Indie Lurking II: A Madness

[Morkar Left]

I'm not a fan of Ye Olde English but I think foreign people get the idea at least.
And for Germans the word oft is exactly the same. That's why I was wondering.

 

[V_K]

I think Ye Olde Englishe is more of a problem for sufficiently fluent speakers in fact, as it often clashes with the not-so-archaic writing style (readers with worse command of the language just can't tell the difference).

 

[oklabsoft]

I'm not a fan of Ye Olde English but I think foreign people get the idea at least.
And for Germans the word oft is exactly the same. That's why I was wondering.

Good. I can get the idea when reading Spanish or French (forget comprehending spoken word!... too fast) but when it comes to obscure words I get lost. I also always wondered if some of the Latin translations for spell names and such are easily identifiable in some other languages... not so much in english.

 

[oklabsoft]

I think Ye Olde Englishe is more of a problem for sufficiently fluent speakers in fact, as it often clashes with the not-so-archaic writing style (readers with worse command of the language just can't tell the difference).

Agreed. Even as I go back and look at the Bestiary I see that I used both 'oft' and 'often'. It adds some flavor to the writing but seeing that it is done right is another story.

 

[oklabsoft]

A few more critical convos to write. Test data import successful. 300 diverse and fully functional NPCs will populate Lurking II world by end of weekend.

 

[CryptRat]

I am totally stunned by the quickness with which you write all these walls of text.
The dialogs were the most impressive part of Lurking, on par with the quantity of hidden stuff in every corner.

 

[oklabsoft]

I am totally stunned by the quickness with which you write all these walls of text.
The dialogs were the most impressive part of Lurking, on par with the quantity of hidden stuff in every corner.

Thanks! That's all my brother Justin. Haha I am constantly riding his ass to get more done more quickly. I am thankful for his help as that is the part of game development that used to bog me down until I ended up giving up on a project. Lurking I would never have seen the light of day without his work.

 

[Ranarama]

I'm really looking forward to this. I've loved that art style since I was a child. (Ultima 6 grossed me out)

 

[oklabsoft]

I'm really looking forward to this. I've loved that art style since I was a child. (Ultima 6 grossed me out)

Cool. Thx!

 

[ShaggyMoose]

I found out about Lurking from the obscure indies thread and Lurking II looks even better. I hope it has great tactical combat like Nahlakh but with a more interesting and interactive world. I find the sample artwork simple but charming.

 

[oklabsoft]

I found out about Lurking from the obscure indies thread and Lurking II looks even better. I hope it has great tactical combat like Nahlakh but with a more interesting and interactive world. I find the sample artwork simple but charming.

Thanks. Second mention of Tom Proudfoot. I will have to see if I can download and check it out. Did you try L1? If you did and put it down I would love to know why for L2 purposes. Thanks again.

 

[V_K]

Only if you want to have Nahlakh's slow-ass battles, make sure they're sparse enough.

 

[oklabsoft]

Only if you want to have Nahlakh's slow-ass battles, make sure they're sparse enough.

Slow combat I can not abide. I think really I am finding I am much more about exploration and discovering new things and thinking through hurdles. Right now L2 combat is fairly quick and I would say much sparser than in L1. I think it is far better too... we'll see. Still, if there is a particular mechanic from Proudfoot's games that was beloved let me know. Lol, I just took a break and made a 'blobber' style dungeon level for a fun little test. I should post it to see if it is passable should I decide to make a blobber next.

 

[ShaggyMoose]

I haven't played L1 yet; its in a looooong line

Okay, stuff I liked about combat from Nahlakh...

• Wide variety of spells that were not only distinct and individually useful, but could also be combined in multiple ways.
• A strong emphasis on buffs and debuffs, not just a slug-fest. Careful management was required to prevent your party from being overwhelmed in almost every fight.
  
• The importance of facing. It could be used to create/exploit weaknesses in enemies without you really having to micromanage your own.
• Knockback/collisions. Okay, probably not a particularly strong feature, but nothing was more satisfying than belting someone across the map, having them slam into another enemy and causing them both to be knocked unconcious.
• The guard function; such a practical time saver.

Agreed that fights could drag on, but given that Nahlakh didn't really have anything else happening, to be expected. Exploration is probably my favourite passtime in an RPG and it didn't really scratch that itch at all.

 

[oklabsoft]

I haven't played L1 yet; its in a looooong line

Okay, stuff I liked about combat from Nahlakh...

• Wide variety of spells that were not only distinct and individually useful, but could also be combined in multiple ways.
• A strong emphasis on buffs and debuffs, not just a slug-fest. Careful management was required to prevent your party from being overwhelmed in almost every fight.
  
• The importance of facing. It could be used to create/exploit weaknesses in enemies without you really having to micromanage your own.
• Knockback/collisions. Okay, probably not a particularly strong feature, but nothing was more satisfying than belting someone across the map, having them slam into another enemy and causing them both to be knocked unconcious.
• The guard function; such a practical time saver.

Agreed that fights could drag on, but given that Nahlakh didn't really have anything else happening, to be expected. Exploration is probably my favourite passtime in an RPG and it didn't really scratch that itch at all.

Appreciate the post. I will definitely be looking in to these points.

 

[Ranarama]

If there's still time for taking suggestions, how about a windowed mode?

 

[oklabsoft]

If there's still time for taking suggestions, how about a windowed mode?

Plenty of time. I will see what I can do. If it is as simple as I am hoping for then it is a definite. Thanks.

 

[ShaggyMoose]

In a similar vein, please ensure that ALT+TAB works!

 

[oklabsoft]

Got it. Thanks.

 

[oklabsoft]

Help me out so I am clear. I gather the need for windowed mode and alt tab is just to be able to easily switch apps like to a notepad or something right? I do not think I will be able to scale the game view to different sized windows. Is this an issue?

 

[ShaggyMoose]

That is the case for me. I don't need window scaling, as long as the game is playable/readable at 1080p.

 

[oklabsoft]

NPCs have been added. The eyeball test indicates that we need to add a few more. We are working on this as well as vendor inventories and spell/song teachers. These should be up and running within a week or two. From there, we go to unique story progression events and playable game. Certainly there is still a great deal to do but I feel pretty confident that you will be playing Lurking II sometime this Spring.

 

[oklabsoft]

Working with Justin's data to complete teachers of spell and song... looks like although magic is powerful, you will pay the price in questing to obtain the spells this time around.

 

[oklabsoft]

Update:
o Good chunk of quest specific mechanics done.
o NPCs at 300 and climbing will probably reach 500... All with complete (and many secret) convos.
o Utilized tiles at 500+
o Battle quality = L1 * 50
o Over 300 items of weapons, armor, clothing, etc... Many unique and secret.
o Puzzles and secrets galore and growing.
o Detail... Oh my... Detail.
o We recently scored $4 from L1 so probably a pig Latin version... Seriously though looking into cloth map production.

Hope some out there are looking forward to playing this as much as we are looking forward to it being played. Thanks!

 

[udm]

Looking good! Are you still set for Winter 2017?