Hey guys, A lot of time was put in by AnonDev2 recently creating a new character API, and by Crimson merging it into the main branch. Now that that's done, we've been moving forward on the system which concerns itself with calculating damage and other numbers in battle. The API in question is a clever idea of Crimson's that AnonDev2 (who shall henceforth be known as Goldie) has been working on. It's a level of abstraction that allows us to easily generate facets (health, stamina, resistances, things like that) without weighing down the system with properties we know they won't need. For example, one NPC might not need health and other battle-centric stats since it will never be in combat, while a feral Canen or other monster won't need sets of data necessary for simulating their physical body. It's very light and means we only ever create what we need. It also means tht if we want to rewrite how a part works, the interface that the rest of the code uses doesn't have to be rewritten. We can do drop-in replacements using the same API to be able to to do testing, if and when we need to. As for the battle calculations, I talked a little about this in a Dev Diary on the Patreon, but the gist is that it's not as simple as a single formula (even though those can be quite complicated even in 'simple' games like Pokemon). What we want to do is split the math for that out into a chain of functions, then pass values down the chain. This would give us the opportunity for special abilities and effects that would require entirely new math to calculate their effects otherwise. For instance, using an extremely basic example, if our calculation is 'attack power - armour', and we have a weapon which ignores 25% of armour, instead of having a brand new calculation (attack power - (armour x 0.75)) we could instead 'inject' the values into the armour portion of the chain. It'll allow us freedom and modularity in order to have all kinds of gear effects. The devs have also been optimising code on a larger scale. What we're aiming for is a single point where the databases are linked into the program. That way we can use a reference to that location for all components, instead of having to reinstantiate them each time. This is much faster and lighter, and saves on duplication. It's also much easier to track back any issues that arise because of common code, since it's all in one place. Lore wise, I've been working on the map some more, drawing from the extra data Goldie has helped me with. Here's the second draft, by no means complete: Some of you may notice there are some extra species settlements there, and that it's one complete island (though it is not the whole world - it's enough to contain everything I have planned, but one day I'd like to open up new continents which will allow for more creatures and more colour variation in humans). I feel like this is a lot closer to what I want, though remember it is still a very rough draft of where I want things to be. What's missing are more human settlements and hamlets dotted around, as well as roads. Hopefully the mountains and rivers should make more sense now too. AnonDev1 has sadly had to leave our little cadre for the time being. They weren't able to do a great deal during their time (part of why they've opted out), so there shouldn't be any noticeable difference in progress. Still, I'm extremely grateful they wanted to help, and tried to, but when you're doing free work, a lot of other things have to come first. Until next time!
I didn't see 'Stampel' on the map. 0/10 would not buy. In all seriousness, it sucks that Anondev1 had to back out. Understandably, of course, but still sad. So good luck in your future ordeals, Anondev1. And, of course, it's always cool to see more progress - keep up the good work!
also, I like how you don't want to limit the map to being the whole world. I remember at the end of hunter x hunter you find out that the world you've seen so far in the show are only a small set of islands and the world is MASSIVE with the the little islands making up less than 5% of the world. the sense of wonder and amazement at the possibilities of what was out there when I realized that is a fond memory for me. only this time around its a sense of wonder and amazement at the possibilities of what I can stick my dick in.
The Birds and the Bees are neighbours. Farewell, AnonDev1. Thanks for your contributions up to this point, and good luck with whatever else you're working on! More happily, congrats on gaining a name, Goldie! Good update, fun update. Map update. :3 Even though I never fully understand the code talk, the dev team's hard work at streamlining and future-proofing always makes it through to me. And that fills me with hope for the initial integrity of CS and for its long-term viability. And then you go and mention wanting to add new continents down the line, just cementing that hope. I'm really glad I got to be a part of this thing right from the get-go. Experiencing the game getting built from the foundation up is very interesting and inspiring. (And I know it's a long ways off yet, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that one of the "expansion" continents will be home to some Orcs. They're the only classic fantasy race I'm sad to see missing from the "planned races" list. They make for good porns.)
Orcs would be neat to see in Carnal Souls! I hope kobolds make an appearance as well if there are any dragons for them to serve. Kobolds are so cute *>.<*
Goldie actually had some ideas for Kobolds, so they might end up being a thing. :3 We've come up with an interesting dynamic (I think, anyway) between them and the Repten. Thanks you for the kind words, @GreenSleeves. <3 Orcs are definitely a future possibility. They're too much fun to leave out, I think.
Yay! One more question, sorry if I'm pestering you Benji, but are Dragons planned for CS? If so, in what capacity will players be able to interact with them?
They are planned, though I'm not fully settled on how they'll be interactable or what their exact capacity is in the world. Dragon sex has to be a thing though, obviously.
2 questions 1- how easy is it to get a boat? Almost everywhere appears to be accessible by waterways - yeah go barges! 2- what is the scale? if you were in bee and needed something from wolf how long would the round trip take?
Cool to hear about the progress. But why Goldie? D: That's the nickname of a person I have very... Negative... Memories of D: AND that motherf- works in gamedev xD Seriously: Great job so far, and I'm happy to see more of the map because I love maps. I second Achter's question, the size would be a neat information. I can clearly see this both as a Britan-sized island as well as a small, Europe-sized continent. However, one of the stories stated that the towers of Sunrest can be seen from the Rabbit village, which would make it pretty darn small? Also, what does the "low" (am I seeing this correctly?) on the map stand for? And the last but not least: What kind of dragons are we speaking of? Big, wyvern-style ones or smaller humanoidal ones... ?
This one does not. At least, they didn't before working on CS. And Goldie's a name I picked pretty much randomly, so worry not. It's not their name since they still wish to remain anonymous. As for the scale, that'll come more into focus once I start actually putting the game's map together I think. I'm aiming for as big as possible without big empty spaces. Seeing Sunrest from (near) The Skywarren wouldn't make it too small, I think, given Sunrest has a big ol' tower. But we'll see. As for dragons, the only kind I'm planning at this state are the big quadrupedal ones that burn cities n junk. The first kind of long-distance trading on Earth (or really trading in bulk) I think started with boats using rivers. At least, I'm doing my best to take them into account when thinking about trading and imports/exports.
Fully understood Ohh, a shiny tower! What is it? The palace? Or something more magical? I'd totaly sex a dragon like that @_@ Hmm, I still think smaller, bi-pedal ones would be welcome, but it's too early to tell. Yeap, that's pretty much true. There's no reason not to have boats on rivers. Which also makes them a perfect level grading solution: Force the player to do a questline or gather money or xp before he can cross the river. It's a bit hard on progression but can serve as a neat way of seperating different level areas or just seperating the game according to the story progression. sorry for bad grammar n stuff I am after my second beer wheee
B-b-but... https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/ca/98/62/ca98626a8f187ede318b8ec4bcbd8905.jpg ;-; (quick edit, the image is from a quick google search, apparently it's from monster girl encyclopedia. Don't know if I need to mention that, but there it is.)
HALLELUJAH Benji is my new god Please let us be able to befriend one of these dragons. or at least convince them not to be dicks to cities. Dragon girls are pretty nice too as far as monster girls go.
