Silver Blades

[Dinonykos]

Both the wyvern and the dragon are really beautiful. SilentThief is right concerning the "dinosaurish way". But this makes the look more realistic!

[manikus]

Originally Posted by Uatu Wow! Looks very nice, I like this one a lot! (I guess it seems a bit small for an adult, though...)

You did click on the image, didn't you? J/K

I was using the chart you made and trying to factor in the way it was standing, etc. AND the fact that it might be too big to use (I don't think it's usable in outdoor combat, but I haven't tried that out yet).

[manikus]

Originally Posted by Dinonykos Both the wyvern and the dragon are really beautiful. SilentThief is right concerning the "dinosaurish way". But this makes the look more realistic!

Thanks.
I think it fits with my (newer) stuff. You can certainly tell which icons I do by hand and which I do in a 3D program.

[Uatu]

Doh! It's huge! (I take back the comment about it being a bit small )

Yeah, not sure what happens with huge icons outdoors - they may simply get stuck somewhere and not be able to fight... I think icons of this scale may be confined to indoors (with large rooms readied for them )

[manikus]

I think you are right, though it is conceivable to make one so large that it can't be placed in an outdoor combat, but that would be so labor consuming (for the computer) that it might just freeze everything up. Galactus anyone?

[Dinonykos]

What I do not like concerning such big icons is that they still are rectangle-shaped. You can attack squares that are completely transparent and nevertheless hit the monster. That is quite strange...

[manikus]

I agree with this as well. I have seen other systems that allow designers to determine where on an icon/sprite the PC can hit/not move through/etc.

In my dreams, I envision something like the overland map - you click on 16x16 squares to determine whether or not it can be moved through - if it can't be moved through, it can be hit, or something like that.

If only I were a programmer...

[Dinonykos]

Yup, that would be perfect. But this is certainly a minor issue.

Well, I am leaving the combat screen out of my current adventure anyway. Seems my scripts for an event-driven combat work quite well so far... . One reason why I also want to avoid the normal combat mode is that things like taking captives or showing chivalry cannot be easily included.

[manikus]

This sounds cooler each time you talk about it, Dinonykos.
The only drawback I foresee, is that we won't get to see your cool icons in action.

[Dinonykos]

I think of doing two adventures in the same world: One more Adventure-like thing without deadly combats and four certain characters, and as a spin-off a "real" RPG in which you can make your own party and with combats and all. Same world, similar levels, more combats, less diplomacy and riddles...

Since there are still some bugs to be solved for the combat mode, I guess this proceeding is reasonable. Furthermore, the adventure should also be suitable for young people, therefor I want no killing in there...