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First progress report

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2005 4:38 pm
by Bruno Knotslinger
The World of Greyhawk is starting to come together. Slowly, but surely.

While the scripters work on the nuts-and-bolts of the game mechanics (some highlights below), area builders are busily building the "shell" of the world. Many of the main routes of travel have been done (but not populated), while some of the towns are finished and actually have a few guards and merchants present. They are a lonely bunch.

As to the nuts-and-bolts, some of the highlights that have already been added (or are currently in production) are:

- A dynamic spawn system which will randomly spawn creatures based on several variables including, but not limited to (and subject to change in the next 5 minutes): terrain, time of day, party level (obviously), and the whim of the builder. "Random encounters" will be truly random. Good luck figuring out where the spawn points are. (Quite often, the OnEnter event will be your spawn point.)

- Weapon buffs have been re-done so that off-hand weapons will be targeted if the main weapon already has the buff on it. (It's more complicated than that, but that's the basic idea.) No more switching weapons while the mage stands there tapping his foot impatiently.

- Dead and wild magic areas. Wild magic is generally associated with Forgotten Realms, and as such will likely be very rare, localized, and completely due to the will of some powerful caster or deity in Greyhawk. Zones of dead magic aren't quite as rare, however. Although the code is done, we are thinking of modifying it so that certain creatures can be excluded from the effect. (A powerful wizard, for example, who is exempt from the supression of magic in his tower.)

I may have left something out, and I'm sure I'll be corrected if I have, but I thought this thread looked so pitiful empty that I thought I'd put something in it.

Re: First progress report

Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2005 10:30 pm
by Anniko
Bruno Knotslinger wrote:- Dead and wild magic areas. Wild magic is generally associated with Forgotten Realms, and as such will likely be very rare, localized, and completely due to the will of some powerful caster or deity in Greyhawk. Zones of dead magic aren't quite as rare, however. Although the code is done, we are thinking of modifying it so that certain creatures can be excluded from the effect. (A powerful wizard, for example, who is exempt from the supression of magic in his tower.)
With the dead magic areas, will all weapons be a basic weapon (IE A +5 sword of uberness will become a regular sword of not-so-uberness)?
Same with armor, amulets, etc, so you cant rely on magic

Re: First progress report

Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2005 10:37 pm
by Bruno Knotslinger
Anniko wrote: With the dead magic areas, will all weapons be a basic weapon (IE A +5 sword of uberness will become a regular sword of not-so-uberness)?
Same with armor, amulets, etc, so you cant rely on magic
That's the idea. But it's set up so you can actually toggle whether player buffs will be stripped or not and whether item effects will be stripped or not. (Spells cast while in the area, in all cases, fail outright, however.)

Re: First progress report

Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 11:04 am
by Tharliss
Bruno Knotslinger wrote:
Anniko wrote: With the dead magic areas, will all weapons be a basic weapon (IE A +5 sword of uberness will become a regular sword of not-so-uberness)?
Same with armor, amulets, etc, so you cant rely on magic
That's the idea. But it's set up so you can actually toggle whether player buffs will be stripped or not and whether item effects will be stripped or not. (Spells cast while in the area, in all cases, fail outright, however.)
Sounds like a very cool feature! I'm looking forward to checking out your PW when it is ready.