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Scared you with the headline, didn't I? 
Spoilers ahead!
Dave, my son, do you still remember grandfather Marthon's strange gem? I think I may have finally found out what it is! Please come see me as quickly as you can, I will tell you more when you arrive at Northrop. I can not risk writing more in this letter, and it might be best that you don't speak of this to anyone. I have asked your brother to come as well, I know he'll find this extremely interesting.
Dave is of course the default player name the game uses when I'm testing. The game starts from your home village, where you're about to meet your father after a long time of absence. But as you enter the village, everyone you ever knew there has been turned to stone, and strangely only your father is missing!
There really is a new level at the beginning of the game, and quite a few big plot changes. We haven't changed everything in the game, just large parts of the plot from the beginning. Think of this as a refinement. Those of you who have played the game will know that it used to start straight from a dungeon, and you were armed with just a letter from your brother telling you to go there and collect the artifact inside. In the more recent version you were out to find your missing brother. In any case you were rushed straight into action.
Originally I designed it this way because I dislike games where you have to read a book of dialogue and intro before getting into the thick of things. In Dragon Age one of the plots start with a long winded discussion where the king and some nobles talk, and you get to say something in between. I couldn't get the hang of the discussion since it dropped me straight into it. I didn't recognize the faces or the names, and I didn't know why I should care about what they have to say. Since I had just started the game I was eager to see how I can control the character and how the combat works - I ended up skipping most of the dialogue. Of course I shouldn't have, since it was all very important later - from then on I had the nagging feeling I had missed something. So that is why I wanted the game to start quickly and without intros.
Obviously doing that I missed a key factor, if there were not enough dialogues or intro telling you why you're adventuring, why would you care about exploring the dungeon? Wouldn't the player like to know for example who he is, or what this world is, or even who precisely it is we're fighting to save... Some would argue that throughout roleplaying history most games have just started with just a few sentences telling you that you need to save the world. But I've grown too old and too demanding. I tried a dozen variations of intro sequences, but in the end I realize that I want to tell so much back story that it'll fill a small book. But a level is better than a thousand words, so here we are!
We've actually pretty much completed the level, but I'm still going to add a couple of new features before releasing it. But more on that a bit later...
I've sometimes had trouble in the game editor finding the objects that have scripts. Now they're highlighted with these pretty pink circles! Turns out my maps are full of these.
Can anybody guess what this refers to?
Update: It was indeed a reference to the Hoe of Destruction in Ultima VII.
Some people mistakenly thought the object behind the Hoe of Doom text was a Duck. I took another screenshot, so you can see that it clearly is not a Duck!
I'm making rotten fish? It's true!
You get to meet the hermit crab from the menu screen - he's in a glass case in an animal shop.
If you haven't played Notrium yet, check this review: Notrium Review: "They Mostly Come Out At Night... Mostly"
Some kind of a strange cult badgered me to release Bikez II as open source, so in the spirit of celebrating the soon to be 10-year-old game, I'm releasing the sources:
bikez2_opensource_2011_01_15.zip
A couple of things you need to know if you're interested in it. It's ten years old, and I had been programming for about three years at the time. So it's not pretty. I'm not going to help you understand the code, but if you make a new version, I'd be happy to distribute it. You'll need DirectX SDK 8 to compile it. I included the project files for Visual Studio 2008, I guess it needs a few changes to work with other compilers.
You're allowed to do anything you want with this. Including the sources, pictures, 3D models and sounds. Heck, start selling it if you want to. If you get famous because of this, you have to say it's all thanks to me.
Here comes a new version of Driftmoon! As always, preorderers can access it on the secret download page. If you haven't preordered yet, you can get your copy for only 11,99€!
What's new
The most important new thing is that I've further improved the start of the game. This paragraph contains plot spoilers, so skip this if you don't want to know. Now you go into the tomb in search of your brother Robert, whom you'll eventually find after proving your worth to Eldar in a new quest. The Blessed Heart artifact is no longer stolen from you at the end of the first level, instead you can beat the bastard who in the previous version stole it from you. There's a new race of baddies, the lizardlike Rakan with a hissing speech impediment. We've also meticulously tuned the game balance. The level bosses now require more strategic thinking to beat them. The new boss in the tomb level has a sword of dark flame that he can activate for short periods, and the spider boss now has a poison attack.| One of my favourite improvements is the addition of Evil Berry Seeds. You can plant them anywhere, and they supply you with new food every two minutes or so. It's good to have a few of them around in case you run out of food in some nasty dungeon. Or you could drop them to central locations and refill your food supply when you need to. The idea came from Notrium of course, but I thought it suited Driftmoon well. |  |
Game changelog:
- Improved the plot at the start of the game, especially the first level. Many tweaks and changes to the existing levels.
- Improved level bosses.
- Items dropped from dead enemies now show their names longer, making them easier to see.
- Randomized the torch sound and the dragging sound starting positions. Now they sound less echoing.
- Better poison effects, and antidote!
- More frequent autosaving.
- If the player is attacked in a conversation, he will automatically start fighting back.
- You can find Evil Berry Seeds that you can plant anywhere to create a permanent food source.
- Karma system. Certain deeds will gain or lose you karma. Your karma will affect certain characters, as well as prices in shops. I just haven't made any shops yet...
Modding changelog:
- Add three script activation options: Start, Death and Never. Start activates the script immediately at the beginning of the level. Death scripts are activated when the bot dies, they are only applicable for bots. Never means the script can only be activated by other scripts.
- Improved script edit view. Scripts take less space, so more complex scripts are easier to edit. Different script types are now color coded. Scripts can be dragged instead of moving one location at the time.
- Explosion script action. Makes all nearby objects fly away as in an explosion. It's not very realistic, but it's better than nothing.
- Dialogue replies can now be referenced from other dialogues. This is useful for conversation hubs, where the player can ask the same set of questions in reply to several NPC replies.
- Script actions to wield/unwield an item.
- Dynamic lights (such as torches) can have negative values = dark lights!
I guess I'm going to focus on the monastery level next. I've got a good plan, and a few buildings are nearly in place already.