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Working on a roguelike...

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MaiZure:
No worries -- here's what it looks like on 0.6.6 at 1920x1080 (my last screen shot was cropped, this one is full)

Still not really workable.

If you're thinking that view portability is a sticky problem, you are correct.
If you're thinking that the solution involves manually calculating logical screen size (resolution) and relating it to physical screen size (dpi) and computing scaling factors for display elements, you're on the right track.
If you're frustrated that putting all the work in to solving the problem doesn't actually enhance the 'game', all devs know that feeling :P

Sereg:
@Tormuse

I can start including the version numbers on the zip for subsequent releases.

You can pull up as much information as I provide on any given object into the info window, directly above the player view, by entering 't'argetting mode for distant objects, or 'i'nventory mode for items in your pack (in theory this should work for 'e'quipment mode as well, but I noticed recently that I don't actually do this yet - I'll have to update that). The best way to find out what an item does is to use it (by pressing 'u' or <enter> in inventory mode). You will either attempt to consume it and receive a message that should give you an idea what it does, or equip it, where it will modify the stats, and depending on its slot may provide additional information - for example, equipped weapons display their attack speed and damage type, and equipped armor displays its resistance to various damage types(I should include a legend for this in the help file, though).

You'll also get some help from the item name - Lemurian sacred oil, for example, is an alternate fuel for your lamp(since you will not find any modern lamp oil in the type of dungeon you are exploring), and the Atlantean Soul cradle is a rare type of armor that provides certain non-physical protective abilities(so rare, in fact, that in my testing I've never actually managed to generate one - congratulations on finding it). Try using the fire water and see if the message you get will give you a clue as to its use ;)

Beyond this, stats and uses are intentionally obscure - it's up to the player to learn which items do what. This is because I prefer games where learning is by trial and error, and I want to write the type of game that I will enjoy playing. Don't worry, there are no cursed items, although some items may modify certain stats in negative ways as a balance to their positive benefits(and it will be apparent when this happens) - nor does the game allow you accidentally do something harmful like try to drink a flask of lamp oil.

The capacity of your inventory is listed in the title of that zone of the screen. There's no limit on the number of item slots, as in DRL; rather, the limit is based on the bulk of each item, which is meant as a representation of how much space it takes up inside your pack. I'll see about handling overly long item names - I think I looked into moving the bulk indicator to the front of the description, but the implementation caused me some trouble. I'll revisit that and see if I can get at least a temporary solution.

There is a repeat command which applies to movement, including the pause command ('5'), although when testing it just now, I've discovered that it's broken due to some faulty logic and you won't be properly interrupted if something bad happens - I lost a fairly good run I was on by doing this, lol. I've already implemented a fix and it should be working correctly in the next release, but for now you can still repeat wait if you're willing to take the risk of death =P

As far as your second edit, I honestly haven't even looked at grammar yet - anything that's correct is hardcoded that way. For now I'll rework that particular message to read a bit better("You found an item: ancient chestplate.") - please do let me know if you find other instances like that.


@MaiZure

Most concerning to me is that your menu bar is still missing. I am not sure why that is happening, and it's somewhat distressing.

I appreciate your perspective on the problem, though - good to know I am not simply incompetent(or perhaps I am, but that at least is not the only issue, lol), but it sounds like I'll have a lot of hard work ahead of me to ensure that the game looks acceptable for a majority of users.

I don't personally mind putting in work on quality of life stuff - for me, at least, it's actually more rewarding to see a better looking, better playing result than to add some obscure piece of content that might be really cool if only someone actually ever encounters it (see Tormuse's Atlantean Soul cradle above =P). However, I don't have an extremely clear idea of how to proceed in that regard just now.

It's certainly something that will remain near the top of my to do list, but I'll have to consider the problem and do some more thorough research on both the underlying Java utility(swing) and the general problem of view portability. If all else fails, I can add more input redundancy and allow access to the menu functions via keyboard, but of course that's just masking the problem, and I'd much rather solve it =P I'll also have to find a way to generally improve the legibility of the display text - it really does look atrocious in your screenshot.


Thanks again for all the feedback, from both of you. I've said it before, but it really is quite valuable to have additional perspectives for testing - almost none of these issues came up during my own testing due to my limited test environment and play style, so without your feedback, this stuff could have sat unnoticed indefinitely.

Edit: I've just uploaded A0.6.7, mostly with the changes relevant to Tormuse's feedback. I have not yet made any progress on MaiZure's, unfortunately.

Edit2: And now A0.6.8, addressing inventory issues and a few other minor problems I discovered.

Edit3: Killed by the final boss - damn.

Autopsy: 2019.02.04.23.09.44
Killed by lemurian necrocrat on level 14
Kills:
75x giant red rat
20x cave worm
10x grave worm
38x tomb serpent
9x a swarm of tiny scarabs
5x albino tiger
15x mummified swordsman
1x mummified noble
2x spectral remnant
--- End code ---

Sereg:
I've refactored the underlying console utility to compress the screen horizontally and increase the font slightly. I've also increased the minimum screen size, removed the medium size, and made maximum the default.

Hopefully this will make the larger text screens more legible.

Edit: As of Alpha 0.7.0, I offer a compressed display mode which hides the inventory and equipment panels and redirects messages to the info panel, allowing for a much larger representation of the game state at any given time. Inventory and equipment can still be accessed and now behave like more traditional roguelike interfaces.

I still have no idea why MaiZure's menu bar is not appearing, but I'll address what I can for now.

Edit: A0.7.1 is up, expanding autopsy files and adding info windows for inventory and equipment screens in compression mode.

...and I died again: Here's the improved autopsy:

Autopsy: 2019.02.06.20.41.19

Killed by lemurian necrocrat on level 14

Total XP: 28905

Equipped Items:
an ancient falchion (+2, 4d6+4) [Moderately Damaged]
<no item equipped>
an Atlantean torch <fire water:61%>
a Lemurian noble cuirass [Moderately Damaged]
an amulet of precision

Carried Items:
<70> an ancient khopesh (+3, 2d8+2) [Undamaged]
<25> an oil lamp <no fuel>
<35> an Atlantean torch <no fuel>
<125> a Lemurian noble cuirass [Slightly Damaged]
<2> an ancestral pendant
<3> an amulet of focus
<50> 10x flask [sacred oil] (100%)
<10> 2x flask [fire water] (70%)

Kills:
63x giant red rat
15x cave worm
15x grave worm
32x tomb serpent
16x swarm of tiny scarabs
6x albino tiger
17x mummified swordsman
4x mummified noble
2x spectral remnant

[checksum: 61dfe30c]
--- End code ---

Tormuse:
(Disclaimer:  I was just playing with version 0.6.5 because I wanted to finish the game I was playing)

Anyway, I just finished a game in which I died...  I think?  It just suddenly dumped me to the desktop without any message.  I thought it crashed, but then I saw the autopsy file, which I'll post the contents of here:

Spoiler: Autopsy (click to show/hide)Autopsy: 2019.02.07.00.04.59
Killed by viridian aura on level 10
Kills:
57x giant red rat
21x cave worm
8x grave worm
21x tomb serpent
4x a swarm of tiny scarabs
3x albino tiger
7x mummified swordsman
1x mummified noble
1x viridian aura

I guess I got killed by a Viridian aura?  I caught a glimpse of it just before the end; if that's what killed me, then they do an awful lot of damage, considering I was at full health and wearing an ancient chestplate.  (Maybe they don't do physical damage?)  I had encountered one earlier and dispatched it with no problems; I didn't realize they were so dangerous that they could one-shot me!  :|

Anyway, I took some notes...

Fire water gives the message that it's not compatible with my lamp and then my lamp percentage froze at 55%.  My lamp percentage ceased to tick down for the rest of the game.

At one point, I dropped some flasks of Lemurian sacred oil on the floor of a treasure room to make room for more inventory and they vanished from the ground.

"You start to see red."  What?  What's going on?  Genuinely confused.  It did this without any input from me while the game was minimized, so it wasn't based on anything I did.

When there's a "pile of items," is there a way to see what items are there and choose which items to pick up from the pile individually?

You said that using "T" to activate "targeting" mode lets you identify terrain features, but it only identifies the names of enemies, not for example, doors, chests, items, etc.

I encountered a door which, when I tried to "apply" it, it alternated between saying "You fail to close the door" and "You fail to open the door" a dozen times before finally saying "The door swings open."  It seems to do this for any unlocked door.

Is there a way to look up past messages in the message history?

On a couple of occassions, sudden static effects appeared on screen.  Now, I'm wondering if that, along with the "red screen" effect are insanity effects?  Probably the perspective shift too?  Although it still did a perspective shift after my sanity level was returned to "stable."

At one point, I removed my "Lemurian noble cuirass" to put on my "Atlantean Soul cradle," and it looks like the cuirass vanished!  :(  (Probably because my inventory was too full to accommodate it)  I expected it to be dropped, but it didn't appear on the ground either.

That's all I've got right now.  I'll give the new version a try.  :)

Sereg:

--- Quote from: Tormuse on February 06, 2019, 22:33 ---
Anyway, I just finished a game in which I died...  I think?  It just suddenly dumped me to the desktop without any message. 
--- End quote ---

Hmm, yes, currently I don't provide a message on death - I had better update that. I'm used to it since I've been developing it, but it's probably rather jarring for people used to proper games.



--- Quote from: Tormuse on February 06, 2019, 22:33 ---I guess I got killed by a Viridian aura?  I caught a glimpse of it just before the end; if that's what killed me, then they do an awful lot of damage, considering I was at full health and wearing an ancient chestplate.  (Maybe they don't do physical damage?)  I had encountered one earlier and dispatched it with no problems; I didn't realize they were so dangerous that they could one-shot me!  :|
--- End quote ---

Yep, those are bad. They're actually sort of a placeholder relic from the early days of the game when I was testing monsters, and I haven't replaced them with anything more appropriate yet. They are meant to be extremely rare - I haven't seen one myself in quite a long time now. You're quite a lucky guy to have found two in one session!



--- Quote from: Tormuse on February 06, 2019, 22:33 ---Fire water gives the message that it's not compatible with my lamp and then my lamp percentage froze at 55%.  My lamp percentage ceased to tick down for the rest of the game.
--- End quote ---

It's meant to be incompatible - it's not meant to provide infinite fuel =P I'll have to see why that's happening.


--- Quote from: Tormuse on February 06, 2019, 22:33 ---At one point, I dropped some flasks of Lemurian sacred oil on the floor of a treasure room to make room for more inventory and they vanished from the ground.
--- End quote ---

Did they appear on the ground at any point prior to vanishing? Did they drop to the same tile as an existing item?


--- Quote from: Tormuse on February 06, 2019, 22:33 ---"You start to see red."  What?  What's going on?  Genuinely confused.  It did this without any input from me while the game was minimized, so it wasn't based on anything I did.
--- End quote ---

Are you alright, my friend? Perhaps you should see a mental health specialist...


--- Quote from: Tormuse on February 06, 2019, 22:33 ---When there's a "pile of items," is there a way to see what items are there and choose which items to pick up from the pile individually?
--- End quote ---

Currently not. This is definitely on the to-do list, but I haven't got around to it yet. It's a pretty high priority QOL feature though, so expect it (and drop-all, etc.) soon.


--- Quote from: Tormuse on February 06, 2019, 22:33 ---You said that using "T" to activate "targeting" mode lets you identify terrain features, but it only identifies the names of enemies, not for example, doors, chests, items, etc.
--- End quote ---

Terrain items appear on a different line of the info window than monster names. Is it possible you're overlooking this? If not, I'll have to check on that, too - it's not an issue I've encountered.


--- Quote from: Tormuse on February 06, 2019, 22:33 ---I encountered a door which, when I tried to "apply" it, it alternated between saying "You fail to close the door" and "You fail to open the door" a dozen times before finally saying "The door swings open."  It seems to do this for any unlocked door.
--- End quote ---

This *should* have been fixed by a patch in 0.6.7. If not, let me know and I'll open it back up for investigation.


--- Quote from: Tormuse on February 06, 2019, 22:33 ---Is there a way to look up past messages in the message history?
--- End quote ---

Not yet, this is another one on the to-do list.


--- Quote from: Tormuse on February 06, 2019, 22:33 ---On a couple of occassions, sudden static effects appeared on screen.  Now, I'm wondering if that, along with the "red screen" effect are insanity effects?  Probably the perspective shift too?  Although it still did a perspective shift after my sanity level was returned to "stable."
--- End quote ---

Hmm, you really *do* need to see a mental health professional, if you claim to be seeing such unbelievable things in my well-written game. I refuse to believe the screen would suddenly exhibit such disconcerting effects... (Yep, that's your sanity at work. At stable, it's very rare for such things to happen, but anywhere below lucid you might see some odd things... Ever play the old Gamecube game Eternal Darkness? That's the effect I'm going for with this system.)


--- Quote from: Tormuse on February 06, 2019, 22:33 ---At one point, I removed my "Lemurian noble cuirass" to put on my "Atlantean Soul cradle," and it looks like the cuirass vanished!  :(  (Probably because my inventory was too full to accommodate it)  I expected it to be dropped, but it didn't appear on the ground either.
--- End quote ---

Removing an item that won't fit in your inventory will indeed drop it on the ground, and it should also send you a message telling you that. If you aren't getting the message, that's a problem, and if the item is additionally not actually on the ground, that's a much bigger problem. I'll do some digging and see if I can figure out why that might be happening.

At any point during your testing, did an error file appear in your save directory? If this ever does happens, please do pass it on to me, as they'll give me an idea where to start looking for problems - especially if you can describe what happened when the error occurred.

In any case, thanks for playing, and thanks for all of the feedback. I'll do my best to resolve the known issues, track down the unknown ones, and add the requested features (trust me, I want to see what's in a floor pile too! just not enough to prioritize it over trying to improve the legibility of the interface over the last few days).
[/quote]

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