Underworld Sequel

[Jaesun]

Looking forward to this Charles. Loved the first game (though still working my way through it with my Codex party).

 

[Charles-cgr]

Curious to see your take on the last 6 levels. :D

 

[Jaesun]

heh I made it to the uh... "Fire" level, then I re-started my codex party. So sure. I'll share some thought's. I still enjoy the original game. It is a good kick ass solid blobber old school game (and good combat, man I SO miss that). Just looking forward to the new over-world and all the new nasty creatures we will encounter. And the new classes sound very interesting.

 

[visions]

Something else I'm considering:

The box at the bottom would be for game texts only and stay empty otherwise. This kind of bothers me a bit - actually it could tell something like a level of danger, a description of the area, party status or morale, etc). The bottom right box would carry the icons for all game options. That 32 next to Gael would be for spell components when applicable. I could actually fit several different values from top to bottom.

Late to the party but I quite like that mockup.

 

[Charles-cgr]

visions That's the one I'm going for. Not to say it is entirely final yet, given the early stages of development, but that's the basic idea. Party grouped close to the icons which will be at the bottom right and game texts below the world view.

 

[Charles-cgr]

Further progress on the GUI as well as a bit of a revelation on the openworldedness (grammatical exactedness not guaranteed)

http://www.olderbytes.com/sovereign-gui-progress-and-more.html

Also, there's a poll! Weigh in on the upcoming Xeen killer's design decision-making

 

[Mortmal]

Actually the new UI choice doesnt sound a bad idea, it remembers me a bit of the interface of drakkhen , however in drakkhen the paperdolll were reflecting wich items your characters were using, i dont know if its the case there.Id say i prefer the last one , but all 3 are good to be honest.

 

[Excommunicator]

Don't like the "modern" one. Don't pretend to be something you're not. You have an oldschool game with "practical" visuals and a non-animated world, there's absolute no reason to try to modernise or minimise the interface.

The one with the octopus is good. I still think you should tone down the red saturation though

 

[zeitgeist]

The emblem could have movement arrows or a compass integrated to justify its existence. Or both.

 

[Charles-cgr]

zeitgeist I'm not sure what you mean by emblem... At the bottom right or the logo at the top right?

Maybe we aren't on the same page - I just realized there isn't a copy of the new GUI here (only in the page I linked to a couple posts up)

Excommunicator I'll look into the saturation. This choice between old and new is a tough one. I see what you mean but the reviewer on CanardPC was quite unpleasant about the GUI... Still this one addresses some of the concerns raised at least. And my personal preference changes every other day

 

[zeitgeist]

Missed that one, sorry! I was talking about the version with the huge one above the text box in this post.

 

[Charles-cgr]

Missed that one, sorry! I was talking about the version with the huge one above the text box in this post.

That's what I figured. My fault, lazy update on my part

 

[laclongquan]

Why dont you push the 6 character buttons upward and keep the automap at the bottom. Drop the last big button altogether, more space for automap.

 

[Charles-cgr]

Why dont you push the 6 character buttons upward and keep the automap at the bottom. Drop the last big button altogether, more space for automap.

That would be more vertical space for the automap. It would need as much horizontal space to really be useful and that block at the bottom right is meant for buttons like search, map...

I'm also thinking about buttons in the bottom center though. Perhaps I'll split them according to function (party vs environment) or duplicate them for easier mouse access...

 

[Charles-cgr]

The world map

There's a dev blog post with a few more details. http://www.olderbytes.com/sovereign-world-map.html

I plan to write about the character creation and development next.

 

[Angelo85]

Map looks nice!
If I'm not mistaken it's made with the Campaign Cartographer from ProFantasy, yes? Been using it myself for Pen and Paper purposes but I can't get mine to look so good

 

[Charles-cgr]

Angelo85 I couldn't say. I sent a pencil drawing to the artist and got that back a couple weeks later.

 

[Scroo]

The map really is looking great. Reminds me of the old Might and Magic games. Good stuff Charles!

 

[Charles-cgr]

The map really is looking great. Reminds me of the old Might and Magic games. Good stuff Charles!

Thanks Ebenezer,

The artist will be duly congratulated (again)

 

[Niektory]

Wow, I see you're not holding back with the number of locations. Are you going for a less linear approach with more optional content?

 

[Charles-cgr]

Wow, I see you're not holding back with the number of locations. Are you going for a less linear approach with more optional content?

Hey Underworld isn't THAT linear

But yes, Sovereign is set out to be a lot less so. Although absence of level scaling tends to set a path I'll do my best to leave lots of options. Dungeons, caverns and the like, for instance, can be accessible to a low level party but impossible to complete until a certain amount of strength is built up.

Some places however will be punishing from the offstart so exploring will always be a possibility at the player's risk. But with the ability to save anywhere, why not go see that dark knight or that red dragon with a lvl 1 party? It'll be quick and painless

 

[Gakkone]

Can't wait to hear about character development. M&M tribute or not, that's one area I'd like to see improved over the previous game.

 

[Charles-cgr]

Can't wait to hear about character development. M&M tribute or not, that's one area I'd like to see improved over the previous game.

The character creation post has been delayed a bit (lots of little things to settle like cross-requirements, descriptions...) but I uploaded a new GUI with... portraits! And a new town environment. It's a lot more popamole.

The character update will be up in a week or two now.

For those that like to comment on the dev blog (always appreciated) the entry is here.

 

[Jaesun]

I like that GUI.

 

[Gakkone]

Can't wait to hear about character development. M&M tribute or not, that's one area I'd like to see improved over the previous game.

The character creation post has been delayed a bit (lots of little things to settle like cross-requirements, descriptions...) but I uploaded a new GUI with... portraits! And a new town environment. It's a lot more popamole.

The character update will be up in a week or two now.

Ain't no thang bro.

The GUI is... small. I like the portraits and the art a lot. In fact I think it looks so good you won't hear even the Codex bitch about it.

- Sovereign will be much more intuitive and mouse-friendly than Underworld was. Even if the GUI continues to evolve, this will be a priority.

But will it be possible to play without a mouse? I actually preferred using the keyboard in the first game.