Bard's Whiskey - Revisited

[origen]

For those who have been here a while, I am sure you realize by now that I am pretty ambitious, but not always the best at finishing things, but I decided to have another crack at more modding for DW.

When I released my Bard's Tale mod a few years ago, it was made as a stand along game, mostly because we didn't have any finalized items or monster lists, so any additions I made would have broken some in game quests. Since we have since gotten these files (I actually just got the monsters file just recently) I have decided to start modding again. I have been at it for a few weeks now, so I am hoping to see this through.

So, what I am doing now is adding the content from all three Bard's Tale games into a playable game of Devil Whiskey, so all four games can be played by the same party. Of course, there are some limitations, based on the Devil Whiskey engine, but there is nothing that can be done about that, as all of the devs have left us. I will release everything in a few parts, to hopefully keep things from getting too spaced out.

So, what have I done so far? Here is a list

1. Combined the monsters list from the first Bard's Tale game with the DW monster list. As there were some name conflicts, I had to rename some of the BT monsters, but that was a minor inconvienence. There are about a half dozen monsters which do not have any skills/spells other than the default attack, since I do not remember what they did in the Bard's Tale game, so this would need to be cleaned up, but it should be mostly complete. I have the monster listings for BT2 and BT3 already included as well, so I can resolve those name conflicts, although none of these monsters have stats yet.

2. I combined the BT1 and DW items list, resolving some conflicts. I also created a few new items that will be distributed throughout the BT dungeons, although nothing very powerful. I am currently working on two parts of the items list, the first is adding all of the items from BT2 and BT3, so I can release them at the same time. The reason for this is I would like all items grouped by category, and sorted from most expensive on the top to least expensive. Since I am renumbering all items each time I compile, I need to have the list completed before the first version is done, or else the items in your inventory will change based on the type ID. The second thing I am working on with the items list is to balance the prices and damage of everything, to make it consistent throughout your gaming experience.

3. I almost triples the playable space in the wilderness, adding all of the cities and locations from BT2 and BT3. There are a few things remaining to add, such as random houses, some springs and such, and a few other landmarks, but the majority of the wilderness is functional. If you leave Rennibister, you can visit any of the BT cities, such as Skara Brae, Colosse, Corinth, Tangramayne, etc. I also added some unique content, such ad the Temple of the Elements (almost finished) and the Gnome village that is mentioned in the TOTE quest. Once completed, I will disperse some trees and bushed to the wilderness, to make it a little more occupied. I will also add the DW expansion mod I created, which is really just a few minutes worth of gametime.

4. I rewrote most of the BT1 scripts and map files. There are still a few that need to be tweaked, but nothing major. All of the cities from BT2 are created as well, although there will probably not be much adventure in them until the release of the BT2 quests. I have the first few BT2 dungeons already mapped.

5. I fixed the Leaf Note script from DW, and am working on attaching a quest to it. I am also going to release a few other random quests that are not associated with any of these games, to give a little more life.

6. Expand the alchemy capabilities in DW, so you can create some of the BT items as well, and also create a few new things. I will create more crafting ingredients, and whenever you kill most monsters, there is a chance you can collect something from their bodies to create. I will add all created recipes into the arcanium, in case someone wants an easier way to find recipes.

7. In case you get stuck, the BT cluebooks will be added to the arcanium as well.

8. I will include a pdf map of the new wilderness (Not an exact map, of course, but enough to give you an idea of the size) as soon as I finish creating it. I will probably work on this tonight, as I left my flash drive at work, which had most of my other information on it.

9. I will create specific class-related quests. These will be designed as a one person adventure, specific to the class. If completed, you will get a specific item or items that are designed for that specific class.

I will try to place an update at least once a week, and do not have any timeframes yet (I don't stick to them anyway), but as of today, I am comitted to making this work.

Hope that's enough info for now.

[chaney]

Ambitious doesn't begin to cover it! Even the update is entertaining. I sent you a pm. I hope you don't get overwhelmed, and do see it to completion. It has the makings to beat all of the games combined!

[origen]

Thanks for the support. Just as a quick update, I have finished about 90% of the items from BT2. I have been using online information about most of these, as I haven't played the game in so long. I may have to fire it up at some point to find out about them.

I am also going to have to play BT1 to find out about the attacks for the following monsters:

Mimic
Death Denizen
Doppleganger
Gimp
Lurker
Maze Dweller
Mind Shadow
Statue
Stone Elemental
Xorn

If someone knows and would like to share, I would appreciate it. I don't think there is a way to match the Doppleganger's skill at joining your party, and I read that a Death Denzien may not even be in the game.

[chaney]

Well, in BT2 the Doppleganger could do possession
The Stone Elemental could poison or turn to stone.
I will see if I can get some play time and get some more info on the others. I have never heard of anyone who has faced a death denizen

[Growler]

A 'gimp' probably begs for his crippled life.
(then backstabs ya)

A 'mimic' parries every thrust. Or something.

Awesome ambitions, O-man!
Chaney's right--fun just to read about yer plans.

Godspeed, Break a leg, and other expressions of encouragement.

[chaney]

quick update for you.
Statue and Stone Elemental only kick and punch-no special damage

[chaney]

Still at it. The lurker claws and tears-no special attack

[origen]

Great. Thanks for the info.

[jy_blaste]

unbelievable work Origen! well done doesn't begin to say it all. thx from all of us, and good luck finishing. You can definitely market it if you want - that's how DW started, right?

[origen]

Thanks for the support and info, everyone. Here is a quick update:

Finishing up the Monster list with the new information provided. I also added the chance that a craftable item will drop with every monster. I am not going to make it too high of a chance, since I would ideally like only one or two items dropped after a battle, and some battles nothing at all. I believe in the DW game, you just received too many items after a battle, it became hard to carry everything when exploring the dungeon, and you had to either drop some stuff, or leave and sell it. But there are also different styles of play. some people take everything, and others only take what they would need. I also added the names from BT2 and removed the duplicates, but I will not be doing anything more with these monsters until after the first part (BT!) is released. I do not want to get too off track.

For the items, I have added a significant number of newer items, as well as most of the information from all three BT games. Since the items compile differently, and I want to hopefully have all items listed in cost order, I have to include every item currently offered in all BT games, as well as the DW items, and anything else I plan on adding, so this has been taking the most time for me. The problem I would face is that is I recompile the items list after releasing the first part, a few things can happen, depending on how I do it.

-The items will not be in the correct cost order, with all of the newest items I added being on the bottom of the lists
-If I reorder everything, that would mean that the items you have in your save game will no longer match your inventory. If you had a Perfect Long Sword, for example, which was TypeID: 123, and in the reorganized file, TypeID: 123 is now a Staff, all of your PLS's will be staffs. You would have to start a new game to have everything correct.

Obviously, as I want everything to flow, I would rather not have this happen.

As far as the wilderness , I still have to find some water texturesto create a realistic looking lake, but the rest of the wilderness (except for trees, which will be last) is about 85-90% complete.

What I am going to try to work on over the next week is a sample release which just includes the new Wilderness. There will be no quests, the cities will all be there (but unaccessable), and the trees haven't been placed yet, but I just wanted to give people an idea of the size of the new wilderness. This should blend seamlessly into all DW related content, so nothing should break in your game, but it may be a better idea to start a new game just to try it out, or at least back-up your saved game.

[chaney]

Man, you are driven this time around. I am looking very forward to trying everything out as you release them. I will def give feedback. I am still playing BT to get monster info, just not running into any of the remaining monsters. Does anyone remember where you encounter the maze dwellers?

[Growler]

Does anyone remember where you encounter the maze dwellers?

uhm.. the maze?


Origen, yer OK.
Sounds like a lot of hard work & careful thought is going into it.. after you finish, we'll all take ye out for a few rounds o' Mead!

Ale?

soda water..?

[origen]

I also thought I would put out an open invitation to anyone who would like to create a small mod to place into this new expanded wilderness, as there is plenty of space to fill. If anyone is interested, reach out to me, either email, OM, or on this thread and we can talk.

[jy_blaste]

From what I remember, I am pretty sure there were 'Maze Dwellers' or something to that effect (Maze Lizards??) in BT3, in one of the first worlds after the starting world, perhaps the second Chronomancer-required world. As soon as you got to that world, those Maze-_______ monsters were a dime a dozen.

Hope that helps. Don't remember any Maze Dwellers in BT2. BT1 was many eons ago, in a galaxy far.....far....away, so can't help there.

jy_blaste

[origen]

Still toiling through the items list. My original intention was to keep all DW items as is, and just add my items at the appropriate points, but some of the DW items are just so high priced that it throws the entire economy of Orkney out of whack. I may have to do some tweaks to the DW items as well for balance purposes. I have been spending a lot of time on the items, and will probably never finish them if I keep as is, so I decided to tone things down a bit. The first release will only contain DW and BT1 items. The second release will incorporate the BT2 items, and so forth. The downside of this is that all of the items will not list in price order in the shops, but at least all of the DW/BT1 items will be in cost order, followed by the BT2 items in cost order, BT3 in cost order, etc.

I had to make this compromise just to keep my sanity and actually move closer to releasing something.

I also came upon an error in my programming, which I am going to need to identify before I can proceed. Right now, I am getting a CTD everytime I enter the Wilderness. This is obviously from something recent I have added, so I should be able to identify and fix this without too much hassle.