The Dink Network

Scenia: Shadows of the New Order

March 25th 2008, 12:03 AM
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Christiaan
Bard They/Them Netherlands
Lazy bum 
Story
Scenia: Shadows of the New Order is an epic D-Mod about a young soldier of the New Order, named Dane. He doesn't know a lot about the city he lives in and doesn't know both his parents nor any relatives or friends. In fact, his very existence is quite vague. Why is he here? WHO is he?

It's in the distant future and each new day, people are being killed by the New Order. Dane works for the New Order, but he just follows orders, and doesn't know a bit what's going on. Though at a certain moment, Dane gets a bit curious. He feels something is about to happen. He wants to know more. "What's going on? Who's responsible for this way of living? Who am I?" So many questions... no answers... yet.

You must take control of Dane and discover what's going on, and find your true identity. But that's not all...

Gameplay
Scenia features lots of new gameplay mechanics. For starters, the combat system is entirely different. Deep down it's still good old Dink, but now with critical hits, multiple weapon modifiers, advanced magic casting, and, as a first ever: relatively sophisticated artificial intelligence. Enemies can now pursue, retreat, go berserk, and hide. Additionally, they can call help from others, and team up on you. Some enemies can cast magic, which includes offensive spells like fireballs, and defensive spells like shields, invisibility and healing spells.

Magic is also different. In addition to the "charge" mechanic in Dink, there is an MP (mana points) system. In short: the player has a certain amount of mana points, and everytime the player casts a spell, it drains some mana points. When you don't have enough mana, you simply can't cast any magic, and need to replenish your MP with a potion.

Scenia will also statisfy the brainiacs among us. The game features many puzzles, some easy, some brain-aching difficult.

Graphics
Graphically, Scenia will look nothing like Dink. Sure, it uses the same engine, but it's completely overhauled. Roughly 75% of the in-game graphics have been replaced by all new graphics.

But there is more. How about tons of little tricks like 3D simulating, inventive use of scaling, tiles on top of other tiles to create a sense of depth, sprite rotation, static-dynamic lightning effects, real-time reflections, weather effects (including lightning which lights up the enire screen) and even a basic physics system.

Sound
Scenia will not offer the standard midi versions of pop songs or Final Fantasy music everyone is tired of. It will feature some midi's used in older games, but only if they enhance the mood of the game. However, most midi's will be composed by me, and they're turning out to be pretty cool.

Also, the game will do more with sound than most other D-Mods. I have simulated a very crude "surround sound" effect, which will be in full use in some puzzles. Think of trying to figure out where to go in the pitch dark, only with the help of sounds.

Size
The game will be big. All 768 screens probably will be used, and it will take the average gamer around 8 hours to finish the game, without all side quests.

Who's developing it?
I'm mainly working on the game by myself, but at times, Magicman provides his valuable assistance.

There is no release date for Scenia. It's done when it's done. Keep track of this topic for any updates.

Screenshots
The following screenshots are in an unfinished state, but it should give a nice impression of the game so far.

Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2

more info: scenia@gmail.com
March 25th 2008, 12:56 AM
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Endy
Peasant He/Him United States
 
Woah, sounds like it's gonna absolutely rock

How are you doing the AI? Are you using a waypoint system for hiding?
March 25th 2008, 01:07 AM
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Christiaan
Bard They/Them Netherlands
Lazy bum 
I'm indeed fiddling around with a waypoint system, which is working quite well. When things get messy though, I also use screen-specific scripts, which is a lot of work unfortunatly, but it gets the job done.
March 25th 2008, 04:40 AM
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carrie2004
Peasant She/Her Canada
*chomp* 
Cool. I'm looking forward to some new dmods
being released soon.
March 25th 2008, 06:26 AM
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SabreTrout
Noble He/Him United Kingdom
Tigertigertiger. 
This looks great. Obviously it's difficult to judge quality without being able to play the game, but the features you've mentioned certainly set the game apart from any d-mod yet released.

Heck, I may even manage to finish this one when it gets released!
March 25th 2008, 07:41 AM
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cypry
Peasant He/Him Romania
Chop your own wood, and it will warm you twice. 
Really great graphics. Can't wait for a release.
March 25th 2008, 10:35 AM
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Striker
Noble She/Her United States
Daniel, there are clowns. 
If he levels up far enough, does he become Great Dane?
March 25th 2008, 04:15 PM
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Eek! Christiaan is somehow managing to make a classic RPG with the Dink engine.

The new features sound very, very neat - I'm amazed that you've even managed to get this far without editing the engine. I personally find that scripting a decent enemy AI can be a real pain due to the limitations of brains and the move command.

(Sidenote : I'm still working on my own projects, and will hopefully be updating my negelected development thread soon. And I have to find that D decompiler again so I can send it to someone who's asked for it. And watch over my five newborn kittens. Meow.)

Oh, and the screenshots are gorgeous.
March 26th 2008, 04:48 AM
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DinkDude95
Peasant He/Him Australia
The guy with the cute D-Mod. 
O.o

Oh my goodness. This looks amazing, it sounds amazing, I really can't wait. (And I actually mean it this time. )
March 26th 2008, 07:45 AM
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Skull
Peasant He/Him Finland bloop
A Disembodied Sod 
Nice! Scenia looks very good, Christiaan. It may turnes out to be the best D-Mod ever released.

Can't wait for it!

Keep up the good work!
March 26th 2008, 11:28 PM
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Hades
Peasant He/Him Australia
Remember you're unique, just like everyone else. 
Scenia has lovely scenery,
does it use the same screen system because it looks like everything is smaller.
March 27th 2008, 06:27 AM
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Can I pre-order a copy...
Perty!
March 27th 2008, 10:58 PM
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Christiaan
Bard They/Them Netherlands
Lazy bum 
Lots of progress has been made the last couple of days. As I am a VERY messy scripter, I fixed a lot of bugs in the scripts, so the game is pretty clean right now.

I will release a new screenshot in a couple of days. It will be better than those last 2 screenshots.
March 29th 2008, 10:25 AM
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Skull
Peasant He/Him Finland bloop
A Disembodied Sod 
Those graphics aren't made by Christiaan. I noticed it, because I am using the very same graphics as the main character as Christiaan is.

Those aren't your graphics unless you own the website that they're from. Am I right Christiaan?
March 29th 2008, 12:15 PM
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Marpro
Peasant He/Him bloop
 
Well, they're sort of his. I noticed that he's using graphics from reiners tiles as well.
To make them work with Dink, the format must be changed and so on. Very good!
But I didn't really recognize the landscape, you made them by yourself?

I'm also using some of reiners graphics. They're useful.

Looks very nice Christiaan, I hope you'll finish this project someday. Keep us updated!
March 29th 2008, 12:54 PM
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Christiaan
Bard They/Them Netherlands
Lazy bum 
I rarely make my own animated graphics. I use graphics from a lot of different sources, and I make some static ones (landscape) myself.

The main character is indeed also not from me, however, I heavily modified them (took ages!), so the colors are better, the animations are better and the character is animated unarmed, with a bone, with a sword, with a staff, etc. all done by me. So I guess Marpro is right on this one.
March 30th 2008, 06:58 AM
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Skull
Peasant He/Him Finland bloop
A Disembodied Sod 
Christiaan, I am using the very same graphics as the main character. And I've been having more than thousand of troubles with it.

Would you send a graphics back to my e-mail of the main character? It would help me very much.
April 11th 2008, 11:33 AM
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SabreTrout
Noble He/Him United Kingdom
Tigertigertiger. 
Are the new gameplay features (critical hits and the new magic system for example) all implemented, or are any of them still in the planning stage?
April 11th 2008, 01:23 PM
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Christiaan
Bard They/Them Netherlands
Lazy bum 
Critical hits and magic points are fully working. AI is done for about 75%. Physics are done for about 90%

Magicman and Someone helped me big time with the more advanced stuff, so don't worry about my crappy scripting.
April 11th 2008, 01:51 PM
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Tal
Noble He/Him United States
Super Sexy Tal Pal 
Uh... physics?
April 11th 2008, 06:57 PM
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DinkDude95
Peasant He/Him Australia
The guy with the cute D-Mod. 
You know, gravity?
April 11th 2008, 08:36 PM
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Chrispy
Peasant He/Him Canada
I'm a man, but I can change, if I have to.I guess. 
He's wondering what kind of work actually needs to be done on physics in Dink.

You know, context?
April 11th 2008, 09:18 PM
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Drink
Peasant He/Him Chile
Don't drink 
Ha ha
April 11th 2008, 11:16 PM
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DinkDude95
Peasant He/Him Australia
The guy with the cute D-Mod. 
Ha ha. Apple fall on Dink! Ha ha.
April 12th 2008, 12:34 AM
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Tal
Noble He/Him United States
Super Sexy Tal Pal 
You know what I meant. Stop being an asswipe.
August 11th 2009, 06:46 PM
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Marpro
Peasant He/Him bloop
 
Ha ha. Apple fall on Dink! Ha ha.

Stop being an asswipe.

This made my day.
August 12th 2009, 12:34 AM
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zeddexx
Peasant He/Him New Zealand
I'm pretty sure I'm worth atleast SIX goats... 
yay and cool x infinity!!
August 12th 2009, 04:42 AM
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Skull
Peasant He/Him Finland bloop
A Disembodied Sod 
I wonder how this Mod is going? Since this is TDN, it's probably dead, but it's always good to ask.
August 12th 2009, 05:04 AM
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carrie2004
Peasant She/Her Canada
*chomp* 
*bloop*
August 19th 2009, 12:35 PM
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Christiaan
Bard They/Them Netherlands
Lazy bum 
It's not dead, just far from finished.
August 19th 2009, 12:38 PM
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Skull
Peasant He/Him Finland bloop
A Disembodied Sod 
Ah, so have you made any progress near times?
April 19th 2021, 05:45 PM
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Robj
Jester He/Him Australia
You feed the madness, and it feeds on you. 
Is it dead now?
April 21st 2021, 12:45 PM
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SlipDink
Peasant He/Him United States bloop rumble
2nd generation. No easy way to be free. 
The game design was certainly ambitious. If it is not still "in progress", perhaps it should be uploaded as an "unfinished" dmod.
April 29th 2021, 09:11 AM
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Christiaan
Bard They/Them Netherlands
Lazy bum 
Scenia will be released tomorrow.
April 29th 2021, 10:34 AM
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SlipDink
Peasant He/Him United States bloop rumble
2nd generation. No easy way to be free. 
Great! I can hardly wait!
April 29th 2021, 11:51 AM
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RangerLord
Peasant He/Him Hungary bloop
The nation above all 
On the same day as Necromancer! Great!
April 29th 2021, 12:36 PM
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ThePunisher
Peasant He/Him Australia
(Tag Line) How long is this line. 
"Is it dead now?"

What do you think, of course it is.
April 29th 2021, 01:02 PM
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Skurn
Peasant He/Him Equatorial Guinea duck bloop
can't flim flam the glim glam 
wow, can't wait to play it wow
April 29th 2021, 06:19 PM
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RangerLord
Peasant He/Him Hungary bloop
The nation above all 
@ThePunisher
Is Cloud Castle 3 dead?
What do you think? Of course it is.
April 29th 2021, 06:44 PM
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Scenia will be released tomorrow.

As Christiaan has the power to approve files, he can well and truly release Scenia tomorrow, ie. today, on the 30th.

Much hype!
April 29th 2021, 06:50 PM
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RangerLord
Peasant He/Him Hungary bloop
The nation above all 
If that happens, my jaw is going to drop.
April 29th 2021, 09:41 PM
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Skurn
Peasant He/Him Equatorial Guinea duck bloop
can't flim flam the glim glam 
what a plot twist that would be. christiaan has been 99% absent because he's been focusing his full attention on scenia this whole time

i'm gonna play the shit out of this tomorrow. don't disappoint us like sabretrout did, ya hear?
April 30th 2021, 08:55 AM
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SlipDink
Peasant He/Him United States bloop rumble
2nd generation. No easy way to be free. 
Don't disappoint us please! I hope you weren't just playing word games.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tomorrow_never_comes
April 30th 2021, 11:48 AM
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Skurn
Peasant He/Him Equatorial Guinea duck bloop
can't flim flam the glim glam 
hot damn, this is a good dmod so far. i just finally defeated the jabberwock and entered the town of dunderlin to seek help from the guild of where the duck is scenia.
April 30th 2021, 12:46 PM
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SlipDink
Peasant He/Him United States bloop rumble
2nd generation. No easy way to be free. 
@Skurn:
Okay ... <sigh> ... you realize that April Fool's Day was about a month ago, right?
April 30th 2021, 01:46 PM
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Skurn
Peasant He/Him Equatorial Guinea duck bloop
can't flim flam the glim glam 
every day on the dn is a joke.