Back in action!

[Karl G.]

Well, the week from hell is almost over and I'm getting ready for a massive coding session tonight. I'm completely refreshed and hope to complete a new in-game menu system today (taking into account your wishes for keys instead of buttons). Here's my idea: you can set keys to bring up individual windows using the key-binding screen ("i" for inventory, "s" for stats, "k" for keys, "enter" for chat, etc). However, the "chat" button actually will do a lot more.

Not only will it bring up a text-entry line so you can type a message, it will display a scrollable chat-log and some panels of buttons. Which panels are shown depends on your current location. There is always a panel with buttons for all of your normal screens--inventory and stats and whatnot. When you enter a new "special" area, text will display on your screen (then fade) telling you where you are now. For example, "entering bazaar" or "entering geosid aura". When you're in the bazaar, pressing enter will display all the normal stuff along with a panel of buttons for managing the bazaar (I think you should also be able to hotkey these actions). Such buttons might be "view available items", "list item for sale", "remove item", "view sales", etc. Similarly, a panel can show up for a geosid with buttons for managing your interaction there ("sacrifice items", "regenerate self", "portal to marked location").

[Sankt Pauli]

Those are good news, just remember to take a day off to refresh yourself after that week.
And your idea is awesome! As simple as it can get, that's allways welcomed.

[deathstalker]

you go lol sounds good to me i can't wait

[Karl G.]

Another update:

I had to spend a little while figuring out where I left off and removing some bad/temporary code I wrote, but I got all caught up tonight and managed to finish the new controls (see the Revision 3 post). If I can say so myself, the setup is BITCHIN'!! It feels awesome and totally natural to hunt with (and being able to cancel out of gas form makes it much more useful).

Also, I added a couple of new things tonight to make the game more interactive. First of all, monsters with very low HP will run away from you, unless you are too close in which case they'll try to fight. Secondly, I changed the way characters are animated, so you shouldn't get the weird effect where monsters move while in the "idle" animation state, or "slide" while dead.

So, what's up next, you ask? Well, I'd like to finish up the controls before moving into the menu segment--so I'm going to add clicking for targeted spell-casting. After that, it's chat and chat-log plus a complete menu overhaul.

[Karl G.]

Okay, targeted spellcasting has been added, and the mouse changes to a glowing gold version when you need to select a target for a spell.

chat log and menu time!!!

[speed3b]

This all sounds super bad bum. You have some great ideas. Take some time for yourself, have a beer and watch some tv. Nothing better after a long week of classes. No reason to burn yourself out.

[prehistoric]

Silly man, haven't you heard? Karl is super man...beer cant even metabolize in this super-human state, expelling it from his eyes in a toxic rage

[Karl G.]

Silly man, haven't you heard? Karl is super man...beer cant even metabolize in this super-human state, expelling it from his eyes in a toxic rage

Hahahah... ...actually... coffee is the only thing I can drink without causing the room I'm in to start smoldering while I'm writing code.

Brand spankin' new chat log is done. It's not positioned yet, but it works great--scrolling and everything

[Nenitus]

Lookin' good!
My midterms are done now too, so I should have more time to test for you

[Vapore]

Amazing.

[prehistoric]

I like the "click anywhere to close chat log" option. it's like you actually listen to problems! im not used to that.

as for the coffee drinking, it could be my severe a.d.h.d...but caffiene is crap. consider your brain an absorbant washcloth....after using it for a while, it's collected a bunch of crud and could use a rinse.......drink odwalla juice found in the produce sections of your grocery stores....and acai berry beverages (most powerful antioxidant in the world) helps the brain...or just drink white powdered gold. "philosopher's stone" is a book that explins how rewire your brain with gold wiring...like a high end stereo system...to help synapses occur more clean, efficient, and powerfully in you brain. I suggest you look it up... also, it was found in the arc of the covenant and is the key ingredient in the food of the gods, also called ambrosia. it regenerates teeth and grey hairs, wrinkles...prevents cancer, decelerates aging...blah blah. anyways... good for the brain, and you seem like someone who would like to at least hear about it.

GL on your programming! we're all eager to test!

[Karl G.]

Another update!

stat bar is not final--I just moved it out of the way.

[Burnt Ferret]

looking good!

[Vapore]

Thank you for keeping us updated. It's much appreciated.

[Sankt Pauli]

That gui is allready way ahead of xen lolz, very nice! :]