Oh, I have been so busy! Coding, graphics production, animation…  and there has been lots of Library cleaning, among other things. (more…)

Now that I have (more or less) fleshed out the base game mechanics (moving around, area changing, basic combat) its time to focus on one of the most crucial aspects of gameplay: Death. (more…)

Some more stuff to decorate dungeons: sargophagus, table, pottery, and stairs. The skull on the table will have a candle on top of it, its still in WIP state…

Hmm... what kind of stoneware would match well with my new curtains?

What actually is going on in the picture is that I took a screenshot of the game, and then imported it to Flash IDE, so I can  interactively adjust  decorative items color scheme to pre-existing materials.  Those chairs need more detail, but they will be good enough to be used in demo version of the game. And some of the stones turned out pretty good in my opinion. Im using very subtle blurred drop shadow to give softness and fake lightning effect to give items volume.

It takes me something like 5-15 minutes to create a single item like this, so its quite fast process.  Anyone interested in short tutorial about my workflow & tricks?

You press i and the inventory opens. This is one of those wonderful Written in Stone things in computer rpg’s.  Inventory is good, its filled with tiny pretty items that will help you go on and conquer the world in front of you. And it’s so simple to use! You just click an item in the inventory, and it does its magic. You drag it, and the item follows. You drop it on other slot, or on ground, and the item goes where you want it to go.  Your inventory never fails you, it always works well, fast and logically. Its easy to use, fun beautiful!

Well coding one is not as simple as using one, I may tell you…

I now have items in the rows and columns, and they go there nicely, and using items works in non-inventory mode. But dragging items in inventory mode is bit challenging. Yes, I can drag and drop them, but snappping to slots, and swapping item positions when one item dropped over another is missing. I tried couple of different approaches, but didnt get it work completely.

But maybe I’ll give it a rest now, and get back to it later. There are lots of other things to work on, no fear of todo-list getting empty anytime soon.

Lots of stuff...

I added a locked teleport/key feature. It’s still bit limited, but makes good addition to feature list. Any item class can be set to be a key to a teleport instance, so for example you could set  BlueKey to to be key item for teleport01. Then when player steps on teleport01, a check is made through his inventory items, and if BlueKey is found, the teleport will activate.

I also added simple CampaignLoot system, you can specify item to be dropped by a NPC. So you can set up a dungeo room with 6 monsters, one of them carrying a key to the teleport out of the room – so player just can’t run through the room, he must kill the monster first… or die trying =)

I also created second spell, sort of frost flames… not really spectacular, but I’ll consentrate on the effect visuals later.

There is so much stuff now in the game, I need to create proper inventory system pretty soon…

Some shields... which one would you pick?

Today I switched to artist mode and made some concept graphics for shields. Some of them turned out pretty nice, and are ready to be imported to the game assets.  Swords and other bladed  weapons seem to be much harder to make, making a convincing steel is not straightforward, because weapons are animated, so painting reflections on texture might look stupid. I might try some gentle animated effect to achieve steel material effect… we will see.

Although I have had very little time to spend on the project, I have made good progress. I have introduced several new features to the engine, and everything is starting to come together.  It is actually starting to feel like playing a game. Marvellous! (more…)

After little rest, Im back on the project. Next big thing to do is to make the whole area system completely dynamic, so I can have multiple “campaigns” using the game system. (more…)

I just managed to get first sneak peak version of the game/engine out, you can find it  in Latest Build section, check it out!

Im pretty satisfied overall, but naturally there is lots and lots of things to improve. But now basic game mechanics are fleshed out, so it will be  easy to continue from here.