Gold-Box Version Returns

The Gold-Box-like version of the game was apparently really popular.  There was a lot of positive feedback to the video I posted last time.  So, I have returned to working on that version.   I have to say that I'm glad I did.  The development time seems to be moving along much faster now.

My first order of business was to get rid of the odd corruption that had plagued that version of the game and forced me to go back to the full 3D version.  That required me to rewrite the inventory screen, which I did.  I don't have screenshots of that to show off yet, but it is mostly done.

However, I do have some screenshots of the main exploration panel.  The panel now has life points and mana points that change color as each character loses them.  They will turn yellow when they are below the maximum value.  This is so that the player knows that a particular character isn't at full health or mana at a glance.

In addition, the armor rating of each character is now also shown on the main screen.

Notice that some characters have been damaged.

I've also been making sure that I keep the game workable in multiple resolutions.  The above screen is in the 16:9 aspect ratio.  Here's the same screen at 4:3 in the lowest resolution available in the game (1024x768).

Different aspect ratio.

There's a lot of "behind-the-scenes" work going on.  Some dabbling into the combat engine, for example.  The handling of the equipped items (those Armor Ratings in the screenshots above are fully working; because those characters have armor equipped).  So, a lot of fun things happening.

Event Text Boxes

One of the things I struggled with a lot while working on this game was how to present the event text to the player.  I tried a couple of different ways, including...

A) A style similar to the old Gold-Box games in an alternate version of the game:

Nice borders, though.

B) A "floating head style that made it seem like the NPCs were standing in the scene:

Cool head, lady.

C) A floating picture box that seemed disconnected from the text:

Weird.

I liked some of these approaches, but I started thinking of better ways to present the text to the player during the course of the game.  What I came up with won't necessarily please everyone (very few things do), but I like how everything is combined into one unit, making it easy to use and manipulate.  Here's what it looks like now:

Different.

I think it still needs some adjustment.  It isn't centered in the screen the way that I want.  Overall, though, I think it works.  Just like the bar at the bottom, it's functional rather than pretty.  It might be plain, but it works.  It offers me a way to present the player with text and images that move the story along, offer them choices and gives a sense that things are going on in the world.

Hopefully, once I've worked out the placement kinks, it will move this project one step closer to being completed.

Fourth Time is a Charm

At this point in the project, I have rebuilt this game four times from scratch (not including the early versions I highlighted in the last post).  This will, I hope, be the last time.  It's no easy feat to scrap everything you've done and start over again...especially when you've done it multiple times.

This last time, it needed to be done.  And there were two reasons for that.

1)  REASON ONE: The Gold-Box Factor

The first reason was that the game had become something I didn't want to build.  While I appreciated the feedback I got from some folks on the Internet, their opinions swayed me away from the kind of game I wanted to build.  As I kept listening to them and doing what they suggested, I was getting pulled further and further away from my original vision.  After a while, I realized that I was an idiot to allow this, and I withdrew from the public for a while to quietly scrap everything and start over.

This game started as an homage to the SSI Gold-Box style games of the early 1990s.  Nobody is making games like that anymore.  You can find a ton of Bard's Tale and Wizardry knockoffs, but you don't find many games that try to copy the style of Pool of Radiance, and I think that's a shame.  That series of games was awesome.

So, I returned to that.  This screenshot (which is a work in progress, so keep that in mind) clearly shows a return to that form.  Anyone who has played those games will quickly see the same style and will notice that it also is closer to my original version of the game from two years ago (when this crazy ride started):

Work in progress screen.

The game now has step-based movement (free movement has been removed), allows for six characters (one thing that a lot of people have asked for) from a total of 12 classes and will hopefully have more tactical combat.


2) REASON TWO: Scaling Issues

The other reason why the project needed a reboot was that I had locked the game into one screen mode (1280x720) and had built around that.  Players would have no choice but to play in that screen mode.

After a while, I came to see how horrible an idea that was and realized that I was going to need to figure out how to scale things properly in order to allow players to play in any screen mode from 1024x768 (minimum) and up.   Now, the game should play in a variety of screen resolutions and scale properly.

For example, the above picture is in the 16:9 aspect ratio.  Here's the same screen in 4:3 at 1024x768 (the lowest possible resolution):

Same screen, different resolution.

You'll notice now that everything scales dynamically.  Folks playing in a 16:9 or 16:10 resolution will have more breathing space, but even folks playing at the lowest resolution will not feel cheated.  Fonts, buttons, etc...they all scale as required.  I test everything in multiple resolutions to insure that everything works.  It adds to the workload, but I think it's worth it.

Overall, I don't have a lot to show, since I'm rebuilding many of the things I've already shown off in the past.  But, I don't like to have nothing to show for my work, so here's a few more screenshots.

The first one shows how the game handles text and pictures when you encounter enemies or friendly folk.  As mentioned above, if you're familiar with the Gold-Box games, you won't see something here that you're not familiar with:

This is an old screenshot.  Notice how buttons aren't properly scaled yet (compared to the above screenshots).

Finally, I tend to always show how the character screens are evolving.  After attempting to use the Basic Fantasy RPG system and realizing that it wouldn't work out as I'd hoped (despite how close to the Gold-Box system it would be), I started working out the details on my own RPG system.  A lot of thought has gone into it.

This screen won't show you everything about it, but just know that I want it to be simple enough for anyone to play.  If you're looking for a game with deep character building options, you're not going to find it here.  This isn't that game.  This game will have tactical combat and exploration options, but characters will be pretty straightforward in the same way that they were in any of the Gold-Box titles this game is paying homage to.  That's just reality.

Anyway, here's a character screen:

This character screen isn't 100% working.  The scores aren't showing up right yet, and bonuses aren't calculated correctly either.

So, I hope some of you are still out there and haven't given up yet.  I don't plan on building this game for a fifth time.  This is it.  This is the final version.  I know what I want to build now, and I'm not going to let people steer me away from my goal.  If they don't like it, they are free not to play it.  It's not going to appeal to everyone, and I can live with that.  I'll just focus on making it the best game I can make, and I'll be happy if even one person likes it.

Until next time.

Basic Fantasy

Big changes are in store for Lands of Adventure, and those changes involve the RPG system that the game will be using.  Initially, the game was using a home brew system that I was developing.  However, thanks to Chris Gonnerman, I have been granted permission to use the Basic Fantasy RPG system in my game.

Basic Fantasy is an old-school style RPG that uses a lot of familiar rules and ideas from the Basic version of Dungeons & Dragons and mixes it with some updated rules from the 3.5 edition of the game.  So anyone who has played an older version of D&D will find some things they recognize.

Information about Basic Fantasy can be found here:
Basic Fantasy Homepage

Here's a screenshot of one of the splash pages in the game that provides information about the system:

Basic Fantasy is really a fantastic RPG system.  I've used it to run a few games.

In case you're wondering why there haven't been many updates to the blog recently, it's because I've been working to implement this system into the game.  I'm not done yet, but it's coming along nicely.  Since the system has changed, this means that some important parts of the game have changed as well.

For starters, there are different classes.  There are now only ten instead of twelve, but I think it's something that people could probably live with.

The new selection of classes.

Classes now include:  Fighter, Paladin, Barbarian, Thief, Ranger, Assassin, Druid, Cleric, Monk and Magic-User (all classic classes that most RPG fans will recognize).  Some of the classes in this screenshot are not available only because the character didn't meet the minimum requirements for those classes (Paladin, Ranger and Monk).

Other changes in the game include the addition of a Saving Throw system, Hit Points and the removal of Mana Points (since spellcasting works different in Basic Fantasy than it did in my home brew system).

Some players may be upset to learn that the skills and perks system has been completely removed from the game.  This is unavoidable, as they don't exist in the current system.  Instead, skill rolls will be handled by attributes and perks simply won't exist.  

Here's an updated screenshot showing the starting town with the new character information off to the side and how it will appear in the game.  Below the name is the class of the character, their number of hit point and their current status (which will show when a character is dead, diseased, poisoned, etc).

Wandering around town, Basic Fantasy style.

Finally, this character sheet will show many of the changes.  (Note:  Saving Throws aren't currently implemented, so they will show up as a static number in this screenshot because I haven't coded them yet.  Everything else is working):

The new and improved character sheet.

Big changes are coming.  I'm excited about it and I hope you are too.

Per the agreement I made with Chris Gonnerman (creator of Basic Fantasy), this game will be released as freeware upon completion (that was the original intention when I started this journey anyway).  However, I may still create a Kickstarter simply to purchase assets for the game (buildings, models, UI elements, etc).  Even free, I want this game to be the best that it can be.  I'll let you know when that happens.

Starting Town

I've reached the point in game development where I've started to throw some of the maps together.  That's because I don't know every system I'm going to need in the game until I actually build those parts of the game.  I can't guess in advance.

So, there's not really much to share in regards to features (as most of the systems behind the scenes would sound pretty boring if I described them).  However, here are some cool screenshots of the starting town...

One of the entrance gates.

Looking toward the well in the center of the town.

Near the well.

I'm fairly happy with the way it's starting to come together.  And comparing these screenshots to the early version of the game is night and day.  I'll keep you updated.

Going Back to Square One

I spoke in another post about scope creep.  In the last few months, this project has started to succumb to that very issue.  The more new things I wanted to add to the game, the more overwhelming the project became.  While everything was looking great, in reality it was becoming a mess and I started to realize that I had gone far, far away from what I had originally intended for this game.

So, I have gone back to square one.  The beginning.  I have started over.  Using the Unity engine, I am going to rebuild the game in the same style as before.  I will save all the stuff I want to add like additional classes, skills and perks and other things for a sequel or an updated version.  Rather than make the game a complicated mess that might not get finished, I would rather build it the way that I want and see it completed.

And, you know what?  I'm fine with that.  I think the game will still be good and will showcase what I can do.  Everything else can come later when I have more help or funding or whatever.

There will still be some updates, though.  I'll be using the 3D engine in Unity to render dungeons and locations versus the hand-drawn style I used in Visual Studio.  And I am still considering trying to make the combat engine work more like a Gold-Box game (like "Pool of Radiance") versus something like Phantasie.

Anyway, here are some comparison screenshots of the way that the game looked originally and how it is shaping up in Unity (which is also allowing me to create the game so that it can be played in full screen versus a little window).  Let's start with the Title Screen:

The original title screen.

The new title screen.  Look familiar?

Here are the main menus:

The original Main Menu screen.

The Unity version of the Main Menu screen.

When generating a character, these are what the attribute screens look like:

The original screen used to generate attributes.

The Unity version of the screen used to generate attributes.

Obviously, the screens are all similar.  This was done purposely.  And it may not be obvious here, but the screens in Unity look nicer.  Not only are the graphics and fonts better, but it's also in widescreen format, giving more space to lay things out on the screen.  Clicking on the pictures might make it more clear.

The original game ran in a window that was 1000 x 700.  The Unity version runs full screen at 1280 x 720, giving far more real estate for items on the screen.  This is all a good thing and I can't see myself going back to doing things the hard way.

So, these last few months have been a learning experience about what I wanted to do with this game.  In the end, I still have a lot of things I'd like to do, but they really need to go on the back burner for the moment.  Let me get the new version of the game caught up to the old version first.  Then, I can enhance it a lot.  It's what I should have done from the beginning.

As always, I'll be glad to hear any feedback you want to offer.