by kingius » Wed Apr 16, 2014 11:48 am
So I've been quiet on here for a while and I thought I might remedy that with a report on the recent progress in the current build...
* Resting at an inn and memorising spells is complete. Four different options are shown within an inn for resting, from sleeping on the common room bunks to having a great big feast, apple pie and sleeping in a master bedroom, with the respective costs attached.
* The Magic Missile spell is complete and is the first spell in the game. It supports up to 9 missiles on a single casting (at twentieth level) and each missile can strike a different target. As far as I know this is the only D&D CRPG which does this, every other game I've played from the original Bards Tale, the Goldbox games, the Infinity engine games (etc) always sends all of the missiles at the same target. So a high level mage could take down 9 goblins with one magic missile spell in this game, for example.
* The game understands the singular item in the description mode so it will state '[attacker] attacks _a_ giant sider' when there are multiple giant spiders and say '[attacker] attacks _the_ giant spider' when there is only one giant spider. A small touch that helps with the readability.
* The game will tell you when an opponent missed because of your character's shiny suit of armour, the character blocked the blow with the shield or if the enemy simply missed. I may expand this for a dodge description for when the Dex bonus was the reason the enemy missed.
* Unconsciousness and bleeding out has been removed; Labyrinth Lord does not use these states - 0 hp is death!
* Equipping items in combat is now complete. This occurs in a standard initiative phase so is not immediate and becomes a character's action for that round. There is no restriction on what can be readied except it must only be one item changed per round. So platemail could be readied, automatially unreadying leather armour, all in one round. On the other hand, readying a sword takes one round as well. Previously equipment could only be modified while exploring.
* Wandering monsters are triggered based upon the party movement rate while exploring dungeons. Currently this rate is fixed at a check every 90 feet explored. Wandering monsters can be fled from with no current penalty and no chase rules are in effect at this point. I may place the wandering monsters onto the map at the point they are encountered so that they do not just vanish into thin air like in older D&D games. Wandering monsters still need to be tied into the wilderness exploration and rest/camp areas of the game.
* The game automatically up-converts 10 copper pieces to 1 silver piece and 10 silver pieces to 1 gold piece as a house rule. I'm not sure if I like this but at the moment it's better than losing the copper piece and silver piece economy and is convenient for the player.
* Individual treasure tables are ready and so monsters can leave treasure at the end of fights. The treasure is generated at the beginning of the fight. If a magic weapon is rolled up then one of the monsters may end up wielding it (assuming it can wield weapons). A nasty surprise for players not used to this!
* Unprotected treasure tables are ready and can be triggered with level placement.
* Gems and jewelry (as items such as rubies, diamonds and gold necklaces) are in the engine though they cannot yet be sold anywhere. These take up object slots in the inventory. Each character has 8 inventory slots for his gear. As little as 3 may be being used, e.g. armour, shield, weapon, giving room for miscallaenous items like gems, jewelry, torches, etc, though it could fill up quickly when you start adding bows and quivers of arrows. Currently no encumberance is calculated for items held, the only restriction are the 8 slots. With 6 characters in the party this gives 48 slots for equipment in total.
* Magical items are found alreay identified at this point. Currently the engine has magic weapons and armour only as these are the easiest to implement.
* In the wilderness, mountains are impassable and form effective barriers, but hills are passable. I may either make hills impassable as well or make them so dangerous (or time consuming to cross) that they provide effective barriers too. This is so that the approach to the castles funnels travelers along the main road which leads to them.
I intend to update this thread more often so that everyone knows I have not abandoned the build and it is continuing nicely. As Easter weekend is almost here I expect to find more time to work on the game.
