Messages

Yesterday, I reformatted CharClasses.xml and ObjClasses.xml with a new portrait attribute. (This tells the game what the character's default portrait is, to be used on the character info screen.) I've coded this feature into the character info screen as well: it now loads the correct portrait, scales it and positions it when looking at the detailed info screen for a character.

I've made it so persistent dialog loads before custom dialog in any given battle.

Next, I'd like to add new dialog actions that let you load custom character portraits during conversations. That'll be my next task. ;)

Basically, the game will generate a file at the end of your turn, which you'll email to the next player. They'll take their turn, then send their turn file to the next player; and so on.

There will be online multiplayer via play-by-email. Other than that, the current focus is on single player.

(The community has been pretty loud about its preference for single player--and being only one guy, I unfortunately have to set some limits on the scope of the project to ensure that Telepath Tactics releases in a reasonable time frame.)

I've now integrated all of the new item graphics into the game!

I also fixed a couple of bugs, including the super-annoying one where "null 0" popped up every time you use an item. The installers have been updated online. ;)

(NOTE: there are a lot of new Cave tiles in this version, but they are not useable just yet; I still have to test them all for any needed revisions, and I need to finish updating the set's TileData. Just FYI!)

That one's not currently working.

I now have the final set of item graphics from artist Julia Buge! I'll be assigning the graphics to all of the game's items today. :)

Unrelated: I fixed a bug where the game would not always show the correct damage for Feedback or Vengeance before using the attack.

I've been doing a lot of work testing out the new Cave tiles, and we're making some really good progress; I expect the expanded tileset will be complete within the week.

Oh, also, in case you missed the tweets I sent out this morning: both male and female portraits are done for the Swordsman and Spearman! We're moving on to the Lizardman portraits next. (We're starting with "generic" character class portraits, then doing individualized ones for the campaign afterwards.)

I just fixed a bug that was preventing the map editor from loading tiles correctly when loading a map. I've updated the map editor installer online with the fix; download, run and replace to fix your copy. ;)

That tells me what I need to know. (You're talking about the targeting reticle.) Thanks!

The 'Feedback' attack always states that it does the maximum damage, even if it actually does less (because the character has less than that amount of HP missing.)

Where? In the tooltip, or in the targeting reticle?

(Should the place of the water be transparent in the png files?)

Nope. Currently, tiles don't layer in the Telepath Tactics engine.

Oh, also, I forgot to mention this: I reworked the map editor with two important improvements.

• The map editor is now a standalone program, not something that runs from within the Data subdirectory of the Telepath Tactics install folder. This will make updating the map editor much easier as I continue to work on it.
• The map editor now throws up error windows whenever it can't load data it needs; this is going to make debugging a lot easier for me.

Right now, I'm fixing the function that is supposed to label dialog branches with the correct branch numbers when the map editor saves maps to XML files.

[SetStat]

Lots of new stuff!

You can now access a character's army number (0 for the player, 1 for the enemy, etc.) by using Army as the Stat parameter in SetStat and IfStatGoTo. Among other things, because this is accessible in SetStat, this means recruiting characters mid-battle is now supported by the engine! (I suggest using SetStat in combination with the OnTalk trigger.)

You can now alter a character's leveling progression mid-game using SetStat as well. There are two aspects to this:

• You can alter the values of specific stats found within a character's <OnLevelUp> tag by using the normal stat name with "LVL" in front (LVL Max Health, LVL Dodge, LVL Pierce Res., etc.) This affects the likelihood of the character improving that stat on level up.
• You can add new attacks to be learned on future level-ups by using AttackToLearn as the Stat, the attack's name as the Operator, and the level at which it is to be learned as the Amount.

You can now clear all attacks that a character is set to learn on future level-ups using the new ClearLevelUpAttacks script action. It has only one parameter: character name. Basically, this is for use with character class changes that alter the skills a character is going to learn. (Changing from a Spearman to a Bowman? Better use this to ensure your character doesn't keep learning spear skills on level up!) You'll then want to follow this up by adding new attacks to be learned using the new method in SetStat explained above.

You can now define a character's starting inventory right in CharClasses.xml using the new <StartingInv> tag. This tag uses the exact same format as when you give characters items in individual maps: each item is separated by a forward slash, place -E- next to an item to tell the game that it starts equipped. (This is basically a way to ensure that playable characters start with the right equipment and items in inventory without forcing them to appear on a particular map first.)

Aha! Well now I at least know what the problem is--it's the fact that Mac OS buries the subfolders of a program in several extra subdirectories of crap. I'll see if I can figure out a solution to that. :)

I've begun initial work on what will be the official main campaign.

To help me test out dialog quickly and easily, I've made a few changes to the engine that allow you to load levels without any characters in them. Testing aside, this could be useful for doing establishing shots of locations in-game, or doing scenes where a discussion is overheard from the outside of a building.