by jjsonick » Sat Mar 01, 2008 9:03 am
In terms of an isometric graphics engine, roofs disappearing when you enter a building, detailed animated sprites, etc - I think that kind of stuff goes far beyond the limits of what ACK's built for. ACK is built to handle top-down Ultima V/ACS like graphics, and to give an Ultima V and earlier experience, and to aim for Ultima 6 graphics instead would require a complete re-write of its graphic engine, which I don't think Chris has on the agenda. An Ultima VI experience would really require a different system -- say, for example , the
IRE engine.
That being said, there are certain things on your list that can be implemented currently, and there's one wish-item I do agree with -- extra party members. I've discussed this with Chris before, and he said making ACK single-party was a design decision based on wanting Ultima II-like mechanics in terms of inventory management, and wanting to simplify the kinds of triggers objects have (ie not needing different triggers for different characters). I understand that rationale, but I still feel an ACS/Ali Baba method of handling multiple player characters could work. Instead of a party that acted like a unit, each player character would just get its own turn, in the same queue as the npcs and monsters. This means that PCs could go off in totally separate directions if wanted. Inventory management could be handled by one PC dropping something and the other picking it up, so that no extra functionality would need to be added there. In terms of triggers for events, dialogs etc - I think the burden of handling that could be placed on the adventure author instead of the engine -- ie, by default all triggers would respond the same, no matter which PC does the triggering -- if you wanted more PC-specific responses, you'd have to roll that yourself with macros, complicated object stacking, etc. I think that could work and be cool, but it might be too much to add to ACK.
Here are some things that could be implemented now:
5) Have the option to require food -- you can set a daily or hourly macro that increments a variable. The macro also checks if the variable is over a certain numbers, at which time it gives you "You're hungry", etc messages and can deduct HP. Using (eating) food items lowers this variable.
10) There is experience leveling now, you just have to roll your own macros to decide what happens at each new level
11) You can do this - see "Custom Skins - Dialogue Skins" in the manual -- also allows 'interrupting' NPCs.
12) You can do this with macros
JJ
In terms of an isometric graphics engine, roofs disappearing when you enter a building, detailed animated sprites, etc - I think that kind of stuff goes far beyond the limits of what ACK's built for. ACK is built to handle top-down Ultima V/ACS like graphics, and to give an Ultima V and earlier experience, and to aim for Ultima 6 graphics instead would require a complete re-write of its graphic engine, which I don't think Chris has on the agenda. An Ultima VI experience would really require a different system -- say, for example , the [url=http://ire.sourceforge.net/]IRE engine[/url].
That being said, there are certain things on your list that can be implemented currently, and there's one wish-item I do agree with -- extra party members. I've discussed this with Chris before, and he said making ACK single-party was a design decision based on wanting Ultima II-like mechanics in terms of inventory management, and wanting to simplify the kinds of triggers objects have (ie not needing different triggers for different characters). I understand that rationale, but I still feel an ACS/Ali Baba method of handling multiple player characters could work. Instead of a party that acted like a unit, each player character would just get its own turn, in the same queue as the npcs and monsters. This means that PCs could go off in totally separate directions if wanted. Inventory management could be handled by one PC dropping something and the other picking it up, so that no extra functionality would need to be added there. In terms of triggers for events, dialogs etc - I think the burden of handling that could be placed on the adventure author instead of the engine -- ie, by default all triggers would respond the same, no matter which PC does the triggering -- if you wanted more PC-specific responses, you'd have to roll that yourself with macros, complicated object stacking, etc. I think that could work and be cool, but it might be too much to add to ACK.
Here are some things that could be implemented now:
5) Have the option to require food -- you can set a daily or hourly macro that increments a variable. The macro also checks if the variable is over a certain numbers, at which time it gives you "You're hungry", etc messages and can deduct HP. Using (eating) food items lowers this variable.
10) There is experience leveling now, you just have to roll your own macros to decide what happens at each new level
11) You can do this - see "Custom Skins - Dialogue Skins" in the manual -- also allows 'interrupting' NPCs.
12) You can do this with macros
JJ