Schik
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Huh. I had no idea we had a release date.

I would never say it's set in stone, but I don't see any reason to push it back at this point.

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The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals.
--Mahatma Gandhi

mrimer
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No, the release date is not set in stone. The game is done when it's done. Like Matt said, we expect we can hit an April 2014 release.

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

---

[Last edited by mrimer at 07-10-2013 09:28 PM]

RabidChild
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On the subject of graphical improvements: would it be possible to update the appearance of the disarm token so it's more consistent with the new weapon tokens? I'm thinking that it would appear as though Beethro has laid down his sword weapon on the tile after stepping on it. We'd still have the problem of Beethro laying down his weapon in one place and picking it up in another, but it still seems like less of an abstraction than the way it works currently. Plus, I think it makes sense for all the weapon-related tokens to be similar in appearance.

mrimer
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RabidChild wrote:
On the subject of graphical improvements: would it be possible to update the appearance of the disarm token so it's more consistent with the new weapon tokens? I'm thinking that it would appear as though Beethro has laid down his sword weapon on the tile after stepping on it. We'd still have the problem of Beethro laying down his weapon in one place and picking it up in another, but it still seems like less of an abstraction than the way it works currently. Plus, I think it makes sense for all the weapon-related tokens to be similar in appearance.

Yes, we are updating the look of both this and the other tokens!

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

12th Archivist
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A chatroom conversation from Tuesday between me, chinook, and developer Larry Murk.


____________________________
It was going well until it exploded.
~Scott Manley

Check out the DROD Wikia project here!

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[Last edited by 12th Archivist at 01-01-2014 08:47 PM]

mrimer
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I'm glad there's more discussion of TSS stuff going on. Thanks for the kind praise from Larry and Matt. I usually don't have time to work on the game and carry forward those discussions at the same time. I can say that the TSS progress bar is going at least the same speed as past progress bars.

DROD:AE was released around April 2003.
DROD:JtRH was released April 1, 2005.
DROD:TCB was released April 1, 2007.
DROD RPG was released September 12, 2008.
(then spent a year+ reorganizing)
DROD:GatEB was released April 1, 2012.
DROD:TSS is slated to be released by April 1, 2014.

I'll also give a shout-out to Larry and Matt, who are doing some crazy new stuff that people should love. Jacob is doing excellent work putting everything together. Pearls is an excellent wordsmith, who is often too modest about his abilities. Zch is a scripting wizard. And AlexK is able to make all our 2-D art dreams come true. And there are many others who I haven't named here, but who are providing unique and valuable contributions who definitely deserve and will get credit when the game is released.

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

---

[Last edited by mrimer at 07-25-2013 10:17 PM]

Jordthro
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Is this the thread to talk about feature requests? Because I have one that I think would make TSS perfect: the option to play holds in the engine style (i.e. with the same music and tiles) they were made in going back to AE. I was thinking of something like a dialogue box coming up that would show you how many available styles a particular hold can be viewed in (along with showing you which one it was made in) and allowing you to choose before you started the hold. While I've only dabbled in programming myself, I imagine this wouldn't be too difficult to implement. It would also prevent me from having to switch between game engines just to get the style differences. I don't know if I'm the only one who feels this: but official games played on newer engines just don't "feel" right without the original graphics and music accompaniment.

However, I could be in the minority.

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105th Skywatcher

mrimer
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Nah, this isn't a thread for feature requests.

We've continued to provide the original games with their original engines, along with upgraded DLC versions, so that players can choose which way they want to play.

I tentatively agree with you that it isn't *that* hard to do what you're proposing, but for better or worse, it is not a task that's on the TSS team's radar.

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

---

[Last edited by mrimer at 07-27-2013 04:20 AM]

Moo
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But... You basically previously said it was, here.
Unless that was only for official holds. If so, it should be easy enough to just add an override option or a per-hold setting.

mrimer
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Moo wrote:
But... You basically previously said it was, here.
Unless that was only for official holds. If so, it should be easy enough to just add an override option or a per-hold setting.

Yes, as stated there, this is just support for the official holds.

Unfortunately, it's not easy enough to just add an override option. Well, adding an override option is easy enough, but the per-hold setting is not. I'll think about it some more, though.

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

Pinnacle
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Does TSS have a lava tileset? That's the only major archetype that's in AE but missing from 4.0 (excluding mods, as great as Volcano and InFlamesRock are.)

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Once (adv.): Enough.
Twice (adv.): Once too often.
~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

mrimer
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Yes, I'd say it does.

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Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

Nuntar
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Will there be an option to remap tilesets, so for instance, suppose I really like TSS's Lava, I could tell it to use Lava for all levels in the Volcano style?

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50th Skywatcher

mrimer
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Nuntar wrote:
Will there be an option to remap tilesets, so for instance, suppose I really like TSS's Lava, I could tell it to use Lava for all levels in the Volcano style?

No, we hadn't considered a style remapping option.

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

hyperme
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If I cause a time paradox, how much will the game mock my sub-par understanding of causality?

Also does past Beethro have to get to the exact place where he did the time warp, and can he do it again?


Man the time token is the best thing ever probably.

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[Insert witty comment here]
Qzvlkx?

mrimer
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hyperme wrote:
If I cause a time paradox, how much will the game mock my sub-par understanding of causality?

You will lose.

Also does past Beethro have to get to the exact place where he did the time warp, and can he do it again?

Just kidding about losing. Time paradoxes are minimized, as you don't actually have to reach any set point in the room before going back in time. If past Beethro doesn't reach his original coordinates where he went back in time, then the localized reality is modified to reflect the current state of his going back in time at the new location. This is a clever way of saying it doesn't really matter, either from a gameplay or a narrative perspective. It all works out. I'm hoping we can arrange some room playthrough videos with the new game elements so people who don't mind "spoiling" the mechanics can see exactly how they work.

Man the time token is the best thing ever probably.

It's awesome! There's naturally a bit of a learning curve with a game element like this, but solving each of these puzzles is really fun.

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

Nuntar
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mrimer wrote: No, we hadn't considered a style remapping option.

Well, I for one think you should

I'm also particularly anxious to know whether the music system is being overhauled, as was suggested in FR....

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mrimer
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No, we hadn't considered overhauling the music system either.

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

Odyssey
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How difficult will TSS be, relative to KDD, JTRH, TCB and GatEB?

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55th Skywatcher

mrimer
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Good questions. We're not quite done yet with puzzles, but the majority of the puzzle levels are solid or completed.

Speaking for myself, I designed some easy levels to introduce new game elements, and these levels are on par with Gunthro levels, or even easier, as they are specifically designed as tutorials to guide a player through the strategy and tactics of using new puzzle widgets, one facet at a time. They might have some lynchpins, but nothing unwieldy or annoying (I don't think).

However, there are also levels later in the game that rank on par with the final TCB difficulty levels. In TCB, however, there are some challenging rooms at the end that might take a player thousands of moves to complete. In TSS, I don't think I've seen any rooms that take over 1000-1500 moves, and most at the end are <500 moves. There are a lot of fun lynchpin rooms, and relatively few horde management rooms. This game features many new mechanics that don't require hordes in order to make interesting puzzles. Almost all rooms I've played through feel crisply fun and clever, and we're working so we can say none feel "annoying", "repetitive", "clunky", etc.

For Gunthro, when it was released, I said we had multiple hub areas and layers of challenges and secrets in the game. While true, I think in TSS you will see how this is all "done right". The core story levels have a pretty smooth learning curve and get appropriately challenging by the end. You'll feel proud of beating the game, but you won't feel like you had to beat your head against the wall while doing it. An experienced player like me -- who I might mention is nowhere near the level of mxvladi, TFMurphy or larrymurk -- still might need a hint for a room or two in each of the final levels.

There are also several optional challenge levels along the way that you can unlock by doing special things. The challenge levels will let you demonstrate that you've mastered the new game elements, without relying on any cheap tricks to solve the rooms. You'll most likely need hints for some rooms in each of those levels. That being said, I don't think there's anything unfair in these rooms or hard to execute on when you know the solution. IMHO, the puzzle design is excellent. Kudos to the level architects, who have designed masterful puzzles for this game. I'm very excited to share this game with you, and I'm thinking of ways we can release some content for you to see or try out before too much longer.

I'm hoping some of the other level designers also chime in with their impressions.

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

---

[Last edited by mrimer at 08-05-2013 04:06 PM]

12th Archivist
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A private discussion between me and developer Mike Rimer.

This should be pretty big for making scripting even more awesome.

____________________________
It was going well until it exploded.
~Scott Manley

Check out the DROD Wikia project here!

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[Last edited by 12th Archivist at 08-05-2013 06:41 PM]

Pinnacle
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A few potentially dumb questions:

Are the room styles used approximately evenly? TCB used Fortress for a ton of levels, GatEB used Aboveground similarly often and drastically underused Forest.

Will TSS assume familiarity with the TCB (and by extension JtRH) mechanics like TCB assumes familiarity with JtRH (as in introducing old elements with a simple optional reminder-type tutorial and then just adding them in)? Or will it be more like JtRH, introducing old elements as if they were new?

Will there be any SmS holds after TSS? Also, with TCB, if I remember correctly, there was a plan to introduce new elements in patches alongside new SmS holds, but that plan fell through. Will this be reintroduced after TSS?

Are there any new CaravelNet features planned?

Will there be a way to add challenges to rooms and track them in-game? I think this was discussed at some point but I don't remember if it's an actual feature.

____________________________
Once (adv.): Enough.
Twice (adv.): Once too often.
~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

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[Last edited by Pinnacle at 08-06-2013 11:59 PM]

mrimer
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Pinnacle wrote:
Are the room styles used approximately evenly? TCB used Fortress for a ton of levels, GatEB used Aboveground similarly often and drastically underused Forest.

I was considering this very thing this week. Let's see...we're pretty balanced across the twelve room styles, with the except of Deep Spaces, which we're using about twice as much as any of the others. Looking them over...we can reallocate a few of those. Probably to the new room styles, so they get more exposure. They deserve it, because they are awesome.

Will TSS assume familiarity with the TCB (and by extension JtRH) mechanics like TCB assumes familiarity with JtRH (as in introducing old elements with a simple optional reminder-type tutorial and then just adding them in)? Or will it be more like JtRH, introducing old elements as if they were new?

We will not be introducing old elements as if they were new, as in JtRH. TSS will assume familiarity with JtRH and TCB elements, possibly with side-tutorials to bring players up to speed as they appear, similar to how this was done in TCB.

Will there be any SmS holds after TSS?

None are currently planned, but that's an option.

Also, with TCB, if I remember correctly, there was a plan to introduce new elements in patches alongside new SmS holds, but that plan fell through. Will this be reintroduced after TSS?

I think that plan was something we were considering since the advent of SmS expansions. I wouldn't say the plan feel through, but rather that we saw that players are annoyed to have multiple game versions to juggle in order to play this or that hold. Handling it all smoothly is something we'd need to address in order to get to that point. It's certainly an option.

Are there any new CaravelNet features planned?

Oh, boy, yes! I'll yield the floor to Matt to share those whenever he's ready to talk about them.

Will there be a way to add challenges to rooms and track them in-game? I think this was discussed at some point but I don't remember if it's an actual feature.

Yes, we're working on that. We have the foundational system in place for scripting challenges. We don't have the tracking part implemented yet.

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

Nuntar
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Now that I'm getting back into main-series DROD, I have an idea for a hold I'd like to build. One thing it would be helpful to know... will it be possible to create custom weapons as in DROD:RPG? Also, is there a scripting command to change the player character's "default" weapon (the one they regain on entering a new room)?

____________________________
50th Skywatcher

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[Last edited by Nuntar at 09-08-2013 05:42 PM]

mrimer
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Nuntar wrote:
Now that I'm getting back into main-series DROD, I have an idea for a hold I'd like to build. One thing it would be helpful to know... will it be possible to create custom weapons as in DROD:RPG? Also, is there a scripting command to change the player character's "default" weapon (the one they regain on entering a new room)?

Yes, you can set and change the player's weapon via scripting. We do have some custom weapons featured in the TSS hold also that players should have a lot of fun with, but weapon design is not a completely openended system.

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

Pinnacle
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mrimer, in the Watch the Bar thread, wrote:
If you'd like to see something, name off a category about it in the TSS spoilers thread on the General board, and when it feels like there's a consensus (or at least no objections) we'll reveal something from the category or categories that most people are interested in.

Is tarstuff too specific?

____________________________
Once (adv.): Enough.
Twice (adv.): Once too often.
~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

blorx1
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Given how many different kinds of tarstuff the bar says there are going to be, I hardly thinks it's that specific.

But yeah, tarstuff or weapons sound cool.

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hyperme
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I'll put into another vote for tarstuff revelations I guess.

Also I guess it would be cool to see something from a new room style. Unless that's a secret.

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Ezlo
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Both tarstuff and a new room style sound like fine ideas.

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robin
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Tarstuff sounds cool for me too.

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