Magic & Mercenaries: The Curse of Eternal Darkness

[Grauken]

Changing the map style probably won’t happen.

For one, I have no desire to do it. But also, it would require a huge overhaul and a whole new system to implement, which would suck away time that’s going into content development.

Sure, I understand that. What about an option to shut off either or both of the maps (the full overview and the mini-map) at the start of the game and lock it in to a save game once you've started so that you can only change it again if you start a new game?

 

[ProphetSword]

While I can understand the desire to turn off the mini-map that is always on screen, I’m not sure why you would want to lock out the option to open it again during the game. I mean, I suppose I could do something like that, but I’m trying to understand why it wouldn’t be okay to just turn it off and not use it?

The small mini-map doesn’t show much more than your immediate surroundings. It’s not like you can use it to see what’s far away from you.

 

[Grauken]

While I can understand the desire to turn off the mini-map that is always on screen, I’m not sure why you would want to lock out the option to open it again during the game. I mean, I suppose I could do something like that, but I’m trying to understand why it wouldn’t be okay to just turn it off and not use it?

The small mini-map doesn’t show much more than your immediate surroundings. It’s not like you can use it to see what’s far away from you.

The problem with the maps in the Goldbox games has always been that they show the whole area, which completely ruins exploration for me. I rather have no map at all and make my own, than rely on a map that spoils my fun

 

[Sinatar]

Yea area view really is the pits, having a proper map that uncovers as you go would be 1000% better.

 

[ProphetSword]

The problem with the maps in the Goldbox games has always been that they show the whole area, which completely ruins exploration for me.

I don't necessarily agree with this. I've been playing the Might & Magic series recently, and using maps that reveal as you go can often make a solution obvious. For example, I recently couldn't find something I was looking for in a location, but it was easy to know that I hadn't yet checked an area to the east because it hadn't been revealed yet. Had it already been revealed, it would have made the work much more interesting; because I didn't remember everywhere I'd been.

So, for some of us the style used in the Gold-Box games is not as much of a deal breaker. Seeing everything is not always an advantage if you can't remember where you've already been. Not to mention that you can't always see the entire map at one time.

I rather have no map at all and make my own, than rely on a map that spoils my fun

Having an option to disable the maps at the beginning of the game would be fairly easy to do. If people want that, I'll put that in the game.

But, I can tell you that changing how the maps work is probably not going to happen. Despite saying I wouldn't spend time on it, I've already spent around three hours on it this weekend to see if I could find a workable solution, and I couldn't find a way to make it function based on the way that the map system works. If I figure something out, I might alter it, but I probably won't put much more work into it at this point.

 

[ProphetSword]

All that said, it was fairly easy to create a boolean to track whether maps can be activated in the game. It will likely be a setting that can be checked when starting a new game (along with difficulty level). This screenshot shows the small mini-map is not activated and what message the player sees if they try to open the larger map:

Luckily, there was already a system in place for this, as there's at least one dungeon where maps weren't available to be used. I just set it so that it could also be used globally.

 

[Grauken]

All that said, it was fairly easy to create a boolean to track whether maps can be activated in the game. It will likely be a setting that can be checked when starting a new game (along with difficulty level). This screenshot shows the small mini-map is not activated and what message the player sees if they try to open the larger map:

Luckily, there was already a system in place for this, as there's at least one dungeon where maps weren't available to be used. I just set it so that it could also be used globally.

Thanks. This will help out a lot

Btw. I was signal-boosting your game here and here. So you might have a couple more people looking forward to it now.

 

[ProphetSword]

Btw. I was signal-boosting your game here and here. So you might have a couple more people looking forward to it now.

Thanks. Much appreciated.

 

[Dark King of Krynn]

Any chance you need play-testers, ProphetSword? I'm in quarantine and I'd love a game to lose myself in

 

[ProphetSword]

Thanks for asking. Unfortunately, the game is not ready for play-testing yet. There's still plenty of work to do before it gets there. As a one-man operation, it takes a long time to create content, test it, update it and test it again. And that's between doing other things with the game (writing new code when needed, creating new art assets, etc). Hell, I haven't even started putting sound effects in the thing yet.

It'll get there, though.

 

[anvi]

I could be your UI tester.

 

[ProphetSword]

Remember that time you went into an underground dungeon and triggered a magical trap that killed most of the party except for that one guy who was damaged to within an inch of his life?

Good times...

 

[Lady Error]

Btw. I was signal-boosting your game here and here. So you might have a couple more people looking forward to it now.

You can ask Darth Roxor to repost that preview and the screenshots here in the news section - especially since it is being developed by one of our own.

A goldbox-style RPG is what many here are definitely interested in.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Btw. I was signal-boosting your game here and here. So you might have a couple more people looking forward to it now.

You can ask Darth Roxor to repost that preview and the screenshots here in the news section - especially since it is being developed by one of our own.

A goldbox-style RPG is what many here are definitely interested in.

Yeah, dude. If you want to PM me a status update on the game or something, I'll post them. Just shoot me the links and any screenshots you want on the front page. I'm down like a clown, Charile Brown.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I was thinking on the comment that explore/ map reveal as you go ruins secrets. Eh, old-schoolers mapped on graph paper as they went and would see areas they haven't explored. That'd push us to explore and find out how to get to the unexplored sections. Seems like that "fog of war" works the same for automapping in game.

 

[anvi]

How do you avoid traps? Looks pretty important.

 

[Darth Canoli]

I don't necessarily agree with this. I've been playing the Might & Magic series recently, and using maps that reveal as you go can often make a solution obvious. For example, I recently couldn't find something I was looking for in a location, but it was easy to know that I hadn't yet checked an area to the east because it hadn't been revealed yet. Had it already been revealed, it would have made the work much more interesting; because I didn't remember everywhere I'd been.

I wouldn't call that interesting, more unplayable if for some reason you drop the game for a while, that's the kind of things that make me take the game back to the beginning, sometimes over and over again and i never complete it.
And then i drop it.

An easy way to know where you didn't go, like in M&M is a gift from video gaming gods.

 

[Tweed]

Looks neato, just my kind of thing. Will it have playable kobolds?

 

[ProphetSword]

Looks neato, just my kind of thing. Will it have playable kobolds?

It will not.

 

[ProphetSword]

It's been a couple of months, so I guess it's time to post an obligatory screenshot to show that the game is still in development, just so nobody starts to believe it's vaporware...

 

[ProphetSword]

I just realized I haven't posted a screenshot of combat in a long time. Here's a screenshot I took today from an area I'm currently working on...

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Skeletons, zombies, or wights?

 

[Dorateen]

They've the look of level-draining undead to me. Better burn 'em with fire just to be safe.

 

[anvi]

It's definitely The Rolling Stones.

 

[Mustawd]

What size are those sprites ProphetSword ?