Gateway to Horx (working title) - Oldschool RPG (update 14 February 2011)

[Tamanegi]

Looking through my old (ooooold) games collection, I found one game that I had played for months, yet never finished because I was too stupid and impatient: Tygus Horx. It was a (bad) Bard's Tale clone that came on a magazine disk for the C64, had almost no graphics, no sound, was in black/white except for some sprites and featured monotone landscape.

But it was an RPG with the same concept as Diablo: Kill monsters, get loot and experience, get better, and beat the final dungeon. And that made it addicting to me even if I always died after a few battles because I couldn't find the healer.

So, after I got my first experiences and finished "Don't Look!", I evaluated AGS' usefulness for a game like that and decided to give it a try.


Walking through the streets.


The character status screen.

These screenshots are actually only mockups, the GUIs are all there but were filled by hand. So far you can only walk around.

The Story:
The Kingdom of Elladur has been overrun by the forces of Chadossa. Your small warband was amongst the last to resist in the city of Sundane, and you were captured and thrown in jail to be executed. You need to find a way to escape from jail and look for other cells of resistance. But ever since the Chadossian magistrate was appointed, strange things have been happening in this town...

I'm trying to make this more than just XP-farming. I'm actually planning to include puzzles, dialogue and a storyline.


UPDATE: Current state (14 February 2011)

Done:
- status screen
- walking
- Diablo-inventory
- wielding equipment
- character creation
- pick-up-screen
- simple attacking and defending in combat
- dying in combat
- loot generation and acquisition
- multiple textures per dungeon level
- visible objects in the dungeon view
- unlocking doors and walking through unlocked ones
- interaction with dungeon features

Currently working on: graphics to complete the demo
After that: MAYBE finally spells...

Latest demo:
http://www.mediafire.com/?yzexynee54sa0gu (25 January 2011)

[Tamanegi]

Since 5 minutes ago, the game can display doors at defined places and non-solid walls thanks to a nerve-wrecking 100% rewrite of the wall display routines. Making it so that I can use different wall tiles at once is peace of cake from now on. Funny how quick something like that can go from "it will NEVER work" to "hey, wasn't all that hard"  When all it takes is to know that 3 - 0 = 3 and not 1 or 2... add a mistake while displaying debug information, et voilà, you get a night of bug hunting.

Note to self: Writing developer's notes on PAPER was a brilliant idea. I would have lost my mind if I hadn't done that.

[Cuiki]

This looks very promising, good luck with it!

I'm trying to make this more than just XP-farming. I'm actually planning to include puzzles, dialogue and a storyline.

Hell yeah 8)

[arj0n]

Looking promising. Good luck finishing it Tamanegi

[Tamanegi]

That's so typical: I take great efforts to re-invent the wheel (in this case, the Diablo-inventory), and then I find out that it's already done (as a module).

It was the same when I invented the divided frying pan. No kidding, I thought how practical it would be to be able to make fried potatoes and fried eggs in just one pan without them mixing together, being proud of me for that idea, and then found it in a catalogue.

Ahem.

Anyway, it works. Next on my list are, in approximately that order:
- equipping items
- multiple different wall tiles per area
- character creation screen
- combat system
- spells

After that:
- content!

[LRH]

OOOOOOOOH :O
Looks really good. I'll keep an eye out for this.

[Squinky]

Heh, I miss games like this. You've gotta finish this, if not for yourself, then for me....some random internet dude.

[Chicky]

Nice, this looks very promising. Cute art style.

[Tamanegi]

@Squinky: Of course, this is for all the random internet dudes out there who still enjoy this kind of games :-)

New screenshot of the fully functional (except for "examine" and "use") inventory/equipment screen:



It has been an awful lot of variable/coordinate juggling, and I'm really glad it's done (and actually works)

Next up: Character creation, will be the usual "race-class" mix. I'm thinking about choosing the character's gender, but that would mean twice the number of portraits... although it would be nice for some puzzle/plot ideas.

[Tamanegi]

The character creation part is now finished (this screenshot is NOT mockup any more!):



- five playable races
- six classes to choose from at game start (italics intended!)
- male or female characters

In order to celebrate this, you get a playable demo!

http://www.mediafire.com/?yzexynee54sa0gu

There is still only one character portrait for all races/professions/sexes because making portraits is very low-priority at the moment.

[Cuiki]

Sweet! Nice writing so far. And I can be a female elf ranger, yay my favourite

As for the second part, wow, I got completely lost in those corridors in no time. Then again, I've got no sense of direction at all. Do all old-school RPGs work like that? I haven't played any really old ones. But it would be lovely to at least have a map or something like that.

Is this font final? The style is nice, but could be a bit more legible.

Anyway, keep it up!

[Tamanegi]

Most old-school RPGs don't feature a map due to memory restrictions. I _could_ include an automap function, but drawing maps is part of the experience of playing such a game  

You really got lost? It's just three separate buildings surrounded by a wall...  

If you want to try a classic RPG, play "Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny" (original German title: "Das Schwarze Auge: Die Schicksalsklinge"), which is one of the best old-school RPGs ever, story-wise and in presentation. It even has automapping

The font is final unless I decide I want to change it. I was wondering if it is a little illegible, too, so it might get changed sometime.

[Cuiki]

You really got lost? It's just three separate buildings surrounded by a wall...  

Yeah lol, I've told you I've got no sense of direction I bet others wont get lost so easily, so don't worry.

But yeah..drawing a map...I can do that

[Khris]

Cool stuff so far, I've never really played one of the old RPGs, will try the trilogy now.

One small graphic suggestion: I'd change the zero to be much thinner, it's really distracting, especially the leading ones in the stats overview.

[Snake]

Firstly, I'm very happy to see more done on this one. Looks great!

Also, I agree with Kris with thinning the zeros. They are VERY distracting. Have you considered taking them out (the preceding zeros, I mean)? It makes reading the stats a bit hard, at least for me.

[Tamanegi]

Okay, you convinced me, the leading zeroes in the character list are gone, and so will be those in the status screen.

Next I have to think of a way to dynamically place "objects" (people, barrels, special ground tiles...) on the screen. Because the "3D" view is done via a GUI (like virtually everything), this might be tricky because I can't place the object inside the z-axis of the view. So I need to change the appropriate wall tiles into the object.

I'm really excited, because the time when I can actually start with the game itself is coming closer    I want to start creating quests and dungeons!

[CaptainD]

Hmm... I feel that I may be wasting quite a few hours of my life on this game when you've finished... for some reason I've always had a weakness for this style of RPG! 

[Daniel Thomas]

What Dave said!
Lands of lore 1 and Eye of the beholder1-2 is, if not, among my favorite 'none-point & and click adventure' oldschool games.

[arj0n]

Lands of lore 1

Sweet memories....

[qptain Nemo]

As a Westwood studios fanatic can't really pass by without saying that this EoB-reminscent screens gave me a nice pleasant nostalgic feeling as well.