Andor's Trail

Andor’s Trail Project Meeting #25
2013-04-07
Present: Oskar Wiksten(oskar.wiksten), Scott Devaney(sdevaney), Ian Haase(Ian)

1. Follow-up from last meeting:
Go over previous meetings TODO’s.

TODO: Oskar: Comment on the patch for issue #60.
http://code.google.com/p/andors-trail/i ... tail?id=60

Loot popup display bug: http://andorstrail.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3332
TODO: Anyone: create an issue about it on the issue tracker: http://code.google.com/p/andors-trail/issues/list

2. Completed since the last meeting:
Task added to taskfreak about exp calculation with monsters & conditions

One pair programming session with Scott and Oskar through Google hangout completed. We really encourage everyone to do those more, since it works out really well in order to get things done.

Minor updates to content editor
- Do not reset store prices on items when changing between manual and automatic pricing.
- Show indications in item table editor on effects that cause actor conditions.
- Add "previous"/"next" buttons in editors for items, monsters and actor conditions.
- Add column to monster table editor to view hit effects.

Content editor now has a new hierarchical view of conversation phrases and replies. <-- click view tree

Major bulk of items for v0.7.0 done. Great work Ian! The Xul’viir looks really deadly

Fixed bug with combat selection not getting cleared when a monster dies from a condition in combat. Thanks to Fala from the forums for finding it!

Taunt chance raised to 75%.

Outline (quest stages) for Lodar main quest completed. Still lots of conversation to write.

Outline (quest stages) for weapon- and armour type quests done. Still lots of conversation to write.

3. Things that are being worked on:
Testing out different web-based translations tools

Conversations for Lodar quest is being written.

Tomcat working on worldmap alignment and Stoutford.

4. Discussion of some forum threads/posts that people have found interesting, or want clarification on, or maybe a question answered:
Imortality bug
http://andorstrail.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3408
Unless we have a good way to reproduce it, there’s not much we can do about it. Unless it happens often then it’s not that big of a problem either.

Translation clarification
http://andorstrail.com/viewtopic.php?p=30318#p30318
Overall, the change to PO files as translation will be a huge positive thing for the workflow of how translations are handled.
We’re currently looking into different solutions for web-based translations and change-management software for how resources are handled in AT. Would also be very interesting to hear experiences from other projects that have successfully handled PO files and changes to them.

Sullenguard idea
http://andorstrail.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3400
http://www.mediafire.com/view/?arx2rry7e5goddn
Looks good!
TODO: anyone in dev group: Add as taskfreak task.
TODO: anyone in dev group: Determine what’s left to do, and gather that in the taskfreak task.

AT2 ideas
http://andorstrail.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3397
Interesting ideas! Let’s focus on getting AT1 finished first

Arambold bug
http://andorstrail.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3398
Sounds like a bug!
TODO: Anyone really: Add as issue on issue tracker: http://code.google.com/p/andors-trail/issues/list

RolS healing fight
http://andorstrail.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3466
Good find, Tulkas! If your character is that strong, you’re very welcome to keep using that. We’ll probably not change that.

weapon revamp:
http://andorstrail.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... 200#p31529
Interesting concept of having dmg be a combination of both the character’s base damage and the weapon’s damage. Would mean huge changes to the combat mechanics, which probably would require quite large rebalancing in the game. Would there be a way to make such a change without introducing too much change to the mechanics?
For now, we’ll focus on making weapon damage ranges larger.
One thing we could look at is how to make the amount of damage you do into a wider range than the current amount, which is really a quite narrow range of values (based on how many levelups you’ve picked “damage”).

Elythara quest:
http://andorstrail.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... =10#p31549
We still need some maps until this quest can be released. Ian is working on those.
TODO: Dev group: add as a task in taskfreak.

Teleport bug:
http://andorstrail.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3470
TODO: We could make the teleports only be reachable by walking through that one tile that has the sign area.

meeting ideas thread:
http://andorstrail.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... 190#p31499
Discussed ideas in the thread, will need to see which ones could be developed further.

5. Open Discussion:
With new skills like duel wield people looking into BWM items.

TODO: Content help needed that anyone in the community could help with:

We want to place random (lowlevel) loot in crates around the world. Someone could make a list of which of the tile images should be “lootable”. Check the map_*.png tilesets here: http://code.google.com/p/andors-trail/s ... 2Fdrawable . Once we know which tiles should contain loot, we’ll automate the process of adding it to the maps.
Create lists of items that we should use as random lowlevel loot. Gems, empty vials, that sort of stuff.
For this release, we have the option of displaying longer item descriptions. Write a short background description for the Ring of Lesser Shadow
Write background description for the Rapier of lifesteal
Write background description for the Elytharan redeemer
Write background description for the Bonemeal potion
Any other items that could use some flavor text?

Someone could also help on revamping the look of the “crossglen.tmx” map. Not changing the positions of the houses or walkability, but just revamping it to make it look prettier and more in line with how new maps looks nowadays.

Might be worth while to start with quest outlines created by doing the quest logs first before any conversation and such.

Someone could help with updating the documentation of how to use the content editor, now that the layout of it has changed compared to how the old editor looked.

Interesting article about loot drops and player mentality - http://gamasutra.com/blogs/ChrisGrey/20 ... _Drops.php
TODO: Everyone: Read it!

We should look into adding more domesticated animals into villages, like sheep, horses, pigs and cattle.

6. What should we have ready for the next meeting?
Oskar working on conversations for Lodar and Charwood quests.

Scoot: Some translation mgmt software tried out. Sending PMs to people that have done parts of quests.

Ian: Working on maps for Elythara quest. After that, will start on Mt. Galmore maps.

Really impressive work again !

Im especially hapy with:
-Taunt chance 75%, now there are one more really good skill to pick
- ...."One thing we could look at is how to make the amount of damage you do into a wider range than the current amount, which is really a quite narrow range of values (based on how many levelups you’ve picked “damage”)."....
really good idea +1
- Random loots, +1

The random loots should always pop-up (no matter what the player's preferences are). I would hate to not realize that I picked something up while walking. On a somewhat related note, if a "boss" is an animal/entity, the loot should be located behind them, since I doubt that a wolf is holding some leather armor.

But you can make some leather armour from the corpse.

Regarding weapon damage multipliers. Couldn't you just use a decimal system to balance the weapon damages? Say a ROL is 1.1x base damage. The further we progress in the game, the base damage simply progresses, I.e.: 2.23x, 3x, 3.25X, etc.

Tulkas wrote:Regarding weapon damage multipliers. Couldn't you just use a decimal system to balance the weapon damages? Say a ROL is 1.1x base damage. The further we progress in the game, the base damage simply progresses, I.e.: 2.23x, 3x, 3.25X, etc.

Decimals and percentages are interchangable

Regarding the topic for loot drops and player mentality, I like the idea of escalating drop rates. And on this forum, some have mentioned that if you kill the avg# of gargoyles for example, and haven't yet received the RoLS, then you get one on your next drop or can buy one from some merchant.

Duke wrote:Regarding the topic for loot drops and player mentality, I like the idea of escalating drop rates. And on this forum, some have mentioned that if you kill the avg# of gargoyles for example, and haven't yet received the RoLS, then you get one on your next drop or can buy one from some merchant.

That is what magic finder is for.

Any idea when the next release will come out?

Well this is just my opinon, and I'm most likely wrong but I would guess late May to mid June. The only difinitive answer I can give you is when it is ready.