Firstly thanks for the messages of support for the project following my previous blog post. It’s good to know that people are still interested in ARX. I think the post possibly sounded more negative than I intended but I felt an update on progress (or lack of over recent weeks) was required.
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| One of the causes of my frustration… |
Anyway I have made some progress in recent weeks. I’m now using the latest version of SFML 2.0 which is the multimedia library used for ARX. SFML 2.0 is supposed to fix some of the display bugs that some people were experiencing but only time will tell. I also switched over to Visual Studio 2010 Express for development. Unfortunately Visual Studio 2010 seems significantly slower that 2008 which came as a big surprise and annoyance to me. The web is littered with tales of frustration. It seems to have settled down a bit now though generating new executables still seems slow.
A few weeks back I thought I would add “barred doors” to the Dungeon. If you’re familiar with the Dungeon you might remember that you come across some doors which require some effort on your part in order to pass (screenshot above). Now I thought this would probably take me a couple of hours to implement. How wrong I was. I should know better that the things that look really simple will always take me much longer than expected. I’ve just finished coding up these doors this morning and I’m pleased to say it now seems to be working properly for both forward and backward movement through the doors. ARX will also remember the most recent couple of dozen doors you “opened” for a while. Don’t be surprised if you start to find some of these doors added to future versions of the City map.
Dalimar has also kindly tweaked the City map and zone data so that all the enclosed areas on the map show up correctly (e.g. they have roofs and can have other behaviour added such as no rain). He’s also modified the 2 Deathtraps so they are no longer traps which result in the loss of your character. Now I need to add something interesting into those 2 areas… If you have any ideas you’d like me to consider then drop me an email – encounters, special treasures or maybe a special passage or teleport to some previously unexplored area of Alternate Reality…
The doors sound interesting. Glad you are still working on the project…. was a bit worried after the last blog post.
Yay! I felt like the Rock Troll in The Neverending Story. Everywhere I went was empty and devoured by The Nothing. Glad the Deathtraps were removed. I hated those, even the ones in the original version. I love The Doors. Perhaps a Doppleganger behind one (Changeling), A Crystal Ship, a relightable torch (Light my Fire), an Unknown Soldier, etc..
Please fix for 0.58:
Cannot buy from clothing shops, Cannot buy from Alpha/Omega Healer, Cannot buy provisions from D&P, Cannot buy from Rath Bar & Grill, cannot use Chapel options, healing water spams results.
No potions, scrolls, cards, horns, poison, tiredness, disease, overindulgence.
No dungeon only monsters, valkyrie, vampire, Vault guards, flame demons, THE DEVOURER!
No special items, crossbow, quarrels, thunder quarrels, thunder hammer,amber staff, Blue Dagger, Mace of Saint Cuthbert…, Romulan Ale, Saurian Brandy, Six-pack, Lodestone, Whetstone, all treasure rooms empty
No NPCs in Dungeon, Dwarven Smithy, Clothes Horse, Oracle, Death, Dragon, Cockatrice, Acrinimal, bank vault, Enchantress
No casting spells in combat, no durable spellcasting effects, spells do not affect stats.
No bonus stats for leveling.
Yes lots still to add. I'll add them to releases as my limited free time allows. Do you really want the Lodestone? I hated that thing!
BelriX, you sound like you are ordering a cheeseburger at McDonald's. To ask him to "fix" all that stuff implies that it is broken, which it is not. It is simply not implemented yet. Do you honestly think Acrin is unaware of such things? Just be glad someone has dedicated so much time and energy to, in my opinion, the greatest game of all time and take what you get when you get it.
Acrin, this is simply amazing so far! Great job!
I apologize for the tone of my post directed at BelriX, but seriously? he needs to get a clue. Your response was very gracious to say the least.