Legend of Erthia: Armageddon (Reborn)

[legendoferthia]

@vladimir-maestro
LOL, english is an easy language for those who are first learning it!

Well, I have already started facing my biggest barrier to LOE, the story and dialogue. Fortunately, everything is flowing nicely. I got about 10 pages (small print) worth of dialogue. I have 6/22 promotion class quests created, this doesn't include the main quest or side quests.

There is still much more work that has to be done in regards to story, but its picking up now. Before the last few days, LOE had only two paragraphs of dialogue, despite cheap text like, "Welcome to Felicia or Are you sure you want to leave Felicia?"

[legendoferthia]

I have done some in-game testing these last few days. I am at about 8 hours worth of gameplay. My characters are at level 10-12. I have completed a few quests. LOE will be definitely be more challenging then Might and Magic. The amount of times I died is around 35ish. This is somewhat after I modified the balance changes. I have edited everything from impossible to difficult. I do not want to lower the difficulty level any further because I want LOE to be for the hardcore Might and Magic fans who need a challenge. In addition, I have named all of the instructors with first and last names. It will help when trying to upgrade skills.

[GrayFace]

I'd suggest tweaking the difficulty for hardcore players, but then making some easier difficulty modes to choose from by simply lowering monsters' stats by some percentage.

[legendoferthia]

@grayface I can definitely add that in for the less hardcore fans.

I spent all day (at work) and all night redesigning the enemy database. I basically did this for my own convenience. Rather then digging through my scripts to change enemy parameters and such. With the new design, I can basically setup everything using MS Excel. The script I created will take everything from the table and apply it to the monsters. It will also be a major help if I need to do more balancing.

In addition, I have updated the method used for enemy strikes such as weakness and disease. My old method was that such attacks were separate skills, but I have now implemented them into a creature's regular attack. So if a creature attacks and has the ability to paralyze somebody, there will be a % chance of that effect happening (resistances and immunities will also effect the outcome).

[legendoferthia]

Another update:

I have further created the skill system to resemble Might and Magic VII. Now only certain classes can gain master and grandmaster levels of a skill. Originally, whatever class that could use the skill can gain GM rank.

In addition, I added a special feature to perception to make it more useful in LOE. Perception already helped detect traps and treasure on the ground, but now it will give a bonus to finding treasure after battle.

[legendoferthia]

I spent the entire day planning, and I have finally completed the plot to the story. I just have to write up all of the dialogue. However, I still have to work on all of the side and promotional quests.

Also, you can expect the return of an old long lost Might and Magic friend in LOE:

The Gamma Gazer!

[legendoferthia]

Below I have listed some extremely important performance updates. With these two crucial updates I will be able to expand and add much more to LOE's technical side such as adding more animated teleporters, animated fire barriers, and effects on a single map. At this point, I don't think lag is going to be an issue all for any size of map! However, pc requirements I am not sure of. I have a pretty beefed up computer so it runs at 60fps. This may very on different computers. The engine relies more on the processor then the graphics card.

June/9/2011
Another big update for performance. Earlier, I mentioned I was able to add animated sprites without effecting the other events and causing lag. However, if I had too many animated sprites on one map, the frame rate would slow down from 60fps to 30-40 fps. I optimized the code and I am now able to add virtually unlimited animated sprites and still have 60fps!

June/3/2011
Did some work on the actual 3D Script today. I have improves speed and performance with animated sprites. Just for an example: Originally with the regular script, with all the monsters, objects, etc placed on the map, the frame rate would drop to 4 fps or less. Now, I can have hundreds of objects and monsters on a map and keep the frame rate at 60fps. Otherwise, LOE would still be in 2d.

[legendoferthia]

After playing through MM - WOX, I have decided to bring the Gem system for spells into LOE. It will make it more important to save those nice spells like meteor shower and celestial lightning for times of great danger. I also added teleport to the game. It will help to avoid obstacles. Keep in mind to make things more fair, teleport will not allow one to travel through walls. I found it a bit cheap in MM - WOX.

I Fixed the traps in LOE. I rewritten all of the trap types and tests in a table similar to what I did with the monsters. This will make it easier to configure traps in large numbers. I would have to edit each trap one by one using the old method.

Finally, I also brought the Gamma Gazer/Etheral Serpent/Serpent of the Void into LOE. Its upgrades will making it even more powerful then before.

[legendoferthia]

Here is the latest version to LOE as September, 11, 2011. Some of the new features include: Party of six characters rather then 4, Xeen style combat, gems for spells, new areas and levels, skills can be basic, expert, master, and grand mastered, 10 classes as compared to 6, improved performance, quick info and class info views, and a lot more!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQZxPnObXvI

[Lord13]

Great work savetara! Thx for keeping us update,
can't w8 to see your games finished, and ofc can't
w8 to play them

[legendoferthia]

Thanks Lord13,

Here is a link to the update. It explains more in detail.

http://www.legendoferthia.com/loe/new-c ... e-rpg.html

[GrayFace]

Here is the latest version to LOE as September, 11, 2011. Some of the new features include: Party of six characters rather then 4, Xeen style combat, gems for spells, new areas and levels, skills can be basic, expert, master, and grand mastered, 10 classes as compared to 6, improved performance, quick info and class info views, and a lot more!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQZxPnObXvI

Wow, I think this is the first LOE video that doesn't end with party being killed by some strong monsters

Here is a bit of critique:
1) I don't like how portraits shift right and left during the battle. Maybe actions panel could just become disabled or even show some info, like a portrait of the person/enemy that acts at the moment, also it can show the chosen action and damage. For example, a portrait of an enemy is shown and "Sparks" is written on it, then maybe a set of numbers that show damage done by sparks...
2) I think when health isn't full it should be shown differently in character screens, e.g. with gray instead of white.

[legendoferthia]

The text display wont be too much trouble to edit. As for the shifting battle status what I had in mind is what you originally said, "Disabling the command window and keeping the battle status window fixed." Also, once LOE is complete, a lot of those empty windows will be the descriptions of attacks or spells. I more or less focusing on story line right now, for it is the toughest for me!

[legendoferthia]

Here is some LOE art.

[Torur]

This looks exciting, can't wait to try it out.

[legendoferthia]

Here is the latest trailer. It shows an introduction to the story and more clips from around the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQWZiZxxZSw

[legendoferthia]

Sorry for the double post, but I had to re-upload the trailer for a couple reason: a couple edits and youtube blocked Germany from viewing the other one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIHIYiwppOA

[Talin_Trollbane]

looks good to me, only complaint from me is the reuse of the old MM textures.

you should get an artist to draw new ones for you.

or ask around among the fans for help about it.

[legendoferthia]

For the last couple of weeks or so I have been working mainly on the dialogue and expanding on the story. Everything is falling into place.

Updates:

- At least 70% of the physical world is complete
- Interface change
- Dialogue is coming a long nicely

[legendoferthia]

Here is the latest video to LOE. This shows the more stable combat, new interface, and damage popups. Video may be a little laggy due to the recording software.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNvck7I70uc