Hi there!
Small update this time. Been working on wrapping up all the remaining core features, but got a bit sidetracked so I'm going to write a little about level editing too besides monsters + I'm trying out yet another video setup.
This video is the most condensed so far, focusing exclusively on last week's development and showcasing gameplay features. I thought making a third video using this form will result in a diverse and easily comparable set and will help to draw my final conclusions about the series.
So it is short (3 minutes), maximally to the point and heavily "scripted" :) :
Monsters
During this week, I pretty much completed all the logic related to the monsters of the game. From their type description (sprites, attributes, inventory?! :o :) :P , database of monster types etc...), all the way to battling with them. Also filled the game with a bunch of placeholder monster sprites/types to test it out, and now it feels like a real rogue-like with character advancement, treasures and risk of death :) .
Battle system
Once you try to move to a tile occupied by a monster a "battle" starts. Both entities will take their turns to attack, the faster one (speed attribute) will start or it will be decided with luck trials if there is a match. If both contestants survive the first attack the slower/unlucky entity strikes back, and shortly after the player gets back input control.
Levels and modding
Official mod support is sadly out of the scope of this project, but I still managed to come up with a clean solution for a "half-offical" way :) . Since all the configuration files (monster/pickup/chest types, starting attributes, spawn profiles, item skills) will be shipped as plain XML files, huge part of the game can be tweaked with a plain old text editor, but for a pleasant level editing experience that will not suffice...
Tiled
I decided to ship the game with built-in support for the Tiled editor. Now the game can read plain tmx files. Never made a run-time parser for it before, but I used this editor multiple times so it was a natural choice. The final package will also feature a pre-built tile set for Tiled map files (placeholder one pictured) and a written guide on specific map properties related to the game.
By the next entry I will have all the missing bits and pieces of the game-play loop implemented (difficulty management and item skills) and the game will be pretty much fully playable albeit lacking content or balance. As always, open for questions, comments and critique.
Take care!
