Dpheonix7's site

When too many ideas keep a project grounded.

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 20:42:56 +0000

War of the Magi has taken quite a bit of turns over the last couple years. Each time getting better and better. Now it seems that it got bogged down with ideas. Other projects being disbanded are getting their best features added to the list.
A name change is being thought of now as WotM doesn't fit as well. A lack of a dev staff has slowed down progress besides the fact I work crazy hours between summer and the holiday season.
One of the biggest issues is the character system. It does seem that there are too many players not willing to try a free form character dev system. Now I'm left with the challenge of attempting a system within classes and keeping it balanced.
Quests are a pain as I run out of ideas fast or don't have time to create every system I need. I am also a horrible scripter. It becomes a painful drag on me to try and make something work with story when I can't come up with text that is engaging.
Hopefully Byond will still be around when I finally finish this project, if I live that long.

Updates: Nothing

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 02:50:48 +0000

Now I am the 99% (as far as Byond Devs go). I have nothing to show at all. Only difference is I'm not showing off something that will never happen. I'm skipping straight to the point and saying nothing happened. For those 1% of Devs that are actually making something playable and will be hosted. Great to see stuff happen. For the other 99%. Let's spend our time playing those games the 1% are actually putting out instead of wasting our time and everyone's time with games that go nowhere (if they get enough done to be called a game).

Project Temparaly Closed

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 04:00:36 +0000

Due to many factors: My hours at work are heavy and will remain that way till after Christmas, working on the project pretty much solo (>99% all me), trying to stuff enough content into the game to make it worthwhile, I have become overwhelmed. I'm putting the project down until after the holidays when I will have time to actually spend on it. As I haven't started advertising outside of Byond yet, I probably haven't lost much of a player base as I haven't built on one yet. This is not the first time the game has been put on hold. Let's review.
System started as Dragon Warrior Hero's Destiny. It went through four versions before being dropped and added into Dragon Warrior Shadows of Erdrick to try and create a new SoE game using the best of everything we created.
Final Fantasy Legend of the Crystals was started back in early 2009. The game didn't update fast enough for the community and died out over time. I instead put the game back into the drawing board and hoped to have enough material before going with it again to avoid such an issue.
Well Byond created some nice updates changing icons so I went with a new FF style, FF6.
Final Fantasy War of the Magi was created in late 2009 and didn't see a public play till early 2010. While not having as much material as my previous projects, it did increase the quality by a great amount.
Come the great exidous of fan games for Byond. I finally gave up looking for an iconer (I been looking since 2007) and did icons myself to recreate War of the Magi as a more original game void of copyrighted material. Saving old maps was possible. Bringing back old unused code was possible. Time to work on it wasn't.
My new goal is too have version 4 done for summer of 2012 instead of being out by Christmas. For those wanting to see this game I must say one thing, be patient. I am one person trying to make an epic game, it will take time.

New character development system

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 20:07:42 +0000

I decided to go with the path of not selecting your class. Lots of RPGs, especially Byond ones, tend to use a straight forward system. You are a soldier or you are a wizard so your character will develop as follows. Players will want more options and usually this is handled by adding more classes. Soon there are too many classes to keep the game balanced and you still aren't making everyone happy.
This system is a make your character the way you want. As you level you get stat points, one for each level. You may choose to place these in any of the five main stats of your character; Str (increases your attack damage), Agi (increases your odds of going sooner in battle), Vit (increases the amount of HP you get at level up), Int (increases your magic damage and MP you get at level up), Spr (decreases the effect negative magic has you by effect and damage).
As you raise your stats you will see one of four classes appear in the menu for gaining new skills. The AP you gain from leveling can be used to level up these class skills. Warrior, Rogue, Mage, and Cleric just like the old Dungeons and Dragons 2nd edition. If you spend enough points (2 at first then 5 for next and 9 for after that and so on) you will gain a level in that class. This unlocks new skills to be learned from that class.
You then can spend your AP on gaining skills associated with the class you leveled in. As you level that class more and more, the better skills you can attain. Some skills can be learned by leveling in more then one class too. If some great new skills are thought of later and you are past the point you would unlock them you will not miss out as they will become available once put in the game. This system should help defend against pwipes in the future.
Now the player has more control on what type of Wizard they become. They don't have to be the frail can't fight type of mage, but could be a mix of healing magic or a magic using knight.
Each class has it's own type of equipment skills that can be earned too. Warrior having the most as they specialize in combat.
This is a simple system as the game's theme is too feel like a retro RPG from the early 90s. No two characters should always be the exact same. Characters should have some kind of personality to them that is all their own and this system can give that opportunity.

War of the Magi September status

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 12:42:12 +0000

Still no update yet as I want the next update to be huge. Here are some things being planned.
-New character development system using no classes that will allow a more custom character.
-Unique equipment that is randomly given after certain quests are complete. The result is random, but something you could use.
-An optional bonus dungeon.
-Max character level increased to 99.
-Double world size.
-Several more quests to do and additions to the main story line.
-Mini games (may or may not have a nice interface, but are still fun and easily added).

Somethings still on my mind to add.
-Battle tournament.
-Gems that can increase stats for your unique gear.
-Side story lines
-Buried treasure (requires finding a shovel to attain).
-Mail system.
-Auction house to sell your unique gear.

No date will be set for the update as new features pop up all the time and my hours at work have increased to get ready for the holiday season.

Bounds undefined

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 07:07:14 +0000

Code:

SaveChar()
     var/savefile/F = new("save/players/[copytext(ckey,1,2)]/[ckey]/File [quest_log]")
     F["/stats"] << list("name" = name,"level" = level)
     F["/mob"] << src (line 222)

Problem description:
When this is called the line saving the mob to F will return a runtime.
runtime error: undefined variable /var/bounds
proc name: SaveChar (/mob/PC/proc/SaveChar)
source file: PC.dm,222
usr: Dpheonix7 (/mob/PC)
src: Dpheonix7 (/mob/PC)
call stack:
Dpheonix7 (/mob/PC): SaveChar()
Dpheonix7 (/mob/PC): Login()

I have not turned on or used any of the new pixel movement system and can not figure out why bounds would be undefined as it is a built in var. No where in the code is bounds used as a var for anything or called/modified.

Wotm in progress

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 06:15:37 +0000

I have been doing lots of work lately and have not been home much. As little work gets done on wotm because of this the update will take a while to finish. I have been planning new features on paper to add. Lots of the ideas should only hold development a few days and will add new depths to gameplay
. Some things like minigames will make a debut soon.

Wotm in progress

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 06:08:05 +0000

WotM's first week results

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 20:02:28 +0000

It has been one week since the first server of WotM went up. Game was open download for a while as a demo only playable to about level 5. Now the game is playable to level 20 with new areas coming just around the corner.
Introduced new classes. Here is some info on the classes. Do note that players can unlock and learn skills from other classes skill trees.

Warrior
Warriors are the master of weapons. They can earn weapon skills quicker then any other class and use special elemental attack skills. Great class for tanking as they earn the heaviest armor skills.

Monk
Monks are power houses. Not as varied in weapons and armor as a warrior is, they do make up for it with being able to deliver multiple attacks during their turn.

Thief
Thieves are a lower tier warrior with the addition of being able to steal items from their enemies. Thieves can master the art of speed and can really build up their speed later down the road.

BardNew Class!
Bards are on tier with thieves when it comes to equipment, but bards specialize in the use of song and dance. Each song and dance can buff the party or debuff the enemy. Some can even heal or hurt others.

Wizard
Wizards are frail in their use of equipment but a master in the art of combat magic. Wizards can deal damage to groups of enemies at once and inflict status effects.

Cleric
Clerics are balanced in a few areas but don't stand out to the other classes in those areas but for one. They deal in healing and protection magic. Clerics are the main medics of any group.

Druid
Druids are followers of nature. They have the power to adsorb certain types of magic and then can use those magics themselves. They only need to see the magic casted by an enemy to learn it's use.

SummonerNew Class!
Summoners can collect the essences of monsters and channel them to attack for them. Whenever a monster is defeated in combat there is a chance for the summoner to absorb that monster's spirit. Summoned monsters will appear when called and do one attack for the caster.

New passive skills have been added. These are unlocked to learn like any other skill/spell in the game, but they don't need to be activated to use once learned. Some passive skills include reducing the chance of being ambushed by monsters or doubling your speed during battle.

Some features planned for adding (features may be changed or dropped later based on execution)"
Blacksmith shops. You can find special ores on your adventure and turn them into the blacksmith and he can make new weapons for you out of the ores.
Shovel. You can acquire a shovel and dig for buried treasure around the world. While the chances of finding treasure isn't high, you can dig up almost any tile.
Possible chance of a list reorder option.

Some of the icons are being redone to look of more quality and colors are being changed to get a better look.

We will be looking forward to the next expansion update adding in more quests and places to visit along with a raise in the max level to 36.

WotM 3.2 out and first server up

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 08:00:39 +0000

Though having the game only playable in a party up to approx character level 17 the game has a good amount to offer for an initial server. Some of the graphics are being tweaked and bugs are being fixed time to time. Game should make even more larger strides in the next week.
Sometime I will try and construct a better video for the game. A promotion plan has been put into action as I am not sure when to bring the players in at this point. I would like a game to be playable to at least level 30 before gathering new players from outside Byond.
There are a few things being worked on still and I have a list so they should be done this next week. Work can slow down development time to time.