[ORPG] Shadows of Everwood

[Grey Nightmare]

Basically remove the 'orbs' from the vertical and horizontal pieces, save them for the corners.
I think that's what everyone meant and even if they didn't that's what I think you should do :3

 

[Adiktuz]

school is getting close again... I need to gain inspiration to finish the talents I'm working on... ^.^

 

[Dragonson]

Yeah, that's most possibly what will be the final thing.
But for now i NEED TO SEE THEM INGAME. *nudge nudge*

 

[ProblemSir]

ProblemSir, if you want to act like you know everything then don't, because your not good at it.

Entertainment, what is entertainment actually?

1. The act of entertaining; agreeable occupation for the mind; diversion; amusement: Solving the daily crossword puzzle is an entertainment for many.

2. Something affording pleasure, diversion, or amusement, especially a performance of some kind: The highlight of the ball was an elaborate entertainment.

Now, my point is pretty much clear here.
We are a group of people making entertaining maps for Wc:3. At the moment we are working on only one, Shadows of Everwood.
So we came up with an idea one day to have our own entertainment group for making maps in Wc:3 for YOUR entertainment!

About Adiktuz, I'll repeat myself don't act smart like you know him. And my advice to you is to not judge a man and his life because you don't even know his real name for a start.

Furthermore, we are not below 15 years. None of us. We are from 16-19 years. And in fact, we are discussing about making our own company for games, but it's pretty ambitious so we are sticking to this for NOW.

Any further discussion about this, please do PM. We want to avoid off topic and flaming.
Thanks,

~Oz

To be perfectly frank I do know how to make a company, perhaps this has something to do with the fact that I have one. So it has nothing to do with acting. 15 16 17 19, still teens anyway.
Also being a programmer I can guarantee you that clicking on a few buttons using a map editor has nothing in common with actual game programming, you will be severely disappointed if you thought so.

Im not here to flame. i support the project but i just HAD to get this off my shoulders.

 

[Adiktuz]

Also being a programmer I can guarantee you that clicking on a few buttons using a map editor has nothing in common with actual game programming, you will be severely disappointed if you thought so.

-->if you read his other post you will realize that this is one of the reasons why we will just stick to this map for now...

We were thinking about Everwood Online, a MMORPG. But we kind of lack modellers, coders and artists.

anyway, enough of this...

maybe I could try providing Dragonson with an in-game view of those tomorrow, if that is available on the team dropbox...

 

[Oziris]

Actually, In my experience with the UDK I can tell that terraining is pretty similar. Modeling and Texturing doesn't change. While tukki knows C++ and other languages and he is capable of actually doing something in the UDK. And then I said "But we kind of lack modellers, coders and artists".

Anyway Adiktuz, do your best. If your not in the dropbox, I can send you over the map. Just PM me!

 

[Dragonson]

To be perfectly frank I do know how to make a company, perhaps this has something to do with the fact that I have one. So it has nothing to do with acting. 15 16 17 19, still teens anyway.
Also being a programmer I can guarantee you that clicking on a few buttons using a map editor has nothing in common with actual game programming, you will be severely disappointed if you thought so.

Im not here to flame. i support the project but i just HAD to get this off my shoulders.

Whether you were here to flame or not, you went directly into a mapping thread and posted a comment which had no actual meaning towards the project and which seemed somewhat hostile.
The amount of reactions you got backs up this statement, if i'm not wrong.
Groups of people that work together towards a common goal do things like giving themselves a company name all the time.
It's quite common, really, and i still do not see why you would have anything whatsoever against it.
Your comment was received with extraordinary hostilíty because if you really just wanted to note it to the team, you should have had it in your post quite deliberately as a side note, or sent privately to the team leader (who is an intelligent guy, i can tell you).

Sorry, i have alot of things i want to say too, and this one was quite heavy...



On Topic:
I think i've stated before that i can actually work in other fields of 2D art than just thread artwork and UI. (Or maybe it was the exact oppsite i stated...)
If you guys need skins or icons, say the word. Even though i am not on the list in the first post, i AM technically on the team.

 

[Adiktuz]

I can always go into the dropbox, I just need to know if the UI files are there... ^_^

nvm, saw it... will try to figure out how to use it... are they for the custom windows? (skilltree etc)

EDIT: sent an in-game view of the skilltree using the new UI to Dragonson...

 

[SanD3R]

beta test soon in to 2012?

 

[Oziris]

Nah, beta test will most likely be somewhere in the next 3 months.

 

[Vlad727]

Sweet
You can count on my help in seeking bugs, and other feedback.

 

[Grey Nightmare]

Actually, In my experience with the UDK I can tell that terraining is pretty similar. Modeling and Texturing doesn't change. While tukki knows C++ and other languages and he is capable of actually doing something in the UDK. And then I said "But we kind of lack modellers, coders and artists".

Anyway Adiktuz, do your best. If your not in the dropbox, I can send you over the map. Just PM me!

I wish. It may seem like it at first glance but just look at the trouble most people have with the World Editor to the Galaxy Editor - The UDK is 100x that jump but from the GE.

But hey, you gotta start somewhere, right?

As for programming - as long as you know the theory (You know how loops work, about variable types, libraries, etc..) you have the potential to do it any way shape or form with a little bit of effort.

Most importantly I find people who talk about making game companies are the ones who actually will never stand a chance, you guys are smart enough to say "No, not yet. But maybe one day" - So chances are if anyone, it could be a team like yours that makes something of themselves in the industry. But who knows?



I can't wait to see this project moving faster during summer, if I may request/suggest something? Some voice-over gameplay or development technique videos are something I really enjoy watching from big companies and indie games but I find it's never really taken off here at the hive, probably because people are shy and don't like podcasting their voice but if you guys could do something like that it would be wonderful. Much more exciting than reading great WsOT at any rate ^^

 

[Oziris]

Hmm, maybe if I tape some game play, record my voice later, combine it in the Adobe Premiere, I might make a decent video. Will do it definitely, just later.

Thanks for the idea Grey.

 

[ProblemSir]

Actually, In my experience with the UDK I can tell that terraining is pretty similar. Modeling and Texturing doesn't change. While tukki knows C++ and other languages and he is capable of actually doing something in the UDK. And then I said "But we kind of lack modellers, coders and artists".

Anyway Adiktuz, do your best. If your not in the dropbox, I can send you over the map. Just PM me!

You do realize there is no such thing as terraining in game programming right?
The terrain you apply has to be implemented by CODING it or by making an editor which basically writes the code for you as you click the buttons to get shit done faster eventually. And let me tell you, making an editor is brutally fucking hard and time consuming.
But yes enough of this, going way offtopic now.

 

[Dragonson]

You do realize there is no such thing as terraining in game programming right?
The terrain you apply has to be implemented by CODING it or by making an editor which basically writes the code for you as you click the buttons to get shit done faster eventually. And let me tell you, making an editor is brutally fucking hard and time consuming.
But yes enough of this, going way offtopic now.

If i had not signed an NDA related to the things i would like to say i would launch another argument at you right this instant, but i happen to HAVE signed that NDA.
So, let's just get back on topic and forget this silly discussion.

 

[Adiktuz]

and that's why there are publicly available engines right? so that you can have the choice of just using them instead of coding your own...

anyway, looking on Dragonson's UI changes...

 

[ProblemSir]

and that's why there are publicly available engines right? so that you can have the choice of just using them instead of coding your own...

anyway, looking on Dragonson's UI changes...

If you use an existent engine you are
A) Bound to its limitations
B) Its not really YOUR game
C) You have to credit the authors

 

[Dragonson]

If you use an existent engine you are
A) Bound to its limitations
B) Its not really YOUR game
C) You have to credit the authors

Mate, if you wish to continue this discussion i'm forced to have one of the mods deal with it.
This is OFF-TOPIC, severely off-topic, and it's conveniently against the rules.
So please, cease the blabbering and let's get back to discussing the game.

 

[Adiktuz]

an in-game view of Dragonson's edited UI...

PREVIEW

I was thinking if you would also be doing something like that for the main UI... ^.^

 

[Dragonson]

I was thinking if you would also be doing something like that for the main UI... ^.^

That's what i thought too.
I'm talking to Tukki about it, but as far as i get it he doesnt have the remaining UI files. :S

 

[PROXY]

an in-game view of Dragonson's edited UI...

PREVIEW

I was thinking if you would also be doing something like that for the main UI... ^.^

I would suggest to make the borders bigger, they are too small and look a little bit pixeled. Make them lets say half bigger and it will be fine I guess.

 

[Oziris]

Making it bigger + I'd suggest adding some trees limping from the border, thought it would be a bad idea to make it on the border because it would be too repeatable.
It would be cool if you could somehow attach the tree limping with magic coding. And some vines perhaps?

 

[Dragonson]

Well, any size increase would have to be done ingame.
The UI is actually bigger than seen there, and the cuts into the thing is also done by the engine as the UI file itself doesnt contain 'em.
I guess it's cause the basic UI is the human one, which has that shape.

 

[phoenixfire]

It looks to me as the colors are a bit too bright, kidna makes it look like an "alien" theme. Also, I think they should be a bit wider. Maybe if you could darken them a bit or add some darker shrubs/vines on the sides it would solve both problems.

 

[Magtheridon96]

Also being a programmer I can guarantee you that clicking on a few buttons using a map editor has nothing in common with actual game programming, you will be severely disappointed if you thought so.

Tell me about it ..
Everything should be written from scratch.. you've only got booleans, strings, integers and floats to help you :| (I already wrote about 7-8 header files to define types like Unit, handle, location, widget, object/doodad, time, ... and some function libraries to
wrap a lot of functions since I'm soooo used to vJASS )

Sorry for that offtopic statement
I need some inspiration to finish that Spawning system =P
I see you've made some major updates.. nice ^^

 

[Adiktuz]

The cuts are because of the model itself, since the skilltree UI are made of destructables not images (after all they are an implementation of the Custom Windows used by Anachron on his FSI)... I believe we are using the same set of models used by Anachron (which if you look at his FSI, was based on the human UI...)

as for resizing, maybe we can talk about it...

 

[Dragonson]

Ah, so both the cuts and the size is changable.
Well, i beleive we should try looking into it then, if it's not too much trouble.

 

[Adiktuz]

yeah, we could change the shape of the borders by making another set of models... but that will probably be not in the near future as HeroSlayer is busy... ^.^

as for the main UI, you could extract the UI textures from the mpq using Magos or War3Viewer... ^_^

 

[Dragonson]

Ah, awesome. You guys know how to impliment them once finished?

 

[Adiktuz]

importing UI is pretty simple as long as the UI is working (the only problem I know so far is for right part of the UI, sometimes it doesn't show up if it was saved as .blp, but that's easily fixable by saving it as .tga)... let's just hope we have enough space for that... ^_^

 

[Magtheridon96]

we have enough space for that... ^_^

We have a lot of space left thankfully
Once you compile all the terrain, scripts, object data, and imports to one map, you'd get about 5MB

 

[Oziris]

And 5MB is just the demo.

 

[Adiktuz]

though a fitting main UI might be one of the smart imports... but we would need to compress it good to save space... else the NE UI might suffice for the theme...

 

[baassee]

Compile as in optimized or just saved? Else you will probably loose alot more with some mdx squishy and vex's opti + widgetizer

 

[Wolfe]

I'm just going to pose this question rather than making a whole report about something you guys probably don't want to read about.

What aspect of Shadows of Everwood ORPG are you interested in hearing about?

Please do answer, without answers like 'the demo' or 'the game'.

 

[baassee]

The result of all the excellent coding and how it appears in-game. The terrain is already way too brilliant to not have been noticed.

 

[Wolfe]

The result of all the excellent coding and how it appears in-game. The terrain is already way too brilliant to not have been noticed.

Something I could answer without Tukki? =P

 

[baassee]

Something I could answer without Tukki? =P

Ehum ... speechless

 

[Dragonson]

I'm just going to pose this question rather than making a whole report about something you guys probably don't want to read about.

What aspect of Shadows of Everwood ORPG are you interested in hearing about?

Please do answer, without answers like 'the demo' or 'the game'.

The startout of the whole thing.
Could you perhaps give us a runthrough of the first couple events?

 

[Wolfe]

Totz, Drag!

The demo is essentially a giant event quest which will probably run for 15 - 20, maybe even 30, minutes. Players start outside the Vinoscan Bulwark, an imperial fortress charged with guarding the empire. You are foreigners, part of a travelling merchant caravan from the southern kingdoms. Your caravan is suspected of smuggling illegal magical relics, and so you are forced to stay under the watchful gaze of the White Lions.

This is pretty much the foundation of your character, and this is the point where the game begins. Upon selecting your class, and watching the introductory cinematic (can be skipped), players are able to start the event quest. When they do, a brief dialogue occurs, and the encampment is suddenly ambushed by a renowned group of bandits known as the Blade of Veldonn.

Once the ambush is over, more dialogues, you then have the choice to either follow one of their wounded back to their camp or kill the wounded for a handsome bounty (however, this means the difficulty of the event will be increased, and must find the bandit camp by yourself). When you arrive, you are ambushed and must fight your way through to an arena. This arena will feature a nine-minute 'sequence' which basically includes three bosses (coming in waves) to defeat. If you succeed, you provoke the bandit captain to fight you.

The bandit captain, a former White Lion Commander, will be quite an interesting fight. Gerome has been designed with three stances (which randomly change). Each stance comes with different abilities, so the fight is quite unpredictable. Because of this, players need to be able to quickly adjust. When he is wounded, a realistic sequence of events occurs where NPCs begin to do something constructive and permanent.

That is all that I can reveal at this point! Any queries?

 

[indomitable1319]

I'd like to hear more about the tactics the bosses will implement when injured.

 

[Wolfe]

Naturally, two factors are involved with bosses (in terms of injury). First is the threat bar, which is quite self-explanatory. The second is a defensive mechanic. Every boss has one.

To demonstrate, Gerome has one stance which is purely defensive. One key ability that he can activate to help defend himself is a stance which blocks ALL incoming frontal damage.

As bosses develop through the game, such tactics will be bigger and greater. The entire event quest has been toned down for more fluent testing. I am currently developing my own system to designing a boss, using phases and factors a lot more than purely just writing out the boss fight.

I'd just also like to inform everybody that we are on a bit of a hiatus. Tukki and Oz are both out of action for a bit, as is HeroSlayer. I will be too, as exams and work experience come over the next few weeks. But do not fret, Tukki and Oz should be back in action soon enough!

 

[indomitable1319]

Ah, I see.
That boss system sounds kickass.

 

[Magtheridon96]

Ah, I see.
That boss system sounds kickass.

Thanks to Tukki, yeah.. he IS!

Anyway, I wanted to post a small update:

-I finished the Intuitive Spawn System for the Event Quest
-I fixed a small bug with the Bear AI

 

[reisbro]

this boss system is surely unique and epic, never seen something like that before
but god, the demo is like 2 months delayed, some of you said the demo would be ready in 2 weeks for like 2 months ago..
anyways, I can wait more and more because I know the final result will only grow with time!

 

[Wolfe]

Yeah. In future, when it comes from me, then it's official.

But we are in a bit of a mess with the team. HeroSlayer is inactive and the coders are working 'round the clock to get everything done. I'm not quite sure on the status of the male hero model, but we may be forced to use an alternate model if HeroSlayer does not come back by the time the coding is done.

On another note, we are looking for a temporary coder to help out over the summer as Tukki will be very busy. When it comes to the summer, we plan to be pretty much finished with the demo, so we'll be moving on to the actual game. So if any of you know a great coder who might be interested, or if you are one, please don't hesitate to PM me. It is only a temporary job unless you want to stay on longer.

 

[GhostThruster]

Lol I know many good coders, though none of them would be interested.

But we are in a bit of a mess with the team. HeroSlayer is inactive and the coders are working 'round the clock to get everything done. I'm not quite sure on the status of the male hero model, but we may be forced to use an alternate model if HeroSlayer does not come back by the time the coding is done.

Not a problem, I will still play/test this map regardless if the hero model is a narwhal.

 

[Grey Nightmare]

I think you'll struggle - as your using Zinc? Or whatever it is.
If it's just JASS/vJASS you might want to ask around, I think a few people would be interested, it's not like you've not got evidence of progress.

 

[Tukki]

Yeah, a good portion of the map is coded in Zinc, while most of the imported scripts are in vJASS.

A minor, very delayed, progress update:

• I've really close on finishing the Event Quest, around 99% or something.
• 2 more creep AIs have been coded and are 100% functional.
• 1 AI bug has been fixed!
• Casting System has been updated!
• Some code optimization

 

[baassee]

ZINC is not really a problem if you read the manual. It's just the readability that is the major difference. If you're used to C then it will be even easier.