Driftmoon Adventure RPG

ville 20 years ago

How would the map commenting be done in the interface? I'm not prepared to make a new map window, it should work in the small radar. Maybe it could show a small dot, and when the player had the mouse on it, it would show the text associated with it.

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Crazy 20 years ago

Xa, i love the idea. But, err, it would make the game a little too easy. So maybe something more complicated than just combining-deploying, but what?

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Quanrian 20 years ago

Hrmm having he information stored in a dot would work I guess. Eventually there is going to need to be a full screen map I think though, that little box just isn't cutting it.

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ville 20 years ago

Maybe, maybe. I'll have to see about it eventually, but not now of course.

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ZeXLR8er 20 years ago

maybe you could keep the small map but when you pass your mouse over it it expands to fill the whole screen. just an idea. :bounce

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ZeXLR8er 20 years ago

i've got another idea that seems so obvious that i'm sure someone has probably mentioned it before, but what about rain that slows you down?
if it's possible to make rain interact with your health and temperature, wouldn't it be possible to make it interact with your speed?

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ZeXLR8er 20 years ago

maybe instead of simply having the option to disable footprints altogether

Climate Types
0;//footprints' -1=no footprints in terrain; 0=footprints in terrain
blaa blaa blaa etc.

it could be broadened and look something like this:

Climate Types
footprints.tga;//footprint texture
blaa blaa blaa etc.

or maybe you could add a whole new file called footprints.dat:

Footprints.dat

footprinthuman;//name----------------------------------
1;//identifier
footprints;//texture
start_of_footprint_sounds;
step0.wav;
step1.wav;
step2.wav;
end_of_footprint_sounds;
750;//time between footprints

it could be identified in the climate types file like this:

Climate Types
1;//footprints in footprints.dat file
blaa blaa blaa etc.

i hope this makes sense!! :dance :bounce

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ZeXLR8er 20 years ago

while i'm on this sort of subject, what does the particle 'water' do, and how could I take advantage of it in my mod?

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ZeXLR8er 20 years ago

is there any chance of adding an extra terrain effect that clears everything on that terrain?

2;//terrain effect; -1; nothing, 0; change temperature, 1; heal player, 2; clear terrain
0;//parameter 1

it would be really usefull for, say, an area that is part ocean filled with floating icebergs but that also includes large sections of ice-covered land. of course you wouln't want icebergs floating around on land so the ability to make the terrain free of any objects would be great.

p.s. another reason to have footprints disabled in certain areas. it would look pretty stange to have the character walking on water and leading footprints behind!

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ville 20 years ago

"is there any chance of adding an extra terrain effect that clears everything on that terrain?"

Try the climate_type terrain effect 4=hazardous. Then you need to set the clear area of your icebergs to 1. But to create an effect that would prevent any plot_objects placement, it might also be possible.

I wouldn't want the footprint system to be that complicated, it is simpler to just specify to disable them on some terrains.

The water particle is just the raindrop that is used by some rain effects. I don't think it has any other uses.

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Quanrian 20 years ago

Area classes ARE planned, I just can't attest to their effectiveness yet. So they will be the way you will go when you want exclude Plot Objects from an area. There are also going to be Item and Plot Object Classes, which I'm not mistaken will probably be controlled through the Player Races file.

I think if you're going to have a mapping of footprint graphics which would certainly be kewl, even though they don't really last long enough to really make it a hugely useful feature. Put the features in the Creatures.dat file to keep things neat, where you might also put the walking sound for the Creature as well. That should cover the two main bases of unique sound and graphic, since you can already turn them off altogether for individual creatures. That would give you the most power, and than simply having one option for an area to turn Foot Prints in off altogher while there will cover everything else.

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ville 20 years ago

Well, it could of course be possible to select the particle used as the footprint. Too bad there's no way to edit the particles at the moment.

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Quanrian 20 years ago

Correct me on this if I'm wrong.. But can't I edit the particle.tga file's graphic and that would effectively edit the particle used for footprints ? Though I'm not sure on this and it might edit every particle in the game :> Since either way you look at it, the particle effect system is using an actual graphic at some point and it isn't impossible to simply tell it I want you to use this specific graphic. To my knowledge the only difference between a particle in the game and any other graphic is that particles tend to be randomly scaled in most effects that use them.

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ZeXLR8er 20 years ago

What about rain that slows you down?

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roburky 20 years ago

Ok, things I'd like, from a modding point of view:

An option for the modder to have the game continue to run in the inventory screen. Keep the pressure on, as it were.

Multiple types of scanners that will detect only certain objects/creatures or types of objects/creatures. An electronics detector that will detect robots and computer units. A chemical detector that will find only blue aliens. A biomass detector that will find only large aliens and plants. A metal detector. A motion detector that will detect only fast creatures. And so on.

To have enemy creautures follow other creatures. Like baby aliens following the queen, marines moving around in pairs or squads, creatures with pets, etc.

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roburky 20 years ago

And a comment:

If you do the map note idea you've been talking about, then what would the point of pulse beacons be?

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ZeXLR8er 20 years ago

An option for the modder to have the game continue to run in the inventory screen. Keep the pressure on, as it were.

Multiple types of scanners that will detect only certain objects/creatures or types of objects/creatures. An electronics detector that will detect robots and computer units. A chemical detector that will find only blue aliens. A biomass detector that will find only large aliens and plants. A metal detector. A motion detector that will detect only fast creatures. And so on.

To have enemy creautures follow other creatures. Like baby aliens following the queen, marines moving around in pairs or squads, creatures with pets, etc.

Great ideas!! I can't really add much to that!

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Quanrian 20 years ago

If the notes to the map are added, I'm think the item that will make a marker on your map will be the Beacons. Obviously a new Effect would need to be added, but that way a Modder would be able to define what object will set notes in their mod. Its a bit early to speculate though since we're not at that point yet. So per usual I'll be able to give you more solid information once the code has reached a certain point, which it isn't at now.

There is a long of features already slated and Ville has his plate full with less time than he had before to work on things, so there is no guarantee that ideas will make it into this version. If a feature you really thought had merit doesn't make it, be sure to bring it up again later and it might make it into an upcoming version.

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ville 20 years ago

Replacing the particle graphic would effectively replace most of the other particles in the game. The difference between particles and other graphics is that they are stored in a completely different structure, and all particles of the same type are drawn in one pass. If I wanted to have more particle graphics, it means there needs to be a way to define the particles in a file. Maybe I'll do that, but it isn't high on my list since there are more important things like AI that have not yet been finished.

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ZeXLR8er 20 years ago

Could someone please please please answer me? :tear
:sadWhat about rain that slows you down?

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ville 20 years ago

Same thing with rain that speeds you up: Maybe later, not now at least.

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ZeXLR8er 20 years ago

So I assume that means next update. :sad1

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Quanrian 20 years ago

Ville works in mysterious ways, ways that would boggle your mind :surpr So yeah probably means the next version, but it also means if he has time for it, that'll it be on the list for things to add into the upcoming version, it is just probably going to be somewhere towards the bottom of his little list of naughty and nice additions. He'd check it twice, but lets face it without that list he'd forget entirely, though I'm always there to remind him, if I don't forget myself.. Where is my list ?!

My advice is to just remind him when it looks like he's looking to add a few more features, because right now he's got his work cut out for him :>

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ville 20 years ago

I would just love to add every little feature in the game, but sadly I have little time for every detail. I'm sure most real game developers would disagree with me, but I think adding major features is more important than tweaking small things.

So it means that I'll just start with the better ideas first, then work my way down until there are only bad feature requests left, then release it. If I were working full time there would be monthly releases, but of course now that I'm also studying it means only one per say three months.

If you're wondering about my spelling, I've just lost my dictionary. :tear

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AiletheAlien 20 years ago

I'm not sure if someone has already posted this, but since it's such a small, quick idea, it can't hurt.

One the save/load screens, culd you put a big label at the top or bottom of the screen that actually says SAVE or LOAD?

I hate when in the late gaming hours I save over the game I'm tryiing to load -- because I thought I was loading, but didn't know otherwise!

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Quanrian 20 years ago

I think someone maybe posted something vaguely similar ages ago so you're safe. Its not a big thing to add in some text on one screen, so I think its likely Ville can manage it. While on the topic are there any other interface quibbles you've got ? That way game can overall be made more user friendly.

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AiletheAlien 20 years ago

Hmm...
1. When you break up or create a new weapon, you're weapon gets defaulted to nothing (or maybe the tazor if its in your inventory - can't remember)
1.1. How about's if after you break up a gun, if you still have one of the kind you're using, you keep using it.
(so you don't remember your gun switched *after* an alien eats you)
1.2. Perhaps have a toggle option that whenever you create a new weapon, it gets set to active.

2. Could the Journal have an index page?
It's really slow to iterate through all the pages to find what you're looking for.
It could probably even steal the interface from the inventory.

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ville 20 years ago

The journal index page would definitely be a good idea. It is a lot of work, so I don't think it will be put in, but it still would be very useful.

Thanks for your ideas, I'll definitely put the Save/Load label there.

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roburky 20 years ago

From the type of game Notrium is, I don't think you should be able to make individual saves.
When you start a game, a new save file is created. When you quit, your game is saved. When you die, your save file is deleted. The current system encourages people to break out of the immersion of the game in order to save regularly, which isn't good.

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Shadowlord 20 years ago

From the type of game Notrium is, I don't think you should be able to make individual saves.
When you start a game, a new save file is created. When you quit, your game is saved. When you die, your save file is deleted. The current system encourages people to break out of the immersion of the game in order to save regularly, which isn't good.

I disagree, and think that people should be able to save/load whenever they want and as much as they want. Of course, I'm one of those people who hits the quicksave button about every 10 seconds. (I do NOT want to have to start over after playing for 2 hours just because I had a bit of bad luck. Removing save/load just sucks the fun right out, at least for me, which is one reason I don't play nethack - It was fun up until I died and had to start over from scratch.)

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ville 20 years ago

I think that the game is difficult enough as it is. I personally don't like games that limit saving in any way.

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ZeXLR8er 20 years ago

Sorry roburky, but I have to agree with Shadowlord and Ville. With your idea it would only be possible for one person to play the game at one time, since as soon as you wanted to play another game, it would overwrite the first one. Also, since I mod a lot, I need to save the game often to see what my changes look like, instead of starting a new game and killing the game I've been playing for weeks.

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ZeXLR8er 20 years ago

Having the game autosave every ten minutes wouldn't be bad... *)
(yes, Shadowlord, I hate having to re-start after playing for hours just as much as you!)

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ZeXLR8er 20 years ago

On this subject, I think a hide/minimise option in the menu would be a great help for modders. Re-starting whenever you make a change gets so annoying when you are trying out things like creature graphics and climates that require a lot of fiddling with to get right.
Either the standard '_' in the upper right hand corner or a hide option in the menu would suffice, but either one would make modding so much faster and easier.

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ville 20 years ago

You mean like minimizing the game, then editing the files, then going back to the game to see how your changes affect the game? I'm not sure it's ever been done in any game, at least in Notrium it would require the whole game engine to restart. I believe you can do about that by using Notrium in windowed mode (I always do). Just start a new game when you wish to see your changes.

One thing ZeXLR8er, I highly value your presense here on the forum

, but please, if you plan on making several posts to one thread after the other, just edit the old post to keep the forum cleaner. :thmbup

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Notrium Ideas - Official Post

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