Whee, second page!

@DJ:
Yep, I've been watching Squidgetx's project, and, although his graphics and the complexity of the maps are great, the code is enormous. I hope mine won't be close to that big.

Right now, I've done almost nothing on-calc, but I drew out plans for the engines and the tilemaps. I'm starting to code today. And this leads me to a problem I need to resolve:

Tilemaps: What Format To Use

Option 1: Scroll 8 pixels at a time only when you reach the edge of the screen. The easiest, but it won't look as nice.

Option 2: Scroll 1 pixel at a time when you reach the edge. I would need to work that out a little more fully.

Option 3: Scroll 1 pixel at a time when 8 pixels from the edge. Beautiful, but I need some help with learning to do that.

Engines: My battle engine is very unique. Instead of being menu-based, it is graphical and requires moving!

In a battle:
Step 1: Select weapons. You can carry up to 4 weapons, but all are not useable in battle. Pick 2 weapons (or 1 2-weapon-slot weapon) to use during that combat.
Step 2: Combat!
Battles are run in a COC (cycle of combat) format. You strike with pole weapons first, because they have a longer reach than a sword or other short range weapon. After this, you move to close-range for one round. Once both you and the enemy have attacked, return to long range. At any point, you can choose to flee or use an item. If you defet the enemy, you gain experience and whatever weapon he is carrying.

I will have the engine done as soon as possible. As usual, wait breathlessly.

I have a demo of the tilemapping almost ready. Aside from clearing my memory , it's coming along well.

Also, battles shouldn't be too long, because you have no armor and can't take very much damage. Besides, if you block too many times with one weapon/shield, it will break and become useless. Check the item list on the first post for more info on weapon stats.
Also, I forgot to say that you start better than the lowest enemies. You had a previous experience in a war, and thus have awesome skills.  

EDIT: The sprites are nice, but I'm only using a generic solid-color set for the demo.
EDIT²: My tilemap engine is failing.   Here's the source and the program if you want to help me.
EDIT³: I made a new topic.

I made a new, working tilemap system. And the first battles won't be too hard. You are much more powerful than the beginning enemies. 

Actually, the plot was the easy part. What I was mainly doing was drawing plans for my various engines. Scrolling implemented for one tile in each direction. Bugs are mostly fixed.

Right now it scrolls 8 pixels, but eventually I'd like it to be smooth scrolling.

I always like scrolling by 8 pixels, it gives games a verdante-forest feel

speed is more important than small aesthetics like scrolling-methods, because a 1 pixel at a time scroller at 5 FPS does not compare to a 8-pixel scroller at >20 FPS

Looks great!  nice work so far!  I especially like the bar on the left

Screenie:

EDIT: and to just insert it into anywhere else that allows BBcode (like a forum post) just put this between image tags: http://www.omnimaga.org/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=6070.0;attach=5522;image

very nice!  btw, I thought this was going to be 3lvl grey?