2011/12/23


Flare v0.15 “Translations and Mods”

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Release Notes

It’s been a long road! Finally we’re at the v0.15 release with a nice amount of new content. Enjoy!

  • Now using TTF for fonts
  • All game data can be overwritten/added via mods
  • Translation support for the core engine and mods
  • New Grassland tileset
  • New questing areas: Frontier and Living Bones
  • Redesigned creatures are tougher and more varied

Special thanks to the following contributors:

  • Thane Brimhall “pennomi” – Living Bones mod and plenty of code
  • Manuel A. Fernandez Montecelo – code and Debian/Ubuntu packaging
  • Igorko: code and Win build features
  • Hennr – Debian/Ubuntu packaging
  • Remaxim – composer of Magical Theme
  • Brandon Morris – steps foley, new level up sound
  • Justin Nichol – character portraits
  • Stefan Beller – Tiled flare export mod and automapping help
  • Thorbjorn Lindeijer – Tiled tileset offset feature
  • AMDmi3 – Build help
  • acieroid – Display power cooldown timer and various mouse/menu fixes

And thanks to the following translators:

  • (by) Belarussian by mikhailSaTuRn
  • (de) German by Thomas ‘CruzR’ Glamsch
  • (es) Spanish by Juan Pablo ‘morris989’ Tamayo
  • (fi) Finnish by Timo Sievänen
  • (fr) French by acieroid and Bonbadil
  • (gl) Galacian by Gallaecio
  • (ja) Japanese by Paul Wortmann
  • (ru) Russian by Sbasalaev
  • (sv) Swedish by Andreas Berheim Brudin
  • (uk) Ukrainian by igorko

(I’m sure I’m missing someone — drop me a note and I’ll add you to the list! If you’d like to list your real name instead of your github username, let me know. Also, if you’d like me to add a link to your website here or in the credits, drop me a note. -Clint)

Community Links

2011/12/16

Font Rendering BugFix

We were seeing drastic lag when trying to render Cyrillic text (maybe any multi-byte utf8?) in real-time. After digging around and making my algorithms as speedy as I could, it’s still slow. At this point I’m assuming rendering text (vector to raster) is expensive (much more so than blitting the rastered font to screen).

So the solution is to hold onto that rasterized text instead of rendering it each frame. This may sound obvious, but it wasn’t an issue when we were using a bitmap font. And isn’t an issue with ASCII characters and the particular font I’m using. So maybe there’s still a bug somewhere, but buffering the rendered font works.

We have lots of translations rolling in (keep them coming!) so I want to make sure those users get a great experience. This tiny bug fix has turned into refactoring many menus and widgets. I don’t want to drop v0.15 right after I’ve introduced a ton of new code. So, v0.15 may be delayed up to a week (!). The new release target date is around Friday, Dec 23.

2011/12/13

v0.15 String Freeze – Time for Translations

If you are interested in translating Flare, now’s the time! There will be no string changes between now and the v0.15 release (coming soon).

Take a look at Flare’s github page, inside the mods folder. Each mod can contain its own translation. Here are the five main translation files:

Flare uses a simplified subset of GNU gettext, where only simple msgid, msgstr pairs are used. Take a look at existing translation files to see how it works.

Thanks to everyone who is helping translate!

2011/12/12

Flare v0.15 RC 1

Playing on Windows? Try out the Release Candidate for Flare version v0.15.

Translations

Tomorrow (Dec 13th) there will be a String Freeze for version 0.15. If you are interested in translating the current content of Flare, please check in tomorrow for instructions.

What’s Left

  • Test the encampment quest, especially out of order
  • Add new zombie death sound
  • Add new level up sound
  • Assign appropriate music to zones
  • New NPC art for important town NPCs (at least one for Martigan)
  • Update monster placement in Averguard Hold for level 3-5 range
  • Bug Fixes
  • Update the Credits page
  • Clean up the Tiled folder

2011/12/08

Creature Updates

Every time we add a lot of new content, everything we’ve done as far as balance goes out the window. As time goes on, though, this balance will start to settle into the right groove.

Many of the current monsters are too easy or boring, so I’m doing a small revamp here. Mainly this is needed because the content will be more spread out: rather than cramming levels 1-6 into the same old dungeon+cave, we now want different areas to contain a small window of creatures.

When possible, we want creatures to be unique rather than just having more stats than the last creature. So here’s what we’re trying.

Goblins

Problem with goblins was they were just too easy. Not scary at all.

  • Goblin (level 1) – just hops around and stabs, more hp than before
  • Goblin Charger (level 2) – runs fast, special attack that causes bleeding
  • Goblin Charger Elite (level 2) – rare and more powerful version
  • Goblin Spearman (level 3) – throws spears, so more dangerous to more players
  • Goblin Spearman Elite (level 3) – rare and more powerful version
  • Goblin Shaman (level 4) – casts shield and shock
Zombies

Problem with zombies is they didn’t feel like zombies, just walking cannon fodder. Now the low level zombies have a much more devastating bite attack, and the higher level zombies have intimidating abilities.

  • Rotting Zombie (level 1) – more hp than before, small chance to bite for big damage
  • Zombie (level 2) – more hp, much higher chance to bite (possible to one-shot a player)
  • Zombie Brute (level 3) – high hp for its level, fast speed and very fast attack rate
  • Icegrip Zombie (level 4) – melee attack causes the player to be immobilized for 5 seconds
  • Bloodthirsty Zombie (level 5) – melee attack heals the zombie for 50% of dealt damage
Skeleton

The skeletons were decent, just need some number tweaking and maybe some power shifts (e.g. take crossbows away from regular skeletons, place more archers). Eventually the skeletal warrior should block and counterattack; that will make him more interesting in v0.16.

  • Skeleton (level 2) – much more hp, no ranged attack
  • Skeletal Archer (level 3) – generic ranged attack skeleton
  • Skeletal Mage (level 4) – casts ice missile, causes slow
  • Skeletal Warrior (level 5) – high defenses, heavy attacks, armor-piercing special
  • Skeletal Sniper (level 6) – level-appropriate upgrade to Archer
  • Skeletal Occultist (level 7) – level-appropriate upgrade to Mage
  • Skeletal Knight (level 8) – level-appropriate upgrade to Warrior
Antlions

The spitting antlions were by far the best: their high damage and rate of fire made them always intimidating. We’re going to make the other antlions much more interesting to bring the creature up to a mid-range enemy.

Also we’ll decrease the average HP for their levels, but greatly increase their armor absorption. They will become very weak to fire, ice, or both.

  • Antlion Hatchling (level 3) – mostly dangerous because they’re found in swarms
  • Antlion (level 4) – will get much higher health/damage
  • Antlion Blinker (level 5) – will also spit a poison that stuns the player
  • Antlion Slasher (level 6) – will get a higher rate of attack for poison damage
  • Antlion Spitter (level 7) – ice and fire versions will have tweaked numbers to match other creatures, mostly satisfied with these guys
  • Antlion Burster (level 8) – will self-detonate for insta-kill level damage
Minotaurs

Undecided, we’re not using these guys much yet. They’ll be a higher level creature, so we’ll put them to more use once we get more content in.

The Numbers

It’s a bit tricky to spell out the right formula for now. Ideally a creature +2 levels is hard and a creature -2 levels is easy. For now I’m basically doing playtesting to see what vaguely feels right. Once we get a few creatures ready we’ll have updated formulas (e.g. a level X creature should have about Y health).

Maps Updates

Because of all the number shifts, we might have to go back and repopulate old maps with new level-range-appropriate creatures. Also the new maps should be constrained to specific levels. Creatures +/-2 levels are acceptable in small doses (e.g. mini-bosses might be +2 lvl).

  • Frontier Plains – level 1 (mostly goblins, some patches of zombies)
  • River Encampment – level 2 (goblins)
  • Ydrakka Pass – level 3 (goblins early on) and level 6 (antlions in the second half)
  • Goblin Warrens – level 3 (high-end goblins, and ukkonen)
  • Averguard Atrium – level 3
  • Averguard Prison – level 4 (showcase the new zombies)
  • Averguard Academy – level 4 (skeletal mages and warriors, some zombies)
  • Averguard Temple – level 3 (before locked area), level 5 (after lock)
  • Averguard Complex – level 5 (lots of warriors)

We’ll probably detach the antlion caves and move them to a new place. Those will be level 6.

The new Living Bones module will feature level 7 or 8 content.

2011/12/01

v0.15 Timeline

The primary code for Flare v0.15 is done. Already translations and mods are incredibly useful. Mods let me test all kinds of weird stuff without breaking the build.

This weekend I plan to finish up the new raw art needed for v0.15. The grassland tile set will be ready to go. New walking sounds. New NPCs. Art deadline is Dec 4th.

One week of making new content from the assets. New maps, maybe a couple simple quests if there is time. We won’t worry about the maps being “final” or part of some grand story. The new maps will intentionally have stubs: e.g. walk into a cave and it’s small and empty. These will be invitations for modders to add their own adventures in those locations (overwrite the stub maps with a sprawling dungeon if you want!). New content deadline Dec 11th. There will be a Release Candidate and a string freeze at that point.

A week for testing and translating. v0.15 will be released Dec 18th, or as early as Dec 16th if everything’s in place.

After v0.15 release the holidays will be upon us. Good time for brainstorming about the future and for simply enjoying the game. We’ll pick up new coding in earnest on Jan 1st.

Peeking at the Future

Wondering where Flare is heading? Here are some goals for 2012.

v0.16 Advanced Enemies

Right now enemies have primitive steering and simple chance-based actions. We’ll evolve creatures to have better pathfinding and more variety in movement. Behavior classes will be added that cover new enemy types. Flying creatures won’t move like melee creatures; they will swoop and fly in wide arcs. Guardian creatures will patrol and favor blocking. Each creature will be assigned a base behavior, with a few configuration options to add variety.

We’ll add support for creatures that drop predictable equipment (e.g. skeleton soldiers that sometimes or always drop short swords). Creature-specific drops could have an assigned drop rate.

We’ll also add support for large creatures (require 2 or more squares to move) and try some unique boss behaviors.

Of course, v0.16 will feature lots of new enemy art!

v0.17 Improved Menus

We’ll do an overhaul of the menu system. Part of it is refactoring parts into the Menu base class and moving menu configurations to engine/ config files. It should be possible to completely reskin and rearrange a menu without touching the source code. Menu screen size and positions will be configurable.

The Character menu will be built from a long list of display-able stats. The weapon/armor proficiency unlocking art will be removed.

The Inventory menu will support a configurable number of equipment slots, along with rules on which slots are visible on the player sprite.

The Log menu will get improvements from new WidgetTabs and WidgetScrollBox features.

The Powers menu will be completely redesigned. Each level the player will gain 1 talent point to spend, for unlocking or improving a Power. Powers will be arranged in talent trees. The fantasycore mod will supply trees for Warriors, Rangers, and Mages.

The Action Bar will come with several config options: more/less action slots, hide/show menu buttons, and changing the hotkey labels for buttons.

We’ll introduce configuration menus and mod-manager menus.

v0.17 will come with cleaner menu art, new/better icons, and new fantasy paintings for the main menus.

v0.18 and beyond

As time gets closer we’ll hammer out the theme for v0.18. Here are some features that will be in the pipeline towards Beta.

  • Additions to the Powers system. Better handling of buffs/debuffs, passive abilities, powers that trigger in new ways (e.g. on-block, on-death)
  • More event types, to support simple cutscene-like interactions
  • Animated tiles and map backgrounds
  • Configurable damage types (e.g. slashing, ice, toxic) instead of a fixed list
  • Loot groups (e.g. Magic Loot, Armor Loot) to give creatures thematic drops or vendors limited wares
  • Statistics tracking (deaths, kills, total gold, most gold carried, etc)
Beta, 1.0, and 2.0

Once the above features are in place, Flare (the engine) will go into a feature-freeze Beta. We’ll limit work to bug fixes, code polish, error handling, etc. in preparation for a stable 1.0 release.

Major new development can continue on branches and forks. Solid, essential features could be introduced in 1.1 and beyond. The Flare 1.x series will remain committed to simple single-player action RPG gaming.

Flare 2.0, if necessary, would contain a critical mass of large rewrites. Multiplayer, or scripting languages, or OpenGL — those would warrant moving to 2.0.

Games

All of that future talk is in terms of the Engine. When are the games coming?

Flare 1.0 contains what I personally need to make the games I like. I think my role in the Flare project will shift once Beta kicks in. I’ll be the arbiter of decisions for the 1.x series: this will probably mean rejecting features rather than adding them. With less of my time going towards code, I plan to focus on art and game design.

During Beta I’ll be focused on building a real game. The best way to test the engine is to put it to actual use. We’ll make a short but extensible campaign using many of the current assets. If feasible, Flare 1.0 will come with a fully-playable game.

After Flare 1.0, I plan to spend most of my time building new assets that work with the engine. I want to release all new high-quality art. I might build small game vignettes to show off these assets as they are released. Giving tools to people who want to make Flare games.

2011/11/28

Grasslands

The grasslands are coming along. If you’re playing from the latest github master, you can enable the “frontier” mod to run around the starter outpost village.

Here’s what would be nice to round out the tile set. I have models for about half of these. 

tent (done)
boat (done)
wood pile (done)
anvil (done)
fire pit (done)
rocks (done)
cave entrance (done)
mines entrance (done)
ruins entrance (done)
well (existing)
signpost (existing)
lamp post (existing)
stump and axe (existing)
stump no axe (existing)
more trees (existing)

Walking Sounds

I’m going to replace the walking sound effect (currently echoes on wood) with a more neutral effect. I’ll need four similar-sounding effects, maybe something like running in belted leather boots. If you know where I can get such sounds (appropriately licensed) let me know. (UPDATE) I have Brandon Morris on the task.