Spiritual Successor

[Sarcolemming 8]

So I have decided; after much review, arguing with myself, bickering with the new missus and a few irish coffees , I am going to make a spiritual successor to the sacred franchise. Yup, I have made up my mind, and despite the scope of this massively masochistic project I have started to compile information needed to make a new Sacred-esque game.

Let me preface by saying I am in no ways a graphical artist, I can draw, by hand... slowly... but I will need a lot of help to get some things here rolling along. Hence I am posting these thoughts here where the community, or rather, the lifeblood of sacred has come to gather. Without further ado the wall o' text....

Update: The first version is now available to download and try out!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/02o0r0ib2pggsfb/Demo_VersionST_0_01.jar <--Direct link to download folder.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Major Game play changes:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blood bar:

Blood is the driving force of all living creatures, without it we will die. Those who are already dead still need blood but in a different capacity. While the living will outright die from massive blood loss, vampires and zombies are already dead. For the undead blood is just as important however, vampires and zombies “run hot” and perpetually need more blood as a sort of coolant. Likewise those who are more technological in nature more literally replace blood with magical oils, and sometimes even combine the two into a super fluid.

Essence meter:

While blood keeps the living alive, the undead magically kicking, and the technoids functioning, essence is another matter altogether. Essence is your magical force. It is the magic your body literally holds onto. Channeling powerful spells and abilities takes its toll on the mind and the body. This is where essence is reflected. Without essence, potent auras, extreme spells, rune castings, and transmogrifications are all next to impossible to maintain. In short, it is the realistic limits of your concentration and will power. No essence, NO buffs!

Unlike your typical “mana” resource however, essence is independent of your base stats. It is however affected by skills. Functionally Essence is used almost exclusively for long term spells like auras or buffs, and powerful combo finishers. While normal combat arts do not require essence they do passively gain benefits from having it around. In short, keep the essence bar high and your CAs will recharge noticeably faster.

Note: Using an aura or buff will drain a percent of your essence per second. While having 5 auras and 7 buffs active on you (assuming you could cast all of them yourself!), will make you silly powerful , it will also rapidly drain your essence to 0. The penalty for having 0 essence is massive recharge times mostly, it will not be a factor in death except as a side effect of those charge times. 0 Essence won't literally give you a heart attack mind you!

Skills:

Skills will be much like they are in Sacred 2. That is, they will be passively beneficial instead of actively. There are a few major differences to note however, in the way certain skills are handled.

No weapon lores? Huh!?

• Yes, weapons no longer have lores. Instead you gain passive familiarity with a weapon. That is, the longer you use a weapon, the more at ease you are with that weapon type, and the better you will be with them.

The reasons for this are vast and numerous, mostly I just wanted to be able to use any weapon with any build and not be limited to, you must have xxx bow of doom, or the impossible-to-find-sword of sadism. While also needing at least one point, or maybe 75, to actually use the damn thing. It is truly not fun when you grab a really sweet pole arm off the ground only to realize that you can’t use it because you never took lessons in pole arms at the academy and now it is worthless vendor trash because none of your friends took lessons either.

• Skills such as xxx lore and xxx focus are combined into path skills. These are always available and you need never waste a slot on grabbing them. It should be obvious to take at least one of the paths so why even have it as an option when you know you’re going to do it anyways. I feel this way the player can invest more thought into other skills rather than waste time deciding which focus they want and whether or not they’ll actually bother with the lore or just skip it.

Now I realize that is part of the build making process, but it seems rather silly to have to dedicate actual time to it when it can just as easily be at the ready at any time just in case. It’s not like you’re being Forced to take a path, but they are laid out in front of you clearly.

Laid out clearly? you jest!...

Nope, Points invested in path's are not wasted by any means, but because they no longer take up precious space, you can now invest in the skills you want instead of need. Although you may still need some of them.

Paths:

A path is much like an aspect of a Sacred 2 character. It contains upgrades for their combat arts (which will be named abilities instead), but it will also include some additional things. For starters your characters appearance (possibly including armor as well) will change to reflect on which path you have made active.

Example, a Charm oriented vampire will look regal and elegant, or even downright sexy! Meanwhile a Thirst vampire will appear brutish, feral, and possibly terrifying.

This visual change is not limited to the character, their abilities will change physically and statistically to match their path as well. All the while the player will have the choice to swap paths at any time for a minor cost in essence.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Characters planned so far:

gender change available for all unless noted otherwise.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vampire:

The stalkers of the night, high court politicians and devious seductresses. Not all of them are actual vampires, although, most vampires will usually fall into one or another. A capable melee and ranged character with control abilities aimed at mixing together the best of just about everything. However this raw power comes with a certain drawback, being marked as undead they cannot recover their own blood supply. Should they lose it, they have to fight, trick, charm, or seduce to get more heading their way.

Paths:

Necro-monger – While most vampires prefer to focus on the living, and the whole feeding off their blood thing, a few prefer the opposite. Some vampires just prefer the company of the dead compared to the living. However, prolonged exposure to the dead, or rather the lack of living blood, can lead to certain unusual side effects resulting in, bizarre mood swings, late night cravings, and even heightened magical abilities.

Charm – Suave, persona, seduction, it is all in how you look at it. The enemy can do nothing while the vampire has them dominated, and submissive to their will. Charm alters the characters appearance to make them seem visually… sexier. Its focus is on reducing the opponents ability to fight (stuns, dazes, etc.) while increasing the vampires own combat prowess, in aesthetically appealing ways no less. With Charm path abilities the vampire can easily lure any foe into a trap they’ve set.

Thirst – Vampires are innately bestial, vile hunters of the night. The thirst path lets you improve raw combat abilities and even summon ghouls to fight alongside you. With the aid of thirst combat abilities, vampires can easily replenish their blood supply quicker than most others.

Skills:

Slash - Moderate Damage, Single Target

• Necro- Becomes short-medium ranged attack
• Charm- Stuns single enemy for a modest time
• Thirst- Becomes multi-hit/target biting attack

Sweep – Minor Area of Effect attack

• Necro- Becomes short ranged beam attack which hits multiple times
• Charm- Stuns multiple enemies for a short time in a 360 arc
• Thirst- Becomes multi-target clawing attack, enables frenzy state (increased attack speed)

Conjure – summons level dependent skeletons

• Necro – skeletons are more numerous, adds 2-4 skeletons depending on levels?
• Charm – Skeletons become Spectres, Spectres resemble the foe’s dead friends/lovers/confidants/pet squirrel/etc. Reduces enemy morale lowering their attack and defense.
• Thirst – Skeletons become Ghouls, Ghouls attack quickly with rapid point blank melee attacks.

More to come…

Rune Smith:

The old legends tell tales of ancestor spirits, demons and mythical beasts that were sealed into magical letters of power. These were known as “runes” every rune contained the soul of its captive in such a way that it could be read or inscribed to gain immense power. The Runesmith is well versed in these runes and more than ready to carve them into the bodies of his foes, and allies.

Paths:

Ancient Caster – The most powerful runes of ancient lore may only be laid by a highly trained, highly intoxicated, and arguably insane megalomaniac. The destructive power of this path is unparalleled when proper preparations are taken. Focus is on destructive aspects of runes, combat oriented with a mild trap focus as well. Time taken to place and prepare these runes however, is increased.

Oiler – Dwarves + Machines = good times, add runic oil canisters for said machines and Boom! The oiler path focuses on improving combat abilities with special effects, flamethrower anyone? Namely the Rune smith’s pet/ride will gain numerous advantages on this path. The reasoning behind this path is fairly simple, being able to conjure up a giant mechanical beasty armed to the teeth with mini-guns and lightning flamethrowers is just awesome.

Battle Scribe – Runes take time, yawn. How about reducing cooldowns , casting times , and making them totally spammable?! A madman’s path that enables the runesmith to gain insane dps at the cost of survivability. Major focus is on repeating the use of runic powers/arts rapidly.

Skills:

R.O.G.E.R. – Call your magical whistle to summon your Rune golem Roger.

• Ancient Caster – Roger is now equipped with supporting tomes of ancient knowledge, this portable bookcase can be used to more quickly cast runes, or lookup delicious recipes for fresh diced goblin flesh.
• Oiler – Roger is armed to the teeth with chainsaws, buzz-blades, mechanical stingers, rockets, flamethrowers and more. Perhaps the most customizable version of Roger available, but also makes a great filet mignon.
• Battle Scribe – While other versions of Roger are supporting or offensive in nature, the Battle scribe version of roger offers much needed coffee, biscuits, and a Towering shield of awesome! The Roger-BS edition is fully equipped with every defensive tool you could imagine, and a persona upgrade to taunt nearby monsters into proving it too.

More to come…

Sentinel:

Whereas the temple guardian can only change its right arm for battle, the Sentinel can change its entire being. A shape-shifter by design, these mechanical beings can shift, morph, or alter themselves physically to suit whatever needs they may have.

(Note will eventually have to remove “temple guardian” reference for copyright purposes. For now it’s more to gather an idea as to what it would be similar too)

Paths:

Techno-wizard – Techno-wizardry is a delicate science best mastered by careful mages studiously pouring over ancient tomes locked away in a tower. But who has time for that? This path allows you to magically augment yourself to add Area of Effect on just about everything. Need to squash not one bug, not two bugs, but 40 bugs? This path may just be the one for you.

Tinkerer – The tinkerer is a self-improvement combat specialist. Readily capable, and rather handy they have a variety of physically based DPS bonuses such as adding new arms which use phantom weapons to improve melee combat.

Cluttermuck – The cluttermuck is very much a scavenger, using whatever weapons and armor available to craft the best, or most insane, defenses conceivable. This path is for the tanks out there who really want to shake, rattle, and roll through the bad guys without a scratch.

-----------------------------------------------

Setting:

-----------------------------------------------

You have died, finally. Your hardcore soul and all has been reset and now you have been sent to the deepest parts of hell.

No items, no mercy, no love. You are dead.. Now it's time to fight your way back up through 99 Layers of RnD hell. Kicking, screaming, clawing and biting, you won't stop until you reach the surface and find your way back to the land of the living. But can you resist the temptations of hell? Or it's many treasures? I think not!

-----------------------------------------------

Extras:

A Further list of ideas to include:

-----------------------------------------------

• Enhanced Perception, Bargaining, Defensive Skills, Utility skills
• Selectable Gods with abilities unique to each (Have a god system from a previous table-top RPG I created I'll be modifying and incorporating)
• Loot
• (Almost) Endless amounts of Stats to manipulate.
• Special effects; including but not limited to, stun, daze, burn, shock, poison, freeze, knockdown, knock back, disarm, weaken, fear, morale boost/loss
• Perks available for every skill, however they will be divided based on path, allowing for additional customizations. After all it would not make any sense for a skill that fires steam bolts on one path and meteor grenades on another to have +X# of meteor fragments on the steam bolts path. Likewise a skill that is ranged would not benefit from +% melee damage or +stun duration, seeing as how it does not necessarily have either of those.
• AI… seriously, working follower AI… squad commands for summons maybe?
• Did I mention LOOT?
• Mulitplayer 4+ No sense NOT supporting around 12 players or so. The more the merrier!

If you read all this, congrats.

I will eventually upload pictures I am drawing of the current characters... it will take a while though, they're pencil drawn on a sketch pad. That said, each of them takes around 3-4 hours to draw, if not an entire day.

Suggestions are welcome, _{hell it's why I chose to post this here.}

_{Edit 6:40p 10/9/2013: Added multiplayer note under extras, added initial setting ideas}

Edited November 27, 2013 by Sarcolemming

[Ryanrocker 200]

Looks like quite the interesting concept! I applaud you on the initiative and gameplay ideas here My only question is in regards to the actual production of the game. How do you plan to build it and what coding platform will you be making this on?

[SX255 630]

More power to you. That’s a titanic level of work.

Will you be making it to be fully 3d like Sacred 2 or more 2d like Sacred 1?

[Sarcolemming 8]

Looks like quite the interesting concept! I applaud you on the initiative and gameplay ideas here My only question is in regards to the actual production of the game. How do you plan to build it and what coding platform will you be making this on?

 

PC is the platform. I plan on using C++ but am open to suggestions, the languages I know currently are C++, Java, python, and VB2010. I may end up using visual basic for the graphical portion, or at the least the menus. I've been looking into finding pre-programmed game engines but haven't had any luck and really that's probably a stretch anyways given the sheer quantity of stats involved.

Really at this point it's more planning out ideas and going from there than anything specific. I'm thinking of describing it as "Information Hording" right now. The rest is coming eventually.

 

More power to you. That’s a titanic level of work.

Will you be making it to be fully 3d like Sacred 2 or more 2d like Sacred 1?

 

Hopefully no Icebergs are heading my way...

Like I said I'm no graphic design artist, so without help I will most likely end up more in the 2d Section. I honestly don't think even with help I could possibly ever get this thing running in 3d unless the entire community pitched in bits of code at a time.

 

Optimistically I want to do a full 3D open world...

Realistically I would settle for a damn good skills/stats system on a more or less 2D Dungeon hopper, ala classic Diablo style. I was just thinking how much fun it'd be to hop through random floors with procedurally created bosses.. but then that's the dwarf fortress player talking.

 

Oh another thing to add to the list, Multi-player: 4+ required. Can't call it a Sacred style game without 12 demi-gods running around blowing stuff up!

[Ysne58 236]

If I understand this correctly, you are planning 3 different character types. One undead, one living and one mechanical?

[Sarcolemming 8]

If I understand this correctly, you are planning 3 different character types. One undead, one living and one mechanical?

 

I had to read this twice after face palming at myself. _{Should have come up with more... ugh... why did I choose those 3...}

Yes just 3 at the moment. More will follow but right now I have only these 3 bundles of insanity to deal with. Other character/class ideas I may or may not include,

• Sorcerer with flame, steam, ice, and mild techno-phile abilities.
• "Spider-lady" with webbing, brute-force, bleeding, and parasites._{ew...spiders...}

and perhaps a

• warrior type. Or maybe a paladin. Lots of blunt trauma abilities, perhaps some auras to boost comrade morale.

Would be kind of funny to find a priest having to climb his way through the layers of hell, so who knows that'd be interesting too! We're just starting off so class suggestions are welcome if you have any?

 

edit:

As I'm walking away to go make dinner the following thought whacked me in the skull like a brick.

as Each path choice dynamically alters each class, you effectively can have 3-4 classes per character choice. So just 3 isn't quite accurate. Yes there are an undead, a living, and a mechanical, but each of those broad categories also has their own path choices which will alter both appearance and play-style dynamically. It would probably be more accurate to say there are more around the likes of 9-12(counting base or not) classes atm.

Edited October 9, 2013 by Sarcolemming

[Ysne58 236]

It sounds complicated. I do wish the best of luck to you with this. Sacred 2 is a hard act to follow. It doesn't look like Sacred 3 will manage it.

[Sarcolemming 8]

It sounds complicated. I do wish the best of luck to you with this. Sacred 2 is a hard act to follow. It doesn't look like Sacred 3 will manage it.

 

Thanks for the luck! I will need all I can get.

 

Pretty complicated yeah, Sacred has so many inherent options it really is difficult trying to replicate them. Of course it doesn't help needing to figure out complex math formulas for percentages...

For instance in order to get what % chance to reflect melee this is the current formula I'm working with...

(10*X/(5X+100)) * 50 = % chance

Ideally it would take ridiculous amounts of X to reach anywhere near 100%, roughly around 400 or so, although reaching 50% chance can be done fairly easily(only around 20 X or so). So there are some mathematical kinks needed to be worked out. I generally live by the rule simple is best, so I'm dead certain this will get simplified and ironed out at some point.

 

But yes, complicated it is... and I lost my graphing calculator this morning, that does NOT help at all.

[Ysne58 236]

At least those aren't as expensive as computers to replace. I look forward to see how this progresses.

[gogoblender 3,071]

 

So I have decided; after much review, arguing with myself, bickering with the new missus and a few irish coffees , I am going to make a spiritual successor to the sacred franchise. Yup, I have made up my mind, and despite the scope of this massively masochistic project I have started to compile information needed to make a new Sacred-esque game.

Let me preface by saying I am in no ways a graphical artist, I can draw, by hand... slowly... but I will need a lot of help to get some things here rolling along. Hence I am posting these thoughts here where the community, or rather, the lifeblood of sacred has come to gather. Without further ado the wall o' text....

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Major Game play changes:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blood bar:

Blood is the driving force of all living creatures, without it we will die. Those who are already dead still need blood but in a different capacity. While the living will outright die from massive blood loss, vampires and zombies are already dead. For the undead blood is just as important however, vampires and zombies “run hot” and perpetually need more blood as a sort of coolant. Likewise those who are more technological in nature more literally replace blood with magical oils, and sometimes even combine the two into a super fluid.

Essence meter:

While blood keeps the living alive, the undead magically kicking, and the technoids functioning, essence is another matter altogether. Essence is your magical force. It is the magic your body literally holds onto. Channeling powerful spells and abilities takes its toll on the mind and the body. This is where essence is reflected. Without essence, potent auras, extreme spells, rune castings, and transmogrifications are all next to impossible to maintain. In short, it is the realistic limits of your concentration and will power. No essence, NO buffs!

Unlike your typical “mana” resource however, essence is independent of your base stats. It is however affected by skills. Functionally Essence is used almost exclusively for long term spells like auras or buffs, and powerful combo finishers. While normal combat arts do not require essence they do passively gain benefits from having it around. In short, keep the essence bar high and your CAs will recharge noticeably faster.

Note: Using an aura or buff will drain a percent of your essence per second. While having 5 auras and 7 buffs active on you (assuming you could cast all of them yourself!), will make you silly powerful , it will also rapidly drain your essence to 0. The penalty for having 0 essence is massive recharge times mostly, it will not be a factor in death except as a side effect of those charge times. 0 Essence won't literally give you a heart attack mind you!

Skills:

Skills will be much like they are in Sacred 2. That is, they will be passively beneficial instead of actively. There are a few major differences to note however, in the way certain skills are handled.

No weapon lores? Huh!?

• Yes, weapons no longer have lores. Instead you gain passive familiarity with a weapon. That is, the longer you use a weapon, the more at ease you are with that weapon type, and the better you will be with them.

The reasons for this are vast and numerous, mostly I just wanted to be able to use any weapon with any build and not be limited to, you must have xxx bow of doom, or the impossible-to-find-sword of sadism. While also needing at least one point, or maybe 75, to actually use the damn thing. It is truly not fun when you grab a really sweet pole arm off the ground only to realize that you can’t use it because you never took lessons in pole arms at the academy and now it is worthless vendor trash because none of your friends took lessons either.

• Skills such as xxx lore and xxx focus are combined into path skills. These are always available and you need never waste a slot on grabbing them. It should be obvious to take at least one of the paths so why even have it as an option when you know you’re going to do it anyways. I feel this way the player can invest more thought into other skills rather than waste time deciding which focus they want and whether or not they’ll actually bother with the lore or just skip it.

Now I realize that is part of the build making process, but it seems rather silly to have to dedicate actual time to it when it can just as easily be at the ready at any time just in case. It’s not like you’re being Forced to take a path, but they are laid out in front of you clearly.

Laid out clearly? you jest!...

Nope, Points invested in path's are not wasted by any means, but because they no longer take up precious space, you can now invest in the skills you want instead of need. Although you may still need some of them.

Paths:

A path is much like an aspect of a Sacred 2 character. It contains upgrades for their combat arts (which will be named abilities instead), but it will also include some additional things. For starters your characters appearance (possibly including armor as well) will change to reflect on which path you have made active.

Example, a Charm oriented vampire will look regal and elegant, or even downright sexy! Meanwhile a Thirst vampire will appear brutish, feral, and possibly terrifying.

This visual change is not limited to the character, their abilities will change physically and statistically to match their path as well. All the while the player will have the choice to swap paths at any time for a minor cost in essence.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Characters planned so far:

gender change available for all unless noted otherwise.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vampire:

The stalkers of the night, high court politicians and devious seductresses. Not all of them are actual vampires, although, most vampires will usually fall into one or another. A capable melee and ranged character with control abilities aimed at mixing together the best of just about everything. However this raw power comes with a certain drawback, being marked as undead they cannot recover their own blood supply. Should they lose it, they have to fight, trick, charm, or seduce to get more heading their way.

Paths:

Necro-monger – While most vampires prefer to focus on the living, and the whole feeding off their blood thing, a few prefer the opposite. Some vampires just prefer the company of the dead compared to the living. However, prolonged exposure to the dead, or rather the lack of living blood, can lead to certain unusual side effects resulting in, bizarre mood swings, late night cravings, and even heightened magical abilities.

Charm – Suave, persona, seduction, it is all in how you look at it. The enemy can do nothing while the vampire has them dominated, and submissive to their will. Charm alters the characters appearance to make them seem visually… sexier. Its focus is on reducing the opponents ability to fight (stuns, dazes, etc.) while increasing the vampires own combat prowess, in aesthetically appealing ways no less. With Charm path abilities the vampire can easily lure any foe into a trap they’ve set.

Thirst – Vampires are innately bestial, vile hunters of the night. The thirst path lets you improve raw combat abilities and even summon ghouls to fight alongside you. With the aid of thirst combat abilities, vampires can easily replenish their blood supply quicker than most others.

Skills:

Slash - Moderate Damage, Single Target

• Necro- Becomes short-medium ranged attack
• Charm- Stuns single enemy for a modest time
• Thirst- Becomes multi-hit/target biting attack

Sweep – Minor Area of Effect attack

• Necro- Becomes short ranged beam attack which hits multiple times
• Charm- Stuns multiple enemies for a short time in a 360 arc
• Thirst- Becomes multi-target clawing attack, enables frenzy state (increased attack speed)

Conjure – summons level dependent skeletons

• Necro – skeletons are more numerous, adds 2-4 skeletons depending on levels?
• Charm – Skeletons become Spectres, Spectres resemble the foe’s dead friends/lovers/confidants/pet squirrel/etc. Reduces enemy morale lowering their attack and defense.
• Thirst – Skeletons become Ghouls, Ghouls attack quickly with rapid point blank melee attacks.

More to come…

Rune Smith:

The old legends tell tales of ancestor spirits, demons and mythical beasts that were sealed into magical letters of power. These were known as “runes” every rune contained the soul of its captive in such a way that it could be read or inscribed to gain immense power. The Runesmith is well versed in these runes and more than ready to carve them into the bodies of his foes, and allies.

Paths:

Ancient Caster – The most powerful runes of ancient lore may only be laid by a highly trained, highly intoxicated, and arguably insane megalomaniac. The destructive power of this path is unparalleled when proper preparations are taken. Focus is on destructive aspects of runes, combat oriented with a mild trap focus as well. Time taken to place and prepare these runes however, is increased.

Oiler – Dwarves + Machines = good times, add runic oil canisters for said machines and Boom! The oiler path focuses on improving combat abilities with special effects, flamethrower anyone? Namely the Rune smith’s pet/ride will gain numerous advantages on this path. The reasoning behind this path is fairly simple, being able to conjure up a giant mechanical beasty armed to the teeth with mini-guns and lightning flamethrowers is just awesome.

Battle Scribe – Runes take time, yawn. How about reducing cooldowns , casting times , and making them totally spammable?! A madman’s path that enables the runesmith to gain insane dps at the cost of survivability. Major focus is on repeating the use of runic powers/arts rapidly.

Skills:

R.O.G.E.R. – Call your magical whistle to summon your Rune golem Roger.

• Ancient Caster – Roger is now equipped with supporting tomes of ancient knowledge, this portable bookcase can be used to more quickly cast runes, or lookup delicious recipes for fresh diced goblin flesh.
• Oiler – Roger is armed to the teeth with chainsaws, buzz-blades, mechanical stingers, rockets, flamethrowers and more. Perhaps the most customizable version of Roger available, but also makes a great filet mignon.
• Battle Scribe – While other versions of Roger are supporting or offensive in nature, the Battle scribe version of roger offers much needed coffee, biscuits, and a Towering shield of awesome! The Roger-BS edition is fully equipped with every defensive tool you could imagine, and a persona upgrade to taunt nearby monsters into proving it too.

More to come…

Sentinel:

Whereas the temple guardian can only change its right arm for battle, the Sentinel can change its entire being. A shape-shifter by design, these mechanical beings can shift, morph, or alter themselves physically to suit whatever needs they may have.

(Note will eventually have to remove “temple guardian” reference for copyright purposes. For now it’s more to gather an idea as to what it would be similar too)

Paths:

Techno-wizard – Techno-wizardry is a delicate science best mastered by careful mages studiously pouring over ancient tomes locked away in a tower. But who has time for that? This path allows you to magically augment yourself to add Area of Effect on just about everything. Need to squash not one bug, not two bugs, but 40 bugs? This path may just be the one for you.

Tinkerer – The tinkerer is a self-improvement combat specialist. Readily capable, and rather handy they have a variety of physically based DPS bonuses such as adding new arms which use phantom weapons to improve melee combat.

Cluttermuck – The cluttermuck is very much a scavenger, using whatever weapons and armor available to craft the best, or most insane, defenses conceivable. This path is for the tanks out there who really want to shake, rattle, and roll through the bad guys without a scratch.

-----------------------------------------------

Setting:

-----------------------------------------------

You have died, finally. Your hardcore soul and all has been reset and now you have been sent to the deepest parts of hell.

No items, no mercy, no love. You are dead.. Now it's time to fight your way back up through 99 Layers of RnD hell. Kicking, screaming, clawing and biting, you won't stop until you reach the surface and find your way back to the land of the living. But can you resist the temptations of hell? Or it's many treasures? I think not!

-----------------------------------------------

Extras:

A Further list of ideas to include:

-----------------------------------------------

• Enhanced Perception, Bargaining, Defensive Skills, Utility skills
• Selectable Gods with abilities unique to each (Have a god system from a previous table-top RPG I created I'll be modifying and incorporating)
• Loot
• (Almost) Endless amounts of Stats to manipulate.
• Special effects; including but not limited to, stun, daze, burn, shock, poison, freeze, knockdown, knock back, disarm, weaken, fear, morale boost/loss
• Perks available for every skill, however they will be divided based on path, allowing for additional customizations. After all it would not make any sense for a skill that fires steam bolts on one path and meteor grenades on another to have +X# of meteor fragments on the steam bolts path. Likewise a skill that is ranged would not benefit from +% melee damage or +stun duration, seeing as how it does not necessarily have either of those.
• AI… seriously, working follower AI… squad commands for summons maybe?
• Did I mention LOOT?
• Mulitplayer 4+ No sense NOT supporting around 12 players or so. The more the merrier!

If you read all this, congrats.

I will eventually upload pictures I am drawing of the current characters... it will take a while though, they're pencil drawn on a sketch pad. That said, each of them takes around 3-4 hours to draw, if not an entire day.

Suggestions are welcome, _{hell it's why I chose to post this here.}

_{Edit 6:40p 10/9/2013: Added multiplayer note under extras, added initial setting ideas}

woooooooooooo!

Hello and welcome to these boards again Sarco!

Very well-written set up, I was able to ease into your world, and there was enough imagination put into the builds. I think Clutter Muck's my fave? Always liked the idea of something that could build from around us.

 

gogo

[Sarcolemming 8]

 

woooooooooooo!

Hello and welcome to these boards again Sarco!

Very well-written set up, I was able to ease into your world, and there was enough imagination put into the builds. I think Clutter Muck's my fave? Always liked the idea of something that could build from around us.

 

gogo

 

Thanks gogo, it's nice to be back and it's also nice to hear all that time I spent formatting this helped make it more legible.

Funny thing about the clutter muck, all that junk tends to form a personal shield. Kind of like a T-energy shroud... but more awesome looking.

 

At least those aren't as expensive as computers to replace. I look forward to see how this progresses.

 

Haha, very true. I did find it eventually, was buried in the back of a drawer underneath a bunch of random things the missus threw on top of it. x)

 

 

Now that I've found the calculator I'm going to post some progress here and update the main post shortly after....

 

New Character!

*bug person* Name pending... may make a contest/poll about this actually...

Hell isn't all burning fire and lava, there are tundras, snowy plains, dense jungles and forests as well. In those jungles a mysterious tribe has created a most unusual type of magic. While the real name is unknown to any but those who practice it, outsiders refer to it simply as "bugromancy". Drawing apon the lifeforce of the jungle itself, "bugromancy" is the ability to control nearby insects to a degree most people would shutter to think about. Every "bugromancer" has a preference the most common are moths, spiders, and beetles.

 

Spiders - Webs, traps, poisons, and other aspects of the spider are common place on this path. Focus is on deception and assassination style moves.

Moths - Drawn to the flame, moths are some of natures oddest predators. With a wide variety of high mobility aerobatic moves the moth path offers some interesting ranged options not the least of which include poison clouds, pet flame-moths(burning all those in their path).

Beetles - Hmmm how to describe the beetle path, how about unbelievably strong! Aside from having incredulous raw strength(the sort that could bench press a double-decker bus), these types also benefit from a remarkably solid carapace. This strange sort of shell can deflect arrows without a ding, and prevent some magics from ever even reaching the player.

 

 

Stats and numbers...

mostly for reference of how I'm going about things behind the scenes.. A sort of progress report if you will. =)

how to calculate the percent chance to dodge, reflect, incinerate, meltfaces, etc.

if X is the cumulative total acquired. That is, 30+20+20, then X = 70.

And Y is the final value you will display...

IF X<= 50

then: Y=X

ELSE:

Y=(0.15*X)+43

After this, we do one final Check...

IF Y>79

then: Y=(.005*X)+79

 

The last bit keeps Y from rapidly reaching 100% chance to anything. Effectively it limits it to the extreme. You would need several Thousand points of reflect anything to reach 100%... It's possible, just highly unlikely.

 

Chance to hit.(CtH)

CtH = 50+(Player_Attack - Enemy_Defense)*0.1

IF CtH <0

CtH = 0

This creates a number roughly between 50% and 100%, Obviously numbers above or below that are possible but not really important. By modifying it I'm really just trying save a few calculations. Few spare bits and bytes here and there...

 

Hit Order of Operations...

 

Swing! ---> Hit = Yes

--->Evade? ----> = Nope

--->Block? -----> = Nope

--->Reflect? --> = Nope

--->Force Shield Available? --> = Nope

--->Reduction - General like Damage mitigation

--->Reduction - Armor specific

--->Divisional Mitigation if any - Some characters will have the power to split damage they take between themselves and their summons. This happens at this phase of the attack.

--->Blood loss - final stage, all damage has been calculated and what's left is going through to your health.

 

That's it for today. All I could come up with

[SX255 630]

Plotting new features to your game is all nice and good, but it can become distracting and destructive. I know this from personal experience.

 

For now concentrate on making a demo with just 1 character in 1 level. Use basic graphics like they were made in MS Paint. No sound and fancy start menus – just 1 char running around a level.

[Knuckles 904]

wow...this is a huge project you got going and wish you all the best in seeing it through.

 

Best of luck

[Sarcolemming 8]

Plotting new features to your game is all nice and good, but it can become distracting and destructive. I know this from personal experience.

 

For now concentrate on making a demo with just 1 character in 1 level. Use basic graphics like they were made in MS Paint. No sound and fancy start menus – just 1 char running around a level.

 

It's funny cause this is actually what I'm working on at the moment. I find listing things here just lets me keep track of where I'd like to eventually go. Plus inspiration strikes randomly, never know when I might have another crazy idea to add to the mix!

 

For the moment though, you are quite right 1 character, 1 floor, only a couple mobs. Once that is on it's feet I can start adding in more goodies. Combat is fairly essential to the game so that chance to hit mechanism is really useful right about now. Reflect and such is also important in nailing down the order of operations. Though actually calculating it can come in at a later point in the programming.

 

Stats though, it really is nice having those worked out from the start. Without them I would have a whole lot of blank files with nothing to do

 

 

wow...this is a huge project you got going and wish you all the best in seeing it through.

 

Best of luck

 

Thanks poobah! Always nice to hear words of encouragement.

[Sarcolemming 8]

UPDATE:

 

Thanks to youtube and several other sources I now have a working game engine!

 

The game will be 2D and will feature a camera angle that is roughly isometric. I'll be using tile sets to create the levels and characters. Anyone who would like to contribute some jpg's or png's is more than welcome too and will be credited as well!

Anyone who has suggestions is also welcome, as I am....

currently taking ideas for:

Passive Stat gains

Weapon and item names(sword of doombearing, or unholy mace of awesomesauce)

Town themes

Monster themes

Boss baddie themes as well

Any modifiers from the sacred franchise(or any other) you'd like to see added, (reflect melee, evade, etc)

 

Hopefully in the coming weeks I can get an alpha version up and running for you folks to test out! After all, nothing beats a good Live-fire exercise.

[SX255 630]

If there is anything I expect to measure Sacred 3, it’s how close the developers come to making this Mad Max 3 reference:

This can be a final boss to an area. Of course you will have to modify the TG to be something else, like a dog-shaped all purpose walking machine, but you can’t tell me it’s not awesome.

 

And as a lead-in regular enemy you can put regular dwarfs on bears, because what else would they ride? Add a nice dense pine forest, a bit of snow, and you have a solid PC vs Dwarves story.

[Sarcolemming 8]

If there is anything I expect to measure Sacred 3, it’s how close the developers come to making this Mad Max 3 reference:

...

This can be a final boss to an area. Of course you will have to modify the TG to be something else, like a dog-shaped all purpose walking machine, but you can’t tell me it’s not awesome.

 

And as a lead-in regular enemy you can put regular dwarfs on bears, because what else would they ride? Add a nice dense pine forest, a bit of snow, and you have a solid PC vs Dwarves story.

...

 

Naturally, maybe some sort of altered dog-human hybrid... oh wait... . I like the bears idea honestly. Bear cavalry(Yeah, you're pretty much fraked.) That subtitle pretty much says everything.

For now I won't be using 3D models, I need more blender practice, damn armatures and flailing about like a light-saber duel on drugs

I suppose it can wait until I iron some more of the basics.

 

Status report:

Building Class files for the classes today; Most will be blank for a while. I plan on filling out the Vampire's and then rolling it around from there.

I'll check back later tonight, hopefully with good news

[Sarcolemming 8]

Update: Been a while since I said anything so here is the progress report!

 

Progress has been made! I can now create numerous enemies at once without having to worry about lagggg issues. What's more I found a way to implement plenty of bad guys without a terrifyingly horror-inducing headache of code.

More to come: so stay tuned !

Rough ETA to playable Alpha version: ~4 weeks

[Ysne58 236]

I hope my health is better when you get an alpha ready for testing. I love to test stuff.

[Sarcolemming 8]

I hope my health is better when you get an alpha ready for testing. I love to test stuff.

 

I hope you feel better soon then =) Not that the alpha will be ready anytime soon though.

 

Update: Been working on mouse input lately, seems tougher and tougher to get it to respond correctly. I guess swapping projectile types isn't going to work out as neatly as I'd hoped. But I shall try none the less! Progress has been slow though, have so much to do and so little time to research and create. I've got a wedding on Thursday, crap tons of college work, job searching, and the fiance seems to be developing an ulcer.

On top of all that I continue to sift through information about the game industry and am a little disheartened by where all the major players seem to be heading. Feels like quality is a thing of the past. Looking forward to Sacred 3 I feel even more uneasy honestly, but then again it's why I started this project to begin with! To make sure the sacred heart and soul continues on in at least some fashion, as honestly and as true to form as it can hopefully be.

[Ysne58 236]

Sorry to hear about the fiance's health. Good luck on everything else. Is that your wedding on Thursday?

 

As far as the swapping goes, I'm sure you'll figure out something.

[Sarcolemming 8]

Sorry to hear about the fiance's health. Good luck on everything else. Is that your wedding on Thursday?

 

As far as the swapping goes, I'm sure you'll figure out something.

 

Thanks =) yup we're finally getting married this Thursday. Been a bit of an uphill(and then all over the hill) battle so far but it's finally coming around.

 

As for the swapping I've gone back to basics and am restarting from the ground up to figure out where exactly the issue is. I believe it's something in my mouse listener class. Never can get those damn things to work outside visual basic . Once it's finished I'll start figuring out where I'm going to post my updates, maybe sourceforge or something. I'll be sure to (attempt to)post the latest running version of what I've got so far there(where-ever there is).

[Ysne58 236]

Congrats on the wedding. I'm sure it will be perfect for you two.

 

I'll keep watching for updates.

[tom.morrow 89]

w.b. Andrew and congrats on your wedding

 

is there any update on this project?

 

 

cheers

 

 

I don't have time to bleed!

Edited November 21, 2013 by tom.morrow

[Sarcolemming 8]

w.b. Andrew and congrats on your wedding

 

is there any update on this project?

 

 

cheers

 

Well alot has happened so the project is currently standing still right now. To sum it up, got married, had honeymoon, last night of the honeymoon Grandpa died, so we took a trip to western NY. Then we came back, got another dog for whatever reason, hes a (small) lovable bundle of insanity and classes are wrapping up.

 

All in all the last few weeks have been a major headache more than anything else. I have had some time to work on a framework for the game. Sprites are still terrible and I'm still using my original demo, though I suppose if I find someplace to post that I could share with you all what I have so far. It's not much but it's working and it has most of the basics ready to roll out.