Yes, I am.
This is the official (New) blog for my game, Land of Riftlain.
Basically...LoR is a (Currently) Text-Based game that promises to be 99% different every time you start a new character.
It is a simple run-and-play .exe file with a few extra music files and the occasional picture for random uses.
But for the rest of it...it's purely Text-Based with a bit of GUI in the later versions.
Why am I doing it this way? Well, because I believe that the mechanics and gameplay are far more important than the graphics and looks of the game.
So, to encourage and prove this...I'm scripting a COMPLETELY randomized simulated world, where nothing is persistent, and everything relies and changes based on your choices.
I'll be using this blog to keep everyone updated on how it's all going and what I've finished.
So, first off...I guess I can list some of the features that I've currently finished and that I'm working on, as well as what will be in the near future.
I'll save the far future updates for later posts as I come up with the ideas.
Weapons and Armour;
-Right when you start the game, 9999 weapons are generated. Each weapon has a randomly generated Durability (Of "rusty", "damaged", "null", "hardened", and "fine"), that affect the quality of the weapon.
-Each weapon has a randomly generated Material (There are 17 available materials, some examples being "Iron", "Mithril", "Pyrite", "Stone", etc).
-Each weapon has a randomly generated Type (Mace, Sword, Claymore, Dagger, etc).
-Each weapon has a randomly generated chance of being Enchanted (Between 2 and 4%, generated at the start), and if it IS enchanted, the enchantment is random (From among 10 current enchantments...soon to increase over 10x).
-Based on all the above, the maximum and minimum possible damage is calculated, along with a randomly generated integer that changes for each weapon.
-This results in 9999 unique weapons with randomly generated weapons (My favourite so far that I've seen during tests is the "Rusty Steel Mace of Intelligence", with a randomly generated damage range of 54-112. I don't know why it's my favourite...don't judge me.
-I still need to modify all the damage values. They were only for testing purposes.
-For armour...we're going Morrowind up in here (Can someone give me a "what, what"?)
-This means that 9999 of each of the following are generated, in the same manner as above:
--Helmets/Helms/Hoods, Neck, Right Shoulder, Left Shoulder, Left Arm, Right Arm, Torso, Left Leg, Right Leg, Feet, Belt, Hands, and 2 sets of 9999 rings (A total of 19998 rings are generated).
-The only differences from the weapons are that there are 30 possible materials for each armour type, and the damage is replaced with the Durability, which is also randomly generated based on a calculation.
Mobs/Combat
-EVERY mob is random. There are pre-scripted Mob types (Goblin, Spider, Dragon, etc etc)...but every health value, damage max and min, name, group amount (Chance of fighting more than one at once), and loot table is completely randomly generated at the start of the game. What's more...it can change drastically at any point through the game.
-Mobs encounters are based on the area you are in. The further you get away from the starting city, the more likely it is that you will run into new, and strong mobs, as well as start leaving the old ones behind.
-Mobs become stronger as you level up, as well as having new variants appear. This means those old Goblins you keep fighting will start diversifying...so be ready to fight "Goblin Mages", "Goblin Berzerkers", and more. Also note they won't be called that...but you'll know when they hurl an axe at your face.
-Random events may occur increased spawn rates of various Mobs, or decrease in others.
-Random Boss Mobs will be generated. Except...you'll never encounter the same Boss types in each game you play. You may get unlucky on one file...and be stuck fighting hundreds of Dragon-based Bosses...or you may get lucky and have a wide variety of different mob types.
-Combat will feature the standard Melee, Missile, and Magic trio.
-Melee will be hitting things. Allowing Dual-Wield.
-Missile will feature Bows, Throwing Weapons, and through the Time Progression of Technology (TPT)...rifles and pistols.
-Magic you can learn through Tomes and progressing your Magic skills, with thousands of possible spells available, each with a randomly generated ability, power, and name.
-Combat will be turn-based, with every single attack including a random variable for Critical Strikes, Lucky Hits, Multi-Hits, Misses, Random Events, and more. This means that you may launch a fireball, miss, hit a tree, and piss of the resident spider clan while you're fighting a Goblin...only to have a dozen of them join the Goblin on the battlefield. Have fun, and be careful using those fireballs if you're inexperienced in Magic...
Character Creation
-Races, names, genders, age, and all that fun stuff.
-None of it matters that much. Moving on!
Quests and Towns/Cities
-Every Quest is randomly generated.
-Each Objective (Kill, Talk to, Find, etc) is randomly picked.
-Each Variable ("This mob", "This person", "This place", etc) is randomly picked.
-Each Quantity ("This many times, "This many people", "This many places", etc) is randomly picked.
-Each Reward (You get it.) is randomly picked from the previously generated Weapons, Armour, and Items lists (I know I didn't mention the Items...but it's pretty straight forward...).
-In every Town/City, there will be a Quest Board. 3 Quests will be on each board, all different. Completing ANY Quest on ANY Board will reset ALL Quests on ALL Boards...and will ONLY do so when you've completed one!
-All Towns and Cities are pre-scripted.
-ALTHOUGH (Before you bash me for lying), who/what you find, what happens in them, and how people treat you...is all random! As well as based upon what you do.
-Doing certain events can attract certain people to certain towns. Such as killing the local Skeletal Demon Fiend of Horror (Made up) might attract a new merchant to a certain City, selling Enchanted gear.
-Note that you can also kill everyone in the town (Or try to), and burn/loot it. They may not like it if you do so, however.
Blacksmithing/Enchanting
-You can do both. Make your own weapons/armour, and then enchant them. The world is, well...my oyster. But I promise you can use it for a bit.
Stats/Progression/Endgame
-Stats are your straight-forward and normal Stats in RPG's. Strength, Agility, Intelligence, etc. You increase them by using them.
-I've covered Progression above. Use skills = Better skills. Woo.
-There is no Endgame. It's free-roam and unlimited. Go crazy, young warrior.
What else can you do?
-WHATEVER you want.
-Build that demon fort you've always wanted, turn the world into your collection of slaves, become the Hero of the populous, fighting ever-stronger monsters, find the strongest gear you can possibly muster together, or...
Suggest something.
I need ideas! Keep me interested in this!
Note that the game WILL be free. I won't bother charging for it.
But you're welcome to donate to my PayPal at: brett.cavric@hotmail.com (Or even just email me and say hi!)
Every little bit of encouragement helps. I sit here and custom-script every line of code myself, I don't cheat and use other's code. No fun in that.
But either way, I hope you guys keep reading and emailing and posting and whatever it is you do...this is going to be fun, I think.
GIVE ME IDEAS!
CavGunner, out.
