Travel: Final Fantasy vs. Baldur's Gate

Stormseeker · Post by **Stormseeker** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 2:05 am

Ahh i understand now the other part, Hmm before i owned a pc bringer had some of those games..i barely remember them.

indio · Post by **indio** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 9:34 pm

I haven't forgotten you Ronan, I've just been busy.

This idea is a ripper. It's also a stack of work. Probably worth it though.

I've been setting up a new machine and haven't really done any tooling in a couple of weeks, but I will be back at it this weekend. I did take a quick look at a 32x32 area with the locales of th Silver Marches mapped out on it, and then stuck an NPC in it. I reduced him to 1/8th his size, and did the same with some sample trees.

Aesthetically the problem will be with landscape curves. What would appear a curve to a normal size character will appear angular and jutty to a small one. Items don't seem to scale either, so my NPC's sword was a good 3 times the size of my NPC (looked quite funny really).

But the sheer size of the 32x32 at this scale of NPC was awesome. The idea will almost certainly work if we make it impossible to carry any item while in the area, and most importantly, if the builders take the time to sculpt in the smallest exactitude a miniature environment in which to walk. Instead of 20 hours for an exterior, I'm guessing these map areas might take anywhere up to 100.

In any case, I think it' a great idea and pending how some test players feel about it once I've got a working version, will be proceeding with. Where you at with your version Heegz?

Ronan · Post by **Ronan** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 9:41 pm

indio wrote:This idea is a ripper. It's also a stack of work. Probably worth it though.

From a ACR/scripting standpoint, its a lot easier. Thats becaues the game engine simply gives us many more tools than the overland map travel system does, saving us a ton of work. It will offer more options than any scripted 2d map system could, I think.

indio wrote:Items don't seem to scale either, so my NPC's sword was a good 3 times the size of my NPC (looked quite funny really).

Thats a known bug in the toolset, but in the game it should show up fine.

HEEGZ · Post by **HEEGZ** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 10:09 pm

indio wrote:Where you at with your version Heegz?

I'm trying to get my proposal out the door first actually, but it's taking longer than I expected. I should have a rough 32x32 done by Saturday though. My thinking is to keep it as flat as possible for walkmesh purposes, and keep hilly regions as smooth as possibly. I'll definitely post when I have some info though.

- HEEGZ

indio · Post by **indio** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 11:17 pm

Cool bananas. Let's compare notes Saturday and maybe take a stroll through each.

HEEGZ · Post by **HEEGZ** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 3:02 am

Sounds good, though I've never attempted to host a server in NWN1 or 2. I've put one on a LAN before to import items to my DM toons, but not onto Gamespy. Also, I was hoping to get my version to Ronan as he said he would toss in a script to shrink PC sized down. Perhaps he could host it for me once the script is added. No new details yet, just thinking outloud.

- HEEGZ

HEEGZ · Post by **HEEGZ** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 9:05 am

I did a very rough initial build, here's a couple pics:

Keep in mind that my DM toon is normal sized and everything else is roughly 1/5th normal size. I've uploaded the mod to the FTP as Ronan was going to put a script in it to shrink PCs. Even with a normal sized character and few placeables I'm already pretty confident this system will work great. Much preferable to the 2D map IMO.

- HEEGZ

White Warlock · Post by **White Warlock** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 10:33 am

Looks good. Umm, how will you handle encounters?

Blackwill · Post by **Blackwill** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 11:56 am

How I hate Final Fantasy travel.

Lord Kilburn · Post by **Lord Kilburn** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 1:45 pm

Blackwill wrote:How I hate Final Fantasy travel.

How I hate Final Fantasy.

White Warlock · Post by **White Warlock** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 1:58 pm

How i hate people who hate.

AlmightyTDawg · Post by **AlmightyTDawg** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 2:01 pm

How I hate people with ironic self-loathing.

On a less-related note, I like the work for the overmap here - not necessarily clear how random encounters or other things would be handled, or how would player-to-player interaction work?

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 2:02 pm

That does look awsome.

Presumably, encounters could be handled with a "trap" script that whips the party off to a full-scale area of generic terrain of the correct type.

As long as it grabs the whole party. And if using the actual "party" setting, we would need to ensure PCs travelling together are always partied. Might be safer to have it search for PCs within a certain range of the "triggerer" - which would give folks a good reason to stick close together.

If the triggerer is a skilled ranger, they might be given a brief description of the encounter and the option to avoid the encounter, or at least prepare for it - thus making such outdoorsy characters invalubale for long distance wilderness travel. The possabilities are great!

White Warlock · Post by **White Warlock** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 2:07 pm

I agree that it presents many travel options previously unavailable.

darrenhfx · Post by **darrenhfx** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 2:46 pm

Very interesting....