Full Games List
Featured Games
New Games
Reviews
Media
Images
Blogs
Game Updates
Images Feedback Summary
Game Design Highlights
Tutorials
Articles
Scripts
Utilities / Plugins
Resources
Engines
Engine Bulletins
What is Makerscore?
Past Events
Achievements
Misaos
Forums
Chat
New to RMN?
Full Store List
RMN Music Pack (free)
Profile
Locker
Play ListsRHUAN'S PROFILE
Rhuan
110
CloseSearch
Filter
All
Game Pages
User Statuses
MinST
author=FlyingJesterI tested it; I had two issues on my mac under wine:
I'm on OS X, so I had to run it under Wine. It displays just fine, but it does not seem to accept input. I highly suspect that's just because it's on Wine :)
I was hoping for open source so I could see if it compiles on OS X or Linux.
1. It would randomly crash on launch sometimes, and throw an error message saying it had to close.
2. When it did load and I started a battle initially I couldn't do anything - I realised that this was because the default keys were insert, delete, page up, page down and home - keys that a mac laptop doesn't have... If you go to the settings menu first and change the controls to something else, e.g. Q,W,E,A,S,D the game becomes playable.
Game difficulty mechanics - brain storming
I realise we've run rather off topic - thanks again to everyone for the comments, lots of useful things to think about - I won't necessarily do what people have suggested or not do what people have said I shouldn't do. BUT I'll ensure I have a good reason before diverting from advice - any more thoughts still appreciated.
Irog:
1. Sphere is similar in some ways to working in C with SDL but different in ways too, working in Sphere your functions are much higher level, there's a preset folder structure and a lot of useful high level functions e.g. to put a picture on the screen in a brand new project I can just do:
Also as it's all run time interpreted you don't compile it - a sphere game is basically a standardised folder structure, one folder of scripts, another of images, another of sprites another of maps etc, with a document at the top level telling Sphere which script to load on launch and what screen resolution to set. The engine is already compiled for Mac, Linux and Windows so there's no porting or cross compiling to do for a finished game.
2. I had a quick glance at your game - it looks very different to what I'm thinking of/working on - some similar concepts but a very different final result, interesting how two things can sound so similar to begin with and end so different.
Irog:
1. Sphere is similar in some ways to working in C with SDL but different in ways too, working in Sphere your functions are much higher level, there's a preset folder structure and a lot of useful high level functions e.g. to put a picture on the screen in a brand new project I can just do:
var picture = LoadImage("picture.png");//look in a folder called images inside my game's directory and load "picture.png" from there
picture.blit(10,10);//draw that picture to the back buffer 10 pixels down and across from the top left corner of the screen
FlipScreen();//exchange the back buffer with the current screen
GetKey();//wait for a key pressAlso as it's all run time interpreted you don't compile it - a sphere game is basically a standardised folder structure, one folder of scripts, another of images, another of sprites another of maps etc, with a document at the top level telling Sphere which script to load on launch and what screen resolution to set. The engine is already compiled for Mac, Linux and Windows so there's no porting or cross compiling to do for a finished game.
2. I had a quick glance at your game - it looks very different to what I'm thinking of/working on - some similar concepts but a very different final result, interesting how two things can sound so similar to begin with and end so different.
Game difficulty mechanics - brain storming
author=Irog
Sphere is an engine? How does it relate to programming languages like C, Python, Java and Ruby?
author=Rhuan
turn based strategy with multiple actions per turn based on "Action points" and each action having a cost)
I'm potentially going to make this trickier than in fire emblem by not allowing your units to move through each other BUT easier by allowing movement after attacks if you have AP left.
This is exactly what I made! But inspired by:
* table-top Warhammer fantasy battles
* Heroes of Might and Magic 3 (hence the hex grid)
1. Sphere is a somewhat simple engine - it's basically a javascript interpreter with built in simple graphics/sound/file handling functions and a pre-made map engine.
If using sphere you have to script all your game logic: combat, menus, stats etc yourself (though various people have made scripts they'll share).
See spheredev.org for more details
2. Oh dear I thought my system would be semi-original, I hope it doesn't turn out identical to yours, is yours fully custom or based on someone else's?
Game difficulty mechanics - brain storming
author=Irog
Are you making a custom engine for your game?
Strategy and QTE... interesting. I picture Fire Emblem with Legend of Dragoon attacks and counters.
I'm working in Sphere, not RPG maker and writing all the scripts myself - so I guess that means the answer to the first question is yes.
The key inspirations I was running from for the combat were:
- Fire Emblem
- Shadow Hearts (a turn based game with QTEs)
- Fallout (the original from the 90s - turn based strategy with multiple actions per turn based on "Action points" and each action having a cost)
IrogWell yes, hit the enemy multiple times whilst not being hit multiple times yourself, I'm potentially going to make this trickier than in fire emblem by not allowing your units to move through each other BUT easier by allowing movement after attacks if you have AP left.author=RhuanOr you DO hit the enemy multiples times this way. This is actually the best way to win battles in my game.
the provisional idea is to use numbers and movement and choke points so you don't get an individual hit many times
Game difficulty mechanics - brain storming
author=IrogI haven't coded any of the stats yet, there's no healing, no criticals and no percentages of any kind, yet.....author=hedge1Indeed, if you've built your game with a healing feature and abandon it later, you'll have to rebalance your whole game. If you start without healing, the game is actually easier to balance (no need to choose the amount of HP healed, the range of the healing spells or the cost of potions).
Abandoning healing will make your game significantly harder to balance
Healing is a tool in the player's hand to fight against bad odds of the RNG. The smaller the impact of the RND, the easier the player can predict the outcome of an attack and know how many hits a unit can withstand. I built a small strategy game where there is no healing but also no RNG so the player never gets a frustrating unlucky roll that ruins his/her plan. If your game features critical hits that inflict 3 times normal damage at 2% rate, you need the healing feature. If the random factor increases or decrease damage by 20% maximum, you can forget healing. The actual "amount of randomness" that is best for your game will come out of testing.
My work in progress battle system currently has support for moving characters around on a grid (with a path finding system so you can select where to move to but it only allows possible moves), and an attack function that lets you select an enemy you're next to and attack them; currently anyone who's attacked instantly dies - a placeholder action until I script HP and attack stats etc...
I'm provisionally planning on having QTEs instead of most RNG - so RNG screw won't be a massive thing, but bad reaction screw could be... I'm unsure on critical hits I probably wasn't going to have them or at least not as a massive factor, certainly not Fire Emblems 3 times damage - as I was intending a lot of characters to go down in 2-3 hits, a triple damage critical would be crazy (the provisional idea is to use numbers and movement and choke points so you don't get an individual hit many times)
First Blog, New Sprites, New Stuff!
I have a thing about re-inventing the wheel, I rarely even try to use someone else's code, somehow knowing that everything I'm seeing is my own script gives me the warm fuzzies :P.
Also if I use something someone else wrote chances are it will either:
a) not do exactly what I need requiring me to bodge it somehow OR
b) it will do far more than I need meaning that including it bloats my codebase unnecessarily
Props for the graphics though - I basically don't even know where to start when it comes to making graphics, so I'm limited to what I can find that's free.
Also if I use something someone else wrote chances are it will either:
a) not do exactly what I need requiring me to bodge it somehow OR
b) it will do far more than I need meaning that including it bloats my codebase unnecessarily
Props for the graphics though - I basically don't even know where to start when it comes to making graphics, so I'm limited to what I can find that's free.
Game difficulty mechanics - brain storming
author=hedge1What if it was something you can learn about in advance, e.g. a specific enemy unit type that always prioritises injured targets - some kind of blood hound or something that the enemy uses.
Please don't make blood thirsty monsters that ignore winning moves just to perma-death your characters. It's fine if they kill someone if there are no other targets, but it's stupid if someone suicides just to screw over the player.
Idle thought - in general having different AI settings for different enemy unit types could be very interesting... ARRRRGH I always get way too far ahead of myself with ideas verses actual script written...
Screenshot Survival 20XX
@xenomic: some of the shadows around the edges in the above look wrong, look along the top edges of some of the cliffs.
Here's a little gif showing that my combat system is starting to take shape, in case it's not obvious, the map is a placeholder:
(note the graphics used are not my own, the sprites are open source made with a sprite generator that's GPL licensed, see http://gaurav.munjal.us/, the tiles which I note I have not even tried to use correctly are from http://www.lorestrome.com/pixel_archive/forest.htm and copyright with a "you can use if you credit and don't make a profit" clause)
Here's a little gif showing that my combat system is starting to take shape, in case it's not obvious, the map is a placeholder:
(note the graphics used are not my own, the sprites are open source made with a sprite generator that's GPL licensed, see http://gaurav.munjal.us/, the tiles which I note I have not even tried to use correctly are from http://www.lorestrome.com/pixel_archive/forest.htm and copyright with a "you can use if you credit and don't make a profit" clause)
Game difficulty mechanics - brain storming
author=zeelloWhat if some of the enemy are blood thirsty monsters that enjoy killing and have an AI that makes them act as such?
I'd first have to know whether AI units will intentionally try to kill the unconscious unit. But then again why would they bother? After all it's not like you would intentionally go after their unconscious units since if you win then they all die anyway.
Meanwhile other enemies could be more tactical. (I may be getting beyond myself here I haven't written a single line of AI code yet)
P6 Blog #10 Water encounters. Yay or nay?
I have a general dislike for high levels of random encounters in generic turn based RPGs as after not very long they just feel like a pain.
If your battle systems is particularly different/interesting then they can be ok, if it's generic turn based stuff then cut those encounters down wherever you can (be it on land or sea).
As for making the ship more than just a means of transport, sounds great if done well, you'll need to think how it fits with the rest of the game though. Skies of Arcadia (an air pirate themed RPG) which gives you a ship very early on does not ad any amenities in the ship, you can walk around it and talk to people but that's it, if it had an inn you'd be able to heal all the time and I guess the developers thought that would not be good for balancing purposes.
If your battle systems is particularly different/interesting then they can be ok, if it's generic turn based stuff then cut those encounters down wherever you can (be it on land or sea).
As for making the ship more than just a means of transport, sounds great if done well, you'll need to think how it fits with the rest of the game though. Skies of Arcadia (an air pirate themed RPG) which gives you a ship very early on does not ad any amenities in the ship, you can walk around it and talk to people but that's it, if it had an inn you'd be able to heal all the time and I guess the developers thought that would not be good for balancing purposes.
Games - Tester
Games - Other
