hey this is looking nice (a bit like pokemon topaze) but this is nice.
it has also a good performance.

Just stopping by to say that this is a pretty awesome project. I really hope it gets finished

Not an official update, just a quick heads-up on the state of the project.

 I've started working on what's probably going to be one of the more challenging parts of the code: the magic system.

I'll be implementing several types of spells with potentially arbitrary effects, including bolt, ray, ball (not sure how I'm gonna do this), and if I find a way to integrate this into my current system, status spells will follow too. Map altering magic will be added too (like Angband's stone-to-mud). If I can get status spells to work, status affecting potions should be a breeze too since I can just recycle the same code. I'm also going to try and animate the magic, but that's a little further down the priority list. Having monsters cast magic would require significant modification of the AI, so that's going to be a problem for later too. I will try to write the magic code in such a way that spells can be used against the player too, if I'd want to do that.

Spells would be learned from scrolls/books, which can be found in the dungeon or in Araki's magic store.


That being said, items, magic and monsters are things I need some community input for. I've already decided I'm gonna name all spells in Japanese (a tad cheesy, I know), and my gf agreed to help me think up some awesome ones. This leaves items and monsters. If you have cool ideas, feel free to post them here! Graphical contributions for tiles/spell animations are always welcome too, but remember to make them symmetric. Don't bother drawing sprites for monsters and/or items because those are going to be marked by letters, as in the original rogue.

I never had much issues coding magic systems, but it's because most magic spells were identical to each others, just with a different sprite pallette and elemental property, and in the case of lightning spells, an extra bolt appeared over the animation. I do remember programming enemies was annoying in some games, though (especially bosses, where I sometimes needed one walking engine per boss to avoid slowdowns).

By the way I love the new graphics

Thanks

What you say is probably true. The fun part of the system I have in place now is that I can recycle old routines for a new spell if I want to, but the option of adding special unique effects stays open.

I've attached a pic of the spellbook screen as it stands now. If anyone has good suggestions for elemental symbols, feel free. I'm keeping the one for "ancient" (bottom 古), but I'm not quite happy with the other ones yet. (from top to bottom: fire, earth, air, neutral, ice)

Not much to say that hasn't already been said. It's looking nice. What size are the elemental Icons?

8x8

I've implemented and debugged ray and bolt type spells. (ray passes through enemies, bolt stops on first contact)

No screenies because they would be incredibly boring: there's no animation or menu yet.

EDIT: Graphics done too!

• Spells don't travel through walls, doors or stairs. Only completely open squares
• Spells use mana (duh)
• Spells can go diagonally too, but I forgot to record that

Looks nice. I'm not a fan of having to go into a menu every time I want to use a spell though. It seems it would slow the pace of the game as well. I'd suggest being able to "equip" a spell so you can just push a button and attack with that spell. If you want to make it even more user friendly you could use something like +/- to cycle through your spells and change which one is equipped. + would move to the next spell you have and select it, and minus would move to the previous spell and select it. You could even use your text box on the bottom to display which spell you are on (for a few seconds) as you are cycling through them.

Looks nice. I'm not a fan of having to go into a menu every time I want to use a spell though. It seems it would slow the pace of the game as well. I'd suggest being able to "equip" a spell so you can just push a button and attack with that spell. If you want to make it even more user friendly you could use something like +/- to cycle through your spells and change which one is equipped. + would move to the next spell you have and select it, and minus would move to the previous spell and select it. You could even use your text box on the bottom to display which spell you are on (for a few seconds) as you are cycling through them.

That's a nice idea, and not hard to implement. Noted.

EDIT: Wish granted.