HIC SUNT DRACONES - (WIP)

[Ed the Bat]

As much as I love shooting monsters, I love it even more when I can play something with a slower pace and explore like this.

My one fear here is that this project will fall off the face of the earth like the last time such a mod came onto the scene (Survivor). That would make me sad.

[Matt]

I kind of hope the end result is there's the "problem" of monsters and you "solve" it with a shotgun.

They're preparing their Christmas dinner but their turkey got eaten by the cat so you volunteer to get a new turkey for them? :V

[Arch]

Mixing exploration in the open areas with some action in the buildings could work.
By the way, my jaw is still dropped by those screenshots. Reminded me of the PS2 game Shadow of the Colossus.

[kodi]

You're all too kind! ^^
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/20 ... 05072.jpg/
Prototype for the hanging castle's magical reactor room. Some crazy mage stole himself a star and bound it there or something. Seems to be running pretty hot. Piston engines to be placed elsewhere later can be seen in the background.

My one fear here is that this project will fall off the face of the earth like the last time such a mod came onto the scene (Survivor). That would make me sad.

That's quite likely to happen. I'll be sure to give someone else the chance to continue with it if it's going nowhere though.

Anyway, some things I'd really appreciate help with:

• What is the best order of workflow? Right now I'm juggling texturemaking in PS, editing esoteric lump files, ACS, and modeling(term?) several maps at once in Doom builder. Working like this has taught me a lot and kept my interest from slipping, but it's hardly efficient.
• How do I attach a dynamic light to an equipable weapon? Just want to make a torch/lantern.
• Has anyone coded frameworks for inventory and dialogue systems I might use, or are there guides on how to code such a thing?

[Ed the Bat]

Adding a dynamic light to the weapon would probably be best achieved by having the weapon spawn a dummy actor, which follows the player via A_Warp commands, and putting dynamic lights on that actor. I know that explanation was pretty sparse, so let me drum up a quick example, based on how I've done it...

Code: Select all

//Changes intensity by simply using a different defined light for each frame. Offers better control than flicker/fade lights.
ACTOR GunLightPoint
{
	States
	{
	Spawn:
		TNT1 A 1 NODELAY LIGHT("GunLight1") A_Warp(AAPTR_TARGET)
		TNT1 A 1 LIGHT("GunLight2") A_Warp(AAPTR_TARGET)
		Stop
	}
}

Spawn that actor in a state on the weapon (for a torch, I'd think the Ready state would work best) with A_SpawnItemEx, and you should be ok to go!

[kodi]

Thanks a ton Ed, got it to work perfectly with that method!

[Ed the Bat]

Happy to help!

[Nash]

I like what I see but can you please use imgur for your images? ImageShack is so spammy, forces me to open a new tab, have to click a few things before I finally see your image, etc...

Imgur has tools that let you copy/paste clickable thumbnails in BBcode format directly here.

http://imgur.com/

[kodi]

I like what I see but can you please use imgur for your images? ImageShack is so spammy, forces me to open a new tab, have to click a few things before I finally see your image, etc...

Imgur has tools that let you copy/paste clickable thumbnails in BBcode format directly here.

http://imgur.com/

I tried Imgur when first suggested, but it kept giving me errors. Just tried it with IE, and it worked. Seems imgur is just incompatible with Aurora (but I'll use IE to upload pics there in the future then).

[Nash]

Good stuff:

- Castle exterior looks amazing, must've took ages to build that
- Castle interior lighting is nice
- Textures and water looks good

Bad stuff:

- Too much bloom
- Lack of lighting and shadows in the exterior makes the colours look flat

Keep up the good work!

[Matt]

[wiki]A_Warp[/wiki] maybe for the light? Or possibly constantly shoot a fastprojectile (the best way to make sure the light is slightly ahead of where you're pointing)?

I'm hoping this has no combat at all - it just gets distracting and annoying for atmospheric exploration stuff.

[kodi]

---

Good stuff:
- Castle exterior looks amazing, must've took ages to build that
- Castle interior lighting is nice
- Textures and water looks good

Bad stuff:

- Too much bloom
- Lack of lighting and shadows in the exterior makes the colours look flat

Keep up the good work!

Thanks! The castle exterior is actually entirely made of 3D floors. Bad decision in hindsight, but wanted to avoid painting myself into a corner with the architecture. It's also still only ~40% done. The bloom I've barely tweaked at all as of now, but since it's outside the jurisdiction of the executable and can't be changed during play, it has to be a compromise setting that works both for dark and bright levels/areas.

Anyway, I've decided to focus on getting a proof-of-concept release ready ASAP. There'll be a simplified version of the first puzzle (find a shelter, make a fire, spend the night).

New screen of an underwater cave:

---

Still can't get the damn underwater fog to work here

[kodi]

Updated the title page, and made a tiny, tiny release!

[neoworm]

I like the "long_before_pre-alpha" suffix. I saw pre-alpha games and mods that had much, much less work done.

[Matt]

I like the little magnifying glass thing, though at the moment it seems a bit buggy (it sometimes disappears very early, or fails to disappear when you're no longer looking at the thing)

The torch should only appear in very dark areas and the player not given the ability to shine it outside of those places - it's weird to see that yellow spot out in broad daylight.

Is it possible to get to the south part of the map at this point?