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[Scoops Novel]

How detailed will NPC's be?

[Zireael]

How detailed will NPC's be?

Your question opened a whole can of worms.

Currently, NPCs are just monsters with an option to have 1) a random class with a random amount of levels OR 2) a specific class.

In addition, some of them can chat with the player. Speaking of chat, the next thing I want to do is expand on the default code to implement languages - so if you don't know Drow, everything they say will be just random babble, with maybe some Drow words from the dictionaries floating around the net thrown in.

I plan to give important NPCs, such as the player's offspring, random names (and this should happen soon).

As I mentioned in the URR thread, I also plan to give NPCs portraits, since the engine supports it, and I have some pics lying around on my HDD, but haven't gotten around to making the code that would govern them (basically I'd reuse the moddable player tile code), but that requires saving possible hair, eye, nose, mouth, tattoo etc. as separate pics from the base face. The plus side would be that instead of all the drow having the same portrait or maybe 2 variations, there would be many possible variations (a scarred amber-eyed veteran? a violet-eyed girl with a circlet on her head? a green-eyed man with a scar on his cheek? etc. etc.)

I also have noted the idea to give NPCs (and player) star signs (like in ADOM) or personality archetypes (like in Incursion).

***
As for the game itself, I'm currently brainstorming CRs to better adjust them to Veins being a single player game as opposed to d20 default being a 4-man-party. I am also working on adding more egos to the game.
Un-hardcoding skills prompted me to attempt to rework the innate spells code, the player item creation code and the alter self/polymorph code to draw on all the data available in spell definitions, ego definitions and monster definitions respectively instead of duplicating it. That, however, is a long undertaking.

Hopefully I can postpone that MA draft to sometime later than 5 May, in which case you'd get the next beta this weekend (without CR adjustments or better innates/polymorph/item creation, probably).

[Zireael]

My supervisor agreed to me handing in the complete MA draft by 12 May instead, so...

Beta 8 "Mayfly-December Romance" is here! Grab it from here or wait for ModDB.

CHANGELOG:
* bug fix - no more artifacts dropping on dlvl 1
* bug fix - init sound on loading game from a save
* bug fix - give humanoid NPCs weapon proficiencies
* bug fix - no more errors on log in healer chat
* bug fix - damage logged now includes all increases
* bug fix - effects outside sight range are now forced to be silent
* bug fix - shoot no longer throws a Lua error if you have a shooter but not ammo
* bug fix - can now drag items to hotbar without errors
* bug fix - hotbar will not burp errors when there are no charges at all
* bug fix - increase rarities of large+ vermin
* bug fix - amulet ASCII symbol not showing up
* bug fix - difficulty selection not being saved/displayed properly
* bug fix - Oathbow not counting as ranged weapon
* bug fix - personal reaction not used at all, leading to attacked neutrals not turning hostile
* bug fix - don't show talent cooldown if it's 0
* bug fix - no more option to wear things with INVEN slot
* bug fix - adjust food rarities and add a message on eating
* bug fix - spending a night with a courtesan counts now as resting
* bug fix - buttons overlapping in Help screen
* bug fix - encumbrance no longer considered detrimental
* bug fix - update the tutorial to mention wounds
* bug fix - add sex to character screen
* bug fix - wrap up Power Attack rework and update description
* bug fix - don't display pseudo ID tags on paperdoll
* bug fix - make the specific class resolver actually work
* bug fix - fix the HP allotted by both random and specific class resolver
* bug fix - don't show decimals in special damage messages
* bug fix - assorted spelling fixes
* bug fix - blindness/deafness now allows a save and uses the same TalentDialog code as other spells
* bug fix - cheat resurrect now restores mana, if any, and wounds

* added Symbola font and used it on map
* new zones: temple, drow temple
* new magic properties: weapons - bane corresponding to all monster types, aligned, elemental, elemental burst; wondrous items - of slow digestion
* uncommented fortification code, spiked armor and shields egos
* new item tiles: belt, girdle, club, helmet, mushroom, long composite bow, short composite bow, hand crossbow
* new NPC tiles: drow noble male, phantom fungus
* changed ASCII symbol for bullets
* changed ASCII symbols for grick, azer, djinn, efreet, xorn
* changed ASCII colors for lillend, barghest, some vermin
* changed ASCII symbols and colors for drider, will o'wisp, quasit, thoqqua
* added distinctive colors to individual mephit and formian classes
* added paperdoll graphics for almost all weapons (except double sword)
* added tips on loading zone level
* implemented the Luck stat
* implemented Monkey Grip feat
* implemented proper DC calculations for spells
* random and default buttons in character creation screen
* increase spellcaster classes skill points allotment to 4
* ammo capacity is now randomized
* some bags now limit what can be put in them (so an ammo belt will accept only ammo)
* the HUD now informs you that you are on the worldmap or gives you the zone name itself for other zones
* many dialog lists are now colored to help distinguish between good/bad/neutral options
* character sheet now takes all attack modifiers into account when displaying your attack
* the character screen now has a tab listing all effects you have
* the player character can now have children of his/her own
* if you die but have a child(ren), you can keep playing as one of the kids
* improved the loot generator
* skills are no longer hardcoded
* AI can now pick up items from the floor and swap weapons
* players can keep a ranged weapon in the shoulder slot and swap weapons with a keypress
* you can now wield, take off or use items with a keypress giving you a list of all applicable items
* improved combat messages
* neutral NPCs can now be told to move aside/swap places with you
* neutral NPCs who turned hostile due to attacks will slowly decay towards neutral again if not attacked
* add specific class levels to sages, courtesans, guards
* add more skill kits/update their descriptions
* giant ant queen CR bumped up and brought closer to PF version
* the player will now stop running automatically in some cases (chats, nasty stuff happening)
* worldmap now uses its own sight range
* code attacks of opportunity
* added outline to ASCII entities

In other news, while brainstorming monster CRs, I discovered our monster listing (not counting neutrals/townies) is already longer than Incursion's

P.S. Build name is totally on purpose - it's 1 May, after all!

[Zireael]

How are you liking the kids?

***
I've finally made the elemental planes. Not perfect, admittedly - they don't choke you (Earth), drown you (Water) or burn you to crisp (Fire) and I think none of them should have any loot around, especially not Fire or Air, but...





More screenshots in the gallery, of course. I'm proud of how pretty it all is - while I took the floor tiles from UT 32 tileset, the walls are my edits.

[Zireael]

Polishing my MA (complete text due for review June 9), but found some time to poke around the chat code.



Yes, that's the beginning of NPC portraits I've been planning to implement for the longest time.

Next step: make the overlays (eyes, brows, nose, mouth) work, then randomize them, then make them depend on race.

[Zireael]

Beta 9 is here and it seems ModDB changed something on their end as I don't have to wait for the verification - yay!

Download



The portraits are procedurally generated, with elements depending on the NPC's profession or race.

CHANGELOG:

* bug fix - made fire outsiders straight out immune to fire
* bug fix - wyvern now has poison
* bug fix - tendriculos and choker have proper descriptions
* bug fix - rejecting filters due to exceeding cost led to no filters being applied at all when creating loot
* bug fix - take into account item level ranges when creating loot
* bug fix - adjust item levels and rarities since some were out of whack with the item's real power
* bug fix - NPCs and monsters should now drop level-appropriate gear
* bug fix - cost filters now operate on the baseline price in coppers (i.e. what e.cost is expressed in)
* bug fix - add currency symbols (pp, gp, sp) in item tooltips; display store purse in silver coins
* bug fix - unify flavors capitalization
* bug fix - add subtype to those outsiders which were missing it
* bug fix - magic armor now reduces armor check penalty by 1 for being masterwork already
* bug fix - wearing cloaks no longer messes up the player doll display
* bug fix - feat granting items (e.g. boots of dodging) actually grant them
* bug fix - drag-and-drop inventory sometimes not working

* new zones: Plane of Air, Plane of Earth, Plane of Fire, Plane of Water; kobold warrens, bank
* new monsters: succubus, incubus; dragons (complete with age categories and breath weapons)
* new NPCs: drow house guard, drow house captain, drow priest, drow banker
* new magic item properties: masterwork (weapon/armor/shield), muleback, of heavyload; of powerful grip, of the Dervish, of neutralization, of grounding; efficient, of Maeve, returning;
* new original tiles: blood ape, formian, howler, brass dragon, vargouille, bulette, cockatrice, copper dragon
* new monster tiles: giant ant soldier, giant ant queen, will-o-wisp, grick, spectral panther, white dragon, tojanida, hag, sphinx, shambling mound, harpy, basilisk, behir, hyena, jackal, viper, ankheg, aranea, gray render, lamia, winter wolf, naga;
* new NPC tiles: drow female noble, drow commoner, drow house guard;
* new terrain tiles: chasm, tiled floor, iron door, drow door, fountain, worldmap floor, worldmap wall, worldmap stairs up/down, worldmap ruins, barred door, cobblestone floor, water floor, water wall, fire floor, fire wall, earth, earth wall, air, cloud, mud;
* new tiles: glaive
* humanoid NPCs now have portraits (kudos to /u/Ozymandias79)
* implemented languages
* implemented a way to self-resurrect within the normal rules
* implement item compare
* implement butchering corpses
* add money weight switch
* new scroll flavors
* change ASCII color for chaos beast, howler, rast
* change ASCII symbol for nightmare
* gave breath weapons to hell hound, dragon turtle
* gave immunities to delver, gibbering mouther, mimic, nagas; ghaele, lillend; tojanida; assassin vine, shambling mound, tendriculos; fire elementals, magmin; night hag
* marut and fire elementals now deal additional damage on hit
* implement low-light vision
* implement Craft, Survival skills
* rogues now receive Weapon Finesse for free
* item creation feats now pick from all possible egos
* item's tooltip now tells you where you found it (from ToME 2 port)

P.S. MA almost done - some paperwork left and preparing for the thesis defence on the 23rd. After that, I will vacation a bit and then will have loads of free time to work on Veins!

[Zireael]

No, this is not dead. 

I've implemented Pick Pockets and Decipher Script. I've also bitten the bullet and implemented the background skills variant from Pathfinder as a default rule. This should make Craft (and other non-immediately useful skills) much more viable.



I've drafted a new class over the last week.

Magus draft

As you can guess, it draws on the Pathfinder magus, but also on the vanguard class.

Once again, the goal is to have every level be significant (i.e. no "dead levels").

**
On the game end of things, shuffled around some effects and hard at work adding more spells.

[pondicherry]

So,

I dowloaded the game, created a character (rogue elf.), then I read the paper (the first piece of lore) and then I just tried my stealthy ability and ... LUA error.
But well I liked the atmosphere, and the  T-engine does not bother me much.

[Zireael]

So,

I dowloaded the game, created a character (rogue elf.), then I read the paper (the first piece of lore) and then I just tried my stealthy ability and ... LUA error.
But well I liked the atmosphere, and the  T-engine does not bother me much.

Thanks for the report - turns out a single misspelled skill could cause a Lua error. I've put in a safeguard so that any further misspellings will just print a log message instead of throwing an error, and fixed the misspelling.

The fix has just been pushed to git. Update and enjoy and don't forget to leave any ideas/bug reports

[pondicherry]

That was quick ! 
Thanks, I'll give it another go next week.

[Zireael]

While adding spells, I noticed the hotbar was getting more and more clustered while many of the skills and spells are only situationally useful. I then thought of Baldur's Gate UI where you could pull up the list of spells with a single icon.

Here's what I arrived at.



The HLW icon is there because it's an innate ability. The spellbook icon stays, as well.

The sword brings up a menu of attack options. The expand icon brings up a menu of skills and the one which looks vaguely like a crescent shows the list of spells.

Pleasantly surprised that this only took 3h to do in all.

[Mephansteras]

Looking good

[guessingo]

@Zirael: Where are you going with the game? What do you expect the game to look like? Right now you are still adding lots of characters/monsters and base content? What is the goal of the game going to be? How will you progress to end game?

[Zireael]

I believe end game will be bosses, epic levels and godhood But we've a long way until this comes. First I want the content and the world to be interesting.

[Zireael]

Beta 10 is here! Many player requests are coming true and bugs are squashed!

Download

CHANGELOG:
* bug fix - spellbook doesn't show a second tab if the second class happens to be shaman/sorcerer
* bug fix - prevent using items on worldmap
* bug fix - prevent picking up items when asleep
* bug fix - opposed Move Silently check no longer bugs out; introduced a safeguard against further skill misspellings
* bug fix - detect x spells now work properly
* bug fix - reducing copy&paste errors in descriptions
* bug fix - limit attacks of opportunity to moving away
* bug fix - no more negative skillpoints upon gaining a level
* bug fix - gameplay tab in options is now properly hidden after game starts
* bug fix - Intimidate now works as intended
* bug fix - reduce tojanida AC
* bug fix - hunger now increases on the worldmap
* bug fix - no more Lua error on using Ignizzar's fire spell
* bug fix - sorcerer/shaman spell points now update when gaining a level
* bug fix - more safeguards to visibility detection for log messages
* bug fix - map no longer goes under hotbar
* bug fix - inventory screen no longer closes when doing most stuff
* bug fix - adjust some CRs up, most notably ogres, to reduce early game difficulty
* bug fix - restore log message when killing an NPC
* bug fix - crafting items no longer shows curses as option

* new tiles: fungi, handwraps, monk robes
* new zones: inn; drow outpost, drow metropolis, cave grove, fungi maze, fungi forest; goblin barracks
* new spells: entangle, charm animal, delay poison, longstrider, detect poison, detect magic, shield, protection from alignment, true strike, endure elements, resist energy, protection from energy,
* new NPCs: city seller (can sell from most of the shops defined except armor/weaponsmith and library)
* new magic item properties: minotaur, of physical perfection
* new items: handwraps, monk robes, archmage robes; a lot of consumables (foods, drinks)
* new feats: Arcane Armor Training, Arcane Armor Mastery
* bards now ignore spell failure from light armor
* implement Pick Pockets, Decipher Script skill
* split skills into adventuring and background per PF variant rule
* new variant rule: Pathfinder feats - every two levels instead of every three levels
* implement confused, cowering, dazed, dazzled, deafened, entangled, exhausted, petrified, prone conditions
* darken tiles outside FOV for better differentiation
* implement level map screen
* move mage armor spell to abjuration school
* overhaul nutrition system
* more ways to earn XP - dealing hp damage, making successful skill checks
* items display special requirements
* change potions and drinks ASCII symbols
* change bear endurance, summon creature icons
* implement menu buttons on hotbar, especially useful for spellcasters; skills/spells no longer get auto-added to the bar
* spellbook now shows a pop-up if you can't memorize a spell due to exceeding limits
* spellbook shows school in descriptions
* level up screen is now tabbed instead of using buttons to go to various parts (skills, feats)
* patch Birther class to allow dynamic (i.e. function) descriptions (like talents)
* generate class descriptions procedurally
* shuffled character creation class help to a separate tab
* torches now show the amount of fuel left in them and count down properly; corpses rot (but are not removed properly)
* update help screen to cover switching tiles on/off
* debug create item screen now makes you pick item type first