CountVlad's Blog

It’s been less than a week since my last post, but I wanted to introduce a new feature that will have a profound impact on the game once it is fully set up.

I had originally thought that allowing the player complete control over whether they wanted to do a good action or a bad action would not be feasable due to the battle system I’m using. Far from it! I’ve been doing a bit of research and discovered that I can fairly easily set up a system whereby characters will react to you differently depending on your immediate actions and things you’ve done in the past. For example, if you attack a civilian (who is usually neutral/friendly) then some civilians will start to run away from you, whereas some will attack you for attacking their friend. I can also set up a system whereby if you go back to that settlement then everyone will automatically be hostile towards you unless you have paid a fine or served time in jail.

This opens up all kinds of new possibilities for game mechanics, including a reputation system (to replace fame) where you can only take on certain quests if you have a good reputation, and some people will only tell you certain things if you have a good/bad enough reputation. I’ll also be introducing lots of ‘evil’ options for the game including theft, illegal items, lockpicking, etc.

I’m now also planning on making two main quest lines, one for good characters and one for bad. The two will probably follow roughly the same course, but for different factions. The two may also intersect each other so, for example, if a quest is to attack the hideout of the bad guys then you’ll be doing the attacking if you are good, but the defending if you are bad.

The bad news is that this next version is probably going to take much longer than expected, but I think it’s going to be worth it!

Been almost a month since my last post here! Loads has happened since that post, including the new version of Novostrana (v0.30) being released. I was initally a bit disappointed with the reception of it (i.e. hardly anyone downloading it), but the downloads seemed to pick up quite a bit after a while. So-far around 200 people have downloaded it, which isn’t too bad. Not as much as the previous version, but then I suppose it hasn’t been out for as long.

I’m now hard at work on v0.40, which is coming along nicely! I’ve made a few general improvements based on peoples comments, including improving menu graphics, removing the laggy camera and addressing the save issue with the Visual Equipment script.

Quite apart from that, I’ve also managed to get hold of a few scripts that do what some of my event systems did, just a whole lot better! One of the main ones was the Weather system, which seemed to be buggy no matter what I did to it. That’s now gone and a scripted system has replaced it. As well as the system no-longer being bugged to hell, it has better weather effects and is in real-time, along with a new real-time Time system. I feel that this pushes the project on to a whole new level of dynamicness (if that’s even a word!) that I had thought wasn’t possible. To round off and complete the real-time ’suite’ is a new real-time hunger and thirst system. This essentially does what my nourishment system did, except in real time and also it inflicts ‘States’ on the player based on their level of hunger/thirst.

This leads me nicely on to the next bit… States! This is a system that I’ve only recently learned to use/found useful. Basically it allows the game to temporarily alter the stats of a character by a certain percent. As well as being used in the Hunger & Thirst system, I’m also using it in the new Ailment (disease) system as well as the overhauled Class system. Now your class will actually have an effect on your stats instead of just looking pretty in the menu.

The battle system has been significantly improved with the addition of ranged weapons and magic (amongst other things)! At the moment, there is only one type of bow that the player can use and they can’t use any magic yet, but that will change before the next release. I have already set up enemies to be able to use bows and magic. One can even summon a Dragon and can shoot Fireballs!

Anyway, that’s enough of a preview for now.

Keeping track of such a large and sprawling project like Novostrana is quite difficult. That’s why from half way through developing v0.20 and ever since I have kept a Changelog. When you release a new version of a game, along with a patch, people quite rightly want to know what exactly they are downloading. Normally, if it was just a bug-fixing patch, you would just be able to tell people from memory but you can’t do that if you are releasing a large update.

In total, there were 32 changes from v0.10 to v0.20 and in the next version  there will be 40 or 50 (yeah, seriously!). Obviously there is no way you are going to be able to remember everything that’s changed, so you write it down.

I’ve also produced a to-do list for v0.20 and now v0.30. This is basically a list where I write down everything that needs to be done before I can release the next version. It’s quite a fluid document, but the idea is to have some kind of basic plan so I can give the project some kind of direction. I also have a very bad habit of thinking up new ideas and putting them in before I’ve finished doing the ideas I had thought up previously. This, at the end of the day, just means I never get anything finished (and so gets me down).

I usually find that the to-do list at the beginning of starting a new version is a lot shorter than the Changelog when it finally gets released.

The next version of Novostrana should be done in a week or two, but I may have to shave off some of the stuff in the to-do list and push it into v0.40.

The current to-do list looks like this:

Add more NPCs to Willenke.
Add scheduals to all NPCs in Willenke.
Change all doors in Willenke to have locks.
Add contextual dialogue to NPCs in Willenke.
Re-do stats calculation.
Re-do all shopkeepers and Innkeepers.
Add more recipes.
Add some recipes to Character Creation.
Add more documents. (1)
Add Skill Trainers to Inns.
Add random merchants to Inns.
Add Wholesalers to Inns.
Add more enemy types.
Add more enemies to game world.
Add number in party checker for all quests where party members are added.
Add 3 more main quests.
Add 10 more side quests.
Make workbench system.
Add sound effects to actions.
Re-do all sound effects using dynamic sounds script.
Change some menu vocabulary.
Give proper names to music in jukebox.
Add more Devil’s Flowers to Hirgil Marsh.
Add backgrounds to Character Creation.
Write proper game manual.

Do some testing with [Skydancer].
Fix any bugs found.
Re-do Desktop Menu
Create Patch.
Create Full Installer.
Make Minisite.
Release Game.

I have a feeling I’ve got my work cut out!

Yesterday I released a news item on ModDB about a future release of Version 0.30 of Novostrana. Since then I’ve improved the game a little, including an upgrade system for the amount of weight you can carry. Basically, what you have to do is buy a bigger bag. It’s a bit unrealistic and cliched, but it’ll have to do for now. The only problem is that I will have to program in each maximum weight by hand. It would be great if I could just get the game to work out a new max weight based on your stats, but unfortunately I can’t do that. All items in the game now have weight, apart from Quest items. Although it may seem a bit stupid to have weightless Quest items, it’s necessary because if you are given an essential item that you need for the quest, if you don’t have the space for it you just won’t receive it. Unfortunately there is nothing I can do about this small floor.
I’ve also made a start on a system that will allow a random travelling merchant to appear at an Inn. I still have to work out the best way of getting them to appear randomly so the system can’t be abused, but it’ll probably look simpler in the morning. This is a feature I have shamelessly robbed from the brilliant Mount & Blade, but I guess in a way that’s a compliment to them.

I came across an intriguing script today. It’s one that gives sound a source and the sound fades in the closer you get to it. I may try to implement it before the next release, but I might wait until the one after that. I’ve got plenty to do already before the fortnight is up (next release estimate)!