IB (pc only, testbed) Development updates

[youngneil1]

Thank you for keeping me in the loop, guys!

I have implemented module settings for always hiding various elements of creature info by now. Also, the optional trait check for unveiling creature details is in (different cretaures can require different fields of knowledge to unveil their secrets this way), too.

Time to get the time limited (like open chest prior to round X) on-battlefield rewards in...

[slowdive]

Downloading v184 as well. I updated IBx to use the same draw routines as IB now so smooth scrolling is working...at least it is on main maps, but there is still that weird combat issue that I need to track down in IBx. Once I have that fixed, I'll post the new build to GooglePlay+TestFlight and then start importing the code to bring IBx to v184.

[youngneil1]

Amazing news there, Jer, well done!

The combat screen in IB currently has smoothly moving creatures (animated in five frames if such frames exist), but no scrolling on player move and no smooth camera panning (in contrast to IBx). I yet have to (try to) implement these later features.

[Dorateen]

Quick question about something I am trying to implement for the first time. How do you add PC allies to an encounter?

I know there is ga_add temporary allies for this encounter script, which looks like it does exactly what I need.

edit: Ah, on the second time it did work, firing from the conversation prior to battle. Maybe I clicked on the wrong dialogue option the first time. Anyway, very fun to see an NPC join the battle.

[youngneil1]

Great to see you giving this script a testdrive. Adding allied NPC can give battles a special spin (like adding a really poweful ally that's decisive for the battle, as in Blackwinter's first battle) or generally for ambience (like a bunch of city guards fighting alongside the party).

I think I will add fournew properies to triggers (combat):
1. VanishInXRounds (affects enabled and hidden)
2 AppearInXRounds (affects enabled and hidden)
3. ChangeWalkableStateOnChangeOfEnabledState
4. PropToPlaceOnTopOfTrigger

These can be used for treasure chests (combined with container script, must see how that one works in battle though), but also for lots of gameplay variations (modify terrain and therewith tactical options mid batttle, block and open passages), either based on timers or trait usage. The connection to a prop should speed up building again and should elegantly tie in all the prop animation settings.

[youngneil1]

Still slowmo mode, but I got treasure chest triggers up and running in encounters now...

[youngneil1]

IB v185 released - no liabilities, no warranties, use at your own risk:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mx2hx1b6gfprr ... 5.zip?dl=0

- triggers can now have container events in battles, too
- added vanish and appear in x rounds to trigger properties (they influence enabled and hidden property)
- furthermore, you can tie a prop graphic to a trigger in properties now (including animated props); this one also works for triggers on main map
- finally, you can set a trigger now to change the walkable state of the square it is on when trigger enabled state is changed (eg open doors)
- a bit of polish for trigger info texts on mouse over

[youngneil1]

There's nasty crash bug introduced in v185 (related to the counters for vanishing/appearance of triggers, type int/string mismatch between toolset and engine) that I will fix rather sooner than later in v186.

[youngneil1]

Still polishing and debugging for upcoming v186. The new combat trigger properties can be combined in many ways (eg create locked, tiem limited chest by assigning a container event and also setting up an enable DC for the trigger and then even making the trigger disappear in 5 rounds). These combinations make debugging quite time consuming, but it will be worth it in the end, harf ! Furthermore, the trigger info on mouse over must handle a lot of settings on limited space now, which is surprisingly difficult to set up so it feels intuitive for the player.

[youngneil1]

Despite RL still being a never ending reconnaissance mission for our new home (keep fingers crossed for upcoming Sunday where we are gona see a potentillay promising appartement) IB is still progressing along steadily. Most of the debugging for anish/appear trigger properties is done now. I must still polish a few mouse over entries when it comes to treausre chests though. And I also have to debug the triggers that change walkable state midcombat (and likely block them from working when creature or pc is standing right on top of them).

Then I have to do all the mosue over work for lingering effetcs on battlefield (eg from poison cloud spell)...

[youngneil1]

IB v186 released - no liabilities, no warranties, use at your own risk:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xtase85q193bf ... 6.zip?dl=0

- a much more stable iteration of vanish/appear/change walkable state properties than v185
- this (and the recent versions before it) allows for treasures, doors, traps, battlefield manipulating trait usage, timers for vanish and appear, hidden triggers, positional triggers (granting cover or an attack bonus only while standing on them), etc. all during an encounter - all polished with fitting mouse over info
- as the system is a large toolbox of combinations I still think the one or other bug will lurk somewhere in there, but I hammered the systems quite a bit with debugging/playtesting recently
- I fear I will have to write a guide about all of this before I forget again how it is supposed to be setup, sigh

[slowdive]

Sounds great (minus the fun documenting part ). I'll update IBx once v186 is on GitHub. I'm also working on adjust some of the UI for IBx to work better on smaller screens.

[youngneil1]

Github is updated now (v186) . I imagine getting the UI work right on the smaller screens is very challenging indeed.Let's hope for mobile phone sizes still increasing in the future .

[slowdive]

Here is what I came up with for a test... shown on my iPhoneX (the button to show/hide the toggles is in the bottom left, works like the arrows show/hide):

C9ED4BB1-0508-4F17-A710-02F9E3523EF8.png (2.59 MiB) Viewed 81836 times

92846A5B-7DE9-4135-BE1A-6933E26B30DC.png (2.28 MiB) Viewed 81836 times

36868579-A971-42E6-86E6-CEEBAF651021.png (1.99 MiB) Viewed 81836 times

C0AED1DE-3770-44A4-8D0B-D325A1A46C7E.png (2.31 MiB) Viewed 81836 times

[youngneil1]

Great Ui design there - the former toggles where much too hard to hit on smaller screens. You have bascially implemented our missing options menu !

[youngneil1]

I am looking into lingering effects now (think Poison Cloud). One thing I am gonna add is a persistenceBonus for each effect. When two or more lingering effects are applied to the same squre, only one will prevail (otherwise our graphics will look really messy quickly). To decide which lingering effect overrides the other, a comparison d20+persistenceBonus roll is made. This way authors can design lingering effetcs that are really hard (or impossible) to override. I will also include loginfo for the lingering effects on mouse over (as for pc/creatures and triggers already).

Speaking of effects, it is time to improve the way we handle the icons on pc/creatures for effects. We will need some "scale smaller and sort on token" function (taking into account creature size, too). Same goes for portaits that should display the effect icons on top, too.

The more detail I add, the more detail I find we still miss. It's a curse (or maybe a blessing ).

[slowdive]

The more detail I add, the more detail I find we still miss. It's a curse (or maybe a blessing ).

Definitely a blessing. Details may be slow going, but they are definitely worth it and we have time on our side

[zach_holbrook]

Just playing around with the new trigger functions now. Very much looking forward to designing encounters that take advantage of these!

[youngneil1]

Great to hear, Zach . I still have to do some proper explanations of how it all works, but it 's reassuring that it's intuitive enough to allow experimenting with it.

Distracted here big time by RL, but it looks like we found our new appartment (still waiting for the final version of the rent contract). Still, I did push foward work on effects a bit:

IB beta v187 released - no warranties, no liabilites, use at your own risk:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/juzj1ogm8jnko ... 7.zip?dl=0

- gave lingering effects on battlefield the mouse over/info treatment
- added a persistence porperty to effects that determines whether a new lingering effect on a sqaure succeeds in replacing the old lingering effect on the very same square (only one lingering effect on a square in combat is allowed for clarity of graphics)
- generally worked a bit on the the effect logic (saves, duration, messaging, application timing, etc)

[youngneil1]

I am trying to figure out to how display the sprites of multiple effects on the same actor (pc/creature) in the best way.

Maybe the effect that was applied the last is dispalyed full size while all other (older) effects are shrunk down to 1/9 (1/3x, 1/3y) of their size (mini-icons). This would allow for up to 10 effect sprites on the very same actor (one large one and then up to nine mini sprites, drawn on top of that one). The mini-sprites would be auto-sorted next to each other in a three row, three column pattern.

This gets potentially more complicated for tall, wide and large creatures. Especially the non-square shaped wide and tall creatures would cause the effect sprites to look stretched if adjusted to the size of such creatures. Easiest solution would be to display all effects only on top left square of large, wide and tall creatures.

For pc I would like the mini-effect sprites to additionally appear on the portraits of the pc.

[youngneil1]

Might still be too crowded. I think I will just go with 9 mini icons for effect indicators (ie no normal sized effect indicator at all). This will make reading squares that in the worst case have (1) a trigger icon, (2) a lingering effect icon, (3) a pc and (4) effects on that pc a bit easier...

[slowdive]

Distracted here big time by RL, but it looks like we found our new appartment (still waiting for the final version of the rent contract).

This is great news if it works out! Hoping that contract gets finalized and the move goes smoothly.

[youngneil1]

Thank you, Jer - we signed the contract ! We will move into our new home between June and July (well, let's see if Corona/Covid chaos will still allow us to do this).

IB Beta v188 released - no liabilites, no warranties, use at your own risk:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pkndgstyh54v1 ... 8.zip?dl=0

- size and automatic position adjustment for effect icons on sprites in combat (up to 9 simultaneous effect icons for each sprite are supported)
- effect icons also appear on player portraits now

[slowdive]

Looks like I have some catching up to do on updating IBx Schools are shut down and I may be asked to start teleworking soon so I should have some time to catch up while practicing social distancing from our home Stay safe and healthy everyone!

[zach_holbrook]

Thank you, Jer - we signed the contract ! We will move into our new home between June and July (well, let's see if Corona/Covid chaos will still allow us to do this).

IB Beta v188 released - no liabilites, no warranties, use at your own risk:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pkndgstyh54v1 ... 8.zip?dl=0

- size and automatic position adjustment for effect icons on sprites in combat (up to 9 simultaneous effect icons for each sprite are supported)
- effect icons also appear on player portraits now

Looking forward to trying out the new features -- and congratulations on your contract! What a relief. Fingers crossed the date still works.

[youngneil1]

Thank you, Zach . Getting the contract freed my mind up again for IB, so that's a good thing indeed .

I am into combat camera scrolling now. It was painful rethink myself into this, but now I have first (gltchy) prototype up and running. We will get this - only question is at this point how polished it will feel in the end.

[youngneil1]

Great progress with the smooth scrolling in combat (even diagonal with two keys like up and right held down the same time is working). You can also stop the scrolling at any pixel point (more or less), ie you are not forced to scroll in full square chunks. It feels really good to explore the battlefield this way and complements the scrolling experience from mainmap gameplay nicely.

I still need to fix the positioning of some instances of mouse over floaty text though. Also, I will likely finetune the scroll speed a bit more. Finally, there are some litle hiccups where a direction change needs a split second to register - it's no biggie and does not happen very often, still it irks me. I doubt though that I will be able to fix this last mentioned issue as I have been hammering at it for some time now without tangible improvements.

[youngneil1]

I managed to fix the little pause on some direction changes, yeah! Panning the camera in combat feels extremly responsive now.

I still need to fix position of mouse over messages for props as well as detecting actors for actor info in top row correctly.

[zach_holbrook]

Very excited by this new addition.

[slowdive]

The panning apron sounds great! Is this only done via arrow keys or can this be done via mouse click and drag? I use touch and drag in combat for IBx, but it is not on a pixel by pixel basis.

[youngneil1]

Thank you guys - I am trying to uplaod v189 currently, but my connection is crawling these days...

The scrolling/camera panning is keyboard only currently, but mouse touch and drag would be really cool to have, too. Maybe I can pull it off later ... IB mainmap has a hold left mouse button down to move party system already iirc (I am so used to the keys), with movement speed depending on distance of mouse pointer to party.

[youngneil1]

IBBeta v189 released - no liabilities, no warranties, use at your own risk:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bmsn0w1heegbc ... l.zip?dl=0

- this is just the engine .exe this time due to internet really slowing down here
- smooth combat camera scrolling via keys integrated

[youngneil1]

Still alive and kicking here, I am head over heels into the lighting engine and have biten much more than I can chew this time .. but after stepping back and reducing complexity/functionality quite a bit, I start to see a light at the end of the tunnel. All these efforts revolve around smooth scrolling of light sources (party, props) and generally making light more relevant for level building.

[slowdive]

Knowing when to back off on complexity and scope creep are learned skills, often through painful experience. You are now a master coder
I saw the recent Github push and started looking through it a bit, so I see where you are going. It'll be worth the effort. I still have some catching up to do with IBx, but RL has been busier than I expected lately.

[youngneil1]

I feel more like a master fumbler , but true words.

I have to make some compromises, so the new approach for the lighting will be a give and take thingie:

Pros:
- smooth scrolling of party light in dark indoors; it feels so much better to move the party in complete sync with the light cone around the party
- Adjusted LoS system for determining visibilty around the party in dark indoors to work with smooth scrolling; it is great fun to see the lit area change shape dynamically around the party while you smoothly move, respecting walls, corners, generally lines of sight (it happens like 80% smoothly, a better coder woud have removed reamining bits of chunkiness by dynamically inflating/squishing certain parts of the dark/light mask)
- other light sources on props become only visible when in line of sight
- squares higher than height of the party square automatically block sight now; this makes setting up levels faster (no need to manually palce LoS state) and also allows for walking on a wall and looking down from itand especially along it while the wall at the same time blocks sight when standing in front of it (I will make this change optional via a module setting as it otherwise will screw up existing modules with manually placed LoS states)

Cons:
- I had to remove party ligths from outdoors areas, ie no torch in night time (the semi transparent layer of the night is trickier to handle than full black darkness due to double overlay situations, ie black on black is black, but two blue hues on top of each other form a deeper hue of blue); lights on props still work in the night though, so you e.g. can have fires of a city turn on at night time
- when the party (with lit torch) gets close a light prop in dark indoors I had to change to a simplified lighting model to prevent glitches - the lit area loses shades and shows as a combined rectangluar space arpound party and light prop, it also scrolls a bit blocky on the edges; well, this is the one I tried really, really, well like really, hard to resolve otherwise, but there comes a point where you have to let go for your sanity's sake (I am here to win the war, not each battle, or so I comfort myself, harf )
- I removed the explored/visible/fog of war state from dark indoors as it only made matters more difficult to handle and had nota very relevant effect anyway (due to the always creeping back darkness)
- moving props are not fully in snych with the light around them, but it works well enough

More a side note, but I will use like 80% darkness for fog of war in outdoors (ie a bit transparent, like in Malkin). This makes the world feel larger and provides better orienttation. But this is just a customizable preference, not affecting other modules.

To do:
- remove night time modifiers (penalties on skill checks and in combat) from the gamesystem (wihtout party light in the night to counter them they seem a bit unfair); the torch is a tool for dungeoneering only now
- try my - reasonable -best to make the whole new system work cross maps (seamless world)... I already hate this one

[youngneil1]

IBBeta v190 released - no liabilities, no warranties, use at your own risk:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/m4onscmmpt3ni ... 0.zip?dl=0

- changes to lighting system (see above for details)
- additionally to above notes, I am very happy to report the clash between party lights and prop lights in dark indoors is resolved much more elegantly now (think smooth scrolling until clash, then a more traditional blockwise set up of the light/dark mask)
- for existing campaigns, please make sure to set the new heightBlocksSight property (under module settings) to false in the toolset (especially before saving a game with the new version); otherwise all your manual LoS settings will get lost and only height determines LoS
- when buidling dark indoors with connected/neighbouring areas (seamless world) it would be a good practice to use the two outer square rings of each of each area as light blockers (height level above party/ground) and only allow passage between maps through short tunnels; it's not a biggie if you fail to do so, but it will then lead to occasional light glitches near area borders

The lighting system overhaul was truely painful for me, but it ended on a very happy note. I had to take a real big step back and from there I could approach the problem in a new, less ambitious, but much cleaner and simpler way. A wholesome experience.

It is so much fun to design the dark indoors for me now - a beautiful choreography of ever changing shapes, affected by party as well as props momevments (props can carry light, too, I even added an automatic little light source icon underneath moving props who are set to be lights at teh same time).

Ah, I still have to look into the night time modifiers... in the next version .

[youngneil1]

IB v191 incoming very soon (preparing currently). It will allwo more (old) options for full size effect icons in combat and also (again) center around lighting big time.

Next up for me is supporting widescreen/ultrawidescreen resolution (as my main gaming pc is using such a monitor). I made very promising first steps and it looks simpy gorgeous to have such a large paly area full of IB glory .

[youngneil1]

IB Beta v191 released - no liabilities, no warranties, use at your own risk:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/k75jsr58xo9mu ... 1.zip?dl=0

- (much) more work on lighting
- new module property: allEffectsUseFullSizeIcons (this returns all effects on pc/creatures to old full size)
- new effect property: thisEffectUsesFullSizeIcon (this can be used to make a selected effect drawn full size in any case)
- both new properties only refer to the icons on pc/creatures, the portraits always show small effect icons

[slowdive]

Next up for me is supporting widescreen/ultrawidescreen resolution (as my main gaming pc is using such a monitor). I made very promising first steps and it looks simpy gorgeous to have such a large paly area full of IB glory .

This sounds very exciting and hopefully adjusts for most all screen sizes and aspect ratios. I tried to make a few adjustments in IBx, but I didn't want to move away from IB too much so my changes were very limited and may be superseded by your work soon.

[youngneil1]

The groundwork is all there in your flexible systems. Most screens have some kind of glitch, but all in all it looks really promising after a few adjustments already. I will try to make it all fully flexible for all kinds of ratios and resolutions (up to 4k), but I guess alot of debugging and testing lies ahead.

[Dorateen]

IB Beta v191 released - no liabilities, no warranties, use at your own risk:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/k75jsr58xo9mu ... 1.zip?dl=0

- new module property: allEffectsUseFullSizeIcons (this returns all effects on pc/creatures to old full size)
- new effect property: thisEffectUsesFullSizeIcon (this can be used to make a selected effect drawn full size in any case)
- both new properties only refer to the icons on pc/creatures, the portraits always show small effect icons

This is great, thank you very much. I have already downloaded and started working with 191. I hope it wasn't too much trouble. We have both worked with IceBlink for a long time, and for me, sometimes I grow comfortable with the engine. Again, personal preference for the larger effects.

edit: Unfortunately, I tested it on a normal sized creature, and the effect is still showing as the smaller icon. See the attached with an orc hit by a sleep spell. In the toolset, I flagged the module property to True, and also these individual spells: Sleep, Hold, and Web, set to True.

Was this change only for large sized creatures? I have not tested that yet, but I will. Ideally, I'd like those debuffs to cover the entire actor on the combat map, regardless of token size.

[youngneil1]

Thank you for the heads up , Dorateen - I certainly botched there, it is intented to work for all creature sizes. I will look into fixing this in the next days .

[youngneil1]

IB Beta v192 released - no liabilities, no warranties, use at your own risk:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jfb28uhec27ny ... 2.zip?dl=0

- fixed bug concerning full size effect icons on actors in combat (many thanks to Dorateen)
- began implementing code chnages for widescreen/ultra-widerscreen support: this will be iterative over many releases, please keep me updated if you encounter bugs/glitches introduced by this on your resolutions/displays; it's very easy to break stuff here, I fear

[Dorateen]

IB Beta v192 released - no liabilities, no warranties, use at your own risk:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jfb28uhec27ny ... 2.zip?dl=0

- fixed bug concerning full size effect icons on actors in combat (many thanks to Dorateen)

Got it, thanks. Effects working perfectly on normal sized creatures.

[youngneil1]

Happy to hear, Dorateen . I really should do better debugging before releasing updates .

Currently, while commuting and only having the small notebook screen at hand (ie no work on widescreen support), I am looking into giving layer 4 of world map a new functionality: dynamic overgrowth/cover that is only removed when the party is near it, later on based on skill values for radius of removal. It might add mystery/danger of getting lost to exploring deep forests or foggy mountains.

Layer 5 is supposed to be drawn over party in any cases (illusion of party passing underneath structures/landscape parts).

[youngneil1]

Overgrowth is so much fun! I am currently doing it in a regrowing way around the party, with transparency higher the nearer a tile is to the party. It looks very cool when the party moves through a dense jungle this way and the the jungle seems to swallow the party. Lost in the woods comes to mind. Same will work for cloudy mountains, foggy swamps, vulcanic smoke or deep waters (diving, vertical levels).

I am looking into tying this to the skill system now. Are your existing modules currently using layer 4 or 5? Then I will add some code to make this optional.

[Dorateen]

Are your existing modules currently using layer 4 or 5? Then I will add some code to make this optional.

I am mostly working with layers 1 and 2, maybe had to use layer 3, but rarely. I don't think I've touched 4 and 5.

[youngneil1]

I am mostly working with layers 1 and 2, maybe had to use layer 3, but rarely. I don't think I've touched 4 and 5.

Thank you for the swift feedback - the first iteration will then change layer 4 to dynamic overgrowth (removing itself when party gets closer, but also creeping back as party moves on), while layer 5 will be onTop layer. This onTop layer will turn 50% transparent when party is on same square and is always drawn on top of party.

Speaking of this:

IB Beta v193 released - no liabilities, no warranties, use at your own risk:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rjxrlzeahtnqi ... 9.zip?dl=0

- dynamic overgrowth and onTop layer added, replacing layer 4 and 5 (see above)
- new properties added to area properties for 1) autofilling layer 4 of all tiles on this map with a specific tile graphic, 2) strength of overgrowth effect (stronger = more opaque) and 3) trait of tag that helps making overgrowth transparent (always using party leader's value)

[youngneil1]

IB Beta v194 released - no liabilities, no warranties, use at your own risk:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rliwakckq9kh5 ... 4.zip?dl=0

- improved the way the dynamic overgrowth (former layer 4) is scrolled/changes its transparency

[youngneil1]

Brainstorming on next tasks:

- continue work on widescreen support (when coding at big screen)
- fix little bug on rightvscreen side when scrolling (main map)
- right mouse scrolling in combat
- player animations in combat (idle, breath)
- voice over option for Npc/narrator text
- mouse cursor shape change, ideally context sensitive
- replayability system (see above)
- animated full screen, voice over for intro/cuscenes
- options menu (key bindings, sound and music volume, maybe a few of the toggles in here, user set resolution)
- push block smoothly scrolling, too
- little graphic effect for jump action
- toolset: improve sorting/filtering of tiles
- extend script engine to work with all the new properties

[slowdive]

That is an exciting and impressive list of tasks there

[zach_holbrook]

Hey there! I've downloaded the most recent version, and I can't get it to work -- maybe because I use layers 4 & 5 in all my maps.

[Dorateen]

Quick question. Something I noticed after the switch to v192, please see the screenshots below.

On the right side of the screen, notice how the spacing between the character portraits has been increased so that the sixth character's portrait now overlaps the compressed movement pad in the bottom corner. It is also this way in v193

Heark20427.jpg (20.35 KiB) Viewed 108136 times

Back in v184, the portraits were spaced much closer together and there was no overlap with the movement pad.

Heark200427.jpg (18.94 KiB) Viewed 108137 times

Is this something that can be adjusted on the builder's side, in a config file possibly?

edit: OK, maybe the movement pad (before being expanded) isn't smaller on the combat screen. But it does appear that the positioning of the portraits is higher than on the Adventure Screen, so there is no overlap. Is it something in a config file that changed the UI layout?

[youngneil1]

Hey, glad you noticed that one, Dorateen. It's related to the widescreen adjustments. I will look into it. Which resolution are you running?

I am a bit out of the loop currently, as RL is really busy here. We move appartments soon and there's so much to do/organize, sigh... I hope it will get better mid June the latest .

[youngneil1]

Hey there! I've downloaded the most recent version, and I can't get it to work -- maybe because I use layers 4 & 5 in all my maps.

Hey Zach, oops - that's not good. I will give it a test run with the latest version of Malkin I can dig up here...

[Dorateen]

Hey, glad you noticed that one, Dorateen. It's related to the widescreen adjustments. I will look into it. Which resolution are you running?

Hi youngneil1, great to hear from you. Very understandable with the transition. The screens I posted above were running the game in 1440 x 900 resolution.

[slowdive]

I too have been unusually busy with RL due to virus, teleworking, and family stuff. Plus I’m going through my brother’s old 4track tapes and converting them to digital which I have been avoiding for years, too painful.

[zach_holbrook]

Hey Karl, glad to hear everything's good (though hectic). Thanks for looking into it -- but no rush! I can easily use 192 for now. If you want the most recent version let me know.

Slowdive -- working remotely is way more time-consuming than I thought it would be, are you finding it the same?

[youngneil1]

I feel you, Jer.

@Zach: I made overgrowth and dynamic overlay in layers 4 and 5 optional now (incoming module setting). I hope next version will fix the issue for you. I did not have Malkin crashing though, it was more that some graphics became transparent when I moved closer (likely because they had been placed in layer4). We will see, keep fingers crossed.

@Dorateen: I found this entry here in the MainUILayout file (in data folder):

"tag": "btnToggleArrows",
"ImgFilename": "btn_small",
"ImgOffFilename": "btn_small_off",
"ImgOnFilename": "btn_small_on",
"Img2Filename": "btnarrows",
"Img2OffFilename": "",
"Img3Filename": "",
"GlowFilename": "btn_small_glow",
"btnState": "Normal",
"btnNotificationOn": false,
"glowOn": false,
"Text": "",
"Quantity": "",
"HotKey": "",
"X": 9,
"Y": 920,
"IBScript": "none",
"Width": 100,
"Height": 100,
"scaler": 0.8,
"playedHoverSound": false,
"show": true

Specifically the "y: 920" entry is responsible for setting the height/y position of the arrow panel button (higher means lower on screen) . Is yours set to 920, too? If not, adjustign it might fix a part of the issue.

Regardless of this, I see quite a few bugs during my testing, too (like hp/sp numbers not aligning with portriats correctly anymore, the blended in arrow panel's arrow buttons are also a bit mispalced...) Lots of work ahead ...

[Dorateen]

Specifically the "y: 920" entry is responsible for setting the height/y position of the arrow panel button (higher means lower on screen) . Is yours set to 920, too? If not, adjustign it might fix a part of the issue.

Thanks for looking into it. Yes, I'm showing the same coordinates in the MainUILayout file, x: 9, y:920. There might be something there with the other configuration settings, but I have not tested yet.

[slowdive]

Slowdive -- working remotely is way more time-consuming than I thought it would be, are you finding it the same?

definitely has been more time-consuming than I had expected and the fuzzy separation between work and my family has been challenging for my kiddos. I work in the main bedroom so I can close the door, but they still forget and come in to ask me random questions

[zach_holbrook]

@Zach: I made overgrowth and dynamic overlay in layers 4 and 5 optional now (incoming module setting). I hope next version will fix the issue for you. I did not have Malkin crashing though, it was more that some graphics became transparent when I moved closer (likely because they had been placed in layer4). We will see, keep fingers crossed.

Ah, awesome! Thanks very much. Curious that it isn't a problem with the older version of Malkin. I tried again with 194 and the current version and copied the first part of the error message I get when loading the first area:

Code: Select all

See the end of this message for details on invoking 
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection.
Parameter name: index
   at System.ThrowHelper.ThrowArgumentOutOfRangeException(ExceptionArgument argument, ExceptionResource resource)
   at System.Collections.Generic.List`1.get_Item(Int32 index)
   at IceBlink2.ScreenMainMap.drawOvergrowth(Single elapsed)
   at IceBlink2.ScreenMainMap.redrawMain(Single elapsed)
   at IceBlink2.GameView.Render(Single elapsed)
   at IceBlink2.GameView.gameTimer_Tick(Object sender, EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Timer.OnTick(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Timer.TimerNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

Slowdive -- working remotely is way more time-consuming than I thought it would be, are you finding it the same?

definitely has been more time-consuming than I had expected and the fuzzy separation between work and my family has been challenging for my kiddos. I work in the main bedroom so I can close the door, but they still forget and come in to ask me random questions

For me it's the fuzzy separation between work, strange new inclination for baking, making and playing games, and cat...

[youngneil1]

Cat is definetly on my mix, too . Playing and making games has less space than I would wish for these days, instead I am turning into an ebay power seller of little life pieces while we prepare for the move. In the days of yore I would have readied my fire axe when hordes of masked strangers would have entered my home, now I trade coin for embodied memory with them . Ah, I eat a lot more, sigh .

While strenous it feels actually really good to get rid of so many things I havent touched in years. Just the process of sorting the stuff, thinking about it is troubling. At the end I will certainly a less is more type of man (minus the belly fat thingie though ).

[youngneil1]

IB Beta v195 released, no liabilities, no warranties - use at your own risk:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rjritvizko7ft ... 5.zip?dl=0

Many thanks to Dorateen and Zach for recent feedback!

- added new module property in toolset: "useLayers4And5AsNormalLayers", if set to true, layers 4 and 5 work as beforehand
- added potential crash fix related to drawing overgrowth
- fixed ui glitches related to placement of portraits and arrow panel toggle as well as text on portraits

Please try deleting the UI config files for main and combat from your module's UI folder (make copy beforehand) - this will cause the engine to use the default files for UI which I have updated with this release (from the default module's data folder). This might fix a few ui quirks you may have seen.

[youngneil1]

I think I am gonna try to use the overgrowth code for a simplified light and darkness model for areas in utter darkness (eg dungeons).

Simplicity will be key here - it will only use squares (not the triangle shape approach I currently have), no colored light, no halos and will have no light flickering.

What I want to keep is darkness creeping back, torch on/off mechanic, line of sight rules (no lights through walls), and party independent light sources (stationary and on moving props).

Alright, onwards ...

[youngneil1]

Torch system as well as LoS are up and running within the new lighting approach. Darkness is creeping back. Now for integrating prop lights, stationary and moving...

[zach_holbrook]

Awesome, many thanks! I just downloaded 195 and adjusted the settings successfully. I played a few minutes of Malkin and everything looked normal and didn't crash.

[youngneil1]

That's great to hear, Zack. I am relieved that it works out again. It's so easy to break stuff and without you guys' feedback I would easily get lost on the tricky way forward.

[Dorateen]

hi youngneil1,

I deleted the MainUI file on the module folder, reverting back to the default UI. This now displays at the top of the screen the different traits for use such as Strongman, Investigator, Sage, etc. Also, on the old UI, there used to be an EXIT button next to the save icon at the bottom of the screen. Is there a way to change elements of the default UI? For example, since Hearkenwold is not using the trait systems for exploring the main map, I'd like to not show them.

Heark20519.jpg (287.32 KiB) Viewed 91075 times

[youngneil1]

IB Beta v196 released - use at your own risk, no liabilities, no warranties:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fboepvjhg4cgi ... 6.zip?dl=0

- based on Dorateen's feedback (many thanks!) I double checked whether the trait property showOnMainMap (found for reach trait in the trait editor of the toolset) is working as intended and found a bug; with v196 it should now do what it is supposed to do: if you set it to false the a trait will not be shown in the main map interface, if set to true the trait and its value appear in the top right corner (value can depend on current party leader, best in party, etc... depending on the corresponding set up for this trait)

I deliberately removed the old exit button to declutter the ui. Pressing ESC key will do the same now. Also, in the disk menu there is a return to main menu option.

[youngneil1]

I have (tried to, must verify on large screen) fixed particle/sprite speeds, mostly relevant for weather effects, so that speed is adjusted to the size of a single square on the player's monitor.

Furthermore, I figured out a way to display light/blend out overgrowth very smoothly. This uses a delayed transparency/fade approach. This way, eg a sight blocked square that wasnt sight blocked last turn does not turn instantly black, but smoothly fades into darkness. Same for the edges of the lit area around the party.

Finally I normalized the speed of blending out fog of war, so that it takes the same time, regardless of frame rate.

[youngneil1]

Right now, I am just putting down a crazy idea here (you know the ordeal ):

What if we would draw squares with more than 1 height level difference to current party height level (1 level difference or same height are exempt for clearly readbale ramps/stairs/connections) larger (if higher, ideally gradually changing based on height difference) or smaller (if lower, ideally gradually changing based on height difference)? This would include anything on such squares (all layers, props, fog of war, height shadows, edit: for height shadows we might actually only scale how broad a shadow is, but not how long). In my head I see a top down look on a minecrafty world with 2d flat sprites/objects/props. Imagine a camera with always the same distance to the party, hovering above the party. If the party climbs up, so does the camerea, etc. The current height shadow system emulates that already, adding dimensional scaling to it might enhance this effect big time.. or look plain ugly/broken .

As our camera perspective for topography is strict, straight down, we may not need any occlusion system. This should make it much more simple (still crazy) than any other kind of perspective.

One technical hurdle will be the way we use x/y offset for determining in which boundaries to render/scroll/draw fog of war/etc... with large parts of ground below the party (eg party on top of mountain, valley below) a dynamic component will need to be added. Basically, with such a setup you would actually be able to get a view from a mountain, showing much more of the surrounding lands (albeit very small) as when standing down in the valley. Ah, and I fear this is just the tip of of the issues iceberg... still, I am intruiged.

[slowdive]

Sounds interesting, but I’m not sure how it would work out in the end. I guess I would need to see a mock up drawing of what it would look like, but the possibilities could be interesting in the end.

[youngneil1]

Yeah, I am still figuring out myself if this is viable at all. We might need to treat our tiles as cuboids (layer 1 as base texture for all sides) for it to make sense, have a perspectuve flight point right underneath the party, top down camera above party that climbs/descents with the party and draw cuboids size based on height difference to current party height.

Just an interesting bookmark:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/272 ... harpdx-api

[youngneil1]

Dear IBlers, I am so sorry for vanishing from the forum for such a long time. RL was a stressful, especially due to moving into a new appartement. After the longer break I was a bit ashamed which in turn made my disappearance last even longer. Whimsical me .

I am very happy to be back. Please give me some time to catch up with you fine guys .

P.S .: I did continue to code for IB in the background though (a bit, new lighting engine for dark areas).

[Dorateen]

Hi youngneil1, good to see you back! I hope everything is going well with the move.

Look forward to any new developments to the IceBlink engine.

[zach_holbrook]

Hey Karl. Yay! Glad to see you back too! The move sounds tough, and I'm hoping you're happily settled or getting happily settled. As the veteran of countless moves, I know how long it can take to get to that point.

[slowdive]

A well deserved break (moving isn't really a break ) and glad to have you back coding IB (although you have been posting commits to GitHub this whole time). Looking forward to what is coming up in the next years (IB additions, with Malkin and Hearkenwold). I hope to be back on IB Basic in a month or two

[youngneil1]

Thank you very much for the kind words, guys .

Feels like this forum stays a home unaffected by moving home in RL which is a very comforting thought .

I will post a new IB Beta version soon with a few bug fixes (and many new bugs, too, I guess ).

This will also contain the new lighting system for dark areas (optional as always). Maybe I can get a video on this done as I think it would be nice to see it in action. Features include:

1. much better support for scrolling and smooth movement (changed system to illumination of full tiles instead of the hexagonal shapes used beforehand; these will still be used for normal night time though),
2. works cross seamlessly connected areas without restrictions,
3. calculates illumination based on topography (walls/height levels block the light),
4. flexible light radius (max. 4 squares),
5. six light colors for halo on light source square and color tint of illuminated squares,
6. colors can mix if a tile is hit by different light sources,
7. pulsating shadows to simulate flickering light,
8. moving light sources possible (eg patrolling creatures with torches),
9. party light via torch on/off (via "t" key or mouse click on torch icon, has a nice fade in/fade out effect),
10. diiffculty of trait checks and encounter modifiers can be affected by darkness
11. dynamic recalculation of all illumination, no pre-baking of light maps (therefore light scripts can turn on/off all lights at any time).

Please note that there is no fog of war in areas using the new light system. Instead, only illuminated squares are visible (but they are visible regardless of having been uncovered beforehand).

[youngneil1]

IB Beta v197 released - no warranties, no liabilities, use at your own risk:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rzfjsnin7qyql ... 7.zip?dl=0

- new light engine for dark areas (see post above, video and explanation on usage will follow)
- smoother blending in/out of overgrowth (layer4, think eg tree canopy)
- bug fixes (ia animation of player characters on main map, normalized particle speeds regardless of computer's performance/resolution)

[slowdive]

Awesome! I updated my visual studio to the latest and also all the Xamarin nugets. I then pulled version 196 so I can continue with IBx (I’ll need to pull v197 now). I did play a little of Blackwinter on IBbasic, but had a party wipe trying to take on too many cultists even after being warned

[zach_holbrook]

Hey Karl! Great update. I've played a little of 197 and have encountered only one issue so far. During combat, projectile animations now fly through their targets instead of ending on them. I don't think I've seen this behavior before, and I've been playtesting combat pretty extensively. I wondered if it was related to the targeting bug, but whether or not I had the targeting issue during a certain combat projectiles behaved this way.

[youngneil1]

Hey fellow IBlers,

I know - too much time has passed since my last post here. My sincere apologies for that. I think I still feel a bit guilty for taking time off the project and trying out new stuff (with the Unreal Engine).

I wish all of you and your beloved ones a wonderful, happy and healthy Christmas time! 2020 is about to pass and I think we all look forward to the world taking a more positive spin in 2021.

I will continue to develop games in 2021 and maybe even double down on my efforts. This may result in picking up full speed with IB again or pursuing the Unreal project route further, hard to say at this point. Regardless, I commit myself to being more present here. If not for IB at the monent, then for you fine guys!

All the best and read you soon ,
Karl

[slowdive]

No need to feel bad at all of course. IB will always be here and will progress as we have time and energy permit. We have no boss pressuring us

I also wish everyone a happy end to the year and look forward to a better year in 2021 (it couldn't be worse, right?). I have been playing through The Elderin Stone in IBbasic to refresh myself with the engine and any outstanding bugs. I'm thinking of how to make IBbasic more intuitive, user friendly, and with more varied and tactical combat, etc.

[youngneil1]

Here is to no boss pressure !

For year's end incoming I did a little video with a quick look into IB v197 (just the village from the tutorial adventure, so you likely know most of the content):

https://youtu.be/FehInPy78EI

[Dorateen]

Very cool to see all the systems and effects in action.

[slowdive]

For year's end incoming I did a little video with a quick look into IB v197 (just the village from the tutorial adventure, so you likely know most of the content):

https://youtu.be/FehInPy78EI

Excellent video! Thank you for putting this together and showing off some of the features in IB and detailing what is to come in the next update. The lighting (including torches), animations, an living world features are really cool.