Development Update

[getter77]

Great to hear that you are planning for extensive Q/A, testing, etc. So many PC games, often to tragic consequences, try to skip that step heading out of the starting gate and we've all seen what tends to happen to the unlucky ones.

[BlueSalamander]

Here's the latest update:

-added the new text font
-added the new sprite for braziers.
-added new land animations (bugs and butterflies)
-added a balor to one of the later encounters.
-added code for the AI to dispel Silence areas if this is to its advantage.
-added code so that archers/casters would rather shoot/cast damage spells on non-sleeping creatures (sleeping creatures wake up when hit)
-fixed a bug when an archer shoots a sleep arrow during a ready versus spell action
-played through the demo again, fixed a string of minor problems.

Over and getter77 - Are you guys interested in playtesting the game?

Meanwhile, I've got my hands on Neverwinter 2 Storm of Zehir, will try to write a review one of these days.

[Over]

What a coincidence. Today is my birthday and you're proposing to playtest the demo I would be glad to help, playing the game and reporting any bugs or balance problems.

[getter77]

I've never done any beta testing for a commerical project before, but I'd also be happy to help if you'd have me. I would hope to learn much from the experience as I do aim to break into the videogame industry once I've developed a proper skillset and experience. Unemployment tends to result in bouts of time to throw at one venture or another afterall.

Also good to see another bit of progress! Especially like the AI's decision weighing regarding sleep---bold move that puts you at odds with just about any other RPG I can think of.

Happy Birthday Over!

[BlueSalamander]

Great. Please hold on a few days so that I can at least put in the main title picture. Also, I will set up a private forum area for play testers so we can avoid revealing the game's entire plot on public forums.

Happy (belated) birthday Over, I also had my birthday earlier this month.

[getter77]

Sounds like a good plan. We'll give it our best shot!

[Over]

I'm looking forward to it.

[Lurking Grue]

Been following your progress for quite some time and I got to say that I'm really impressed by the thought you've put into this game and I am very much looking forward to the eventual release. Also two thumbs up for your frequent development updates, any tidbit of info on the game is very much appreciated.

Good to hear you've changed the font, because that was one of my gripes (well, my only gripe, really) when looking at the screenshots. The old font was too blocky and, er, low res console game like, IMO. Hopefully you will not be using all caps with your new font - using only caps makes the text tiresome to read and it looks quite terrible, IMHO. Other than that, I have no other critisism towards the game's graphics, the game looks really, really good. Speaking of graphics, can the game be played in a window?

Keep up the good work!

P.S. If you need more beta testers, I'd be glad to help.

[BlueSalamander]

Hello and welcome to the forums, Lurking Grue.

Hopefully you will not be using all caps with your new font

The new font is all capitals currently. It's not blocky, but it's still pixelated, as any graphic is when brought to a very low resolution.
I'm not against using lower case (most dialogues are already stored with lower case plus upper case in the scripts), but it's going to be additional work. I'll post some screenshots with the new font and we can discuss whether lower case is needed. Personally, I'm not bothered by the all-upper-case font when playing the old Gold Box games.

can the game be played in a window?

Yes and there are two available window sizes. There's also a setting for the mouse cursor (whether it's bound to the window's edge or not).

[Lurking Grue]

I'm not against using lower case (most dialogues are already stored with lower case plus upper case in the scripts), but it's going to be additional work. I'll post some screenshots with the new font and we can discuss whether lower case is needed. Personally, I'm not bothered by the all-upper-case font when playing the old Gold Box games.

Yeah, after posting I realized, that changing the text in the game to lower case might require too much additional work and that's not really worth it. It's not a big issue, really, and I don't want to see any delays due to that. Also, I might have written my opinion a bit clumsily in my previous post. Apologies, didn't mean to sound harsh. (Note: English is not my first language, so sometimes I inadvertly say/write things a bit too bluntly.)

can the game be played in a window?

Yes and there are two available window sizes. There's also a setting for the mouse cursor (whether it's bound to the window's edge or not).

Excellent!