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[Igorrr]

Hello everyone,

first of all I found out about WME just some weeks ago. I am working on a project called "Struggle for Life and Honour". It is going to be similar (but not totally alike) to Sierra's Quest For Glory Series. It's  a 2D Adventure Game with RPG elements.

Usually it was planned to use AGS and it does work ok. But on trying out WME I would prefer using this engine instead. Alone how the sprites are handled and how you are able to create your own GUI in WME is much better than in AGS imo.

I don't know if these questions have been asked before (I already searched the forums, but maybe I overlooked something)

I would choose to use WME at once if I knew that these options are possible:

- Character Stats management (actually I guess using global variable for stats and using math functions in character actions to manipulate these should have no problems. Anyhow your opinion would be great)

- Day and Night Transition (In the Scene Demo I already saw the timer running, so I can use that to manage an ingame time for the days, but is there a plugin or way to make my scenes fade from day into night images as the day passes?)

- Able to implement a combat system. As it is a quase RPG game there has to be a fighting system. I am not sure at the moment how to implement this, but do you think there are no problems.

btw. I saw in the TODO List that a new function will be added (-actor.SetSprite()). Does that mean that at the moment I am not able to have my character switch sprites. For examples if in the game my character decides a new dress-up, that is not possible at the moment?

Thanks

~Igorrr

[Mnemonic]

Hi Igorrr,

- Character Stats management (actually I guess using global variable for stats and using math functions in character actions to manipulate these should have no problems. Anyhow your opinion would be great)

Yes, exactly. You could use either the global variables or even properties of the actor object to store any additional information about the character. Plus, displaying a character stats screen could be fairly easily done using the GUI layer.

- Day and Night Transition (In the Scene Demo I already saw the timer running, so I can use that to manage an ingame time for the days, but is there a plugin or way to make my scenes fade from day into night images as the day passes?)

That's right. There's a counter running, counting the time elapsed since the game started (in milliseconds). The timer is paused when the game's frozen, it's saved with the saved game etc.
As for the fading, WME provides FadeOut and FadeIn methods for scenes. Basically you can fade the scene to any color you want. This has been used in Five magical amulets and works pretty well. The only disadvantage is that the fading only works when the game's running in accelerated mode. It would be too slow in software mode.

- Able to implement a combat system. As it is a quase RPG game there has to be a fighting system. I am not sure at the moment how to implement this, but do you think there are no problems.

Well, you'd have to describe what exactly are you expecting from a combat system. But in my opinion anything could be done with actors walking within the scene, playing animations (for attacks) etc.

btw. I saw in the TODO List that a new function will be added (-actor.SetSprite()). Does that mean that at the moment I am not able to have my character switch sprites. For examples if in the game my character decides a new dress-up, that is not possible at the moment?

No no, not really. The actor.SetSprite was meant for occasions when you need temporarily change actor's appearance, like the actor's showing some item to other character, while the other charater is talking for a long time.

Currently you can switch actor's sprites by simply loading another .actor file. You can think of it as loading another "costume" for the actor, to use the LucasArts terminology.


I hope that helps. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

[Igorrr]

Thanks for your quick reply. It was very helpful, I will try out the fading methods ASAP!!!

About the combat system. I was thinking about implementing it in the way of the old Mindscape game "Moonstone". So basically you keep your scene and have 2 actors walking around hacking and slashing at each other.
You would use the cursor keys to move and 1-4 assigned combat buttons to attack and block.
I thought about using the coordinates of the characters and when they are close enough they are able to reach each other. Calculating the combat stats with the random dice roll your oponent blocks your hit or not, while you have to either walk away or push your block button when he hits at you.
I am more concerned about the AI, though.
Well in Moonstone the boars just ran from left to right at high speed. Can you actually have the oponent actor go to to your coordinates in a loop, meaning that wherever you go he follows? And thus when he is in range he will attack you. And thus you could also implement a random action concerning the way he attacks. I was also thinking about ranged attacks, if your enemy has the same height coordinate as you but is too far away concerning the width that he will throw daggers, cast a spell or something.

[odnorf]

Welcome to out little internet corner Igorrr  
I have your project in my bookmarks for a LONG time and I am glad to see that you have (almost) decided to use wme.

For anyone that is interested to check this RPG/adventure you can find it here http://www.sflah.com/

[Mnemonic]

I see. Well, to have the monsters follow the player should be easy to do. Something like:

monster.GoTo(actor.X, actor.Y);

Of course it would be called from some endless loop, handling other AI actions, depending on the distance between player and the enemy etc.

Controlling the player with keyboard will be a bit more tricky, but I have an idea how to do it quite elegantly. I'll try something when I get home in the evening.

[McCoy]

- Day and Night Transition (In the Scene Demo I already saw the timer running, so I can use that to manage an ingame time for the days, but is there a plugin or way to make my scenes fade from day into night images as the day passes?)

Well, you can check the "technology demo" I made some time ago featuring day/night transitions (with smooth sound transitions along with the image transitions as well). It's not timed though, it depeneds of the sun's position, and I don't use the fade methods, it switchs smoothly between three images, one for day, another one for sunset and sunrise, and another one for night... It has some advanteges, because you can customise the scene graphics to really look like night, and like me, make sunset effects as well (maybe fading the scene to orange or red would make a simillar effect though...), but it's more work, and will mess up things at SceneEdit with more layers and stuff.  Anyway, check the sourcecode, maybe you can get something useful by adapting the code of the transitions between images to apply it to fades...

It's here: http://www.dead-code.org/forum/index.php?board=12;action=display;threadid=274&start=0

Hehehe... I knew that someday that thing would be useful!!

Note that you'll need the old Jerrot's Math DLL, because it was made with an older version of WME without the new embedded math functions, but I can't find it anywhere (well, I have it in my HD just in case... and I think it's included in the compressed file for downloading?? I can't remember, but it's very likely) because when the new version arrived, it became obsolete and was -as long as I know- removed from the net... So you can edit the sourcecode and change it so it'll use the new engine's native maths functions, it's very very easy, I'm just too lazy to do it and ask odnorf to upload the files again...



And about your project, I think it can be done with WME perfectly, the script language is very, very powerful, and moreover, you can always ask Mnemonic to add new functions for future releases .

[odnorf]

..it was made with an older version of WME without the new embedded math functions, but I can't find it anywhere (well, I have it in my HD just in case... and I think it's included in the compressed file for downloading?? I can't remember, but it's very likely)...

It's included inside the archive.

[Igorrr]

wow you guys really work fast  !!!
This is also a good argument for deciding to use WME!!

Thanks very much for your replies.

@Odnorf: Thanks for putting the link for the SFLAH site. I don't know if you have seen that it has been completely updated.

@McCoy: Thank you, I am currently downloading the Sunny Demo. I gues the math.dll will not be included in that package?? Otherwise I was not able to find it on my own, if you could send me an email with the dll file would be swell.

@Mnemoic: I guess there are problems concerning having your buttons pressed all the time to have your character walk around. Maybe like in old Sierra SCI games you press the button once and the character starts moving until you press that or any other button again. It may be kind of tricky for a player to get used to that but I think it could still work.
But I am curious to hear about your elegant solution!!!

Again

thanks guys.

[Mnemonic]

Note that you'll need the old Jerrot's Math DLL, because it was made with an older version of WME without the new embedded math functions,

Have you ever considered updating the demo to utilize the internal math functions?

[odnorf]

wow you guys really work fast  !!!
This is also a good argument for deciding to use WME!!

And you can always ask questions in real-time in the irc.
Check http://www.dead-code.org/forum/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=260;start=0

@Odnorf: Thanks for putting the link for the SFLAH site. I don't know if you have seen that it has been completely updated.

Yeah, I noticed it. Keep up the good work Igorrr.

@McCoy: Thank you, I am currently downloading the Sunny Demo. I gues the math.dll will not be included in that package?? Otherwise I was not able to find it on my own, if you could send me an email with the dll file would be swell.

As I said it's already included inside the archive. But it should be pretty easy to change the code and make it work with the internal math functions as well.

[Mnemonic]

Ok, try this demo:

http://dead-code.org/misc/direct_control_test.zip (1.7 MB)

It turned out to be a little less elegant than I thought but it works.
I'll release the sources later, once the new WME build is out.

There's a little glitch though, the character walks around the obstacles the way it does in a normal point'n'click scene.

[Igorrr]

Thanks again guys :-)

I am still downloading the sunnydemo (56K Modem... I MISS my DSL!!!). I will check into the source code and try to change it using the internal math functions.

I tried out the FadeIn and FadeOut Methods. It's nice, but it looks more like wearing too dark sunglasses than giving the feel of night. But maybe I have to tune it more. I can't wait until the SunnyDemo is finally downloaded.

Is there a way to make a FadeThrough? (I mean imagine you want to fadeout your screen to one colour and after that fading to another colour from this one.) I was thinking about this when trying to do a reddish dusk and fading from the reddish dusk into the dark blue night.

Thanks for the direct control test. I am currently downloading this one, too.
I already started making a small combat demo. It is very basic right now. I called it "Spank The Hero". You play the Blue Knight from Moonstone and have the hero sprite from Quest For Glory 1 (EGA Version) following you. With the left mouse button you move and with the right you strike.
Very simple but extremely stress relieving  
I don't know if there are any copyright problems if I just post a download link here in the forums for anyone interested. It is no great achievement, but I always had the wish to spank that hero sometimes ;-)

[MMR]

I'm interested in seeing it

[McCoy]

I am still downloading the sunnydemo (56K Modem... I MISS my DSL!!!). I will check into the source code and try to change it using the internal math functions.

I'ts very easy, it only uses Sin, Cos, and DegToRad, for the sun's circular motion, that's it. I've not updated it not because of the difficulty... it's just because I don't want to deal with the nuisance of having to upload it again... 56k modem around here too  

[Igorrr]

You REALLY are fast workers!!!  

I have managed to download both the Sunny Demo and the Direct Control Test and play around with them.

@Sunny Demo:
  - math.dll
    - 1. The math.dll was included with the sources  
    - 2. Yes it was extremely easy to exchange them with the internal math functions.

  - Ahhh why didn't I think of using 2 backgrounds (day and night) and have the overlapping background slowly change it's alphacolor in a loop. It looks really sweet that way, only the other objects are not affected by this transition method as with the fade methods. Maybe a good solution is a mix between both methods. I am sure with more playing around I will find a really good solution.

@Direct Control Test:
I don't know what you meant with elegant, but it worked very fine with me. I can't wait to play around with it myself.

Thanks again guys, just a few days I posted and received a bunch of answers that really brought me far indeed. Looking back at my first post it seems all my problems are solved :-)

I am happy to announce that WME is GOING TO BE the engine for SFLAH. I will make the official announcement on the SFLAH page, soon!!!