Driftmoon Adventure RPG

ville 14 years ago

Thanks! Probably should quet it down when alt-tabbing.

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Narvius 14 years ago

Also, I've just noticed. It's been four (almost five!) years since Notrium.

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Crazy 14 years ago

Well, the non-forum post thingies don't allow me to hyperlink, so here's a metric fuckton of essays from ARMA and a brief overlook of some basics.

Just linking because it might spark ideas or something.

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ville 14 years ago

Thanks for the link!

Ever seen any game that has a longsword, and also has any of the actual longsword stances? Usually it works just like chopping wood with an axe.

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Narvius 14 years ago

Ever seen a program that depicts something in a fully realistic manner? ;P

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E_net4 14 years ago

"ville" said:
Ever seen any game that has a longsword, and also has any of the actual longsword stances? Usually it works just like chopping wood with an axe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJEJCnWiLf0
But maybe this is not what you want.

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Crazy 14 years ago

"ville" said:
Thanks for the link!

Ever seen any game that has a longsword, and also has any of the actual longsword stances? Usually it works just like chopping wood with an axe.

To be quite honest, i've never seen a longsword proper in a game, but that's just nitpicking.

If you're asking that to take a look at how that might work in game, then no, i don't know any games like that. But modern third-person combat often looks quite plausible (Jedi Knight series, Prince of Persia), even if there's only one attack button.

But yeah, a lot of people think of western swordfighting and western swords as just simple chopping and a sharpened stick, respectively, and eastern equivalents as superhumanism, mostly because the eastern traditions have been continued to be passed down to modern ages, while western martial arts sort of died and are being reconstructed from archeological evidence. Also karate movies.

Anyway, i can't think of a really good way to implement stances and standard moves easily into Zex's system. On the other hand, i really like Zex's system. Just putting the different moves with different attack properties doesn't really seem to show the organic movement inherent in such a battle. It would seem those were just put there to show off that the creator knows stuff and wouldn't work well in a game context.

Also, the stances can't really be implement as "select one, receive bonuses & penalties", like the three different stances in, say, Jedi Knight, because they aren't static like that.

I was thinking that the Fool's Guard would perhaps, maybe work as a basic move in the Zex system. It taunts the enemy to attack, then has a chance of parrying the attack and a chance of a riposte, which does more damage / has a higher hit rate than a normal attack. But the other, i dunno. I'm quietly rolling around ideas in my head all day.

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All Zebest 12 years ago

I apologize if this question has already been asked before. Will it be possible to translate the game. I already did fan translations and I wanted to know if it was at least possible. I found some text files and tried to translate them but I couldn't. Thanks in advance for your reply.

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Anne 12 years ago

Thank you for the question, All Zebest! I agree that it would be a very nice thing for players to be able to play Driftmoon in a language that they understand well. Especially since a lot of the humor and references in the game may be lost to a person who is not very experienced with English. You yourself seem to be pretty good with English since you clearly noticed the benefits of a translation, and started on one yourself.

At the moment, translations are a difficult question for us, so we can't give you a definite answer. What I can say, though, is that some sort of a translation is certainly a possibility, and a fan translation more possible than a professional one. But, because of the large amount of dialogue, and relatively complex nuances, I think Driftmoon is not a very easy game to translate...

There is an option in the game editor (which I think you may have spotted already) to copy all dialogues in a game level into a txt-file, which makes translating a little bit easier. If there is a lot of interest in making Driftmoon translations, I think Ville might also consider adding some sort of automation, which would help in the process of adding the translations in place.

Nice to hear that you liked Driftmoon so much, that you wanted to try translating it.

What sort of problems did you run into when trying it? Was it a language issue, a technical problem, or both? Into what language are you trying to translate the game?

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ville 12 years ago

At the moment Driftmoon only supports the basic ascii set, I forget which one, but I know it doesn't support the ö letters in my own name. So basically it only supports the English letter set. There have been a few people eager to translate the game, but so far I've told everyone to wait - I'm hoping to add unicode support after the initial release.
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All Zebest 12 years ago

It was just impossible to save the changes ("access denied"). The files seem to be protected against any form of editing.
Anyway, technically feasible or not, I am enjoying every minute of the game. You have done a wonderful job! Thank you for your support too. Proximity with the devs cannot be estimated enough.

Oh, by the way, I am trying to translate in French (whether the accents - "'éèçà^¨ etc. - are possible or not).
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ville 12 years ago

Oh yes, the main mod is usually write protected. One possible method to do a translation would be to make a mod that copies most of the main game contents. For that I would recommend waiting until we've released the game, because we're usually changing even the first levels a lot as we go on, and if you started now, the mod would go out of sync in two days.

If you're still eager to translate the game when we release the first version, I will definitely add the required character support for you. I should have done that when I started.

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All Zebest 12 years ago

Thanks a lot for your reply and for the character support! It is very nice from you!
I see there is the lot to translate (you even put the Bible in?!) and I will wait for the final version.

Oh! There is something I could ask you too: I cannot load my save from the first screen (the black screen) (it makes the game crash) but I have no problem loading it from the main screen (the island screen). Any clue?
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ville 12 years ago

Well there's a thing! I'd love to see the savegame, it's probably a serious bug in the load code. The saved games reside in the "My Documents\Driftmoon\mainmod" folder, and my email is ville@monkkonen.net Thanks!

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MBuddha (guest) 12 years ago

So I'm playing the demo and I'm already hooked. Very Ultima like feel, and that's a (very) good thing. Will definitely purchase.

However the main concern I have is there doesn't seem to be a way to click to walk to an area. I'm guessing this has been asked/answered before, or I'm missing something. Having to hold down the mouse button or movement key is not desirable. Can we click an area for the PC to walk to?

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ville 12 years ago

Thanks!

Yes, there's currently no way to click to move to a location, just moving by pressing down. We tried a few control schemes, that included, but we felt the move by pressing down works best. Of course, we're still open to suggestions, it could be an option. Can you tell me, why would you prefer it?
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All Zebest 12 years ago

An option would be the best. As for me, I like it the way it is now, but the more options, the better.

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MBuddha (guest) 12 years ago

Thanks for the reply. Honestly, it hurts my finger after a while, it's not ergonomic, and every RPG I can think of that is top down/iso and mouse driven has this control scheme. Being able to click to an area and also be able to hold down to move, not just either/or (at least that's what I've seen before and is my preference).

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ville 12 years ago

I'll keep it in mind, might be possible after the initial release.

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MBuddha (guest) 12 years ago

thanks for considering it. Anyways, purchased!

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All Zebest 12 years ago

Thank you Ville for the update. My saves problem is solved! Quest cleared!

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ville 12 years ago

Great to hear that, and thanks for your help!

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All Zebest 12 years ago

Hello Ville, I have a question.
Is it possible to clear Arabella's quest without killing her?

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ville 12 years ago

Certainly:
1. Prove to her that you've killed Elithran. Simply activate the Stone Giant skill when she waits for you to prove it.
2. Find a new master for her. Any of the humans on the map will do, though each will have their own reasons for accepting a D'gu.

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shafk 12 years ago

I liked the Arabella sub-quest, it was interesting trying to decide who would be a better master.
I also like the fact that some quests will open options of other quests later on.

Concerning the Nomon Docks it looks like there will be more quests in that area, I am interested in finding out about the sunken house.

Suggestion: Nomon Docks - In the Ice Rink Area where the Puck is located please add a hockey net.

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All Zebest 12 years ago

Thank you Ville!
Another question: will you put more portraits in the dialogues? I really would like to see more faces in the game.
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Anne 12 years ago

All Zebest said:
Thank you Ville!
Another question: will you put more portraits in the dialogues? I really would like to see more faces in the game.

Sure we will! Our graphic designer and friend, Johanna Sundström (see our blog for her interview), is on the job while we speak! She's drawing most of the character portraits, and there's a whole bunch of them on the way at the moment. I think the next version that we'll release will already have many new portraits in it.

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shafk 12 years ago

From what I've seen in the current version counting all Sub-quests there are currently 38 quests.

One thing that puzzled me is in the Monastery there is a character in the Plaza/Bazaar who speaks a strange language, what is he saying?

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Anne 12 years ago

shafk said:
I liked the Arabella sub-quest.

Good to hear!

shafk said:
Concerning the Nomon Docks it looks like there will be more quests in that area, I am interested in finding out about the sunken house. Suggestion: Nomon Docks - In the Ice Rink Area where the Puck is located please add a hockey net.

That's a great idea - I'll share it with Ville! Obviously the people of Nomon would have previously held their street hockey matches right there, hence the net.

shafk said:
One thing that puzzled me is in the Monastery there is a character in the Plaza/Bazaar who speaks a strange language, what is he saying?

Those would be a bit hard to translate on google translate.

He's speaking Finnish, but a fun dialect which is spoken in Eastern Finland (where Ville is originally from), and especially by older generations. But basically, it's something like: "Would you know it!" / "The things they think of!" / "I just came her to chat." / "How much is that?", etc. And when you talk to him he replies that he's a bit too busy to talk at the moment. Quite a paradoxical fellow, if you think about it.

By the way: Did you already spot the long and winding story little Zin has to tell, if you pay close attention to her chatting? There's so many things happening in the market-nearly-square, it may be difficult to spot all of it.

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shafk 12 years ago

I caught a few of Zins conversations, the Frog thread, the Statue thread, the Lovers thread, and Old Wizard (Old MacDonald) rhyme.
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Anne 12 years ago

shafk said:
I caught a few of Zins conversations, the Frog thread, the Statue thread, the Lovers thread, and Old Wizard (Old MacDonald) rhyme.

Zin will eventually even tell you something that might be interesting when you're in the middle of the murder mystery (as well as something else she's seen when travelling with Granny). It's nothing you can't live without though - just some background story. But you know how little kids are: Some of them just go on and on, and they might not tell you the important stuff first.

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shafk 12 years ago

Anne,

Thanks of implementing the Hockey nets, you've made a Canadian very happy.
Does Driftmoon use flags for different Countries, territories?
I'm asking because I had an idea concerning the hockey rink, one end would have the local flag and the other end would have the flag for the visitors country. This idea assumes when patches are installed the check the systems localized settings so that the proper region/language can be determined.

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Anne 12 years ago

shafk said:
Anne,
Thanks of implementing the Hockey nets, you've made a Canadian very happy.
Does Driftmoon use flags for different Countries, territories?
I'm asking because I had an idea concerning the hockey rink, one end would have the local flag and the other end would have the flag for the visitors country. This idea assumes when patches are installed the check the systems localized settings so that the proper region/language can be determined.

Thank you for the fun hockey net -idea!

As it happens, after the hockey net was done, we couldn't quite leave it at that. It's not a fully blown mini-game, but quite fun(ny) anyway, I think.

And by the way, all the Canadians I've ever met have been really pleasant people. As a kid, I lived in the States for a few years, and one of the sweetest friends I had was a Canadian girl, who was totally into ice hockey. The only day she was acting a bit colder than normally (she was mostly kidding though), was the day in 1995, when Finland won the hockey world championship. So "hockey crazy" would fit very nicely into my idea of (most) Canadians.

Oh, and could you rephrase your question & idea on the flags please, I'm not sure I grasped it completely? Do you mean that for you the other hockey net would have a Canadian flag?

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shafk 12 years ago

The home team would use their local flag( lets say Finland). The Visitor would use their local flag (in my case Canada).
Another fun idea would be to add a few animal spectators such as Penguins or baby Polar Bears.

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All Zebest 12 years ago

Hey Ville. I am stuck in Eion, looking for the stone Smeba but I can't find it. Please help!

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Driftmoon subforum

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