Just a note to let you know that work continues on the quest code for RealmSpeak. I've been working fairly closely with another Magic Realm gamer (Steve S) to iron out a lot of the details, and for testing the application. Once we feel this is ready for prime time, I'll make the new version available, along with a bunch of quests.
Also, as a reminder: if you are designing quests in the builder, keep in mind that there may be drastic changes in the next release that will render your quests nonfunctional. Once I have a stable release, I'll let you know.
RealmSpeak is my Java application for playing Avalon Hill's Magic Realm over the internet. My intention for this blog is to provide a central place where I can post updates to the application, and muster the responses I get in a public forum. Check the sidebar for other computer conversions of great board games.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Quest Reward Groups
I've gotten some questions about the "Reward Group" concept in the quest builder. Let me explain that a bit.
When a character completes the requirements of a particular step in the quest, there's always a chance for the quest designer to supply "rewards". In many cases, the rewards are clear cut, but suppose you want to give the player a choice of rewards?
There are 26 rewards groups (A through Z). If you specify more than one of these reward groups, RealmSpeak will provide the player with a choice of options. If you play the DragonSlayer quest, you see this right at the beginning, when the player gets to choose starting equipment.
There's also another reward group marked only with a dash "---". This reward group is ALWAYS given, regardless of the player choice. Say for example you wanted the player to have a choice between a horse, weapon, or 10 gold, but you want the "Old Man" to join as a Minor Character regardless. You would make the "Old Man" reward as a dash "---", the horse as "A", the weapon as "B", and the gold as "C".
Of course, you can have more than one reward land in each group. If you want the player to have the choice between a Warhorse or a weapon plus 10 gold, you would set it like this:
--- Old Man
A Warhorse
B Weapon
B 10 Gold
When a character completes the requirements of a particular step in the quest, there's always a chance for the quest designer to supply "rewards". In many cases, the rewards are clear cut, but suppose you want to give the player a choice of rewards?
There are 26 rewards groups (A through Z). If you specify more than one of these reward groups, RealmSpeak will provide the player with a choice of options. If you play the DragonSlayer quest, you see this right at the beginning, when the player gets to choose starting equipment.
There's also another reward group marked only with a dash "---". This reward group is ALWAYS given, regardless of the player choice. Say for example you wanted the player to have a choice between a horse, weapon, or 10 gold, but you want the "Old Man" to join as a Minor Character regardless. You would make the "Old Man" reward as a dash "---", the horse as "A", the weapon as "B", and the gold as "C".
Of course, you can have more than one reward land in each group. If you want the player to have the choice between a Warhorse or a weapon plus 10 gold, you would set it like this:
--- Old Man
A Warhorse
B Weapon
B 10 Gold
Friday, April 22, 2011
Version 1.0.24.0 Released
Here's a new release (finally) with a few minor changes, and one big change. The big change, you may have guessed, is that this is the first to support any form of "questing", an idea I originally heard about from Jay Richardson's "Book of Quests" (find information about that here).
Now before anyone get's too excited, keep in mind this is more of a quest-beta than the final product. In other words, there's still a long ways to go. That said, there is actually ONE quest in this release based on the Book of Quests: Dragon Slayer.
When you start a new game of RealmSpeak, you'll notice a new "Victory Conditions" section:
To try out the quests, you'll want to select "Sudden Death", and "Book of Quests" like I did above. The other two questing options do NOTHING, so no need to even select them. Choose a character like normal, and then you'll see new gold button on your character pane:
Click that button, and you should get a quest chooser popping up, with the lone quest "Dragon Slayer" as your only option. Notice that you can click on the little shields to see how the quest all fits together. Click OK, and the game is on!
Notice now that there is a new quest tab:
This is where you'll periodically want to check back to see what it is you need to do. The gold shield with a Green check mark, is the setup step, and you've already done that. The two gold shields without a green check mark indicate the next possible steps in the quest. The gray shields are not achievable until you've completed those. Click on the shield, and there is a description about what that quest step requires. Once you have completed the requirement, the shield will automatically get a check mark, and gray shields will turn gold. Complete that last shield on the right, and you win the game. (I'll be honest, this is a bitchin' hard quest to complete)
Now if you've played the Book of Quests before, you'll immediately notice some shortcomings. Remember, this is supposed to be a beta!! I'll get to that stuff eventually, but this is what I have now. Also, there is only the ONE quest...
If you look in the download, you'll see a new batch file called "launchQuestBuilder.bat". This will actually launch the beta version of the Quest Builder for you to play with. WARNING: I will likely be changing things about the builder, and any quests you may assemble now will likely be broken later. Please don't put a lot of work into any quests with this tool! Once it is a bit more solid, I'll lock it down, and you can design to your hearts content!!
Ok, my wife is bugging me to wrap this up so we can go grab a bite to eat (is it really 8pm already?) Here's what's new:
NEW FEATURES:
Now before anyone get's too excited, keep in mind this is more of a quest-beta than the final product. In other words, there's still a long ways to go. That said, there is actually ONE quest in this release based on the Book of Quests: Dragon Slayer.
When you start a new game of RealmSpeak, you'll notice a new "Victory Conditions" section:
To try out the quests, you'll want to select "Sudden Death", and "Book of Quests" like I did above. The other two questing options do NOTHING, so no need to even select them. Choose a character like normal, and then you'll see new gold button on your character pane:
Click that button, and you should get a quest chooser popping up, with the lone quest "Dragon Slayer" as your only option. Notice that you can click on the little shields to see how the quest all fits together. Click OK, and the game is on!
Notice now that there is a new quest tab:
This is where you'll periodically want to check back to see what it is you need to do. The gold shield with a Green check mark, is the setup step, and you've already done that. The two gold shields without a green check mark indicate the next possible steps in the quest. The gray shields are not achievable until you've completed those. Click on the shield, and there is a description about what that quest step requires. Once you have completed the requirement, the shield will automatically get a check mark, and gray shields will turn gold. Complete that last shield on the right, and you win the game. (I'll be honest, this is a bitchin' hard quest to complete)
Now if you've played the Book of Quests before, you'll immediately notice some shortcomings. Remember, this is supposed to be a beta!! I'll get to that stuff eventually, but this is what I have now. Also, there is only the ONE quest...
If you look in the download, you'll see a new batch file called "launchQuestBuilder.bat". This will actually launch the beta version of the Quest Builder for you to play with. WARNING: I will likely be changing things about the builder, and any quests you may assemble now will likely be broken later. Please don't put a lot of work into any quests with this tool! Once it is a bit more solid, I'll lock it down, and you can design to your hearts content!!
Ok, my wife is bugging me to wrap this up so we can go grab a bite to eat (is it really 8pm already?) Here's what's new:
NEW FEATURES:
- Quests
- Completely revamped the victory options in the setup dialog:
- Choose between Endless, Timed, and Sudden Death games
- Optionally select one of the questing choices: Book of Quests, Questing the Realm, or Guild Quests (only Book of Quests works right now)
- Currently only "Dragon Slayer" from Book of Quests is provided. Many more to come, as well as a tool to make your own!!
- The quest itself, should work. From rescue, to looting, to slaying the dragon, to returning the girl home to her family.
- Some aspects of the quest not yet implemented (for example, you still earn fame/notoriety even though the quest states that you do not)
- The quest itself, should work. From rescue, to looting, to slaying the dragon, to returning the girl home to her family.
- New Quest tab added to character window for following quest results
- Completely revamped the victory options in the setup dialog:
- [1744] - New house rules to make character development easier
- No VP Ramp: 1 VP per chit regardless of level
- No VP Restriction: VPs count towards level regardless of initial allotment
- No VP Ramp: 1 VP per chit regardless of level
- [1748] - Fixed a bug that caused the SEARCH function to crash when the character is located in a clearing that doesn't lead anywhere.
Sunday, April 03, 2011
Quest Actions
Just for fun, thought I'd list some of the actions that can be applied for a given quest step, once the requirements have been met:
I should mention that there are actually more actions planned, than those listed above, but these are the ones I have going so far. This list also covers everything I need to complete the Dragon Slayer quest.
| Information | Displays a dialog with information in it. This is a good way to inform the player what is happening. |
|---|---|
| Item | Add an item to the character inventory, or take one away. Allows for choosing items from a group. |
| Attribute | Modify Fame, Notoriety, or Gold. Can either add or subtract points/gold. |
| Hireling | Add or remove a hireling. |
| Companion | Add or remove a monster ally. |
| MinorCharacter | Add or remove a Minor Character. Must create Minor Characters BEFORE creating this reward. |
| Teleport | Teleport the character to a new location. Must create a QuestLocation BEFORE creating this reward. |
| RelationshipSet | Set the relationship of the character with a particular native group, or all natives in the clearing. |
| RelationshipChange | Modify the relationship of the character with a particular native group, or all natives in the clearing. |
| QuestComplete | Tells RealmSpeak that the character has completed this quest. |
| QuestFailed | Tells RealmSpeak that the character has failed this quest. |
| SummonGuardian | For a specific quest location, summon the treasure site guardian (if any) |
| ScareMonsters | Randomly move all monsters in current clearing to other clearings either in the same tile or other tiles, as defined. |
| AlterHide | Change questing character's hide status (from hidden to unhidden, or the other way around). |
| MarkDenizen | Mark a particular denizen for later reference. This is useful if you want to make sure a character kills (for example) a particular monster. |
| StripInventory | Removes ALL inventory and (optionally) gold from the character. |
| LostInventoryToLocation | All future lost inventory from this quest will go to a specified location. |
| LostInventoryToDefault | All future lost inventory from this quest will go to wherever they started the game, including treasures. This is default setting. |
I should mention that there are actually more actions planned, than those listed above, but these are the ones I have going so far. This list also covers everything I need to complete the Dragon Slayer quest.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Amazon Quest
The quest integration with RealmSpeak is coming along. Thought a teaser was in order (click for a full size view):
What you are looking at is the Amazon after having selected a quest. This quest, "Dragon Slayer", comes straight from Jay Richardson's Book of Quests, so you may recognize his wording copied verbatim here. Notice that this is a new tab (yeah, there are a ton of tabs now...).
At the top of the tab is the quest name, followed immediately by a short description of the quest. Below that is the quest step tree, which describes the order that the steps must be completed. As you can see, the first step (left-most shield with a green check) has been completed. That step was actually the "setup" step where the starting reward (warhorse, weapon/armor, gold, etc) was chosen. The next two shields appear as "gold" because they are the next up. The top one (currently highlighted in green, if you can see that) is "The Rescue", and the step description is immediately below. The shield below that is "The Treasure", and details that you must draw a treasure from the same HOARD or LAIR that you rescue the girl from.
The rest of the shields are gray because they cannot be considered yet. Notice that two of the gray shields are dependent on "The Rescue", and the last shield is dependent on those two, plus "The Treasure". Complete that last step, and you will receive appropriate rewards, and finish the quest. Hooray!
This quest was created by the quest builder tool (described in some detail in a post from Aug 15 last year), and saved as a file to a "quests" folder with RealmSpeak. RealmSpeak automatically recognizes the quest file, and makes it available when the character chooses a quest. As myself and others make more quests, there will be more to choose from, much like the custom character design.
Ok, so what I'm not telling you, is that there is still some work to do to get the Dragon Slayer quest working, and a bit more work after that to get the builder tool ready for prime time. I'm really quite pleased that the integration of quests with RealmSpeak went so smoothly, so now its just a matter of filling in the blanks. Like I stated previously, I'll make the Dragon Slayer quest work mostly like Jay Richardson intended, and then release that with the next version (hopefully). Shortly after that, I'll release a version of the tool that will let you design your own quests.
They said it couldn't be done.... :-)
What you are looking at is the Amazon after having selected a quest. This quest, "Dragon Slayer", comes straight from Jay Richardson's Book of Quests, so you may recognize his wording copied verbatim here. Notice that this is a new tab (yeah, there are a ton of tabs now...).
At the top of the tab is the quest name, followed immediately by a short description of the quest. Below that is the quest step tree, which describes the order that the steps must be completed. As you can see, the first step (left-most shield with a green check) has been completed. That step was actually the "setup" step where the starting reward (warhorse, weapon/armor, gold, etc) was chosen. The next two shields appear as "gold" because they are the next up. The top one (currently highlighted in green, if you can see that) is "The Rescue", and the step description is immediately below. The shield below that is "The Treasure", and details that you must draw a treasure from the same HOARD or LAIR that you rescue the girl from.
The rest of the shields are gray because they cannot be considered yet. Notice that two of the gray shields are dependent on "The Rescue", and the last shield is dependent on those two, plus "The Treasure". Complete that last step, and you will receive appropriate rewards, and finish the quest. Hooray!
This quest was created by the quest builder tool (described in some detail in a post from Aug 15 last year), and saved as a file to a "quests" folder with RealmSpeak. RealmSpeak automatically recognizes the quest file, and makes it available when the character chooses a quest. As myself and others make more quests, there will be more to choose from, much like the custom character design.
Ok, so what I'm not telling you, is that there is still some work to do to get the Dragon Slayer quest working, and a bit more work after that to get the builder tool ready for prime time. I'm really quite pleased that the integration of quests with RealmSpeak went so smoothly, so now its just a matter of filling in the blanks. Like I stated previously, I'll make the Dragon Slayer quest work mostly like Jay Richardson intended, and then release that with the next version (hopefully). Shortly after that, I'll release a version of the tool that will let you design your own quests.
They said it couldn't be done.... :-)
Monday, March 21, 2011
Slaying the Dragon
I've had a few e-mails about the next release. I haven't put anything new up in a while because my goal is to have some form of RealmQuest working in the next release. At the very least, you will have the first quest in the Book of Quests (Dragon Slayer) in all its glory to play with.
The challenge is making sure that every aspect of the quest can be encoded using the Quest Builder tool, without requiring any technical knowledge of the underlying data itself. One of the toughest parts of that, is giving the quest designer a way to reference any piece in the game, like a Magic Sword, or a T Dragon (flying or land).
The way I'm accomplishing this (partly) is through regular expressions. If you are a software programmer, you've probably heard the term, and if you are a Perl programmer, you likely use them every day. As you may or may not know, regular expressions are used to search strings for patterns, and can be very powerful tools. Regular expressions can also be very complicated, but I'm hoping to alleviate the pain there a little bit. When you design your regular expressions, you'll have a usage key visible, and a live list of RealmObject data updating live as you tweak your search. It's pretty intuitive, I think, so we'll see how that works once I can put it your capable hands. :-)
Not sure yet whether I'll also release the quest builder tool this time around, but it is coming. You see, I'd rather not enter all the quests into RealmSpeak myself, so I figured I'll let you guys work on that. ;-) Seriously though, its much like the character builder: the more people designing stuff, the more fun they are to play.
Anyway, look for something in the next month. If I get time during Spring Break, I may have something even sooner than that.
The challenge is making sure that every aspect of the quest can be encoded using the Quest Builder tool, without requiring any technical knowledge of the underlying data itself. One of the toughest parts of that, is giving the quest designer a way to reference any piece in the game, like a Magic Sword, or a T Dragon (flying or land).
The way I'm accomplishing this (partly) is through regular expressions. If you are a software programmer, you've probably heard the term, and if you are a Perl programmer, you likely use them every day. As you may or may not know, regular expressions are used to search strings for patterns, and can be very powerful tools. Regular expressions can also be very complicated, but I'm hoping to alleviate the pain there a little bit. When you design your regular expressions, you'll have a usage key visible, and a live list of RealmObject data updating live as you tweak your search. It's pretty intuitive, I think, so we'll see how that works once I can put it your capable hands. :-)
Not sure yet whether I'll also release the quest builder tool this time around, but it is coming. You see, I'd rather not enter all the quests into RealmSpeak myself, so I figured I'll let you guys work on that. ;-) Seriously though, its much like the character builder: the more people designing stuff, the more fun they are to play.
Anyway, look for something in the next month. If I get time during Spring Break, I may have something even sooner than that.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Version 1.0.23.0 Released
Mostly fixes to expansion features. Here's what's new:
NEW FEATURES:
BUGS/ISSUES:
EXPANSION CHANGES:
NEW FEATURES:
- Added a "flies" notation to the remodeled/Frenzel chits (helpful with expansion monsters and natives)
BUGS/ISSUES:
- Search hint for "Peer Neighborhood Clearing" no longer shows current clearing hints
EXPANSION CHANGES:
- Holy Relic will work to prevent undead from generating at the Tomb now
- Removed Stink W from carnoplants summon box (didn't like that these could appear at the L Fire)
- Added the "flying" attribute to some monsters that were missed:
- T Harpy
- H Harpies
- Wasp Queen
- Wasps
- The Fairy from the Fairy Ring treasure
- Dragon Men (yes, flying natives!) - makes for some interesting hirelings that can carry you around...
- T Harpy
Sunday, January 02, 2011
Version 1.0.22.0 Released
Some bug fixes, some expansion game changes, and a couple neat new features. Wanted to get this out before my next online game so that it is ready to go. My favorite new feature is the search table hint system.
Sometimes when I'm playing with someone new, I get the question: "Which search table do I use to search for the path?". If you are a veteran realmer, the answer is obvious, but even though there is descriptive text on each button, it's still an issue. Oh, this is especially true with the expansion games, because there are a lot of new pieces, and it isn't always clear which table does what.
Now, when you are presented with your choices of search, you will also see what applies in your current clearing. For example:
You can quickly tell, for example, which button to press to search for the hidden path, and which to search for the Status. Also, the "hints" only show things you haven't yet discovered, so you will be less likely to click the wrong button when searching for a secret passage versus a hidden path.
Anyway, here's what's new:
NEW FEATURES:
BUGS/ISSUES:
EXPANSION CHANGES:
Sometimes when I'm playing with someone new, I get the question: "Which search table do I use to search for the path?". If you are a veteran realmer, the answer is obvious, but even though there is descriptive text on each button, it's still an issue. Oh, this is especially true with the expansion games, because there are a lot of new pieces, and it isn't always clear which table does what.
Now, when you are presented with your choices of search, you will also see what applies in your current clearing. For example:
You can quickly tell, for example, which button to press to search for the hidden path, and which to search for the Status. Also, the "hints" only show things you haven't yet discovered, so you will be less likely to click the wrong button when searching for a secret passage versus a hidden path.
Anyway, here's what's new:
NEW FEATURES:
- Hint system for search table buttons
- Peer: shows icons for hidden paths you need to find
- Locate: shows icons for secret passages, treasure locations, and other chits you need to find
- Magic Sight: shows all the chits you need to find, or can loot
- Other search actions (Read Runes, Capture, Open Vault, etc): identifies the game piece being acted on
- Peer: shows icons for hidden paths you need to find
- Moved all game play menu options into a single dialog called "Options..." under the File menu (there were just too many, and I found it confusing)
BUGS/ISSUES:
- Fixed another problem with the map rating system, that sometimes caused primary dwellings (Inn, Chapel, Guard, House) to be placed in unreachable clearings.
- Fixed a bug with the GM tool that would crash when Wasps were on the board
- [1743] - Added code to catch and report an error when custom character files cannot be unzipped.
EXPANSION CHANGES:
- Expansion spell "Heal" now allows you to target up to four chits, instead of only one.
- Presence of Holy Relic will stop Bones X from summoning undead.
- Changed the name of the treasure location "Labyrinth" to the "Maze" (because it fits better on the chit!)
- Changed the name of "Labyrinth Map" treasure to "Map of the Maze".
- No longer able to "Run Away" from the Maze until you've discovered it.
- Moved the Murkers to Monster Die "5"
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Version 1.0.21.0
Wow, has it really nearly six months since the last release? I remember thinking that I wanted to get this one out quickly, because there were a couple of unpleasant bugs that needed fixing.
In any case, here it is, just in time for Christmas! :-)
Here's what's new:
NEW FEATURES:
BUGS/ISSUES:
In any case, here it is, just in time for Christmas! :-)
Here's what's new:
NEW FEATURES:
- Added 6 random spells to the Magic Guild, for sale at 10 gold a-piece.
- In addition to stopping monster generation (expansion), destroying a generator will also:
- Kill all generated monsters (excluding guardians) on the board (without the source of power, they die/leave/disintegrate)
- Reward the character with 20 Fame and 20 Notoriety
- Kill all generated monsters (excluding guardians) on the board (without the source of power, they die/leave/disintegrate)
- [1685] - Experimental new launch file (SmartRun.bat and SmartRunHere.bat) to allow Windows 7 users to launch without tweaking the files.
BUGS/ISSUES:
- [1727] - Fixed a bug that causes the HTML export to fail when a character has more than one hired leader
- [1725] - Fixed a bug that was crashing combat on an old save game, when armor was destroyed.
- [1726] - Witch's familiar, and Phantasm spell can PEER again. Note that for the Familiar to work, you must start a new game (an old game will still have this problem)
- [1732] - Fixed a problem with TERROR result of Power of the Pit when the target is transmorphed into a H or T monster.
- [1733] - Can learn spells while transformed now, as long as you have the correct type of MAGIC chit
- Newly added companions (like when a custom character is playing a development game) will start off HIDDEN, so that they don't get killed in the same turn you receive them.
- [1740] - Fixed a bug that sometimes crashed the game when trying to move a dead traveler.
- Trading activated treasures to the Magic Guild for advancement no longer leaves the items in their activated state when they are bought back.
- Lockpick Set treasure actually works now (apparently never implemented - sorry about that!)
- Bag of Weightless works correctly now when you are flying away from combat.
- Flaming Oil no longer destroys the Tomb (only Pond and Hive are affected)
- [1722] - Skeletal archers now have a length of 14, and skeletal swordsmen have a length of 3 (instead of zero!)
- Captured travelers will follow by default, and cannot be reassigned. If the character teleports or runs away, the traveler immediately escapes.
- Fixed a problem with the "build map by rating" feature that was causing the campfires to sometimes be placed in unconnected clearings.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Realm Quest Update
I recently got a Mantis issue:
Fair enough. It has been awhile since there has been any movement on the quest code, though you may be surprised that there is a full featured quest builder mostly finished in the RealmSpeak code:
The quest builder will ultimately allow you to build a quest from scratch (much like the RealmSpeak character builder), and make it available for RealmSpeak (more on that later). Each quest will consist of one or more quest steps, each with their own requirements and rewards. At least one of the steps will have as its reward "Quest Complete". The steps can be processed in order (step 1 before 2, before 3, etc), or you can setup your own logic to make multiple quest path possibilities (i.e., you can either save the villagers from the Dragon, or kill the villagers).
Each quest step has requirements and rewards. The requirements are things like:
By default, none of the rules are tied to quests, but there might be a reason (for example) that the optional DRAGON HEAD rule must be active, and that AMBUSH should not be used.
Each quest can have a number of locations. These are named in a special window on the builder:
Each location can be a clearing, dwelling, and/or chit, and they can be specific to one, selected by the player, or even randomly chosen. Once you have a location, you can refer to it in the text, and it will update the text to match in the quest when you are playing the game. Locations can be referred to by any quest step requirements, so it is easy to define when and where you want the player to go.
Jay Richardson introduced the concept of a "Minor Character" in his Book of Quests (available here) which I'm planning on supporting in RealmSpeak:
Now that I've presented all this, you are probably wondering when it will be available? Although the quest builder is nearly done, there is virtually NO code in RealmSpeak to actually play a quest. That's primarily because I haven't completely decided HOW quests should be implemented in-game. There's the Book of Quests approach, where each character chooses a quest that they must complete to win the game. There's Steve Schacher's Quest Cards concept (based on Book of Quests), where a number of cards are drawn/selected by players based on predefined victory conditions. Then there's my own version, where quests are available at the three guilds in-game, and must be completed to advance a level in the guild.
Time to complete? Considering that I'm not working on it now, its hard to say. I imagine there's easily a months worth of work in there, so don't expect anything this year unless I get particularly crazy.
I hope that's a good enough update Mike! If I do make any more headway, I'll be sure to post the progress here. If you have ideas/suggestions, be sure to drop me a line.
Hi Robin,
Wow, you have been busy! So I am sorry to ask, but I was just wondering if you could give an update about the Book of Quests. Is it still in the que or is it not practical at this time. The last update to the Wiki was October 27, 2009. Thank you for all your hard work!!!!
Mike
Fair enough. It has been awhile since there has been any movement on the quest code, though you may be surprised that there is a full featured quest builder mostly finished in the RealmSpeak code:
The quest builder will ultimately allow you to build a quest from scratch (much like the RealmSpeak character builder), and make it available for RealmSpeak (more on that later). Each quest will consist of one or more quest steps, each with their own requirements and rewards. At least one of the steps will have as its reward "Quest Complete". The steps can be processed in order (step 1 before 2, before 3, etc), or you can setup your own logic to make multiple quest path possibilities (i.e., you can either save the villagers from the Dragon, or kill the villagers).
Each quest step has requirements and rewards. The requirements are things like:
- Certain number of attribute points added (gold, notoriety, etc)
- Specific treasure in your possession
- Perform action, or satisfy a condition at a specific location
- Gain points/gold
- Gain relationship levels
- Earn a hireling or companion
- Receive an item
- Teleport to a new location
By default, none of the rules are tied to quests, but there might be a reason (for example) that the optional DRAGON HEAD rule must be active, and that AMBUSH should not be used.
Each quest can have a number of locations. These are named in a special window on the builder:
Each location can be a clearing, dwelling, and/or chit, and they can be specific to one, selected by the player, or even randomly chosen. Once you have a location, you can refer to it in the text, and it will update the text to match in the quest when you are playing the game. Locations can be referred to by any quest step requirements, so it is easy to define when and where you want the player to go.
Jay Richardson introduced the concept of a "Minor Character" in his Book of Quests (available here) which I'm planning on supporting in RealmSpeak:
Now that I've presented all this, you are probably wondering when it will be available? Although the quest builder is nearly done, there is virtually NO code in RealmSpeak to actually play a quest. That's primarily because I haven't completely decided HOW quests should be implemented in-game. There's the Book of Quests approach, where each character chooses a quest that they must complete to win the game. There's Steve Schacher's Quest Cards concept (based on Book of Quests), where a number of cards are drawn/selected by players based on predefined victory conditions. Then there's my own version, where quests are available at the three guilds in-game, and must be completed to advance a level in the guild.
Time to complete? Considering that I'm not working on it now, its hard to say. I imagine there's easily a months worth of work in there, so don't expect anything this year unless I get particularly crazy.
I hope that's a good enough update Mike! If I do make any more headway, I'll be sure to post the progress here. If you have ideas/suggestions, be sure to drop me a line.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Version 1.0.20.0 Released
Note: This release is NOT compatible with save games from earlier releases. I made changes to the data file that will affect the Ancient Telescope and the Crystal Ball. If you use this version with an older save game, THESE TWO TREASURES WILL NOT WORK CORRECTLY! Sorry about that, but it was a necessary change to make them consistent with other objects in the game.
-----------
Mostly just working through reported issues and feature requests. I think the list is down to only 34 items now!
Anyway, here's what's new this time:
NEW FEATURES:
BUGS/ISSUES:
-----------
Mostly just working through reported issues and feature requests. I think the list is down to only 34 items now!
Anyway, here's what's new this time:
NEW FEATURES:
- [1694] - For map builders, enlarged the tile pick view, added the tile flipside, and made the tile currently being placed respond to the SHIFT key to show you the enchanted side.
- Some new house rules are available under the title "More House Rules":
BUGS/ISSUES:
- [967],[1148] - Fixed issues with Ancient Telescope, and Crystal Ball.
- Fixed a problem with REPAIR, HEAL, and FORTIFY as base character abilities.
- [1716] - Fixed a problem with custom characters with light armor in a non-expansion game.
- Fixed a bug that was crashing the combat simulator when launching it in "Original Game" mode.
- [1717] - Luring an attacker off another sheet no longer leaves a "ghost" image behind.
- [1679] - A RED-side up monster on a native no longer prevents random assignment from occurring with other unassigned denizens.
- [1718] - Host game setup dialog made slightly bigger to accommodate most OS's.
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
RealmSpeak Home has Moved
I decided to move the base webpages where RealmSpeak is managed to a new home:
http://realmspeak.dewkid.com/
Note: This blog is NOT moving!
Why move the home page? I did this for a number of reasons. The main reason, is that I wanted RealmSpeak to have its own subdomain. I actually set up the subdomain a year or so ago, but I've never made the switch to a new webpage.
Recently, my domain host ICDSoft (see link on the top left) announced that they had a beta version of a web design tool, that is available to members for free. Since my web design skills are pretty atrocious, I figured I'd give it a try. Turns out it was pretty easy to slap together something that looks somewhat professional (IMHO).
My goal with the new web design, was to make it more intuitive, so a new user could quickly find what they were after, without trundling through a maze of links. I think I've accomplished that, but if you have any suggestions on how to improve it, I'd love to hear from you.
In any case, if you have any bookmarks to the old site, you'll find that the webpages now give you a new link to follow. I suggest updating your bookmarks, so that if the old site vanishes someday, you'll still be connected.
Of course, as mentioned above, this blog isn't moving, and it has links to everything you need to get started. If you use the blog as a launch point, you'll be safe. :-)
http://realmspeak.dewkid.com/
Note: This blog is NOT moving!
Why move the home page? I did this for a number of reasons. The main reason, is that I wanted RealmSpeak to have its own subdomain. I actually set up the subdomain a year or so ago, but I've never made the switch to a new webpage.
Recently, my domain host ICDSoft (see link on the top left) announced that they had a beta version of a web design tool, that is available to members for free. Since my web design skills are pretty atrocious, I figured I'd give it a try. Turns out it was pretty easy to slap together something that looks somewhat professional (IMHO).
My goal with the new web design, was to make it more intuitive, so a new user could quickly find what they were after, without trundling through a maze of links. I think I've accomplished that, but if you have any suggestions on how to improve it, I'd love to hear from you.
In any case, if you have any bookmarks to the old site, you'll find that the webpages now give you a new link to follow. I suggest updating your bookmarks, so that if the old site vanishes someday, you'll still be connected.
Of course, as mentioned above, this blog isn't moving, and it has links to everything you need to get started. If you use the blog as a launch point, you'll be safe. :-)
Saturday, July 03, 2010
Version 1.0.19.0 Released
GMs - If you are running a 1.0.18.0 game now, it is SAFE to upgrade to this version. It will not harm your game file. In fact, I recommend upgrading, because of the random number bug I fixed (see below).
I've been wanting to get this release online, but I've been sick the last week. The big bug-fix in this one is to restore the behavior of the random number generator when loading a save game. It used to be (several versions ago), that saving a game would also save the state of the random number generator, thus making it a) impossible to cheat and b) possible to replay a day with the same result (important for GMs). Alas, I broke this functionality when I implemented the new random number generators, and that's something I wanted fixed ASAP.
New in the release is an experimental feature to make board generation more... better? I decided that too often, my online games started with our characters at the Inn, with only one possible way to go, and that way was through a maze of caves and/or a hidden path/secret passage. To alleviate that possibility, I decided that there needed to be a way to "rate" a map, and then have RealmSpeak rebuild the map when it fell below a certain rating.
The rating system I came up with is fairly simple: For every Valley clearing where a dwelling or ghosts would start, start moving down the path in both directions, and count the total number of tiles that can be reached WITHOUT entering a cave, or using a hidden path or secret passage. The total number of tiles that can be reached (including the starting tile) is the rating for that tile. The map rating is simply the worst (lowest) rating of all five Valley tiles. Say for example, a map is rated a "6". This means that in the worst case, you will be able to visit SIX tiles without ever having to enter a cave or use a special road.
With the rating system in place, I then added a control in the game setup options that allows you to select a preferred rating, from 0 to 5, that must be achieved before RealmSpeak will select a map. If you set it to zero (the worst possible rating), then RealmSpeak will take the first map it generates, just like you are always used to. If you set it higher, the maps it allows will be fewer. Remember the more times RealmSpeak is forced to toss a map, the longer it can take to start a game. Keep an eye on the status bar at the bottom of the window to watch it's progress.
Now I can hear some of you already groaning that my algorithm here is too simplistic, and perhaps even favors some characters over others. Also, the logic of rebuilding a map that fails might be the lazy way out, and isn't the most efficient solution. If you have better ideas on how to accomplish "smarter" maps, please let me know. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!
By the way, this new rating system works great on the original game as well as the expansion. It does NOT, however, work too great with 2x/3x/4x size maps, as the number of Valley tiles increases, and causes a LONG delay in map building. It took nearly 2 minutes to build a reasonable 2x map, and then all it did was line all the valleys up in one long path right in the middle of the map. :-O
What else... oh, I added a new "export" button in the battle window, that let's you dump the current state of combat to HTML, much like the "Game Export" works. When I was GMing the tournament, I found the most difficult part was relating what was happening, where everybody was, and who had what chits fatigued/wounded where. I'm hoping this new feature alleviates that pain, as it puts everything in a nice navigable set of web pages with everything you could possibly want to see in a combat. It's probably not perfect yet, but it'll get there.
Enough jabber, here's what's new:
NEW FEATURES:
BUGS/ISSUES:
I've been wanting to get this release online, but I've been sick the last week. The big bug-fix in this one is to restore the behavior of the random number generator when loading a save game. It used to be (several versions ago), that saving a game would also save the state of the random number generator, thus making it a) impossible to cheat and b) possible to replay a day with the same result (important for GMs). Alas, I broke this functionality when I implemented the new random number generators, and that's something I wanted fixed ASAP.
New in the release is an experimental feature to make board generation more... better? I decided that too often, my online games started with our characters at the Inn, with only one possible way to go, and that way was through a maze of caves and/or a hidden path/secret passage. To alleviate that possibility, I decided that there needed to be a way to "rate" a map, and then have RealmSpeak rebuild the map when it fell below a certain rating.
The rating system I came up with is fairly simple: For every Valley clearing where a dwelling or ghosts would start, start moving down the path in both directions, and count the total number of tiles that can be reached WITHOUT entering a cave, or using a hidden path or secret passage. The total number of tiles that can be reached (including the starting tile) is the rating for that tile. The map rating is simply the worst (lowest) rating of all five Valley tiles. Say for example, a map is rated a "6". This means that in the worst case, you will be able to visit SIX tiles without ever having to enter a cave or use a special road.
With the rating system in place, I then added a control in the game setup options that allows you to select a preferred rating, from 0 to 5, that must be achieved before RealmSpeak will select a map. If you set it to zero (the worst possible rating), then RealmSpeak will take the first map it generates, just like you are always used to. If you set it higher, the maps it allows will be fewer. Remember the more times RealmSpeak is forced to toss a map, the longer it can take to start a game. Keep an eye on the status bar at the bottom of the window to watch it's progress.
Now I can hear some of you already groaning that my algorithm here is too simplistic, and perhaps even favors some characters over others. Also, the logic of rebuilding a map that fails might be the lazy way out, and isn't the most efficient solution. If you have better ideas on how to accomplish "smarter" maps, please let me know. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!
By the way, this new rating system works great on the original game as well as the expansion. It does NOT, however, work too great with 2x/3x/4x size maps, as the number of Valley tiles increases, and causes a LONG delay in map building. It took nearly 2 minutes to build a reasonable 2x map, and then all it did was line all the valleys up in one long path right in the middle of the map. :-O
What else... oh, I added a new "export" button in the battle window, that let's you dump the current state of combat to HTML, much like the "Game Export" works. When I was GMing the tournament, I found the most difficult part was relating what was happening, where everybody was, and who had what chits fatigued/wounded where. I'm hoping this new feature alleviates that pain, as it puts everything in a nice navigable set of web pages with everything you could possibly want to see in a combat. It's probably not perfect yet, but it'll get there.
Enough jabber, here's what's new:
NEW FEATURES:
- You can include travelers as hirelings in the battle builder now (so you can test those kinds of scenarios out)
- Experimental new feature for setting the rating of a map, so you don't end up with crummy starting places. If you don't want to use it, just set the minimum map rating to zero (default).
- Not recommended for double/triple/quadruple maps (it can take a REALLY long time to build one of these)
- [1673] - Attackers can be seen in the summary table of the combat frame, instead of only on the combat sheets.
- [1665] - You can now export information about a battle to HTML, to simplify GMing in a combat situation.
- [1703] - Transferring a character allows you to choose from a list of names now, instead of requiring case-sensitive typing. Of course, you can still type a name if you like.
- [1013] - New full featured window memory system (see "Custom Layout" under "Window" menu)
- Allows you store your favorite window layout in up to seven different slots.
- Layouts are remembered the next time you play, so if you have something you like, it will default to it.
- You can name your layouts, so that it is easy to remember which is which. (Witch?)
- Even the size/position of the main frame is remembered, so spanning multiple monitors is a really easy thing to do now.
- Allows you store your favorite window layout in up to seven different slots.
BUGS/ISSUES:
- Fixed a bug that caused an error to be logged when you attack a Giant while carrying the Pretty Rock (Expansion treasure)
- When deploying a combative traveler (i.e., Dragon Slayer) no longer prompted for a deploy side.
- Carnoplant box #3 reads "5" instead of "35" now
- [1713] - Fixed a problem where saving and reloading a game wasn't restoring the state of the random number generator.
- Fixed an issue where transferring a character didn't always remove the character frame from the player losing the character
- Fixed a bug where Archeological Dig and Fountain of Health (expansion) could end up in a TWT.
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Version 1.0.18.0 Released
Been fixing lots of bugs lately, some old some new. Here's what's new:
NEW FEATURES:
BUGS/ISSUES:
NEW FEATURES:
- [1216] - New option in "Other House Rules" to turn Day-End trades ON by default for all new characters.
- [1710] - New option in "Robin's House Rules" to allow you to gain special rewards past level 4 when you level-up during the game.
- [1703] - Battle Builder will allow you to cast Permanent Spells now, so you can simulate scenarios where (for example) you have already absorbed a T Troll.
BUGS/ISSUES:
- Fixed a problem with Transform that could lead to an infinite loop that would freeze the game.
- [1216] - Trade button removed from combat window, as trading isn't allowed during combat.
- [1710] - Leveling up in development works again. (broken since 1.0.11.0)
- [1709] - "Rehire" is no longer an option with permanent companions.
- [1708] - Blank chat line no longer messes up chat display on map
- [1406] - Fixed a bug in the character builder, that would allow you to create a die roll modifier that didn't work.
- [881] - Fixed a bug that would let you use color chits to make change while resting, even when you had active effort chits.
- [1680] - When you are selecting spells, if you forget to enchant ANY chits, you will get a reminder now.
- [1561] - When a leader rests, followers will get their rests IMMEDIATELY, so that they have a chance to rest (for example) a MOVE chit or two, so they can actually follow!
- [1586] - Fixed a bug where watchful natives already on someone's sheet, wouldn't battle other attackers, allowing a second character to end combat early.
- [790] - Fixed the handling of fatigue when using a treasure (or custom character) that allows three or more asterisks of fatigue.
- [1711] - Fixed a missing fatigue step when charging someone with 2 asterisks that runs away, and combat is ended by the remaining combatants.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Version 1.0.17.0 Released
Added some more features that should aid online play, including a neat new feature to play a sound to remind players that it is their turn (suggested by a user named "storymachine" in the bug tracker).
Here's what's new:
NEW FEATURES:
BUGS/ISSUES:
Here's what's new:
NEW FEATURES:
- [1706] - The focus is given to "Next" and "Done" when you are playing your turn, and "Next" in combat so you can just press the ENTER key to advance.
- [1705] - RealmSpeak will now play a sound when you are playing online when:
- It is the beginning of a new day
- It is your turn during the day
- It is your turn during combat
- When you forget to press "Done" at the end of your turn
- It is the beginning of a new day
- You can enable/disable sound, and adjust the volume, in the options menu
BUGS/ISSUES:
- [1701] - Made the fatigue/wound call thread-safe, so that network play doesn't lead to the "mystery round" condition.
- [1702] - Fixed a problem with the chat lines on the map view when a player's name was particularly long.
- [1690] - "Play Color Chits" button in combat will be disabled now when you don't have any more color chits.
- [1707] - Fixed a problem with choosing a character with an extra chit or two.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Version 1.0.16.0 Released
Just a quick release to fix an expansion bug, and to make the chat interface a bit more visible. Here's what's new:
NEW FEATURES:
BUGS/ISSUES:
NEW FEATURES:
- Count of "treasures left" in discoveries window and search dialog will now exclude "CANNOT MOVE" site cards that you have already discovered. This means other players may now see a different count for the same treasure site, depending on what they have already found.
- [1094] - A list of ALL spells is available from the View menu now (only during a game)
- Chat is now visible on the map. By default, 10 lines of chat will be visible on the map, but you can tweak this number under the options "map" submenu.
BUGS/ISSUES:
- [1700] - Revealing a TWT in the Pond or Tomb is equivalent to revealing a large treasure now.
Sunday, May 09, 2010
Version 1.0.15.0 Released
This release addresses a couple of issues I had while playing the game online with my friend last weekend, and the tournament game a couple of weeks ago. Also, for no apparent reason, I added two new treasures.
Here's what's new:
NEW FEATURES:
BUGS/ISSUES:
Here's what's new:
NEW FEATURES:
- Chat interface includes multiple colors now, which are automatically assigned (for now).
- [1670] - Host can selectively kill one connection now.
- New treasures:
- Bone Hand - Cursed great treasure that can be activated to increase sharpness of any wielded weapon at the cost of one level of vulnerability.
- Net - Subtract one from any CAPTURE roll (capturing travelers)
- Bone Hand - Cursed great treasure that can be activated to increase sharpness of any wielded weapon at the cost of one level of vulnerability.
- [1393] - Green combat hotspots now split when mounted natives are involved, to allow you to position natives together with their horse, or separately.
- [1143] - Improvements to chit fairness calculations in character builder:
- Account for MAGIC chit speed
- Disadvantage for complete absence of MOVE/FIGHT chits
- Disadvantage for chits that are locked to a position (like DUCK)
- Advantage for chits that can be alerted to increase vulnerability
- Advantage for FLY chits
- Account for MAGIC chit speed
BUGS/ISSUES:
- Fixed a redraw issue with guilds and travelers when playing online
- [1695] - Fixed a problem with empty error logs being generated every time you ran a battle simulation
- [1542] - Added a couple places I missed when logging chit fatigue.
- [1696] - Travelers that fight, will die now, instead of living on indefinitely.
- Fixed a problem with indents in the detail log, when casting a group effect attack spell
- [1683] - Added a new item to the map "right-click" menu to hide/show Site Cards (like Toadstool Circle)
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Version 1.0.14.0 Released
Did this release, so that I could play the expansion with a friend of mine. This version has a crude chat interface, which helps when you are playing with players that lack a TeamSpeak (or other audio) connection.
Anyway, here's what's new:
NEW FEATURES:
BUGS/ISSUES:
Anyway, here's what's new:
NEW FEATURES:
- Added version information to the combat simulator launcher, and the error logs.
- [1669] - New chat interface (rough, but it works) - look for it in the character frame tabs (last tab)
BUGS/ISSUES:
- Fixed a bug with hiring Bob (Traveler)
- Fixed a bug with destroying the Cloaks
- Fixed a bug in the character chooser that was throwing an exception when choosing a random character
- [1693] - Fixed a problem with hiring natives with a hypnotized native (expansion)
- [1671] - Fixed a problem when transferring characters around, that was leaving familiars, hirelings, etc. behind
Monday, April 26, 2010
Version 1.0.13.2 Released
Well, doggone it! There were another three bugs that pretty much ruin the game that I had to fix. Better to get these done sooner, rather than later, so people don't get too frustrated with me. :-)
Here's what's new:
BUGS/ISSUES:
Here's what's new:
BUGS/ISSUES:
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Version 1.0.13.1 Released
Just a quick patch release to fix a few bugs. Here's what's new:
BUGS/ISSUES:
BUGS/ISSUES:
- [1681] - Fixed the spell targeting problems introduced when treachery was implemented.
- [1682] - Fixed a bug that was preventing you from buying anything from the guilds.
- [1675] - Fixed an NPE when viewing the connections window
- [1676] - Fixed a NPE when painting a native chit
- [1677] - Fixed an exception that happened when saving the game while others are playing.
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