Manikus' Monks

[manikus]

Originally Posted by Funky Dynamite Yeah, I was going to ask about GPDL. Do you use it through DC or what?

Yes. You can call it with the Logic Block event. Also, it's used by DC for all of the magic, so you've used it and didn't even know.

[Arcalian]

As someone who remembers the Gold Box games with real fondness, and who messed around with FRUA though never actually completed a dungeon back in the day when systems still supported it normally, I must say I am really excited to find your site and the associated ones for Dungeon Craft.

I can't really tinker with it myself at this point but when it's done and some quests/games/mods are up and running I certainly hope to play them!

Since the days when Gold Box games have lapsed I've resorted to playing stuff like the Baldur's Gate Bhaalspawn trilogy (BG, SOA, TOB) and while I do love those games, sometimes I want "the classics" back, so to speak.

One of the things I really enjoyed about the Gold Box games that the BG saga missed out on at least in part, is that you were allowed to create a full team of six; but then the game writers threw in one or two NPCs who could also join your team. That was lovely; sort of like having your cake and eating it too. From the screenshots over at Cocoaspud's site I can see the team-of-six concept is intact, but I'm wondering how many "extra NPC" slots there are, if any, or is that left up to the individual game modder?

Also, assuming that NPCs are included, do you have to have a paladin to control them or would they be PC controllable regardless, which is especially useful for those of us who sometimes like to play more nefarious types? Or, again, is that an individual modder decision?

Thanks for putting up with my quetsions and I hope you have a good holiday season.

[manikus]

Welcome to Dungeon Craft.

If you've been to the Official site, there is a link in the left menu to "Designs to Play". There are a few there, certainly enough to give you a taste of DC.

In Dungeon Craft, you can have up to 8 members in your party. The default for the designer is to have 6 PCs (allowing 2 NPCs), but this may be raised or lowered. I know there are several of us talking about using 4 PC limits in our designs, mostly so we can have up to 4 NPCs. Just like in FRUA and the other Gold Box games, to control NPCs a paladin is required in the party. This is still hard-coded at this time, though a designer can change aspects of a Paladin (including renaming them or allowing different alignments).

As for putting up with questions... it's not a problem at all. The more questions the better.

[Arcalian]

Oh....but I thought Dungeon Craft wasn't finished yet? And that those designs were just like, beta testing for people who had Frua or something? *scratch head*

[manikus]

Dungeon Craft is not completed yet, that is true, but it's usable. Not all magic is working yet and the combat AI is very limited, but everything else works discounting bugs of course.

The reason the project is not listed as being at 1.0 is b/c we've not yet duplicated everything in FRUA which is one of the main goals of our project.

[Arcalian]

Ahhh yeah that's what I thought. When it does reach version 1.0, I'll be there to play it. And in the meantime I'll be watching these threads as you guys talk about new walls and monster sprites and stuff.

[Ziroc]

Welcome to the Forums Arcalian! Good to see another Goldboxer! DC Rocks, and in time, it'll be even better with tons of Artwork--we have some kick ass Artists here (and coders)!!

[manikus]

Speaking of kick ass artists, nice to see you in the DC part of the forums, Ziroc. When can we expect some more awesome artwork from you?

[Arcalian]

Ziroc: Thank you! Yes, I remember pretty much all the GoldBox games. Never beat Radiance or Azure Bonds (Radiance is just plain hard to even GET anywhere in!) But did beat Silver Blades (too bad I missed the poll on that one), Pools of Darkness, the Krynn Trilogy (really loved the moons-affect-mage-powers concept), and the two Savage Frontier games. I tinkered around with FRUA (did I mention I loved creating NPCs for the party?) but never finished my first dungeon, not patient enough. I don't know how Manikus et al do it!

Manikus: I see from CocoaSpud's site that Direct X 7 is required. I also see there is a seperate download to see if you have all the stuff up to spec for DC. Can I safely assume that since my current computer was bought just before the changeover from XP to Vista that it's up to snuff in that department? I mean, I've got stuff like COH and the BG saga on this thing, I can only assume it can handle DC! n:

[manikus]

Originally Posted by Arcalian Manikus: I see from CocoaSpud's site that Direct X 7 is required. I also see there is a seperate download to see if you have all the stuff up to spec for DC. Can I safely assume that since my current computer was bought just before the changeover from XP to Vista that it's up to snuff in that department? I mean, I've got stuff like COH and the BG saga on this thing, I can only assume it can handle DC! n:

I would assume so, since DX7 shipped on Windows '95 machines. But, if you want to be sure, from the command line type "dxdiag" (without the quotes) to start the DirectX diagnostics tool. It should tell in the tab that appears by default when the program starts.