Everthorn Pond - alphabeta testing! :)

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nateflory
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Everthorn Pond - alphabeta testing! :)

Postby nateflory » Wed Jun 02, 2010 8:20 pm

Forgive me if this is the wrong forum to post this... I figured it was non-cantr, and did not know where else to put it...

Any PHP guru's out there? Flash-masters?

It's not CANTR, but I'm working on a persistant world, pseudo RPG kinda thingy based on exploration and resources (inspired by Cantr) and am still in the pre-alpha stages.

There's a working core online, to help me fiddle with movement and such, and test out other little scripts.. but it needs a LOT of work. http://everthorn.net/RPG/

I'm wondering if I could tap into the CANTR-addicts (who probably have more free time this week) to bounce ideas off of, and help me get the basic outline of the game established in my head, so I can begin adding more actual code and playtest new things by the end of summer?

Again, this is NOT a real game yet, but is getting there. I'm after input and ideas to flesh out the current "move random places and not do much else" code that I have implemented. (The Help files are not updated, etc, etc, and will not be until the overall scheme of the game is finalized)
Last edited by nateflory on Wed Dec 29, 2010 4:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Everthorn Pond - idea-generators wanted

Postby CantrFreak » Thu Jun 03, 2010 6:22 pm

Maybe an idea of your goal with the game?
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Re: Everthorn Pond - idea-generators wanted

Postby nateflory » Thu Jun 03, 2010 7:00 pm

oops, I just realized I never added that! /facepalm.

Essentially, your standard RPGish thing, with a large worldmap. (coordinates are Unsigned INT() numbers!)

Each island is likened to a "town" where all yells and local events are visible (ie: like Cantr).
You'll collect resources and make stuff (also inspired by Cantr) once I figure out the best way to do it.
Your character can train certain skills by using them (fighting a lot makes you better at combat, gathering makes you gather better, etc).

The main thing I was trying to firm up in my head is a persistent and malleable world, and what Should-be-possible.

As I am thinking of it now, you can destroy as well as build structures. Also, resources are limited in productivity, with very slow restocking. Thus, it's possible to turn a forested town into a grassland or desert by continued use. However, if this is too over-done by other games, and someone has an awesome idea, I'm open to inspiration.

Think of Cantr with more of a classic RPG combat against animals in that location, rather than PvP, and those animals are also a sustainable resource, and can be exterminated by over-hunting. Combined with the ability to build and destroy buildings. Take the machinery concept out of cantr, and replace it with something more akin to a RTS, but without the RT.

Projects and gathering will be processed via ticks/CRON similar to Cantr, combat is more turn-based real-time. Likewise, the buildings that can be constructed are like classic RPG games, such as Taverns, Gear-shops, and Defense Towers, as well as ResourceHarvestors and such, that allow you to buy tools, gather faster, or wage war better.


Movement, however, is tile-based somewhat, and individual "location/towns" are whole islands on the Great Sea.
Here's a small sample of the test-map, showing three tiny little islands. One mostly grassland in the upper left, one large and multi-terrain in the middle, and another small one with simply a swamp-tile and a mountain-tile towards the lower right.. The Image is your current location.
Image

Real island-town-locations will be considerably larger, to allow boat-travel to be an extended process, like in Cantr. Your character has Stamina (like the old Minutes system in Cantr) to limit the more extreme activities like dueling others, raiding towns, and swimming between islands without a float.

Ideally, I'd love to be able to "zoom in" to the player's current 'coordinates' to allow for hunting, item finding, and that sort of thing, if it turns out to be the fun thing to do in-game, and is not too difficult to implement.

Details of ALL this are still half-formed in my head, and thus the request to bounce ideas around before finalizing anything in code-form.

Make sense?

Http://everthorn.net/Misc/Everthorn_HB.zip
Also, I had built up a Tabletop RPG over the past seven years in a similar setting, and figured I'd start adapting it to an online game. Here's the online game handbook, which is a heavily modified version of the tabletop one I use and very much a work-in-progress (since details could change based on how the online game works out)... but may show where I started from in my head, and am trying to adapt from...
One big example is with the online game I want to let the players build the society, with only a vague sense of limitations based on game mechanics (like Cantr) so some of the stuff listed in the handbook won't directly apply.
Last edited by nateflory on Thu Jun 03, 2010 7:37 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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"Nature may reach the same result in many ways." - Nikola Tesla
"Dare to be naïve". - "Unity is plural and, at minimum, is two." - Bucky Fuller
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Re: Everthorn Pond - idea-generators wanted

Postby nateflory » Thu Jun 03, 2010 7:04 pm

oops, I just realized I never added that! /facepalm.

Essentially, your standard RPGish thing, with a HUGE worldmap. Each island is likened to a "town" where all yells and local events are visible. You'll collect resources and make stuff (also inspired by Cantr) once I figure out the best way to do it.
Your character can train certain skills by using them (fighting a lot makes you better at combat, gathering makes you gather better, etc).

The main thing I was trying to firm up in my head is a persistent and malleable world. You can destroy as well as build structures. Also, resources are limited in productivity, with very slow restocking. Thus, it's possible to turn a forested town into a grassland or desert by continued use.

Think of Cantr with more of a classic RPG combat against animals in that location, rather than PvP, and those animals are also a sustainable resource, and can be exterminated by over-hunting. Combined with the ability to build and destroy buildings. Take the machinery concept out of cantr, and replace it with something more akin to a RTS, but without the RT.

Projects and gathering will be processed via ticks/CRON similar to Cantr, combat is more turn-based real-time. Likewise, the buildings that can be constructed are like classic RPG games, such as Taverns, Gear-shops, and Defense Towers, as well as ResourceHarvestors and such.


Movement, however, is tile-based somewhat, and "location/towns" are islands on the Great Sea.
Here's a small sample of the test-map, showing three tiny little islands. One mostly grassland in the upper left, one large and multi-terrain in the middle, and another small one with simply a swamp-tile and a mountain-tile towards the lower right.. The Image is your current location.
Image

Real island-town-locations will be considerably larger, to allow boat-travel to be an extended process, like in Cantr. Your character has Stamina (like the old Minutes system in Cantr) to limit the more extreme activities like dueling others, raiding towns, and swimming between islands without a float.

Details of ALL this are still half-formed in my head, and thus the request to bounce ideas around before finalizing anything in code-form.

Make sense?

Now granted, in a perfect world, I'd LOVE to include some flash-based interactivity, where exploring or hunting, or resource gathering would be some kind of mini-game, but that's FAR beyond my abilities right now.
As it is, I'm using this whole project to flex my PHP muscles and maybe help ProgD out someday. This is why the 'forums' and mailbox, and Everything in my game are all hand-written and not nearly as fancy as a standard 'commercial' BB/forum liek this one is. This also explains the 8-bit graphics made in MS Paint. :cry:
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"Nature may reach the same result in many ways." - Nikola Tesla
"Dare to be naïve". - "Unity is plural and, at minimum, is two." - Bucky Fuller
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Re: Everthorn Pond - idea-generators wanted

Postby nateflory » Thu Sep 23, 2010 2:26 pm

shameless post:

I am working on the behind the scenes code for my game, and stuck on some resource stuff and movement... HOWEVER...
The only thing publically functioning is the chat "Current events" tab.
If you'd like to help me shake out any bugs in the "talk-events" feel free to create a character and start blabbering.
All characters start out in the same area, and there are three different "races". Each one has it's own native language, so part of the chat-functionality is that other races may not entirely understand you.

Emotes placed between asterisks, however *crosses fingers*, are not 'scramble-translated' as spoken text, which is the biggest thing I am bug-hunting right now.

I'm making this game slightly more "classic RPG adventury" than a purely character-based world like Cantr, but it's slow going.
Feel free to check it out if you want, and let me know of any huge glaring bugs in "talking".

Note: in-game mail seems to be working now too, finally. but there is no "gold" to send yet. :)
Also Realtime Chat is working, and counts "active in hte last 5 minutes" to determine who is online.

http://www.everthorn.net/RPG/

enjoy!
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"Nature may reach the same result in many ways." - Nikola Tesla
"Dare to be naïve". - "Unity is plural and, at minimum, is two." - Bucky Fuller
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Re: Everthorn Pond - idea-generators wanted

Postby nateflory » Mon Nov 29, 2010 8:57 pm

well, I'm still struggling to build this little site, and would welcome any feedback on the current functionality before I get TOO far into other features.

The basic framework is that actions require stamina (SP), so movement and gathering and such is "only a click away", and is instant, but limited by this stat. Stamina regenerates a few times a day. (once the scheduled jobs are working properly)

You can currently create a character, and Move, and Talk, and gather (limited) resources, as well as equip armor.
(no fighting yet sadly)

Talking will be seen by any characters in your square, and all adjacent locations (but this may change if unreasonable).
Your character also speaks in the language of his/her chosen race (there are 3), and other races speaking will appear somewhat gibberish. Emotes surrounded by *asterisks* will not be scrambled for other players.
Example: "Pohatu says in Namidi: HwerxDaE IdsRTw *he smiles* RfgderEWrxdcf."

Temporarily, movement is "free", but will eventually cost a LOT of stamina, thus limiting movement to once a day or so, and is something not undertaken lightly. This is to simulate the independence of different locations, like Cantr has, while still enabling exploration.
There WILL be means to travel farther, and more "cheaply" which will enable 'inter-island travel'. I've tested it and it seems to bug out randomly, so I took out the 'airship rentals' temporarily.

The few test resources can NOT be used yet, but are gather-able. (this is to test the inventory functionality).

Resources will eventually have a crafting system similar to Cantr, where if you have the resources available, items are crafted by a simple click (and cost stamina in varied amounts) yet completed immediately.

The buildings are acting up, so at this moment you can't 'enter' the test structures. Not sure why, but that's my next order of business... (Any programmer-types I'd love to bounce ideas off your heads, even if just pseudo-code to help figure out 'HOW' to make things work.)

Many Buildings will be slightly less free-form than Cantr (where they are essentially "location/containers"), and instead be designated as either storage (ie: cantr-like) or public 'shops'. The shops would be based on common RPG fantasy shops, such as a weaponstore, armorsmith, tavern, temple, etc. Once built and "dedicated" as a particular type, they are set and will need to be demolished and rebuilt to be "changed" to a different type.
There is an "Armor Shop" working, which sells only "Woven armor". Eventually, other shops and building types will be enabled.

(I'd love a project-based and time-delayed crafting like CANTR, but my brain can not conceive of how to work that out in code-form, so I have been using Stamina as a limiting technique)

http://everthorn.net/RPG

Enjoy!
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"Nature may reach the same result in many ways." - Nikola Tesla
"Dare to be naïve". - "Unity is plural and, at minimum, is two." - Bucky Fuller
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Re: Everthorn Pond - idea-generators wanted

Postby nateflory » Wed Dec 01, 2010 5:05 pm

While waiting for Cantr to come back online, why not help test out a similar world and get your RP on!

Crafting isn't quite working yet, but movement, and gathering of the few rare resources is being tested now.
And there are a few active people to RP with!
For now, everyone starts in the same location, to encourage interaction. (one character per account, like FTO)

Plus, the more eyes looking at Everthorn RPG, the more encouraged I am to work on it, and the better chance that pesky bugs and flaws can be found and resolved!

Check it out now, and say hello to Maebius (me, the GODLY POWAH!).
http://everthorn.net/RPG/

Just added:
+ in-game mail!
+ Gathering.. (and soon time-based gathering projects like Cantr or "FTO Foraging".)
+ in-game forums
+ Buildings to enter and exit!! :)

enjoy!
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"Nature may reach the same result in many ways." - Nikola Tesla
"Dare to be naïve". - "Unity is plural and, at minimum, is two." - Bucky Fuller
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Re: Everthorn Pond - idea-generators wanted

Postby mojomuppet » Wed Dec 01, 2010 10:19 pm

Im giving it a try. Good luck!
3005-7.35: You expertly kill a giraffe using a bare fist.

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Re: Everthorn Pond - idea-generators wanted

Postby nateflory » Tue Dec 07, 2010 7:17 pm

well, I have combat, and movement and rooms, and gathering working pretty well now.
Still stuck on how to actually think about (and thus code) something time-based like Cantr projects, and I also haven't nailed down the general "crafting", but otherwise the basic framework is all set, and folks are RPing a bit.

Hacked together a "weapon/item shops" as a temporary replacement for "crafting" of tools and items like that.

Also have an auction-style market (location-based) for folks wanting to sell their goods. The game uses Gold/coins like your more traditional RPG/games, but there will be ways to "cash in" your items soon.

Help files still on the to-do list.
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"Nature may reach the same result in many ways." - Nikola Tesla
"Dare to be naïve". - "Unity is plural and, at minimum, is two." - Bucky Fuller
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Re: Everthorn Pond - alphabeta testing! :)

Postby nateflory » Wed Dec 29, 2010 4:25 pm

Woo! Crafting is now working, and movement, and combat, and chat, and all of what I consider "The Core Game" stuff.

It's a bit spartan (like 5 recipes to craft currently) but that's mainly to work out any bugs there before expanding the list of make-ables. Feel free to check it out, and bring a bit more chattery life to the place. It's quieter than an abandoned town in Cantr lately. :)
While clothing isn't craftable...yet... here's a basic description on the "races".

Patwin:
The Patwin are a race of humanoids distantly related to sentient plants. Generally speaking, the kelplings of Everthorn have lightly tanned skin, with either a faint olive or deep greenish undertone, and red, black, and brown hair being most common. Most Patwin grow to be approximately 1.8 meters (5’ 10”) tall, and have an average weight of about 73 kg (160 lbs.). Otherwise, Patwin look pretty much the same as humans.

Patwin settlements were the most structured and orderly, when compared to the other races, and tended to generally contain shops dealing in more powerful tools and equipment. Well-established trade roads, as well as the ever-present Great Sea, link each major town to another. Smaller villages tend to be rare, and are generally agricultural in nature, and served as stops along the trade routes or are locations of rich and valuable natural resources.

The usual clothing worn by Patwin is a curious hybrid of renaissance garb and modern dress. Loose tunics or doublets and leather pants are common among men, along with vests and button shirts. Women usually wear layered skirts or pants with a blouse, and occasionally a vest-like bodice. For more formal occasions, elegant dresses and crisp jackets are worn.


Tarith
The Tarith are a race of humanoid warriors with a vaguely feline appearance. Tarith have a soft layer of extremely fine fur covering their bodies, similar to, but more dense than, the hair covering human arms & legs. This fur is generally a shade of brown, ranging from deep chestnut to light tan. Tarith also have more hair than humans, and generally tie it up in a ponytail, or hung loosely in a braid. For formal occasions, it is a matter of pride for a Tarith to have his or her hair braided in an intricate pattern and still remain long enough to hang behind the neck.

Other than a somewhat beast-like face and delicate fur, Tariths closely resemble the Patwin, with 5 fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot. Their nails do grow slightly thicker than the average human’s, but are not usable as true claws, and are generally kept trimmed close to prevent chipping. Their body is overall more solid and compact when compared to humans, with the average Tarith standing about 5 feet tall and weighing approximately 200 pounds. Female Tarith are slightly taller and thinner than males, but not by much.

Tarith live to be about 180 years old, with children reaching maturity around their 20th birthday. As they age, their hair and fur fades towards a light gray-blonde, with no signs of baldness. However, most Tarith make an effort to dye their hair if it begins to “go gray”, as this is seen as a sign of age and weakness. As the Tarith reach old age, they go through a change known as “The Silence”. After this change, which takes place around 160 years of age, a Tarith will suddenly lose most of his balance and coordination, along with most language skills. Suddenly, over the course of a month, the once healthy Tarith becomes unable to contribute to the Tribe, and is barely able to provide for himself. Because of this, many Tarith leave their companions and seek out a place to die quietly and in solitude.

The Tarith are all masters of the hunt, and are trained from youth to wield either the sling, boomerang, or Tonrar (a unique weapon described in chapter 5) as a ranged weapon. This skill is reinforced through a number games and sports that utilize these weapons. For melee weapons, the Tarith generally prefer to avoid piercing weapons, and only occasionally use slashing and edged armaments. This general preference for clubs hammers, and maces is not a social rule and any weapons are allowed, but training in swords or other piercing weapons is difficult to find among purely Tarith groups.

The current fashions of the Tarith are rather simple and functional, with earth tones being popular. Everyday clothes usually consist of a basic shirt or tunic, and either thick kilt/skirt or loose pants. This outfit is complimented by a shoulder-band decorated with the Tarith’s Tribe markings, and simple low boots or leather shoes. Formal attire is generally similar, but decorated with a variety of colors, intricate designs, and small gold highlights. This formal clothing is somewhat similar to a ‘military uniform’, with subdued colors and clean lines, rather than any flashy designs and glamour.

Namid
The Namid are the oldest race in Patamon Valley, and have adapted to its ever-changing features. Namid are tall, thin humanoids with faintly grayish skin and long, delicate limbs. The Namid tend to have large rounded eyes with slightly elliptical pupils, and can see quite well in shadows. Their hands only have four digits, instead of five, with three fingers and one thumb. Namid feet have five digits, and are usually slightly webbed with very small flaps of skin. Their hair is usually soft and very fine, and tends toward silver-blonde or light gray-brown in color. The Namid live to be about the same age as humans, with the eldest reaching almost 150 years old. As they age, their skin becomes thinner, and fades to gray.

Namid are quite at home near the water, and many are able to accomplish a minor form of shape shifting with practice. This shifting allows the Namid to increase the webbing in their hands and feet so that their extremities become like a duck’s feet. Namid are also able to breathe water, up to a point. When a Namid is underwater, he or she may breathe normally, but this activity is very strenuous. However, this allows the Namid to cross watery terrain with the same loss of Stamina as they would when walking through other lands.

The popular fashion of the Namid consists of flowing robes and very comfortable outfits. Males generally wear loose-sleeved shirts of cotton or silk and tighter pants, or a robe. Women’s clothing is either a loose robe or dress, or else a sarong and blouse made of silk and fine cloth. When more formal dress is required, the Namid often dress in elaborate robes and gowns trimmed with silver and shimmering ribbons, and adorned with sparkling jewels.
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"Nature may reach the same result in many ways." - Nikola Tesla
"Dare to be naïve". - "Unity is plural and, at minimum, is two." - Bucky Fuller
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Re: Everthorn Pond - alphabeta testing! :)

Postby nateflory » Mon May 09, 2011 2:43 pm

Yeah, I totally dropped the ball when I got five random emails from people that created a character, said "crafting's not finished? Help files crashed? this sucks, you suck, STFU N00b, if you are going to make a game, actually make it good, not crap, kk thxbai." ... or quite similar.
I got rather disheartened, and just stopped developing it lately.

I am working on things again, but may need help. I'm not the best coder and am teaching myself PHP again in the process of making Everthorn Pond, so it's rather ..um.. simplistic now. There's good features and potentials, I can feel it, I just lost my willpower to code the past few months (and was in that scary new-job-seeking place, so didn't have much time).

Of particular note, is anyone knowledgable with RegEx (regular expressions), or AJAX, or MS paint. :)
My big troubles beyond re-typing the help files is to format the chat better, potentially have chat auto-refresh (but not the entire page), and make the map look a little prettier.

That and crafting is kickin my butt, still... :)
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"Nature may reach the same result in many ways." - Nikola Tesla
"Dare to be naïve". - "Unity is plural and, at minimum, is two." - Bucky Fuller
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Re: Everthorn Pond - alphabeta testing! :)

Postby joo » Mon May 09, 2011 9:11 pm

nateflory wrote:is anyone knowledgable with RegEx (regular expressions), or AJAX, or MS paint.

Yes; although my MSPAINT knowledge is limited to the technical details of editing - I don't claim any special artistic ability.

Do you have any particular problems?
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Re: Everthorn Pond - alphabeta testing! :)

Postby nateflory » Mon May 09, 2011 10:46 pm

My big troubles beyond re-typing the help files is to format the chat better, potentially have chat auto-refresh (but not the entire page), and make the map look a little prettier.
That and crafting is kickin my butt, still... :)


8) :lol:
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Re: Everthorn Pond - alphabeta testing! :)

Postby joo » Tue May 10, 2011 12:57 am

Is the formatting of the chat purely a design problem, or something to do with how it is represented in markup?
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Re: Everthorn Pond - alphabeta testing! :)

Postby nateflory » Wed May 25, 2011 7:53 am

Chat is working much, MUCH better thanks to your help, joo. :)

I'm still fiddling with trying to learn AJAX to auto-refresh it, but think that for now, having it as-is will work, especially since the event log is visible on many other sub-pages, and refreshing Constantly manually (during a bit of testing) doesn't seem too stressful for the user. Time and more playtesting will confirm that though.

IF folks are interested, go check the site out. I got crafting to work finally, but it's not 100% implimented yet while I populate the database and figure out the type of "stuff" to make. (tested it with 2 wood = a stick weapon, and 3 wildflowers = Healing Herb... not really robust enough to say "all done" yet so the link to crafting is still 'in progress'.)

Eventually, I'm considering adding a pseudo-permanent death for characters, not quite as hard-core as FTO and Cantr, but in a style that death will reduce a "luck" variable or "Karma" or such, and if it drops to zero, the character "dies". Setting Karma around 20 initially might let people experiment with combat and not be TOO afraid of death, but still not go hog-wild with killing each other by suicide battles with Dragons at low levels, etc. :)

Thank you again for your help with the chat. It works a treat now!
---------------------------------
"Nature may reach the same result in many ways." - Nikola Tesla
"Dare to be naïve". - "Unity is plural and, at minimum, is two." - Bucky Fuller

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