development thread

Classic VN/RPG, all romance combos, social talent system https://www.winterwolves.com/cursedlands.htm
Post Reply
User avatar
Pace675
Druid
Posts: 338
Joined: Thu Aug 23, 2012 9:13 pm

Re: development thread

Post by Pace675 »

Franka wrote: Fri May 12, 2017 4:09 pm Why would you ever pick that? (Assuming it costs a skill point you could have used elsewheere.)
I am with Franka on this one, especially since I am a lazy slacker that plays easy mode or VN mode, even if I did play the advance difficulties it would be absolute last skill I would pick. Now if that skill was identify magic object, I would be on it like stink on poo, save me a few gold pieces I am all in! XD.
User avatar
jack1974
Pack leader
Posts: 15474
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2005 4:43 pm

Re: development thread

Post by jack1974 »

I have changed that so it increases the success chances of all the other "Rational talents". So while not a top-pick maybe could still be useful :)
We never had unidentified objects in my RPGs, hehe reminds me of the old times playing Baldur's Gate. It's too late to add that to this game but maybe in future ones... could be fun.

I also decided that the talents will be separate from the skills, since they're very powerful and can change the outcome of a battle, if player had many, could become pointless to fight at all :lol: So I'll probably allow to unlock 3-4 in the WHOLE game.
Because when a talent can do: "target will only use defensive skills for the rest of the battle" or "target enemy flees the battle" or "target enemy's SP set to zero for rest of the battle", even if they won't work on bosses (no immediate effect at least) they're still super powerful. So having 2-3 will be already a lot!
User avatar
jack1974
Pack leader
Posts: 15474
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2005 4:43 pm

Re: development thread

Post by jack1974 »

Image
the character is the only one with those Talents obviously :)
I have coded the placeholder for all of them, but now I need to code and test in game, making sure they're powerful enough. Will be hard to tweak them and probably some will be better than others, but... c'est la vie :mrgreen:
The talents categories are: Dominant, Rational, Social and Support.
If you're curious here is the current status of all of them, copy pasting because I'm lazy:
cName = "Bluff (Dominant Talent)"
cDescription = "Success: target enemy is paralyzed for 5 turns\nFailure: target enemy retaliates."
cName = "Demand (Dominant Talent)"
cDescription = "Success: target enemy gives player an item and his speed is decreased to half for rest of battle\nFailure: target enemy retaliates."
cName = "Coerce (Dominant Talent)"
cDescription = "Success: target enemy flees the battle\nFailure: target enemy retaliates with critical hit."
cName = "Presence (Dominant Talent)"
cDescription = "Increases success chance on all other dominant talents."

cName = "Reason (Rational Talent)"
cDescription = "Success: negotiate a temporary cease-fire, allowing player to either flee, or get a pre-emptive strike.\nFailure: target enemy retaliates."
cName = "Delude (Rational Talent)"
cDescription = "Success: target will only use defensive skills for the rest of the battle\nFailure: target enemy retaliates."
cName = "Foster Doubt (Rational Talent)"
cDescription = "Success: target enemy's SP set to zero for rest of the battle\nFailure: target enemy retaliates with critical hit."
cName = "Acuity (Rational Talent)"
cDescription = "Reveals all enemy info/weaknesses. Increases success chance on all other rational talents."

cName = "Goad (Social Talent)"
cDescription = "Success: enemy becomes incapable of doing anything besides physically attacking (can't use skills), and their accuracy is reduced for 5 turns.\nFailure: target enemy retaliates."
cName = "Interest (Social Talent)"
cDescription = "Success: target won't move for the next 5 turns, unless he's hit\nFailure: target enemy retaliates."
cName = "Pressure (Social Talent)"
cDescription = "Success: target enemy attacks a character of the player's choosing.\nFailure: target enemy retaliates with critical hit."
cName = "Intuition (Social Talent)"
cDescription = "Greatly increases dodging chances of the player. Increases success chance on all other Social talents."

cName = "Compromise (Support Talent)"
cDescription = "Success: negotiate a permanent cease-fire, causing the engagement to end.\nFailure: target enemy retaliates."
cName = "Flatter (Support Talent)"
cDescription = "Success: target is slowed down for the rest of the battle, unless he's hit\nFailure: target enemy retaliates."
cName = "Sympathize (Support Talent)"
cDescription = "Success: target gives player an item, and support them in battle.\nFailure: target enemy retaliates with critical hit."
cName = "Disarming (Support Talent)"
cDescription = "Makes the player less likely to be targeted by enemies. Increases success chance on all other Support talents."
Some of them are a big question mark right now, for example the "Pressure " might not be possible (or be a total pain in the ass to code so I would give up). In summary since I'm still using a tweaked version of Loren's framework some features might turn out too hard to make so I might change them :)
User avatar
jack1974
Pack leader
Posts: 15474
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2005 4:43 pm

Re: development thread

Post by jack1974 »

Image
I've added the success chance percentage for the talents in the battle screen. Since they're powerful we thought to add some more strategy by the fact that they can fail. The chance is determined by the overall "Enemy Morale Bar" value, plus the difference between the player and the target levels.
For now if you fail you get hit by the enemy (still have to code that) so nothing really bad, but will tweak the effects while testing :)
User avatar
jack1974
Pack leader
Posts: 15474
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2005 4:43 pm

Re: development thread

Post by jack1974 »

Image
Managed to make the first talent (Bluff) work. If you succeed you paralyze the target for 5 turns (which in this game will be a good bonus since other skills can paralyze for much less). If you fail, the enemy will counter attack :mrgreen:
I like it enough, there's a sort of gambling element, you can try to use a talent even if success chances are below 50% because it could change the tide of the battle, or you might wait for a more favorable moment (but you don't know if that will happen!).
User avatar
jack1974
Pack leader
Posts: 15474
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2005 4:43 pm

Re: development thread

Post by jack1974 »

Image
Implemented the Compromise talent which basically is a "cease fire" skill. It works like this:
- can be used only if it's not a "deadly battle" (in some plot/key battles won't work obviously, otherwise wouldn't make sense!!)
- you get no loot, but you get XP for enemies you killed. If you kill 1 enemy and then use this skill, you still get the XP for that kill
- currently works against any enemy. I'm considering if to make it work only with "Boss" enemies. Not the plot-bosses (those have specific battle dialogues) but the mini-bosses that sometimes show up in battles. However this would restrict its use a lot, so maybe I won't do it.
User avatar
jack1974
Pack leader
Posts: 15474
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2005 4:43 pm

Re: development thread

Post by jack1974 »

Image
Adding new enemies including some vampires NPCs I have commissioned. Also implemented the enemy personalities. The "Vengeful" one for example increases accuracy but decreases speed. There are 8 different ones giving different bonus/malus to stats, and also interacts differently to the social talents (some personalities are more vulnerable to specific talents).
User avatar
jack1974
Pack leader
Posts: 15474
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2005 4:43 pm

Re: development thread

Post by jack1974 »

Image
now the enemies personalities also influence which skills they use in combat (in groups of two, since there are 4 main categories).
I think it's cool since from the pre-battle screen you cannot know their personalities, so it adds a bit of random/surprise element keeping the combat "fresh". Obviously there aren't going to be 100+ different enemies in this game, since would mean in practice to code 400 different variants (100 enemies x 4 base categories!).
Next week I plan to finish coding the talents and add a few more "base enemies" and then I think we're at good point for the RPG mechanics. Then of course I need to start adding all the content (fights, items, quests, etc) but at least a good amount of work is done!
OneTrueBaldo
Young scout
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2015 7:18 pm
Location: Italy

Re: development thread

Post by OneTrueBaldo »

jack1974 wrote: Sat May 20, 2017 7:57 am Image
Implemented the Compromise talent which basically is a "cease fire" skill. It works like this:
-(...)
- currently works against any enemy. I'm considering if to make it work only with "Boss" enemies. Not the plot-bosses (those have specific battle dialogues) but the mini-bosses that sometimes show up in battles. However this would restrict its use a lot, so maybe I won't do it.
:idea: In my opinion, you can get a 'compromise' only with SAPIENT enemies, not with animals, mindless skeletons and zombies, golems, etc. "This would NOT restrict its use a lot", am I right? :wink:

P.S.
What about renaming this talent "Truce"?
User avatar
jack1974
Pack leader
Posts: 15474
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2005 4:43 pm

Re: development thread

Post by jack1974 »

In this game, skeletons and zombies will be more intelligent than usual :wink:
Or as our glorious Amazon Queen (and hottest MILF In Aravorn said):
Karen: "There's foul magic afoot at the Castle of N'Mar. It's shrouded in mist, and horrors befall anything or anyone caught in it. The mists that cover those plains grow with each passing day."
Karen:"It spreads the defilement of death across lands that were once home to the living, but it also seems to imbue the dead with an uncanny sort of undeath, unlike any we've seen before."
Player: "Walking corpses and shambling skeletons already seem plenty uncanny to me."
Karen:"We've long thought that these sorts of reanimated undead beasts were nothing but flesh and bone possessed by the instinct to kill. Early scouts described them as seeming to act of their individual volition. They seemed...hesitant."
Player:"Hesitant?"
Karen:"There are some spirits that seem to still possess something of a soul, but lesser undead like zombies are merely animated flesh. They don't flinch. They don't feel fear, or any other emotion. And yet we've heard rumors that seem to contradict this."
Player:"Only rumors? Have they been confirmed?"
Karen:"Unfortunately, it's hard to confirm rumors of this sort. Most these reports came from people who were understandably traumatized by the experienced. That kind of reaction is understandable, but it can also lead to false reporting."
Post Reply