Indie DrDungeon's Ultizurk and MADMAN Thread

[PeeWee]

To Mother Russia:

Dr. Dungeon is doing his own art, animation and spell effects.

Dr. Dungeon reports he is using the same language "Eschalon" was made in, "Blitzmax", and he does all his own art and programming and may only get a little help in the music department.

 

[DrDungeon]

Hey ho! Just a quick update. The entire combat and spell system is at long last fully completed and tested! Works as planned and far evolved over the old DOS version, that's for sure!
Also finished up the box and container stuff where you open and find things, which also led to the completion of the lock pick skill system, which is working perfectly!
The latest thing was the re-vamping of the dialogue system. Gone is the crappy straight-list system where the player referred to stuff the NPC hadn't even said. Replaced by a full branching system and even made a special dialogue editor to simplify the talk-making.

All is going well, just a lot of tedious stuff. With a little luck, and a lot of hard work, maybe we'll see this thing in, three months? Shouldn't be much longer.

Thanks again! -Dr. D.

 

[Jaesun]

 

[Jashiin]

So much incline this year

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Hey ho! Just a quick update. The entire combat and spell system is at long last fully completed and tested! Works as planned and far evolved over the old DOS version, that's for sure!
Also finished up the box and container stuff where you open and find things, which also led to the completion of the lock pick skill system, which is working perfectly!
The latest thing was the re-vamping of the dialogue system. Gone is the crappy straight-list system where the player referred to stuff the NPC hadn't even said. Replaced by a full branching system and even made a special dialogue editor to simplify the talk-making.

All is going well, just a lot of tedious stuff. With a little luck, and a lot of hard work, maybe we'll see this thing in, three months? Shouldn't be much longer.

Thanks again! -Dr. D.

I will sing your praises if you get a working, solid RPG out before Grimoire and Age of Decadence.

 

[FrancoTAU]

After the disappointing Garriott kickstarter and Vogel dumbing down his games, I could really use a good Ultima style RPG.

 

[Jaesun]

No fucking shit.

 

[DrDungeon]

Hi guys! Yeah, Ultima is my main inspiration. That and Planescape. Lets hope I can do justice to the stuff we like and pull it off. I must admit, much of madman is being directly influenced by feedback I'm getting from my friends here on the mighty codex.

Once again Dr. Dungeon seeks advice from the experts!

I have the new chained talk system in now, and its SO much better than the old list system. It really feels like you're talking to them!

Right now, the very next step is the journal system. This journal will read more like a diary the madman keeps, (The Diary of a Madman!) much like in Planescape or The Witcher. I know what to write, and hope to make it intriguing. This way the quest logs, etc., are presented in a suggestive manner instead of a hand-hold manner, which I read a lot on these boards people prefer. And I shall make it so in madman!

However, the advice I need is about organizing the journal. I really want to avoid the poor player having to page through reams of pages looking for something he remembers hearing about. I'm not sure if I should use some sort of index, or date list, or name the quests system? There's many ways this can go and as I'm at the beginning I can create the journal to implement many possible methods.

If any one has any advice on the kinds of stuff they like and don't like in a journal system, and how it might best be organized, I'd be a real happy basement game maker!

Thanks in advance, I'll keep checking in and reporting. I'm at a good part of the project as almost all of the engine functionality is working. Time to build up the game world!

Dr. D.

 

[Jaesun]

You could possibly break it down into a Conversation Journal. In that it would log conversations you have had with each character. Or something like that (keying it with a particular characters name).

 

[Infinitron]

Have you considered having both a journal and a "quest log"? (which I guess that's what you mean by a "name the quests system"?)

The contents of the latter could simply be a subset of the former.

 

[Aeschylus]

Right now, the very next step is the journal system. This journal will read more like a diary the madman keeps, (The Diary of a Madman!) much like in Planescape or The Witcher. I know what to write, and hope to make it intriguing. This way the quest logs, etc., are presented in a suggestive manner instead of a hand-hold manner, which I read a lot on these boards people prefer. And I shall make it so in madman!

However, the advice I need is about organizing the journal. I really want to avoid the poor player having to page through reams of pages looking for something he remembers hearing about. I'm not sure if I should use some sort of index, or date list, or name the quests system? There's many ways this can go and as I'm at the beginning I can create the journal to implement many possible methods.

If any one has any advice on the kinds of stuff they like and don't like in a journal system, and how it might best be organized, I'd be a real happy basement game maker!

Thanks in advance, I'll keep checking in and reporting. I'm at a good part of the project as almost all of the engine functionality is working. Time to build up the game world!

Dr. D.

It sounds like you have a good starting point on the journal. Having the journal record the character's impressions about a quest/character rather than just "Person X wants Y, it can be found in area Z" is a good idea, even if it will likely be more work.

Some sort of organization of the journal is a good idea, though I personally prefer a more "High level" sort of organization where you can filter entries so you only see quest related things, or regional notes, or character notes, or what have you. I do think it's fun to be able to thumb through the journal chronologically as a sort of record of progress through the game as well though.

Also, infinitron's idea of a journal and quest log as two separate things strikes me as a good one.

Glad you're making progress on this. Keep on truckin'

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Was it Morrowind that had internal links in conversations and in your journals where it would bring you to different referenced pages? I don't know how possible it is to make a similar system, but it was easier to reference information.

I also agree with the idea of separating the journal and quest log.

 

[visions]

Yes, it was Morrowind with the Tribunal expansion installed. I quite liked that journal, DrDungeon should ceck it out if he hasn't.

 

[PeeWee]

Just wondering, has anybody among you played the game "Wraith"?

Dr. Dungeon reports several things.

Dr. Dungeon reports he has finished: the entire combat-system, the magic-system, the monsters fighting back, shooting, the dialogue-system / talk, the spell-system, the box / container where you open and find things, the lock pick skill system / the lock-picking.

Dr. Dungeon reports:
"Any journal system will lists quests somehow, and/or the madman's observations of things as he goes along, things to remember, things to do.
I decided to organize it as a list, where on the left it might list like, "A Flower for Tammy", and when you scroll the mouse over it, on the right where the madman has written, in first person, his first impressions of Tammy and that she wants a flower and where he might get it."
and
"When you do the little quest, it adds more to the label "A Flower for Tammy". Also, now when ever the journal is updated, a little ring tone sounds and the book icon flashes, telling the player there is new stuff in the journal, so he should click to see."

Dr. Dungeon sent me four new screenshots, which I sent to Deuce Traveler for uploading. Dr. Dungeon reports about those screenshots:
- they show a little of the new dialogue-system, and how it branches
- Dr. Dungeon darkened the backdrop so you can see the letters better

Dr. Dungeon also reports about uploading those four screenshots:
"the JPG format conversion is not quite as clear as it is in the actual game, bitmaps"
so if you want to upload these four screenshots, think about that as they probably look a little fuzzy.

I, PW, hope this answers your questions about the journal / log.

 

[Aeschylus]

Just wondering, has anybody among you played the game "Wraith"?

I did, though it was a bit weird compared to Dr. Dungeon's other games. The enemies didn't seem to chase you, so you were basically invincible if you used a ranged weapon. I recall the art being nice though.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Hey guys! Dialogue. MAD dialogue.

So, is Tammy a romanceable character, Dr Dungeon? Will the sex scenes be akin to the Witcher? Is this a full on dating sim like we see out of Japan, or a dating sim with RPG elements like Dragon Age?

In all seriousness, I really like this dialogue format. It's easier on the eyes than older games like Baldur's Gate was, if the font size equates to what is on screen here. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go find me a ho so I can plow Tammy's garden.

 

[FrancoTAU]

Much easier to read, but I'm still not sure if I like the font. It's a small aesthetic nitpick as I can clearly read the text now.

 

[Bruma Hobo]

The sex scene from the original Madman was great

 

[DrDungeon]

I can't figure out why only the font comes out funny when I make a jpg screenshot. Everything else, even the detail in the golden border is fine. The actual font is a little thicker and colored a neat golden bronze, somewhat like the border. it looks quite nice in-game, even on a smaller screen.

Yes, Tammy is a romanceable character. Yes, she will be more like in "The Witcher" than anything else, but probably not as saucy! In any case, she's much deeper than in the old game and it will take some clever insight to earn her trust.

I'm not sure yet what she'll do if you go in as a madwoman, as you can do this at character creation.

I'm really happy now that all the main functionality is in, as the mighty PeeWee detailed impeccably as usual. This means I'm really truly making the game now! The part I've worked for many months to get to. Building and populating the lands and people. This is the creative part, with the engine basically done.

What I really want to do now is make a much better gameplay video, with me talking and stuff. I use FRAPS but this is already known for making huge files, even with short videos. I think the real problem is that most of the work is done on my quad-core ASUS to which I have hooked a giant Apple Cinema screen, the original 2560x1600 one. Even though Madman is 1280x800, I think fraps is getting the full 2560x1600 screens, to which it is fitted.

I can run MadMan in a window of 1280x800, but of course fraps can't capture just part of the screen!

I tried Camtasia Studio - but it doesn't like OpenGL, which Madman uses. I need something either for Windows or the Mac that can capture a windowed portion of the screen.

If anyone has any suggestions it would be appreciated.

Back to the lab for me! I'm now working on the parts involving Leomund the mage and his bizarre dungeons. -Dr. D.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Here are some new Madman pics in Bitmap format, so hopefully these colors will match what we'll see in the game:

 

[norolim]

It's better now, but still not perfect. My suggestion: change the font completely. This one is neither good to read nor especially suitable in a high fantasy context. If you want a stylised font, I would go for something more Celtic. If you're aiming for something more discernible, try a more sterile font, like Times New Roman.

 

[PeeWee]

As for the two screenshots uploaded most recently, Dr. Dungeon says they are from a mystical dungeon! The game attempts the depth of something like "Planescape": "Torment", the play style is similar to "Ultima 7" but with a full-fledged stats and skill system, similar in some respects to a game like "Fallout". Full turn-style with many options. While "MadMan" might not be so complex as those great games, yet the feeling is similar and working out very nicely. Dr. Dungeon also reports many new dungeons and areas are now in.

There is one screenshot. I sent it to Deuce Traveler for uploading. Dr. Dungeon mentioned the person who said he still did not really like the font and Dr. Dungeon knows there has been trouble with the formats not showing up right, plus the letters being all off colour. This screenshot is a complete re-vamp of the font, colours and backdrop. It is a CELTIC font, now black on a papyrus backdrop. Dr. Dungeon hopes it will upload as nice as it looks in the game. Dr. Dungeon also asked me to tell you that he, Dr. Dungeon:
- would like everyone’s opinion
- has taken all criticism seriously
- will do anything it takes to please the players!

 

[Quigs]

Holy shit.

I used to play these games at my aunts back in the 90s. Tried finding them a few times with no success. Codex never forgets.

 

[Stabwound]

This looks infinitely better than the new Ultima game, other than the current font and backdrop which is very hard to read. I'm not so sure how a celtic font on a papyrus backdrop is going to look, but that's just a minor thing anyway.

What's the status of the new Ultizurk game? It sounded like it was pretty far in development; is it on the back burner now?

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Ok, here's said new text format (which I do like):

Discuss!