The Dink Network

I'm going to list all the changes for the next version here. If you encounter any bugs or would simply like to give feedback you can do that here and I'll see what I can do to improve the next version.

I've already made a short list of things that are going to be added/fixed/improved.

- Webs will slow you down instead of trapping you. I will probably set them to nohit as well so they won't get in the way.

- A tutorial will be added. I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to do this so suggestions are welcome. What I have in mind for now is a spell book which gives detailed information about each spell. Perhaps I should also add a tutorial area with small scenarios that require you to use one of your new abilities to continue.

- David shouldn't be able to hit Nadine. I'm not sure how to fix this yet. If you happen to know how to fix this please let me know.

- A better readme would be nice. I suck at writing them though. Oh well if I make a good tutorial the readme will be pretty useless anyway.

- I couldn't find a fitting midi for an 'at home' situation. While playing through The Lost Amulet I noticed a midi that came slightly close so I viciously copied it and used it. It still wasn't exactly what I wanted but I wanted to spend my time on scripting not on midi hunting. If anyone happens to know a midi which would fit well here please let me know.

- Perhaps Nadine should have some more weapons. I'll at least give Nadine another pair of herb boots which only increase her speed. Perhaps I could make some ridiculous looking attack animations but I ask myself if that's worth it . I may also (I need your opinion on this one.) give Nadine a fast fire bow so the 'lag' won't bother you too much; so you can control David while shooting and so you can actually hit something before it's killed or ran away. I will obviously reduce the bow's damage to balance it. This will probably also reduce the sudden change between useless shots and killer shots (I mean Power Shot of course).

- I will attempt to improve the performance. Although I already did quite a bit to improve it it's still not good enough. I hope reducing the amount of variables used will make enough improvement. If not I don't know what to do.

- All cutscenes will check if David is phased out or not and have him phase in free of charge so the cutscene can continue.

- An additional save machine will be added in the village.

I would also like to have some testers which try to find every bug currently in the game and describe them to me. I also need testers to find out about how differently certain things work on different computers. A couple of volunteers would be nice so I know who I can ask to test stuff for me.

If you have any feedback either good or bad don't hesitate to post it! It's what keeps me going

Oh, you read my review.

I thought a tutorial at the beginning would be something like Dink asking them to prove their skills to him before they are let out into the forest. And Nadine would go through and use all of her different weapons on Dink (and freezing a small patch of water, burning a tree), and Dink would tell you to control David and try out his spells as well, then let you on your merry way.

I have an expensive computer, and noticed no performance issues though.

Oh, you read my review.

Indeed I read your review. Thanks a lot for writing it it's been usefull to me.

I thought a tutorial at the beginning would be something like Dink asking them to prove their skills to him before they are let out into the forest. And Nadine would go through and use all of her different weapons on Dink (and freezing a small patch of water, burning a tree), and Dink would tell you to control David and try out his spells as well, then let you on your merry way.

That sounds like a good idea. That way I can also fit it in with the story. I'll probably have the player control David and Nadine while they're even younger first. Like 12 or something.

It's been over a year since I posted something in this thread. Man, time flies.

I haven't been working as much on the update for Day of the Carcass as I wanted to last year but I have been able to come up with some new ideas and fixes.

I've made a list of all the things I want to do for the new version. (Which provided me with some necessary order within the chaos of ideas )

I figured it would be a good idea to post the list here and keep posting about my progress if anybody is interested.
This is useful because:

1: You can provide me with some feedback so I can improve my ideas.
2: You get an overview of what Day of the Carcass is going to be like.
3: You can see what's being worked on and what's finished.
4: Posting about things I've finished will hopefully motivate me to keep working.

Here is the list.

[ ] = Not completed task
[X] = Completed task
[?] = A possible task (Something I may or may not add)
// = A comment (used to better explain what a certain thing is or just to tell myself how to fix something)
(?) = Me asking for your opinion

_-_-Fixing-_-_

[X] Redesign main control script
//The control script takes care of a lot of the new things.
//It's currently slowing the game down a bit but I'm going to rewrite it to improve performance.

[ ] David shouldn't be able to hurt Nadine
- Remove David's damage and instead add hurt (amount is David's strength variable) command
in hit procedure of enemies' scripts
//The only way I found to properly prevent David from hurting Nadine would be to
//give David no attack damage (sp_strength of 0). In order to make David hurt enemies I'll let them check
//upon getting hit if it was David who hit them.
//If it is David hurt the enemy (sp_hurt) equal to the variable that remembers David's strength.
//This should solve the problem but remove random damage for David. I could make the damage random again.
(?)Do you prefer dealing random damage or would you rather damage your enemies with exactly your attack minus their defense?

[ ] Disable David's Phase Shift for cutscenes
//If David is Phase Shifted during a cutscene this will cause problems.
//So I'll make sure he's in his normal state once a cutscene starts.

_-_-New Features-_-_

[ ] Nadine melee wand
//This is Nadine's melee weapon.
//I figured some magic effect in front of Nadine would be much easier to make than a whole new attack animation.
//That's basically why I chose to give her a wand.
//Wand has single target and multiple target attack
//I think I'll let the wand deal less damage than the bow to make it more of a secondary weapon instead of an alternative.
//On the other hand if it's an alternative it would give the player more freedom to choose between melee and ranged combat.

[ ] Yellow Magic
//Not really called yellow magic.
//In the game it's called something else but since the name has something to do with
//the storyline, I'll stick with yellow magic for now.

- [ ] Add yellow magic bar
//Yellow magic won't refill like mana but can instead be gained from killing enemies (not a pickup, gained like xp)
//Yellow magic bar is actually yellow (what a surprise!) hence the name.

- [ ] Gain yellow magic from killing enemies

- [ ] Ultimate requires full yellow magic and mana bar

- [ ] Every spell has a special version (Much like the EX moves from Street Fighter) which requires
yellow magic and mana but is more powerful

[ ] Spider's webs slow you down instead of getting you stuck. They also won't be hittable but instead disappear after a while.

[ ] New jumping spider

[ ] Spiders deal poison damage

[ ] Spiders (and later other creatures) spawn within in a screen once the first 'wave' has been eliminated (probably show this in earlier areas (definitely in tutorial) to make the player get used to it)
//This will decrease the usefulness of the ultimate since you'll be weakened if you clear a screen of monsters and won't
//have time to recover because a new wave will arrive

[ ] New spells

- [ ] Focus Mark
//(just made the name up so it may change. It's basically Hunter's Mark from WoW)
//Focus Mark isn't really a spell but more of a new feature.
//Both David and Nadine have it. (Red mark for Nadine and blue for David) The marked monster's defense is reduced.
//This encourages focusing on one monster at a time.
//It also makes 'melee aoeing' (hitting a group of monsters with one hit) less effective by comparison.
//Especially if every monster gets a defense boost but Focus Mark removes a big chunk of that defense.
//(Needs balance testing of course.)
//Focus Mark will target the target closest to you by default but can also target random targets or the next target.
//David will always Focus Mark his target.

- [?] Stun
//Low mana spell for David that stuns a single monster for a short time.
//Useful for interrupting an attack, saving David the time it takes him to dodge.

- [?] //not sure about name or properties yet but I need a spell that can weaken a monster so that Nadine can finish it off and the other way around. This should encourage co-op a bit.
//Perhaps a short charge attack (stand still for a second or something). Could be a follow up of stun.

- [?] Push spell - Push an enemy back. Useful for giving yourself some breathing space and pushing them into a hazardous environment
- [?] Ability to create hazards in the environment - set ground on fire and the like
- [?] Environment to use to your advantage - spikes, flames, holes and the like to push enemies into.
- [?] Enemies always grant xp upon death.

[ ] Improve/Redesign David's dodging
//Use fast sprites to scout the area ahead of David so data can be collected
//about where he should move towards in order to dodge.
//create sprites left right and in the opposite direction of the enemy. Use move_stop for sprites.
//When sprite has reached its destination move David towards it. If no sprites reach their destination phase shift David.

[ ] David AI configurations
- [ ] Switch between ways of targeting: nearest, random or next enemy //nearest by default.
- [ ] Enable/Disable dodging
- [ ] Enable/Disable melee attack dodging
- [ ] Enable/Disable range attack dodging
- [ ] Enable/Disable automatic spellcasting per spell or for all spells
- [?] Disable AI completely (in case of a second player) //that is if I want to give DotC 2 player playability
[ ] Improve/Redesign Soreth boss fight
- [ ] Soreth has a shield that makes him immune to all non yellow magic damage.
- [ ] Yellow magic will pierce his shield and hurt him but won't break it.
- [ ] An ultimate will break his shield.
- [ ] Soreth can recast his shield. (Will cost mana and probably time as well to cast.)
- [ ] Fire Dragon's fireball explodes when it reaches target area or on impact. //This will make avoiding the fireball more difficult and will also decrease the need for precise shooting.
- [ ] Redo Fire Dragon's script to improve performance
[ ] Spellbook/Journal
[ ] Easy spell selection/casting
[ ] Potion guy will sell mana potions and antidote potions
[ ] Add ability to rest in safe areas. Will refill mana and health instantly. //No more waiting for mana outside of combat!
[ ] Fast fire bow
[ ] Nadine bow graphics
[?] Ability to switch between David and Nadine //Only doable if proper shooting AI can be made for Nadine
[ ] Add an object or something sticking out of the water indicating that the water can be frozen.
Shooting the object will freeze the water.

_-_-New Areas-_-_

[ ] Tutorial
//Will probably be quite long, add a bit of story line and let the player get accustomed to every new thing in the game that they should know about.

Wow. Looking at that big list makes me realise why it took me so long to finally post this

I may have forgotten to add a thing or two. If that's the case I'll update the list in the future.

Let me know what you think about it. Any comment about anything in this list (or perhaps about something not in this list) is welcome. Don't let this wall of text keep you from posting just as it kept me from posting it

That is A LOT to update. I wonder if it wouldn't be better to spend the time on a new d-mod instead (possibly with some of those features)? It's just that I don't know what the replay rate of d-mods is in the community after an (albeit substantial) update like that.

But anyway, no matter what you choose to do, it's cool to see you thinking about it again

It's indeed a lot.
I have considered leaving those features for another project but I'm just not satisfied with Day of the Carcass without them. Like Scratcher said Day of the Carcass is more of a tech demo.
With all those new features that's actually true.

I think the new version of the demo will be fun to play just to see all the new things that the demo will have and at the same time want more of it. This IS what a demo is meant for isn't it?
The full version will probably mostly add storyline and a map so you have something to play with. I just need to know the tech part is done right before I can move on with the rest.

Yep that's what a demo is for But, I released a demo for Legend's Tale and never finished it afterwards. I would hate to see your d-mod not reach the status of full version eventually because too much time was spent on a demo I won't release a demo for my next d-mod but will promote it here instead when it's close to release, you know, with feature lists and such like you just gave us The thing with demos is, either they are released way ahead of the actual game and the hype will die down after playing it before it's released or they are released close to the finished product at which point I'd rather just wait (unless the saves are compatible)

Of course if the end goal of your d-mod IS to be a presentation for new tech and scripting tricks, then by all means, release updates incrementally for us to enjoy, that's fine too

Sounds good. I'll definitely play the game again with enthusiasm after these updates.

[?] Disable AI completely (in case of a second player) //that is if I want to give DotC 2 player playability

*drool* Co-op with a live friend is the absolute best gaming experience one can have, in my opinion.

Feasible is another thing. =) It's probably completely impossible to get the second player to work as well as the first player... would it be worth the effort to even try? If you think you could make it work reasonably well, though, this would be an awesome feature.

(?)Do you prefer dealing random damage or would you rather damage your enemies with exactly your attack minus their defense?

Definitely random... the original game does this pretty well, I think.

The thing with demos is, either they are released way ahead of the actual game and the hype will die down after playing it before it's released or they are released close to the finished product at which point I'd rather just wait (unless the saves are compatible)

I don't know. I'm still pretty hyped about Crosslink.

Two player co-op has been done before, it's definitely possible. But, the keyboard can only take a maximum of 3 or 5 key presses at the same time, which can cause obvious problems Now one player with a gamepad and one without, that would be awesome.

It's probably completely impossible to get the second player to work as well as the first player... would it be worth the effort to even try? If you think you could make it work reasonably well, though, this would be an awesome feature.

Getting the second player to work just like the first will be impossible unless I edit the Dink engine. I think I can make it work reasonably well, though. It wouldn't even require a lot of effort since I already have most of what is needed to make a second player work. (Did it in Magical Mayhem.) Even in the current version it's possible to make a second player control David for quite a bit since you can move him around (with YHJK) and make him cast spells by pressing a key.

But, the keyboard can only take a maximum of 3 or 5 key presses at the same time, which can cause obvious problems Now one player with a gamepad and one without, that would be awesome.

That the keyboard can't take a lot of key presses at the same time is indeed a problem. It is quite possible for a second player to use only one key at a time and still control his/her character, though. Press a key to move in a direction, let go, press a key to cast a spell, let go, press a key to stand still, let go. This would require the second player to remember not to hold any keys and probably some getting used to as well but it would definitely work.

A gamepad will help a lot indeed. The player with the gamepad can control player 1 while player 2 can have his way with the keyboard.

Looking at it like this I think it won't be much of a problem to make Day of the Carcass work for 2 players. Unless you really hate the kind of movement for player 2 in Magical Mayhem.

Huh... Somehow I've completely missed that dmod.

I can't say I really like stop-and-go movement, though I suppose you get used to it. I wonder if it would be less bothersome with the bow chick than David, though, since ranged stuff doesn't require as much from movement as hit and run with the sword.

I can't say I really like stop-and-go movement, though I suppose you get used to it.

I think I can make it easy enough to use. Especially I allow players to switch between David and Nadine.

I could even make the second player stop when the move key is released but only with the help of a macro. As far as I know there's no way to check if a certain button is released using only DinkC. With a program such as AutoHotkey a macro can be made that makes stuff happen upon the release of a certain key. This way I could make player 2's movement similar to that of player 1 control wise as long as this macro is running while playing the D-Mod.

If this is a good idea I could perhaps upload this macro as a separate file for players that want to use this. (If this is allowed of course.)

I've also completed rewriting the main control script. (And updated the list.) This fixes/improves a lot of things, including performance.

And I've thinking of adding even more things. (Things which will have low priority since I do want to finish this D-Mod some day and be able to scrap stuff or leave it for another D-Mod.)

A spell which pushes enemies back.

Environment to manipulate and use to your advantage.
Examples:
-Set something on fire and push your enemy into it
-Push enemies into holes or off a cliff
-Make objects come crashing down on enemies.

Making enemies give you xp when they die and not just when you finish them.

I forgot, is it possible to play multiplayer in this D-Mod? Like control David and Nadine at the same time? If not, then that would be an epic add.

I forgot, is it possible to play multiplayer in this D-Mod? Like control David and Nadine at the same time? If not, then that would be an epic add.

In the current version you can move David around a bit by yourself if you want to but it's not really multiplayer yet. Seeing as it's such an epic add I'll do my best to add it.