. I've posted on many forums. Some people answered on my post but when I told them what I want to be done they ignored me :?

So I am still searching slowly loosing hope :(

[Traveler]

Have you made a request on the forums (http://forums.indiegamer.com/) of indiegamer.com? There are quite a few artists there who might be willing to help you out.

Mind you though, it probably will cost you a bit, but you'll get something good out of it.

[wodzu]

Have you made a request on the forums (http://forums.indiegamer.com/) of indiegamer.com? There are quite a few artists there who might be willing to help you out.

Mind you though, it probably will cost you a bit, but you'll get something good out of it.

Thanks for the link mate, I'll check it right away :) Unfortunately I am not able to pay anything for the help since game which I am making is only for fun / improving coding skills. But my expectations from an artist are equal to the size of the project: few ground tiles, few object sprites, few unit sprites they doesn't have to be world class level;).
If I will not find anyone I'll just mix sprites ripped from some games. The outcome result might be funy after all - ugly but funny;-)

Once again thanks for the link.

[Traveler]

You're welcome :)

If all else fails, you could always try the ever populair graphics made by Reiner Prokein (http://reinerstileset.4players.de/englisch.htm).

[DarknessX]

Well, I released a stable version of the game...
Version 0.02 is now out, and the battle royale mode is about 95% complete.
All 5 rounds can now be played, and by tomorrow, you will gain experience and weapons for winning.

The game, AFAIK, is completely bugless, so please, do submit bugs you find..

Only 2 'odd' things I know of are for player 4, 'Who do you want to attack?' is displayed twice, and at the very end, a player name is displayed in the middle of the screen...

Pretty simple stuff.
A full walkthrough is on my blog on how to use it, with all supported commands. Tomorrow, I will add spells and potions, a save function, the ability to get new weapons, and gaining experience for winning the battles.

[wodzu]

Hello mate:)

Since I am a big fan of ADOM I've tried your game.
Here are my suggestions ;)

The link to the game download on your site is wrong, it doesn't work.
After downloading version 0.2 I started game and created two characters.
The creation process is a bit to complicated, instead of typing EXACTLY "Rusted Dagger" you should allow player to chose it from the list by typing some number (1,2,3) as you did it later. Also I think that player shouldn't press enter as a confirmation or it should be configurable(to press enter or to just press an option number and confirm automatically).
Unfortunately I couldn't play even one turn because when program asks me who I want to attack:
Player 1: Wodzu
Player 2: Wodzu2

program exits to Windows when I type player name or 'Player 2'.

Good luck with your project;)

[DarknessX]

Well, that's why you should have read my blog (on the attack...) however, I am not blaming you as it is not very clear, and I realize this.

Try by typing the number of the player, IE,
1 to attack player 1, or 2 to attack player 2.

Now, enter is basically non-configurable AFAIK, because to read input, it is using Readln(var);... Hence, AFAIK, non-configurable.

Now, the reason you must type the specific weapon name, is because the equip system reads the current weapon you have, checks your inventory to see that you have it, and then runs the procedure. HOWEVER, to decide if you own the weapon or not, it checks WeaponA/B/C/D to see if it is equal to...
Rusted Dagger
Broken Axe
Wooden Sword
or etc. So, having to type the whole name is basically necessary, unless I setup procedures for several hundred different weapons. I believe people would prefer to type the whole name, and have MANY MANY weapons, than to have to type a number which is nearly impossible to remember, but only have 20-30 weapons.

Don't forget, this must also work with armor, which is not implemented yet. So, although it might seem easier to type a single number or letter, that means I need a number for each piece of armor, and for each weapon, plus a number for each of the 8 different states of that weapon (IE, Rusted, Broken, Wooden, Legendary, Godly, etc...)

I do appreciate your input, however.

EDIT: Link fixed.

[DarknessX]

Well, I haven't updated for a while, so I guess I should.

Nothing new has occurred. I'm currently working on a side-project, like my blog at magic-rpg.blogspot.com says, and will be done that by the end of this month, and then back on my game.

[DarknessX]

Again, haven't updated. Decided this should go on pause, while I learn OOP. So... yeah. If enough people ask, I'll stabilize the current version, and release it... But for now, no luck :)

[WILL]

Sorry DarknessX, we don't simply delete old threads. But I suppose we could lock it if you'd like.

[DarknessX]

Oh ok.. I guess that works. I am made a new post, one for the graphical version which I'm currently working on. You don't have to lock it, I guess, I just didn't want people getting confused between this post, and the new one.