Author Topic: Shadow of the Wyrm v1.7.2 "Michelagnolo Galilei"(formerly Savage Lands)  (Read 282064 times)

akeley

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Re: Shadow of the Wyrm 0.4.1 (formerly Savage Lands)
« Reply #30 on: September 14, 2015, 08:33:20 PM »
I tried the new version and it worked at first, then I started fiddling about with font sizes, it got bit messy, I quit, tried to restart...but now it won`t work - log shows "Could not create display!" message. Bizarrely, it does that even after reinstall...

Regarding the UI, future-wise I would hope for something menu-driven, a la Brogue or Caves Of Qud - and/or redefinable keys -  but that`s my wishful thinking regarding all RLs. For now, just a quick request - if possible, please allow Escape to quit all sorts of menus - I`m sure one can get used to "Z" eventually but I`m a hopeless Esc addict.

And another thing - please separate the Equipment and Inventory screens whenever you find time in your dev schedule...

Also, a pet peeve - any way to switch off that blinking cursor under @? makes my OCD flare up :)

Hope you understand that abandoning this project now - when it`s actually a tasty, working game already - would be criminal and anger the RNG gods to no end...so, umm, don`t! :P

« Last Edit: September 14, 2015, 08:37:35 PM by akeley »

jcd748

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Re: Shadow of the Wyrm 0.4.1 (formerly Savage Lands)
« Reply #31 on: September 14, 2015, 11:30:12 PM »
At the risk of seeming obvious, I'm going to ask how to regain #-Spell-Points, (as opposed to AP: Arcane Points, or Mana).  Currently, they only appear to refill, on level-gain.

1. Through resting?  If so, what is the command to rest, (for longer than a moment)?
2. Eating?
3. Potions?
4. Through quest-rewards?
5. Through items eventually gained on the mainland?
6. Through praying?
7. Through praying at a shrine?
8. Is this feature not yet implemented?
9. Through a special Spellbook?  The character began with a Spellbook of Healing, but 3 attempts to read the spell, produced the following result:
a. Fizzle;
b. Learnt;
c. an attempt to Relearn, (namely, to gain a second #-Spell-Point for Heal), resulted in the book's exploding.

Sorry to ask, if this is a spoiler, but I don't want to advance the wrong skills for the caster, through failing to use spells to level up.

Other than this, it seems a fairly brilliant game, if a bit cumbersome in interface, for the moment.  Fewer capitals for command-shortcuts, could help a bit.

There isn't a "rest for a while" command, yet.  It's all "search" and wait for HP to regen.  This isn't ideal, and it's something I plan to fix eventually.  I'll add this to my suggestions file. :)

Learning spells is done either through:

a) books, for most classes (Oracles, Pilgrims, Wizards, and those that learn Cantrips)

or

b) levelling, for Witchlings

Learning through books requires a combination of literacy and skill in the magical sphere of the spell.  Skills are underdeveloped at this point, and I'd like to make it clearer in future versions that you actually have skills and they actually affect things.  These are early days!

Which shortcuts are you finding cumbersome?

jcd748

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Re: Shadow of the Wyrm 0.4.1 (formerly Savage Lands)
« Reply #32 on: September 14, 2015, 11:38:22 PM »
I tried the new version and it worked at first, then I started fiddling about with font sizes, it got bit messy, I quit, tried to restart...but now it won`t work - log shows "Could not create display!" message. Bizarrely, it does that even after reinstall...

Regarding the UI, future-wise I would hope for something menu-driven, a la Brogue or Caves Of Qud - and/or redefinable keys -  but that`s my wishful thinking regarding all RLs. For now, just a quick request - if possible, please allow Escape to quit all sorts of menus - I`m sure one can get used to "Z" eventually but I`m a hopeless Esc addict.

And another thing - please separate the Equipment and Inventory screens whenever you find time in your dev schedule...

Also, a pet peeve - any way to switch off that blinking cursor under @? makes my OCD flare up :)

Hope you understand that abandoning this project now - when it`s actually a tasty, working game already - would be criminal and anger the RNG gods to no end...so, umm, don`t! :P

Hmm.  I'm not sure what the issue is with your fonts.  I've only ever used my Windows defaults.  I think the "Could not create display" message comes into play when it can't create a display of at least 80x25.  Can you try making your terminal larger?

Keys are redefinable.  Nothing in-game a la Angband, but if you edit swyrm.ini, you'll see the keys and their bindings.  Go wild!  I'm not sold on menu-driven stuff, to be honest.  The traditional roguelikes require memorizing a large number of commands, but the payoff is in the long run.  Zapping a wand or reading a scroll provides you with a list filtered to your intention, once things are in muscle memory.  I'll admit that's my personal preferences, though.

As for key bindings, I'll add the desire for "ESC" to my suggestions file.  I went with "z" because it allows quitting without taking one's hands off the main row of the keyboard.  I'll also add an entry to make the cursor under the player a configurable option.

Don't worry about me.  I've got more tenacity than brains, so I'm not going to quit this project for a very long time.  My goal at the beginning was to eventually create a major roguelike, so I've got decades to go.  And once I get off my butt, probably once I make a website, I'll open up the source as well so people can download it and tinker and play with it.  I'm not happy with all the roguelikes that have been released in the last few years with no intention of ever opening the source.  I guess I'm one of those old Unix hacker types that expects source code.
« Last Edit: September 15, 2015, 12:20:03 AM by jcd748 »

barrabus

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Re: Shadow of the Wyrm 0.4.1 (formerly Savage Lands)
« Reply #33 on: September 15, 2015, 03:47:52 AM »
Speaking of opening the source... :)

I found a "jade ring" and was curious what it did, so went diving through the resource strings and xml files to check it out.  Looks like it's a ring of poison, however when I put it on, it gave me acid resistance.  Not sure if there's a bug in there somewhere...

I also found a typo: the message for gaining arcane resistance is "You feel increasingly resitant to magic."

Lastly, another thing for the suggestion list.  It would be nice to know, either by (L)ooking or on the creature glyph itself, whether a creature is non-hostile.  I often find myself chasing them around only to eventually get "Switch places? [y/n]".

Calandor

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Re: Shadow of the Wyrm 0.4.1 (formerly Savage Lands)
« Reply #34 on: September 15, 2015, 04:59:10 AM »
Learning spells is done either through:
a) books, for most classes (Oracles, Pilgrims, Wizards, and those that learn Cantrips)
or
b) levelling, for Witchlings
Learning through books requires a combination of literacy and skill in the magical sphere of the spell.  Skills are underdeveloped at this point, and I'd like to make it clearer in future versions that you actually have skills and they actually affect things.  These are early days!

The issue is not running out of spell-points, (these recharge quickly, fairly naturally, at least on char level 3), but the fact that the spells themselves seem to require (re)memorisation, a la AD&D.  Normally to Memorise, one rests .. but resting doesn't recharge the #Spell itself.  More specifically, I started with a faerie sage.  The only Spell known is Shadow Flame (Primordial).  In the menu to cast it, after it is called up with <z>, a <2> appears after the # sign, (on char level 1).  After I cast the spell <2> times, I am told: 'you know no spells', on attempting to cast it a third time, regardless of whether there is sufficient Mana, (AP), to recast.  The #-Spell-Points only recharges, permitting the same spell to be recast, on gaining a Level.

Also, I didn't start with a Book for this Spell, (it's Primordial, so this implies that there are no Books for it, I'd assume; and also, that one can't find such a book).  I'm confused about why I can't recast the same spell, without having to gain a new Level first.  This is bizarre.

Oh, I see .. Because it is a 'Witchling' spell, even though a Sage, the character cannot recast until level-gain.  Won't that be a nuisance, though, after a sufficiently high level has been reached, for the Witchling class?  In the meantime, I'll just collect spells and scrolls for other Spell-Schools, (Arcane, Divine, Mystical), and (re)memorise these.  Anyway, thanks.

Or is the 'Witchling' somewhat like the Sorceror class in TES:Arena?  (There were never enough magical monsters around from which to drain mana; it became, in effect, merely another Spellsword or Battlemage class).

Which shortcuts are you finding cumbersome?

You already answered below: Z instead of ESC. .. And to edit swyrm.ini .. :)
« Last Edit: September 15, 2015, 05:04:46 AM by Calandor »

jcd748

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Re: Shadow of the Wyrm 0.4.1 (formerly Savage Lands)
« Reply #35 on: September 15, 2015, 01:31:26 PM »
Speaking of opening the source... :)

I found a "jade ring" and was curious what it did, so went diving through the resource strings and xml files to check it out.  Looks like it's a ring of poison, however when I put it on, it gave me acid resistance.  Not sure if there's a bug in there somewhere...

I also found a typo: the message for gaining arcane resistance is "You feel increasingly resitant to magic."

Lastly, another thing for the suggestion list.  It would be nice to know, either by (L)ooking or on the creature glyph itself, whether a creature is non-hostile.  I often find myself chasing them around only to eventually get "Switch places? [y/n]".

Acid and poison are one off in their internal enumeration, so it might be a typo on my part.  However, I believe the unidentified ring descriptions are randomized when the game starts (ye olde standarde roguelike minigame), so you may actually have had a ring of acid resistance.  I'll take a look, and fix the arcane resistance typo.  EDIT: Not a bug.  Randomized!

Adding non-hostility to a creature description's a good idea, too.  Added to the list.
« Last Edit: September 15, 2015, 11:31:51 PM by jcd748 »

jcd748

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Re: Shadow of the Wyrm 0.4.1 (formerly Savage Lands)
« Reply #36 on: September 15, 2015, 01:38:20 PM »
Learning spells is done either through:
a) books, for most classes (Oracles, Pilgrims, Wizards, and those that learn Cantrips)
or
b) levelling, for Witchlings
Learning through books requires a combination of literacy and skill in the magical sphere of the spell.  Skills are underdeveloped at this point, and I'd like to make it clearer in future versions that you actually have skills and they actually affect things.  These are early days!

The issue is not running out of spell-points, (these recharge quickly, fairly naturally, at least on char level 3), but the fact that the spells themselves seem to require (re)memorisation, a la AD&D.  Normally to Memorise, one rests .. but resting doesn't recharge the #Spell itself.  More specifically, I started with a faerie sage.  The only Spell known is Shadow Flame (Primordial).  In the menu to cast it, after it is called up with <z>, a <2> appears after the # sign, (on char level 1).  After I cast the spell <2> times, I am told: 'you know no spells', on attempting to cast it a third time, regardless of whether there is sufficient Mana, (AP), to recast.  The #-Spell-Points only recharges, permitting the same spell to be recast, on gaining a Level.

Also, I didn't start with a Book for this Spell, (it's Primordial, so this implies that there are no Books for it, I'd assume; and also, that one can't find such a book).  I'm confused about why I can't recast the same spell, without having to gain a new Level first.  This is bizarre.

Oh, I see .. Because it is a 'Witchling' spell, even though a Sage, the character cannot recast until level-gain.  Won't that be a nuisance, though, after a sufficiently high level has been reached, for the Witchling class?  In the meantime, I'll just collect spells and scrolls for other Spell-Schools, (Arcane, Divine, Mystical), and (re)memorise these.  Anyway, thanks.

Or is the 'Witchling' somewhat like the Sorceror class in TES:Arena?  (There were never enough magical monsters around from which to drain mana; it became, in effect, merely another Spellsword or Battlemage class).

Which shortcuts are you finding cumbersome?

You already answered below: Z instead of ESC. .. And to edit swyrm.ini .. :)

Basically, yes - the Witchlings are akin to ADOM's Elementalists, where each level, they get a certain number of spell castings.  Once those castings are used, they have to wait until they level to gain additional castings.  They can still learn other spells (Cantrips), but Primordial magic is only learned via leveling.  That's a conscious game mechanic.

When I play Witchlings (fairly frequently - they're one of my favourite classes), I start by gathering rocks for ammunition, look for a decent melee weapon, and use them as a combination caster/ranged type of build.  I find I have to use similar types of strategies with ADOM's Elementalists - you can't just attack with spells, because then you'll be out until your next level.

akeley

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Re: Shadow of the Wyrm 0.4.1 (formerly Savage Lands)
« Reply #37 on: September 16, 2015, 08:37:05 PM »
Hmm.  I'm not sure what the issue is with your fonts.  I've only ever used my Windows defaults.  I think the "Could not create display" message comes into play when it can't create a display of at least 80x25.  Can you try making your terminal larger?

I`m totally clueless about terminals and all that jazz. In this case I just can`t do anything because sotw.exe crashes instantly after flashing that error message. Is there a way to set fonts back to normal elsewhere (I tried the "shell" accessed by the CTRL+R/cmd but that has no effect) ? I`m puzzled because I never had such a problem before in other RLs despite almost always messing up my displays by experimenting - but also being able to revert changes later.

Quote
I'm not sold on menu-driven stuff, to be honest.  The traditional roguelikes require memorizing a large number of commands, but the payoff is in the long run.  Zapping a wand or reading a scroll provides you with a list filtered to your intention, once things are in muscle memory.

Ha, that could be interesting discussion for some other thread - I see what you mean but my take is that we`re not playing Starcraft here...so perhaps no real need for such precision. This approach also has two main problems for me - one is that I loathe having to move my hands over the keyboard.. it breaks the zen or something. Other thing is that even once you get totally used to keyboard in one RL it can all go out of the window when switching to another with different keybinds leading to heaps of frustration.

However, redefinable ini is good enough for me - I can group keybinds in WSAD/numpad areas and it`s all good. Plus, the old school way always raises a smile ;)

jcd748

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Re: Shadow of the Wyrm 0.4.1 (formerly Savage Lands)
« Reply #38 on: September 17, 2015, 12:04:15 AM »
Hmm.  I'm not sure what the issue is with your fonts.  I've only ever used my Windows defaults.  I think the "Could not create display" message comes into play when it can't create a display of at least 80x25.  Can you try making your terminal larger?

I`m totally clueless about terminals and all that jazz. In this case I just can`t do anything because sotw.exe crashes instantly after flashing that error message. Is there a way to set fonts back to normal elsewhere (I tried the "shell" accessed by the CTRL+R/cmd but that has no effect) ? I`m puzzled because I never had such a problem before in other RLs despite almost always messing up my displays by experimenting - but also being able to revert changes later.

You could try:
- Run cmd.exe
- Right click on the menu bar, select properties
- On my system, "8x12" "Raster Fonts" is selected

Aleksanderus

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Re: Shadow of the Wyrm 0.4.1 (formerly Savage Lands)
« Reply #39 on: September 19, 2015, 01:01:55 PM »
I've found a bug. When I created a character i was on the worldmap and pressed > and the game just crashed I tried A LOT of times again and the same bug so I couldn't do more than walking on the world map so please fix this bug becouse I want to try this game.

jcd748

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Re: Shadow of the Wyrm 0.4.1 (formerly Savage Lands)
« Reply #40 on: September 19, 2015, 01:08:48 PM »
I've found a bug. When I created a character i was on the worldmap and pressed > and the game just crashed I tried A LOT of times again and the same bug so I couldn't do more than walking on the world map so please fix this bug becouse I want to try this game.

Hi Aleksanderus,

There has been a report of a crash bug from another user that I'm trying to track down, so I'm wondering if this is somehow related.

Can you provide me with as much detail as possible:

- What tile were you trying to enter?  the town, the dungeon, someplace else?
- System specs: how much memory do you have free?  are you running natively under Windows?  Under Wine on Linux?  Something else?  If you're under Windows, are you running as a user with admin privileges, or no?  What directory did you install to?
- If there's anything else you can think of, please include it!

akeley

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Re: Shadow of the Wyrm 0.4.1 (formerly Savage Lands)
« Reply #41 on: September 19, 2015, 01:15:59 PM »
You could try:
- Run cmd.exe
- Right click on the menu bar, select properties
- On my system, "8x12" "Raster Fonts" is selected

Yep, tried all that and the game still crashes. Really weird...how does it "remember", even after reinstall...registry or something?

Meanwhile, 0.4.0 starts up fine.

Aleksanderus

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Re: Shadow of the Wyrm 0.4.1 (formerly Savage Lands)
« Reply #42 on: September 19, 2015, 01:18:25 PM »
I've found a bug. When I created a character i was on the worldmap and pressed > and the game just crashed I tried A LOT of times again and the same bug so I couldn't do more than walking on the world map so please fix this bug becouse I want to try this game.

Hi Aleksanderus,

There has been a report of a crash bug from another user that I'm trying to track down, so I'm wondering if this is somehow related.

Can you provide me with as much detail as possible:

- What tile were you trying to enter?  the town, the dungeon, someplace else?
- System specs: how much memory do you have free?  are you running natively under Windows?  Under Wine on Linux?  Something else?  If you're under Windows, are you running as a user with admin privileges, or no?  What directory did you install to?
- If there's anything else you can think of, please include it!
Oh that was a quick response  :D.
So I was trying every tile on the island and every attempt ended by crash
Memory of my C: drive? I've got more than 5 gb of memory. I'm using windows, I tried running under admin privileges and nothing worked,I installed it on my folder on desktop.
I checked log files and they were completely blank
Maybe It's becouse I live in poland and my region settings are polish, I don't know.
I can provide you with more specific information if you want but you will need to tell me which information you want to know.
« Last Edit: September 19, 2015, 01:20:10 PM by Aleksanderus »

jcd748

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Re: Shadow of the Wyrm 0.4.1 (formerly Savage Lands)
« Reply #43 on: September 19, 2015, 01:40:34 PM »
I just happened to have the site open while doing some development this morning! :)

Out of curiosity, can you change your regional settings to something like US English, CA English, UK English, something like that, and see if it helps?  I do have language-specific resource files, but currently there's only one and the game is defined in swyrm.ini to use the English resource strings.

But I'm wondering if there's something specific about the regional settings that might be causing it.  Worth trying, anyway!  It's weird that you're unable to get past the world map while others are able to explore with no issues.  Strange...

EDIT: I set my keyboard to Polish and used the on-screen keyboard to enter some map tiles.  No problems doing that, unfortunately. :(
« Last Edit: September 19, 2015, 01:50:28 PM by jcd748 »

Aleksanderus

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Re: Shadow of the Wyrm 0.4.1 (formerly Savage Lands)
« Reply #44 on: September 19, 2015, 01:50:46 PM »
I just happened to have the site open while doing some development this morning! :)

Out of curiosity, can you change your regional settings to something like US English, CA English, UK English, something like that, and see if it helps?  I do have language-specific resource files, but currently there's only one and the game is defined in swyrm.ini to use the English resource strings.

But I'm wondering if there's something specific about the regional settings that might be causing it.  Worth trying, anyway!  It's weird that you're unable to get past the world map while others are able to explore with no issues.  Strange...
Nothing, still crashing I changed every regional and keyboard language setting and nothing. In the new version you NEED to add a crashlog that would be VERY usefull
« Last Edit: September 19, 2015, 01:54:53 PM by Aleksanderus »