Fort

I'm up for trying it out. Trust that I will do as much as possible to break it. My e-mail is net4less@sbcglobal.net

This theory is exactly as valid as mine, which hypothesizes that all of the Spiderweb games take place on Earth, but in different phases a la the mythology of the Aztecs.

The only real connection between the shapers and vahnatai in your theory is their shared involvement with crystals. Ignoring that, the worlds are very distinct. If you think about it, crystals a very commonly used type or class of items which can be magical in games and fantasy worlds. It does not surprise me that they are used in both games. After all, would it be more appropriate to use crystals or giant mushrooms for shaping?

E3 and A3 were not meant to be rich in unique plot. They were to convey mythical grandeur befitting of a fantasy game in which you can be the hero. The feeling of grandness partly comes from the huge world and relative freedom you can have from its many side quests and little subplots. The main plot had a couple twists and some shallow turns, but I think it was as good as any to propel you through many different dungeons and tough challenges. The BoA scenarios unfortunately have a little too much hack and slash. The encounters and dungeons set themselves up to be good, but fail upon actual play. This I think is another unfortunate consequence, one of Jeff using his previous game plot making skills to make a microcosm of what he is used to.

Not strong enough.

Yes, you do need to register. I'm afraid most people will not have a chance to see it, but at least you'll get it out there.

Making this appear completely seemless and perfect to the player would be very difficult if not impossible. The death screen is practically immediate and it does not wait for the next turn to appear. Additionally, when a character dies indoors or in combat, he drops all of his items. The fact that the player can have any size party he wants, which could even change during the game, and that he can revive dead PCs with spells makes keeping track of deaths complex. In theory I have a system that should work, but it involves using lifesaver items. I think it would be acceptable to explain that these items are some sort of protective ward to prevent your mind from really believing that it has died during your night phase. However, I will need to know exactly what the player will be allowed to do before I can really describe what the scripting will look like. Can PCs die and be revived by Return Life during the night phase? How do they actually transition to the night phase? Is there any point when you want some PCs dead with only one alive (for dramatic effect)?

I'm sure Jeff would actually love to make his game as tactically complex as the large games he often says he plays, and include an in depth storyline. But these things take time and to me it seems that he would prefer to make things a little more complex each time rather than try a revolutionary jump.

I believe so. I may do some quick little tests with the mechanics of death to provide some more information.

If you want the party to completely die and then be revived, then there is no clean way to do it. I believe the game signals automatic loss immediately without taking any detours once the last character dies. If this is what you want, a workaround for this is to create a lifesaver item. Use a call to check to see if it has been used. I can provide more elaboration later if necessary.

There are plenty of people with active imaginations who can help in this area, but telling Jeff what to do is not going to solve the problem that he still has to do the nitty-gritty stuff of putting it in. In order for the game to be larger, we would really need him to have another programmer who could create towns and script while he dealt with relatively more important issues in the game.

Admittedly the turrets are an awfully weak junior version of pylons, but they're an OK substitute for active guards or defenses when the terrain is constructed to their advantage.

Estoy confudido. Quien es Mab? Lo debo conocer?

That would be ideal, but I am pretty sure he wants to make an outdoor section in the middle of the world become transformed. Anyway, I would suggest using the terrain changing script with some careful map design to keep the mechanics hidden from the player.

Defense is extremely important unless you are sure you can get away with constantly healing your fighters. By defense I mean anything that decreases your chance to be hit. Anyway, later in all of the Avernum games your enemies will start to deal unreal amounts of damage if you get hit every time. Hardiness is nearly useless in my experience, but maybe a point or two more of dexterity wouldn't hurt. I personally wouldn't put any more points into assassination since it is a rapidly diminishing return type of thing.

There's no better way to build an exclusive group than by muddling communication. Anyway, I suggested to him that if he is serious he should put another one up in General.

I thought it was because they get to kill you and eat your brains in the process.

The above script will be complex to implement because of all the general possibilities it must consider. Since you are the designer, I think you could make the map and script specific to each other and things would be much easier for you. For instance, if the only one narrow corridor or path to go from A to B, then the creature with the script will always move in the cardinal direction toward B because if it were blocked the pathfinding engine would tell it to stop. You can check for this halting and display your message then. That example is pretty restrictive, but I think you get the idea.

You should remember that you have your own playing style and that most of us play in the way described by Alorael (Pluto Alien). What you want implemented would require several different modifications to the game, and to me it seems that it can either be more interesting than useful or overly exploitable. The whole deal with creations in the game is to figure out how to manage XP, essence, and skill points in order to make the best creation. Also, don't take offense to your idea being called pokemon. It was a joke and evolutions are very pokemon-esque.

You cannot in an abstract sense regain what the strike took from you, but as I recall the amount of XP loss is recouped very easily. If you are being hit enough to times to warrant worrying about this type of thing, the XP lost is the least of your worries.

There are only a few changes in the following. They should account for every possibility, indoors and outdoors. Code: begincreaturescript;variables;short i,target;short check,message,nomess = -1,new = 0; // since you can assign them values right awayshort best,status,targ;body;beginstate INIT_STATE;set_char_script_mode(ME,2); if (get_memory_cell(0) == 2) set_mobility(ME,0); break;beginstate DEAD_STATE; // Set the appropriate stuff done flag for this character being dead if ((get_memory_cell(1) != 0) || (get_memory_cell(2) != 0)) set_flag(get_memory_cell(1),get_memory_cell(2),1);break;beginstate START_STATE; message = my_current_message(); if(message == 1){ nomess = -1; set_attitude(ME,10); } if(message == -1){ if((tick_difference(nomess,get_current_tick()) >= 2) && (nomess > -1)){ if(get_flag(5,0) == 0){ message_dialog("Ogres are slow and dim witted, nevertheless it only takes this one a short amount of time to realize that there are no overseers around, and thus no threat of whips and pain. It promptly starts attacking anything in sight.",""); set_flag(5,0,1); } set_attitude(ME,11); set_target(ME,-1); } if(nomess == -1) nomess = get_current_tick(); } if (target_ok()) { // the do_attack() call was missing if (dist_to_char(get_target()) <= 16) do_attack(); else set_target(ME,-1); } // Look for a target, attack it if visible if (select_target(ME,8,0)) { do_attack(); } // Have I been hit? Strike back! if (who_hit_me() >= 0) { set_target(ME,who_hit_me()); do_attack(); }break; Code: begincreaturescript;variables;short i,target;body;beginstate INIT_STATE;set_char_script_mode(ME,4); // setting this to run every turn period accounts for at least one special case I can think of if (get_memory_cell(0) == 2) set_mobility(ME,0); break;beginstate DEAD_STATE; // Set the appropriate stuff done flag for this character being dead if ((get_memory_cell(1) != 0) || (get_memory_cell(2) != 0)) set_flag(get_memory_cell(1),get_memory_cell(2),1);break;beginstate START_STATE; // if I have a target for some reason, go attack it if (target_ok()) { if (dist_to_char(get_target()) <= 16) set_state(3); else set_target(ME,-1); } // Look for a target, attack it if visible if (select_target(ME,8,0)) { do_attack(); set_state(3); } if (who_hit_me() >= 0) { set_target(ME,who_hit_me()); do_attack(); set_state(3); } // Otherwise, just peacefully move around. Go back to start, if I'm too far // from where I started. if ((my_dist_from_start() >= 6) || ((my_dist_from_start() > 0) && (get_memory_cell(0) > 0))) { if (get_ran(1,1,100) < 40) return_to_start(ME,1); } else if (get_memory_cell(0) == 0) { fidget(ME,25); } // if we're in combat and the above didn't give me anything to do, just // stop now. Otherwise, game will keep running script, and that eats up CPU time. if (am_i_doing_action() == FALSE) end_combat_turn();break;beginstate 3; // attacking print_str("Sent"); broadcast_char_message(15,1,0); if (target_ok() == FALSE) set_state(START_STATE); do_attack();break; If you want to make a nice live-action scene with an overseer beating up an ogre, I have the perfect script for that in case you'd like to see it.

I apologize for not noticing that you took out state 3 in your script. Could you post the whole script, by the way? I'd like to see how you set it up. I have a pretty good idea of how to improve this, but I'd have to see how you are doing it now.

Actually, if you have not modified the rest of the control structure of this script, there are a handful of possible problems. As wz pointed out, the NPC must act after its overseer in order for this to work. The message dialog seems to assume that the overseer must be dead if it has not been around for a round. However, because you said the monster script reverts it attitude when it comes back, you imply that the overseer might just be out of the area when the ogre goes rogue. Since this code is in START_STATE, it will not have any effect while the ogre is attacking one target -- the ogre will be in state 3 for the entire duration of which. You probably do not want this because I tend to think it will be too busy attacking you to change attitudes. Also, if you wanted to do this simply, why didn't you just use the SDF version? If you do not like SDFs for this, you could also use a set_memory_cell call on a group.

I am pretty sure you are just experimenting, so this script is fine for that purpose. However, if you need this to do something important, there are simpler and more reliable ways to do this. I haven't confirmed your statement about the reassignment of message in the same turn when START_STATE runs again, but I'll assume your take on the situation is right and I present this code which should work: Code: beginstate START_STATE; message = my_current_message(); if(message == 1){ nomess = get_current_tick(); set_attitude(ME,10) // is this really necessary? } if(message == -1){ if(tick_difference(nomess,get_current_tick()) >= 2){ message_dialog("The ogre, realizing that its tormentor is dead, promptly turns on its former masters.",""); set_attitude(ME,11); } if (target_ok()) { if (dist_to_char(get_target()) <= 16) else set_target(ME,-1); } // Look for a target, attack it if visible if (select_target(ME,8,0)) { do_attack(); } // Have I been hit? Strike back! if (who_hit_me() >= 0) { set_target(ME,who_hit_me()); do_attack(); }break;

The intro screens are a nice effect to keep and I believe the "standard" way to do this is to provide a prefabricated party in a save file where they are not in any scenario. With a little of scripting at the very start of the scenario, the party will be everything the designer expects.