You Are Galstaff Sorcerer of Light

OK, I worked out some stuff for Dungeon Quest that I'm happy with. I have no idea if it will stand up over time, but it's what I plan to go with.

The system I've been going with is that on leveling up a character gets three points. Two points can be put on attributes while the third can be used to get a specialization, a technique, or increase an attribute.

What I've completed is determining the specializations and their penalties. Specializations are like classes. They determine what techniques a character can learn. They also give penalties and bonuses. The penalties are important because they create practical limits. While many specialization combinations are feasible, apart from costing points, getting many specializations will severely cripple a character with penalties. Add that certain combinations of skills, penalties, and bonuses stack better than others, and the generally very open system becomes more restricted. I think this sort of limitation helps variety. I also think it promotes characterization and RP to a degree, even if it isn't social RP.

So here are my notes on the different specializations and their negatives.
warrior-vulnerable to magic
berserker-can't defend
knight-slow
swordsman-vulnerable to non-sword weapons
swashbuckler-reduced strength bonus
martial artist-can't use a shield
acrobat-light armor only
knave-vulnerable to holy
artificer-reduced magic effectiveness
ranger-vulnerable to fire
wizard-reduced accuracy
elementalist-reduced hp bonus
theurgist-can't attack unless attacked
sorcerer-weakened (less defense and strength) by charges
psionic-receives part of damage dealt

Next I'll be working on their bonuses and techniques. Techniques will be the hard part because, as you can see, there are many specializations. I also intend do have techniques that require a combination of specializations, probably two.

Oh yeah, I've made a couple of decisions. These aren't set either. There will be no spells that are castable outside of battles, spells won't require memorization or mana or anything like that, and a party is completely healed after a battle. If I did do those things, I'd have to implement items and that would cause far more trouble than it would add to the game.

Yet another feature that I came up with. After defeating a boss you may get a gem or something instead of a piece of equipment. This gem can be used to upgrade a piece of equipment from the tier below to current tier. I want there to be a wide variety of equipment to choose from, but I don't want to repeat the same thing in the next tier, just with better stats. I also want to limit the number of possible drops to reduce how many times a player has to run a dungeon to get a certain item. There are some negatives as well. I'll have to think about this one. Equipment will have to be done while I develop the monsters anyway to properly balance everything, so I won't be able to make any firm decisions yet.

You Hear Eerie Music

I've been pretty down. I was once thought to have dysthymia, and now that I've looked it up, it seems to accurately describe me. Sometimes I'm confident, active, optimistic, and highly resistant to pain. Other times I'm nervous, lethargic, moody, and sensitive. These qualities vary in degree. Lately I've been more down than usual. I've been busy feeling miserable, even too miserable for pr0n, so I have gotten little done with Dungeon Quest or even posting on this blog.

On a similar note, I'm a misanthrope. I had a big spiel that including a variety of topics based on misanthropy. It didn't make the final cut. Being a misanthrope is tough. Not everyone is cut out for this type of life. One must develop deep-rooted mistrust and enmity for people over a long period of time to become a bona fide misanthrope like I am. And once those embers of paranoia are kindled, you can't simply live your life normally. No, you must act on your beliefs and not only limit your association with others, but take it a step further with the following techniques.
1) Don't turn your back to anyone.
2) Give vague, terse responses to strangers.
3) Avoid people and act inconspicuously while others are around.
4) Obscure traces of your ordinary activities.

In other news about myself, I've been running. I do this about once a year, though with varying seriousness. This time I think I'm serious. I normally think I'm serious, though, or I wouldn't bother. Anyway, my goal is to be able to sprint for a mile. I'm not close, but my cardio has improved a lot during the last two weeks. Seriously though, dead sprint for 5,280 feet, I'm doing it. Oh yeah, I also have to be faster than everyone. Don't ask who everyone is or I'll realize that I don't have a very solid goal.

I need a new game to play. I was thinking about going back to Wyvern because I see they're updating stuff, but the updates won't affect gameplay so I know that it's a bad idea. Plus there are so few workable builds. I tried to come up with some, but they were all flawed. I even realized that my teleporting archer build was flawed because many areas don't allow teleporting. Teleporting archer could be a very workable PvE build, though not nearly the XP machine that is the super fragile, but awesome whipster halfling.

I'm very proud of my halfling whipster. I think it has better survivability than a comparable build in the conjurer branch of the ranger guild. The ranger guild, you see, is a guild that gives bonuses to the whip skill and death magic, which is the element the magic whip spell depends on for damage. When you join you can choose to be a whipsman, which gets a percentage bonus to hp and negatives to magic elements (besides death and air) and arts (besides conjuration), or a conjurer, which gets a percentage bonus to sp and negatives to just the arts. Elements affect spell effectiveness and arts affect how much sp a spell costs, if you're wondering. Anyway, a halfling conjurer seems ideal because halfling have more sp than hp, thus a larger total increase since the increase is proportional. Throw in no negatives to elements and a bonus to meditation and it must be a lock, right? Well, I think the hp bonus makes for a much more rugged character that can use mana shield potions instead of having to use the spell, which means more skill points. Also, no spells are needed, so I only get the one lore I need to learn magic whip and lots of death to make it more powerful. That allows me to use equipment that gives a chance of spell failure since I don't need to spam spells. This isn't a big advantage because armor is broken and the best equipment doesn't bungle spells. It does mean that I can use black dragon scale mail for better petrification and acid resistance than the comparable non-bungling armor as well as a skull shield for fear immunity. Then I have skill points left over from not using spells and being a halfling to train strength and find-weakness. I also have plenty of healing and meditation so I don't have to wait very long to regenerate my hp and sp back. This guy might not be able to kill a beholder without running, but I firmly believe that he can gain XP faster than any other build, even though I don't have the resolve to prove this. I've made some progress, but it would take several days of game time to get to the top of the scores in xp/second.

My other idea which I still think has some promise is the mage warrior. This guy has probably been concieved numerous times in different variations by different people. My variation uses swords, heal with a partial mana shield, and prismatic shield. Could this work? Probably not, but prismatic shield gives the potential to pump all four skill points that a halfling gets per level into damage. Some side affects are powerful resistance spells and the ability to use lots of handy spells with all the lore prismatic shield takes. It should also be more survivable than my whipster. The negative is that this build never plateaus. At no points can you pump points into strength and find-weakness. Oh yeah, it's also hard, like all magic using builds, to equip. I don't like having to worry about non-bungling gear, but its end-game stuff should be good. I also don't think prismatic shield would give as good returns on damage per skill point as magic whip. Magic whip is truly god of DPS, even though it was relatively nerfed by the influx of new equipment.

It's entertaining to speculate about builds for Wyvern, but I don't feel like playing it at all. So I need a new game. I'll work on finding one. I don't think I'll have any luck finding a good RPG. That's one of the reasons why I want to make one.

You Descend Down the Dank Channel

I have no idea why I set a date for posting. I questioned doing so at the time, but it's habit of mine. While saying I'll do something at a certain time in the future alleviates the pressure of whether I'll get around to doing it, it creates pressure to then do what I said. And when it comes to deadlines, I tend to spend more time worrying about the deadline than getting anything done.

The topic today is Dungeon Quest, my dungeon crawling, hack and slash RPG. I've only recently, that is today, decided that I needed to change up my plans for a major part of the game. I've done this several times already. My ideas are becoming more refined and focused, which I believe to be a very good thing.

Today for the first time I doubted whether my ideas for a game were good. This is very surprisingly. I normally second-guess myself continually. I admit to feeling frightened and embarrassed at my enthusiasm for what might turn out to be lame. However, I think this doubt is a bad thing. There are self-deprecating reasons I should give for not worrying. Those aren't good either. I think that I should trust myself and my ability. Even if my ideas don't sound great, I know that they are.

Here's the basic concept behind the game. It's based on a tier system. Tiers are determined by character level. After so many levels the character advances to the next tier. Each tier has its own set of dungeons and new equipment. There should be plenty of dungeons for each tier, some solo and others requiring a party of a specific size. Initially dungeons should be very difficult, but as the character gains levels and equipment they should become easier so the focus changes from just surviving to completing the dungeon quickly enough to get to the next tier without tedious grinding. I like the idea of facing different but equal challenges with a character that's at the same level of power as well as facing the same challenges again when the character is stronger. The tier system will also emphasize skill. At some point a player who uses a poor build and doesn't fight strategically will simply be unable to progress to the next tier.

The dungeons themselves will be simple. They won't have any puzzles or mazes or traps. They will have set encounters with semi-random monsters and branches to give the player some control over which monsters he'll fight. At the end there will be a boss with a treasure. The treasure will be equipment. Why not have puzzles and mazes and traps? They would be completely superfluous. My goal isn't to create a great puzzle adventure game, but a great strategical hack and slash game.

Fights will be turn-based similar to the Final Fantasy ATB battles (I probably should have said that earlier). Fights should be suitably long for balance purposes but also to create room for them to be completed more quickly. They shouldn't take hours or even half of an hour. One problem with multiplayer turn-based battles is that they pause when someone gets a turn. My idea is that the game shouldn't pause while a player selects an action and that the player should be able to select an action before it's his turn. A key aspect of fighting will be techniques. Techniques will require charges, gained by defending, or combo points, gained by basic attacks. So far battles seem like a modified version of the Colosseum, which I described in an earlier entry. The difference will be in the underlying formulas and mechanics, but more noticeably in the effects of techniques. I hope for techniques to have involved and unique effects that are different from most of the stuff that's been done in RPGs.

There'll also be PvP. I haven't put much thought into how I'll implement it, but this system should work great with PvP.

That's all that I feel confident to say for now. I'm keeping the details to myself because they will likely be changed at some point. Also, as I stated earlier, I'm completely revising a large part so I don't even have the details for it.

I know I didn't say much and what I did say probably sounds boring, but I'm very excited. I don't know when I'll get to any updates on Dungeon Quest (I have to come up with a better name). I'll try to update the blog regularly with something, though. (Damn, more obligations)

You Are Surrounded by Trees. A Dirt Road Runs East and West.

I came across a game called Facade (http://www.interactivestory.net/). It's described as an art game and is free to download, a bad portent when both are combined. The concept is interesting: the player is given the role of an auxiliary but potentially influential character in a drama. You type and move around from a first person perspective as the other two characters, a yuppie couple, duke it out. Facade does alright, particularly at portraying the ensuing drama, but it becomes easy to tell, even during the first play through (the game is short and has many endings), that the game is switching from one preset event to another. Also, the method of user interface, moving around and typing as the player would normally speak, is ambitious, and I don't think Facade does anything to overcome the obvious pitfalls of that method.

Most notable to the player is the text parser. The website is very misleading when it states that the "innovative text parser allows the system to avoid the 'I don’t understand' response all too common in text-adventure interactive fiction." It does just that fairly regularly if you don't say the right things. What to say becomes more apparent after playing through a few times, but Facade does a poor job of directing the player. I personally believe the text parser died many years ago for good reason. Even if natural language processing were feasible, the focus of a game is likely more limited than many reasonable player responses. Hence dialogue trees. Dialogue trees aren't ideal because they limit suspension of disbelief, promote meta gaming, and require less creativity from the player. However, they're much easier to implement, guide the player to scenarios within the scope of the game, and allow complex choices. Also, if the player is controling a defined character, they may allow dialogue that suits the character.

I don't know if it's good or bad, but typical branching as in Choose Your Own Adventure-style games is replaced by several possible events that may be triggered. Some events may come in a different orders or not at all. Despite this, progression through the game is surprisingly linear. I'm not against linearity, though. Overall, I think the system is neat.

There's my review. Facade was worth playing, though flawed. Even though Trip and Grace responded with confusion half of the time and in turn had me responding in confusion, I found the game atmospheric and novel. Dialogue and story were fine. Voice acting was good. Graphics were 3D, but looked hand drawn by an average drawer. My guess is that they were.

I'll try to give a rundown of Dungeon Quest on Monday. I've came up with a lot more stuff in the last couple days. Hopefully I can cement the basics soon and then work on the long process of designing the dungeons and monsters.

You Are Attacked by a Ohgosh the Goblin King

I've been thinking about a new game. It would be classified as a dungeon crawler. Combat and dungeons are normally less important to me in an RPG than playing my character and exploring the world. This game, which I will dub Dungeon Quest for now, is based on two games that I did like for their hack and slash approach. Well, the second one's was boring, but it did do some things right. Both are multiplayer online games, which I intend Dungeon Quest to be (I have a server program sitting around that I made for another game I lost interest in).

The first is the Colosseum mini game on the Balamb Garden chat server (http://psycrow.chatserve.com/frames.html). It features Final Fantasy-style battles between two teams. Players choose from a large selection of preset characters from Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, and Xenogears. Combat is similar to the basic Final Fantasy ATB system, but also includes charges, similar to Chrono Cross and Xenogears. After a normal attack, a character gains a charge that can be used to perform a technique on another turn. Most characters have three techniques, the first taking one charge, the second two, and third three. The techniques have a variety of affects such as damaging one target, damaging multiple targets, healing, bufs, debufs, and statuses from FF and related games. Overall it was a fun and strategic game.

The second is Wyvern (http://www.cabochon.com/). Wyvern is a graphical MUD. I like two things about Wyvern. First, it provides lots of character customization. You choose a race for your character at the start, which determines your hit points, spell points, and innate abilities, such as flying for a pixie, skill with ranged weapons for an elf, and the ability to turn invisible for a halfling. Then the character gets three or four, depending on the race, skill points to spend each level. Skills include things like swords, which improves damage and accuracy, strength, which also improves damage and increases encumbrance limits, air magic, which makes air spells more effective or last longer, conjuration, which makes conjuration spells cost less spell points, and many others. The player also can't train a skill past the character's level to force some variation in skills. Lastly, guilds increase certain skills, decrease others, and normally have specific restrictions. For example, a paladin gets bonuses to strength, swords, life magic, and hp, negatives to magical elements besides life and magical arts besides incantation, and must keep a positive alignment. Overall, the game is fairly difficult and forces the player to carefully plan how a character is developed and setup. Unfortunately, the game has a lot of balance issues and incomplete features as its main programmer is busy with other stuff. The second thing that I like about Wyvern, which I think goes along with the first, is that it gives a sense of identity. Even though there isn't much backstory or world interraction, just a character's race and guild seem to point the character toward a certain personality with unique mannerisms and characteristics. Throw in which skills a player chooses and style of play and you have a righteous paladin who smiteth vile demons with his massive diamond sword while casting arcane abjurations against their evil magic. Or a wary halfling archer who finishes off weak opponents with his sword and teleports to safety when the situation gets out of hand. Or a fire and death mage who wreaks destruction on anything nearby . . . unless it's immune to fire and death magic. I attribute this to wide range of choices the player can make, which are relatable and superficial, but also dramatically affect gameplay.

So the idea is to create a game that combines fun and strategical turn-based battles with deep character customization that goes beyond numbers. I have a lot of ideas for realizing those goals as well improving certain certain common aspects of the genre and a lot of original mechanics and content. I'll describe these ideas later when I can say what's in and what's out with a bit more certainty.

You Are Standing Before a Small Brick Building

I'm Jonathan and I'm a pretty lousy guy. I have many failures to attribute to my general incompetence. This bothers me a lot. For some time I refused to believe that it had anything to do with my capabilities, choosing to instead blame my decisions or something that I could have easily changed. Part of this had to do with the general disbelief by those around me that I should fail at what they would consider trivial. Another part had to do with the general belief that I am an intelligent and capable person. It took a while, but after seeing the repeating patterns of my failures, despite my efforts to change them, I realized that these were real faults that I would be struggling with for a long time.

So I'm currently a basement-dweller. I have no job and few obligations. I also have a neckbeard. I decided to stop cutting my hair out of disgust for my pessimum lifestyle. All that leaves me plenty of time for my favorite pass-times.

I'm very interested in games. I'm not much of a gamer, but I enjoy exploring new games and learning their history. This goes back to my childhood. My first experience with video games were arcades. I pretended to play them and thought how cool they looked. Later I got a Super Nintendo and played and beat Super Mario World, Zelda: A Link to the Past, and Donkey Kong Country. I didn't get any new games until my parents bought me a Playstation and a bunch of games from a friend of my sister who needed money. The Playstation was way cool in my mind. Though the games were entertaining, I never felt compelled to master them. I would simply play them for a while, see all the cool things that I could do, and quit after coming to a boss that gave me a lot of problems. I believe RPGs were the only Playstation games that I beat. Final Fantasy VII was my first RPG since I played my dad's Pool of Radiance for DOS. I now see it as a flawed game, but I thought very highly of it at the time. Shortly after came Diablo. A friend of my dad coerced him to buy a computer and Diablo. We then began fighting eachother until two in the morning to use the computer. The internet brought a new dimension to an otherwise dull game. Instead of a monotonous dungeon crawl, we were systematically clearing levels and chatting with a party of real people. That led me to the world of online games. I explored many different types of games, from telnet to browser to 2D to 3D. I became involved with communities and eventually resigned to hanging around forums. When World of Warcraft came out I had already been addicted to MMOs, so I passed it up. I've now lost contact with everyone and am not very involved in online gaming. The point, though, is that I've always been a pretty casual gamer who was more interested in the implications of a game than playing through it.

Now I want to make games. I guess I've always been interested in making games. I've always not been very successful as well. I'm a decent programmer and fully capable of realizing my plans. The trick is coming up with a concept that I like for more than a week.