Temple of The Roguelike Forums
Game Discussion => Early Dev => Topic started by: Avagart on May 30, 2015, 03:59:20 PM
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Witcher is strong mark, especially in Poland. These days it's - I think - most recognizable as games by CD-Project Red, but this serie based in Witcher books by Andrzej Sapkowski, polish fantasy writer. These books are is cultic for most fantasy fans in Polish.
Always I was surprised that no one try to make roguelike in witcher's world/setting. I think that is very good theme for roguelike game, and are made games like DoomRL or DiabloRL. Then why not WitcherRL?
So, I decided to write this game. I hope no one sue me due to coryright...
Game is in pre-alpha stage and have not any released versions yet, but I think that I can release first alpha build in early or middle June.
Scheme, core of gameplay is nearly done.
How it will be? Fusion of Witcher (setting, 'influences' in combat system), Zork (sort of visual influences), Darklands (free roam and style of interactions in locations), Monster Hunter (influences in style of gameplay - randomized quests, guilds, etcetera), SanctuaryRPG (graphics, combat, interactions) and ADOM ('spirit' of game). Too ambitious? I don't think so, almost everything from these ideas are fairly simple to code.
First (first of all...) screens:
Title screen:
(http://i.imgur.com/ubEnFL5.jpg)
Race selection:
(http://i.imgur.com/qBbJw6i.jpg)
Brokilon screen:
(http://i.imgur.com/zMiPvdQ.jpg)
Fortress Bodrog screen:
(http://i.imgur.com/99uOppW.jpg)
Local map:
(http://i.imgur.com/WmMhz0S.jpg)
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I think the Witcher universe naturally lends itself to RL-style game (permadeath et al).
I like the ASCII graphics, too!
Does the race choice mean you HAVE to be a Witcher?
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I think the Witcher universe naturally lends itself to RL-style game (permadeath et al).
Yes! Then that's is not witcher-like roguelike is a bit strange for me.
I like the ASCII graphics, too!
Yup, it's good style of visualiazation for more traditional (in 'spirit' sense) roguelike. Unfortunely, I'm not very familiar with that form and these graphics are first I ever made. I hope they are at least clear/legible.
Does the race choice mean you HAVE to be a Witcher?
No. Title 'Witcher' refers to setting, ie world, etcetera. You MAY be Witcher. If you pick human. But all races have very own, unique classes. Classes are different types - there will be crafts class, fighting class, merchants class... It strong affect player attributes, then will be 'XP factor' like in good, old ToME 2.3.5. My idea is to make big, free world with great opportunities... Maybe it can be compared to Ultima VII.
Maybe later, if you pick vampire, witchers will you hunting... But it's only idea, it's to early to talk about it.
P.S. Zireael, I remember correctly that you are from Poland?
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Very nice and indeed a grand idea! 8)
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Avagart, yes, you remember correctly :)
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Good idea! I look forward to trying it when you make it available.
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I'm going to make it available when all based mechanics will be done. Probably only one quarter of world map to be accessible, but as demonstration of engine should be ok.
Zireael - yay, greets from northern Poland :)
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I made first, standard darklands-like options for random encounters (which can occur while travelling).
In this base encounter-options, first is drawn agent of encounter - for example, animal, monster or human (humanoids party usually). Then is randomly decided type of meeting - you can be close to object of encounter, or in distance, or you can be abmushed/attacked. Each of these possibilities involves a different set of interactions, like (so far) 'move closer' or 'prepare ambush' when object is in close range, which again determines next opportunities. Maybe later I provide some sshots.
I worked on primary/basic fighting system today. Combat works well, but I have some problems with display...
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Base of combat system is done.
I want to make simply, fast but interesting and not repetitive combat.
Whole system is based on two assumptions: "during fight you have to think" and "fight elements must be planned".
So, so far it looks like that:
1) Due to speed (in first turn) or last action type + speed factor (later) attacker is decided
if player is attacker:
2) before your turn, you must plan three actions (attack, defense, etc.); enemy do same thing
3) various actions imply different opportunities - if your first action is... damn, I don't know how write this in english... if you first action is sweeping cut derived from the shoulder, you cannot declare thrust in next action, but you can make 'cleaver-like' cut derived from elbow, can move back and defend yourself by distance, can make pirouette (least realistic, but very spectacular ;) ).
4) chance of miss/block/hit are percentages + variablem from enemy action, you attributes, etcetera
if player is defender:
2) firstly - you have penalty for attack actions
3) before turn, you must plan three actions, but - due to player's intelligence attribute - you can predict 1, 2 or all 3 actions of enemy
edit: What's about displaying status of player's health? I'm considering resign from standard number of hp's or percentage value of hp. Instead I'm planning replace this and make 'description display system', ie you know that you are light/moderate/etcetera wounded, but you don't know if you have 5/30 healthpoints or 7/30.
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Good luck - it`d be nice to finally see a Witcher title with decent combat :P
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Thanks :)
Didn't make proper progress, unfortunately. A lot of work, bachelor's thesis, private problems... Meh. However I made SOMETHING. I changed and polished encounter system. A list of possible encounters and options is short, but it's polished in terms of mechanics/system.
Actually it looks a bit harsh and poorly (http://i.imgur.com/3heEOO8.jpg), but I will improve it - add ASCII art and make different images for different animals in animal encounter, for example.
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Polished mechanics are important, so you're on the right track!
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Awwww, making animals in ASCII art is a more difficult than making buildings. Then... images for animals' encounters looks a bit weird... and a bit funny... :D
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Have you tried using Rex Paint? It's a pretty good tool for making ASCII-ish art.
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I found it yesterday, but I wasn't trying yet. Looks promising - both user friendly and complex. :)
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Rumours system - done!
...nearly done.
...ok, base of system is done. But whole mechanics was tested and works. Now I need to add little more options.
Probably I will improve it, because rumours are schematic - they are always constructed in the same manner. Ie:
1) drawn type of person from the list of social groups
2) drawn specific character from this group
3) drawn activity that caused this rumour
4) drawn details of activity
5) drawn 'last words' of rumour
6) + comment
Then, every rumour looks like, for example, [Rayla]+[obtained]+[great weapon]+[- masterwork crossbow.]+[It's make me sad...]
But I would like to say that this is NOT ONLY flavour text.
Only fool believe without proof in every rumour. However, there CAN be some truth in every rumour. So...
I made dynamic world. Actually, this works very simply, but some 'parts of the world' are changing without player involvement. And there is always a chance that rumour is true information.
I'm not adding any screens, because this isn't impressive, especially if I code terminal/curses roguelike ;)
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I'll be interested to see how the rumour system works out. I like the concept.
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Most annoying bug ever. Simplyfying:
if variable 'city' is 'nastrog':
execute function 'nastrog_menu'
else:
print 'error! city is <value of 'city' variable>'
results?
'error! city is nastrog!'
lol.
Seriously, I cannot track down this bug.
Ok, this isn't reason of my post. First of all, I want to declare that Witcher is not dead ;) I'm still working on it, but I don't know when game will be ready for first release.
My good friend ask me, if Witcher is planned as SanctuaryRPG in witcher's setting/world.
Of course not. Sanctuary tells the story. This game is very 'sandboxish', but whole gameplay used to push the plot.
Story, plot doesn't exists in WitcherRL. Completely different priorities - player should be able to 'live the life'. This mean a lot more interactions than 'guilds+random_quests+reputation' system.
After fixing mentioned bug I'm going to continue 'designing' cities.
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How is the development going? OR MAYBE YOU FORGOT ABOUT THIS PROJECT WHICH WOULD BE UNFOURTONATE! nah, I'm kidding
and also I can be your "beta" tester (I have ability to find a lot of bugs in a minute).
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You are welcome as beta tester... When will be something to testing :)
My biggest problem is lack of organization - ofc I don't forget about WitcherRL, but I work by fits and starts, and I have a couple other projects. Actually I'm deeloping HumFallRL which was on hold for 6 months. Latest release is simple dungeon crawler and I concentrate about world map, quests and storyline. When I will finish it and HF v.12 will be released, I'm going to back to Witcher.
Last Witcher's commits was about city designs and interactions. Taverns and drunken games are made already :) Moreover, in every city is cathedral/church/chapel with basic interactions and... not much more for now.