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VD's sekret projekt - the first screen evar!

corvax

Augur
Joined
Jul 13, 2004
Messages
731
we're gonna party like it's 1995!

so far it looks great. don't even mind the details (rocks, grass color etc.). it's not like someone's gonna play this game because of graphics
 

mathboy

Liturgist
Joined
Feb 21, 2004
Messages
666
Looks good, but I made a few improvements to the interface:

Of course all the text is one of the fonts in the lower left box.

EDIT: picture removed as it was fucking up the thread. If you want to post pictures, reduce the size a bit - VD

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v170/ ... alogue.jpg
EDIT: PICTURE NOW INCLUDED AS A LINK - mathboy
 
Self-Ejected

dojoteef

Self-Ejected
Joined
Oct 26, 2004
Messages
970
DarkSign, while I would like to take credit for that, I think the credit needs to go to RGE. He mentioned it first. I was just reiterating the portrait idea.
 

Vykromond

Scholar
Joined
Mar 9, 2005
Messages
341
Vault Dweller, I think you should separate the more 'graphics whorey' comments from ones that are concerned about your specific use of some graphics options that can easily be improved. For instance, in your position I would disregard Kamaz's post (because seriously, what the hell?), but Fez's points about fixing the grass and the walls, for instance, are something you should take into consideration. It wouldn't take that long to fix that sort of thing, and it's extremely important for the graphical atmosphere -> suspension of disbelief -> quality-ness.
 

Volourn

Pretty Princess
Pretty Princess Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Mar 10, 2003
Messages
24,924
"It wouldn't take that long to fix that sort of thing"

Watch out! Professional devs hate that and now that VD is all professional, you are asking for an ass kicking!

Anyways, I agree with VD, graphic whores can buy the games form the Evil Publishers tm.
 

Kthan75

Liturgist
Joined
Mar 6, 2005
Messages
410
Location
Bucharest
Codex 2012 Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2
Nice work, VD!

I don't give a shit about the graphics, I was actually expecting something worse.

I don't want to repeat what other already said, but I have to insist on that cursor, it looks like it comes from a bad windows scheme, doesn't really help immersion.
Other than that, keep up the good work. How many hours of gameplay?
 

Sarvis

Erudite
Joined
Aug 5, 2004
Messages
5,050
Location
Buffalo, NY
Saint_Proverbius said:
Sarvis said:
Looks ok, take one lesson from Bioware though: Make it so you can press 1-9 to select a dialog option.

Umm.. BioWare didn't come up with that. CRPGs have done that since the 1980s. It's actually a throw back to pre-mouse days.

Exitium said:
I wonder if it would be possible for you to add some sort of faux overlay lighting, like Fallout and Diablo had. That would lend plenty of immersion to the game, not to mention improve the graphical effect by a lot. The game looks very 'fake' the way it looks right now.

Lighting would go a long way, but I'm not sure how you've done the tile system, VD.

Err... maybe. I haven't seen it very often though, ToEE didn't do it, Fallout didn't do it, and VD doesn't seem to be doing it.

Just saying he should, who actually came up with the idea first is hardly important.
 

almondblight

Arcane
Joined
Aug 10, 2004
Messages
2,549
Vykromond said:
For instance, in your position I would disregard Kamaz's post (because seriously, what the hell?), but Fez's points about fixing the grass and the walls, for instance, are something you should take into consideration. It wouldn't take that long to fix that sort of thing, and it's extremely important for the graphical atmosphere -> suspension of disbelief -> quality-ness.

Yeah, I also agree with Fez's suggestions. The overall graphics engine looks good, but some of the implementaation seems a bit antiseptic. I'd rather something hand drawn that has a feeling to it than something 3D and lifeless. The stone floor in the upper right looks real nice, the green sand, not so much. But I assume at this point a lot of the graphics are place holders so I'm not too concerned.

Shagnak said:
Hopefully the finished shebang will give Mr Vogel a run for his money.

Yeah, especially if he makes a mac version.

Vault Dweller said:
Also, in regard to the question about the persuasion option in the dialogue. Everything has consequences and no option is given for purely cosmetic reasons. If you request a bill to be send to the inn, the bill would show up there, and you'll have an option to pay if you want to. If you don't, the loremaster will remember that when you show up next time and refuse his services unless you pay the bill. Simple, but effective.

Just a small thing, but I'd rather the persuasion option be something like putting it on a tab that I can pay later rather than giving me the option of skipping of without paying it for a while. You get the same result but if I'm roleplaying a law abiding citizen skipping out on a bill seems a bit out of character.

Also, streetwise and trading seem to both lead to a lower price. Am I misreading what streetwise does? Having two dialogue options giving you the same thing seems a bit redundant.

Loremaster Feng sounds like an infomercial. Not sure if that's intentional or not.

The gold boxes around the interface look a bit stale, and I think the background texture should be a bit more pronounced. Might just be my aesthetic sense though. I like the icons you have, though, and don't think you should change them. Maybe take mathboy's suggestions into account, they make the game a bit more visually interesting. Also, Either a portrait or the in game graphic of Loremaster Feng in the dialogue window might be nice. You could save the portraits for the important characters.

All in all it looks promising, hope to see more.
 

Human Shield

Augur
Joined
Sep 7, 2003
Messages
2,027
Location
VA, USA
I'm an animation and drawings whore. I liked Darklands and X-COM animation and hand-drawed pictures just fine but couldn't get into Wasteland's stick people teleporting block by block.
 

Mimir

Novice
Joined
Feb 7, 2005
Messages
20
That looks pretty good. The graphics of the game world do their job well enough without getting in the way, so I have no problem with them. The dialogue interface looks decent, but could use a little cleaning up. It really looks better with something in front of all of the dialogue options to help separate them more, preferrably numbers that you can use to select dialogue options using the keyboard. A portrait for the person you are talking to would be really cool, but it would probably be way too much work to give everyone a portrait.
Sarvis said:
Err... maybe. I haven't seen it very often though, ToEE didn't do it, Fallout didn't do it, and VD doesn't seem to be doing it.

Just saying he should, who actually came up with the idea first is hardly important.
Actually, Fallout does allow you to select dialogue options using numbers; Fallout just doesn't number the options for you, you have to figure it out yourself.
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,024
Vykromond said:
Vault Dweller, I think you should separate the more 'graphics whorey' comments from ones that are concerned about your specific use of some graphics options that can easily be improved. For instance, in your position I would disregard Kamaz's post (because seriously, what the hell?), but Fez's points about fixing the grass and the walls, for instance, are something you should take into consideration. It wouldn't take that long to fix that sort of thing, and it's extremely important for the graphical atmosphere -> suspension of disbelief -> quality-ness.
No arguing here. Most people, including Fez, made a lot of good points and suggestions. The graphics whore comment was directed at people like Kamaz and some others who were genuinely surprised that the graphics aren't up to the latest standards. It's a small indie project, duh!

Anyway, most of the stuff mentioned here will be fixed. It's a work in progress. We'll try to add the portraits.

Trash said:
Icons and dialogue screen look good. Weapons look very good. Do we get to see different weapons/armor on our npc?
Yes, there are 8 weapon classes and 4 armor classes. All items within a class look alike when equipped though, i.e. a character with a 2h sword looks the same as a character with a short sword.

Walls seem a bit generic and samey. How about some diversity in the textures (moss, missing stones, different colored stones, etc)
We already have that. We have walls with cracks, decorations, torches, windows, carpets (inside), etc.

Saran said:
Nah, im not a graphics whore and i doubt most of the others that raised a point about the graphics are either.

Its just that when you get used to 3d its very hard to go back...
Well....that's what being a graphics whore is all about :wink:

your probably thinking "What about fallout?" , the thing is fallout had a lot of attention to detail, the Gui, the perk pictures and the animations all had a lot of character, while your game looks a lot like the first Age Of Empires...
To all the people who compared our game to Fallout. I'm flattered that you thought that I can do a similar looking game, I really am. However, if you think about it, you'd realize how ridiculous such a comparison is.

And another edit: If you are going to sell it online, is there anychance you could use a security key...
It's too early to talk about that, but we'll keep that in mind. I'm pretty sure that won't be a problem.

dojoteef said:
That being said, it would be nice to be able to see the character that you are speaking to. So either go for some transparancy or make character portraits. Personally I think I'd rather see character portraits because they can bring in extra detail that you otherwise wouldn't be able to see with a tiny little onscreen character.
Alright, the people have spoken. There will be portraits.

almondblight said:
Just a small thing, but I'd rather the persuasion option be something like putting it on a tab that I can pay later rather than giving me the option of skipping of without paying it for a while. You get the same result but if I'm roleplaying a law abiding citizen skipping out on a bill seems a bit out of character.
Don't really see a problem here. Your bill is sent at the inn. If you are a law abiding citizen, just pay it when it arrives or when you have enough money or never. Your choice because its teh roel-playing gaem!!!

Also, streetwise and trading seem to both lead to a lower price. Am I misreading what streetwise does? Having two dialogue options giving you the same thing seems a bit redundant.
Streetwise kicks in when someone tries to take advantage of you, and considering the setting, many people would. In some cases, streetwise leads to the same results as other skills, in some not. It does not merely duplicate trading, and trading is a very useful (and entertaining) skill in the game.

Walks said:
What made you decide to go with the moron indicators ([trading], [persuasion], etc.)?
It's an issue to be discussed. I used that as a reminder for myself, and I can easily disable them. I started a discussion some time ago, but nobody felt very strongly about that. Here is the thread http://www.rpgcodex.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=5904

Anyway, what do you guys think of the moron indicators?

Surlent said:
Did you start the programming from scratch and what language you use ?
I didn't program the engine, I'm the designer (dialogues, setting, and gameplay are my domain). I'll let the engine programmer who should drop by shortly to say hi to answer the engine-related questions. He did design the engine just for this project though.
 
Self-Ejected

dojoteef

Self-Ejected
Joined
Oct 26, 2004
Messages
970
Personally I think the moron indicators are actually useful. They let people know that the skills they are investing points in are actually being used.
 

Sarkile

Magister
Patron
Joined
Aug 13, 2003
Messages
1,380
Moron indicators aren't always as gay as they were in Lionheart. I liked how they were handled in ToEE, and how it looks like it's handled in your game. That way it shows you the effects of pumping up your different skills.
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,024
I agree. The problem with Lionheart's indicators was that they showed the outcome of a line, i.e. this line leads to combat, this line leads to a quest, etc. I don't see anything wrong in showing which skill is working for you right now, especially since the presence of an indicator doesn't mean that you automatically pass the check. Other conditions may kick in. For example, you can claim that you are a noble using persuasion, but may fail a dresscode check.
 
Joined
Nov 5, 2002
Messages
2,443
Location
The Lone Star State
Yeah, agreed. I just think it's fun to pester the people who throw a hissy fit when you call them moron indicators, like that Scorpion fellow or whatever from a while back. :lol:

They're okay, though, as long as they don't give away too much. If it's your way of saying "yes, computer, I plan on using my trading skill this time" it's okay. If the computer is telling you "this is naughty, he's going to get really angry if you say this" it's not.
 

Ortchel

Liturgist
Joined
Apr 11, 2004
Messages
830
Xemous: I love you.

Vault Dweller: I like the weapon graphics. The presentation is nice and clear, which is definitely the way to go if you're working in 2D. The dialogue appears more than sufficient, feels professional.

It looks very competent, I'll be interested to see the finished product.
 

Major_Blackhart

Codexia Lord Sodom
Patron
Joined
Dec 5, 2002
Messages
18,303
Location
Jersey for now
VD, I am confident this game will rock. Also if possible, could we have a few more screens of the dialogue, and maybe one of combat if you're that far along?
 

Dhruin

Liturgist
Joined
Aug 15, 2003
Messages
758
I would actually prefer "moron indicators". As the others have said, it lets you know that all those skills you have invested in might be useful. More feedback is almost always better than less, leaving interface design issues aside.
 

Nick

Iron Tower Studio
Developer
Joined
Apr 21, 2004
Messages
317
Location
Over the hills and far away
Hello.
I'm a programmer on this project, and I wanted to thank those who liked
the screen and showed their support. The screen represents a very early
stage, obviously, and most of the suggestion like transition are already
being worked on. However, we noted everything that's been said and will
do our best to improve every visual aspect of the game.

almondblight wrote:
"Yeah, I also agree with Fez's suggestions. The overall graphics engine looks good, but some of the implementaation seems a bit antiseptic. I'd rather something hand drawn that has a feeling to it than something 3D and lifeless. The stone floor in the upper right looks real nice, the green sand, not so much. But I assume at this point a lot of the graphics are place holders so I'm not too concerned."
Exactly.

Human Shield wrote:
"I'm an animation and drawings whore. I liked Darklands and X-COM animation and hand-drawed pictures just fine but couldn't get into Wasteland's stick people teleporting block by block."
Our characters are animated, I never liked teleporting too much.

I've spotted many interesting questions and suggestions here. But, unfortunately, I can't reply right now.
I'll be back.
 

Saint_Proverbius

Administrator
Staff Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2002
Messages
11,476
Location
Behind you.
Sarvis said:
Err... maybe. I haven't seen it very often though, ToEE didn't do it, Fallout didn't do it, and VD doesn't seem to be doing it.

Fallout most certainly did do it. I'm not sure about ToEE, since I always clicked on the replies in ToEE, but you can use the numberpad to navigate dialogue in Fallout. I know that for a fact, because it's how you make lots of money gambling while you're in the bathroom taking a dump.
 

Andyman Messiah

Mr. Ed-ucated
Joined
Jan 27, 2004
Messages
9,933
Location
Narnia
Looking good, VD!

Graphics are okay in my opinion. Seeing as this is going to be an RPG, I don't think über maximus particle effects is going to matter too much. As long as it's functionable and makes the player able to tell the grass from the stone wall, it fine. I'm not particularly discriminating.

Dialogue looks great with the different dialogue choices and the skill checks. I like it. More please.

As for the bad... Well, I think the dialogue window takes up a bit too much place so some other way of seeing who you talk to, getting into perspective you know, would be a good thing. Portraits! Yay! :wink:
 

Saran

Scholar
Joined
Mar 8, 2005
Messages
468
Location
Goatse Mans Anal Cavity
:lol:

Alright, maybe im a bit of a graphics whore, but as you said its an independently developed game.

But when i said i look forward to more, i mean it, when it comes down to playing nothing but tactical FPS's and repetitive, by the numbers RTS's with the latest "OMFGZ!" graphics or a game with some soul in it, ill take the FP.....um, the indie CRPG.

Yes, im not a graphics whore at all, no sir. :oops: :P

Edit: ohh, and shame on you for cutting out the rest of my post. :P

I made it quite clear that 2D still kicks arse, its just that it needs a little bit of attention to detail, nothing more, if you cant change that so be it, i just thought that i thought i should mention one problem i saw with the screenshot, apart from that ill wait and see, and if its an interesting game the graphics wont stop me from buying it, i assure you. :)
 

Lady Armageddona

Liturgist
Joined
Dec 7, 2004
Messages
180
Location
in the middle of hell
Saint_Proverbius said:
Sarvis said:
Err... maybe. I haven't seen it very often though, ToEE didn't do it, Fallout didn't do it, and VD doesn't seem to be doing it.

Fallout most certainly did do it. I'm not sure about ToEE, since I always clicked on the replies in ToEE, but you can use the numberpad to navigate dialogue in Fallout. I know that for a fact, because it's how you make lots of money gambling while you're in the bathroom taking a dump.

Fallout did do it, you could select the dialogue options with the keyboard numbers, they we just not numbered.

ToEE did do it, also, but since using them with the keyboard also switched the active chatacter I drooped it pretty fast.

I am not sure if Arcanum did it, though.
 

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