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Author Topic: Let's play AoD!  (Read 742819 times)
Vince
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« Reply #180 on: January 09, 2008, 09:54:53 pm »

And the items list! I may have to sell some items but I'll always keep my memories.

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« Last Edit: January 09, 2008, 09:59:46 pm by Vince » Logged
Paranoid Jack
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« Reply #181 on: January 09, 2008, 10:26:48 pm »

Very nice. Only thing that was off to me was the face in the dialog screen... other than that I like everything I've seen... very well done.

So we are off to make the hit? Or shall we see a local vendor or two first and see if they have anything worth purchasing? Anything that may help us out in case we are discovered during or just after the deed. 
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Sleet
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« Reply #182 on: January 09, 2008, 10:31:15 pm »

Great screens!
Question can one zoom the map? Scroll? With arrow keys or mouse or..?
Good descriptions on the items. Glad to see the stats. Smile

Let's go find our target!
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Claw
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« Reply #183 on: January 09, 2008, 10:50:07 pm »

I suggest changing "ammo" into "heads" there. I dunno, ammo looks out of place to me.
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galsiah
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« Reply #184 on: January 09, 2008, 11:46:52 pm »

Agreed - "ammo" seems like a generic design term, rather than a specific game-world item description.

Also, in the quest description, you want "...Gracius has arrived in Teron", not "...Gracius has arrived to Teron".
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cardtrick
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« Reply #185 on: January 10, 2008, 12:12:48 am »

Really cool. The map looks great in the interface -- even better than in its dedicated thread.

I'm not totally sure I understand the "Items" screen you just showed. That's not the inventory, right? It doesn't list numbers or anything. Is it a list in the journal of all items you have come across in the game, with properties and descriptions, updated as new items are found? If so, that's ridiculously awesome, and I love you. The journal seems extremely functional.

EDIT: Just noticed your "always have the memories" line -- so I guess that really is what the Items page is. Sweet. I love a good comprehensive journal.

My only concerns with the journal are on the first screen, showing active quests. First, a minor stylistic thing -- I think it would look better and be easier to read if the quest description was indented and the quest title was in bold or underlined. Second, I'm a little concerned about the actual description of that quest. It's got flavor, which is good, but it's kind of useless in terms of telling you what you need to know if you're coming back to the game after a while away (which is the whole point of a journal as far as I see it). It obviously doesn't matter much for this quest, since it's the vignette and you can't possibly have been distracted by other events. However, I think it would have been nice if the quest description said where the merchant is (the inn), what the reward is (150 upon completion), and who to report back to (Neleos).

Also, in the quest description, you want "...Gracius has arrived in Teron", not "...Gracius has arrived to Teron".
Indeed.

EDIT 2: Oh, and I support the ammo --> heads suggestion.
« Last Edit: January 10, 2008, 12:17:53 am by cardtrick » Logged
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« Reply #186 on: January 10, 2008, 12:22:42 am »

Aside from the few nitpicks people have already jumped on, that's looking really well polished and altogether professional. Not that the various media you've shown previously haven't, but it's great to see it all tied together with the UI. Now go and make Gracius wish he'd never decided to peddle his wares in Teron.
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cardtrick
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« Reply #187 on: January 10, 2008, 12:27:30 am »

Oh, and there shouldn't be a comma after the 50% in the stats of the armor piercing ammo/head.
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Vince
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« Reply #188 on: January 10, 2008, 09:22:51 am »

Very nice. Only thing that was off to me was the face in the dialog screen... other than that I like everything I've seen... very well done.
The face is gone.

Quote
So we are off to make the hit? Or shall we see a local vendor or two first and see if they have anything worth purchasing? Anything that may help us out in case we are discovered during or just after the deed. 
You are automatically taken to the inn (since I dislike walking back and forth). We are waiting for Nick to add some scripts to the dialogue engine. You kill the merchant in the dialogue mode, so the "pull the trigger" line should have several scripts attached to it: replacing the mechant's "alive and kicking" model with a dead body, giving you some skill points, adding comments to the journal, etc.  We are also discussing whether or not the skill points should be paid when you do what you were asked to do or when you report to the questgivers.

Currently the merchant drops dead when you are done talking, but it's a bit weird killing him and then focusing your attention on the bodyguard (so much for "he isn't guarded", eh?), while the dead merchant keeps standing and pretending that he's very much alive.
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cardtrick
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« Reply #189 on: January 10, 2008, 09:30:51 am »

We are also discussing whether or not the skill points should be paid when you do what you were asked to do or when you report to the questgivers.

I vote for "when you do what you were asked to do." (Didn't know this was a democracy, did you?) It seems to make more sense, and avoids any weird issues such as when you get the skill points if you double-cross your original questgiver.
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Claw
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« Reply #190 on: January 10, 2008, 09:33:25 am »

Skill points right after the action, definitely. Getting skill points after reporting to the quest giver is gamey. Your character should want to report to the quest giver for ingame reasons, and if he doesn't want to, you shouldn't want to for game mechanics reasons.

It's that simple.
« Last Edit: January 10, 2008, 09:38:15 am by Claw » Logged
Vince
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« Reply #191 on: January 10, 2008, 09:36:37 am »

Question can one zoom the map? Scroll? With arrow keys or mouse or..?
Currently you click on the name (to the left) and see the region where your target is located.

I suggest changing "ammo" into "heads" there. I dunno, ammo looks out of place to me.
Heads could be confusing too, i.e. can I use them or should I get some shafts first? Also, shooting ammo, as strange as that sounds, sounds better then shooting heads.

Agreed - "ammo" seems like a generic design term, rather than a specific game-world item description.
What would you suggest, considering that we use the same "ammo" for both bows and crossbows?

Quote
Also, in the quest description, you want "...Gracius has arrived in Teron", not "...Gracius has arrived to Teron".
Many thanks.

Really cool. The map looks great in the interface -- even better than in its dedicated thread.
Thanks.

Quote
I'm not totally sure I understand the "Items" screen you just showed. That's not the inventory, right? It doesn't list numbers or anything. Is it a list in the journal of all items you have come across in the game, with properties and descriptions, updated as new items are found? If so, that's ridiculously awesome, and I love you. The journal seems extremely functional.
I loved Stonekeep's journal.

Quote
My only concerns with the journal are on the first screen, showing active quests. First, a minor stylistic thing -- I think it would look better and be easier to read if the quest description was indented and the quest title was in bold or underlined.
Good suggestions. We'll do something.

Quote
Second, I'm a little concerned about the actual description of that quest. It's got flavor, which is good, but it's kind of useless in terms of telling you what you need to know if you're coming back to the game after a while away (which is the whole point of a journal as far as I see it). It obviously doesn't matter much for this quest, since it's the vignette and you can't possibly have been distracted by other events. However, I think it would have been nice if the quest description said where the merchant is (the inn), what the reward is (150 upon completion), and who to report back to (Neleos).
Handholding? Anyway, here is an old screen with more descriptions.


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Vince
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« Reply #192 on: January 10, 2008, 09:55:29 am »

Oh, and there shouldn't be a comma after the 50% in the stats of the armor piercing ammo/head.
No, there should be. AP "ammo" reduces all damage ranges by 50% (i.e. if your crossbow's power does 3-12 points of damage, loading AP bolts reduces it to 2-6, but we add 5 points of damage that will be subtracted from your opponent's armor DR to reduce it.

It may sound confusing but what that means is your AP ammo won't do a lot of damage against unarmored opponents, but it will go through armor like a knife through butter. Basically, we added extra damage that will only be used against armor to reduce DR.

You can craft your ammo, using better metal and special techniques.
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cardtrick
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« Reply #193 on: January 10, 2008, 10:54:02 am »

Quote
Second, I'm a little concerned about the actual description of that quest. It's got flavor, which is good, but it's kind of useless in terms of telling you what you need to know if you're coming back to the game after a while away (which is the whole point of a journal as far as I see it). It obviously doesn't matter much for this quest, since it's the vignette and you can't possibly have been distracted by other events. However, I think it would have been nice if the quest description said where the merchant is (the inn), what the reward is (150 upon completion), and who to report back to (Neleos).
Handholding? Anyway, here is an old screen with more descriptions.

Handholding is when the journal tells you how to do something, or gives you waypoints along the route that your character shouldn't know about. Merely writing down what your character has been told by the quest giver is certainly not handholding -- it's what a journal is for.

The old screenshot with other quest entries looks much better on this front. Perfectly acceptable, in fact, although I'd still prefer a mention of the reward you've been offered. I guess the first one is just vague because it's the vignette and there's no possibility for confusion. I really love the item list -- looks like I should try Stonekeep at some point. The Witcher's journal was quite excellent overall, but it didn't have an item list except for alchemical components; of course, there really weren't many objects in the game but alchemical components, so it wouldn't have been very necessary.

Oh, and there shouldn't be a comma after the 50% in the stats of the armor piercing ammo/head.
No, there should be. AP "ammo" reduces all damage ranges by 50% (i.e. if your crossbow's power does 3-12 points of damage, loading AP bolts reduces it to 2-6, but we add 5 points of damage that will be subtracted from your opponent's armor DR to reduce it.

It may sound confusing but what that means is your AP ammo won't do a lot of damage against unarmored opponents, but it will go through armor like a knife through butter. Basically, we added extra damage that will only be used against armor to reduce DR.

Okay. I now see what you mean, but that wasn't obvious at all. The concept isn't at all confusing, but the way it's written in-game certainly is. This is particularly true since right above that entry is one saying "Damage modifier: 2-5 vs DR 2 or less; -5 vs DR>2." (By the way, I would either use a less than or equals sign in the first clause or change from a greater than sign to the words "greater than" in the second.) In this entry (for barbed ammo) you're using the "vs DR" to make a comparison. In the entry for AP ammo, you use the same language and construction ("vs DR") to indicate a change in the opponent's DR. When I was looking at the screenshot, I read that line to mean "Damage modifier: -50% vs DR>5", which made sense when looking at the one above. Now that you explained, I realize that the "+" should have been a clue that something was different, but I simply didn't notice it, especially since the term "5+" can mean ">5", so that associating a + with > wasn't much of a stretch.

I would change the line to read "Damage modifier: -50%; opponent DR modifier: -5", which I think is much more clear and has the meaning you're going for. I used a semicolon there rather than a comma because that's what you did in the barbed ammo entry and I think it's important to be consistent. You could just as easily use commas in both cases.

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TheLostOne
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« Reply #194 on: January 10, 2008, 12:02:08 pm »

At the very least use ammunition or projectiles instead of ammo.  Ammo sounds modern and generic.  You could even use shaft since that term is occaisionally used to describe the entire missile.  Ammo just doesn't fit.

I also agree with Cardtrick in that the piercing description needs clarification, and the barbed needs consistency before and after the semicolon.
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