Messages

1

Programming / Re: Randomized monsters and XML

« on: January 25, 2008, 07:12:08 AM »

I think XML is quite easy to read and there are lots of parsers for each programming language so I won't have to write mine (and I really hate writing parsers!).
But the best would be to write items/monsters/skills editors, so the XML-files would be easier to generate/maintain.

2

Off-topic (Locked) / Re: What do you do for a living?

« on: January 24, 2008, 10:37:33 AM »

I'm a software programmer and tester, mainly for european telecommunication companies (Alcatel, Siemens, O2, T-Systems...).

In my free time, I'm... humm... I don't have any free time 

3

Programming / Randomized monsters and XML

« on: January 24, 2008, 09:32:53 AM »

Hi,
I'm looking for a way to implement "semi-random" monsters without hard-coding them.
XML seems to be a good choice, so I come with such a structure:

Code: [Select]

<monsters>
 <monster>
  <guard1>
   <stats str="8"(...)/>
   <inventory>
    <equip>
     <pants id="GUARD_PANTS"/>
     <top id="GUARD_JACKET"/>
     <weapon id="GUN45"/>
    </equip>
    </money min="0" max="100">
    <items>
     <item id="MAG45" prob="0.5"/>
     <choice_items>
      <item id="CANDY_BAR1" prob="0.25"/>
      <item id="BIER" prob="0.25"/>
     </choice_items>
    </items>
   </inventory>
  </guard1>
 </monster>
</monsters>Meaning all these guards have standard equipment, can have from 0 to 100 dollars, 50% chance having ammunitions for his .45 and 50% chance having a candy bar (25%) or a bier (25%).
This choice should be extended to all the fields that have to be randomized (stats, appearance, equipment...).
Would it be a good idea to proceed so? Could you see any limitation with these structure of data ?

4

Temple of the Roguelike / Re: Welcome to Temple of the Roguelike Forums! (a.k.a. Introduce Yourself Thread)

« on: January 17, 2008, 03:35:51 PM »

Ooops... Sorry Slash, I've posted in the wrong section.
Here a copy of my presentation, so my old post can be destroyed:

Hi all,
I couldn't find any presentation zone, so I introduce myself here.
I'm a 31 year old French software engineer living and working in Germany (sorry for my poor English), and I've discovered the RL a few years ago.
I don't play a lot, but I enjoy Nethack and (Z)Angband, although I'm playing Nethack more. I've also found IVAN, a well polished modern RL game, a pity the development seems to have stopped
Looking for news about the RL dev scene, I've found roguetemple: a nice web site, a nice community and loads of information

5

Programming / Re: The "How did you get into roguelike development Thread"

« on: January 17, 2008, 08:22:00 AM »

At the moment I'm not programming any RL because of lack of time, but I think I will go on with a 1 or 2 years old project.
What I've found annoying in the RL I've played, is the interface: I know most of the RL player love to see ASCII game and read 4 or 5 times the manual to understand the most common commands and associated keys, but I'd like a RL with nice tiles and an intuitive – all actions possible with max a few mouse clicks, shortcuts, a bar for the most used spells or objects... – interface.

I've started to build such an interface, I had time to implement the following features:
 - a dungeon generator (room, corridors, doors), Nethack inspired,
 - LOS and light,
 - a dynamic minimap,
 - a console and message manager, IVAN inspired,
 - player movement (adjacent tile, or A*),
 - basic monsters (walking randomly, no stats so can't die),
 - graphical inventory displaying the equipment and the backpack. It is possible to equip armor parts or weapon with a click'n'slide (during the slide, authorized equipment zone become green to see what can be equipped where),
 - a "goal" movement system: sliding an item somewhere on the map will cause the player moving to the target and dropping the item, attacking a remote monster with a melee weapon will cause the player follow the monster and attack it when in an adjacent tile (and the path will be re-calculated as the monster move),
 - a sort of status bar, displaying what is under the mouse cursor, and what are the associated actions (eventually something like "left click to open the door, [ctrl] + left click to kick the door"),
 - displaying the stats or the inventory just make the main screen smaller, so it's possible to play with the inventory screen open,
 - XML-files for items and monsters (no need to compile the project again to add an item).

I hope I will have time someday to continue this project, and I will post it if I can find it again (I've changed my computer, and I can't find the CD with all my dev work ).

6

Off-topic (Locked) / Hello from a new member

« on: January 17, 2008, 07:32:23 AM »

Hi all,
I couldn't find any presentation zone, so I introduce myself here.
I'm a 31 year old French software engineer living and working in Germany (sorry for my poor English), and I've discovered the RL a few years ago.
I don't play a lot, but I enjoy Nethack and (Z)Angband, although I'm playing Nethack more. I've also found IVAN, a well polished modern RL game, a pity the development seems to have stopped
Looking for news about the RL dev scene, I've found roguetemple: a nice web site, a nice community and loads of information