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[Role Playing Game] Acolyte of Life

All the level design screenshots in the main thread have been updated to show the most recent level design changes. Also posting them below:

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Very good job. It's quite astonishing what you are capable of doing !
Thanks!

---
Another update, showcasing the inn interior, the second floor of the inn and the city theater. The theater entrance is a bit too dark so I intend on fixing that eventually. Also did another round in the mansion just for good measure :p
 
It's gonna be a long video this time. I don't expect anyone to watch the whole thing. It's a walkthrough of the entire terrain to give an impression of just how big the world is. This video is also a big milestone level design wise. The fact that the world is nearly complete, and fully traversable is a huge step in the right direction. All the transitions, fast traveling and saving/loading works flawlessly.

 
Level 14
Joined
Jan 16, 2009
Messages
716
Impressive work! I really like the castle in the snow area, the blizzard outside the windows is a really nice touch.
I would suggest getting a few more door sounds, because already in the first few minutes of the video it can become irritating! Also adding a few water splash and shore lines effects would make the water look more alive - especially on that beach with the waterfall.
 
Impressive work! I really like the castle in the snow area, the blizzard outside the windows is a really nice touch.
I would suggest getting a few more door sounds, because already in the first few minutes of the video it can become irritating! Also adding a few water splash and shore lines effects would make the water look more alive - especially on that beach with the waterfall.
Thanks!

Yeah the door sounds are on my list of things to change.

Also I haven't worked on the sounds at all yet, most of the sounds you hear are just Youtube background stuff. I'm considering changing to 1.35 now that custom campaigns are possible, since I can easily add 3D ambient sounds pretty much anywhere without a hassle. I just hope they have worked out most of the bugs, but we will see on the 19th when I will make an attempt to upgrade from 1.31 to 1.35.
 
With Warcraft III now supporting custom campaigns natively on the latest patch I have been working on making everything work on patch 1.35. I can now say that all transitioning, saving, systems, UI, and triggers in general is working perfectly on patch 1.35. In other words, transitioning from patch 1.31 has been a great success.

One of the main motivating factors to upgrading was the plethora of sound bugs in 1.31. Specifically with 3D sounds not playing as they should. With everything now running on patch 1.35 I worked on the soundscape of the monastery map, adding ambient sounds to different locations to make a more immersive experience. I can't wait to work on the soundscape of the other maps too.

Here's a short video showcasing the monastery soundscape:
(The soundscape is not complete, and will be subjected to changes. Volumes will be adjusted, sounds may be changed out, and the music is just placeholder music)

 
Level 4
Joined
May 19, 2020
Messages
319
When I have reached the doodad limit but refuse to delete doodads:

View attachment 415641
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The model consists of around 270 geosets.... At least it works fine in-game.

Within WorldEditor, there is no better way to overcome the limits of Doodads (when they are just objects for aesthetic and with forms static purposes) than by creating multiple geosets within a single large 3D model.
Alternatively, you can create a generic, inanimate and invulnerable unit and set it as Neutral Passive, applying the geoset you want to the model... after all, when units are pre-entered in the edit map, you can have almost endless. Lol
Until proven otherwise... For units, you have no limits to create them in a pre-established way within W.E. :peasant-cheers:
 

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 69
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,836
Until proven otherwise... For units, you have no limits to create them in a pre-established way within W.E.
Units don't appear in fog of war. Not that it would be a problem in this project since it doesn't use fog of war or black mask, so units with Locust could work but I'll let @FeelsGoodMan fill in why it's not the best or that good of an idea.
 
I'll let @FeelsGoodMan fill in why it's not the best or that good of an idea.
A couple of reasons:
  • Seeing the model in-editor makes it easier to place filler doodads.
  • Units are more resource-intensive than doodads.
  • Using tons of regions to place unit doodads is a hassle, and doing it by coordinates is also a hassle.
  • If I want the unit doodads to play animations they can't have locust (unless I target specific units), and if they don't have locust they are included in various "pick all units" functions.
I'm sure there are more, but those are just from the top of my head.
 
After upgrading to 1.35 I had some issues with the fog, since it acts differently from what it did in 1.31. In 1.31 the fog density was a lot thicker all over, while in 1.35 the fog is a lot thinner closer to the camera and a lot thicker farther away. This is problematic since it removed a lot of the atmosphere in the overworld, especially in the mountain map. In the mountain map to create depth I made mountains that were visible in the background, and made the fog act as a white filter in the foreground while the mountains were still visible. In 1.35 if I wanted to do the same with the fog I had to set its Z end value so low that the mountains in the background became completely covered in fog, ruining the whole feeling of depth.

So to circumvent this I have spent a considerable amount of time adding advanced fade filters with the desired color and transparency to make it look like I want to. This was also kinda problematic, since every time it fades to black (when entering/exiting interiors, transitioning to other zones, going to different maps, dialogues, game is loaded, day night cycle and so on) it would go straight from a white or gray filter to a non-transparent black one immediately. So naturally I had to add advanced fade filters to every single time it fades to black, and adjust it to what time of day it is, whether or not the player enters or exits an interior and so on. It was a hassle, but I finally made it work perfectly everywhere, and the result is a lot better imo. An unexpected but very welcome side effect of this is that I now made it so when you exit an interior during the day it fades to bright instead of dark, which is more fitting and adds to the immersion.

Also as a side note, and something that was requested by many, I have now changed out the door sound with something a little less squeaky.

 
Now that the level design is done for the most part I have been working on the systems. I have remade the old talent system due to some undesirable functions, and also took the time to complete the icons for all characters. Some icons and abilities are still in development, so they are not working as they should in the talent trees.
 
A more extensive video will be posted within a month.
So this turned out to be a lie :p The systems aren't done yet, but we're getting there. The trade system is nearly complete (just have to make a scroll function for the "buy" and "buyback" pages, the scroll for the "sell" page is already done).

As soon as the trade system is complete I will tweak the item variables and finish up the icons so they all have appropriate borders and backgrounds, and then I will implement all the systems into a demo map, and make a proper in-depth video explaining all the systems. Hopefully within 2 weeks - 1 month.

Screenshot_2.png
 

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 69
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,836
We haven't shared much of what the story would be about but I'd like it to have a bit of philosophy, religion, politics (+ideologies and forms of government), war, love, controversial matters and possibly others I can't think of/remember right now.
I wanted it to be more like a chronicle or growing up/coming of age inspired thing but FeelsGoodMan wants the approach more video game standard (especially RPG style). I am trying to get a mix of these.

Actually, today I want to tell a few things about the background behind the weird character names. Places will also have such designations. I also want to have one or two made-up languages around for a few sentences but we'll see how it'll turn out. Most stuff will be in English in terms of interpersonal communication.
FeelsGoodMan doesn't like 99.9% of these gibberish word amalgamations but this will probably be the hardest and longest tolerance test he'll endure (not mentioning other stuff he's putting up with, heh).

The idea of mixing various known words from different languages came from my discussions with one of the initial members of the project, kovadarra who acted as a coder but soon after chickened out, sadly leaving us with little to benefit from.
Do note that some of the words are not native to the languages they are in but may be borrowed from other languages. For instance, chemistry comes from Greek.

1. Adevramies is the main protagonist. His name is a mix of two words, truth in Romanian and hunter or to hunt in Finnish. Therefore you could understand him symbolically as truth hunter or hunter of truth or whatever you feel is fitting.
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Adevramies is a former aristocrat son turned monk (and later templar) at a young age as a result of a peasant revolt overthrowing monarchy aided by some nobles.

He is the strongest of the characters overall and his tree skill columns give the player the choice of using offensive, defensive and buffing abilities all of which can be upgraded with both defensive and/or offensive characteristics.

2. Second character to come into the fold is Madudir, from man in Icelandic and strong in Irish. Typical name for a standard strongman literally and otherwise.
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Madudir is an older "barbarian" (so called by the easterners, e.g. Adevramies' people) who battled, before the revolution, in the last war between the west (mountain lands) and east (green lands), the former side losing and being occupied by the latter, leaving him without a home, to rethink and change his way of life.

He is a powerful character but weaker in resistance, his skills being somewhat similar in scope to the main protagonist's.

3. Probably, the third one is Lumieava or the protagonist below her, from the Finnish for magic/spellbinding (some words may have more meanings depending on context) and the Romanian for chemistry. Her name could be interpreted either as having a charismatic persona and being knowledgeable or simply through the fact that she is an alchemist. FeelsGoodMan definitely stomped a few other tries before we got to this final appellation.
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Lumieava is a nonconformist eastern university alchemist who saturated with bureaucracy and seemingly never changing academic rules started focusing more on finding her missing sister than doing science.

She is the healer and buffing character, most fragile of all but will also have some poison to brew for the party's pesky enemies.

4. The fourth character or maybe that would be the one above, as we haven't yet decided the exact order in which they become playable/join your party, is Sovrendyan, from sovereign in English and beggar in French. I won't spoil the naming process of this one but just think of him as being an upstart :p
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Sovrendyan is not a notorious pirate on the seas but quite known among his peers, and rather atypical...

He is a blend between the ranged and melee damage dealer and the uniquest of all five characters in this aspect as he is able to perform with and equip both a gun and a sword, using abilities dependent on these items.

5. The final, possibly, would be Anaaskla, denominated so by the mixing of soul in Irish and innocent in Icelandic, mostly because she's young and has to face unfairness.
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Anaaskla is a young westerner who grew up under the eastern monarchy turned republic's occupation and due to the dangerously discriminatory behaviour of a local village authority she has left her native place and become a survivalist befriending animals and embracing nature at its fullest.

She is your common archer with a twist, her skills including the aid of pets which the player can tame and work with in symbiosis, frankly making her special as well.

Sorry, no lovely pictures from me :D
 
Last edited:
Things are progressing slower than I wished, however, the indexed list of items has been moved from simply a Google spreadsheet to an actual list that compiles in-game. A whooping ~850 unique items with matching icons where 484 of them are equipment items for 5 characters, and the rest of the items are resources, consumables, potions, poisons, and other things. The indexed list contains ~27000 lines of code that determines the properties of each item.

I'll go more in-depth when I post the video I have been talking about.
 
The long awaited inventory, crafting and shop showcase video with voice-over is finally done. This has been such a huge and daunting task, but we eventually got through it at last. Some bugs are still present, and some things needs to be tweaked, but for the most part the system is done. Deepstrasz has been hard at work, making descriptions, stats, and many other things for over 800 unique items, while I have handled the systems inner workings, artwork, and many other things.

This is an immensely important milestone in the projects development, and a huge step in the right direction. All the major systems are actually done, paving the way to making quests (hopefully) soon. It's gonna take time to make all the systems bug free and fully functional, but once they're done and it's possible to experience combat encounters and such we will be releasing a closed beta. I don't have a roadmap for exactly when, but you can always follow the project on Discord for more information.

Project Discord page: Join the Acolyte of Life Discord Server!

 

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 69
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,836
In this DevUp, few words about enemies players will encounter. We haven't fully fleshed out the roster. However it would include humans (along the lines of: witches/warlocks, cultists, dark/corrupt priests, alchemists, thieves/rogues/bandits, assassins, soldiers, knights, militia/guardsmen, some having both ranged and melee variants; mostly a matter of naming as usually roles are quite similar within distinct groups, stats, abilities, visual differences being what makes any particular unit in a way unique) and animals (see details below).

For assassins and cultists, see the combat system in action by @Yours Truly - link.

Regarding the wildlife, I'll showcase the bestiary, entirely done by @FeelsGoodMan, UI system, descriptions and design (models from WoW, UI assets from Unity).
Bestiary.png
Bestiary02.png
Bestiary03.png
Anaaskla (the archer character) has an ability to use during combat on animals so they can be converted to pets. Not all can be swayed though.

Fauna includes:
bat.png
black panther.png
brown bear.png
fox.png
giant rat.png
gorilla.png
lynx.png
monkey.png
moose.png
mountain goat.png
porcupine.png
snow fox.png
snow leopard.png
tiger.png
wild hog.png
wolf.png
polar bear.png
eagle.png
parrot.png
vulture.png
crocodile.png
monitor lizard.png
snake.png
toad.png
butterfly.png
cave beetle.png
wasp.png
scorpion.png
spider.png
crab.png
worm.png
kraken.png
snail.png

No, we're not into animal brutality or even hunting. Note that this is just a game.

Anyways, some of the seemingly small ones will be quite big in our custom world.
There are also other animals, domestic too which are not enemies and serve as decorations if you will.
Flying units can be targeted by melee ones too. The gameplay isn't like in Warcraft III, it's turn based but without the complication of needing to keep a ranged character in the party all the time. There are some advantages that come with that though as they can shoot past front lines.



In the past, we were discussing the temporary introduction of some characters for some quests.
One such is a mysterious figure by @Yours Truly
Portrait_Astallas - Resized.png

Watch him and the main protagonist go rogue on the village militia in an early combat iteration footage:
 
Edit: Will the RPG tag be changed to campaign? It's described as a campaign in the first post.
Not really sure about this, since I feel the tag "RPG" captures the essence of this project better than "campaign". It's simply a campaign due to limitations in map size and doodad count. The project is the same style of transitions as The Founding of Durotar where you can freely travel between maps in a huge open world, so the game play is not linear like you'd expect from a Warcraft III style campaign.
 
Level 17
Joined
Apr 13, 2008
Messages
1,597
Not really sure about this, since I feel the tag "RPG" captures the essence of this project better than "campaign". It's simply a campaign due to limitations in map size and doodad count. The project is the same style of transitions as The Founding of Durotar where you can freely travel between maps in a huge open world, so the game play is not linear like you'd expect from a Warcraft III style campaign.

Yeah. Well, the highest map size in the editor is a lie, as you'll probably reach the doodad count by populating just quarter of the map. Campaigns are kinda necessary for any singeplayer RPG.
 
Campaigns are kinda necessary for any singeplayer RPG.
Pretty much yeah, unless you're really insistent on making a one-map RPG, in which case you can combine lots of models into huge and detailed doodads. There's still the map size limit though, you're limited to 480x480 (which is not enough in the case of this campaign).
 
Level 17
Joined
Apr 13, 2008
Messages
1,597
Ha-ha. Although I think the hardest and biggest work was doing the inventory-items-crafting systems. I'll let the master chime in with corrections and add-ons though :p
Yeah. It is no coincidence that there are no inventory and equipment systems in the shared resources on Hive.
It takes a lot of time, knowledge, effort to put together one that works.
Once I'm done with cleaning up the code, I'll release mine:
 
Yeah. It is no coincidence that there are no inventory and equipment systems in the shared resources on Hive.
It takes a lot of time, knowledge, effort to put together one that works.
Once I'm done with cleaning up the code, I'll release mine:
It is a hassle to make indeed, especially if you're making a modular and easily installable system without tons of map/project specific dependencies.

Looks nice, but me not being a huge fan of standard assets, I think some sweet looking custom textures would do your system due diligence :p
 
Level 17
Joined
Apr 13, 2008
Messages
1,597
It is a hassle to make indeed, especially if you're making a modular and easily installable system without tons of map/project specific dependencies.

Looks nice, but me not being a huge fan of standard assets, I think some sweet looking custom textures would do your system due diligence :p
Indeed. If I had to restart from scratch I could probably make a minimally viable inventory system in an afternoon, but the more features you plan, the time required increases exponentially.

Warcraft also has a lot of silly limitations, and even more limitations when you want the system to be multiplayer compatible.

I will add some spitshine onto my system once all the features are working and all the buttons, etc. are in their place. The one you guys made looks amazing.
 
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