Blood and Iron

[GarfunkeL]

:trustful fap:

 

[Goliath]

Version 0.0.1 (pre-alpha!!) now available (see first post). Release early, release often and all that. See the Release Roadmap, normal players are not supposed to touch this.

I have added a new screenshot and updated the other ones. The new screenshot shows the View Character screen. I have found some perfectly fitting FOSS portrait art! I am trying to recruit the artist right now, wish me luck!

 

[Trash]

Good luck with this project, copx. Sounds and even looks pretty awesome. Really looking forward to see what it turns into.

 

[Goliath]

Good luck with this project, copx.

Thanks, only Real Life* can stop me!

* ..that's a pretty powerful force, though

 

[barker_s]

First of all I don't think that you're going into the right direction with the interface. I mean it's stylish and it's got a nice retro feel to it, but wouldn't be it more intuitive to players if you assigned "Enter" for "choose option" and "Esc" for "go back" instead of "H" for "hire" and "E" for "exit"? Make it an alternative perhaps? I don't really mind it at all, but even on the Codex there are people who couldn't stomach Dwarf Fortress' interface, so beware of that.

Another thing is character recruitment. I know it's pre-alpha and almost everything is subject change, but still I'd like to ask you - will we have any control about the characters we're recruiting? Now you just pick the class (youngblood, captain etc.) and you get a random guy assigned to your party. Will it stay that way, or will we get more control eventually?


Other than that, I'm really impressed. I like it that the character stats mirror the stats from Mordheim. Hopefully the game's atmosphere will be similar too (those names feel right at least ).

I'd love to help you, but I'm not really that proficient in C, besides I've got some projects of my own to finish at the moment. Good luck though, I'm sure the Codex will back you up with your efforts. You're making one of our dream games after all .

 

[barker_s]

I've made you a box art, so you can start advertising and whoring yourself to the publishers .

 

[Goliath]

First of all I don't think that you're going into the right direction with the interface. I mean it's stylish and it's got a nice retro feel to it, but wouldn't be it more intuitive to players if you assigned "Enter" for "choose option" and "Esc" for "go back" instead of "H" for "hire" and "E" for "exit"? Make it an alternative perhaps?

KEY_ESC is already linked to the Exit command. KEY_ENTER is used to choose an item from a menu, but logically only if there is only one option what to do with said item. I could make a link like "KEY_ENTER always translates to the first command in the command bar" but I don't consider that intuitive at all and in fact downright dangerous (risk of choosing an option by accident while navigating through nested menus).
Whatever, people can never agree about UIs, that's a sad fact of life. I mean, I appreciate your suggestions but my UI design is already pretty firm. I copy from Gold Box a lot (in fact, my engine is called "Skull Box" ). This will become even more obvious once I start implementing the combat screen.. I even have these timed command bar (error) messages who are probably the definition of poor UI design according to some hipster but I like them.

I don't really mind it at all, but even on the Codex there are people who couldn't stomach Dwarf Fortress' interface, so beware of that.

I don't worry. As I said before, winning a popularity contest is not my ambition here.

Another thing is character recruitment. I know it's pre-alpha and almost everything is subject change, but still I'd like to ask you - will we have any control about the characters we're recruiting? Now you just pick the class (youngblood, captain etc.) and you get a random guy assigned to your party. Will it stay that way, or will we get more control eventually?

I am not sure what you mean here.. "Youngblood" is a character type, all "youngbloods" start with the same stats and I have a random name generator which gives them proper German names. However, after that character development is controlled by you i.e. they become "individuals" once they gain experience and thus advances (new skills, stat upgrades - chosen by you). On the other hand they might also lose an arm (pun intended) or an eye in combat..

I'd love to help you, but I'm not really that proficient in C

Don't worry, I don't need programming help.

 

[Goliath]

I've made you a box art, so you can start advertising and whoring yourself to the publishers .

 

[barker_s]

I am not sure what you mean here.. "Youngblood" is a character type, all "youngbloods" start with the same stats and I have a random name generator which gives them proper German names. However, after that character development is controlled by you i.e. they become "individuals" once they gain experience and thus advances (new skills, stat upgrades - chosen by you). On the other hand they might also lose an arm (pun intended) or an eye in combat..

I was wondering if the characters you're recruiting differ between themselves (each youngblood might be a little different for example). Thanks for clearing it out.

One last question. Did you think about implementing an equivalent of Mordheim's Hired Blades or Dramatis Personae? I'm sure they'd add a lot of flavour to the gameplay.

 

[Goliath]

One last question. Did you think about implementing an equivalent of Mordheim's Hired Blades or Dramatis Personae? I'm sure they'd add a lot of flavour to the gameplay.

Right now something like the distinction between "heroes", "henchmen", and "hired swords" in Mordheim doesn't exist and I don't have plans to add such distinctions either. All warband characters are.. well characters. They all require an upkeep fee, they all can advance, they are all treated as individuals, they may survive combat gravely injured... To use Mordheim terms they are basically "heroes" and "hired swords" merged or "heroes with an upkeep fee". IIRC Dramatis Personae are just particularly powerful, unique hired swords with a personal background story. Well, first I can guarantee you that you won't be restricted to these four rather plain vanilla character types implemented right now. I think that's your real concern here. Don't worry, I like variety too.

Implementing unique characters not based on a generic type ("Dramatis Personae") is on the TO-DO list, but it's somewhere at the bottom. Maybe it's even post 1.0.0 stuff. One has to focus on the essentials first (something my previous, failed project taught me).

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

Does look interesting. I sure hope this project doesn't end up like your infamous RogueWarp game...

 

[Goliath]

I sure hope this project doesn't end up like your infamous RogueWarp game...

Most unlikely. I've learned from my mistakes. I mean, I cannot guarantee that I will finish this, but this project will never become an unfocused mess like Warp Rogue.

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

That's good to hear. Good luck dude, the concept sounds promising.

 

[Goliath]

I could make a link like "KEY_ENTER always translates to the first command in the command bar" but I don't consider that intuitive at all and in fact downright dangerous (risk of choosing an option by accident while navigating through nested menus).

I was wrong about this. In practice it isn't much of a problem. My UI "research" (i.e. firing up old Gold Box games) revealed that later Gold Box games actually provided a cursor/KEY_ENTER based alternative control scheme. Then I remembered that I actually played Buck Rogers that way myself...

Whatever, the UI logic has been "updated" from Pool of Radiance to Buck Rogers era i.e. everything is NextGen and streamlined now!
Unfortunately, that's about the only user visible change in the new version because I spent most of the time improving the UI code and designing stuff in my head.

Whatever, 0.0.2 released. Not that you should care.

Next release should be more interesting.. I will probably implement the data file and scripting language of the game and add equipment.

 

[mahdi]

Whatever, 0.0.2 released. Not that you should care.

Portraits look great. Will there be more than three different ones though? What is the wound stat and why do characters start off with 1 in it? What do you think about using the arrow keys to cycle through characters in the View Warband screen?

 

[Orgasm]

Needs mouse support for chillout play.

Announcing/releasing alpha is uncool.

What will this do? =D

LT_MANHATER

 

[barker_s]

What is the wound stat and why do characters start off with 1 in it?

In Mordheim it indicates how many hits can combatant take before collapsing. I guess it serves a similar purpose here.

 

[Malakal]

Do a viking raider-warband expansion after this.

Looks solid.

I haven't downloaded the preprealpha but are you using sprites and 2D map or something else for tactical map? Cause with some good clean sprites and good enough interface you wont have to invest much in graphics to get a playable and not-eye-raping game.

Maybe rip some city screens from older titles too...

 

[Goliath]

Whatever, 0.0.2 released. Not that you should care.

Portraits look great.

Probably because I didn't draw them. That's art from an art repository for Free Software/Open Source games. I am actually trying to recruit the artist in question because I love those portraits but thus far he hasn't replied..
Whatever, in the worst case that only means the beta release will be full of "portrait supposed to be here" placeholders. If a Free Software game is good enough to deserve artist support it will receive it. If it isn't - well, then the art would just be wasted anyway.

Will there be more than three different ones though?

Every character type and unique character is supposed to have its own portrait eventually. I also want "portraits" for equipment. In the end I hope to have many locations in the game i.e. towns and lands all with unique art, too.

What is the wound stat and why do characters start off with 1 in it?

It's a little like "HP" in D&D but not quite. Combat is way more deadly as the low number suggests. However, a character can actually continue fighting with 0 Wounds (i.e. no "hit points") it's just that every additional hit might put him out of action. Immediately that only means he no longer takes part in battle. What actually happens to him is determined after the battle is over. That can be anything from "he recovers and can fight again" over "he loses an eye (-1 RC) " to "RIP". There can even be good results if you are lucky (e.g. gaining the "Hardened" special attribute). Well, that's how it works in Mordheim campaigns. As far as my game is concerned nothing is fixed yet, but I intend to use the Mordheim mechanics as a starting point.

What do you think about using the arrow keys to cycle through characters in the View Warband screen?

Will think about that.

 

[Goliath]

Needs mouse support for chillout play.

Announcing/releasing alpha is uncool.

You may leave this thread now.

 

[Goliath]

I haven't downloaded the preprealpha but are you using sprites and 2D map or something else for tactical map?

The tactical map hasn't been implemented yet but the plan is plain 2D tile map like in old RPGs. Combat interface is supposed to be very similar to SSI Gold Box. MAYBE I will use multiple map layers like in XCOM post-1.0 so that I can do proper city fights and stuff like that.

Maybe rip some city screens from older titles too...

As I said before in this thread: I don't rip. This is a Free Software project (not to be confused with "freeware"), so copyright issues matter.

 

[JagreenLern]

The name is a reference to a Bismarck speech right?

 

[Goliath]

The name is a reference to a Bismarck speech right?

Yes.

 

[Konjad]

just played it for a few minutes. Looks pretty cool.

 

[Goliath]

just played it for a few minutes. Looks pretty cool.

Just to avoid confusion: you cannot actually "play" anything right now. I am in the engine groundwork phase. All you can do is hire a few plain characters, view them, and discharge them again.

As I said, those who are looking for something playable need to wait for version 0.9.0 (the first beta release). Those who don't want to be annoyed by beta issues will have to wait until version 1.0.0.

 

[Flatlander]

You probably know already, but OpenGameArt has a new set of 2 bit portraits available at http://opengameart.org/content/new-faceset-2-bit

Also, nice project

Edit: If you need more graphics you might also consider asking the folks at Pixelation, they seem to love C64 graphics & palette there.