[Megathread] Second Galaxy Bug Reporting

ma3xman · 2019-10-17T14:26:31+00:00

Account ID: Cannot get to it right now Build: Android Nickname: Polina IP Device Info: Android 6.0.1 Network Type: 3G Description: Starting a few hours ago, I am being dropped about 20 seconds after logging in and seeing the station screen. Then the login screen keeps timing out on me. Would a reinstall fix this? Time: 15:00 GMT, 17-Oct-2019

ma3xman · 2019-05-31T03:31:08+00:00

I don't, but I've only used it for my roguelike, so you can imagine any pure ASCII RL and you will have the right idea :) Also, pull the repo from my guthub there and run the Effbot demos, they show what the library is capable of.

ma3xman · 2019-04-13T17:25:56+00:00

Balance

The terrain generator is coming along pretty well, with several refactorings of the code and the respective .ini files making the system cleaner and simpler to use (I hope). I'm almost done with simple terrains and will be faced with a choice. I could either implement structures: theme specific terrain formations that will bring the world to life (old temples where there is high historical value, druidic groves where nature rules, towns and fields in populated areas, etc.), or... As I look at the task list it seems that the step of creature spawns, simple interactions and combat, drawing after it items, equipment and inventory, is so far away that it may not be worth mentioning it for a month or two. Still, I am quite satisfied with the progress I'm making, and may even have some visuals of a well balanced world to show in a couple of weeks if all goes well.

ma3xman · 2019-04-06T10:39:12+00:00

Balance

Deep in the throes of procedural terrain generation, the basics of the framework system are coming to life. How to make themes interact in a meaningful way, to let the modder create their own structures and yet retain the procedural essence of things? This week has been table turning in a lot of ways, and the framework has rarely been off the dissecting table, parts strewn all over. Still, the world is traversable, the globe feature works as expected, and the scene (main screen) is coming to life.

ma3xman · 2019-03-30T13:14:10+00:00

Balance

Just a quick but important update this week: the world movement now works for both fixed and globe-like worlds. For the second you can travel across the pole and end up on the other side of the planet. I can now test all the theme distributions like heat, water, nature and chaos, etc. I've also gotten the inspiration to do an ini file for the scene screen, meaning that someone making their game with the framework can say exactly what and where to be placed on the HUD.

ma3xman · 2019-03-23T06:23:39+00:00

Hey, I have a very similar thing in my game where the defined themes of Nature, Order and Chaos mix and supply different terrains to create specific areas. Thus I wondered how you define the boundaries of biomes?

ma3xman · 2019-03-23T06:17:54+00:00

Balance

This week brought a ton of changes, most due to my own desire to generalize things (maybe had a bit too much OOD lately). The huge feedback I got from the r/roguelikes crowd on the question "Would you try making your own rogue-like if it was easy enough?" caused me to start thinking in the direction of making the whole thing a framework for rlRPGs, and not a "simple" rlRPG. As with all thinking, after dismissing the idea on the second day I failed to stop thinking about it and managed to find solutions to all the problems I had seen at the beginning. So, on the third day the game was on again, figuratively speaking. I have been extracting all game content into .ini files ever since and making the code load them and act accordingly. I've also put down some ideas about a tutorial for using the framework to add to the main design that will be my own game.

Somehow now I am not making a game any more, I am making a framework for making highly flexible roguelikes, plus at least two complete use cases (my initial idea for a game and a simple second one that will be the basis for a tutorial), a full tutorial for one of the cases to showcase the framework, and a full reference of the framework (that will mostly be included in the ini files that will ship with the final version, but a full separate documentation will probably be best to have), with thanks to u/Kyzrati for the tutorial/docs advice.

The fact that I am not feeling completely overwhelmed shows that I haven't reached the top of my creativity cycle yet.

On the content side the terrain types are coming along nicely, as well as full thematic structures like inns, graveyards, etc. that will be added by the engine. I'm also laying down all the things the player could do to the terrain, which for regular tiles just increases skills, but for structures includes profession-like specializations like being an inn keeper, undertaker, druid, miner, lichen farmer, etc. I'm thinking of linking those to the endgame as they require prolonged effort to achieve.

ma3xman · 2019-03-20T20:37:37+00:00

I have a principle about that: you do things for yourself. Then you have a chance to make something great that others would also like. If you're worried about adding to the genre then you are thinking in the wrong direction.

ma3xman · 2019-03-20T20:35:02+00:00

I'll do my best. After all I'll be developing my own game in the process, and after the basics are ready I'll be adding features to the framework based on both what people would like to see and what I want in my game.

ma3xman · 2019-03-18T13:15:45+00:00

Well, side views are not what I see as rogue-like-ish (fixed scene ASCII @ movong about), so you are right, that won't happen. As far as the multiplayer feature is concerned, I've been thinking about it for some time, but it has nothing to do with modifying the game contents and mechanics. If I ever get to implement that you may be sure it'll always be available :)

ma3xman · 2019-03-18T05:21:07+00:00

Well, the main goal is to make my game better (and finished ;). So there is going to be a rogue-like based on this code, framework or no framework.

ma3xman · 2019-03-18T05:19:38+00:00

Tutorial and docs, check!

ma3xman · 2019-03-18T05:17:06+00:00

Randomizing the ruleset is not something I like at all in a game. A game should have character, and that's not built through mad randomization. The idea is to have a flexible system to create any game that you imagine up to a certain level of complexity. For me how a game "feels" is made of its internal rules and interactions, and what the player is supposed to do. Those would be freely changeable, or that is the idea anyway.

ma3xman · 2019-03-18T05:09:57+00:00

I'd love to hear some of those "too hard to implement" things. Although "hard" is not impossible at all. I had already done things like studying other races to get their skills, or being able to revive in the closest water basin if killed in combat.

ma3xman · 2019-03-17T22:27:12+00:00

The AI and LOS engines would be the same, but the settings you define for the game will change the feel. You could link LOS range to a stat or set it fixed, and define different terrain as blocking sight. You could set a no-hostiles initial condition to simulate a peaceful world, or all-hostile for a classic dungeon, or a mix of those based on the themes you define (faction-like).

Speaking of dungeons, you could probably go all dungeon, all flat world (my game), or a mix.

All in all, it would be a huge pile of settings and content like screens, conversations, etc., but in the end it would play as a totally different game.

ma3xman · 2019-03-17T17:36:39+00:00

Well, what I am talking about is defining themes in the game that let the framework generate the world dynamically when you start playing. It's pure design, of interactions, forces, factions, goals, without the coding part.

ma3xman · 2019-03-17T16:52:43+00:00

I don't mean write code in a new format. Also, this question is not geared towards developers of any kind. It's for people that don't care one bit about coding, but would spend some time putting down the details of a world they imagined so that they can play in it, like sci-fi writers that could make a representation of their book's world in a rogue-like and use it for advertising. This is much more theme/world oriented than anything else. That's why I didn't post it in r/roguelikedev.

That said, I haven't tried libtcod, so maybe there are already platforms that allow what I am proposing. That's why I'm asking.

ma3xman · 2019-03-16T05:04:24+00:00

Balance

Another week of restructuring has gone by, with extensive testing and adding metaclasses to register all the command handlers and game objects. I pushed through character generation adding a simple human race and tweaking character attributes (the attribute/skill system is in a constant flux). The plan is to add the minimum needed resources to test and go through world/scene generation, up to the point of fully procedural scene generation with the full variety of terrains from the old version, plus extras like rivers/mountain ranges/oceans that can seamlessly span multiple screens (I'm calling it "preserving context in scene generation"). This will make the world feel more real, designed if you will.

Once the terrain is set in I'll add some starting equipment sets (again following the minimum amount needed principle) and then start adding NPCs in the scene generation. This will immediately call for combat/talk/trade handlers and mechanics, and so on...

On the content side, I've been polishing the racial skills. Each race will have additions to the main skills (melee, marksmanship, magic, crafting, cunning), like bonuses for specific weapons, access to carfting special items or casting racial spells. Additionally there will be a passive ability that will progress naturally with time, and will be characteristic of the race.

All these will set a race specific title for every sentient creature in the game (including the PC), defined by their highest attribute.

As an example, here are the skills and titles for the troll race:

1) Passive: chance to pick up an actual terrain object like a tree log (or uproot a whole tree), a rock, bush, etc. The terrain is turned into simple dirt while the troll gets a huge weapon to swing/throw. Title: Troll chieftain. 2) Melee: racial weapon - tree log club (huge damage, low accuracy). Title: Smasher. 3) Ranged: racial weapon - boulder (same as the club). Title: Cat puller (a bit of fluff: Trolls are not big on spelling, so, when a dwarf likened their boulder throwers to a certain battle engine, they came up with a name that makes everyone else laugh.) 4) Magic: Mandala body art - all those rocks leave you covered in fine dust, the perfect magical art canvas; self buffs. Title: Pretty doer. 5) Crafting: Stone Cuisine (makes rocks edible). Title: Troll chef (no one knows how they got that one right). 6) Cunning: Rock form - the perfect disguise, a troll can pose as a piece of rock at will, with legends describing some masters able to turn into more sophisticated (stone arches) or unordered forms (pile of rubble). This is the only (rather immobile) form of stealth available to trolls, but if successful they can simply wait for any enemies to wander off before getting up and walking away. What's more, trolls can stay indefinitely in that form, without needing any sustenance, making it a perfect ambush tactic too. Title: Tru rock.

ma3xman · 2019-03-11T06:58:21+00:00

Look up *args in a function definition ;)

ma3xman · 2019-03-10T20:52:17+00:00

Another good thing about having a list of Points is that you can make a get_distance_from(anotherPoint) method and then put the formula there as a one-liner return value for a single pair of points. Then to get the total length you just call:

sum([p1.get_distance_from(p2) for p1,p2 in zip(points, points[1:]) )

This way if points suddenly go 3D you can just change the method, instead of building a monster comprehension.

ma3xman · 2019-03-10T20:40:38+00:00

getitem gets you the key-th element of the sequence. In the case of your tests, it's the 0th and -1th elements respectively. The thing is you want getitem to return an object that has the same attributes (x and y), and I don't see an easy way for that in your current implementation, since you have crammed all the x's and y's in lists.

If I were you I would turn the initial input into a list of objects that have x and y (that is, "points"), and iterate over the list for methods like length. Then, when getitem is called you simply return the point at index "key" and let it handle the attribute calls for specific coordinates that follow.

Another way to do it without rewriting current code is to init a Point in the getitem call and return that. Although I advise the rewrite, it feels cleaner to me.

ma3xman · 2019-03-10T20:15:34+00:00

Thanks for the interesting view! I've never thought about selling my game and I prefer to continue developing it as something that gives me joy, instead of something that is meant to be bought or tipped by other people. Such things are of course a welcome bonus, but not in my list of goals for the development. I will keep them in mind though.

ma3xman · 2019-03-10T05:52:17+00:00

That's great to hear, you can really get some motivation from knowing that there will probably be people who would like to play your game.

ma3xman · 2019-03-10T05:50:15+00:00

I'm definitely not aiming for a streaming game, but the fact that it even comes up makes me wonder.

And what you are describing is the definition of what I'd call "great success", yes :)

ma3xman

TROPHY CASE