Imagination Land

I think I figured out how to get this done.

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:17:10 GMT

Initially I believe I bit off alot more than I can chew with Fighters of Legend, and after a while I was starting to feel it. Overtime with work picked up, events outside of work covered most of my free time, and FoL was getting harder and harder to work on. Also I was having alot of trouble working the combat system around the differences between client and server delays.

I took some time today to reflect upon most of this and worked out something that seems very possible. Firstly I limited the animations and icon-states to about 26 (down from close to 60), which may cause some actions to not look as awesome as I would hope, but these animations should cover all aspects of the game I wish to present.

Secondly, I was trying something so complicated with stats (for me at least) that getting the math right for all levels, variations and aspects of combat was proving to be wicked tough. Combine that with the timing offsets between clients and outputs were scaling in two completely opposite directions. I'm gonna simplify (if not rework entirely) all of the stats in the game, so they're back down to the initial 5-6 and everything works around them. Adding in an automatic hit-or-miss element based around these calculations was also proving to be very tough.

Thirdly my approach with styles and mastery would make for alot of tweaking, instead I may have a dynamic class-type system in its place. I was thinking heavily about it and I believe that this would not only be easier to work out as a sole developer (especially in terms of balance), but would also produce the same type of results.

And finally the world. For some reason I had it in my head that having a planet for each race would be plausible, given that at most I'll have a hundred or so players per server this would be a terrible idea. Instead I plan on having two similar areas for each level throughout the entire game, initially at least. I'm sure I can rework the story to flow around this concept, and it'd allow for more player interaction (as well as saving me a ton of work).

I'll try and keep everyone updated, I apologize for my lack of postings but alas real world calls and this kind of thing isn't a paying job :)

- Heart, Ken.

theletterj is single... match.com?

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:45:56 GMT

Check it out and be sure to comment.

The future of Fighters of Legend.

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 08:30:14 GMT

I do realize that it has been a while, as stated things have been taking a turn for the worst in my personal life, thus hindering my developer's life but I do wish to push on.

With my little time away from working on the game I had come up with a few new ideas I wish to incorporate into the game in place of certain concepts, as well as expressing the remaining necessities before testing.

The combat system itself is still incomplete, and I feel I may have gone too far involved with the stats for my own good, so I'm going to simplify them. No more power or anything bogus like that to worry about. Strength will directly effect melee damage, Body will deal with the damage you receive, Mind will directly effect KI effects, and so on. I feel I bit off more than I (and the byond engine itself) can chew, so I'm going to take a little time simplifying everything before I pick back up on the combat system itself.

This should speed up the process a little and make it less involved and confusing, yet more straightforward and fun. Of course I do still have a lot of work to do with the game, but it will be ready when it is ready. I stopped doing this for myself and tried focusing on doing it for potential players, and that took me off track. I won't rush anything or even try to speed anything along for anyone, but I'll work at my even pace and hope that when it's released people still want to play it. Basically I was working on the game for the weekend updates, and rushing my ideas... I lost a little interest by doing that.

Screenshots will be held off until I actually have something pretty to show, as of now it's just confusing people who stumble upon the game and building up speculation I really don't want yet. If you care about my progress as a developer and maybe some aspects of the game then this is the blog for you, if not then haunt the hub entry until it's available :).

Concept
As I started the game I was working around an equipment system being the basis of stats for the game, which I eventually realized didn't really make sense for the category and people would be pissed if they had to wear a certain clashing combination of clothing just to have their stats where they want them. Gear as of now will simply be cosmetic for the most part.

In place of gear will be this idea I've had for some time now, Training Slots. Initially you will start out with one slot, which would hold place for exchangeable card-like items based on your style and/or race. As you level you'd get more of these slots, and the objects themselves would contain stats or passive effects that directly effect your character. In the future I would probably have up to 3 different types of these slots where only corresponding cards would fit.

It's still a rough concept but I like it better than the gear idea. Say you do a quest line based on gravity training, at the end there would be a choice of training cards that explain and represent the level of your gravity training, or you train under a master for a quest line. The ideas are very open-ended and should provide a good outcome.

I hope to have more updates in the future, but please realize that this is just a self-fulfilling project, and having players when it's ready is only the perks of it.

Bored... Two youtube shorts.

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 17:51:04 GMT

For some reason the best way around the economy stress is youtube!

They may be very random, but they were fun to make!

Time Machine (digg) and Guitar Hero the 13th?(digg)

Fun stuffs!

Twilight Drinking Game...

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 11:10:04 GMT

Because we had a little free time and alot of beer. Enjoy.

Don't forget to DIGG IT.

Postponed :(

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:57:05 GMT

Real life is getting sucky, might be a couple weeks before FoL progression. Lotsa job worries but I'll keep you all posted.

Yay economical problems! :(

Note: The game is not abandoned, just getting a little dusty with the absence of my current free time, this is not a permanent situation just a temporary lapse.

What's going on with FoL...

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:54:17 GMT

It's taking forever! That's what's going on with it, BAH! lol. I apologize for the creeping progression with the game, these last two weeks have made it rather difficult to find time to work on it. This weekend is going to be another one of those, filled with errands that occupy most of my free time and a few social activities in between.

I will try to have something progressive to show off for next weekend, but for now all I leave you with is this.

Bruno... fun movie to watch with friends.

<3 Ken.

What a time to reconsider...

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:47:09 GMT

Well all of you know I'm working my best on getting a combat-ready testing session of FoL up and running by the 25th of this month, but today I had a great idea that would impose a bit of a snag.

Before...
The system works as of now, like so:

Upon character creation you pick a race, a name, and a primary style. All of these become static throughout the rest of the game, and as primary styles work you have access to everything in that style.
Later on you choose a secondary style from the primary styles, this would only allow you half of the glories of that style, but this is entirely dynamic and has no real effect on your primary style.
In the end you have 3 styles available. Basic style, Primary Style and your dynamic secondary style. Each of these styles has a mastery tree that you can dump points in every odd level to further customize your styles.

Problem: Secondary style and its mastery tree has a large chance of having nothing to do with your primary style or your corresponding gear/stats... Basically if you choose a primary your secondary choices are limited or become practically meaningless.

New idea...
I want to limit these 8 styles down to 4 basic styles to choose from. Melee, Ki, Speed and Support. (as opposed to the addition of hybrid styles which would mess up the whole secondary ideals). Generally it'd work the same at creation, you choose your primary and later on you learn your (still dynamic) secondary. This way however, I'd like to also allow you to choose your secondary from the same 4 basics, creating your own hybrid styles. In short, I want your secondary style to entirely influence your primary, mastery and all.

So say you decide you want to start out melee, later on you can choose a secondary of KI, and all of those KI abilities and mastery would influence or revolve around your melee. This way you could focus on certain stats rather than trying to build up everything at once. Basically it's a create your own class system.

Problem: This would take a little bit more time, not too long however, but I would need to tweak the system a little and change around skills, I'd say about another full week of pushback before testing.

Personally I'm leaning towards my new idea, only because it makes more sense in my eyes. But I'd still like to hear your opinions on the matter.

There will be no update this week

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 05:38:50 GMT

As much as I'd like to stick to the normal routine, as of today there isn't enough content yet for a formal update.

I will try to post something more interesting next week, the combat system's proving a little tedious but almost there. Testing has been pushed back one week also due to doctors appointments as well, so look for a session the evening of July 25th.

Stephen King's: The Dark Tower

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:16:24 GMT

Wow, that's all I have to say about this series. I recently acquired all 7 on audiobook, and have been listening to them at work. So far I'm halfway through the second book, and I am hooked on the series... This amuses me because I'd have never thought of myself as a fan of gun-slingers. I'd suggest you give it a shot if you're in the mood for a captivating fantasy read.

As of now this is my favorite fantasy novel. Previously finished were the Inheritance series (Eragon), which I enjoyed very much although I hated the movie, and am looking very forward to the final book; The Twilight series, although I hated the book Twilight, New Moon and beyond were very enjoyable. I started the series because I respect Angie's taste, but I was startled to find myself looking forward to the rest of the story after book 2; and The Harry Potter series, anticipating the 6th movie I've reread (via Audio-book) all 7 for fun... This has always been a favorite.

Those are just my recent novels, but they definitely help pass time at work and inspire me to my own creations.

On the topic, I'd really appreciate it if you readers would suggest a few of your favorite fantasy novels not listed, and describe them a little for me. As I have alot of time to look forward to at work to fill with reading material.