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Programming / Re: Bug tracking?
« on: February 11, 2012, 12:55:43 PM »
I use the issue tracker in Google code as something to maintain bugs and I find it quick and easy to raise and maintain bugs.
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Programming / Re: Spell casting types of costs
« on: December 24, 2011, 08:55:48 AM »
@Jasonpickering - nice idea, I think you have the makings of a 7DRL there my friend 
@Marker Mage - Another good idea as it takes the basic ingredients approach and expands it a little further.
@Bear - This is a great idea, I wish I'd thought of it, I can see how it could fit into my design but I can also see how much retro-fitting I would have to do to the spell templates.
Thanks all for the responses.
Steve.
@Marker Mage - Another good idea as it takes the basic ingredients approach and expands it a little further.
@Bear - This is a great idea, I wish I'd thought of it, I can see how it could fit into my design but I can also see how much retro-fitting I would have to do to the spell templates.
Thanks all for the responses.
Steve.
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Programming / Re: Spell casting types of costs
« on: December 23, 2011, 02:06:25 PM »
I thought it might be useful to someone to see an overview of my thoughts about the different ideas posted in this thread.
For each idea I've posted the opening paragraph(s) and I've posted a much more indepth article on my blog Veneficus Schola.
Mana
Using mana is a well-known and trusted way of controlling when the player character can cast spells and it is quite simple to implement.
Health
Using the casters health to cast magic is a lesser used alternative to using mana and presents a direct risk to the caster, because low health means a greater chance of death.
To counter this the caster should be provided with cheap and quick ways to increase their health e.g. a spell that will swap mana for health.
Ally sacrifice
Ally sacrifice is a mechanic that allows the caster to sacrifice any number of his/her allies to provide the power to cast any number of spells.
The basic idea is that the death of each ally makes available an amount of “power” that can be passed back to the caster which can then be used to cast one or more spells.
By using this mechanic not only will the casters allies attack all enemies of the caster but upon their death they will return an amount of power back to the caster, which allows the caster then to cast further spells. An interesting side thought is that the power returned to the caster could be based on how many enemies each ally has killed.
Spells have charges
Simply put this means that a spell can be cast a specific number of times without the need for any further preparation, ingredients or penalties to the caster (unless the spell fails).
One of the key questions for this mechanic is how can the spells be prepared?
I can think of using rituals, ingredients and over time as valid options.
Using a totem pole (aka a fetish)
Once the totem pole has been placed on the ground it emits an energy field that provides the caster (or even everyone in that field) with enough energy to cast spells.
The totem pole would last for so many turns before it is exhausted at which point it should be collected by the caster and allowed to recharge over time and of course whilst it is recharging the caster cannot cast spells – quite an interesting challenge for the player I think.
Mental Fatigue
Mental fatigue represents the amount of concentration needed to cast spells, each spell produces fatigue that the caster accumulates over time and therefore makes it slightly more difficult to cast the next spell. If he/she stops casting spells then this fatigue will go down, however if he continues to cast spells then the increase in mental fatigue will affect his physical statues, e.g. they could pass out thus rendering themselves vulnerable to attack and maybe death.
Environment based energy
My initial thoughts (and I admit they are based on a forum comment) are that the terrain will contain both pockets of energy and natural energy seeping from the ground. This will allow the caster to cast spells wherever they are but if they want to cast something powerful or more than 1 spell then they need to move into these pockets.
When the caster is moving around isolated and specific terrain tiles will contain enough energy to allow the casting a single spell. The caster will need some indication of where the next “casting” terrain tile is located and I’m not sure how to do that yet, maybe a visual marker of some kind.
Spell preparation
This allows the caster to have a set number of spells ready to be cast at a moment’s notice. Each spell can only be cast once before it needs preparing again. To offset this one-shot spell casting approach the caster my thoughts are turning towards a quick turn-around for preparing spells and/or maybe only part preparing spells so they can be used quicker.
As I said at the top of this post I've included only the opening paragraph for each description.
Regards,
Steve.
For each idea I've posted the opening paragraph(s) and I've posted a much more indepth article on my blog Veneficus Schola.
Mana
Using mana is a well-known and trusted way of controlling when the player character can cast spells and it is quite simple to implement.
Health
Using the casters health to cast magic is a lesser used alternative to using mana and presents a direct risk to the caster, because low health means a greater chance of death.
To counter this the caster should be provided with cheap and quick ways to increase their health e.g. a spell that will swap mana for health.
Ally sacrifice
Ally sacrifice is a mechanic that allows the caster to sacrifice any number of his/her allies to provide the power to cast any number of spells.
The basic idea is that the death of each ally makes available an amount of “power” that can be passed back to the caster which can then be used to cast one or more spells.
By using this mechanic not only will the casters allies attack all enemies of the caster but upon their death they will return an amount of power back to the caster, which allows the caster then to cast further spells. An interesting side thought is that the power returned to the caster could be based on how many enemies each ally has killed.
Spells have charges
Simply put this means that a spell can be cast a specific number of times without the need for any further preparation, ingredients or penalties to the caster (unless the spell fails).
One of the key questions for this mechanic is how can the spells be prepared?
I can think of using rituals, ingredients and over time as valid options.
Using a totem pole (aka a fetish)
Once the totem pole has been placed on the ground it emits an energy field that provides the caster (or even everyone in that field) with enough energy to cast spells.
The totem pole would last for so many turns before it is exhausted at which point it should be collected by the caster and allowed to recharge over time and of course whilst it is recharging the caster cannot cast spells – quite an interesting challenge for the player I think.
Mental Fatigue
Mental fatigue represents the amount of concentration needed to cast spells, each spell produces fatigue that the caster accumulates over time and therefore makes it slightly more difficult to cast the next spell. If he/she stops casting spells then this fatigue will go down, however if he continues to cast spells then the increase in mental fatigue will affect his physical statues, e.g. they could pass out thus rendering themselves vulnerable to attack and maybe death.
Environment based energy
My initial thoughts (and I admit they are based on a forum comment) are that the terrain will contain both pockets of energy and natural energy seeping from the ground. This will allow the caster to cast spells wherever they are but if they want to cast something powerful or more than 1 spell then they need to move into these pockets.
When the caster is moving around isolated and specific terrain tiles will contain enough energy to allow the casting a single spell. The caster will need some indication of where the next “casting” terrain tile is located and I’m not sure how to do that yet, maybe a visual marker of some kind.
Spell preparation
This allows the caster to have a set number of spells ready to be cast at a moment’s notice. Each spell can only be cast once before it needs preparing again. To offset this one-shot spell casting approach the caster my thoughts are turning towards a quick turn-around for preparing spells and/or maybe only part preparing spells so they can be used quicker.
As I said at the top of this post I've included only the opening paragraph for each description.
Regards,
Steve.
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Programming / Re: Spell casting types of costs
« on: December 19, 2011, 07:20:48 AM »
@Jo My Warlock class already has spells that do just that - transfer health to mana & vice versa.
I don't play WoW so have no idea what a DK is however based on your description I have a Runecaster class that uses the same concept, so I'm kinda guessing they are the same?
I don't play WoW so have no idea what a DK is however based on your description I have a Runecaster class that uses the same concept, so I'm kinda guessing they are the same?
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Programming / Re: Spell casting types of costs
« on: December 18, 2011, 05:39:46 PM »
@Darren Grey - in my game all magic casting monsters (player, enemies, npcs) will use the same magic system and spells, this is something I've baked in from the very first line of code.
@Hamish - I like the idea of the environment controlling whether spells can be cast of not, makes for very interesting choke points in a game.
@Electrocrat - thanks for the tip about Ultima 8; Having the classes perform magic in different ways is something that appeals to me, for example a summoner could only cast (magical) allies who actually cast the spell.
@All - thanks everyone you've given me some really great ideas for my magic system(s) in general as well as providing input into my specific question.
Regards,
Steve.
@Hamish - I like the idea of the environment controlling whether spells can be cast of not, makes for very interesting choke points in a game.
@Electrocrat - thanks for the tip about Ultima 8; Having the classes perform magic in different ways is something that appeals to me, for example a summoner could only cast (magical) allies who actually cast the spell.
@All - thanks everyone you've given me some really great ideas for my magic system(s) in general as well as providing input into my specific question.
Regards,
Steve.
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Programming / Re: Spell casting types of costs
« on: December 18, 2011, 11:10:20 AM »I don't know about any specific roguelikes, but I know that there are a few basic options:
Cast from Mana/Mana-like-thing - Pretty basic. It's also mostly the same thing as cooldown, because you have to wait for the Mana to recharge.
Cast from Health - Can add a tactical side to gameplay, ie, "Do I have enough health to cast this and still survive?" type of thing
Ally Sacrifice - I wouldn't use this one, it seems a bit harsh for one spell
Charges - Each spell can only be used 'x' amount of times, then it needs a recharge. Could be a version of mental fatigue, you get tired after casting a spell 'x' times, for example.
However, some different options could be:
Expendable spells - Make a spell out of some ingredients and you have a one-time charm. I would personally use this as a supplement.
Casting time - It takes 'x' turns to cast Fireball, for example. Hard to implement without unbalancing the game.
Blood Sacrifice - Cut your health to 10% or so and gain the ability to cast a powerful spell a few times.
That's all I can really think of right now.
Hi Pueo,
You have some interesting ideas there, I've responded accordingly.
Ally sacrifice - if used would be for the Necromancer class mainly, where he can summon lots of weak allies and then use them as sacrifice.
Charges - I didn't think of that, in effect you're actually restricting the spell and not the caster - nice idea.
Expendable spells - Interesting idea, I would need to think about that approach before forming an opinion.
Casting time - I could implement this as a part of my delayed effects sub-system, interesting thought that one.
Blood Sacrifice - I see this as an extension of the "cast from health" mechanic, so that would be fairly easy to implement.
Regards,
Steve.
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Programming / Re: Spell casting types of costs
« on: December 18, 2011, 11:02:30 AM »
Ancient thanks for the reply.
I'd forgotten about Cardinal Quest - I even have a copy of it!
I guess my view is coloured by my experiences with films and books - where I don't see the mage/wizard reaching for a "mana potion" to refill rather they can only cast so many spells at any one time. I'm trying to put together something that is slightly different for my players, something that makes them stop and think or at least slows them down.
At the moment I find hard to quantify any technical difference between the two (just as I said in my original post), except that one goes down in value as it's used and the other increases.
I guess I'm just a little jaded with the whole notion of using "mana potions".
Steve.
I'd forgotten about Cardinal Quest - I even have a copy of it!
I guess my view is coloured by my experiences with films and books - where I don't see the mage/wizard reaching for a "mana potion" to refill rather they can only cast so many spells at any one time. I'm trying to put together something that is slightly different for my players, something that makes them stop and think or at least slows them down.
At the moment I find hard to quantify any technical difference between the two (just as I said in my original post), except that one goes down in value as it's used and the other increases.
I guess I'm just a little jaded with the whole notion of using "mana potions".
Steve.
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Programming / Spell casting types of costs
« on: December 18, 2011, 10:27:32 AM »
I'm currently looking into the design of spell casting cost types and currently have designed the following options:
What I've been thinking about lately is whether I should ditch these (standard?) types and go for something slightly different and my thoughts led me to a combination of:
I realise that in essence I'm swapping one inhibitor for another however I do think my second approach provides more tactical play for the player.
Does anyone know of another roguelike that uses my second approach - so I can take a look.
Regards,
Steve.
- Mana
- Health
- Sacrifice of an ally
What I've been thinking about lately is whether I should ditch these (standard?) types and go for something slightly different and my thoughts led me to a combination of:
- Mental fatigue
- Cool down
I realise that in essence I'm swapping one inhibitor for another however I do think my second approach provides more tactical play for the player.
Does anyone know of another roguelike that uses my second approach - so I can take a look.
Regards,
Steve.
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Programming / Re: Tile set project
« on: December 06, 2011, 08:38:12 PM »
The cave mockup looks really good, keep up the good work, well done
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Temple of the Roguelike / Re: Welcome to Temple of the Roguelike Forums! (a.k.a. Introduce Yourself Thread)
« on: January 05, 2011, 12:39:25 AM »
Hello all,
I've made an account so I can interact more with the roguelike community. I'm currently building a simple(?) magic-centric roguelike that's been in development for about 10 months at the time of writing and is still in early Alpha.
Steve.
I've made an account so I can interact more with the roguelike community. I'm currently building a simple(?) magic-centric roguelike that's been in development for about 10 months at the time of writing and is still in early Alpha.
Steve.
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