Messages

31

Editing A&A / Re: Quest Pack 10 - The Sorcerer's Keep [WIP]

« on: November 19, 2016, 10:40:28 AM »

Here's the current WIP version of the quest pack. 3 of the 5 maps are complete and playable. There's some item/monster shuffling that will be done as a final step. Enjoy.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B53xwpRlaEsdOUxFbmFPVWdfcW8/view?usp=sharing

To install, extract to your main amulets and armor directory (Default: C:\Games\Amulets & Armor)

NOTE: Characters save between level loads, so you should back up any characters saves so that you can play the final version without starting in the middle

Quest packs 8 and 9 are included because the game requires the numbering to be in order.

32

Editing A&A / Re: Quest Pack 10 - The Sorcerer's Keep [WIP]

« on: November 18, 2016, 07:31:29 AM »

Just a quick update.

Map 3 is done and I'm moving on to map 4. I should have a WIP version out this weekend for people to test.

33

Editing A&A / Re: Quest Pack 10 - The Sorcerer's Keep [WIP]

« on: October 29, 2016, 07:35:27 AM »

Screen shots!

https://goo.gl/photos/92xkwRZTV9VjD35z7

34

General Discussion / Discord Server

« on: October 25, 2016, 11:24:31 AM »

Set up a Discord Server for the group. Here's the invite link https://discord.gg/4vXVzJp

Use it to organize games, get dev help, or generally banter with like minded murder hobos in the A&A universe.

35

Editing A&A / [COMPLETE] Quest Pack 10 - The Sorcerer's Keep

« on: October 25, 2016, 11:19:25 AM »

I'm far enough along on the quest pack that I really should be putting out info and updates. This next adventure will be taking a break form Lord Marcus' insurrection (but not without honorable mention) and will challenge players to investigate a ghost town, make their way through an active battle field, scale a mountainous landscape, and fight through a wizard's keep all to stop the rise of an unstoppable evil.

All that being said, I'm 2.5 maps into the 5 map quest. My general design principal has been to target a wider level range than the originals so that players can take on an extra challenge if they want to attack it at a lower experience level. It's meant to be really difficult and force players to choose if they want to explore further, or find the exit.

I'll have some teaser screens shots later this week.

That being said, I had to pause development this week due to the day job. However, I'll be back to the grind this weekend which should give me time to release the latest alpha build of the mod with the push/pull spell experience boost changes. But other bug fixes are on the back burner at the moment.

UPDATE
Map pack complete! Download at the following link! See latest post for more details
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B53xwpRlaEsdYXFEN05KRWtBdnc


For players new to AA, install the latest version of the mod with the map included:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B53xwpRlaEsdX2E1dUhQX2VCXzg/view?usp=sharing

36

General Discussion / Re: Multiplayer anyone?

« on: October 24, 2016, 09:08:37 AM »

I'm going to set it up so that anyone can join, but you have to get a special privileges to chat and do voice. That way we can keep a public invite link. I'll try to monitor the chat regularly and set up anyone who joins. Just post your forum name in the #CreateCharacter channel


EDIT: I think that the roles that I set up were all broken, so all of those restrictions have been turned off. I'll redo them when I have time.

37

General Discussion / Re: Multiplayer anyone?

« on: October 24, 2016, 08:44:11 AM »

Created!

https://discord.gg/4vXVzJp

I'll polish it up as time goes on.

38

Editing A&A / Re: Questions regarding codebase

« on: October 24, 2016, 08:35:36 AM »

If you're running to SDL2 related issues, I kind of put that off in the windows version, but this was a handly explanation of what was wrong that way:
http://amuletsandarmor.com/forum/index.php?topic=168.0

If you need any help with an OSX port, somebody started one a few years ago. Might have some useful tidbits:
https://github.com/alexey-lysiuk/AmuletsArmor

Also, Great work so far. Keeep it up!

39

Editing A&A / Re: Peewee Mod Fork 1.3.1

« on: October 22, 2016, 06:33:19 AM »

Interesting. I must just be really unlucky. 

The class description and palette issues for new player photos is known. I put them off because I had planned on address both issues by helping the creators with a rewrite of the game some time ago, however I never had much luck. Always had problems with really low level graphics issues and file reading issues.

In the back of my mind, I'm looking at the .NET core libraries and wondering if there's a really quick path forward there for a cross platform solution.

40

Editing A&A / Re: Questions regarding codebase

« on: October 21, 2016, 05:59:31 AM »

This would be a great question for LysleShields. I've not tackled anything with the RES files. But he has mentioned there being a RES packing program lying around for creating them. That might help determine what the extra bits of data are.


Last mentioned here:
http://amuletsandarmor.com/forum/index.php?topic=179.msg888#msg888

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Editing A&A / Re: Peewee Mod Fork 1.3.1

« on: October 21, 2016, 05:54:06 AM »

Good catch on the names.

I'll have to test those out.


Yes, it's possible to gain extra xp by killing the wolves, but I never really worked on that because every time I tried to abuse that, I got wrecked by the wolves. I'd only get away with a couple pot shots from time to time. I did sometimes get a little XP boost by accident when summoning a bunch of minions on a large monster, and blasting the group with the acid attack, however that's a giant MP drain. So it turned into a method to turn relatively expensive scrolls of mana into XP. It might be a super easy fix though. I'll have to double check it.

42

General Discussion / Re: Multiplayer anyone?

« on: October 18, 2016, 08:43:51 PM »

Here's the latest EXE for the original game (with multiplayer fixes)

Version 1.05.03a
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B53xwpRlaEsdZTdxU0FacTdhN0k/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-bKQxfXuYtICovvWFzoLvvA

Did you have a discord group in mind? Otherwise we could probably start a community AA discord.

43

General Discussion / Re: Multiplayer anyone?

« on: October 18, 2016, 09:36:54 AM »

Unfortunately no, but I can get the server back up and running and we can find another time if there is interest.

There was a lot of good bug testing around quest rewards and the chat system the first go around. I think the new EXE is posted here somewhere.

44

Editing A&A / Re: Peewee Mod Fork 1.3.1

« on: October 13, 2016, 08:55:32 PM »

After some thought, I think that the idea of indirect damage is still a great idea for many spells. For example, pushing a monster off of a cliff. There's a rather ingenious way to do this that I remember from the old Action Quake II mod. Basically when you hit a monster with a push or pull effect, it could get an attacker value and a timeout of about a second. How this would work is that if the monster takes environment damage (such as falling damage) during that timeout the attacker that was recorded gets the XP. That would work if a monster was pushed into lava, pushed onto fire, pushed into a boulder.

While on the subject of indirect damage, Poison doesn't give XP in the original game and I think it was done really well. Poison weapons and poison spells are essentially the most powerful abilities in the game. For example, the poison bolt will grant some XP for the initial hit, but the periodic poison damage does not grant XP. But that periodic damage does a LOT of damage over time and it stacks. So a warlock's best strategy in a lot of fights is to blast a ton of poison, run away and charge up, then blast a bunch more. Same with a rogue and a poison dagger or the sickener. There are only a handful of serious threats that are immune to poison so this strategy can defeat danger, but it stunts XP. Which I think is a brilliant trade off.

As for the indirect XP from utility spells. I chewed over some options, and I think that there is a good middle ground without making a super abstract XP system. The XP award would have to be per spell type. Low level spells would give nothing or very small amounts. Most enchantments would give no XP because they are designed to make melee combat easier, and that carries with it its own XP reward. Spells like dispell magic and earthbind would give a reasonable amount.

The question for me at that point is whether stuff like fly, life water, and gaseous form should grant XP. They are not necessarily meant to help with combat, and they are relatively powerful spells. So it seems like they should have an award associated with them.

Just to keep in mind, pwmod has two major XP differences to the original game. The big one is that dying (after level 1) reduces your XP by a lot. The other is that since there are more sources of XP, and the base XP was increased for many activities, the players level marginally faster. So any of these improvements increases that margin slightly.

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Editing A&A / Re: Peewee Mod Fork 1.3.1

« on: October 13, 2016, 08:51:29 AM »

That's a good point.

No, the summoned monster's attacks do not give XP, because I wanted to put together a system where players were rewarded for things other than combat. But you do get about 1,500 XP every time that you use the skill. I kind of like the way it balances the character, because using the blood letting skill to gain mana back, and then continue summoning, is a big risk for the character. So it adds this interesting risk/reward dynamic.

There are other factors to try to spread around XP for other activities. Like gaining XP for picking locks as a rogue. I've always planned on going back and finding a good system for neutral spells. The limiting factor is that a lot of neutral spells are very cheap, and there's going to be a tough balance between giving too much XP (so that blasting push before killing a monster is the best way to gain levels) and giving too little XP (so that spells like slow and dispell magic don't give enough of a reward for their usefulness). One thought was to make every utility spell still cause a tiny bit of damage so that those kinds of spells become a bit more useful and always give back some XP.

If you have any ideas, I'd love to add them in to try it all out.