Dink 1.08 - Revisiting and Revising the Original
As most of you are already aware, redink1 is handling most of the changes for Dink 1.08, fixing various bugs in the engine and trying to work in a few cool features. And that is certainly dandy. I, however, have also been toiling away, trying to polish up the main game's map and scripts and working out every little bug I can find. And so far, I've made an enormous list of changes - most of them small, but changes nevertheless. I'm making what I've finished so far available to the public, so I can get a few opinions perhaps and also enlist the assistance of others. (I'll get to that latter bit in a minute.)
You can download the changes I've made so far here (note: all scripts are in .c), and you can see an incredibly comprehensive change log here. I will list an abbreviated fix list here, though, for your convenience:
* Fixed numerous spelling/grammar errors and word omissions.
* Fixed a handful of instances where lines would appear above the wrong character.
* Mr. SmileStein should now only have one spelling of his name throughout the game.
* Cleaned a few instances of incorrect/redundant code in scripts.
* Raised the hp of the Hellfire vendor. This was done because he says something when you hit him, but with only 5 hp, attacking him so late in the game will almost certainly kill him instantly, causing his speech to flash above his body very briefly.
* The barrel tree has been fixed!
* Fixed a few objects having scripts unnecessarily attached.
* Fixed innumerable hardness/nohit errors, especially in KernSin and the Darklands.
Those aren't all the fixes I'd be interested in making, though. There are a few other things I've noticed that I'd like to get worked out, but have been too lazy to do myself, honestly Following is a list of things I'd like to work on:
* The green wanderer occasionally vanishes completely when you attack him, instead of running offscreen.
* If I remember correctly, Dink still says things like "I don't like this one bit.." (or maybe just that?) while wandering the bonca cave, even after the bonca's dead; it'd be sorta nifty to change that.
* The normal bow and massive bow can't be sold to anyone. I think it would be convenient if the player were able to do so.
* Look into having the pillbugs on SmileStein's farm operate like 'normal' pillbugs, giving experience and leaving pillbug carcasses behind, but being sure to have them not return after they are killed. (suggested by Paul in the initial 1.08 thread)
* Have Chealse stop repeating the gossip about Ethel's duck, if you choose to kill it outside. The peculiarity here is that when you ask Chealse about gossip, she normally has four options that she'll go through in a random order, and she won't repeat any of them unless you step off-screen and talk to her again. However, when the Ethel's duck gossip is enabled, there isn't any code to prevent it from repeating while you talk to her. It's sort of confusing to explain.. but hopefully someone understands. (script s1-lg)
If you have any other changes to suggest or any comments on what I've done/I am doing so far, feel free to post a reply. If you wouldn't mind helping with the list of things I'd like to change, email or PM me and I'll discuss it with you.
You can download the changes I've made so far here (note: all scripts are in .c), and you can see an incredibly comprehensive change log here. I will list an abbreviated fix list here, though, for your convenience:
* Fixed numerous spelling/grammar errors and word omissions.
* Fixed a handful of instances where lines would appear above the wrong character.
* Mr. SmileStein should now only have one spelling of his name throughout the game.
* Cleaned a few instances of incorrect/redundant code in scripts.
* Raised the hp of the Hellfire vendor. This was done because he says something when you hit him, but with only 5 hp, attacking him so late in the game will almost certainly kill him instantly, causing his speech to flash above his body very briefly.
* The barrel tree has been fixed!
* Fixed a few objects having scripts unnecessarily attached.
* Fixed innumerable hardness/nohit errors, especially in KernSin and the Darklands.
Those aren't all the fixes I'd be interested in making, though. There are a few other things I've noticed that I'd like to get worked out, but have been too lazy to do myself, honestly
Following is a list of things I'd like to work on:* The green wanderer occasionally vanishes completely when you attack him, instead of running offscreen.
* If I remember correctly, Dink still says things like "I don't like this one bit.." (or maybe just that?) while wandering the bonca cave, even after the bonca's dead; it'd be sorta nifty to change that.
* The normal bow and massive bow can't be sold to anyone. I think it would be convenient if the player were able to do so.
* Look into having the pillbugs on SmileStein's farm operate like 'normal' pillbugs, giving experience and leaving pillbug carcasses behind, but being sure to have them not return after they are killed. (suggested by Paul in the initial 1.08 thread)
* Have Chealse stop repeating the gossip about Ethel's duck, if you choose to kill it outside. The peculiarity here is that when you ask Chealse about gossip, she normally has four options that she'll go through in a random order, and she won't repeat any of them unless you step off-screen and talk to her again. However, when the Ethel's duck gossip is enabled, there isn't any code to prevent it from repeating while you talk to her. It's sort of confusing to explain.. but hopefully someone understands. (script s1-lg)
If you have any other changes to suggest or any comments on what I've done/I am doing so far, feel free to post a reply. If you wouldn't mind helping with the list of things I'd like to change, email or PM me and I'll discuss it with you.
I understood that last bug 
Also, I'd like to say again that when you try to cast magic, but you don't have any magic equiped yet, Dink says "I'm gesturing wildly to no avail" or something. With a double space. I know, it's nitpicking, but it always annoyed me. Oh well.
Also, I'd like to say again that when you try to cast magic, but you don't have any magic equiped yet, Dink says "I'm gesturing wildly to no avail" or something. With a double space. I know, it's nitpicking, but it always annoyed me. Oh well.
redink1 fixed that. (You can even see for yourself in the alpha build he released.)
Oh, yes, that would've been the smart thing to do. I'll download it right away.
I'll download it right away.
I have one additional disagreements.
"It's been exactly one year since mother died, that's why." to "It's been exactly one year since my mother died, that's why." (s1-h3-l)
While your correction is correct, I think it is correct in the wrong way In the first, 'mother' is used as a name. So, the correct course of action is to capitalize 'Mother.' Maybe?
"It's been exactly one year since mother died, that's why." to "It's been exactly one year since my mother died, that's why." (s1-h3-l)
While your correction is correct, I think it is correct in the wrong way
In the first, 'mother' is used as a name. So, the correct course of action is to capitalize 'Mother.' Maybe?
But wouldn't one only capitalize words such as mother when they appear as "Mother Jane" or "Uncle Jim?"
Even though I have a feeling noone has paid or will pay any attention to this, I've released a more recent pack which can be downloaded here. You can see the updated and slightly reformatted change log here.
None of the few changes in Release 2 are very substantial, but I wanted to get it out anyway for a variety of reasons:
* As an excuse to bump this
* To also package the hard.dat, dink.dat, and library.dat after realizing that the updated map.dat alone might not work. Oops.
* I was bored.
None of the few changes in Release 2 are very substantial, but I wanted to get it out anyway for a variety of reasons:
* As an excuse to bump this
* To also package the hard.dat, dink.dat, and library.dat after realizing that the updated map.dat alone might not work. Oops.
* I was bored.
I personaly think this is a good idea since it will breath extra life into the game and see it last even longer. A PC equivalent of the ongoing success of Final Fantasy I (recently re-published in Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls on the GBA, which has sold extremly well) perhaps? Could it happen? Could our favourite RPG see that kind of success and still be going strong 20 years later? Well I think it could. Ten years already and still their are a lot of people coming to this site and new members still and plenty of new file being submitted and/or worked on. Ten years and its success is still going strong. Final Fantasy I has only lasted so long because first it was ported and enhanced for the PlayStation, then was expanded for the GBA (while retaining the enhancements of the PSX version). Dink Smallwood has an advantage over Final Fantasy I, however. It has users constantly doing the improvements (redink the program, undink, Windemere, and of course Dink 1.08. Final Fantasy relies on SquareEnix only. And as we all know businesses don't have the time or money to do this sort of thing this often. And who would pay for the a new cartridge with an improved version of Dawn of Souls? Not many people. Dink users can release their improvements for free. So in other words, I think Dink will still be going strong when Final Fantasy I is long buried.
As for 1.08 itself, what I have been reading so far is promising and pretty much all good ideas. So keep up the good work everyone! And I mean everyone, not just those working on Windemere and 1.08, I mean those working on other Dink file, regardless of their success, because even the bad ones add extra life to the game since in many ways the game is like a tree (the more branches the better).
As for 1.08 itself, what I have been reading so far is promising and pretty much all good ideas. So keep up the good work everyone! And I mean everyone, not just those working on Windemere and 1.08, I mean those working on other Dink file, regardless of their success, because even the bad ones add extra life to the game since in many ways the game is like a tree (the more branches the better).
