STRAK'S PROFILE

Yo!

So I'm working on a way to configure controls from a menu in the game, as opposed to forcing the player to open the Game Properties window with F1. I've essentially figured out everything from the UI side of things, including displaying the correct button and keyboard prompts based on the binary data from the ButtonAssign file in the registry. But there's one thing I haven't managed to do, and it's kind of a crucial component.

Namely, I have no idea how to actually change the Registry file itself, or write to the registry, so to speak. Does anyone know how to do this with RGSS2?

I have a few scripts that have helped me to get started, I'll link them below. Just having a hard time actually understanding them.

I used this script as a base to figure out what the settings are in the ButtonAssign file, but ended up trimming down quite a bit of code and simplifying it for the purposes of my own game. It looks like this is at least capable of READING files from the registry. I just have no idea how do the same trick in reverse.

And I've used this script to figure out how to write to .ini files, and even create them from scratch if they don't exist. I feel like this is pretty close to doing what I need to do, I'm just not sure how to potentially alter this to write a .reg file in the registry, instead of a .ini file to the games root folder.

I could also be dumb, and this might not be possible in RMVX. So far, everything I've attempted to do has been possible with enough effort and ingenuity, so I think it's more my own limitations, rather than the limitations of the engine, but at this point I'm stumped. Any ideas?

EDIT: I found something else that seems to be helpful, and I've been working with this, but again I'm having a hard time understanding it. Maybe it can help someone else though? Here's what I found.

EDIT EDIT: Okay, I think I'm close. I think I need to use RegSetKeyValueA to actually change the binary data in the registry, but for some reason it doesn't seem to be working. My code has stopped crashing the game, which is nice, but it doesn't really seem to be doing anything either. I think the data format that I'm trying to pass through isn't quite right, but I'm not sure. This is what I've been trying to make use of so far.

Okay, so I've got a bit of a problem, and I'm looking for perspective. In Thrall, healing items are limited, and healing skills are almost non-existent, with some minor exceptions, and even those exceptions cannot be spammed every turn. Reason for this is that in every turn based RPG I've ever played, having a heal spell that targets all allies and restores tons of HP is super broken, and having heal spells that restore hardly anything are not worth spending a turn on. See the "I hate white mages thread" for more details on why I don't like spammable healing spells.

So my solution? Stackable passive HP Regen. You can find armors that restore 1% of your max HP every turn, and equip up to 4 at a time on each party member. There are also passive skills you can unlock that provide additional brief HP Regen or minor instant healing when fulfilling certain conditions such as killing an enemy or evading an attack.

Now here's the main problem: enemy attacks are balanced to deal damage equal to around 10% of your max HP per hit. Get hit 10 times, you die, basically. But since HP Regen triggers every time someone takes an action, it gets way too powerful very quickly. I'm trying to find a balance, but I'm having trouble.

First solution I came up with, increase the damage enemies deal. That works. If you're heavily geared into Regen. But in the early game, you won't have a ton of that equipment, and you don't have many skills unlocked yet, so the balance is way off. And if you're focused on a different build, even later game balance is off.

Second solution, nerf the HP Regen. But then the question becomes, where does most of your healing come from? Since there aren't many skills that restore HP and restorative items can be hard to come by since items are randomized, you could end up in a desperate situation with no options to bail you out.

I think I need to reduce the HP Regen a bit, but I'm not sure how much. I'm noticing that the game is way too hard at early levels, but way too easy past about level 12. Does anyone have any tips on balancing games resource management?

I'm thinking I may be able to add a risk-reward element where HP Regen comes with heavily reduced defense, or something like that, but I don't really know if punishing the player is a good method of balancing a mechanic. Anyway, I'm a bit stuck. Would love some perspective, if you've got some to add.

I'm pretty sure this has been done before, but I kind of wanted to create a revival of it. I also think the name has been used, but I couldn't find a topic with this name so I might be crazy. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Anyway, on to the point. I'm working on designing some bosses. I've got some ideas, but they're a bit flawed and could use some improvement. I'm looking for ideas and feedback on some good gimmicks for boss fights that can change up the basic gameplay but still tie in nicely with the overall theme.

So with that, here's a couple of ideas I'm thinking of implementing. Make use of them yourself if you wish, or offer feedback or what have you.

Sleeping Beauty
Not literally. Kind of. The idea with this boss is that it's sleeping throughout the fight. It will constantly spawn minions that fight for it, and it cannot be damaged while sleeping. Once you've defeated a few minions, it'll wake up and can be damaged. It still won't attack, but if it takes too much damage it will retaliate with a super move. At around half health it'll go back to sleep and the pattern repeats until it is defeated.

Pros: A boss that doesn't attack gives a nice change of pace, and having some brief periods of invincibility can change your optimal turn order, but the presence of minions still offers a moderate threat.

Cons: You've already been fighting these minions throughout the dungeon, so it may feel tedious to fight them again as a boss fight. Also, if they constantly respawn, it can feel pointless to defeat them while the boss is awake. A possible fix for this is to prevent respawns while the boss is awake, or add a delay before the respawn.

Any feedback on this one?

Mr. Invincible
A boss that continually regenerates 100% of it's HP. No attack causes lasting damage. Power gamers can find ways of one shotting the boss, but the real method of winning is to use a weapon that prevents HP regen. This can be done by having attacks with those weapons not only deal damage, but also reduce the max HP of that boss. This means that attacks with other weapons will still deal damage, but that damage can be regenerated, whereas attacks with the special weapons cannot be regenerated.

Pros: Can be used for some really cool story points. An invincible boss that shows up frequently can eventually be defeated through this method.

Cons: If there isn't a likely chance of using a weapon without this attribute, it may just feel like a normal boss. Need a special UI to actually display the bosses HP otherwise you may not notice the regeneration effect. If the special weapon is locked to a specific weapon, it may frustrate players who prefer a different weapon.

Feedback?

I may respond to this thread later with more ideas, but I wanted to gauge how people would respond to these ideas and see if anyone else has some rad boss ideas they'd like to see implemented.

So I've seen several events and game jams come and go, and have yet to participate in one through to completion. The most I've done is start a project and never actually follow through and finish anything. My mindset around them previously has been "well I'm already working on a big project, this would just be a distraction," or "yeah but I prefer quality over quantity, so I'd end up missing the deadline anyway." And yet, most developers I know will say you should absolutely participate in these types of events, as it really stretches your abilities as a developer, helps you feel like a part of the community, and gives you experience working with deadlines.

So, my question to the community is, what's been your personal experience doing events and game jams? I'm looking more for perspective from people who've actually followed through on them, but anyone is welcome to chime in. What did you learn from them? Would you recommend them to someone who's never done them, and if so, why? Did you find that they distracted you from your larger projects, and if so, was that a bad thing? What are maybe some things to consider going into one that most people don't think about?

Question to the community. What in your opinion makes a good crafting system? Be it for weapons, armor, potions, other items, whatever you want, what are some of the elements that you look for? What makes crafting tedious, and what makes it fun?

For me, I can't stand crafting systems where you don't know what an ingredient does, or it's not clear what could potentially be an ingredient for crafting. That kind of system creates a terrible case of item hoarding, and can be extremely complicated. I like when things are simple and clearly communicated.

The crafting in Diablo 3 was pretty good, in that you could break down old equipment into crafting materials which you could then turn into new items, and they were clearly labeled. If you wanted to make a new legendary weapon, you'd first need to find a plan for it, and the materials needed would typically be much rarer.

What about you? What are some of your favorite crafting systems and why?