Screenshots!

[Indigo]

New Game Screen (http://crindigo.com/images/rpgstuff/newgame.png) This is outdated, now, however. The navigation menu is a bit different, and choosing a Job is removed, since you can do job changes afterwards.
Recruiting Soldiers (http://crindigo.com/images/rpgstuff/recruit.png) Sorta based on FFTactics, except now you can recruit at higher levels. There's a screen before that lets you choose what gender you want to look at. The ability to rename the character will appear after purchase. Of course, you can always leave the default, which is generated by a basic PHP version of mudnames (the thing which powers char name suggestions in Geas).

[Solitary Seraph]

Have I mentioned that I love you? that's sweet!

[Chuck]

Oh shi- I'd splooge over a FFT-based engine. :D

Screens seem pretty good thus far.

[Indigo]

http://crindigo.com/images/rpgstuff/party1.jpg
First draft of viewing your party list. Of course, since I'm in a hurry right now, this one just shows all my characters are in "Reserves."

[Solitary Seraph]

I love you Steve.

I take it that the skills and such are done?

[Indigo]

Nah, skills (meaning cooking, crafting, etc) would be done after the party system. And the inventory system, since I'd need a way to manage items before you can use them to make stuff.

If you mean skills as in magic, those are called techniques in this, and will probably be done a bit before the battle system (which is most likely going to be the last thing to do).

[Solitary Seraph]

So whats finished? The map, character creation, and party?

[Indigo]

Character creation and recruiting, so far. The party image I showed is just a portion of parties. I still have to write the code for creating parties and exchanging members/items.

New Image (http://crindigo.com/images/rpgstuff/party2.jpg) - Displaying parties is done, now, in addition to reserves. Also added little dropdown menus to avoid a bunch of clutter.

Exchanging Characters (http://crindigo.com/images/rpgstuff/party3.jpg) - Swapping characters in parties with reserves is now possible.

Viewing Your Inventory (http://crindigo.com/images/rpgstuff/inventory1.jpg)

Exchanging Items (http://crindigo.com/images/rpgstuff/inventory2.jpg)

edit - I deleted and reposted this post, so as to freshen the forum marker thing.

[Indigo]

Current Frontend World Page (http://crindigo.com/images/rpgstuff/world1.jpg)
The "this name sucks" is the name of the party I'm currently using to browse the world.

Current Admin World Editor (http://crindigo.com/images/rpgstuff/adminworld1.jpg)
The little green dots in the world editor signify that there's an exit in that direction.

An update for the second pic - if there isn't an exit, you'll get a red dot. Also, you can now click on the dots to enable/disable the exit (which happens with no page reloads).

[clone]

That's so text-adventure-ish..... Cool.
The admin screen for the map looks like it'll limit the possible size of the map... Or does it allow the user to set the size, and amazingly large sizes are possible, which then result in a multiple-screen eating canvas of map good-ness....

[Indigo]

You can pan and zoom the map screen, and also save bookmarks of certain areas, if you want to get there faster when the map grows larger. The map can essentially be up to 2 billion X 2 billion in size, but you can only see 20x20 at the most, at one time (don't need all that location data taking up tons of server memory and CPU time).

This should clarify it a bit (http://crindigo.com/images/rpgstuff/adminworld2.jpg)

[Hayato]

That's... so... COOL!

[Indigo]

Haven't worked on this in quite a while... Finally got some time to work on it today, and the following pictures are the result.

http://crindigo.com/images/rpgstuff/world2.png
"Objects of Interest" section actually gets populated now.

http://crindigo.com/images/rpgstuff/world3.png
Hayato speaks!

http://crindigo.com/images/rpgstuff/world4.png
Hayato responds to your "Any gossip?" choice.

http://crindigo.com/images/rpgstuff/world5.png
Hayato responds to your "Shut yer face" choice.

[Hayato]

Woah, that is pretty awesome - I see some hope for me actually playing a text-based game. I see some hope.

[Zaben]

God forbid should we ever play a game without graphics. :tran:

Looks good, Steve, keep up the good work (after RL work ;[).

[Indigo]

http://crindigo.com/images/rpgstuff/adminnpc1.png
http://crindigo.com/images/rpgstuff/adminnpc2.png
Editing NPC messages.

http://crindigo.com/images/rpgstuff/adminnpc3.png
The "location chooser," which will make picking locations very easy throughout the admin panel.

I had the first two screenshots done last night, while the last one I just took this morning.

[Indigo]

http://crindigo.com/images/rpgstuff/?i=shop.png
Shops. Made it look like the inventory exchange page, since they're pretty much the same thing, except shops deal with money too. When you sell items to a shop, the item(s) will appear in the shop's inventory. If the shop doesn't normally carry the item you sold to it, it will disappear from their item list once it goes out of stock. Items the shop normally carries will just say 0 for stock when it runs out. Also, the numbers at the bottom automatically update with money calculations whenever you change a quantity, and it prevents you from buying if the resulting purchase would run you out of money, or the number of items purchased would exceed your inventory limit.

[Indigo]

http://crindigo.com/images/rpgstuff/?i=adminshop.png
Administrating a shop's supplies, complete with an item chooser that automatically populates the item ID and price fields, with the MSRP of the item.

[Zaben]

Looks nice, man, and very user-friendly, too.

[Indigo]

holy shit i did something

http://crindigo.com/images/rpgstuff/editchar.png

[Hayato]

Indigo using image implementations? Do my eyes deceive me? :O

[Solitary Seraph]

those are just the buttons to choose it, Hayato :P

That's freaking awesome, Steve, it's like Final Fantasy Tactics but you can edit it so you don't go "wait, fuck, that's not right..."

[Indigo]

yeah, that's just my skin for opera (cocoa-2_2 with sea color scheme).

also for changing deities, i'm thinking of making it cost experience instead of aurum, so people just don't go and change their deity for a battle. making it cost experience would work on a percentage system, so you'd lose like 15-20% EXP. it wouldn't matter to new recruits, but having an established character lose 15-20% of its levels would make you think more carefully about doing it. of course, that might not be easily possible, since it could suffer from the same level down/up trick in FFT to get stronger characters.

suppose it could be done by storing additional level up data... tech notes:
rpg_levelup_data {
uint char_id
uint job_id
ushort lvl_range_start
ushort lvl_range_end
}
every levelup for char_id, compare the latest job_id with the char's current job. if it's the same, update lvl_range_end to the new level. if it's different (or there are no entries), insert a new one with the previous level as lvl_range_start, and the new level as lvl_range_end.

now, when leveling a character down X levels, gather all level up data for the ranges needed, and construct an array looking like 'level' => job_id_for_level. This shouldn't be awfully bad, since the most it'd go is something like a 1500 length, and i doubt that would even happen since i don't think anyone is going to reach 9999 (and if they did they wouldn't want to lose it). From there on you would just loop down through the levels, get the job id, and remove the appropriate stat values.

$earliest_lv = floor($current_lv * .85);
$ary = q(select * from rpg_levelup_data where char_id = $charid and lvl_range_end > $earliest_lv order by lvl_range_end);
$map = array();
foreach ($ary as $row) {
for ($i = max($earliest_lv, $row['lvl_range_start'] + 1); $i <= $row['lvl_range_end']; $i++) {
$map[$i] = $row['job_id'];
}
}

[Indigo]

Holy shit, guys. I have a VIDEO this time. It shows how you learn techniques, like when getting job skills in FFT.

http://crindigo.com/stuff/rpg-tech-editor.avi

[Chuck]

Now that's ballin'. A FFT skill/job system sounds, and looks, fucking awesome.

[Indigo]

Updated video link. Has one added thing, and it should work on more media players.
http://crindigo.com/stuff/rpg-tech-editor.avi

[Solitary Seraph]

how i get jp :( :(:(:(

freakin sweet, Steve.

[Hayato]

woah, that looks so cool.

[Zuru]

Yeah, I can't get it to open either. What video player would you suggest?

[Solitary Seraph]

download it and run it in vlc player.

[Indigo]

http://crindigo.com/stuff/rpg-equip.mpeg

Small preview of the quite-complex equipment system I've been working on. Gone are the days where you choose items out of a dropdown. Now you get a Javascript-powered interface that shows you item descriptions and all the stat fluctuations that would occur by equipping or unequipping items. Clicking the item name would bring up a list of all the items you can swap it with.

[Solitary Seraph]

Cant access this one either.

[Chuck]

That's because it's a preview, Sean. :p

The javascript looks pretty nifty, and it'll save us the hassle of having to scroll down through a long-ass drop-down menu.

[Solitary Seraph]

I cant acess it because its an mpeg so its not showing, Cloud.

[Indigo]

god i tire of conforming to the limited media capabilities of default windows installations. next video will probably be when it's done.

[Indigo]

OKAY, i don't think i have to worry about formats anymore. i realized i could use the almighty xvidcap to create flash videos, so anyone can just watch it in their browser now.

http://crindigo.com/stuff/rpg-equip.swf

I had a fun time dealing with a JS bug running dozens of requests at once to unequip an item. the JS bug wasn't a big problem - but the multiple requests causing a race condition leading to DUPLICATE ITEMS was. After giving it thought, I now have implemented throttle guard in the RPG, to be used in delicate situations. Now, even if some malicious script/bug tries hitting the server many times, it will only execute the code again after its previous execution went all the way through.

So, phew, close to 1000 lines of code and 2 days later, the equipment system of my dreams has become reality.

[Solitary Seraph]

Steve.

This is brilliant.

[Chuck]

N> Arcane Sword :(

Is it test-only, or is it going to be an actual weapon?

[Indigo]

Probably test only. There'd be a lot of balancing and testing involved before I can effectively design weapons for level 1000+ characters.

[Hayato]

this is some really great stuff. i've seen it has even irked allensam.

[Sam]

Finally, and RCS that I want to play!

The admincp for editing the world map is genius, by the way.

[Indigo]

Exercising my PHP skills, I got this done: http://crindigo.com/stuff/rpg-modcheck.swf

Use AJAX to find coding errors in your modifier before you even submit it!

[Indigo]

Other modifier stuff. In other news, I love using cr-ftp <filename> <remotedir> on the command line to get this on my site. :p

Modifier List (http://crindigo.com/images/rpgstuff/admin-modifierlist.png)
History of a Modifier (http://crindigo.com/images/rpgstuff/admin-modifierhistory.png)
Modifier History Entry (http://crindigo.com/images/rpgstuff/admin-modifierhistoryinfo.png)

[Solitary Seraph]

Oh wow, your modifiers are a lot different than scott's.

I really like the idea of a history, that makes it a lot easier to keep up with who changed what and how.

[Indigo]

Added a diff feature to modifier history, so you can see in color what people changed from version to version.

http://crindigo.com/images/rpgstuff/index.php?i=admin-modifierdiff.png

[Indigo]

challenges preview: http://crindigo.com/stuff/rpg-challenge.swf
battle preview (javascript shit is debug messages): http://crindigo.com/stuff/rpg-battlepreview.swf

[Solitary Seraph]

So what's left to finish? Battles?

[Indigo]

that, and other things relating to battles. like the challenge system, and status effects.

there are other odds and ends in other sections i never got around to finishing, like having warp locations, location modifiers, etc.

[Sam]

Woah, wait. So are you saying this is close to completion?

[Indigo]

pretty much

[Sam]

What happened to the "10 years" thing?

And does this mean we're saying "fuck it" to the RDE?

[Solitary Seraph]

Will there be like a pop up box when you hover over the items in the shops?

[Indigo]

i decided i need to just finish the thing before it becomes yet another big idea thrown away.

and as for the rde, if it's been hardly worked on, i guess.

sean: yeah, i can add that in.

[Solitary Seraph]

Mostly because I dont want to click on it, like the RDE, but otherwise I cant find out what it is until I buy it.

Also, I think its pretty spiffy you have a "party" inventory and then a regular one.

[Indigo]

implemented, like a help thingy on the top as in other rpgs.

i also uploaded the new code to anfiniti, if you want to mess with jobs/items/techs/equip system.

[Sam]

Excellent. I was waiting for that.

[Solitary Seraph]

Can't swap party members yet?

What all is working, so far?

[ZombieG]

Will there be latex armor?

This is an RPG, isn't it?

[Indigo]

uh, you've been able to swap party members for years. =\

and sure, ryan.

[Solitary Seraph]

I can't check the members to swap them, though.

[Indigo]

don't click on the checkbox. click anywhere in the character box EXCEPT the checkbox. (this will probably be fixed later).

when clicking in the area, it toggles the checkbox. so if you click on the checkbox, since it's INSIDE the area, it'll toggle it twice. or something.

[Solitary Seraph]

Oh, weird. Okay!

[Indigo]

said issue is fixed now.

[Indigo]

owned
http://crindigo.com/images/rpgstuff/partyattack.png

[Reku]

Oooohh... I like.

Does team formation have any effect in battle?
Like in DW/DQ, the last person is the least likely to get hit.

And, what's IP?

[Solitary Seraph]

It's from the Lufia games. As you attack/cast spells you gain IP, and then youll be able to unleash powerful spells that come from your equipment at certain levels.

[Reku]

Does it run out when the battle is over?

[Solitary Seraph]

I...I'm not sure. I don't remember. I don't think so, though.

[Indigo]

team formation will have an effect in later updates. IP will be put in later as well.

[Atrophius]

It's not immediately obvious how the equip screen is supposed to work. I figured it out because I watched the video before. Maybe a short description detailing how you equip items and such?

[Atrophius]

And Sean decided to emphasise my point:

[19:41] Sean: oh hey thats cool
[19:41] Sean: once i figured out how to equip things
[19:41] Jeremy Privett: lol
[19:41] Sean: thats easier than thousands of drop down boxes

[Sam]

Yeah, I thought the very same thing. At first you just see a lot of empty spaces, to someone who didn't see the flash video you made, it would seem broken.

[Indigo]

i just put a link to my demo video on the equip page.

[Atrophius]

An easy way to switch between characters on screens like the equip screen would be nice, too. That way you don't have to go all the way back to party management then equip.

[Indigo]

working on it again
http://crindigo.com/images/rpgstuff/admin-status1.png