Vapourware The Tangut Prophecy: FOnline RPG, Historical Fiction, 12th Century China

[mikaelis]

Looks amazing. Cannot believe I haven't noticed it before.

Some of us here are wetting our pants, dreaming of exactly something like that set in medieval Europe. But Asia will do as well.

So, how big is your game planned to be? Fallout 1 scope? smaller? bigger?

 

[l3loodAngel]

I never understand why most developers insist on using very uninspired generic fantasy(or badly written space fantasy in some cases) settings for their games, when history offers so much more.

That's easy - history in fact doesn't offer shit beyond boring humans enslaved by boring laws of physics, who can't do shit beyond what you and I can already do IRL. A recipe for boredom.

Magic and monsters increase the degrees of freedom hundredfold. They mean anything can be there, and do whatever the developer wishes.

Nonsense, there are tons of interesting setting and stories to be told, if only developers (and especially players) could get over their massive prejudice on anything beyond their confort zone... think of the colonization of Africa, the purge of natives in south america, the spanish inquisition, colonial Brazil... every country has one or two historical eras that could surely provide a great setting for a game, but we keep getting stuck back to the same retarded cliches over and over again...

It also screws character progression, equipment progression and feeling that you can achieve or change something in the game world. It's like crying at the end of Titanic. Everybody knew it was going to drown, before they even watched the film.

I think this game this game had so much potential.

 

[CrazyLoon]

Hey guys, just a little heads up, I'll post more updates(things like ingame ui, character portraits, dialogue examples, sprite animations, and maybe even some gameplay footage) soon.

 

[Jaesun]

 

[Joni Odin von Hassenstein]

This looks really interesting!

 

[CrazyLoon]

And we march on! Updated the OP. I removed some of the rather harsh things I've said in the OP. Seriously this whole wuxia genre is fine. I was just being a jerk.

Here's some new stuff.

1.) Ingame screenshot. Showing off the hud. About screenshots like this, I'm only showing a screenful of the map location. Some of the maps in the game are very big. One of my pet peeves against playing Fallout and games like that on a widescreen monitor is everything becomes very small. My game is designed for widescreen resolutions, so everything looks nice and big.

2.) Inventory.

3.) Dialogue screen.

Keep in mind, everything is work in progress.

 

[Tzaero]

The pictures are not linking properly.

Aside from that, the hud looks great.
If I were to change one thing about it, it would be the paper.

Edit: Had a look at the screenshots on different computer, it was the brightness that made the paper look worse.

 

[CrazyLoon]

The pictures are not linking properly.

Aside from that, the hud looks great.
If I were to change one thing about it, it would be the paper.

Are they working now?

 

[Tzaero]

Yes

 

[Cosmo]

Looking really good and coherent.
By the way (and don't take it wrong, i know you're on your own on this), are you planning on adding some details and clutter on your maps ? They're maybe a little too clean right now...

 

[oscar]

Awesome dialogue screen and interface textures.

 

[CappenVarra]

The HP, damage and DT numbers look at least a magnitude higher than Fallout. I would be interested in hearing about the idea behind that, and other system changes you've decided on... If you feel like talking about it, of course

 

[Jaesun]

That looks really sweet! I like the dialogue options as well.

 

[tuluse]

The scrolls are a nice touch.

I think you should find a more setting appropriate font for the dialog, though it can be a fine line between annoying and looking nice. Oddly the font doesn't bother me anywhere else, but I guess when people are talking I feel like the font should reflect that since we can't hear it.

 

[CrazyLoon]

Looking really good and coherent.
By the way (and don't take it wrong, i know you're on your own on this), are you planning on adding some details and clutter on your maps ? They're maybe a little too clean right now...

Probably later when I have more time. I want to get everything up and running first.

The HP, damage and DT numbers look at least a magnitude higher than Fallout. I would be interested in hearing about the idea behind that, and other system changes you've decided on... If you feel like talking about it, of course

You start the game with a higher amount of HP and it slowly improves as you level up. It is to avoid HP inflation. High HP inflation, I think, is fine(Who am I kidding, going from 10HP at level 1 to 100HP at level 10 in DnD is dumb). It just doesn't work in settings where characters are supposedly normal human beings. In Fallout 2, with the right build and Lifegiver x2, in late game you can easily end up with over 10x of what you began with. In my game, I would say 2x-3x at most. I also want to avoid inflation in other stats, but so far all the values you see are placeholders really, and will require a lot of testing and fine tuning to get them right.

I think you should fine a more setting appropriate font for the dialog, though it can be a fine line between annoying and looking nice. Oddly the font doesn't bother me anywhere else, but I guess when people are talking I feel like the font should reflect that since we can't hear it.

Agreed. Fonts are an ass to change in FOnline though, so I want to make sure I have the right font before I change it.

 

[Tigranes]

Looks awesome. Only the stat scroll & the dialogue option scroll look a bit messy or haphazard, but in generall really dig the UI.

High starting HP & much lower HP increase is fine, as long as other game mechanics adjust to compensate...

 

[Jim the Dinosaur]

There will also be some more delays I think, since the departure of the FOnline:2238 server and the lack of people showing up in the 3d board there (which I need for my game as well)

I was wondering, has this affected your project as well, CrazyLoon?

Also, any updates?

 

[Surf Solar]

From what I know, they have their own 3d guys doing the character animations, but I'd like to hear that too nonetheless!

 

[CrazyLoon]

I was wondering, has this affected your project as well, CrazyLoon?

Also, any updates?

Not at all. I'm using prerendered 2D character sprites that I rigged and animated myself. There are also some non human critters (horses and camels) in the game, so going with ingame 3D models wasn't going to offer advantages.

Regarding new updates, I'm currently taking a little summer break. Once I get back to my hideout, I'll post something new. In the meantime, you might want to keep an eye out on fodev.net.

 

[Ninjerk]

I just wanted to come in here and say this looks

AMAZIIIIING

 

[CrazyLoon]

 

[Surf Solar]

Looks fucking awesome man!

 

[CrazyLoon]

More screenshots over at:
http://fodev.net/forum/index.php/topic,29435

 

[Surf Solar]

Why not send it in to the codex staff?

EDIT: Minor nitpicking, in this screen

IMO you could make use of the fonline inbuilt lighting "engine". Just place some redish lights in the middle so the characters will appear as red too, kinda like ambient lighting. Other than that, everything is fine!

 

[CrazyLoon]

Why not send it in to the codex staff?

It's part of the deal for me to provide "unreleased" screenshots for the interview. And they wouldn't be unreleased anymore if I posted them everywhere else right? Just get your butt over to fodev.net.

IMO you could make use of the fonline inbuilt lighting "engine". Just place some redish lights in the middle so the characters will appear as red too, kinda like ambient lighting. Other than that, everything is fine!

Agreed.