Together in Battle Dev Log

[CraigStern]

Got the forums fixed! :D Reached out to Lorne about creating a few new unique sprites for Together in Battle. Also:

-- decided on the name for a yet-to-be-revealed unique character.

-- fixed the portrait data for a yet-to-be-revealed unique character.

Thank you for the answer. Can not wait for this game!! and the remake!!

Thanks so much! ;D

[CraigStern]

-- began refactoring the way unique dialogue is stored and called from character data in order to better support future additions to generated character dialogue.

-- added in support for the remaining dialogue line types in premade characters.

-- new proc gen dialogue type: Teach Response. The character reacts to the offer of being taught a new skill.

-- wrote a new, Narcissistic variant on the Volunteer camp activity.

-- fixed a visual glitch in the left-facing Sword animations for Emma and Sabrina caused by sprite sheet cell alignment.

[CraigStern]

-- added a new "castle wall" fill below non-transitioning castle tiles to allow for variable height castle structures.

-- split Hobby off from Like into its own proc gen dialogue type.

-- split off special characters -HOBBY- and -HOBBYTEXT- from the original -LIKE- and -LIKETEXT- (which now exclusively refer to the miscellaneous non-hobby thing the character likes).

-- fixed some formatting issues in CharAttributes.xml.

[CraigStern]

-- new script action: CreateUniqueItem. This procedurally generates a unique piece of equipment with custom parameters. Parameters: Character Name or Reserve Supplies or Roster Number, Item Name (use RANDOM to have the game generate one for you), Material, Quality (0-10), Category, Eq Slot, Required Masteries, Stat Bases, Grants Skills, Grants Tags, Base Durability, Base Value, Image, and Description.

E.g., this will procedurally generate a powerful steel axe and give it to the character Bob Bobbington:

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CreateUniqueItem/Bob Bobbington,RANDOM,Steel,10,Weapon,Weapon Hand,Axe,Strength:2.0|Health:12.0,Axe,,0,800,Axe Duoterre,A legendary axe handed down from ancestors of the Bobbington family.

-- new proc gen weapon modifier: Glimmering. Causes all skills deriving from the weapon to cause Distracted status.

-- three new proc gen weapon modifiers: Axe-catching, Spear-catching, and Sword-catching. Each grants +6 damage against opponents equipped with the specified weapon type.

-- added a new "quality" step in between Superb and Peerless for proc gen equipment modifiers: Masterful.

-- added a new "balance" step beyond Graceful for high-quality proc gen weapons modifiers: Effortless.

-- added a new "counterattacks" step for higher-quality proc gen weapon modifiers: Vengeful, with +2 counterattacks. (The +1 counterattacks modifier is now called Vindictive.)

-- added a new "reflexes" step for higher-quality proc gen weapon modifiers: Hair-trigger, with +2 reflexes.

-- extremely high-quality proc gen weapons and armor will now be created with more than just the standard 1-2 modifiers, with items of quality level 10 or above getting a whopping 3-4 modifiers.

-- when using GiveItem or CreateUniqueItem for a character whose inventory is full, the game now automatically puts the item in the current roster's reserve supplies instead.

[CraigStern]

-- created a calendar interface showing individual days of the month and what, if anything, is scheduled for each day.

-- new script action: Schedule. Lets you add an event to the game's calendar. Three parameters: Day Number, Event Name, and Can Share (true or false). Day Number is the numbers of days passed since the start of the game; Event Name is simply a string. Can Share is optional; set to false if the event must occur on a day when no other events are scheduled, and the game will check for the first day with no scheduled events.

-- new optional parameter for CreateUniqueItem: Personal Item. Set to true if you want this weapon to be locked to the character you're giving it to.

-- greatly expanded the pool of pieces from which randomized unique weapon names are created.

[CraigStern]

-- integrated the new calendar UI into the existing calendar animation. It now remains onscreen until you click, allowing you to examine it for as long as you need. The current day now visibly pulses, drawing the eye.

-- added a new parameter to the Schedule script action: event icon. This allows you to display an icon on the calendar for that event's day. Each day can display up to 3 icons.

-- improved the logic for handling calendar events.

-- new script action: GetEventDate. Sets 3 string variables (CalendarDay, CalendarMonth, and CalendarYear) for the first day on which the named event is scheduled on the calendar. One parameter: Scheduled Event Name.

-- various scheduled events in the main campaign now appear on the calendar.

[CraigStern]

-- laid the groundwork for in-game books to contain actual, readable text.

-- arrogant and narcissistic characters now have a chance to take a morale hit when losing games played with other characters.

[CraigStern]

-- new event added to the campaign: a beggar asks the player for money. Characters with certain traits will have differing reactions to the player's choice.

-- fixed a portrait compression issue that was affecting palette swapping for certain portraits.

-- added Memory as a new supported attribute type for the IfAttributeGoTo, IfAttributeRun, and UnitsToList actions.

-- characters now create a memory of the occasion when the player refuses to grant them a raise.

-- fixed: persistent dialogue, persistent scripts, and portrait placement data weren't reliably reloading when switching campaigns.

-- fixed: the dialogue menu wasn't quite centered onscreen.

-- fixed: event icons weren't aligned correctly on certain cells in the calendar UI.

[CraigStern]

-- characters can now get into a small argument over the beggar event.

-- new script action: EventsToList. Allows you to input a range of days; the game will then collect the names of all events scheduled across those days and place them in a custom list. Three parameters: List Name, Days Passed Start, Days Passed End.

[CraigStern]

After a vacation visiting my father out of state, I'm back and fixing stuff!

-- added new hometown background dialogue variants.

-- fixed up some existing dialogue variants.

-- fixed: recruits were being generated without likes.

-- fixed: the scene transition fade-out didn't stretch quite far enough on certain displays.

-- fixed: axes were being generated without correct images.

-- fixed: Plated Boots were incorrectly described as Heavy (rather than Medium) armor.

-- fixed: there was some incorrectly formatted XML in the CharAttributes file causing problems.

-- fixed a range error with the self-lighting code in battle.

[CraigStern]

Had an online playtest with some friends last night which yielded loads of stuff to fix! To start:

-- when I renamed Whet Stones to Whetstones, I apparently forgotten that they are referenced by name in several battles and cut scenes, leading to errors in each of those spots. They are now fixed.

-- fixed: due to a dumb typo, unpromoted proc gen shadowlings and spriggats were getting generated with 19 and 25 Speed, respectively.

-- fixed: a typo was causing the game to come up empty when looking for character Defeat Response dialogue in battle.

[CraigStern]

I was out of commission for a few days there recovering from my covid vaccination, but I'm once again back at it!

-- new special character supported: -NPC:-. This allows you to directly access an attribute of one of the triggering character's NPCs. It is formatted like so:

Code Select Expand

-NPC:Attribute Type|Name,Relation,Location,Species,Gender,Is Alive-

The Attribute Type can be any of those supported in SetStringByNPC. All of the parameters after the vertical bar are used to narrow down the NPC to pull from--none of them are required, but you'll want to use at least one of them if you want the game to find the right NPC.

-- tweaked VFX positioning on Hover skill.

-- added VFX to Engine Boost skill.

-- fixed: the broken-up background sub-topics had no narration topic summary.

-- fixed: it was possible to get the "pencil scribbling" sound loop from the report screen stuck permanently on by clicking through too fast.

-- fixed: the "pencil scribbling" sound loop on the report screen would continue after clicking to skip the text animation.

[CraigStern]

-- when you blow up a bridge tile holding characters or objects, the game now visibly drops them onto whatever lies below the former bridge.

-- fixed: characters attaining the ability to counterattack could end up counterattacking with weak debuff skills instead of actual attacks because the debuffs were cheaper. The algorithm for picking a counterattack skill is now smarter, prioritizing damaging skills over debuffs.

-- fixed a handful of situations where the game would inappropriately remember the last skill button clicked, producing situations where attempting to move into tall grass or onto a bridge would instead cause the character to move next to it and select an attack to use on it.

-- fixed: certain hard-coded loop sound effect triggers could override scene-specific scripted sound loops. These hard-coded sound loops now use one dedicated channel, with the remaining 3 available for volitional loops.

-- fixed: sound loops faded to a volume of 0 would remain "playing" in their respective channels between scene transitions, and could interfere with future attempts to fade out future instances of said loop.

-- fixed: when you unclicked a previously selected unit in the recruitment interface, the game would no longer highlight that character's portrait on mouseover.

-- fixed: the game was not displaying danger tiles for spaces characters could reach with attacks (but not movement) without moving at all. (See attached image for an example.)

[CraigStern]

-- fixed: the game wasn't saving the source of tags granted by equipment.

-- fixed: the bonus damage from a Bonus Damage tag was reapplying the base attack's status effects, effectively doubling them with every hit.

-- fixed: weapons generated with Poisoned or Burning attributes weren't being assigned the correct tags to add their respective status effects to associated attack skills.

-- fixed: the game wasn't allowing equipping and unequipping of items in the character screen outside of the reserve supplies during cut scenes.

-- fixed: BonusDmg tags were being applied to skills which they should not have been applied to.

-- fixed: generic unit portraits were being inappropriately compressed, leading to palette-swapping artifacts.

[CraigStern]

-- the game no longer displays a mood preface for characters who are unconscious and recovering from wounds in camp.

-- fixed a couple of formatting errors in the condition-choosing script for the proc gen battles in leagues 0 and 1.

-- fixed a couple of formatting errors in the "gambling on the player's behalf" evening activity.

-- fixed formatting for interjections by pessimistic characters during the beggar evening event.