Page 2 - Legacy of the Zodiac II - 2D MMORPG In Development

Nice to hear it progressing, keep it up.

NARRATED VIDEO VERSION

Hello and welcome to the Development Chronicle X for Legacy of the Zodiac II. Basically this week I worked on quests that the Haven Groundskeeper gives you; he gives you 6 quests and some of them are quite humorous; the quests go up to level 25 and give gold, potions, EXP and one of them gives 3 bonus stat points. The quests for him are now done so I can move on to The Iron Mercenary where most of the larger quests for this area will be.

One thing I noticed was that since potions are not stackable; I can't use one line of script to give you let's say 10 potions; for example...

I want the first quest to give you 10 Small Health Potions and 5 Small Mana Potions; the easiest way to do that would be to do...



But since they are not stackable the script just gives you one of each; so in order for a quest to do this properly I have to do...



Quite annoying hm? Well it is pretty annoying; the last quest he gives you rewards 35 Small Health Potions and 30 Small Mana Potions; so just imagine how long that is! I mean; it's not hard to put down; I just copy and paste the lines; but it takes up MAJOR room on the script that could be just a simple small one liner; oh well :3.

I also figured since I have almost all the NPCs in I would just show you a few screenshots of the some of the beginning areas with the NPCs added in. So here is two screenshots with some of the beginning NPCs...

Here is one of the first spots you might train on; against some Roosters.



Here is the Grounds Keeper of Haven; he's outside of his dwelling in this screenshot.



That's all I have that I can show for this week; I know it's not much but oh well; time to work on The Iron Mercenary missions.

That is all for this week, see everyone next week!

Thanks for listening,

-Scythe

NARRATED VIDEO VERSION

Hello and welcome to the Development Chronicle XI for Legacy of the Zodiac II. Remember how I said I was having problems with the potions because they don't stack? Well DD whipped up a script so they will stack and there's a limit on how many you can have; so you can't run around with hundreds or even thousands of a potion (since it's a currency). I also made all of the main Iron Mercenary quests (meaning ones that are for equipment or spells etc). I also re-did the guild ranks since they didn't make much sense to me.

So the first thing that got done was the potions. They are now a currency type so they stack on top of each other; the healing effect is scripted in and there is a script so that when you use the potion if you have more than 30 of them it sets it down to 30 and removes one (since you used one). I might make it higher than 30; not sure; but that's how it is right now; and that's 30 per type of potion; like 30 Small Health Potions, 30 Full Large Health Potions etc. So that solves the potion problem since I can use one line to give the potions for quests since they are a currency now.

As I said earlier I did all of the Iron Mercenary quests that give equipment and spells and that type of such; there will be some that just give EXP or Gold.

I re-did the guild ranks and they now have a more army like feel to them; since the guilds are basically separate armies under their respective faction; here they are...

Note: All ranks can resign so I didn't bother putting that on each individual rank description.
Note: GMOTD = Guild Message of the Day
Note: When I used multiple shades of the same color the darker shade presides over the lighter one; which is shown since the color of the rank name is the color of the tag in-game.

Rank 9
General (1 only)
-Is the owner and leader of the guild and can do everything (Kick Members, Promote Members, Demote Members, Change GMOTD and Invite Players).

Rank 8
Lieutenant General (2 only)
-Basically the second in command and has access to all commands but is NOT the leader or owner of the guild (Kick Members, Promote Members, Demote Members, Change GMOTD and Invite Players).

Rank 7
Major General
-Step down from Lieutenant General and can do everything except change someone's rank (Promote/Demote) since that is reserved for Rank 9 and 8. (Kick Members, Change GMOTD and Invite Players).

Rank 6
Brigadier General
-Step down from Major General and can basically do what they can except they cannot kick members (Change GMOTD and Invite Players).

The top four ranks are all ranks with powers; while the lower 5 all have no powers and are more for promotions based on merit.

Rank 5
Captain
-Highest rank with No Powers; Merit Rank (No Powers).

Rank 4
Lieutenant
-Second Highest rank with No Powers; Merit Rank (No Powers).

Rank 3
Sergeant
-Third Highest rank with No Powers; Merit Rank (No Powers).

Rank 2
Corporal
-Fourth Highest rank with No Powers; Merit Rank; basic rank for most normal members. (No Powers).

Rank 1
Private
-Third Highest rank with No Powers; Merit Rank; basically the trainee rank. (No Powers).

Now that I have the Iron Mercenary quests finished I can make the quests for the Den of Thieves and than the Nyru Ruins.

On a side note; Bradyok added two orange shades to the Guild Ranks (which both are used on Major General and Brigadier General) and the Zone Editor; so now I made the EXP Area map name color orange.

That is all for this week, see everyone next week!

Thanks for listening,

-Scythe

NARRATED VIDEO VERSION

Hello and welcome to the Development Chronicle XII for Legacy of the Zodiac II. This week I first off made all of the quests for the Den of Thieves; but you'll have to wait for the release to hear anything more about them. Next I enlisted a few Alpha Testers so that they can test as I go along and find errors and problems quickly. I basically spent the rest of the week fixing problems and errors they found and balancing things.

So as I said the first thing I did was make all of the quests for the Den of Thieves; so now I just have to make the quests for the Nyru Ruins and that should do it for the Haven Area.

The next thing I did was enlist a few Alpha Testers so they can test as I go along and find errors and problems quickly so I can fix them quickly.

The rest of the week was spent fixing errors; Smoke and Kimi found a large one that was just because I had the wrong PlayerAttack Sub; but they also found a few other errors with the engine that I had Bradyok fix. Bradyok also released XW RC4.3 which was mainly bug fixes so now the Quests are linked together.

Some things I balanced was mages and melees; magic etc. I also increased the potency of some of the buffs as well as adjusted the cool down time on all skills; the cool downs were WAY too high; so I lowered them a lot. I also added the class requirements to the equipment basically so the testers can only use what they should be able to; only thing I can't add the requirement too is things like armors which can be used by three classes; since Bradyok didn't add in multiple class requirements yet.

I figured I would feature a question by one of the users on the official forums; it was a question by Smoke; here's the question...


Here was my exact answer...



The fact that I am giving out the first three guilds based on Closed Beta is mainly because there are no other rewards for participating in the Closed Beta; and the accounts will be wiped after; so many people wouldn't want to participate I am guessing; maybe since the three guilds will be given out based on it more will want to.

Here is the link to the original topic where it was asked (so you can reply and talk about it if you want)...

http://www.legacyofthezodiac.net/Lo...c.php?f=5&t=334

That is all for this week, see everyone next week!

Thanks for listening,

-Scythe

NARRATED VIDEO VERSION

Hello and welcome to the Development Chronicle XIII for Legacy of the Zodiac II. This week I made all of the Nyru Ruins quests and of course you will have to wait to hear anything else about them besides "I made them". I than finished adding the +, ++ and +x drops to the NPCs for the weapons I had added in. I also made all of the enchant shops for enchanting and removing enchants from weapons; than I made the maps for this.

So the first thing I did was create all of the quests for the Nyru Ruins as I said above.

After that I added the rest of the +, ++ and +x drops the NPCs. On a side note, only the Haven Area NPC's will drop enchanted weapons, everything else must be enchanted by removing an enchant from a weapon and putting it on another.

Next I made all of the enchant shops for enchanting and removing enchants from weapons. Each class (with the exception of Varhans and Gardians) has one shop. Basically the first half of the shop is for removing enchants, and the last half is for adding them. Now the reason I say with the exception of bla bla bla, is because the Varhans and Gardians share three weapon types, so they have a shop for each (Lightweight Swords, Heavyweight Swords, Axes).

Lastly I made the maps where this will take place, it is called "The Enchanted Mallet"; fits doesn't it :3?

Here's a quote from one of the blacksmiths there, basically explaining the process etc...



Here is just a screen shot of what one of the enchant shops looks like (It's the Varhan/Gardians Axes) and note that I realize the Fix button is COMPLETELY wrong, DD will have it fixed.



Note that the first half of the shop is for when you are removing the enchants; so you get Sigils in return, and the second half is where you enchant weapons and receive the higher enchanted version.

Well now that all of that is done, the Haven Area is finished, so now I can finally begin planning the next areas of Inngard and we can get to mapping them !

That is all for this week, see everyone next week!

Thanks for listening,

-Scythe

not a big deal but you linked to the last narrated version (XII) instead of XIII, at first i was a bit confused haha, But yea keep this up i really enjoy these and the project looks great!

Ah sorry I do that sometimes; fixed it. Here's this weeks Development Chronicle...

NARRATED VIDEO VERSION

Hello and welcome to the Development Chronicle XIV for Legacy of the Zodiac II. This week I worked solely on planning the next areas to be mapped on the Continent of Inngard. So there really isn't much to say at all. Hopefully the planning will be done this weekend and than we can get mapping the areas.

On a side note I figured I would show a sample of the In-Game GUI DD made, so here's a sample...



There are some things on it that have to be fixed but overall that is the Main In-Game GUI created by DD to go along with the Login GUI I made; the GUI is called "Zodiac".

That is basically all I can tell you this week, just been planning so I don't have much to say; but hopefully you enjoyed the preview of the GUI.

That is all for this week, see everyone next week!

Thanks for listening,

-Scythe

Video doesnt work for me...

I fixed last weeks video; sorry about that; and this weeks works.

NARRATED VIDEO VERSION

Hello and welcome to the Development Chronicle XV for Legacy of the Zodiac II. This week I finished planning the Continent of Inngard and we began mapping again; you'll find more details about this below.

As I said, I finished planning the Continent of Inngard; so I would like to share a few things about that. As you know, the Haven Area is a part of the Continent of Inngard, now I planned out everything else on this continent, which is the largest continent. The other areas that will be on the Continent are as follows...

The Torrential Plains - Large plains where it is obviously always raining - Mapping by Yukimura

Northern Spine which also includes the Village of Karthay - The Northern Spine is a very large and dense forest which starts to rise in elevation as you near the Kothas Heights - Mapping by Scythe

The Capital City Taladas which also includes the outskirts of the city; which are huge - Mapping by Scythe

Kothas Heights, which are mountains that span across the top of Inngard - Mapping by Scythe

We also of course must map the Coastline that goes all around these new areas; which we are doing first of course.

Everything is planned out except the Kothas Heights, and this is for a reason. They are going to be very complex and crazy so it would be too hard to plan them out before hand, I know the area in which they will take up but I will be planning them and mapping them as I go; it will be the best for this particular area.

Note: The above list of areas does not includes caves or ruins since they are considered inside maps, not outside.

Here's some statistics for you to wrap your minds around, the entire Haven Area INCLUDING insides, caves, ruins etc takes up 380 maps total. The rest of the OUTSIDE of the Continent of Inngard uses up to map # 953, and starts at map # 381; so the rest of the OUTSIDE of the Continent of Inngard takes up 570 maps. But this is excluding the Kothas Heights since I don't know how many maps it will take up exactly, but a guess would be about 130-150; so the total outside maps for the entire Continent of Inngard will be about 1100 or so. Here's something interesting as well; the Capital City Taladas takes up 71 maps (outsides only) and is divided into five districts; the Plaza District, Senate District, Market District, Colosseum District and the Temple District. The last two districts I listed are half size though, they together make up the size of one of the other three districts.

So as you can tell we have a lot of work ahead of us, but we can do it; the Continent will also have a lot of things to do; and of course once the entire outside is mapped the insides and ruins etc must be mapped!

So once all that planning was finished; we started mapping again. We are still working on the Coast since the coast for all of this is giant, I am hoping it will be done this weekend though. There isn't much to show since everyone has already seen what the Coast of other areas looked like, but I will show you one map anyways; it has some new trees in it (the ones for the Northern Spine).

Here is one of the Coast near the Northern Spine; some of the trees shown will be used in the Northern Spine (the ones that weren't used anywhere else previously). Sorry about the pink line on the right side; it's one pixel row of the GUI and I couldn't get it off; weird. Here you also get to see the new style rain (if you haven't already); the new rain not only looks better and splashes when it hits the ground but there is also a wind system involved. Every once in a while the rain will blow to the left or right, in this one it is blowing to the left; default is just straight down (when there is no wind).



So basically, that is all for this week; now I must get back to mapping!

That is all for this week, see everyone next week!

Thanks for listening,

-Scythe

Keep up the good work, its looking really good so far! Thanks for posting this as you have been going along, its a nice insight into what it takes to make a game for fun for someone who's primary coding interest is in web development.

Without having any knowledge of the Xtemeworlds engine, how much of the graphics/birmaps/sprites are you having to do youself? I can see GUIs are custom, but what about buttons/characters/scenery/icons?

This looks awsome. I would love to play this.