Something more like this.
The advantage a roguelike-style interface gives me is that it frees me from having to do much in the way of graphics, and that’s historically been my weak point.
You might also notice that I’m writing in Pygame now - it makes distribution a hell of a lot easier than Java did.
The Folly Gallery is the place where the artists of L’esune put all of their old works as a way of inspiring future generations. A way of saying “don’t give up - I was crappy once too”. The whole kingdom’s seemingly been abandoned, though, and all signs point to demons - Pictor the Easel and Caelum the Chisel - trapping all of its tens of thousands of innocent people inside the museum’s paintings. Now it’s up to you to unlock the spooky museum’s mysteries and free its captives.
Lots of changes here. Smaller resolution (to match an NES), new interface stuff, and a map actually made in a homebrewed level editor. This is tangible progress, and I feel pretty good about it.
More small progress. Skills now run scripts on their targets - this is what I’d intended all along, but I sort of forgot about it during yesterday’s update. This opens the doors to all kinds of weird and interesting things, since scripts are basically a (very simple) programming language on their own.
Actual code progress! Not really much worth showing off in screenshot form yet, but I can now shoot myself in the head.
…Yes, I know how that sounds, but it’s just a 1-damage fire-elemental shot. My little Keskin dude is repeatedly frying his fur off and then chugging healing potions to grow it back.
To-do list
Just posting this here mostly for my own reference, but also because I’m tired of my lack of progress on this. I do plan on releasing an engine-test version, one that will be playable by the public, but there are certain other milestones I want to hit first…
- Standardize tilesets (i.e. exactly what tiles there are and in what order)
- Make a small set of testing maps
- Get at least active skills working (reactive and passive would be nice too)
- Get some kind of test monster going (nothing too elaborate, just get some kind of enemy AI working, even if it’s not very smart)
- Fix a few minor graphical issues, like the item-section icons, which don’t fit the new screen size any more - I’ve moved to 256x224 instead of 320x240 just for the added nostalgia factor, and because I sort of like it a little more information-dense.
- Remove Herobrine
It may seem like a bunch of fundamental things - what have I been doing all this time? Most of the complications in Tessera are under the hood, and mostly they have to do with the scripting engine. What I’d like is to be able to run cutscenes along the same lines as a 16-bit Final Fantasy game, and there are actually a lot of things you have to consider in order to make those work. I’m not sure I quite can yet, but considering that scripts are also how items and skills run, that part at least was crucial.
And now I’ve just gotten this idea to simplify things a bit more; graphical and sound effects should also be script commands. So: new test case for when I get back to coding. I should be able to program a special tile to create particle-animation fireworks when stepped on.
I think I’ve finally got something good going on here with the tile set. The secret is to use a limited color palette. If you must break your own rules, break them as little as possible; in this case, the darkest shade of brown was something that wasn’t part of my initial color set. One step I definitely want to take is to come up with a consistent palette for use across the whole project, one with minimal colors - that applies to that crafting screen, too. I’m going for more of an 8-bit than 16-bit feel here.
This place is the Yestern Base, a ruin that belongs to the Adventurers’ Guild. A large part of it has been sectioned off for them to hold their training and examinations for new members, and it’s there that the story begins.
