Fame 0.9.14 Released

[TheCreator]

Now you piqued my curiosity. Would you like to share how the new AI behaves better?
Since much time has passed I think its good opportunity for me to try Fame again.

The game didn't have a "real" AI until this version. There was just a simple function with a lot of ifs that handled all the things that could happen to a creature when its turn was about to end. I had read an article about modular AI quite a long time ago and wanted to do a similar thing in my game, but the first attempt failed. This time I managed to get my AI modules working. The idea is based on a concept of "profiles" and "tasks". A task is something like chasing a particular creature, attacking or standing still and determines the current activity. A profile manages a list of tasks and rules of transition between them. There are separate profiles for ordinary monsters, for spell casters, for ranged attackers, etc. Of course, there is also some inheritance stuff and it makes things somewhat complicated here, but so far this works pretty well. I was quite surprised how error-resistant this approach has proven to be. Once the unit tests for the new AI started to pass, the AI was working. The worst thing that has ever happened with the new code was that sometimes monsters would attack each other (with a melee weapon) from a distance, because I had forgotten to put the distance check to some profiles, but that was fixed very quickly. Besides, there's nothing very special about the new AI, at least for now, but surely it's a great foundation for a more complex system.

[Ancient]

This is nice progress, although it might not be very visible to players. Bulletproof systems sure are good. Especially when my kind sit to play a game. :-) I will let you know if something catches my attention.

[TheCreator]

This is nice progress, although it might not be very visible to players.

It should be. At least if one remembers how bad the AI used to be in the previous versions. But apart from that, players usually never notice any changes unless you change GUI. That's why smart developers make dummy changes to GUI to emphasise that something important has been changed in the code .

[Ancient]

Weekend was brimming with free time so I had a go at Fame. The gameplay resulted in a nice amount of screenshots. You may expect a review of Fame 0.8.3 to hit front gates of our Temple this month. Also you are right. In wilderness encounters monsters actually care to swarm me. Combat became so much better.

Here goes detailed stuff that is not going to be featured in upcoming review:
- Tutorial has a wording problem: "of its not already open". This was in inventory lesson.
- Keyboard commands screen states right side of list is L-Z commands while it is M-Z.
- Use prepared tool command says "you extinguish a torch". It would sound better if it read "you extinguish your torch" because you act on your property, not on some random torch.
- I can't light a torch in my off hand? This may be intentional but I expected it to work.
- "Slayed" creatures in post mortem message seem a bit off. I suggest using "slain" in its stead.
- Sometimes items refuse to stack for unknown reasons. Happened to me with two stacks of bread having three and two units each. Both were identified and had same durability status but refused to merge.
- When you meet travelling family talk does not seem to work. Also, if you revisit that location and cerberi or other such menace spawn the citizens are not attacked. May be intentional but is weird.
- Jail owner says the bandit camp is to the west. He is wrong.
- Typo in the bandit camp jail guard dialog: "wstay here".
- Bandits challenged to a fight by talking with them do not fight back. They just get slaughtered. A pity. :-(
- Water tiles obstruct sight.
- Thunderstorm extinguishes your torch even if you hide inside houses.
- Temple Guard person who gives you trials says after you bring the black stone "I didn't think you'll". Shouldn't it be "I didn't think you'd"?
- Akeram buys all corpses including the inedible cerberi. Isn't he supposed to run a food store? Yes, this is a nitpick.

More serious bugs:
- If you lead Tokfor to temple district game crashes.
- If you lead the orphan from Elunny he sometimes may step off the current map which triggers a crash.
- Fame locks up generating random dungeon level 2. I entered first level, killed everything and went away. Later I returned to visit level 2 but game hangs up. Save file is available if you would like to have it. Just tell me.
- After you kill Egifito you cannot talk to jailer anymore.
Details: NPC not found: Egifito, #1
Source file: Gameplay.cpp
Function: CGameplayInterface::FindNPC
Line: 815
Well, he's dead so no wonder.
- Occasionally a random crash will happen. No error message of any kind, the game just closes with system's default program crash message.
- This happens rarely and out of the blue. I am not aware of anything to do to make it happen and was struck down only two times by this but always in wilderness.

[TheCreator]

- Keyboard commands screen states right side of list is L-Z commands while it is M-Z.

This is done manually as for now, so I often make mistakes like this one every time I add a new command . Version 0.8.5 will feature customizable keyboard schemes, so the problem should go away for good.

- I can't light a torch in my off hand? This may be intentional but I expected it to work.

Yes, this is intentional. Perhaps it would be fun to burn an entire inventory with a lit torch, but most of the time it would be rather annoying in my opinion . Even if the fire would not affect any items, running out of fuel just because you forgot to extinguish a torch is not funny at all.

- Sometimes items refuse to stack for unknown reasons. Happened to me with two stacks of bread having three and two units each. Both were identified and had same durability status but refused to merge.

Food has an implicit property, the decomposition level. That's why most of the times food doesn't stack. I know it's kind of weird. Need to find some workaround...

- When you meet travelling family talk does not seem to work. Also, if you revisit that location and cerberi or other such menace spawn the citizens are not attacked. May be intentional but is weird.

I thought this error is already gone... Well, apparently I need to think again .

- Thunderstorm extinguishes your torch even if you hide inside houses.

Yes, I'm aware of that. At the moment I just don't have any solution. Perhaps in future versions there will be a way to mark interiors in the editor and treat them differently in the game. I will need to think seriously about this problem since I plan to add more effects related to the weather.

- Fame locks up generating random dungeon level 2. I entered first level, killed everything and went away. Later I returned to visit level 2 but game hangs up. Save file is available if you would like to have it. Just tell me.

Yes, send me this file, please. I think you already have my e-mail somewhere in the private messages .

Thank you very much for all the feedback! I can't wait for the review. Hopefully I will have all the bugs fixed by then.

[Ancient]

- Thunderstorm extinguishes your torch even if you hide inside houses.

Yes, I'm aware of that. At the moment I just don't have any solution. Perhaps in future versions there will be a way to mark interiors in the editor and treat them differently in the game. I will need to think seriously about this problem since I plan to add more effects related to the weather.

Would checking the tile under player's feet suffice? If it is house floor the torch does not get snuffed out. While is going to be weird if you stand in the doorway the suggestion seems enough to alleviate ~80% of the problem. Decreasing bug severity is not as good as getting rid of it outright but still very much appreciated.

Found a way to have unlimited healing. :-p First, get a cursed potion of healing. Next put it in your off hand. Voila! You can now drink it without making it disappear. Be warned though: you lose a point of carrying capacity every time you do it. Some kind of shield is much better deal.

Battle hatchet does not show up in my hero's portrait. It looks as if he is wielding nothing but Fame correctly uses axe skill for fighting.

Also, I'd suggest checking monster generation rates in village dungeon. The critters multiplied so fast I kept breaking weapons on their heads faster than stuff was being found. I was not picky, mind you. Any melee weapon was used and yet there was need to resort for hand-to-hand combat some of the time. It is nice that breaking war implements force me to fight with a weapon other than of my preferred type but current situation appears to be over the top.

edit

Yes, send me this file, please. I think you already have my e-mail somewhere in the private messages .

I can't find it. I think that one listed in your profile will have to suffice. :-D

[TheCreator]

Would checking the tile under player's feet suffice? If it is house floor the torch does not get snuffed out. While is going to be weird if you stand in the doorway the suggestion seems enough to alleviate ~80% of the problem. Decreasing bug severity is not as good as getting rid of it outright but still very much appreciated.

Yes, it could be a good temporary solution. I planned using floor tiles for some roofless ruins as well, but as for now they are only used for interiors, so I could implement it this way.

Found a way to have unlimited healing. :-p First, get a cursed potion of healing. Next put it in your off hand. Voila! You can now drink it without making it disappear. Be warned though: you lose a point of carrying capacity every time you do it. Some kind of shield is much better deal.

Funny. I didn't predict that someone might drink a potion directly from a weapon slot .

I can't find it. I think that one listed in your profile will have to suffice. :-D

I have received it, thanks!

[TheCreator]

Download link:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/untitled-rpg/files/latest/download

RogueBasin entry:

http://roguebasin.roguelikedevelopment.org/index.php/Fame

The best thing in releasing every month (instead of every year, as it used to be with Fame/Untitled) is that you have more time for completing new features, testing and bugfixing, and at the same time you feel less pressure. A paradox? Maybe. If you want to know how it is possible, ask a philosopher. A programmer like me can only conclude that it works. And I hope it will stay like this.

Now, what is new in the new Fame?

Launching the game you may realize that a new button has been added to the menu. The Hall of Fame is a place where you will be able to browse all of your fallen heroes. This way it would be hopefully less painful to lose a character... Yes, the permadeath mode is finally here! I know that some roguelike fans can't live without dying, so I have introduced this mode, but I also know that some folks will not appreciate it that much, so the mode is purely optional.

Should your character die, either permanently or not, some statistics will be presented. Now it's much more detailed than in previous versions. You will be able to see once more the spells and skills you've learned, the places you've visited, the equipment you've collected and more.

So far, all rings and amulets in Fame were either worthless junk or (extremely hard to find) unique items. Now there is a variety of non-unique jewelry with some magical effects like in Diablo.


A full list of changes:

* permadeath mode
* Hall of Fame
* more detailed statistics (after character's death)
* redesigned the Character Creation window
* two weapon combat
* added 3 new spells
* added 5 new potions
* added recipe for an exploding potion
* non-unique magic amulets and rings
* terrain object opacity does not depend on passability anymore (e.g. water does not obstruct LoS)
* wizards and necromancers occasionally drop more interesting items when killed
* hero parameters are randomized when the Character Creation window is opened
* thrown weapons can be also used in a melee attack
* added cell highlighting when aiming (some spells, companion orders etc.)
* bones don't "rot" when left on ground
* location editor uses a better file selection dialog for saving a location
* new monster generation rate reduced about 2 times
* bestiary displays last killed monster by default
* [bugfix] leading an NPC to a target location no longer crashes the game
* [bugfix] picking up an item on the same tile as an open door no longer crashes the game
* [bugfix] alarms still work after loading game from a file
* [bugfix] food stores would no longer buy inedible corpses
* [bugfix] cursed potions no longer fail to disappear when drank from a weapon slot
* [bugfix] battle hatchet no longer has an incorrect picture when wielded
* [bugfix] the 'Randomize' button (formerly 'Shuffle') does not choose unimplemented skills

See you in the next update!

[getter77]

Yep, things are definitely shaping up at a good rate at this monthly pace---well done!   

[Ancient]

Fame is now reviewed. Since I promised this in February you may wonder what took me so long. Just have a look, this article is a real tapeworm: review.

[TheCreator]

Indeed, it is quite long, but if it were ten times longer, I'd still read it in a minute . It's always nice to have some kind of "general impression" opinion, which is difficult to extract from "usual" feedback like forum post (they typically focus on details or simply bugs).

The biggest problem with Fame seems to be replayability. And I don't really have a good solution for that. One idea might be to randomize starting location (and probably some starting conditions), but I'm not sure whether that would be enough. Perhaps I shouldn't have given up class and race selection? It was an easy decision to make at the beginning, but now I can see all the disastrous side effects. Probably the class/race choice can be replaced somehow by a more implicit way of choosing starting attributes, skills and items.

Making monsters more interesting should be fairly easy. I didn't want to introduce any significant changes in behavior since the complete AI rewrite had been planned, but now I'm free to change anything... And I will . Be afraid of beholders from 0.8.5 .

I'm wondering what to do to make traveling the wilderness more interesting. I guess that adding more encounters is not an option. More predefined or semi-random locations on the way? More terrain types? Some kind of obstacles like water or high mountains? I also have some exotic ideas never seen in any other games, yet it seems risky to devote time to implementing them not knowing if they would actually work.

[getter77]

Well, the gold standard for overland wilderness travels is the first game in the Realms of Arkania cRPG Trilogy---Blade of Destiny.

[Ancient]

The biggest problem with Fame seems to be replayability. And I don't really have a good solution for that.

Flesh out all Fame skills to the point these have impact on gameplay. Also, start your characters who took certain skills with items needed for their trade to ensure the variety can be enjoyed from the start. Alchemist could start with small alchemy set for example. When you get those skills to top shape these will make characters differ enough in playstyle to invite replaying.

This goes for weapons too. Have axes be great against ents, polearms attack a monster and the one behind it (unless non-hostile, for sake of user friendliness), swords cause bleeding, etc. If weapons were to grant something special once 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% skill was reached that would make me consider with what kind of implements to fight most often.

Making monsters more interesting should be fairly easy. I didn't want to introduce any significant changes in behavior since the complete AI rewrite had been planned, but now I'm free to change anything... And I will . Be afraid of beholders from 0.8.5 .

I am glad to hear that! Beholders currently were among biggest letdowns. One just expects them to do something cool or dangerous. Mostly the latter.

Making monsters I'm wondering what to do to make traveling the wilderness more interesting. I guess that adding more encounters is not an option. More predefined or semi-random locations on the way? More terrain types? Some kind of obstacles like water or high mountains? I also have some exotic ideas never seen in any other games, yet it seems risky to devote time to implementing them not knowing if they would actually work.

- Implement roads and have them be adorned with readable milestones like ancient Romans used to place. Maybe have some devastated by goblin vandals.

- Perhaps allow to click on world map to have character automatically walk long distances? Not available in combat and while escorting a NPC. Could still get you into encounters you didn't foresee but at least there is no use in holding down arrow keys.

- Have creatures spawned by random encounters disappear if you return to the location more than X turns later. Fine tune the number so that hero can rest a bit and come back for more fighting.

[TheCreator]

Also, start your characters who took certain skills with items needed for their trade to ensure the variety can be enjoyed from the start.

I already have such an entry on the "to do" list - I will need to prioritize this at last .

Thanks for all the suggestions.

[TheCreator]

Download:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/untitled-rpg/

RogueBasin entry:

http://roguebasin.roguelikedevelopment.org/index.php/Fame

Screen:




I *knew* that introducing the configurable keyboard feature will take very long, but with so many keyboard commands it's not possible to have a perfect layout (especially if we assume that the definition of "perfect" varies from player to player). So that now you can change every key binding if you wish, or select a predefined keyboard scheme from popular games (at this moment only ADOM scheme is available). "Extended commands", i.e. consisting of two keystrokes, are supported, as well as any combination of Alt, Ctrl and Shift with any of the standard keys. It is possible to have any number of key bindings for one command (this helps to retain compatibility with other games from the genre despite design differences). Oh, and I fixed the numpad bug on Linux!

The old keyboard help window has been replaced by the configuration window, so that you can view key bindings and change them at the same time.

Do you remember that little "Options" button in the main menu? It never worked. Now it finally allows you to change some settings that were previously available only through editing the game.ini file manually.

The amount of work to get keyboard configuration done didn't left much time for gameplay-oriented stuff, but nevertheless I was able to add some interesting features. Some monsters will now surprise you with special attacks. Some are resistant to certain types of weapons, while being more vulnerable to others. This should make combat more interesting and weapon skill choice at the beginning should now be more meaningful. To emphasize this fact, your starting weapons now depend on the chosen weapon skill.

The "Look" window has been significantly redesigned. Now it is more elegant (I think) and displays some useful mouse/keyboard tips.

More changes:

* configurable keyboard layout
* Options window
* special features for some monsters (fire breathing, focus draining, cursing equipped items)
* certain monsters are more resistant to some type of weapons
* changed appearance of the Look window
* the Look window displays quick keyboard/mouse help for common actions
* the Look window no longer reveals monsters or items covered by fog of war
* more detailed statistics (identified items, transformed gems and few others)
* initial equipment depends on chosen weapon skill
* wizards attempt to cast spell (almost) regardless of distance if they have full focus
* equipment sets containing any kind of ammo or a thrown weapon are set up as "auto" by default
* thrown weapons are automatically defined as an equipment set if put in hand
* torches cannot be extinguished when the hero is inside of a building
* bandits (and other common NPCs) chasing the hero will now follow him to another location
* it is no longer possible to rest while bleeding or being poisoned
* healing potions restore a percentage of hero's maximum HP rather than a fixed number of HP
* more appropriate weather reports for the nighttime
* the Randomize button no longer chooses too low attribute values
* thrown weapons can be thrown away even if cursed (but will most likely not hit the target)
* items thrown at a wall when standing next to it no longer hit the hero
* tips for the usage of Ctrl and Shift keys in the Inventory window
* minor corrections to NPC dialogs in Eluuny
* clicking an undamaged item in the repair mode does not cause the Inventory window to close
* [bugfix] tutorial window is no longer triggered by killing other monsters (not related to the tutorial quest) in the basement
* [bugfix] food left on ground is affected by time again
* [bugfix] citizens (and other common NPCs) encountered in the wilderness can chat with hero
* [bugfix] monsters opening doors no longer cause a message saying "You open the door"
* [bugfix] items in a location do not rot away if this is the first visit
* [bugfix] higher Vitality no longer increases the chance for bleeding from wounds when being hit
* [bugfix] numpad "diagonal" keys now work on Linux

Saved games from version 0.8.4 are fully compatible with 0.8.5.


Have fun!