Hi Stewe, (inserted!)
> Well, huh! What a long message!
Yeah, I�m sorry about that. I was on a roll 😃 Luckily most of it was my babbling not errors.
>music: I stop the music when you leave the main screen, except "start new
>game". It's because the music requires a lot of memory...
ok, just checking.
> Asmodeus: I can change it if you really want... btw I don't know what does it
>mean... it was made by our brain, probably we saw it somewhere (fantasy book?)
It doesn�t bother me at all. I�m just doing my job letting you know what you might be in for 😊 I wouldn�t worry about it for now. Most religious fanatics probably won�t recognize the name anyway.
>Quit without auto-save: I think it's not so important, since (as you said, too) the auto
>save is a backup thing, not a real slot.
> Auto-load: you can simply press 'no', and load your manually saved games. I don't
> think a menu could be a good solution for this screen
Ok, sorry, it took me a minute to understand what you had in mind. Please ignore what I suggested about no autosave on exit or menus for loading on startup.
Bug: What threw me off is that I found a bug (this happened twice so far) when I tried to autoload, the game actually started at a point before my last save. That made me think that the autosave was not the same as the save when exit.
> The Guarding function can be a new one... the E can be useful when you don't want to
> do anything with your other characters. For example: a monster is approaching, you
> cast spells by your mage, but can't do anything with your other chars. Currently the
> game doesn't have 'guard' functionality. I think I don't want to modify the main game
>code, because it's balanced and stable (the errors are in the Communicator part, or in a
>main part because of a Communicator feature). This can be a good item in the 1.06 version.
I was actually just curious about it. I agree that it is not worth compromising good code for a not so relevant modification. I still find it annoying that �E� skips more than one character though, but it�s nothing we can�t work around.
>MAYBE: you have a bit low execution memory... could you make a bit more ? Or
>3305 is the max ? The game can be more stable with ~3500 free. It's in my list, with
>high priority. I have to decrease the needed memory by a few hundred kilobytes.
I�ll use more memory from now on. I was only running 3305 because I wanted to beta test under conditions that your target consumers will most likely be using. The game does recommend 3.2megs 😉. Just trying to cover your back. Most people, (like me, until you taught me how 😃) won�t know how to free so much memory.
>Automatically move: not sure. Because: you could move one of them to the 1st line,
>instead of both of them.
It just seems unfair, because once the guys in the front fall, the guys in the back can get hit (as if they were in front) but they can�t hit back unless we re-order them.
Unless you want to do something really, really impractical like:
"If both front characters were slain, the 4th position (4th position because the stronger of the back characters usually brings up the rear) could pop forward�" (I don�t honestly expect something like this to be implemented)
� It might be better to just allow the guys in back to behave like front fighters unless one of them re-orders to take the lead.
I know my mind works in disturbing ways. 😉
>Well, I'll think about this, but I don't like the automatical things (some should be in the
>game, for comfort, I agree).
I agree. I wouldn�t mention it if my characters didn�t drop like flies. I�m sure in higher levels this isn�t much of an issue so you might want to ignore this all together. Especially now that you are going to put �Replace� in an easier to reach place.
>And the monsters can't hit characters in the 2nd row, if they're front of you. Of course
>the game calculates the attackable members by melee attack from a direction... if they're
>back, then they can attack characters in the 2nd line.
Ok, this was an oversight of my part. My bad.
>Drink during combat: yea, by design. We had to think about players with less (or none)
>rpg experience.
Agreed. The game is balanced with it though and it works nicely.
>Inventory spell book: it's just a reference, for information. I can't simply switch back to
>game screen to cast a spell at once... that's why you have a game-screen-spellbook with 'c'.
I actually knew that, but it�s still our duty to point out things that may confuse some of your customers as well as giving error reports. No matter how much grief this might cause to the poor, unsuspecting programmer 8D
Just pick through what�s useful, no biggie J
>Not showing items: I don't agree or just partially. This could lead to support emails
>(from the unexperinced rpg players...): where are my items? They're missing.
Ok, I see what you mean. You are going to get the support emails anyway, unless you at least replace the �0gp� with an �X� or �can�t sell here�.
> save/load shortcuts: the X is in the new version now... other shortcuts: ok, it's a new
>todo item... why ctrl-4 and ctrl-6 ?
Sweet! Well,
1) I thought of Ctrl-1 for the QuickSave because the player could press it without changing the way he�s holding the communicator, so it would be faster and easier and with only one hand. It would also be hard to press by mistake. Maybe ctrl-0 would be a better shortcut.
2) Ctrl-4 and ctrl-6, because they were far enough apart that one might have to use different hands to press them. It might reduce the grief of pressing the wrong button and saving instead of loading. Lots of the old game companies used to do it this way come to think about it, like Sierra and Id, if I�m not mistaken.
If you are really going to implement it, we could put it up to vote, maybe?
>load screen, highlight: it's a small thing, I can make it, 5 minutes. However, I
>don't think it's so important 😛
Well, it�s not, now that I understand the logic behind the autoload option at startup. (as I said, mine was buggy) That, coupled with the autosave feature will make it unnecessary.
> xx,yy: well... we included the place info in the quest descriptions, and you can
>see the red small point where npcs are standing. The xx,yy can be done.
Understood. On second thought, the maps are small enough to not really need the x,y especially with the red points. I also failed to notice you could scroll the map on the full map screen. Doh! ;P
I really would urge you to put it in the next DragonFire game though J with a map that big it is really hard finding a pinpoint spot like the apple tree.
> Bless description: ok!
>And the "bless" can only help you in melee attack, in every rpg. And, the most
>important thing: mages will be the far most strong characters later! When they will have
>hundreds of spell points and their lightning bolt spell cause 100 damage. You'll see that.
>Ah yes, another thing: the curse spell. It's important for melee, and for magical attacks,
>too. A cursed monster will receive more damage.
Ok, (on bless) Although it is customary, not every rpg �bless� spell raises only melee damage dished out. I thought it was worth double-checking just in case.
As for �curse� I�m a little confused now. I�m reading the description and it states:
"Curse: Lowers the damage and defense of an enemy"
I interpret what you just told me as: "curse will raise both physical and magical damage received by the enemy."
But my understanding from the spell description is: "reduces the damage the enemy can cause to you and lowers his defense as well."
Can you clarify this for me?
> In the inventory's spellbook, you can see that the damage/time effect *by your current
>character*. It's not linear, and based on class, level, intelligence level, and so on. Check
>the spell descriptions...
I did. I didn�t find anything regarding this other than what I wrote as your previous description. This might be because I was checking the description of scrolls at the time since my characters didn�t know the spell.
>And thank you for your words about our bunny. We miss him so much 😞
Any chance we could see a picture of the little guy? I don�t want to push on a touchy subject if it bothers you, but my girlfriend is really into animals and is bugging me to find out more about him! :biggrin:
Take care, Louis
