The Destiny Knight

[origen]

Well, since I can not do any more work on the Bard's Tale mod, I decided to begin Bard's Tale 2: The Destiny Knight mod.

I have already created the six cities of the realm (although I have not inhabited the buildings yet, just build them), and am currently working on the wilderness. To make all 3 games flow a little better, the wilderness will be a combination of BT2 and BT3, so there will be a total of 7 cities (including Skara Brae, which will be in the process of recovering from Mangar's spell), and it will also feature the 7 landmarks found in BT# (Twilight Copse, Crystal Springs, Shadow Rock, etc.)

While these landmarks will not have a purpose in the Destiny Knight, they will be necessary later on. I may even put a brand new side quest inside the Old Dwarf Mine, but I haven't decided yet.

The wilderness will be smaller than the Rennibister Wilderness (total size is about 150x150, but I will only be using 100x100. The six cities will not be actual size, as in Devil Whiskey, but more like the scaled down size in Bard's Tale. Most cities are only 3x3 in the wilderness, with the excaption of the capital city, Skara Brae, which is 7x7. Of course, inside they are much larger.

Also, unlike the wilderness in Rennibister, there are bountiful trees and shrubs, as well as temples, castles, mountains, and everything else a wilderness needs. There will also be a few houses (some vacant, others are not).

I will have to come up with some unique content for Skara Brae, since the dungeons would have already been completed. While there probably wouldn't be any extra dungeons, I may put some clues, plot information, as well as some special items.

I can not give any estimated dates on when I will have this project finished, as I still can't even release the BT1 mod, but it will at the least take several months, assuming that I don't go through some periods where I stop working on this for some time.

Hopefully, there will still be some interest in this once it is completed.

[Growler]

Origen, much as it pains me to type this--you be bringing big breaths o' fresh-blastin' air round here!

You rock. In a country'n'westernity kinder way.

Sure there will still be interest around here, perhaps much due to your on-going (& rather amazing) mod-efforts.

Hey, that didn't hurt quite as much as I anticipated..

Btw, what did you decide to do re: which pics to use in your mods?
(i.e., DW's native pics &/or your own based on BT's elder/orig pics)

[origen]

For now, the final decision has not yet been made. I have an excel spreadsheet with my monsters, and it has two picture fields (one for BT and one with DW pictures)

Once it comes time to make the final monsters file, I will have to decide then. Right now, however, all of the BT pictures are still pictures. I haven't tried to animate them, and if that proves to annoying to make work, or too slow, I will just go with DW pictures.

Also, I haven't found any BT2 character pictures online (which is where I got the BT characters I am using), and it is a pain to export them from DOS.

And lastly, since the original BT characters were smaller, they look a little too distorted in the game. When I finally imported them, and began playing, it was't as good as I would have liked.

[Growler]

That's cool..

Hey, if you'd like to send me one of the original BT pics (or mebe I can find them online), I'll try out some techniques for enlarging them while minimizing distortion...I've had some success with enlarging other images (don't ask, but feel free to imagine something that rhymes with 'corn' & 'born' & 'torn').

How big do the pics need to be, pixel-wise? (DW can go up to 1600x1200, so the picture-field occupies roughly 30% of that?)

[origen]

I actually took the images from the Bard's Tale Shrine. I don't have the exact address with me, since I am on vacation (well, as much of a vacation you can have in Wisconsin) but if you google it, you can probably find it.

The picture should probably be 512x512. I think it may get altered slightly when it is used in the game, but it needs to be a multiple of 256x256 in order to import it into the game.

[Growler]

You mean the BT Shrine at RPGClassics?
as in:
http://www.rpgclassics.com/shrines/pc/b ... _ani.shtml
(this links to the animated 'enemies' in BT1, btw)

The pics here (animated Gif's) are indeed small..only 112x88.

But think I can scale 'em up without too much problem (using a few tricks) ...& to avoid horizontal compression/distortion, can lop off the sides where possible, then squeeze as necessary into the square DW 512x512 mold.

Did you get the Paladin image I scaled up? (realize you may not be able to access email way out in Wisconsin--btw, weren't you recently giving someone hell fer 'vacationing' there or somewhere sim??

It's a bit shy of 512x512 (~465x465 or so), but close enough to tell..

I'll try one of the 'enemy' pics & send your way...just in case you're not having sufficient fun in Wisc..

[origen]

Just because I am in Wisconsin, doesn't mean they shouldn't be made fun of.

I can access my e-mail, but can not upload them unitl I get home. I will check it in the game, and see how it looks.

[origen]

Well, after a long period of doing nothing, I have started getting a little programming in again. I have finished mapping/scripting the BT2 Starter Dungeon. I am not sure how quickly I will be proceeding, however, since transferring the maps into text files is extremely boring, and it can take me a week or more for each map, because I stop for long periods of time to keep from falling asleep.

I made a list of all monster encounters that I found in this dungeon, although I have mot yet "built" the monsters into the dat file yet. I still have to decide their stats.

I also just about finished the items list which will be for all 3 BT games. There are a handful of items which I have no idea whay the heck (if anything) they do. But I will worry about those at a later time. I also have not set anything up for any crafting. That will probably be done last.

There are also times in the mod where I will be deviating from the games original content and adding a few touches of my own, to keep it interesting for those who completed these games sop many times already. While it will not be much, it is a little something to keep people interested.

[Growler]

You should make the 'bad' guy in each mod your own alter-ego.

That way we can enjoy a bit o' jousting with the Master-Maker..

[Rickstavern]

just wanted to comment that I was able to play most of the way through the BT1 mod.

Was pretty well done. Oddly enough, I remembered most of the map layouts, so that goes to show that you were acurate in your level designs

If you want, I would be happy to build a few tiles for you to use. I don't do any fancy work, but I can make a new wall or two if you wish.

You can reply or send a PM if you wish, I should get notified.

[chaney]

Origen, are you ever going to finish the BT II mod you were working on? I know many would love to play it!

[origen]

Most of my modding is on hold since we never received any updated tools to make the effort worthwhile. Even the best possible release I can do would be below what I would like.

I still have all of the files, but the desire really isn't there. But that is not saying it will never happen, probably just not soon.

[dragonbait]

Hey Origen,

Any modding going on with you? DW? or otherwise? + any suggestions getting newly created DW monsters to be able to hit party members who have armor class of -10?

[Growler]

Hey Origen,

Any modding going on with you? DW? or otherwise? + any suggestions getting newly created DW monsters to be able to hit party members who have armor class of -10?

well, since O-man hasn't answered ye (yeti, at leastie), Growler'll step in with useless cuteness

DW monsters don't have a prob 'hitting' partyers with AC -10, but they may have probs doing anything mo than tickling them

[Blkadr]

This is completely irrelevent, but Growler, I'm keeping the link you gave earlier with the BT1 characters. It makes me grin like a weirdo.