Ideas

 Warning: The following blog post is me coming up with ideas as they come to me

An idea just struck me, an extremely fast paced math puzzle game, with points based on the amount of time it takes to answer questions.

No, even better:

An interview game, with different endings. You interview someone, and you have to choose the right combination of questions to unlock specialized endings. The main focal point of the game would be the story. Just asking questions is boring, but asking questions to find some dark secret, to pry out a story from a deranged mind. Maybe several characters, different view of the story. Maybe  MURDER story, you decide who's innocent. There would be no "right" ending, its all for you to decide, it would be about the doubt that you did the right choice, the UNCERTAINTY, and the endings would be modified with what questions you ask, and how much of the story you know. This is a huge game, maybe too much for me to handle, I might need help (wink wink Jared), but I love this idea, I'm looking forward to drafting it.

The Bestiary

I'm currently working on the bestiary, the school internet doesn't let me access mediafire so I'm going to just copy and paste a section as a proof of concept.

print('......................................................................')
print('Health: 100')
print('Damage: 25-80')
print('......................................................................')
print('The goblin is a vile creature that makes its home in the swamplands.')
print('Highly territorial, small tribes of goblins are perpetually at war with')
print('nearly all nearby settlements. They are very slow witted, their culture')
print('glorifies war. Their intelligence lies somewhere between humans and apes')
print('as they are able to make simple tools and weapons. They are incredibly ')
print('weak, they live in fear of almost ever predator in the swamps. They hunt')
print('small animals and scavange the leftovers of other predators. Their stomach')
print('acid is very powerful, and they are able to digest nearly anything with few')
print('ill effects, if any. Their waxy skin is waterproof, but blisters easily if')
print('exposed to heat.')
print('.......................................................................')

This is a direct copy and paste from the source, I'll have one of these for each monster. Current priority list looks like:
-Finish Bestiary
-Create the class system
-Create the potion store
-Create quests

I also recently had an idea for Titles and Achievements, so that's something to look forward to.

SCREW C++

This is not a suitable language for a text based game. I tried to be optimistic, but this isn't working at all. I'm sticking with python, I'm going to figure out how to use cx_freeze if it kills me.

My Apologies

I haven't posted in over a week, due to getting grounded and not really being able to use my computer. My progress on the game has been slowed indefinitely, I'm going to continue writing in Python because my laptop is being held hostage, and these awful school computers don't let me install Visual C++ express. As I continue to write this, more concepts are coming to mind, Titles and Achievements. Because C++ does not allow the storage of strings, the user is unable to input a name, therefore I will replace names with titles. What C++ also allows me to do, is include a save feature. When the game is released in .exe format, it will save your stats upon closing.

Still writing...

Due to being crazy busy and rewriting the program in C++ is going extremely slow, I've decided to release the game I mentioned earlier; Doors. You can expect the release sometime tonight.

Just a hint, this game is best played with Google open in another window.

A word on Tor

Tor is a beautiful piece of software, it's possibilities are endless. It's compatible with virtually any browser (with the right addons of course) and grants you nearly impervious anonymity on the web. Next time someone tells you they're tracing your IP you can tell them "haha good luck with that". It's the internet version of a Kevlar vest with a middle finger painted on it, so you can be invincible and flip off your attacker at the same time
IP ban? No problem. Vidalia (Tor) allows you to change your IP address with a single button. Imagine going onto a chatroom/messageboard/online game, and do whatever you want, disregarding whether or not you get banned, piss everyone in there off. If you do get banned, one click, 60 seconds later you're back.

Tor is a gem of the internet, a monument to open-source software, up there with Ubuntu. It represents how the internet should be; free, unrestricted, open source.

Also...
Writing the program in C++ is looking more and more appealing. Having all the inputs as numbers limits user error, and makes it much easier to deal with. It would also eliminate the need for a full keyboard to play the game, the player would only need a number pad and an enter key. While the format for C++ is more complicated than Python, I could really use the experience.

Long story short:
Tor is awesome
I'm sticking with C++ (probably)

The drawbacks of C++

The problem with programming in C++ is that there isn't really a reliable way to input strings. Strings are a type of variable, but instead of assigning that variable a number, you assign it a "string" of letters, otherwise known as a word. In even simpler terms, a string is a variable that stores a word.

In C++, there is no such thing as strings. All data put into a variable is converted to numbers. The only variable that stores letters is the "char" integer, but it stores letters in the form of their ASCII code. (every character on the keyboard has a number assigned to it, known as the ASCII number).

If you were to store the word "test" in a char variable, and then you told the program to print the word, instead of just printing "test", you would get something like
t
e
s
t

C++ is a very useful language, but it isn't that useful for making text-based games. I can either continue writing the program in C++ and just assign number values to each character (for example, to choose an attack type, you would type in '1' for melee, '2' for ranged and '3' for magic rather than typing the words themselves.), or I can find a different language that allows the use of strings, maybe Java.

Busy Busy Busy

This weekend is busier than I anticipated, and it's probably going to stay that way for at least a week. I'm grabbing any moment I can to work on the game but it just isn't enough. In two weeks time however, I'll be able to start getting more serious. I'll release what I have in Python on Monday.

In other news, my friend Jared expressed interest in working on another project with me. I will post more updates if something comes of this.

Practicality

Writing this program in Python may be easy, but it isn't practical for what I have in mind. I plan to make this a freestanding text-based program, but currently I can't find any reliable way to convert .py files into .exe files. I've looked into things like cx_freeze and py2exe but it seems too complicated and impractical to use them. I've decided to change over from Python to C++. I will finish working on 1.0.1 in Python, but the next update after that will be DnD test 1.0.1 in executable format, written in C++.

In other words, after the next update after 1.0.1, you won't need the Python Shell to run this game anymore, it will be a freestanding program you can just double click on your desktop.

Also, there was a game I was working on for my Virtual High School class in Visual Basic. It's mainly a story-based game. I was going for something along the lines of Myst or the flash game Looming

http://www.gamershood.com/12831/adventure/looming

 It's still mainly text based but adding graphics won't be much of a problem, and if I can find a good enough artist to capture the atmosphere I'm trying to convey, then yes I will most definitely add them. The game currently has one ending, I may or may not post a download link later. This game is also in .exe format so no unnecessary downloads needed, only the game itself.

Summary for this post:
I'm switching python to C++
I may or may not release another game.

Ideas

Just jotting some ideas down for possible additions to the game.

I'm probably going to scrap the store idea, and reuse the existing items for quests. Instead of buying items in the store, the player will be able to buy different potions. Some potion ideas...
-Healing potion, a MUST
-Buff potions for each class
---Potion of strength for melee
---Potion of accuracy for ranged
---Potion of Mana for magic
-Potion of swiftness (gives you an extra turn)
-Potion of Luck (Raises maximum and lowers minimum hit rating)
-Potions of (class) resistance

Also, Ideas for class system. For player classes, each class would have different attacks that would be unlocked as the person leveled up each particular class. There would also be "hybrid" classes, with abilities that would require points in two or more classes to be unlocked. Also, attack types. Right now there is no difference between melee, ranged and magic other than what items buff what. Some creatures might have resistance to melee, magic or ranged, making hybrid classes more appealing. Creatures will also have specific attack types, such as Poison, Fire or normal.

Saturday might also be an unrealistic deadline for 1.0.1. I'll just keep working on it and post what I have.

I'm moving Quests and the Bestiary up on the priority list, current priority list looks like...
-Finish Scripting items
-Rework creature HP/Attacks to match gear
-Bestiary
-Quests
-New Store system

Any other ideas any of you have I would love to hear, a lot of my ideas come from suggestions from my friends.

Quick update

Changed the inventory system so that it's much easier to see what's equipped and what's unequipped. I will have version 1.0.1 available for download by the weekend. Still working on finishing the items, I might not have time to change the power of the monsters.

DnD Test version 1.0.1

I'm currently working on 1.0.1. This version will include
-Slightly more user friendly interface
-Items for every creature
-Strong enemies

The reason for the last update is that with all these new items, the player's power will grow very quickly, and the player would be able to take on expert level monsters with only medium level gear. I'm raising the HP and attack for all creatures.

Introduction

I'm an amateur programmer, I've been playing around with Python a lot. I currently know Visual Basic and the basics of C++. From my messing around came a DnD type game I call Arena. It's purely text based because I have a fetish for text based games. My friends seem to like it so I decided to make it available to the world, and I will track it's development through this blog. It's current version is called DnD test, because that's really what it is. It's very rudimentary, very simple. It also has a lot of inside jokes, including a couple secret enemies. You need the Python 3.2 to play it.

The download link can be found here.
http://www.mediafire.com/?ama6753gp46t8zl

Python Shell
http://python.org/download/releases/3.2.2/

The current version is DnD test 1.0
There's a long list of things I would like to add to it, mostly suggestions from friends. This is the current list of upcoming features, in order of priority, and how much time it will probably take

-Finishing all the items (gonna take many hours of work)
-Finishing the store (Maybe about an hour)
-Quests (with more items, solid 3 hours)
-More advanced class system with different attacks
-Monster Classes
-Bestiary
-Strategy Guide

I'm always open to new suggestions

Also this is my friend's blogger, he writes short stories
http://t4nky.blogspot.com/