Sarfin
Forgotten Planet UpdateSun Jun 21 07:42:46 PDT 2009
Forgotten Planet continues to see updates. There is now a context sensitive action menu that appears when you have anything targeted. You widen of narrow the list of skills that are included in the menu by selecting lorebooks from your bookshelf.
I am now working on getting some equipment in the game, along with the ability to target objects other than yourself. This will lead to actual gameplay!
Expect a breakdown of the new interface soon...
Random
The first expansion is nearly hereThu Jun 18 22:43:29 PDT 2009
While I was hoping for an expansion every three months to our new multiplayer fantasy game crossfire, life interrupted my plans. Now six months later, but the expansion is coming along very nicely. I'm taking a week and driving down to visit Lucky while we put the final touches on this.
In any case, he just finished the new title screen, and I thought you would all appreciate this very small sneak peak.
I hear there will be another Forgotten Planet update soon, and something resembling a real game is just around the corner for that project. Stay tuned.
~ Random
Random
UpdatesThu Jun 04 17:04:36 PDT 2009
Hey all.
First off, Sarfin has made a lot of updates to Forgotten Planet, and they are online, he just seems to have forgotten to make a news post about it.
We've had some behind the scenes turmoil but work continues. Mercs Expansion, the next Crossfire Expansion, Cave Quest, Rex Episode III and Privateer have all been on my work plate the last few months. I hope to have a new game for you next week.
~ Random
Sarfin
Updates and other things..Wed Mar 25 13:53:51 PST 2009
First, the updates.
The bug that caused the duplication of select skills in Avatar quest has been fixed. Either RT mail me or send me an email if you have duplicate skills, and I will manually buy them back.
Avatar quest turn generation bug fixed.
Resizing bugs were fixed in our multiplayer engine. This applies primarily to Red Phoenix: Helix and Crossfire.
Red Phoenix: Helix was made easier by adding three hits before the ship is destroyed. You can also replenish lost hull strength by collecting green powerups. (previously were score boosts)
I said in my last post that I would talk about the event that delayed Hexagon Conundrum. I think enough time has passed that I can talk about it a bit.
In February my Dad suffered a massive heart attack that caused him to go without proper blood circulation for nearly 20 minutes while paramedics tried unsuccessfully to revive him. Although the surgeons at the hospital were able to repair the clogged artery and get his heart beating again, 20 minutes without oxygen to the brain is rather serious. So... after a week in a coma, he passed away.
Obviously I was tied up in the regular activities following this event, to say nothing of my emotional state. I am now back to working on Random Thoughts pretty much daily, and I apologize for delayes, but I think you can all understand...
~ Sarfin
Sarfin
Hegagon ConundrumSat Mar 07 15:27:25 PST 2009
My Mother was perusing our website the other day and was complaining about our lack of puzzle games. My initial reaction to this was to respond that we had LOTS of puzzle games and leave it at that.
Upon reflection however I realized that Jigsaw Conundrum is a timed game, and therefore appealed to a different crowd. Further, Frog Stones and Frog Cloning are both versus the computer or another player so, being competitive are more strategy games.
Horrified, it occurred to me that Orbs also is a versus game.
So I began building a puzzle game, and should have been done several weeks ago, but the process was drastically slowed down due to issues which I will talk about in my next post. I am happy to say that Hexagon Conundrum is now complete and has been added to the games page.
~Sarfin
Sarfin
Avatar Quest UpdateMon Feb 02 17:26:38 PST 2009
A partial update was applied to the Avatar Quest system today. This is listed as a partial update because several changes were made to the underlying mechanics and we need to be sure everything is working properly before we build additional gameplay elements on top of the system.
The new updates include:
1) Gradual turn generation, where premium members and junior members receive 1 turn per hour and 1 turn every other hour respectively.
2) Similarly, daily healing occurs gradually over the course of the day. Junior members will heal 100% if 24 hours (as normal) and premium members will heal 100% in 12 hours.
3) Due to the change in turn generation junior members now have 2 more turns per day, and premium members now have 4 more turns per day.
4) Unused turns now carry over to a maximum of 30 turns for junior members and 100 turns for premium members.
5) Passing is no longer an option. The addition of passing to the game broke, not only the artificial intelligence system, but the Sorcerer class as well. It has been removed for the foreseeable future.
6) The skill level threshold to unlock new skills has been dropped to 8.
Although we hope there will be no problems, many of these changes required some significant modifications to our server code. You should keep your eye out for aberrant behavior, such as turns not being applied properly, skills not being given, or skills being duplicated.
To make error easier to spot, here is a complete skill tree:
Random
A new letterhead for the year.Fri Jan 30 22:35:50 PST 2009
As part of our excitement over our tenth year, we decided to change our logo for the year. The "wish you were here..." while still true, has been replaced by "Celebrating Ten Years".
We still plan on making this the best year we have ever had. I think we are off to a good start with two games for January. More to come.
~ Random
Sarfin
Red Phoenix: HelixWed Jan 28 20:32:48 PST 2009
A new multiplayer game has been added to our games section. This is a semi-sequel to our classic game, Red Phoenix. The game mechanics have changed a bit to better support a two player mode, but otherwise plays much like the original.
There are three gameplay modes:
- Solo for practicing.
- Cooperative, where the score is split between the two players.
- Versus, where winner takes all.
In all play modes, if a player dies the game is over.
Check it out here.
Random
Happy New Year from Random ThoughtsThu Jan 01 12:00:06 PST 2009
Happy New Year all!
Welcome to 2009. I thought it would be great to start the new year with both a look back and a look ahead.
In 2008 we ended up releasing 5 games:
January 2008 - Avatar Quest
February 2008 - Orbs
March 2008 - Rex Adventures Episode II
October 2008 - Flight of the Frog
November 2008 - Fang Arena
Along with several "mini-games" in the Lounge. We all wanted to have the Mercenaries Expansion finished, but otherwise not a bad year. Our top year was 2002 when we released 6 titles... including several RPGs.
I plan on us surpassing our 2002 record here in 2009. This site started back in 1999, so this is the beginning of our tenth year. Everyone at the team wants to make this the best year ever in our history.
Generally we are going to try and offer more titles that offer multiplayer or use our new 3D engine. There are quite a few titles in the works. Our biggest release this year should be the Mercs Expansion, and there is another major update to the demo that is on its way.
Also this year I plan on releasing Rex the Red Adventures Episode III, completing the trilogy. I'm hoping we can mostly clear out our Lab this year, but we will have to wait and see how things go.
For those of you who have been around since the start, or for those that have found us over the years - thanks for staying with us! We are committed to bringing you the best java games on the internet.
Happy New Year!
~ Random
Random
Happy Thanksgiving!Thu Nov 27 13:33:13 PST 2008
Hey Random Thoughts fans,
We at the team just wanted to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving.
Also, another quick preview. Rest assured, not all of our new characters are female. Another new Tier 1 mercenary is the Elven Warrior:
Elves had been seen in mercenary parties before, but normally just the apprentice wizards who sought knowledge of the world abroad. But as the ancient magics of the Crobas Jungle have been awakened, the elves are leaving their sleepy homeland of Thalasirmon and venturing into the world in larger numbers. What the larger elven plan is can only be guessed at by the strategists in Calidia, but the growing Tailent threat may be able to bring the old allies together.
Elven Warriors are a Tier 1 mercenary available to all players who play the expansion (free and premium). Elven Warriors have access to unique gear. They are frontline fighters, although they come with lower blood and slightly higher stats than the Recruit.
Elven Warriors may not be a choice for every party, but they will allow discerning generals to have another option when building that perfect low level party.
~ Random
Sarfin
A few new items..Mon Oct 20 11:14:51 PDT 2008
First, as several of you have noticed there is a new "hat colored" rectangle under the "Avatar Quest" button. This is our new multiplayer tracker. If there is anyone logged into one of our multiplayer games the game will appear on the list along with the number of current players.
As an added bonus, you can click on the game in the box to quickly link to the game you want to join. The games currently supported are:
RT Inn: The Random Thoughts Inn, obviously
TK: Treasure Keeper
frogstones: Frog Stones
FotF: Flight of the Frog
Occasionally a game will come up that isn't on the list... this means Random or myself is testing something... either upgrades to the multiplayer system or a new game.
Additionally this little Applet opens the door for a more thorough tracking system. Once it is on all of our pages and server side support has been added we will be able to display how many users are online and where they are on the site.... something that has been requested on several occasions.
Second, we have updated the user accounts a bit. If you click on the "Members" link, you will see a new "Website Options" button. (Assuming you are logged in) These new options include fullscreen preference (when a game supports it), personal or favorite web page (for random links through our Links section), and upcoming parental controls (not yet implemented). Although this section was done some time ago, I forgot to post a news item.
Third, the single player mode of Flight of the Frog has been completed and added to our games page. This version includes a new "competitive cooperative" mode where two players can play the game together but with separate scoring.
Although working, the multiplayer has not been tested to my satisfaction yet, so it's listed as still in beta.
Permissions for multiplayer work similarly to the Inn, where anyone can play, but a Premium member is required to actually start a game. (being real-time, this game is nasty to our bandwidth)
Fourth and lastly, it appears that Avatar Quest is the popular choice for what I should spend my time on. (in addition to the Mercs expansion) There still seems to be some debate on whether there should be an experience reset, however. I will be starting a separate thread to address this.
~ Sarfin
Sarfin
Flight of the FrogThu Oct 09 16:21:12 PDT 2008
It has been a long time since we have put all other projects on hold to work exclusively on the Mercenaries of Dosbar expansion. We were hoping to have a playable beta by mid September, but as you can see, we missed that particular date.
Therefore the decision was made to begin breaking our time up a bit and, while MOD:HS is still our primary focus, we're going to work on a few other things as well.
Speaking of which, what would you guys like to see first, an update to the avatar quest, or to Forgotten Planet?
And also, for a bit of fun, there is a new game in the Lab! It's a simple air combat game that was thrown together over the last week. It's still in the Lab because it needs a couple of minor details before it's really "done" (mostly a loading screen and title pic), but the game is fully playable and pretty much in it's final state. The direct link is Flight of the Frog
~ Sarfin
Random
Mystics, Swashbucklers, Vampires... oh my!Thu Oct 02 21:44:02 PDT 2008
One thing that we talked about when designing the new mercs expansion was the lack of female characters the first time around. We have made an effort to greatly increase the gender diversity available to your forces (voice actresses are still being recruited...).
Today I thought I would spotlight three of the new upcoming killing ladies:
They are the Mystic, the Swashbuckler and the Vampire!
Mystic
Mystics hail from temples deep within Thalasirmon. During their training they embark on a mission to gather knowledge from around the world. Recently the Mercenary Guild on Dosbar has struck a deal where a select few bands of mercenaries will be allowed to recruit these scholars and accompany them on their journeys.
Mystics will only be available to Premium Members. They are low level healers and casters. Not being bred for combat they have lower stats and blood than the other starting mercenaries. Mystics aren't very strong, so they are limited in the equipment they have available. Still, if you keep them out of the line of fire their heal spells can have a huge impact on a low level party. Mystics are Tier 1.
Swashbuckler
Swashbucklers are very common, especially around the trade routes in the southern seas near Dosbar. As the expansion will focus more on sea missions, all parties eligible for Tier 2 mercs will now be able to recruit these treasure seekers.
Swashbucklers come with balanced stats and slightly lower blood than the other Tier 2 mercs. However the Swashbuckler has perfected the art of dual weilding - and is more of an offensive powerhouse. Swashbucklers have access to unique "armor" pieces that are either dueling rapiers or pistols... depending on whether you want to get in close or harass the enemy from range. In either case, this second level merc will be excellent to move in and finish off enemies that are otherwise engaged. Not really much of a frontline fighter, swashbucklers still have a place in a well balanced mid-range party.
Vampire
The Vampiress is difficult to unlock, and not much is known about them. Rumor has it they have been seen with mercenary bands that are already cursed.
Iceheart, queen of the vampires, who resides in the Black Lands is known to lead an army of undead. What her lesser generals are doing joining bands of mercenaries is still a mystery.
These secret Tier 3 mercs are both powerful magic users, as well as devastating fighters able to use blades and crossbows. If you can sway a vampiress to join your cause, they will make a powerful addition at any level.
Hope you enjoy the preview,
~ Random
Sarfin
The Upcoming Mercs ExpansionTue Aug 19 13:57:18 PDT 2008
Another update was applied to Mercenaries of Dosbar: The High Seas
In addition to some bug fixes, the online version now includes some wandering goblins. The AI system has not yet been fully implemented, so the online version is infested with mindless sleep-walkers.
Sarfin
The Upcoming Mercs ExpansionThu Aug 14 19:53:49 PDT 2008
It's been too long without being updated, so the working/developer version of MOD:HS has been uploaded today. To be accurate it isn't really the copy we are working on as everything that is buggy has been commented out to smooth your experience a bit.
No, there is still no ACTUAL gameplay, but there are a few new features for you to check out.
First, you can now click on the "mission" link and the game will jump into a randomly generated Barant map. You can freely deploy your mercenaries and move them around the map.
Second, you can press control-tab to bring up the in-game chat system. The window can be moved/resized to fit your needs. It will eventually remember your preference on a per-screen basis, but this functionality is waiting on all the screens being implemented first. You can also switch between several view styles with f11 & f12. Note that the chat system overrides some of the keyboard controls... it needs them for chatting.
Last, and certainly least, the new party screen has been cleaned up a bit.
...and before you ask: Yes, both the rotating selected character graphic and the keyboard control cursor in the battle screen are placeholder images. They will be replaced.
Random
Developer's Notebook: A brief look aheadTue Aug 05 14:23:48 PDT 2008
The In Development Preview page has been updated today.
There have been a few changes and additions. Several of you have pointed out that some of the data there was old.
I want to stress again, we are not actually working on any of our other projects until the Mercenaries Expansion is complete. All of our resources are going into that project still, and I am confident that the expansion will be our best product to date.
However, we DO have more than a dozen projects in different states of completion. While none of the others are being worked on now, here is a quick rundown of the state of our top 12 projects - and their priority:
Mercenaries of Dosbar: The High Seas
Priority: Top
Completion: ~60%
Team: Random, Sarfin, Lucky
This is really coming along well. The artwork is mostly finished, and we are currently working to get the entire original game to work, making sure that the new engine is backwards compatible with everything that was in the original. There is still a fair amount of work to be done data entry wise, all of the new monsters aren't in yet, I'm still tweaking the item list, the parameters for the new mission types still need to be finalized, and much more.
But much is done. The battle screen now works, most of the front end screens are finished, we have developed a whole new ways to track mercs and items giving us more options with both. A playable alpha is probably only a few weeks away. Given all the work that this is taking, it is going together pretty fast.
Johnny Rocket
Priority: High
Completion: ~ 25%
Team: Sarfin, Lucky
This project was slated to be completed in June, but Mercs has proven to be more work than anticipated. This is going to be a good little action platform game. There is a finished design document, and the underlying engine and technology is complete.
However, there is a fair amount of art still to be done, as well as all of the level design and data entry. We probably also need to build a level editor to make the project go together quicker. When finished, this is going to be one good looking game.
Diib's Dungeon
Priority: High
Completion: ~ 1%
Team: Random, Sarfin, Lucky
Yes, this is the fourth version of our sequel, but the design keeps changing to make the game better. This is going to be a very in depth MMO. The underlying roleplaying system has been designed, and the chat and multiplayer engine has been finished.
You can actually see a rough demo of this game without game data, it is also our Random Thoughts Inn. This game only has about 1% of the art completed yet, and none of the data entry, as well as needing plenty of polish to the game code.
Diib's Dungeon is going to be our next major collaboration as soon the Mercs Expansion is finished. Next up, we plan on adding a cellar to the inn where you can go and kill rats to demo how the combat system works, as well as multiplayer combat.
Cave Quest
Priority: High
Completion: ~ 95%
Team: Random
This game is very, very close to being completed. All of the art is done, the engine is finished, all of the base and secret characters, spells and items are completed and in the game.
What is missing is the dialogue with the npcs, a few dozen bosses, and the story mission dungeon levels. However, the boss code is in, as well as all of the flags for the story missions.
Basically, I need about two weeks of time to spare to do a lot of data entry and this is finished. The underlying game is completely finished... I just wanted to add a bit of a story before I released this project. When Mercs is finished, while Sarfin and Lucky go nuts kicking out JR, I'm going to spend the wee hours of the evening finishing up this puppy.
Starforce: Aftermath
Priority: Medium
Completion: ~ 50%
Team: Random, Lucky
This is a turn based strategy game that falls roughly into the "4x" category. The story continues right after the end of silent frontier 1.
Here I have all of the artwork except for a few clean-up pieces - as well as the entire combat portion of the game finished. It supports multiplayer battles.
In fact, the original game was just going to be the fleet tactical battles, with complex rules regarding how you built your "fleet". I decided to instead a strategy element to the game with galaxies and stars to conquer, bases, buildings, research, espionage etc. so that the fleet you field is actually based on what you choose to build from your empire.
The strategy portion of the game is designed on paper, and I have the galaxy generation and viewing code written, as well as resource gathering. What I DON'T have is all of the timers and code written to support all of the strategy options for the four factions, as well as all of the rules for what you can build when.
When I finish the strategy portion of the code, then I need to work on the data entry for the campaigns, of which there is very little already done. Again, its designed on paper, but nothing is in the code.
All in all, it will probably take me 2 months to finish when the priority gets high enough.
Wanderlust: Age of the Valiant
Priority: Medium
Completion: ~5% to 80%
Team: Sarfin
Ah, Sarfin's roleplayer that is going to be so perfect it can never actually be done.
While wanderlust is getting close to entering its 5th incarnation, there is hope that an actual game is close to being finished. Sarfin is planning on combining three different roleplaying projects he was working on into one game - a fantasy mmo that will probably bear the wanderlust title. The code is in bits and pieces across three projects, and I don't know the state of the art. Still, much of the world is going to be randomly generated, so there is not as much data entry needed here - and assuming all of his code talks nicely with each other this project could be done quickly.
Or it could take another 5 years. This project will be a nice test of some of our mmo concepts, but is of lower priority on Sarfin's list than updating the avatar quest system (and everything else above) so I wouldn't expect a game until December at the soonest.
And that is if everything goes right.
Silent Frontier 2
Priority: Low
Completion: ~20%
Team: Random, Lucky
I've been working on this project for years, and have gone through two underlying engines. The project stalled due to artwork issues, as well as questions about what our technology could handle.
The project would be farther along if I didn't keep restarting. There is a finished design doc, there are 7 factions and a really in depth ship design system. This sequel moves away even more from the base building aspects to focus more on the ship to ship combat.
The whole project is on hold right now because we have developed a 3D engine. Both of the prior iterations of the game ran in an much-improved 2D engine. I need to see what the speed and resource abilities of our 3D engine are before I decide to go through the work of translating all the 2D models to 3D, as well as completly re-writing all of the underlying engine code to mesh with a 3D engine.
The story is finished. The factions and their balance is finished. Most of the ship models are finished. There is still a lot, lot, lot of work to do.
Privateer
Priority: Medium
Completion: 85%
Team: Random, Lucky
This one is almost done. In fact, it was almost done two years ago, but a horrible, horrible computer bug utterly destroyed the code.
I have been slowly recovering the code. The arcade game is finished. There are about a half dozen bits of artwork I still need. I want to update the underlying code to use some of our newer tricks (hardware acceleration, for instance).
Then it is a matter of me getting the art, and doing the data entry for the story game. The story is barely written, so the less ambitious I am with the story the quicker this game will be finished. However, I usually like longer, more in depth stories, at which point finishing the story is what will take all the time.
There have also been some memory issues which we are still trying to work around. Still, the game is mostly finished, and I've been playing and refining the beta on my own for years. This is basically a wing commander 1 clone... but it is plenty of fun. My testplayers have all given me really, really positive feedback on how this project has come together so far.
Arena Tanks
Priority: Low
Completion: 90%
Team: Random
I don't know if I will finish this one or not. I've almost scrapped the project several times.
All of the art is finished, and the engine is finished. I'm just not sure that the game is very good.
What is left to do is very similar to Cave Quest - I just need to put in the tournament missions so there is an actual game to play (instead of just a demo arena). That will still take some work, and I will probably want some more art for your rival gladiators as part of the story.
This could be finished quickly, but it never gets high on my list of things to do because the underlying game just doesn't feel up to my current standard. Scrapping it wastes years of work I put into this game (in 2003) - and its almost done so it stays on my list. But I like releasing better products than this will be, so I never feel very inspired to sit down and release something that will be so ho-hum.
Of course, the original Hover Tanks is stubbornly popular, so perhaps even if the game is bad it will still appeal to a niche audience.
I haven't scrapped the project yet.
Moon Marines
Priority: Low
Completion: ~15%
Team: Random
This is a turn based conquest game where you use marines and tanks to take over moon mining with up to three other AI or human players.
While there are a lot of fancy looking front end screens to this game, and a fair amount of story data entry... there is no game there. The underlying engine was never finished, and I still need a lot of art. Unlike most of my other projects, in this case I did the story first. The game is designed on paper, but this one is quite a ways from being completed.
This is one of the projects that is likely to be translated from its current 2D state into 3D depending on how our engine works out... and I'll keep the fancy title screens and menus I did as the front end of the newer game.
Cave of Doom II
Priority: Low
Completion: ~40%
Team: Random
This game is probably scrapped. This was going to be an old school party role-player along the lines of Final Fantasy I or Dragon Warrior 2, pick a party of four from among 8 classes.
The characters are all in, as are the spells - and I am really happy with the spell system I designed for this game.
Oh, but there are problems. The overworld art that Lucky did ended up not working, and would have to be completely redone. The random generator for the world/missions also continues to have problems. Worst of all, this game was going to be one of our main offerings for CD only content... and we have since scrapped the CD project entirely in place of the premium membership system.
The code is not set up for web-based delivery and would take a lot of work to translate. The art is in shambles, and should probably be redone from scratch. The underlying engine is OK, but the entire random generator needs to be redone. AND there is loads of data entry to do for the random quests.
The title is probably going to be stolen from this project and used for a different game, along with some of the front end menus that are finished.
In fact, when we sit down and look over our list of projects, I wouldn't be surprised to see this preview disappear from our site completely in a few months.
Absolute Power
Priority: Medium
Completion: ~40%
Team: Random, Sarfin, Lucky
This is going to be a fun, giant, conquer the universe one very, very slow turn at a time game. An mmo where all you fight is other players, and all the turns happen in real time (constructing a base might take 6 hours, for instance).
This game has a finished design document. The underlying engine is also finished.
What is not done is any of the artwork, and we would need loads. We have discussed making this more of a text-based game to get around the insane art needs of this project, as we think it will hit more of a niche audience.
I have finished the interface and front end menus, Sarfin has finished the back end server code and the mmo engine. And then we have a title screen for art and that's it.
IF we release this as a text based game, it could be finished by the end of the year. If we wait until we can hire more artists to work on this game, it could take a few years.
The sequel is ALSO already designed... and will take advantage of our 3D engine. Sadly, it is likely the sequel will be finished before the original.
Rex the Red Adventures: Episode 3
Priority: Low
Completion: ~70%
Team: Random
This is the last game of the trilogy, and the last that will use the RA engine before I update the entire franchise. The story is finished, as long as the underlying engine. The new items, spells and monsters are all in and finished. The data entry of all of the new areas is all that is left to do. This should take me 1-2 months to finish, but the priority to get this up is not as high as I just released a Rex game not too long ago.
Depending on my time, this one could be up November/December ish. I'm also considering releasing it one year after Episode II, even if I complete it sooner.
And there are more projects not listed above. Just a little look behind the scenes.
~ Random
Sarfin
The High Seas ScreenshotTue Jul 29 11:40:47 PDT 2008
Up until this point we have only released mockups of what the combat will look like. Well no longer.
Here is an actual screenshot of the combat screen in action, with a selection of mercenaries posing for the camera.
Random
Too hard to see?Wed Jul 16 01:40:45 PDT 2008
"Has anyone else noticed the invisible unit outside of the castle wars next to a bush? " ~ Patchy
Well, I don't think we hid the fact that there were going to be stealth units in the expansion, on both sides. A while back we posted a screenshot of the new skill tree system - and it included this:
Yeah - with the more realistic look of the art things on the map stick out a little less. That is what the selection circles are for. Sarfin is still working on all of the graphic effects that will be on the battle screen. An extra glow effect behind all of the characters might still be possible.
Animating the selection circles or selection effect (or red enemy circles) in some way could also help units stand out.
There is also a "Next Unit" button for easy cycling through your players.
Also, while zooming out gives you a bigger view of what's going on, for smaller tactical engagements you can just leave the camera zoomed in and focus on the squares where the action is.
~ Random
Random
Mercenaries of Dosbar: The High Seas - Barant Siege PreviewTue Jul 15 13:06:12 PDT 2008
The image tells a thousand words...
~ Random
Random
Developer Journal: Mercs Expansion Game Design TheoryFri Jul 11 01:02:19 PDT 2008
Hey again Random Thoughts users,
As the Mercenaries Expansion is taking ALL of our development resources, I know that things have been a little more quiet over the last two months. I can give you glimpses of the game to come, but that is all for now.
Mostly that has been in the way of new artwork. But I'm guessing that some of you in our community want to know where we are going with this expansion, what we are thinking, and why.
We all like Mercs, and it was one of our first projects and our first collaboration. Still, liking the game and saying it can't be made better are two different things. We all are pretty individualistic, and egos and ideas clash when you do a collective work. It can be a painful process - but I think it always produces a better game in the end.
There has been talk of a Mercs 2 for many, many years... but the ambitious nature of the project was really outside of our resources. It still is. Sarfin and I got to talking that we could update our oldest game if we decided that rather than starting from scratch for the game - just doing an expansion.
So what have we decided to improve?
Artwork
And this one was a slippery slope. The original Mercs art was very stylized, and pulled from several different sources. I liked the retro feel it gave the game. But our artists and art ability have really improved over the last 10 years.
The problem was, once we redid one bit of art, it looked too good compared to anything else. After the first new pieces of art were finished, it was pretty obvious that every single piece of art for the whole game would have to be redone. That is no small task.
But that was only the beginning. In addition to redoing every single piece of artwork, new art had to be done to support all of the NEW things we are putting in the game. Lucky told me recently that his Mercs Expansion folder on his computer is the same size as all of the art he has done for all of our other games (including upcoming titles) combined. Wow.
But, you can see the new art direction in the demo in the Lab. I think you will be pleased with the update.
Difficulty
Oh, I loves me a good hardcore grind as much as the next person, but much of our feedback over the last years on mercs is that it was just too hard to get into. Even for people that played a lot, generally speaking the game was easier at the end and hardest at the beginning. In one way this is OK... it means that players notice as they become more powerful. But on the other hand, it turns away a lot of players.
We are doing several things to "change the curve" - and make the early game easier and the late game continue to offer more challenges as party strength grows.
The first change we already implemented in the original - more starting gold. This should help a party to overcome early mistakes.
The second change will probably not effect most veterans: Tier 0 monsters. Truly pathetic foes, worth little fame and less gold. Still, they will give new players an opportunity to get to grips with the controls and interface, and few people should ever start the game and get their party wiped in the first mission. The new Tier 0 enemies will appear in special early game missions, along with two tutorial "story" game missions. Once the tutorial missions are finished the Tier 0 missions and monsters go away.
If you already know how to play, all you need to do is accept the always available new tutorial missions... and retreat will be an option for victory from the get-go. So two quick missions with instant retreating and a small gold boost and you are back into the early game you used to play. But for new players they can take some time to beat up on patsies if they want to.
The third change is in stat ups. Currently going from STR 5 to 6 is just as easy or hard as going from STR 95 to 96. This is changing, to make the game easier in the beginning, and also make it more viable to keep your starting mercs throughout the game if you choose. The lower a stat is the easier it will be to level if you do the necessary action (kill an enemy or dodge). This means that leveling a Recruit's Dex or a Scout's Str should be a little easier now.
The fourth change is the combat formula. The way the current combat formula works you need to randomly roll 7 times the dex roll of your opponent to score a critical hit. This is very easy to do when all of the numbers are reasonably low at the start of the game. This means that both mercs and monsters crit often at tier 1. By Tier 4, however, crits are much more unlikely, except against a few monsters with really low dex, or BY a few monsters with super high dex (Tailents).
I'm changing the combat formula so that dexterity is still compared, but that critical hits are just as likely at the high levels as at the low levels. Be warned high level players....
Items
We had plenty of ideas for more items over time, but the way the original data was structured it was impossible for us to add any items.
The entire system has changed so that we can add as many items as we like. We are also adding several new slots to equip gear. This should lead to a lot more customization options for players.
But there is a lot more going on behind the scenes with items. First off, in the original we only had 2 restrictions... bows and magic staffs. That list has expanded to 9 restrictions in the expansion as more new types of gear and classes are being added.
With all of those new restrictions we were worried about too much restricted gear showing up for sale. So we have changed the item generator to filter out gear with restrictions you don't meet. This means that in theory (assuming you have the Strength) almost every piece of gear you find for sale can be used. This also means that if you have no archers in your party, no bows will show up for sale - so after hiring a new archer you will have to run a mission before you can start buying new items.
Also, going back through the item lists there seemed to be large gaps in the items we had offered. I've mostly finished redoing new sets of weapons and armor for Tiers 1 and 2. But there is more to come.
Where are the Tier 4 crossbows? I don't know either, but all sorts of gear had no top level choices. I haven't added it yet, but I plan to really flesh out the items from top to bottom so that you have more and more choices with how to equip your characters.
Another new feature being added are going to be Tier Elite items. These are going to be items with weight requirements for a lower Tier with stats for a higher Tier... but generally at about 10-20 times the cost. If you really have money, there will be something more to spend it on. So if you NEED to have your brand new Archer equip a bow with 25 attack right away, you CAN do it, but it will cost you.
Classses
Here our thoughts were simple. Keep all of the original, but expand. As they get closer to being finalized, I will continue to highlight each new class as I already did for the Dryad.
We are adding several mercs to each Tier, and adding Tier 4 mercs. Some of the mercs are going to require quests or items to unlock, some will require premium membership, and some will be available as soon as you reach a new tier. Currently we have 2 new Tier 1s, 3 new Tier 2s, 4 new Tier 3s, and 2 Tier 4s. That is 11 new classes added onto the already existing 12.
Premium Membership
We know this will be a little more of contentious issue, because not everyone wants to be a premium member. Still, we need to have paying customers to keep the site running, and we want to offer something of real value for those that decide to subscribe.
In this case, we've decided to be sure that our paying members get what they pay for. New classes and a huge list of items top the list, but there are also a (small) number of unique story mission type quests that only premium members will be able to access. Premium members will also get more save slots, if they decide to play with multiple parties.
However, for the community at large, nothing the premium members will have access to will be necessary to beat the game. Indeed, the original 80 story missions should be quite a bit easier to beat with all the new classes, items and options that we are making available. The vast bulk of the new content is available to everyone.
In a lot of ways its going to be like the demo of Cave Quest. Premium members get access to Valkyries, which are one of my favorite classes, but they are still balanced with the other classes and it doesn't stop someone playing through the game with a Wizard.
I could talk more, but its getting late and I have more work to do! Enjoy and discuss.
~ Random
Random
Mercenaries of Dosbar: The High Seas - New Mercenary Revealed!Mon Jul 07 13:48:25 PDT 2008
I thought maybe you would all enjoy a sneak peak at one of the new mercenaries available in the new game:
The Dryad
Dryads are mystical magic using creatures found in the lush forests of Thalasirmon. They rarely venture from their homeland, so their numbers are few. Their singing, magic wielding and shape changing abilities are all well recorded in the tales of the elves - and its the elves who have been seen adventuring with these fey folk. It is said that in their younger years they look human, but as they age their tree form becomes dominant. Many believe that much of the magic in the forests of Thalasirmon is due to large areas of woods being inhabited by many thousand year old dryads who are simply at rest in their arboreal form.
As adventures have been increasing in the east, civilization is encroaching on the untamed jungles of Crobas. Among the many deadly encounters there are rumors of wild Dryads. These crazed creatures attack anything that encroaches on the jungle. It is thought that perhaps a few dryads are entering mercenary bands as a means of travel to Crobas, to find and heal their long lost sisters. If true, the dryads could become a powerful ally against the magic of the awakened Tailent temples in Crobas.
Within the new game Dryads are a Tier 2 merc, but they will not be easy to hire. They have balanced stats, but also come with a variety of additional powers. They can use a new restricted class of gear that often contains minor magic spells. They are able to shape shift into a tree form. In tree form they cannot move or cast, but they have greatly increased defense ability. And they may come with an inherent spell.
Within a party dryads will be able to fill a variety of roles. They don't have high Blood, so they will be an early target for parties of all Tier 2 and higher mercs. However, their tree form will let them resist large amounts of physical attacks. Also in tree form they can perform close range physical attacks. If not in tree form they can easily provide the minor backup healing, or even main healing for a low level party. Finally, with a variety of ranged spells they can do ranged damage or buff other party members.
Dryads have no advanced form, so a tome of enlightenment will simply up their existing stats. Getting items that increase their blood will be important to use their magic abilities to their full extent. Still, even in their basic form, their ability to weather many, many attacks will let parties with these mystical tree-people worry less about who is going to be able to take the hits.
The mercs expansion is coming along, and much of the new things are finally getting added (at first we needed to implement everything that existed in the first game). A simple alpha without real missions may be available in the coming weeks.
Enjoy,
~ Random
Random
Mercenaries of Dosbar: The High Seas - Memory issuesSat Jul 05 00:36:57 PDT 2008
Well, some things are changing in the expansion as we start to run into memory issues.
There will probably be a brief loading screen between the different party management screens and before every battle I'm sorry to say. Also, some people may not be able to have all of the sound and image options operating at the same time.
We still want the core game to be good, inviting and accessible to almost everyone on the internet. This means that the default game will have to start off with a selection of more minimum requirement options enabled, so that lower end computers can get into the game.
If you are able to increase your memory for Java, you can still experience all of the fancy graphics and sound effects by going to the options and turning everything on.
The good news in all of this is that none of it effects the core gameplay... everyone will still be able to play the game. And even the minimum options are still a significant improvement over the original.
Just a little update on what we are working on. The demo in the lab may be updated in the next few weeks, as soon as we are ready to let people start getting dirty with some basic testing.
~ Random
Random
And then there were houses...Sat May 24 18:49:45 PDT 2008
Work continues behind the scenes on the Mercs expansion. Featured here is a mockup screenshot of the new Calidia town maps. I'm very happy with the work done on the new houses.
We are still debating exactly how fire will work in the expansion, because it really doesn't look right to knock out part of a house with these new images. We may change the game to giving houses hitpoints, and you need to destroy an entire structure.
There are also several changes to the Avatar Quest system still in the works. Stay tuned.
~ Random
Random
The Long PushThu May 08 04:19:56 PDT 2008
Hey Random Thoughts users!
Just wanted to drop a quick note to let you know what's going on behind the scenes. Work on the Mercs Expansion is starting to hit full swing, and that is going to be taking the majority of our time until it is done.
Between Sarfin and I there should be one more game release and an update to the Avatar Quest game. Other than that, things are going to be rather quiet as far as releases go while we push to get the expansion done. We are confident its going to be worth the wait.
Still, working on such a large project doesn't lend itself to us posting news items or the like every day. We aren't dead, just working hard. I've been trying to give periodic updates on the behind the scenes work on Mercs, and I will continue to do that.
Fang Arena may also be finished soon, although that's not my project so its a little harder to know the timeline on that sucker.
Just keeping you in the loop,
~ Random
Sarfin
Forgotten PlanetTue Apr 29 11:05:00 PDT 2008
Due to popular demand, the current development state of Forgotten Planet has been uploaded to the lab.
The primary reason this was not done earlier is due to a massive interface rewrite and the skill system has not been re-attached to the buttons. This will be added back in soon.
Also coming soon is saving. I know I said that saving was going to be added late due to the changing code behind the scenes, but things have changed. The game now drops players at a random location on the planet and for test purposes it is useful to have the same map every round... so saving is needed.
Random
Mercenaries of Dosbar: The High Seas - Battle Screen MockupMon Apr 28 21:23:23 PDT 2008
I wanted to give our users a little bit more of a behind the scenes look at where we are going with the Mercs expansion. Seen here is a very rough mockup of what the final battlescreen will look like.
The battle section of the game is still not in a playable version in our demo in the lab.
The black box in the lower right hand corner is for mini-map support, which will allow us to support both larger maps, as well as zooming features to get in closer on the models/action.
We are still hoping for a late July release, but we don't have a release date. Don't throw stuff at me if it isn't up until September...
;)
~ RandomThis web site and all products herein are copyright (c) 1999-2009, Random Thoughts Entertainment, All Rights Reserved.