Warlock - Tower of Fentrax [Updates & Screenshots]

[Max Heap]

Hi,

I noticed that a lot of people around here seem to enjoy Ultima 4 and 5, so I though I could post a little indie game I'm working on at the moment.

It's called "Warlock - Tower of Fentrax" and was very much inspired by the older titles of the Ultima series.
Only differences: It will have a bigger emphasis on wilderness survival, there will be a skill system with stuff like combat and survival skills and the dialogue system will be a little bit different (as it's planned at the moment you should still be able to ask people about certain keywords though)
Oh yeah the graphics might not be as charming as those of Ultima but at least a little bit more colourful.
But look for yourself at the end of the post (lots of wip/alpha tiles in there).

There is also an almost smoothly working map editor as well (some startup bugs are still in it but that doesn't have any effect on the game).

I plan not to include too many modern RPG features. So there will be no minimap and no quest log, that's for sure.
That is not because I'm such a slacker but because the game will come with a handdrawn map and two handbooks instead (in pdf form of course). So you're supposed to read up, write down and combine stuff and I hope this will let you immerse a little bit better into the world.
Worked for me in Ultima. Of course this is different from person to person.


So what is working/done in this very early development stage:
* Map editor and everything that comes along with that (map file structure, layerinterpretation etc)
* Graphical interpretation of map files
* Interface (for the most part - what remains is integrating the script language)
* Controls & Collision
* Story
* Several concepts (skills, character development etc)

What's still on the TODO list:
* Script Language
* Battle System
* Dialogue System
* Skill System
* Soundeffects and music
* Material (Handbook, Map)
* Oh yeah... content

I'm just starting out but looking at the progress lately I think the project is on a good way.

I will also post in here of course, but the following Links are the main sources for news on the game. You will also find the full game announcement on the blog.

Link to blog:
http://dynamicgames.de.vu/

Direct link to blog if the above link doesn't work:
http://dynamicgamesblog.blogspot.com/

There is also a twitter account (for all the stuff that was too insignificant for the blog):
https://twitter.com/#!/Dynamic_Games

If you have any further questions just ask.
Also: Any feedback is most welcome!

Cheers,
Max Heap


------SCREENSHOTS------

A small part of the world map:

Testing the dungeon tileset:

The map editor:

 

[Unradscorpion]

Pity post

 

[shihonage]

If anything, this will be a great learning experience.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Will it feature tastefully done rape, though?

 

[Excidium]

Looks pretty good. It's better to start simple, anyway.

If anything, this will be a great learning experience.

Indeed.

 

[thesheeep]

Not much feedback to give here.
Probably not the most original game idea ever, but you probably knew that already

Have fun!

 

[Max Heap]

Not much feedback to give here.
Probably not the most original game idea ever[...]

Naw... on the other hand I had no intention to throw over any classic game design.
Ultima sprinkled with some small additions. That's all.

Of course I could have thought about something more... innovative.
I mean, we had that thread in the general forums where we were talking about science fiction cRPGs. There are not too many of those and I thought that the setting (especially space, space stations, planets that are hostile to life etc.) has a lot of unused potential.

There are definitely some good ideas in there. And I might get back to them. Not for this game though

Will it feature tastefully done rape, though?

Not this time old bean. Not this time.

 

[Baron]

Looks good, keep it up. I goddamn love Ultima IV's style, simple and elegant exploration and monster beating. And I'd love a simple editor to play with, particularly if you have a good dialogue system.

Also like that you are doing something with wilderness survival, nice touch. I always liked these systems particularly when it links in with ethics/alignment, ie. occasionally having to steal or eat your shoes (or party members) to survive.

Don't make this a PC exclusive... Make it an internet exclusive. The 'Dex needs a second social game, a fantasy, to offset its epic space trader, Blackspace. Before you dismiss this idea out of hand please consider the hundreds of thousands you could make with DLC. Many forumers will want their avatars converted into the game, that's $25 each right there. If they don't then they get the default/kingcomrade. And weapons, not a huge advantage, but clubs and daggers only, unless you BE A BRO AND SUPPORT NOBLE INDIE GAME DEVELOPMENT by pulling out your credit card and coughing up a contribution and buying a BASTARD SWORD. (Fuck you to the haters, you'd only pirate it anyway, faggots.) This system would let players experience the game for free, but they'll only survive the easy areas. To survive the dungeons and forests they'd need to effectively buy the game with a DLC purchase.

Second, post the original file of that shitty avatar icon and we can have a competition to mod it. (I loved altering my avatars on Knights of Legend.) Knights should stand more like...

http://www.mindspring.com/~dougbk/knightwarrior.gif
http://karenswhimsy.com/public-domain-i ... eval-1.jpg
http://karenswhimsy.com/public-domain-i ... ghts-5.jpg
http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs18/f/2007/ ... re7508.jpg

Don't imagine it would take much to alter your graphics pack but might yield some good results, (but obviously you risk having dicks put on all your female characters.) Others might even play around with the interface if you post the resources, instructions, or what you require.

Look forward to updates with the combat / quest editor.

 

[Mortmal]

Ultima sprinkled with some small additions. That's all.

That's all ? Hope you remember how deep and complex ultima were, ton of interactive items, dialogues, npcs with daily schedule a very good story . Its not as trivial as you seem to think it is, those were AAA projects with big teams just limited by the 8bit hardware we had.
For now you dont have much more than a few ideas on paper, but good luck for it.

 

[Baron]

Multiplayer UltimaIV would be a blast. Similar to Blackspace it's be fun to approach other knights across the land, with a stat determining how many squares away others could be seen. Thief/Rogue/Blackguard characters would most likely be hidden as they approached to steal or backstab.

Just an idea. Will read up on your blog to find out other info about the project.

 

[Max Heap]

Ultima sprinkled with some small additions. That's all.

That's all ? Hope you remember how deep and complex ultima were, ton of interactive items, dialogues, npcs with daily schedule a very good story . Its not as trivial as you seem to think it is, those were AAA projects with big teams just limited by the 8bit hardware we had.
For now you dont have much more than a few ideas on paper, but good luck for it.

I was actually talking about the simplicity of the idea.
Not about the simplicity of the realization. I'm still very well aware of Ultimas massive content.

Edit:
The only thing I'm a little bit concerned about are the daily schedules. That is also the reason why I'm rather looking at Ultima 4 when it comes to the main inspiration. It's not even the implementation i shy away from. It's rather the fact that stuff like daily schedules, dynamic event handling and all that comes along with it are prime examples for bug sources. Not really bugs in the code though. But unhandled corner cases.
Example: At lunchtime every single NPC gets something to eat.
Now you take a shopkeeper for an example. You have a lot of stuff lying around in his shop. All those items have let's say an owner tag. If you take an item without permission, the owner gets angry of course. But only if you're in sight.
So what's the first idea that comes to your mind? Of course wait for lunchtime and rob the whole store once the shopkeeper is gone. So the corner case here is: It's lunchtime and the player is standing right in the middle of a shop.
I mean that is quite an easy example. You just have to kick the player out of the shop before the shopkeeper leaves. Same goes for bedtime.
But there are probably several situation i wouldn't consider even if i thought a month about it.

Second, post the original file of that shitty avatar icon and we can have a competition to mod it. (I loved altering my avatars on Knights of Legend.)

There you go.
However I'm thinking about saving all of that equipment (shield, sword, helm etc) on a seperate spot of a character tileset and screw it all together in the engine itself. That system would also allow a much more detailed character creation (putting a moustache on your avatar, changing the hairstyle etc.). Also NPC design would be easier with it.
Can't promise that though. Was just an idea.

 

[Fowyr]

This may end good.

 

[Baron]

http://www8.pic-upload.de/23.07.11/pqtqgyw9lqaq.png =

 

[Mastermind]

 

[Max Heap]

http://www8.pic-upload.de/23.07.11/pqtqgyw9lqaq.png =

Huh... strange.
Well, shotgun method:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/651/playerx.png/

http://postimage.org/image/14ybhxc6c/

http://imageupload.org/?d=211D9FD71

http://i52.tinypic.com/kah2j7.png

I guess at least one of those should work.

If not...

I could even imagine continue testing with that one.

 

[Mastermind]

I had to resize it because the head wouldn't fit though. That might cause some problems.

 

[Max Heap]

I had to resize it because the head wouldn't fit though. That might cause some problems.

Oh that doesn't hurt it a lot. You can take any picture.
Only thing is that collision doesn't correspond with the character anymore.

http://postimage.org/image/b6gijhhg/

 

[Baron]

http://postimage.org/image/b6gijhhg/

lol, that's awesome. Game is shaping up.

Other link to knight pic worked, thanks.

 

[Elwro]

Nice!

 

[Lord Rocket]

Only differences: It will have a bigger emphasis on wilderness survival,

This is by far the most interesting thing about the project, tell us more about it.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

feel free to use this as a prestige class type character graphic

note double bladed sword wielded in one hand, attractively designed cape, single blood red right pauldron (horned) and larger shield size as befitting a class that is prestigious

 

[Max Heap]

Only differences: It will have a bigger emphasis on wilderness survival,

This is by far the most interesting thing about the project, tell us more about it.

I will also post this on the blog:

The survival system is handled by a certain amount of character states (most of them independant from each other) respectively several little state machines or state sequenences to make it more understandable (the states are not really sequential though).


There are some very basic state sequences:

Eat nothing for days => starve => stats heavily decreased => die of starvation
Drink nothing for days => stats heavily decreased => die of thirst
No sleep/rest for days => exhaustion => stats heavily decreased => fall over somewhen


There are also some less obvious state sequences:

Sleep outside in bad weather => you might get sick => stats decreased => no treatment => dead
Walk far with one pair of boots => boots destroyed => boo-boo on feet => stats decreased
Eat poisonous plants => diarrhea => no treatment => yeah you are probably dead
etc. etc.


Of course there are ways to prevent suffering and death.
You can break almost any sequence at any point by an action that sets back the particular sequence (unless you are dead sick or already shitting your pants for the third time). The thing is, the further you go into a sequence, the harder it might be to get into the initial state again.

There are also survival skills which might help you. Like medical treatment, basic repair, tracking etc.

feel free to use this as a prestige class type character graphic

note double bladed sword wielded in one hand, attractively designed cape, single blood red right pauldron (horned) and larger shield size as befitting a class that is prestigious

That actually reminds me: I have not thought about capes.

 

[zeitgeist]

Why are your pixels so small?

By which I mean why is the game resolution so huge, and why are the tiles so disproportionally enormous in relation to the level of detail they provide? It's not like you're ever going to need anything more than 32x32 to go with this game concept, and it would all look so much better in lower resolution.

 

[Max Heap]

Why are your pixels so small?

By which I mean why is the game resolution so huge, and why are the tiles so disproportionally enormous in relation to the level of detail they provide? It's not like you're ever going to need anything more than 32x32 to go with this game concept, and it would all look so much better in lower resolution.

I wanted to put a little more detail on the tilesets later. I admit 50x50 might be a bit big though

 

[Zed]

16x16 is where it's at. 640x resolution.

Also, that's how a playtest character should look!