Tales from the Coding Cave

[Karl G.]

After a very nauseating flight home (ever ride a 30-seat propeller plane through an ice storm?) I have been coding like crazy, which is why I haven't been posting here

I believe I am on track for an early-January pre-beta release. And not just in the hackity hack super hackjob way that I did before! Old system: 4 enchantments, no support for dispelling enchantments, 16 bytes PER CHARACTER to display enchantments. New system: 2 bytes per character, 8 simultaneous enchantments of about 27 unique types, plus support for invisible enchantments like Almus, poisoning and Nocte Visus.

As of this morning, the enchantment system is implemented and I have tested a Velocitas-like spell (including a nifty special effect!)

I'm going to add some more cool special effects, then I'll show some new screenies.


A side-note of something cool I found: a "curing" spell is just an enchantment of the "poison" type that deals 0 damage and lasts for 0 seconds. Nifty!

[Burnt Ferret]

sounds promising! Keep up the good work

[Rabit561]

damn that ride sounded like it sucked..

but at least you got to code without any distractions

Can't wait till pre-beta, getin jittery

[Karl G.]

haha, me too!

[Marine2583]

gj keep up the work man

[Exempt]

Sounds good keep up the good work. I'll be waiting to see them screenies...

[Rabit561]

Sounds good keep up the good work. I'll be waiting to see them screenies...

Great idea! I'm sure we'd all like to see some of the stuff in the open-beta before it comes out

[Karl G.]

If you remember, a little while back I mentioned that the next update would include multiple maps.

Today, I'm implementing that feature. It's not quite as difficult as I had imagined, and it actually led very nicely to a few new features:

• Transporting between maps requires some sort of "special" map tile, so I implemented that
• These special map tiles don't just have to teleport you: they can also do cooler stuff! They can be triggers for special enchantment effects, shrines, traps and more--even some stuff Xen never had. For example, shrines that give you a really powerful enchantment but only work once every few hours...or only work when you've triggered other things in the game
• Different maps need different atmospheres. I'll be working on implementing a day/night/weather system. I've done this before, so when I start it shouldn't take too long.
• Also, music. I have done this before, too.

I haven't released any screenies yet because I haven't quite had enough time between coding new features to add stuff that's shiny and fun-looking. Plus, the monsters aren't back in the game yet My priority is to (1) finish this mapping stuff this afternoon then (2) get those monsters back. I'll do a demo video + screenshots at that point, and make a couple of small maps showing off the new features. After that, I think its REALLY time for me to get the kickass physical combat engine integrated. Finally, I'll add in items again. At that point, it'll be pre-beta!

It's on the horizon, you guys!!! Almost there!!!!!!

[Exempt]

Can't wait to check it out! HURRY! No not really take your time and get it right.

[Karl G.]

Can't wait to check it out! HURRY! No not really take your time and get it right.

Haha well I'm hurrying to get it right...how about that

[Karl G.]

Maps are finally finished and debugged! You can now move between any number of different maps To test things out, I made a simple cave.

Next up: baddies! I've got a couple of new friends for you guys that might be fun, too



oh, also! a new melee skill I thought up that might be cool: deflecting arrows with a spin attack. would need some balancing but I'd love to implement it.