Ask the developer a question!

[bugfartboy]

Regarding the new LevelUp tag: If the character subject to the tag has level up data attached will it silently gain increases in randomized stats as per normal level up?

[CraigStern]

Yes, that is exactly correct. It's a quick and dirty way to make enemies tougher (and also give them a bit more variety within a given type).

[bugfartboy]

Something that's been bugging me for a while now: Does the action used to level up a character do the same?

[CraigStern]

GiveExp, you mean? Sort of. It'll level up characters and they'll gain stats accordingly if you give enough to tip a character over 100 experience, but it won't do so quietly--there will be pop-ups and such onscreen when it happens.

[bugfartboy]

Is there a way to create an attack that does consistent damage regardless of the attacker's stats? I.E. if I wanted an attack that does 5 points of damage every time, it wouldn't be dependent on PsyP or PsyD or Str?

[CraigStern]

Yes; you could make the attack's damage zero, use the plus operator in ModDmgForTag, and then simply give every character and object type the tag.

[bugfartboy]

I know the game is pretty far into development now, but what are your thoughts on a battlefield condition or tag that acts similarly to the SpawnParticlesAt action?  In essence it would spawn a specified number of particles per second in a specified direction at a specified rate.  I'm thinking for aesthetic effects such small wisps of smoke wafting up from a campfire or very minute amounts of water particles "splashing" in a moving river.  Not a terrible important idea, but something that I think would be somewhat interesting if implemented.


As a side note: I'm liking how much modding capability you're adding in.  It's been a while since I actually sat down and played with the anything in the game beyond the default campaigns.  I have been reading the Developer Log, however, and am excited to see all the new toys you're making available!

[CraigStern]

Thanks! Making persistent particle effects isn't really on the agenda right now (particularly because it could affect the game's performance, and I don't want to have try to fix that afterwards). I'm just focusing on content for the campaign at this point, and on features that I need to create that content. (Making procedural level generation better counts, since that means fewer battles that have to be hand-designed.)

[bugfartboy]

That's completely understandable.  As I said, it was just a small little thought I'd had and figured I'd put out there.  I'd much rather have a thoroughly fleshed out campaign over small little things such as this.

[ArtDrake]

Is there any way of reading a character's facing direction in a script, in addition to modifying it to a particular direction?

I'm thinking of applications like: a flash of light happening from a particular direction, and all characters facing that way being blinded in a dialog script; being able to [with very clever application of the tools already available -- I wouldn't suggest allowing modification of backstab and sidestab bonuses by race, class, tag, etc., though this would solve the problem] negate backstab damage for a character on whom that vulnerability doesn't especially make sense; being able to incorporate an attack like the one SmartyPants discussed for Luca way back when, that spun the target character one-eighty; and possibly even have an underhanded character do something dishonest because the captain of the team isn't watching [or the positive inverse -- try harder (increase stats, possibly, or simply have the outcome of a cut scene go better) when being watched].

I understand the IfStatGoTo list is a little bloated as is, but I think this would be a nice addition [if there is not an existing option that I'm simply overlooking, a very existent possibility], and not trivial when compared to other things that made the list like Shadow Res, though depending on how the data is organized, could be a little harder to pull off.

[CraigStern]

I looked in the code, and there is actually no way to read any of the strings with IfStatGoTo! I'll need to see if I can fix that.

Although there is not any way to read a character's facing at present, I did just add in a new action to let characters look at specific spots on the battlefield.

[ArtDrake]

Cool! I'm excited about the new functionality! [I know I almost always say that, but it's almost always true.]

[CraigStern]

Glad to hear it!

[bugfartboy]

I noticed that in the manual OnCharSelect, OnMoveComplete, and OnAttackSelect say "if no parameters are specified, it will trigger the conversation as soon as the player (selects any character.)/(finishes moving any character to any space.)/(selects an attack.)" Are there actual parameters that can be used with these triggers? I'm particularly interested in OnAttackSelect.

[bugfartboy]

Will it be possible in the future to change a unit's name with the setstat action?