Magic & Mercenaries: Curse of Eternal Darkness

There’s a spell point system in play. If you look at some of the previous screenshots or watch the video I posted, you’ll see that spellcasters have a pool of Mana points they use for casting spells.

As far as obstacles, yes. Earlier this week I was working out how to do things like add water with a bridge over it, pools of lava, rocks, etc. Not every map would have that stuff, but there’s room to add it.

In response to you asking about obstacles, I started doing the groundwork on it today. It's in the early stages, but here's a test combat (same test combat layout from my other screenshots, so I'm sure you're all tired of seeing it), showing a waterway with a small bridge.

In this case, the goblins have moved to choke the bridge while the party has set up on the other side in "Guard" mode to attack goblins as they come across. At the same time, characters and monsters with ranged weapons and spells have been pelting each other across the water…

Yeah that looks good! Looking forward to hearing more about it as you progress.

I agree, this is looking splendid! I'm getting some great gold box vibes from this, and that's a compliment!

Another minor update working with water, just because I wanted to show a different combat background for a change. Ultimately, a map like this would have other obstacles (rocks, trees, etc).

Trying to figure out if I like obstacles added to the battlefield or not. I both like and dislike it at the same time.



Truth is, I'm considering putting it aside for now, as doing the artwork for it is very time consuming. I'd love to have a dedicated artist working with me on this kind of stuff. I approached someone who was a fantastic EGA artist, but he was far too busy to help me. If anyone knows a decent artist who might want to be part of an RPG project, let me know.

Okay, last update for a while. I created more terrain for grassy areas and found a way to randomize it to give interesting terrains for the creatures and characters to navigate and possibly use to their advantage. Here are three screenshots of the same combat, each with different randomized terrains. Setting up the right way can be helpful when protecting characters with ranged weapons and spellcasters…

Those maps are shaping up nicely! Thanks for the updates.

Didn't think I'd be uploading any thing new this soon, but I had two spare hours tonight and decided to conquer overhead mapping in the game. Unlike the "Area" view in the Gold-Box games, it actually rotates as the player turns (something that I found really helpful in the remastered version of the Bard's Tale games recently). Anyway, here's a GIF of it in action:

I got bored, so I worked on making the area maps show where the doors are located. (Well, the normal doors, anyway…the secret doors don't show up like this).

The maps only rotate in the BT remasters when you don't have a compass spell active. Personally I much prefer it when they don't rotate as it makes navigation far harder if your destination keeps moving on the map. Just make your current location an arrow facing in the direction you are looking. North on a map should always be up.

Originally Posted by bjon045
The maps only rotate in the BT remasters when you don't have a compass spell active. Personally I much prefer it when they don't rotate as it makes navigation far harder if your destination keeps moving on the map. Just make your current location an arrow facing in the direction you are looking. North on a map should always be up.

Better?

Yeah I prefer the arrow cursor to a rotating map as well. The latest example looks good to me!

Originally Posted by Pongo
Yeah I prefer the arrow cursor to a rotating map as well. The latest example looks good to me!

Me too.

And this is exactly why I seek feedback. There's been a couple of times along the way where folks have provided feedback that has pushed me to fix something and it ends up making the game better. Doesn't always happen and I don't always agree with all feedback, but sometimes it's the push I need to rethink something.

So, I always appreciate it when people take the time to post. Keeps me motivated anyway!

Looking for some feedback on the Area Maps for areas. In the Gold-Box games, some areas simply wouldn't let you use the area map at all. I want to take a slightly different approach and have started programming the changes.

Areas that the PCs should have access to (like the starting city) will allow the use of the Area Map. But, other areas may not. However, unlike the Gold-Box games, I think there should be options to enable it. Essentially, if the PCs travel to a new area where the map wouldn't normally be shown, they can open the map in one of the following ways:

* Find a Map: If the party locates a map of the area, the Area Map will open up for them.
* Pay a Scout: Scouts exist in the world, and if an area can be scouted, players can pay the scout for a map of the area which will open up the area.
* Cast a Spell: I'm considering adding a spell to a couple of the spellcasting classes that will open up area maps during the duration (like a "Bird's Eye" spell)
* Explore the Map: If all else fails, there will be certain points of interest on the map and if the party hits those then the area is considered explored enough to open the map. This does not require the party to march into every corner of the map or open every square or anything. The points of interest are likely to be areas of high traffic that the player can hit just by spending time in the dungeon.

I know some people would like for maps to be on in all areas at all times, but I don't think that's the best option. Still, I wouldn't mind hearing everyone else's thoughts on the matter.

These are some nice ideas! My thoughts:

Find a map will reward exploration and satisfying loot;

pay a scout is a nice use of resources (and presumably only certain scouts will open up certain area maps, again rewarding exploration?);

your balance on explore the map sounds good, ie only having to find certain points of interest not the whole map. It means if the other options aren't open to you there's still a route to fully open the map, which is great;

I'm less certain about "cast a spell". On the one hand it might be a nice use of non-combat magic, but I wonder if it might become the default option too easily. Once you've got the relevant spell, presumably all the other options then become redundant, which would be a shame.

Originally Posted by Pongo
These are some nice ideas! My thoughts:

Find a map will reward exploration and satisfying loot;

pay a scout is a nice use of resources (and presumably only certain scouts will open up certain area maps, again rewarding exploration?);

your balance on explore the map sounds good, ie only having to find certain points of interest not the whole map. It means if the other options aren't open to you there's still a route to fully open the map, which is great;

I'm less certain about "cast a spell". On the one hand it might be a nice use of non-combat magic, but I wonder if it might become the default option too easily. Once you've got the relevant spell, presumably all the other options then become redundant, which would be a shame.

That’s a good point. I was considering only giving one spellcasting class the spell (the other four wouldn’t have it), meaning not everyone would have the option. Also, one would have to consider how much mana it would take away from that caster (especially if the spell ended during a resting duration).

You’ve given me something to think about, for sure.

There's not much work going on these days with the programming side of things (except to fix bugs as I encounter them or to occasionally add something new or tweak something). All the work is going into developing the actual content of the game now.

Just so nobody thinks the game is dead, here are some random screenshots…

Took some time this weekend to add a bit of perspective to the combat walls, so that they just don't lay flat against the battlefield anymore. As a result of working on this, I was able to eliminate some code I no longer needed, and now the combat screen loads about 5x faster than before…so a nice bonus.

Here's a screenshot:

Thanks for the update. Those screenshots are looking great. That combat screen looks like a nasty ambush for our heroes!