I wrote the [fight1] (fight one monster) subroutine on monday night and tidied it up on tuesday. I've even included a goto to allow the player to use luck during combat but my current luck test only reduces luck on a success. Is this too much of a departure form the original FF rules or is it an improvement? I had to check after i wrote it whether it was right or not but i think it's fair to only dock the luck point on a successful test. Perhaps a purist would disapprove but what do my readers think? Do i even have any readers?
I think all the code i've written so far if pretty solid, for what it is. I've fixed a bunch of errors which would basically hang the program at a question if you didn't give a usable answer. Now they all either repeat the question or continue to the next part of the game.
So a quick run down of the program to show what you can do so far:
[chargen] names and generates the stats of the character.
[weapselect] allows you to choose between three different types of sword
[fight1] to fight a single opponent
[testluck] to... test your luck
[time] to keep track of time. I might rewrite it to record the total in a different way though
[restoreluk] adds 1 to your luck score every few minutes
[area1] a template for a location, including monster variables
[gameover] which runs when you die, telling you a few stats about the game like (game)time taken and monsters killed.
I still need to make a template for a location which has a trap as an obstacle instead of monsters and a template for locations which don't really do anything more than connect other areas.
What all this means is that, at this point i basically need to come up with a story to continue the work. As the original inspiration was Deathtrap Dungeon, i'd like to make this first version similar to that but i can't think of an intro which isn't incredibly contrived. I can get a copy of a map of DD and code that but DD is probably copywrite and, as i'd like to make this effort available to the public, i think i should do a unique story.
I have got an idea for a werewolf based adventure which makes a lot of use of the time keeping sub and will pay homage to the great Werewolf TV series, including the hunt for Skorzeny. But i don't want to do that yet because it's more a month in the wild than a dungeon crawl (it's not a dungeon crawl at all).
I think i'll have to sit down, bust out my old school mapping skills and draw a map of the dungeon. It would be best if i know what sort of areas i will be putting in before i do the map and, based on comments on Fighting Dantasy and/or turnto400 it should be an environment which people could actually imagine is a real environment that the monsters could live in. It might be fantasy but orcs 'n goblins still gotta take a crap somewhere.
So basically, at this stage i am asking for plot ideas as well as ideas for evil deathtraps, encounters and puzzles. I do have ideas for a section of the map, a trap and an obstacle but they will only be a very small part of the whole effort.
Players of the original game books have also grumbled about arbitrary deaths for wrong turns or having/not having certain items. So i'd like to have the player able to make a difference in these situations. Clues in the text indicating that a certain direction or action could be dangerous (more dangerous than exploring dungeons), redundancy in vital items, ways to escape deathtraps, etc.
Finally i'd like to be able to include expository text, in appropriate areas, in the game to develop the story and give the player the impression they are involved in something fairly organic. Maybe it's just me but i think a plot is important to games and for this sort of game, even more so. The player could just kill their way through a bunch of tunnels and steal everything they find but it would be so much more rewarding for them to do it in the context of a dramatic story arc which builds up the role of the bigbad and his nefarious plot before they reach the ultimate encounter and fight the final showdown.
I think all the code i've written so far if pretty solid, for what it is. I've fixed a bunch of errors which would basically hang the program at a question if you didn't give a usable answer. Now they all either repeat the question or continue to the next part of the game.
So a quick run down of the program to show what you can do so far:
[chargen] names and generates the stats of the character.
[weapselect] allows you to choose between three different types of sword
[fight1] to fight a single opponent
[testluck] to... test your luck
[time] to keep track of time. I might rewrite it to record the total in a different way though
[restoreluk] adds 1 to your luck score every few minutes
[area1] a template for a location, including monster variables
[gameover] which runs when you die, telling you a few stats about the game like (game)time taken and monsters killed.
I still need to make a template for a location which has a trap as an obstacle instead of monsters and a template for locations which don't really do anything more than connect other areas.
What all this means is that, at this point i basically need to come up with a story to continue the work. As the original inspiration was Deathtrap Dungeon, i'd like to make this first version similar to that but i can't think of an intro which isn't incredibly contrived. I can get a copy of a map of DD and code that but DD is probably copywrite and, as i'd like to make this effort available to the public, i think i should do a unique story.
I have got an idea for a werewolf based adventure which makes a lot of use of the time keeping sub and will pay homage to the great Werewolf TV series, including the hunt for Skorzeny. But i don't want to do that yet because it's more a month in the wild than a dungeon crawl (it's not a dungeon crawl at all).
I think i'll have to sit down, bust out my old school mapping skills and draw a map of the dungeon. It would be best if i know what sort of areas i will be putting in before i do the map and, based on comments on Fighting Dantasy and/or turnto400 it should be an environment which people could actually imagine is a real environment that the monsters could live in. It might be fantasy but orcs 'n goblins still gotta take a crap somewhere.
So basically, at this stage i am asking for plot ideas as well as ideas for evil deathtraps, encounters and puzzles. I do have ideas for a section of the map, a trap and an obstacle but they will only be a very small part of the whole effort.
Players of the original game books have also grumbled about arbitrary deaths for wrong turns or having/not having certain items. So i'd like to have the player able to make a difference in these situations. Clues in the text indicating that a certain direction or action could be dangerous (more dangerous than exploring dungeons), redundancy in vital items, ways to escape deathtraps, etc.
Finally i'd like to be able to include expository text, in appropriate areas, in the game to develop the story and give the player the impression they are involved in something fairly organic. Maybe it's just me but i think a plot is important to games and for this sort of game, even more so. The player could just kill their way through a bunch of tunnels and steal everything they find but it would be so much more rewarding for them to do it in the context of a dramatic story arc which builds up the role of the bigbad and his nefarious plot before they reach the ultimate encounter and fight the final showdown.
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