Author Topic: The Red Prison - roguelike based on 5th edition D&D  (Read 67042 times)

Troubler

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Re: The Red Prison - roguelike based on 5th edition D&D
« Reply #30 on: May 25, 2019, 04:08:28 AM »
I've been playing occasionally when you update. It's still pretty early but has been coming along.
The display can be too dark at times. The explored parts of the dungeon are very hard to make out.
It would be nice if you could set the avatars of party members and if they had names to help tell them apart.
If you are done exploring a level, it could help if the auto-explore would take you to the stairs, since it is easy to forget where they are.

I also found a bug when I was using the auto-explore. I was at a bend in the dungeon like so:
Code: [Select]
########
.?.....#
.......#
#####@.#
    #X.#
    #..#
The question mark was a kobold slinger who was just out of sight.
He knocked me out with a stone, and my guard behind me (The X) revived me.
The autoexplore kept me going so my guy kept getting knocked out in that spot by the kobold.
It is kind of hard to explain. Maybe you can set up something up like this yourself.

pat

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Re: The Red Prison - roguelike based on 5th edition D&D
« Reply #31 on: May 25, 2019, 05:39:02 AM »
I’ll take a look at those things, thanks for the feedback. That autoexplore issue is a weird one and it must have something to do with a quirk of the line of sight algorithms in libtcod because autoexplore should stop if you can see an enemy but they should only be able to shoot if they can see you. I’ll add an exception to make it stop when the player takes damage which will resolve that issue but perhaps not the line of sight of issue.

I’ll also think about how to customise party members a bit better. Naming them would be trivial and perhaps I’ll put that in sooner rather than later - custom avatars is a bit more tricky but I could probably let them share the player options and give another option to just reset to default (because the player doesn’t have access to those avatars).

I can probably do something about the map darkness as well. Any suggestions like that are more than welcome, I find that I’ve taken on board most comments so far and put them into the game - you can lose sight of these things when you’ve been playing and replaying the same stuff over and over from the start.

pat

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Re: The Red Prison - roguelike based on 5th edition D&D
« Reply #32 on: June 01, 2019, 07:18:38 AM »
I tried to return to proper development this week after a month or so of being side-tracked from straight foward development. I actually found it a little bit hard to get back into coding after doing different things for a while and there were a couple of hours where my codebase felt a bit alien to me. Lesson to learn from that is to never take a break!

Main things that happened this week are:

* I finally received the finished product after paying an artist to create an image to use as cover art! I'm really happy with the result and I think it fits in well with the tradition from the original Rogue with cover art which doesn't resemble the game whatsoever!

* Custom names for player and for NPC's. During custom character creation you are still given a suggested name (and implied gender) but you can regrenerate this until you're happy or enter your own name. During the game, when giving orders to your allies, you can also choose to name them now as well.

* Reworking of the poison system. Before this I just lazily created a 'poisoned' condition which applied 1 hit point of damage per turn for a set number of turns. This didn't really reflect how poison works in the rules where there are a number of different poison types which instead apply damage instantly with various dice rolls to determine this, along with the chance of saving throw against variable difficulties with differing results if you succeed... there's a lot to deal with there from a programming point of view! But it's all implemented now and each monster with venom follows the rules as written in terms of how it's applied, how much damage it does, and whether you have a chance at a saving throw or not and what chance that is.

The poison rework actually has been a sorely needed buff for the rogue class because they start with a blowgun and poisoned needles. Needles only do 1 hit point of damage, but on top of that you add the dexterity bonus along with a possible sneak attack bonus and a further possible critical hit bonus AND now a further 1d4 poison damage. The end result is that rogues can dish out quite significant damage against poison vulnerable enemies right from the start of the game and it's even possible (although very hard) to play an effective solo rogue without a light source and specialise in hiding and sneak attacking from the shadows.

getter77

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Re: The Red Prison - roguelike based on 5th edition D&D
« Reply #33 on: June 01, 2019, 11:26:54 AM »
That's surely some quality cover art.   8)
Brian Emre Jeffears
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Troubler

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Re: The Red Prison - roguelike based on 5th edition D&D
« Reply #34 on: June 06, 2019, 11:33:49 PM »
It would be nice if I could get some passive commands I could give my allies, like how closely they follow me.
For example, when I start to walk around, or press the explore button, they tend to wander off.
While walking around, I might run into a kobold archer or something like that who KOs me, and since the guy is away, I die.
Or the other way around, he wanders off and dies, leaving me to go find his corpse.

Also it would be nice if you/allies could displace KOed party members.
Right now if you are fighting something in a cooridoor/door and get KOed, you're typically going to die.
If the ally can not path quickly to the enemy, he is stuck in place cursing at it ineffectually.
Not sure how dungeons and dragons handles this, but it seems unnatural.

Also noticed the allies don't seem to level with you, so are they set to expire at some point?
Though I also noticed some of the allies are monsters from the guidebook, so that's interesting.
Would there be a way in the future to level them, or even recruit other monsters from the dungeon?

pat

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Re: The Red Prison - roguelike based on 5th edition D&D
« Reply #35 on: June 07, 2019, 12:18:43 AM »
More passive commands is definitely on the cards. Admittedly part of the game’s design is dealing with the frustration of your allies going off on jaunts of their own but there should be a degree of control over what the party strategy is.

There actually is meant to be the ability to swap places with unconscious allies. I think the AI is a bit buggy with that so I’ll look at it closer and now I think about it, the player lacks the ability to swap - I’ll add that in so that whenever an enemy is in sight and you can’t heal, you’ll swap instead.

Allies don’t get XP and level and I think I’ll keep it that way although I’m going to make it possible for you to upgrade allies with weapons and armour that you find in the dungeon. All of the allies are exactly from the rulebook in terms of their stats and abilities with a couple of minor additions, ie. giving guards the protection fighting style. Think of them more as paid hirelings rather than true allies which is why they don’t progress.

It’s already possible to recruit humanoid monsters in the dungeon and that works particularly well on bandit mobs.

Troubler

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Re: The Red Prison - roguelike based on 5th edition D&D
« Reply #36 on: June 07, 2019, 05:50:00 PM »
It’s already possible to recruit humanoid monsters in the dungeon and that works particularly well on bandit mobs.
I didn't know that. Do you do it by talking to enemies?
Usually I get a "You fail to communicate with X" out of it.

pat

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Re: The Red Prison - roguelike based on 5th edition D&D
« Reply #37 on: June 07, 2019, 09:08:41 PM »
Yeah that’s the message you get when you try and talk to a non-NPC. Try talking to every NPC with a yellow title or bandits when you see them.

pat

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Re: The Red Prison - roguelike based on 5th edition D&D
« Reply #38 on: June 13, 2019, 05:45:39 AM »
New version released and here's the full change list:

* Resized native tile size from 16x16 to 24x24. Previously I had every tile at 16x16 for some forgotten reason during development and sized these up or down as needed as I used them. This process through the bearlibterminal library had the effect of smoothing out the images as they were upsized which always left me feeling that they looked a bit blurry. Now that effect is removed on a trial basis to see if it feels clearer.

* Fixed problem with combining various enchantment names by adding a name_tail variable for '+1' and the like to go along with name_prefix and name_suffix.

* Added new monsters: plesiosaurus, poisonous snake, polar bear, pony, pteranodon, quipper, rat, raven, reef shark, riding horse, saber-toothed tiger.

* Fixed bug with misnamed hawk as blood hawk.

* Added change so that when trying to cast spells or do ranged attacks, if the attack or spell doesn't eventuatuate because out of ammo or spells slots etc, no turn is taken.

* Added number of new dungeon vaults with emphasis on wide corridors to enhance party play.

* Added feature to autoexplore so it finishes on the downstairs.

pat

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Re: The Red Prison - roguelike based on 5th edition D&D
« Reply #39 on: June 22, 2019, 07:46:15 AM »
Some pretty significant changes took place this week:

Made reach weapons work. This was something which didn't really occur to me as being a core part of the game but it's something that a few players have gone looking for almost immediately so it needed to get done.

They work via the ranged combat menus by pressing 'f' or 'F' with a limited range. You can select a target within range manually or just use 'F' to auto-target within range. It works alongside thrown weapons as well so that if you're at range, those commands will throw at the target and if you're closer then they will default to a ranged melee attack.

Reworked entire encounter and monster generation system. Single monsters are still generated depending on dungeon level and CR of the individual monster.

Mob generation was reworked from scratch with new classes for Encounters and Monsters within that encounter so that special types can be defined and mobs can be specified easily with combinations of monsters along with spell users and ranged fighters. It should prove to be easily extensible in terms of special features and new mobs.

Full change list (apart from the above):

* Updated menu options for ranged/reach attacks.

* Updated display to show when wielding a reach weapon.

* Redid the following mobs in the new system: bandits with captain; mix of low level undead; kobolds with mages, shamans and slingers; orcs with mages, shamans and chuckers.

* Created new mob types: lizardfolk with a large number of weak lizards; single ogre with goblin followers; solo ogre mage.

* Turned off seperate factions being generated for different mobs of monsters to experiment with no in-fighting.

* Added extra customisation of monster types in mobs. Now individual stats can be specified along with character level so that casting levels can be simulated. Applied upgraded stats to all spellcasters already implemented.

* Fixed bug where doors could appear on the outer boundary which let the player walk out of bounds.

* Doubled food ration spawn rate.

* Fixed issue where fighter's second wind ability took a turn when it should be a bonus action.

* Added two different starting kits for fighters. If strength is higher or equal to dexterity, you start with one of longsword, battleaxe and spear and ring mail. If dexterity is higher, you start with one of scimitar, shortsword or whip and leather armour.
« Last Edit: June 22, 2019, 09:34:14 AM by pat »

getter77

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Re: The Red Prison - roguelike based on 5th edition D&D
« Reply #40 on: June 22, 2019, 12:21:01 PM »
It may be arbitrary and/or no longer a thing in 5e basic or otherwise and more about classic flavour than practicality, but not unlike how Zorbus got the Hoopak in recent times out of nowhere, does the reach gains as least theoretically mean hope is alive for dual-wielding spiked chains somewhere in the future as per the hilarious infamy of it back in Incursion?   8)
Brian Emre Jeffears
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pat

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Re: The Red Prison - roguelike based on 5th edition D&D
« Reply #41 on: June 22, 2019, 12:57:03 PM »
Haha, I don’t think the infamous spiked chains will be making an appearance in this game. I think they’re a homebrew thing only in 5e and while two-weapon fighting will be coming soon, I haven’t gotten into grappling and tripping as combat options yet. Using two whips at once might be as close I come to that one.

getter77

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Re: The Red Prison - roguelike based on 5th edition D&D
« Reply #42 on: June 22, 2019, 06:50:14 PM »
Close enough   8)
Brian Emre Jeffears
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pat

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Re: The Red Prison - roguelike based on 5th edition D&D
« Reply #43 on: June 29, 2019, 07:29:51 AM »
I've spent the entire time working on this project swearing black and blue that a small scope is integral to my plan because I want a finished game this time around. I've had people bugging me to add classes and races and I've been politely declining for months now... and all of a sudden I decided to forget all my plans and dive right on in with a bunch of new content.

New races

And the first stage of that has already been rolled out and it's six new races: half-elf, half-orc, tiefling, aasimar, kobold and bugbear. Half-elves, tieflings and aasimar are mostly defined by offering different starting attributes with a couple of race specific features for each (like sleep immunity for half-elves, fire resistance for tieflings, and the very useful healing hands for aasimar).

The monstrous additions are probably more interesting and probably much more unbalanced:

Kobolds have a high natural dexterity which makes them a natural fit for a rogue and their pack tactics trait synergises really effectively with sneak attack. When you and an ally are both next to a target, you get advantage on your attack from the pack tactics trait and the bonus damage from sneak attacks which becomes very powerful.

Half-orcs make for really powerful fighters. The savage attack trait means that when you roll a critical hit, you roll an extra die of damage so you hit extra hard, particularly when combined with the fighter's improved chances at critical hits at higher levels. The relentless endurance trait gives you an extra buffer before being knocked out. Knowing that you can drop to 0 HP once and automatically be given 1 HP to keep fighting means that you're extra resilient in the front of a party.

Bugbears have natural reach on all weapons and bonus reach using weapons already with that trait. What it means is that you can be a great weapon fighter and use a polearm to hit monsters 3 squares away. Or you can be a rogue with bonus stealth and use a finesse weapon and sneak attack from 2 squares away. They are excellent support fighters because you can always attack over the heads of your allies who can take the brunt of the damage for you.

All of these new races are included in the version currently available for download and while there's a few unfinished features, they're all stable and playable.

New class - the druid

I'm halfway through implementing the druid class as well! I've done the basics to do with proficiencies and traits. There's a few spells already written due to crossovers with the wizard and cleric spell schools, and most importantly, I'm about halfway through the wild shape ability. What that means is that at 2nd level, druids can wild shape into a range of animals. I've picked a selection and implemented those already, and I'm ironing out some of the attached issues that go with it, such as what happens when you 'die' in animal form.

The way I've done polymorphing is to simply create a new monster entirely, then store the player within that new object as a variable called 'true_self', and then substitute that new object into the player global. It's really quite simple and works pretty well, despite needing a few edge issues addressed like displaying stats properly and things like that.

I'm hopeful that a work-in-progress druid will be done by this time next week!

Two-weapon fighting

I also implemented two-weapon fighting - this was a pretty huge change through the code.

It involved changing all the inventory and equipment routines to deal with wielding a weapon in the off hand including a menu to allow the player the choice to do so and all the various checks necessary to make sure that two-handed, versatile and other non-light weapons were swapped in and out properly.

The stat bar had to be changed to show a second weapon being used when two-weapon combat was in effect, and this was a fairly complicated process in its own right.

And this let me work on implementing the two-weapon fighting style for figthers which had been commented out for the lifetime of this project so far! The flow-on effect was that this forced a number of changes to deal with calculating the damage bonus (or lack thereof) in the display code. I had to change the attack function so that it identified if an attack was being made as a bonus action with the off hand, which is every situation where two-weapon fighting is in effect and this is the final attack of the turn. This means that with extra attack, those attacks go first followed by the off hand last.

And finally, I had to implement new messages to make it clear when two-weapon fighting is in effect and which weapon you are hitting with.

Full change list:

* Fixed bug with ranged targetting when trying to select an area out of bounds.

* Dealt with closing game window in every possible input state with automatic saving included. Hopefully now should work across the board cleanly.

* Added starting kit for two-weapon fighters so they start with two mediocre light weapons.

* Fixed bug where inconsistent spelling of 'two handed' vs 'two-handed' resulted in fighter's with dueling fighting style getting that bonus for wielding two-handed weapons.

* Fixed bug where opportunity attack would be made with off hand.

* Fixed bug where bonus attack for two-weapons was being applied when throwing.

* Added restriction on sneak attacks so that extra damage is only applied once per round.

* Finished ironing out all weird bugs with two-weapon fighting and inventory management that come from a number of unexpected interactions.

* Added new naming rules for orcs, infernal, and kobolds.

* Implemented relentless endurance for half-orcs (and boars for some reason, although this was just sitting on my to-do list until now). Once per long rest, when HP reduced to 0, it becomes 1 instead.

* Implemented savage attacks trait for half-orcs. When a critical hit is scored, roll an extra damage die.

* Implemented extra reach for bugbears, they can now reach with all weapons and an extra square with reach weapons.

* Implemented healing hands ability for aasimar. Heals up to character level of damage on touch once per long rest. Useful for reviving allies during combat.

* Removed animation for casting light, I didn't like how it looked.

* Replaced veteran with knight as starting NPC option with one less point cost.

* Changed default starting party to one knight and one acolyte.

* Implemented resistance to various damage types. It doesn't apply to bludgeoning, piercing or slashing just yet but that'll be coming shortly.

* Implemented rough wild shape with selection of animals of different CR's depending on character level.

* Fixed bug where casting bless caused a crash due to an error in the stats display code.

getter77

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Re: The Red Prison - roguelike based on 5th edition D&D
« Reply #44 on: June 29, 2019, 11:24:05 AM »
Excellent gains---don't think of it as bloat, think of it as an Emergency Marbling Adjustment   8)

Don't know what else is out there on the maybe/maybe not spread on the lot, but Bugbears at the least are certainly a novel and neat addition to the mix.
Brian Emre Jeffears
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