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Started by CraigStern, February 07, 2010, 11:01:17 AM

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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! :D

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


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?