New Art for default DC

[Dinonykos]

Since I decided to use an event-based combat system, I did a lot of sprites during the last weeks. The creature in the center is what I would call an inseurypteride (terrestrial eurypteridoid-insectoid creature).
The guys on the right remind me of those old pseudo 3D games Dungeon Master and especially Eye of the Beholder (probably because of their formation, and because they are four). I hope it's okay to put these pics into this thread since it may not be very useful for the default art...

[Dinonykos]

Originally Posted by Uatu My favorite is the last picture (barbarians?) - their beards and all make a very nice scene.

I would probably expose too much of the story if I explain those guys, but they should indeed resemble "typical" barbarians or berserks.

[manikus]

Very nice work. I think this is as good a thread as any to post them in. It puts them all in one place, and makes it easier for me to track down what I might want to add to the default DC package.

[Uatu]

Lots of nice sprites there! Sprites are a lot of work! (You are right, the last sprite does look a bit Eye of the Beholder-ish... ) Your combat system sounds very interesting, Dinonykos...

[Dinonykos]

Originally Posted by Uatu Lots of nice sprites there! Sprites are a lot of work! (You are right, the last sprite does look a bit Eye of the Beholder-ish... )

A friend from school played EoB very frequently and I remember that there were some undeads with armors that had some "Samurai-elements". Though I also liked EoB somewhat (especially the looks), I always prefered RPGs where you have time to think before attacking/defending/spell casting/fleeing...

Originally Posted by Uatu Your combat system sounds very interesting, Dinonykos...

Don't expect too much.
So far, it is a combination of a few Logic-Blocks (and text events). It works like this:
Player is asked whether he wants to attack "berserk-style", normal or "defensive-style".
Party's total Thaco is checked, a random value is substracted (and a bonus or malus depending on the chosen attack style).
If Thaco is lower/equal than a specific value for the opponents, the party wins one round. If "berserk-style" (Thaco is reduced) was chosen, the party members lose a random amount of HP based on the specific AC.
If Thaco is higher than a specific value, the party members lose random amount of HP based on the specific AC. If one party member dies, the battle is automatically lost.
The number of rounds varies with the specific monsters. I thought of including a HP-system for the monsters, but that is too complicated for me right now...
After a lost or won battle, the party (pre-generated characters) is shown either happy or sad and beaten...

[manikus]

This sounds awesome, Dinonykos. If you get the chance, could you post an example of the code used for the combat? Not anything giving your story away, just something that will show other people how to properly set the logic blocks? Maybe it could be a little tutorial that you release around the time that you are releasing the mod...

[Dinonykos]

Since I don't know if the mod will ever be finished, I should post one example. But that will need some time...
To be honest, so far only one encounter works absolutely like I planned, because I repeatedly make mistakes in the GPDL scripts. Furthermore, I steadily confuse the false/true-chains at the end of the logic blocks...
Maybe writing a kind of tutorial will help me avoiding mistakes...

[manikus]

This is exactly why I would love it if you did a tutorial. I pretty much leave logic block and GPDL scripts out of my designs, because I'm always messing them up.

Besides this, tutorials will allow more people to do what we know how to do (or in this case, don't know how to so) and hopefully increase the number of people usinf DC and rhe numbe of designs.

[Uatu]

Hmm - sounds pretty difficult! But it would be fun to try it out. The party ending up happy or sad and beaten up is kind of funny, too

[manikus]

I'm thinking about combining the technique of multiple options before a combat with traditional combat, a la the Goldbox games.

You come upon a group of creatures who are shown with a sprite, and given the options of talk, flee, ignore, attack, etc. Depending on the player's choice and the particular event, various things could happen, including, but not limited to, combat.