Author Topic: Tale of the Lost Map (Read 81450 times)

DJ Omnimaga · « **Reply #45 on:** October 17, 2009, 05:50:58 pm »

I was close to ask if there was any progress. Hopefully this won't die, I would hate if it happened

I would like if enemies moved around on the map, as long as it won't slow down the game too much. You could always have it like Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest, though, where enemies are just standing still. If you do the former, I would have two suggestions:

1) Have enemies move randomly, but when at like 4 tiles away from them, they start pursuing you instead
2) If an enemy touches you while you're not moving, have the enemy attack first in battle, else, have your character attack first

jsj795 · « **Reply #46 on:** October 17, 2009, 10:17:44 pm »

that's a nice idea, though for the 1st one, it would be kinda annoying to check to see if the enemy is 4 tiles away, since there will be more than 1 enemy in the screen.
I'll probably do like, 1/3 of time, the enemy moves at random, and 2/3 of time, the enemy moves at you.
The only problem is that since the map is not going to be huge empty place; rather, it will be like a maze, filled with landscape. The enemies, if not properly coded, will be stupid and will be stuck.

For the 2nd point, i like that idea a lot, and probably use that. But then, I'm still not decided if my battle system is going to have turn gauge where you wait until the gauge fills up (kinda like FF2 Tale of Magic), or just turn-based. But if it is turn-based, there is no need for speed stat... So I'm still thinking. But I know that the battle will be one-on-one.

Eeems · « **Reply #47 on:** October 17, 2009, 10:41:40 pm »

How about if the enemy touches you while you're not moving it enters the battle with an attack, otherwise it has to wait until it's bar fills?

jsj795 · « **Reply #48 on:** October 17, 2009, 10:50:27 pm »

That'll be okay too, but what happens if you try to run into the enemy, enemy tries to run into you, and slips past each other? that would be pretty weird. Oh well, more brainstorm time!

mapar007 · « **Reply #49 on:** October 18, 2009, 01:02:39 am »

About the 4-tile radius idea:

If you use a kind of array to store all the enemies, it won't be that hard to check if one of them is within 4 tiles of you, having them pursue you is harder, but certainly doable.

DJ Omnimaga · « **Reply #50 on:** October 18, 2009, 02:04:56 am »

Quote from: jsj795 on October 17, 2009, 10:50:27 pm

That'll be okay too, but what happens if you try to run into the enemy, enemy tries to run into you, and slips past each other? that would be pretty weird. Oh well, more brainstorm time!

for that, I think you need to check collision detection with enemy right after you move, then another time after every single enemies moved

as for enemy AI, 2/3 random and 1/3 AI or vice versa sounds like a good idea too

jsj795 · « **Reply #51 on:** October 20, 2009, 09:51:30 am »

Okay, while trying to implement the monsters in the map, I found out that it is wayyyy easier to make the matrix for the collision detection for the monsters. I used string for the collision detection for the character so far, and have to rewrite the engine for walking and stuff... It won't take long, I guess, since I just have to translate str to mat and collision detection for matrix is easy.
Should I randomly disperse the monsters upon entering the map, or should they be in specific place? And should the monsters respawn when you enter the map again, or give some time for them to respawn (like you take x amount of steps and they respawn)

DJ Omnimaga · « **Reply #52 on:** October 20, 2009, 01:12:15 pm »

Yeah matrix collision detection is much faster too, altough the tradeoff is the large amount of RAM it takes so you must be careful as your game increase in size. Do you keep a copy of the string in memory even after it's converted to matrix, btw? It might keep map loading still fast if you ever need to erase the screen content where it is displayed, altough if you never erase the map (for example, if map is still on home screen but everything else on graph screen) it might not be necessary.

As for enemies, it's hard to tell, but random might increase map loading a lot when you are on a map with very few space for the monsters. Try to not have too many per map, though, unless they remain static, because scanning through the entire matrix one number by one to detect where are located monsters and moving them every time will slow the game down a whole lot or take a lot of variables/list elements

jsj795 · « **Reply #53 on:** October 20, 2009, 04:22:39 pm »

yeah i do keep the string, and load the screen with the screen, so the loading of the map is pretty much instant. Also, the matrix will only contain like 3 numbers, 0=can move 1=cannot move 2=person/door/other events.

I still have to experiment with the monsters though, and if they don't work out, i guess i have to just make the monster encounter randomly. On the side note, I changed the main menu screen, and finished collision detect for the character.

Ti-newb · « **Reply #54 on:** October 20, 2009, 09:09:56 pm »

Lol, Wow, i havn't been on Any Forum in a while =P. jsj795, i read the first 2-3 pages of this. and wow, ur game is very interesting. its gotten farther then mine has =D. so ur improving very very very fast. and whats more amazing, this is ur first RPG right? i find that fantastical =D.

Edit/More*

And for ideas? i like the Bar filling up part. its just like FFXII (Final Fantasy 12 for those who don't know). and i find that DJ Omnimaga's Rubens Quest, had a great type of battle system, maybe you could take several games, and combine their battle systems? *Just as suggestions, i don't want to trouble you* GL with the game! and remember to have fun lol.

DJ Omnimaga · « **Reply #55 on:** October 20, 2009, 10:51:42 pm »

Actually Reuben Quest was very simple in battles. All you could do is attack, use one of the 3 elemental magic or the curative one, use items or run. No ability upgrades/obtaining later in the game. The battle command menu was very inspired from Lufia for the Super Nintendo, though.

jsj795 · « **Reply #56 on:** October 20, 2009, 11:29:07 pm »

Quote from: Ti-newb on October 20, 2009, 09:09:56 pm

and whats more amazing, this is ur first RPG right? i find that fantastical =D.

Nope, this is not my first RPG, although others were more experimental/ never showed up in the net, and got deleted like a year ago or so. I made 2 working RPGs, one menu based, one semi-graphical. I didn't know how to unarchive the prgm through asm program before, and was limited by the ram memory restriction... Oh, btw, I also tried Xlib RPG, which was okay, except I make crappy sprites. So yeah. Anyway, I have life in my way, which is making this coding very slow (at least in my point of view) and ETA will be like... summer of next year?

I'll try to get beta in before March 12, my birthday

Edit: I forgot to tell you guys about the battle system... As DJ suggested, I will make the monsters move around in the map, probably not more than 4~5, and they will move regardless whether you move or not. The speed of the monster will depend on what kind of monster it is. If monster gets you first, it gets first strike. If you run into them, you get the first strike. Then I'll try to make the battle so that it is based on the speed with turn gauge. It will all be determined through balancing/memory consumption/speed requirement. So yeah...

DJ Omnimaga · « **Reply #57 on:** October 21, 2009, 02:26:48 am »

sounds cool. For too many monsters, usually the issue is not only slow speed, but also the fact you might run into battles like every 3 steps

In Star Ocean 4, enemies moves around when you go near them, but there are always like one or two max, unless you go further and find more monsters

I hope you don't have too much work going in your way with school so you doN,t have to leave like Noah and Nitacku tho

jsj795 · « **Reply #58 on:** October 28, 2009, 02:08:50 pm »

Just posting to tell you guys that it's not dead... I am still trying to implement the random position of monsters on the map...
I am trying to find a balance between speed and memory and it's really hard

Otherwise, I'm still brainstorming on different aspects, like battle system (I thought about multiple enemies) dialogue system, inventory, skills, etc...

DJ Omnimaga · « **Reply #59 on:** October 28, 2009, 02:23:50 pm »

If you need any optimizing help you should post some code from the map engine. Altough personally, maybe you should stick to one or two monster moving around per screen or just have all monsters not moving at all, like in Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest

Glad this is not dead, though. Don't give up!

Author Topic: Tale of the Lost Map (Read 81450 times)

DJ Omnimaga

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jsj795

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Eeems

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jsj795

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mapar007

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DJ Omnimaga

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jsj795

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DJ Omnimaga

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jsj795

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Ti-newb

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DJ Omnimaga

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jsj795

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DJ Omnimaga

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jsj795

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DJ Omnimaga

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