The design of the item system's basic structure is finished, though I ended up revamping how the game handles stats on the way. But as always, some general notes before I dive in:
1) I'm declaring a lock on the alpha demo. The bug Doom reported is very minor (and I don't know how to repeat it), UrAvgAzn never replied concerning his screen resolution problem (so I assume it wasn't that important to him) and all other issues that have been brought to my attention are best left for the recode anyway. Version 8 has sufficient balance, polish and stability that I'd feel no shame in showing it off around the internet.
2) When I'm done with this post, I'm going to take a break. But sometime in the next day or so I'll be bringing up non-gameplay issues. Topics will include how to entice people to pay for this sucker, and for those of you who thought that shameless bribery only happened
inside the game I'll be offering free copies of the final version in exchange for help. So stay tuned.
And now, without further gilding the lily...
MATHEMATICS REDUX
One of the expectations I had was that the dungeon master would do his best to set aside some free stats to help the player understand what's going on and keep them updated (like with showing how much life the potions give, etc.). But I've come to the conclusion that the current system for using free stats works against this, and even actively encourages the DM to use them in confusing ways. So I'm changing where and how the math is handled.
Behold:
http://dungeongames2.com/testTriggerLarge2.PNG
Note that the triggers no longer use two-part formulas. Every row in the middle column is occupied by either a single constant (directly entered) or the symbol for a single stat.
Instead, when making the dungeon the DM can specify certain stats as "
dependent."
He provides a formula for each dependant stat of up to four constants and independent stats (see the text panel for examples), and at the end of each turn the game updates these dependent stats to match their formulas (in case any of the controlling independent stats have changed.)
The dependent stats can't be changed by any other method, which means that life and mana can't be made dependent (they're hardcoded to change in combat). Dependent stats can't be dependent on other dependent stats (this is to prevent order-of-operations from becoming a problem).
Since only a single stat/constant can be used per line in a trigger now, the DM can't have the effects of a trigger change throughout the game (like the healing strength of a potion or the cost of using an altar) unless he devotes a stat for each thing that changes. This helps the player by enforcing both transparency and an upper limit to the number of things that can keep changing on him in a single game.
Of course, the DM gets a couple of things out of this too. He no longer has to waste stats by using them as constants, and he can now use up to four terms in his controlling formulas instead of just two. Also, this new system takes most of the burden of keeping the player informed off of him, allowing him to focus on what he
really wants to do: milk the system for everything it's worth so he can load his dungeon with cool stuff.
ITEM SYSTEM
Screenshot (these are text panels only):
http://dungeongames2.com/testItemPanel.bmp
On the top line is the name of the item, followed by how many of them you have. The rest of the panel is divided into an upper and lower half, with each half corresponding to one of the item's abilities (an item can have up to two abilities).
Let's look at the examples one at a time. From the top:
1) An alternate version of the Scroll of Enchant Weapon. It has only one ability (the bottom part is blank). The top line of this area shows the name of the ability on the right ("
Use the Scroll"
) and has a blue background, indicating that the scroll will be destroyed when you use this ability.
One advantage of splitting the trigger system off of the item system is that it should make for a gentler learning curve, as much of what items do is similar to the way triggers work. The remaining lines work almost exactly like the lines of triggers do, except that there's room for 8 stat changes instead of just 4. The results are all shown on the right. Using this scroll will cost 10 mana (as well as the scroll itself) and give back 10 offense. Note that since these are constants, the cost and benefits don't go up every time like that of the scrolls in the alpha demo. It's 10 for 10 each time.
2) Here's a fancier example which takes advantage of the extra space.
The item's first ability ("
Sign the Contract"
) has a white background in the header, indicating that the item will NOT be destroyed when the first ability is used. The first stat affected is new. It's a free stat that's being used as a boolean, and which is used to keep track of whether the adventurer has signed the contract yet. Changing this boolean to true is tested (yellow background), which means that if the stat is
already true this operation will fail (the adventurer can't sign twice).
Assuming he signs the adventurer immediately recieves a huge boost in life, but at an insidious price: the multipliers that control how much life he gets from potions, mana he gets from crystals, etc. are each reduced by 1. He can reverse this effect at any time by using the item's second ability ("
Destroy the Contract"
), but then he has to pay back all the life he got from it.
Thus the contract can allow him to overcome many obstacles, but the longer he relies on it the more he loses in the long run.
3) Of course, items can do much more than just act as triggers. Each ability can include 1 special function, shown to the left of the ability's name.
This alternate version of the Mattock from TOTS has two abilities, each with a different special function. The first ("
Destroy One Adjacent"
) will prompt the player to choose a direction, and if the obstacle next to him in that direction has the target trait shown (and he has the mana to pay for it) it will be destroyed. The second ability will do the same, except that it will destroy everything next to the adventurer with that target trait (and expend the item itself) instead of asking for a direction.
You may recall from a previous screenshot that walls had that particular trait, so the Mattock brings down walls.
4) Item abilities can also be passive, meaning they work automatically under certain conditions instead of you having to select them manually. This remake of the Lucky Coin from TOTS kicks in whenever you loot a corpse.
Instead of giving you the normal amount of money that a loot transaction with a corpse would give, the game takes that value and stores it in the "
other"
stat (a special variable that doesn't take up one of the adventurer's free stats) and uses it in the formula shown to determine how much money is actually gained. Having this coin means that you will gain 3 times the normal amount of cash - plus 1 extra - from every corpse you loot (assuming it gives money in the first place).
Note the new target trait. This effect only works when looting something that has that trait.
FEEDBACK
I'm going to stop here. There are other special functions I plan to include, but I need to save
some surprises for you guys.
Anyway, that's all the basic systems. If you've managed to wade through all these posts you should now have a pretty solid idea of what the game will be like, so tell me what - if anything - you think needs tweaking.
____________________________
My gaming blog is at
http://dungeon-games.com/blog/
[Last edited by DGM at 02-02-2007 08:43 AM]
/dy
