[Role Playing Game] Acheron

[A Void]

Add a sweet background image for the shop.

*golum voice*

We wantsss it, we needsss it.

i agree, i still think this needs some proper background.

 

[APproject]

It does have 2 landscape images, I just haven't posted it yet, I will once I will be done with the shop.

 

[Solu9]

Is there a way to generate random number so that it would be different every time I replay?

From my experience. Even with random numbers enabled you will still get the same outcome when you use the "test map" function (including restarting the map from within the game).
If you open the map from inside the game to begin with you should get random numbers each time (including restarting the map).

 

[Rao Dao Zao]

From my experience. Even with random numbers enabled you will still get the same outcome when you use the "test map" function (including restarting the map from within the game).
If you open the map from inside the game to begin with you should get random numbers each time (including restarting the map).

There is a checkbox in the WE options to use "fixed random seed" when testing the map from there. If you untick it, random will be more random again.

 

[APproject]

Thanks, guys, learning every day.

 

[APproject]

Finally some terrain screenshots, this time I will show how it looks ingame rather than showing from Editor's perspective. I am using a custom script tp make it really dark, so in Editor it is not visible, will show not ingame screenies later, when more of terrain will be done. Also improved the first terrain by adding some darkening glows and webs. Nothing special about this terrain, just an ordinary castle theme.

Ingame Terrain (4)

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[Solu9]

Are those screenshots sexy? Yes they are.

 

[Heinvers]

Looks great. You gave the terrain that distinctive underworld look that you aim for. Much love for that work man.

 

[Veritas 117]

They look great for sure. I have to ask, how did you make two levels in the first screenie. It looks like there are units above and below. Are the skeletons on the lower level just doodads or is it some sort of optical illusion? I'm curious because as far as I know no one has been able to make something multi-leveled like that.

 

[Heinvers]

I assume those would be 'false units' to give the illusion that it's multi leveled. I would do such a thing in my older playable terrains (making doodad units) to give it more life and add some eye candy

 

[Solu9]

The atmosphere in those screenshots looks like what Diablo 3 should have looks liked. I can't wait to play this map.

They look great for sure. I have to ask, how did you make two levels in the first screenie. It looks like there are units above and below. Are the skeletons on the lower level just doodads or is it some sort of optical illusion? I'm curious because as far as I know no one has been able to make something multi-leveled like that.

Yeah I have been wondering the same thing.

 

[APproject]

Thank you very much.

Everything is doodads below, only one playable level, yet having three main levels as upper (doodad), middle (gameplay) and lower (doodad), really improves the looks, it gives that 3D feel, not like an ordinary warcraft map just with one plain field.

 

[Vinz]

Is it just me or the screenshots are too dark? I have difficulties seeing Athanas.

 

[Heinvers]

...it's dark because of the genuine underworld look he's making now

 

[Vinz]

I hope that does not affect the visual performance.

 

[APproject]

It is not too dark, you can see Athanas clearly as well as majority of environment objects. Perhaps it is your computer or screen?

 

[A Void]

Command buttons (Attack, Move, Patrol, Hold Position, Stop) don't match the atmosphere nor the interface, they look very cartoon-like. Why is there a night / day clock in Erebus or some underground area, you should re-work your UI and remove un-needed clock. I also noticed that you used interesting areas to add your custom event interface such as Hero Icons that actually represent buttons? Karma? Points?.. You should also edit the inerface completely, I mean completely- hero experience bar (purple bar). You should also remove mini-map buttons, disable them via triggers and make them invisible. The cursor is too blurry atm. You also have a very unrealistic light placement, I mean how can there be light in certain areas if there is no visible light source?! If you are aiming for that underworld Erebus "feel" then you should make it realistic with light sources. Terrain is excellent and I wish you would create an interesting story-line and lore as much as you created this terrain-like. Keep it simple enough and no shining pony skill effects that hurt the eyes like in Diablo 3.

 

[Deleted member 219079]

The exp bar is hard to modify as it doesn't allow green hue :/

 

[APproject]

Yeah, command buttons are forced right now, may repolace it with something better in the future. Clock is not needed indeed as well as minimap buttons, not sure how to remove it yet, going to look it up.

Light placement is correct, if you pay attention, you would notice lamp stoves, but without fire. This happened when I used custom script call SetDayNightModels("",""), it add all the darkness, yet hide fire effects, that's annoying, I wonder if there is a way to make those fires to be visible and maintain the darkness. In case I can not do so, I will have to place another fire model ontop of the torch.

Buttons at the side are for Talent Tree, Vendor menus and Functions command (a set of systems for attribute / talent point reset, teleportation, statistics display). I was planning to keep it active with text commands, but this way it is much easier, and some people might forget a bunch of commands or get annoyed typing help over and over.

No worries, I am not a fan of big shiny special effects either.

I think you can edit experience bar not that hard, never tried through, but I saw a model with a skin, skin can be easily recolored.

 

[A Void]

The exp bar is hard to modify as it doesn't allow green hue :/

Lol, its easy. There is a .fdf or .pdf file inside .mpq that controls certain colors of interface. I don't remember which one.

 

[Vinz]

It was my tablet, I see it clearly now. Though the hero is still a tiny bit dark. xD

 

[Heinvers]

The hero is just fine as of now imo.

 

[APproject]

Another terrain update. One screenie is from previous images plus new one, both from Editor point of view, ingame it might be much darker as well as different light sources.

Terrain (2)

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[Deleted member 219079]

Reminds me of D3

Is that purple orb gatherable?

edit: Hey I have suggestion; make so that user can use command -cam <80-120> to set the cam distance to x% of def dist

 

[Heinvers]

Is that purple orb gatherable?

looks like an item. I guess it should.

Pretty updates.

 

[APproject]

It is same themed as Diablo. Yet I never played it so can't copy, hehe. That purple orb teaches a new spell, these will be often at start as a pool of spells needs to be gathered quickly and it might be met rarely in later game.

On the gameplay note, I came up with a nice idea. Since you will have a triggered companion that will constantly heal you, follow you, talk and deal damage to enemies, it might also resurrect you once you die. If companion dies, it will resurrect after 20 seconds and resurrection will be on cooldown for another 20 seconds. If you die and there are no nearby enemies, companion will resurrect you in 5 seconds, no cooldown. Basically two deaths in 20 seconds of companion is the defeat condition.

 

[Vinz]

The orb is too much eyecandy. I am melting. <3

 

[Heinvers]

20 seconds of companion is the defeat condition.

I think that's quite fair.

I am melting. <3

Takes the spoon and looks at CakeMaster

Since you will have a triggered companion

Will it also give you some buff like attack speed or something?

 

[A Void]

Another terrain update. One screenie is from previous images plus new one, both from Editor point of view, ingame it might be much darker as well as different light sources.

Terrain (2)

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Why use orb for spell gainings? I'd like to see more diversity in recent video-games, you should make it a spell-book or a pendant rather than an orb.

 

[APproject]

Sounds like a good idea, it might give a buff once in a while.

The aim is to gain a spell for sure without looking for it, because I got burnt of this in Iceborn. There I used an item for gainings, a scroll, sometimes it was hidden and many people had troubles finding it leading to game dibalance. And if it is an easy way to gain, rapid attack for a spell gain is the quickest, considering enemy spawns around the area once it is done. Orb is not original, but I deem it as a sphere of deadly energies concentrated in Erebus.

 

[A Void]

Sounds like a good idea, it might give a buff once in a while.

The aim is to gain a spell for sure without looking for it, because I got burnt of this in Iceborn. There I used an item for gainings, a scroll, sometimes it was hidden and many people had troubles finding it leading to game dibalance. And if it is an easy way to gain, rapid attack for a spell gain is the quickest, considering enemy spawns around the area once it is done. Orb is not original, but I deem it as a sphere of deadly energies concentrated in Erebus.

Yeah glowing orbs of purple fire, just change the model of the orb to a book, it will be written in unknown language so the player wont know on what he is reading.

 

[APproject]

As I mentioned earlier, this is not an item, but destructible, you break the shell of an orb and gain an ability, also it is an eye candy in such dark environment. Plus getting rid if the items from inventory just to pick and item that can not be even read and click on it again and then retake the dropped item is annoying. I understand you take on something more unique, but tomes of spells are as common as orbs.

On the update note, played with Mldvis and GIMP and came up with this quest-starter corpse. Corpse dropped a journal which will bring a quest, I will try making it slightly different on different difficulty.

 

[Heinvers]

Good idea, on harder difficulties you could make the corpse more butchered or only a skeleton in insane. Depends on what you aim for.

 

[Deleted member 219079]

Are you totally confident on the difficulty changes gameplay - thingy? :/

 

[APproject]

Don't worry, it will not change it a lot, just more enemies, stronger enemies, slightly different course of quests, yet the same quest, slightly different boss fights. Of course game will be limited if picking easy difficulty, you will not be able to finish the map on easy, just a part of it, you will have to pick harder if you want to play more of the map. I wonder if this wouldn't backlash.

 

[Deleted member 219079]

you will not be able to finish the map on easy, just a part of it, you will have to pick harder if you want to play more of the map. I wonder if this wouldn't backlash.

that sounds bearable, in case you don't need to start all over again with the harder difficulty

 

[APproject]

You may need to start over. But it will not be completely the same, harder difficulty may demand more insight on the game, plus it goes faster the second or third time. This is a dungeon crawler, not a nerrative RPG, so it should be okay by restarting on harder. Or people might pick hardest and complete the game in one shot.

Another update, this time not on terrain, but the book system. Basically, book item is acquired, by clicking on it you can open or close the book. When book is opened, this menu appears. Book opens, you can turn pages and close the book. All actions with cool sound effects from pond5.com. Of course ingame there will be various text, perhaps even images with various clues. Inspired by Dualism.

Book System

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[Heinvers]

That looks pretty good even with that rough look. Looking forward to more updates

 

[A Void]

You may need to start over. But it will not be completely the same, harder difficulty may demand more insight on the game, plus it goes faster the second or third time. This is a dungeon crawler, not a nerrative RPG, so it should be okay by restarting on harder. Or people might pick hardest and complete the game in one shot.

Another update, this time not on terrain, but the book system. Basically, book item is acquired, by clicking on it you can open or close the book. When book is opened, this menu appears. Book opens, you can turn pages and close the book. All actions with cool sound effects from pond5.com. Of course ingame there will be various text, perhaps even images with various clues. Inspired by Dualism.

Book System

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The book looks not that good, a little messy. But the idea is good, I am also thinking of making a book-type readable data in my Warhammer 40,00 The Aspect, maybe a computer chip? Dualism did a good job to include it, it helps players to utilize the lore in most friendly way.

 

[APproject]

Book is blurry, I know, but I can't do better. Texture is already at 1024x1024 size and book should be designed to be zoomed, model should be bigger and more detailed and not one plain texture. So now I am stuck with this blurryness, but it is acceptable.

Good luck with your project and idea, chip sounds interesting. I wonder if the text should also be voice acted, since there might be lots of text.

 

[Heinvers]

I wonder if the tect should also be voice acted, since there might be lots of text.

Depends, but I guess for more immersion it would be an idea.

 

[PROXY]

I don't think voice acting these textes is a good idea. Skyrim for example doesn't do it either, and I always hate it when I have to wait on the voice acting to finish.

 

[A Void]

I don't think voice acting these textes is a good idea. Skyrim for example doesn't do it either, and I always hate it when I have to wait on the voice acting to finish.

Geez, there is always a "Skip" button. I'm sure if creator does the voice acting method then there will be surely a skip button. You could also exit the book and voice acting auto-ends.

 

[APproject]

Yeah, I was thinking the same. Book's content is always a silent voice in your head, considering there also would be a decent amount of text. Book might also be opened many times, so voices wouldn't do it. Acting can be skipped however.

 

[A Void]

Yeah, I was thinking the same. Book's content is always a silent voice in your head, considering there also would be a decent amount of text. Book might also be opened many times, so voices wouldn't do it. Acting can be skipped however.

Do you know a game called Amnesia? It was the best horror game of 2010? Anyway, it had unvoiced notes trough out the game. The downfall was that nobody cared to read trough them, they got boring enough from the middle of the game. Some of people even wanted a patch for all voice acted notes. Most people would not even read the lore if it is not voice acted- Diablo 3 has voice acted notes and journals it was a big plus. You should consider to do voice acted text, I can also assure you that many players wont get into reading the text once from the middle or so.

 

[APproject]

You have a strong point here, A Void. I will consider it after all.

 

[Chen]

That book look nice! And Underworld? Will Hades or other Gods appear?

 

[Vinz]

It looks cool and is a nice idea, but please do something with the texture. :X

A little sharpness might help.

 

[Heinvers]

It looks cool and is a nice idea, but please do something with the texture. :X

A little sharpness might help.

He already said it's at 1024x1024 lol

Texture is already at 1024x1024 size and book should be designed to be zoomed, model should be bigger and more detailed and not one plain texture. So now I am stuck with this blurryness, but it is acceptable.

@Cakey \/

 

[Vinz]

I did see that post. And sharpness is not size.