The Dink Network

Re: The Scourger 2.0 development thread

June 18th 2009, 01:41 PM
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metatarasal
Bard He/Him Netherlands
I object 
Okay I decided I needed to work on a side project for once. This way I might actually finish something.

So here is my side project: The Scourger v2.0. This is basically a little face-lift for the Scourger. I'm not sure how extensive this is going to be, but probably it's mostly going to be minor things. (No large changes in the story.)

Except for one thing:
The DMOD is going to be longer. It is now classified as a quest, though a lot of people think it should be an epic. The reason I classified it as a quest was simple: It has less screens than the original game (538 vs 645) and less scripts (332 vs 384). But with the addition of an extra world this DMOD will might objectively become an epic.

This is because many people complained that the ending came much to sudden. So there is going to be an extra 'end world'.

Feedback
So, if you have any opinion about this project or about the original version I love to hear it. Doesn't matter if it's good or bad. I haven't fully decided which changes will be made, so if you have a suggestion: Go ahead!

EDIT (21-06-09):
I am also going to be using this thread as a sort of blog, occasionally posting about progres.
June 18th 2009, 07:30 PM
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ExDeathevn
Peasant He/Him New Zealand rumble
"Skinny Legend" 
Definitely looking foreward to this, I enjoyed playing Scourger.
Remind me to do a Playthrough sort of video for the current version followed by v2 lol
June 18th 2009, 08:23 PM
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Robj
Jester He/Him Australia
You feed the madness, and it feeds on you. 
Nice, I haven't played The Scourger for a long time so I vaguely remember it, but what I do remember is that I enjoyed it.
Looking forward to it.
June 22nd 2009, 04:07 AM
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metatarasal
Bard He/Him Netherlands
I object 
Update 1:

Okay, so far I played through the first part and the small part with Martridge. And here are my conclusions:

- The first part is a bit small, but not bad.
- The part with Martridge is very small and not so good.
- Speech is very cheesy at times.
- The programming is a bit fuzzy at times, I have definitely improved since I started this.

So I haven't actually made much changes, the story remains unaltered and I've done only some very minor changes, mostly speech.
I haven't done anything to the part with Martridge, I think I'm going to ditch it altogether. The alternative would be to make a complete remake, but I think that would be too much work for too little gain.

Anyway, I'm no off to work on the east side of the desert...
June 22nd 2009, 06:14 AM
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Christiaan
Bard They/Them Netherlands
Lazy bum 
The Scourger is one of the best quest-sized D-Mods released. I've drawn much inspiration from it for Scenia. I'm looking forward to 2.0!
June 25th 2009, 05:30 PM
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metatarasal
Bard He/Him Netherlands
I object 
Update 2:

Well, I still haven't done anything to the Martridge village yet. I keep postponing the decision I have to make about that. (Though I'm pretty sure I will ditch it.) However not all is bad news. I have actually made some progress on the east side of the desert (cooking village).

I always thought of the desert as the best part of the DMOD, somehow it had just the right atmosphere. And I was really proud of it when I made it, it was definitely the best part of any DMOD I had made until then.

A couple of years onward have brought me some things:

- Somehow I always used 'background' for the back walls in a house.
- Background sprites can't run scripts. Meaning I had actually some non-functioning scripts in my DMOD...
- If I hadn't started this remake these scripts probably wouldn't ever have been missed.
- I thought my DMOD no longer had hardness errors, I was wrong.
- Some quests require somewhat unlogical steps to solve.

So I made more changes than I originally anticipated. I didn't do a lot of mapping apart from the village itself, but the scripts have had quite a bit of an overhaul. Originally there was some warped system that kept track of who had told you specific things. It probably seemed a good idea at the time, but by using Paul Pliska's trick for storing variables in sprites I have implemented a much cleaner system. (You shouldn't notice this when actually playing...)

Oh, and I pretty much completely remade the 'waterquest', I hope it makes a little more sense now...

Anyway, now I'm off to the west side of the desert. This should be somewhat less work, but after that comes the iceworld. I'm already trying to think of some ideas how to fix that...
August 5th 2009, 10:25 AM
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metatarasal
Bard He/Him Netherlands
I object 
Update 3:

It's been a while since the last update. The reason is that I haven't worked very hard on it. But not all news is bad, I actually finished the second part of the desert (well almost). So what are my conclusions?

- Many tasks in the first and second part are quite similar. More similar than I had intended.
- This similarity is not too bad, it just strengthens the entire concept of that world.
- The story is mostly sound, I couldn't find much that needed work.
- The few things that I have changed cost quite a bit of time to get right.
- The timed challenge continues to give me headaches. I might be able to use some 'speedtesters' to see if I got the timing right this time.

So next up is the iceworld. Before I started on the second part of the desert I was worried about this part. I don't think it is particularly good, and the current story has some continuity problems. (mostly the fault of this face lift) I have been experimenting a little bit with it, but I can't figure out a good alternative. So I think I will leave it unmodified, but if anyone has a good alternative I'd be willing to make some changes.

After I finish a few last things in the desert I'm of the the catacombs in the iceworld. I don't think that will need any face lift at all. I'll just need to play through it and confirm that. Expect update 4 rather quickly.
August 5th 2009, 11:30 AM
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Skull
Peasant He/Him Finland bloop
A Disembodied Sod 
Great
August 8th 2009, 05:10 PM
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metatarasal
Bard He/Him Netherlands
I object 
Update 4:

Okay, remember I said almost finished? Blah, whatever I do bugs seem to appear. Maybe my DinkC is getting rusty. Anyway, I think I squashed all bugs and finally finished the desert. And that's not all, I also did the iceworld. I still don't particularly like that world, but I'm making a face lift, not a make-over. (Or in other words: I'm looking for an excuse to do nothing.)

Also I found that I'm really fond of the catacombs part, it's quite different from the rest of the DMOD. This makes for some interesting variation. I hardly changed anything to this part because it is good as it is. The only thing is that I disliked the name 'magic stars'. Still trying to think of a better name, for now they're called 'blue stars'.

In other news: I've been worrying over savegame compatibility. Some quests have been altered, so loading your savegame in an unfortunate point in the game might ruin your experience. It's probably largely compatible though, so I'm trying to figure out what to do. For now I figured out a system that will give the player a warning if he tries to load an old savegame. This way the player can still use his old savegames, but he knows that this might cause problems. Making it fully backwards compatible is just not an option.

So, next up is the land of Uy. A bit of a conglomerate, so I'll probably do the underground village and the goblin world separately. We'll see how that turns out.
August 9th 2009, 02:20 AM
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ExDeathEvn
Peasant He/Him New Zealand rumble
"Skinny Legend" 
I'll completely replay this when it's updated, so I won't worry about old saves lol.

Instead of blue or magic stars, how about Electrolight Spheres? Eclectic Orbs? Pulsating Biogria?
August 10th 2009, 12:27 AM
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Striker
Noble She/Her United States
Daniel, there are clowns. 
Heh, I can sympathize with that, for something that's less than a minute's gametime, and spent hours coding, you then have to spend at least that amount of time just debugging.

For 2.0 update for a d-mod that's been around for so long, I wouldn't worry about compatibility.
August 15th 2009, 03:04 AM
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metatarasal
Bard He/Him Netherlands
I object 
Update 5:

Okay, I finished the first part of the land of Uy, seems like I'm really making some progress.

The real reason this part went pretty fast is that I didn't change much. Probably because I already changed a lot in this world in the past, so I couldn't quite figure out what else needed doing. In the past (in the pre-beta stages) this world consisted out of three parts separated by cliffs. I later made the decision that two parts separated by a forest was a better idea, but there were still some small things that I hadn't quite changed well enough. Overall the changes I made were pretty minor or pretty specific, meaning that you'll probably not even notice them.

Now I'm off to the underground part and the goblin world. I think I'll need to do a bit more in editing there...
September 3rd 2009, 05:29 PM
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metatarasal
Bard He/Him Netherlands
I object 
Update 6:

I'm making progress slowly. I'm not even quite sure if I'm done with the goblin world and the underground world, but I'm fed up with it. And just being fed up doesn't finish the DMOD so I'll just move on and leave it as it is. (With the slight modifications I already made. Mostly mapping)

On the other hand I have made some progress adding new stuff to the DMOD. Meaning I have started the final world. I know I haven't done the world of mazes yet, but that will come in between somewhere. I haven't got really much, I'm mostly just trying to figure out new things to add.

So, just hope I can finish this thing soon. Replaying this DMOD reminds me of it's failures, I want to move on to new things soon. I don't think the Scourger is/was bad, but it's far from perfect...

December 11th 2009, 05:56 AM
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metatarasal
Bard He/Him Netherlands
I object 
Update 7:

What would Dink do when he besieges a goblin fort? Right...

Anyway, I just wanted to say that I'm still (or rather once again) working on this, it's making nice progress these last few days.

For the number-whores here's the progress in numbers:

Amount of scripts:
Original: 332
Done so far: 381
Estimated final total: 410
Progress 62%

Amount of screens:
Original: 538
Done so far: 649
Estimated final total: 655
Progress 95%

Total progress estimate: ~ 70%

For comparison, these are the amounts of scripts and screens for the original game:
Scripts: 384
Screens: 643

Of course the estimated totals are just that, I don't exactly know how big it is going to be, still it might give an idea of the progress on the new area. The work that went into facelifting the old areas doesn't really change the amount of scripts or screens.

This thing is going to be epic...
December 11th 2009, 11:04 AM
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Quiztis
Peasant He/Him Sweden bloop
Life? What's that? Can I download it?! 
Woah... Looking forward to it!
February 28th 2010, 04:16 PM
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metatarasal
Bard He/Him Netherlands
I object 
Update 8:

This thing is really nearing completion. Everything is finished, it just needs a little bit of polishing and I still need to balance the new enemies. Expect this thing soon!

For the statistics freaks, here are the current amount of screens and scripts. These numbers will be pretty close to the final number:

Screens: 641
Scripts: 438
March 22nd 2010, 03:42 AM
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metatarasal
Bard He/Him Netherlands
I object 
Official release date: April 1st

Note: release dates are subject to change
March 22nd 2010, 03:50 AM
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DinkDude95
Peasant He/Him Australia
The guy with the cute D-Mod. 
You're releasing it April 1st?
Seriously?
March 22nd 2010, 03:55 AM
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Robj
Jester He/Him Australia
You feed the madness, and it feeds on you. 
Release dates are subject to change?
Seriously?
March 22nd 2010, 05:00 AM
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ExDeathEvn
Peasant He/Him New Zealand rumble
"Skinny Legend" 
I sense a post saying to be disappointed, followed by a news post saying its been released.

Or the reverse.

Or a dimensional paradox capable of ending all life as we know it, subject to a change in atmospheric pressure and environmental catastrophes.

....Seriously?
March 22nd 2010, 05:47 AM
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MsDink
Peasant She/Her New Zealand
Tag - Umm.. tag, you're it? 
ExD put the dictionary down and step away slowly do not make eye contact - there there it will all be ok

Just sayin...
March 22nd 2010, 05:49 AM
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ExDeathEvn
Peasant He/Him New Zealand rumble
"Skinny Legend" 
What is this "Dictionary" you speak of, figment of my imagination? And why do you not whisper into my mind but choose to withdraw your voice to the eyesight? Do I perhaps suffer Cerebral Cortex damage, or simple insanity with this useless post?

Maybe the Scourger has gotten to my mind... I think I need to lie down.
March 22nd 2010, 07:36 AM
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Skull
Peasant He/Him Finland bloop
A Disembodied Sod 
Seriously?
March 22nd 2010, 09:58 AM
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Kyle
Peasant He/Him Belgium
 
Looking forward to this man
March 31st 2010, 05:34 AM
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metatarasal
Bard He/Him Netherlands
I object 
<hype>Just one day to go!</hype>
March 31st 2010, 05:45 AM
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Robj
Jester He/Him Australia
You feed the madness, and it feeds on you. 
Awesome... I wanted to LP the scourger a while ago, but I was waiting for this version... you better not fail to deliver, or I'll hold every single one of your cookies, muffins and donuts hostage and demand it as the ransom!

Now I just need someone to choose it when they win the AP's
lol.
*Hint hint* (to whoever wins) lol
March 31st 2010, 04:28 PM
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MsDink
Peasant She/Her New Zealand
Tag - Umm.. tag, you're it? 
Its April 1 where is it where is it!!
Sparrowhawk I see you!! (Hint)
March 31st 2010, 04:31 PM
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Who, me? Don't know what you're talking about....