Kingdom of Ehcilc

Started by Hobo, Sat 19/04/2014 11:58:46

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selmiak

Quote from: Hobo on Tue 24/03/2015 17:10:33

[imgzoom]http://tulevik.eu/ags/KOE/update11.1.png[/imgzoom]

That snake lady is very attractive, I so want to meet her. Is there a puzzle involved that needs you feeding her snakes or taking off her cloths?

Davi Vasc

You have some really nice art, good job! If the game is going to revolve around cliches in adventure games and in the classic fantasy settings you will have a lot of stuff to work with. Also, the setting and art reminded me a little bit of King's Quest, which is nice. Or maybe I just like KQ too much and keep seeing it everywhere... Anyway, I'm looking forward to your game, good luck!
-------
Davi Vasc - Music composer
http://www.vascmusic.com/

Hobo

Quote from: selmiak on Fri 17/04/2015 17:52:49
Is there a puzzle involved that needs you feeding her snakes or taking off her cloths?
I have some puzzle ideas worked out, but no, there will be no "feeding the snake" (wrong) This is a family-friendly adventure, there's no room for R-rated pixel boobs (unless you're wearing a special x-ray monocle, of course :-D).

@Davi Vasc: Yes, I chose this setting, because there's endless amount of material to work with and a lot of freedom for creativity. As for King's Quest, then there might be some similar silly humour and scenery, but definitely no fairytale themes or getting killed all the time.

Hobo

Update 13 (01.08.2015) â€" Behind the scenes

We arrived in Telmah (the small settlement I mentioned in my last entry) a bit later than we planned, but at least we made it here safely and without any major incidents. These past weeks we've been mainly resting, gathering provisions and socializing with other adventurers. Everything I had heard about the place is true, it's a real goldmine for those seeking knowledge, advice and equipment. There are dozens of people coming and going every day, each with their own incredible story or unique possessions.

I'd say that in some ways we've reached a midpoint of our journey. Not really in the sense of time, because I'm expecting the second half to pass much faster, but in the sense of tasks accomplished and lessons learned. And thanks to all the experience we've been grinding during our travels and the help we've gotten from our fellow adventurers in Telmah, I feel much more prepared and ready for the upcoming climb.


As the title of this update already implies, I'm going to share some things that could be classified as behind the scenes information. For instance, have you ever wondered what exactly is hidden under all that external razzle-dazzle and what's really going on inside the parts of a game that you never see?

Let's start with graphics and backgrounds. Anyone who's ever made a game already knows that time and resource management is the most important thing. This is why I never bother drawing a background behind an object or character that never moves. Most of the time I just leave it empty, but lately I've been noticing that these forgotten places are starting to magically fill up. Usually with plain ones and zeros or  mischievous goblins, but every once in while I stumble upon some really weird stuff, like surprised manfaces with mustaches and bowties or creepy kittens. It sure as hell doesn't get boring with them pixels, you plug an useless black hole and it starts to live a life of its own.

[imgzoom]http://tulevik.eu/ags/KOE/update13.1.png[/imgzoom]
I haven't written much about scripting in my past updates and that's mostly because I'm not doing anything extraordinary or revolutionary with the script, it's your standard, everyday AGS stuff. For more complicated parts I usually rely on pre-made AGS scripts and modules or ask Atavismus to help me out. For example, the 4-verb GUI system comes from an old unfinished game attempt by Cino, I've found a place for abstauber's CustomDialogGui and there are various parts of Lemonhead's Extended ALARCOST  template all over the script. I'm also experimenting with few other modules and the AGS forum search function has always been an endless source of solutions. The game is still being developed in AGS 3.2.1, but I might upgrade to a newer AGS version, if it should become necessary for some reason.



I'm actually planning to release an open source version of  the game at some point. So, all you AGS nerds will have plenty of time and opportunity to browse and drool over these unoptimized and clunky elseifs then. Most of the code is (more or less) reasonably commented for my own purposes, but I guess it could be helpful for someone who's starting their first AGS project.

[imgzoom]http://tulevik.eu/ags/KOE/update13.3.png[/imgzoom]
In addition to source files, this so-called deluxe version will also include bunch of development materials, a selection of early and unused game graphics, a bit of Ehcilc lore and other similar behind the scenes goodies. It will most likely go up on itch.io in a pay-what-you-want format, which means that all this extra stuff is still free, but you'll have an opportunity to support the developers, if you get something useful and worthwhile from it all.

Thank you for reading and please don't be shy to post comments, argue or ask questions.

Stupot

Coming along nicely, man. Keep it up :-)

AnasAbdin

I'm afraid to ask about the confusing screeny cos I don't want any spoilers (laugh)

Really loving where this is going! And I super love the code snap ;-D

Hobo

Thanks for reading and commenting Stupot+ and AnasAbdin.

Quote from: AnasAbdin on Sat 01/08/2015 19:35:47
I'm afraid to ask about the confusing screeny cos I don't want any spoilers (laugh)
No spoilers attached. All the weird things on bottom screens are part of the background images, but you won't be able to see them in the actual game, because they're covered up by objects and characters (oh, the goblin is an exeption, he's an actual character). However, since I'm going to release the source, you can see that stuff there. I guess it's sort of an easter egg type of thing.

AnasAbdin

#67
Ugh this is a higher level of Easter eggs to me!
This is making me act like a little kid (laugh) About the source code release, I will never peek under the skirt of the kingdom sorry :P

Hobo

Back at it

Hmm... 2016. Years may go by, but you can always rely on good old Kingdom of Ehcilc to be still in production. Well, not really actually. I'm about 99 percent sure that the game will be released in 2016. Despite the lack of updates and any real development during the past 6 months, things are still slowly moving forward all the time. I've been occasionally tweaking the backgrounds a bit and making some small animations, I've figured out the story and fleshed out the characters. So, the world of Ehcilc is basically finished in my head and the characters are ready to jump into action, I just need to capture their essence into a pixelated sprite and start inserting them into the game.

Here's what the background tweaks look like:

[imgzoom]http://www.tulevik.eu/ags/KOE/update2016_small.png[/imgzoom]

And some of the animations, I've been working on:

                       


I'll be back to my regular travel journal type updates in a week or two, but until then don't be shy to post comments, argue or ask questions.

AnasAbdin

Great tweaking you've done there ;-D I like what you did with the mountains and the far greens.
The characters look amazing. This Kingdom will bring a lot of great childhood times back :)

Hobo

Update 14 (11.02.2016) - Tales of paths

After all this time of traveling, all the places I've visited and people I've met, Ehcilc still keeps surprising me with its diverse culture and interesting approaches. This time I've absolutely fallen in love with a particular genre of Ehcilcian folktales. I don't really know how to properly call them or if they even have an official classification, but occasionally I've heard the locals refer to them as tales of paths. They're usually told in very quiet settings and meant for fewer ears. Not because they're inappropriate or offensive or anything like that, but because of the manner they are told.

Almost all the stories of this type begin at a crossroads and present the audience a choice to start moving in any desired direction. As the tale progresses, the storyteller often turns towards the public and asks seemingly rhetorical questions, makes witty remarks or uses over-exaggerated body language. While doing all that, the narrator is actually paying close attention to the slightest of feedback and then shifts the tone and mood of the tale according to listeners' reactions.

Depending on the skill of the storyteller and the range of emotions, a simple narrative can often be told with so many unique and personalized variations that it can almost feel like a whole new story. And on those rare occasions, when everything falls perfectly in place, it's very hard to tell if the story belongs to the listeners or to the creator.



I'm the sort of person who often enjoys the journey just as much or even more than the actual destination. This applies to both how I play and develop video games and this is also how I approach Kingdom of Ehcilc. I already mentioned alternative puzzle solutions in update 9, where I discussed the 4-verb GUI, and I'm going to continue along those lines.

First of all, despite the choices you can make at the beginning and over the course of the game, there's actually only one ending (with minor aesthetic adjustments). You can explore and take different small paths along the way, but the basic framework of the story remains always more or less the same.

For example, let's take the image above. There's a locked stone chest on the left side of the cave and it can be opened in three different ways - by brute force/magic, with reasonable amount of intelligence or you can think outside the box and make use of the tools available to the player. The end result, however, is always the same â€" you open the chest and while your method might cause some minor consequences, it will not affect the overall storyline or the endgame.

Do these choices really matter then, do they serve a purpose? I think they do, because they're not there to increase the replay value or create an alternative storyline. They allow you to customize your gaming experience and offer different ways of playing. If people don't enjoy minigames or moon logic puzzles, then they can just skip those and try other solutions.

Similar sort of variety can be found among the characters. There are some NPCs that pay attention to your actions and act accordingly. They're not placed in Ehcilc to be puzzles or help you solve a specific puzzle, they just happen to live there and depending on your interactions they may help you out or put a spoke in your wheel.

I probably don't have the skills or experience to apply this design philosophy throughout the whole game and there will still be plenty of linear roads, one solution situations and static characters, but every now and then I'll try to throw in something that makes the players feel that this is not something that they have to do, but something they choose to do.

Thank you for reading and please don't be shy to post comments, argue or ask questions.

Hobo

Riddle me this!

Hey! Do you enjoy puzzles and riddles? How about annoying questions? Well, I think I've got something in between. To jump start this devlog, I've made a little memory refreshing quiz for all those, who have bothered to read my updates in the past and don't mind a little bit of backtracking.

And here come the questions (with hints in the spoiler tags and answers at end):

1) In update 5, the title of the update includes a simple numerical code for a word related to the game. What's the word?
Spoiler
numbers are letters

Spoiler
it's a 6 letter word 5 8 3 9 12 3
[close]
[close]
2) In update 6, the word colors is composed of 6 colors, but there's a color missing. Which one?
Spoiler
they're meant to be the colors of a natural phenomena

Spoiler
you might find the answer at the end of the rainbow
[close]
[close]
3) In update 8, the number of frames in the title animation with a bird is...?
Spoiler
make a bold guess, ± 10 frames is completely acceptable

Spoiler
use a .gif compatible animation software to find out
[close]
[close]
4) In update 12, there's something written on the merchant's stand. What is it?
Spoiler
look with your mind's eye

Spoiler
I have no idea myself actually, it's intangible
[close]
[close]

Answers:
Spoiler
1 â€" ehcilc
2 â€" I'd say indigo, but also accept violet
3 â€" 127
4 â€" all answers are correct
[close]


Good luck with the questions and normal updates will resume soon. Very soon.

Hobo

Update 15 (23.07.2017) - One man's trash is another man's treasure

The other day we stumbled upon a weary but talkative traveler, who was very eager to share her campfire and vast collection of tales. One of those legends rekindled an old forgotten memory of mine.

It was an obscure myth about a hidden room deep in the mountains, full of unseen treasures and magical artifacts. As in most of these stories, it was of course guarded by a dragon. I had heard a slightly less detailed version of the story before and even looked more into it at one point to see if there's any truth behind it, but because of the lack of any substantial evidence and few conflicting facts, I quickly dismissed it as a silly fable.

However, this new and improved interpretation of the place made me curious once again. And maybe, just maybe, there really is more to it...



The biggest change for Kingdom of Ehcilc this year has probably been the long-due migration from AGS 3.2.1 to 3.4, but that's a topic for another day. Right now, Id like to break open the doors of the treasure chamber.

As some of you might have already guessed, there are trophies in the game or rather a trophy room with all sorts of awards for superficial accomplishments and meaningless tasks. Does anyone remember the throne room from Civilization II? Yes? No? Vaguely? Well, there will be something similar to that in Ehcilc. Your den of goodies will start out as an relatively empty room (see above) and whenever you accomplish something, a new item will appear.

These valuables could be pieces of furniture, various statues, weapons, jewelry etc. I haven't worked out all the little details yet, but most of these items will probably be in-game objects that players can interact with and I'll throw in a few additional custom sprites that represent more abstract achievements.



This feature will functionally be more or less useless and I doubt it's even good for bragging rights, but it fits the theme of the game and who knows, maybe some obsessive hoarders will even squeeze some drops of satisfaction out of it. It's going to be completely optional and I'll try to be as subtle as possible with the notifications and obviously allow them to be turned off.

As a lot of other aspects in this game, the trophy system is an experiment for me, it allows me to test the AGS engine and take a look at people's reactions to different design choices. I'm actually not a huge fan of achievement systems myself, but I'm curious to see, whether it adds any replay value and encourages some players to explore more or try out alternative solutions.

Thank you for reading and please don't be shy to post comments, argue or ask questions.

AnasAbdin

Interesting update.

Quote from: Hobo on Sun 23/07/2017 20:42:26
The biggest change for Kingdom of Ehcilc this year has probably been the long-due migration from AGS 3.2.1 to 3.4, but that's a topic for another day.

I am very curious about this migration and its effect on the production of the project. So please make that "another day" come as quick as possible please ???

Hobo

It was actually a pretty smooth transition, not much to talk about. However, the scripting in Ehcilc is very basic, there are no fancy scripts or modules that would break. I'll write about it in a week or two.

SilverSpook

Cool news! Good to see you back around these parts. :)  Title always makes me laugh. >D

Hobo

Thanks, SilverSpook, it feels good to write about the game again. The title was actually a completely random ah-it's-fine-enough choice, but I do sometimes wonder how people pronounce Ehcilc, I have no idea myself :)

Click'd

Something like "e-silk"

josiah1221

Quote from: ClickClickClick on Tue 25/07/2017 00:13:17
Something like "e-silk"

Haha, that's exactly how I've been saying it. :)

dactylopus

Nice update.  Sounds interesting.

I pronounce it Ehh-Kilk.

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