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[Alec S.]

Continuing to build on the enemy behavior system. 

-Enemies act differently based on whether or not you have your gun drawn.
-Enemies take a bit of time to go into hostile mode.
-If an enemy spots the player but loses sight of him, he will path to the player's last known position

Also working on making it so that enemies can emit talk-bubbles with small pieces of dialogue.  For example, if the player approaches a group of potential enemies, but doesn't have his gun drawn, they'll say something like "don't come any closer".

An important aspect of the game will be that many characters can be either hostile or friendly (or "friendly") depending on how you act.  Approach with your gun drawn, and combat will break out, but approach with your gun holstered, and you might be able to open negotiations.

[Superb Joe]

the red dead revolver soundtrack was an insanely well researched compilation of super obscure cool movie music and you should listen to it, in its entirety

[Alec S.]

Oh man, awesome.  Although I'm a bit disappointed that, while they borrowed music from my favorite Sartana soundtrack, they didn't take

.

I'll definitely be listening through this while I work.

[Tuba]

Sounds amazing! Very curious to see how the combat will be done.

the red dead revolver soundtrack was an insanely well researched compilation of super obscure cool movie music and you should listen to it, in its entirety

I would like to suggest the

too. One of my favorite games, full of Spaghetti Western references, a shame that the theme is so rarely used in video games.

Good luck!

[Superb Joe]

outlaws was really fuckin cool but it didnt get a fair shake due to real 3d games being a thing

[Alec S.]

Working on the character creation screen.  My plan is to make two versions, one to create characters (which will be roughly the same as the one the player will end up using) and one to create NPCs and Enemies (which will also allow me to edit behavioral variables).  Both of these will save to xml files, so that I can quickly prototype different character builds and enemy types.

This has really forced me to kick my GUI system into shape.

[Alec S.]

Woo, loading character attribute data from an XML file!  Menus that open other menus!  Programming RPGs are just a thrill a minute!

[Alec S.]

Gone back to working on the combat system.  I'm trying to balance the sort of choice you might find in an immersion sim, with pick-up-and-play arcadyness.  Basically my goal is Deus Ex via Nintendo. 

Basically the four pillars of the combat system will be guns, stealth, negotiation and fists.  I've got the guns part of that prototyped (and some of the stealth, in that you can sneak around objects without enemies noticing you).  Now for the fists.

I want to try to make a strength-build a viable option, and that means making it possible to bring fists to a gunfight.  There will be situations where using guns will be ill-advised.  For example, if you are in a saloon, drawing a gun could trigger a bunch of potentially neutral parties, such as the bartender, also drawing their guns.  You'll also be able to use fists in conjunction with stealth by getting close enough so that you can get into melee range before the enemy can draw their gun.

[s0]

the red dead revolver soundtrack was an insanely well researched compilation of super obscure cool movie music and you should listen to it, in its entirety

there were so many talented composers and cameramen in the 60s italian movie industry who were willing to take any job thrown at them. morricone wasted some of his best scores on awful b-movie garbage.

I want to try to make a strength-build a viable option, and that means making it possible to bring fists to a gunfight.  There will be situations where using guns will be ill-advised.  For example, if you are in a saloon, drawing a gun could trigger a bunch of potentially neutral parties, such as the bartender, also drawing their guns.  You'll also be able to use fists in conjunction with stealth by getting close enough so that you can get into melee range before the enemy can draw their gun.

you could give fistfighting characters some fun ways of disarming enemies before they can draw their guns. if you've ever seen the trinity movies or other bud spencer/terrence hill things, that's the sort of shit im thinking of.

[Alec S.]

I want to try to make a strength-build a viable option, and that means making it possible to bring fists to a gunfight.  There will be situations where using guns will be ill-advised.  For example, if you are in a saloon, drawing a gun could trigger a bunch of potentially neutral parties, such as the bartender, also drawing their guns.  You'll also be able to use fists in conjunction with stealth by getting close enough so that you can get into melee range before the enemy can draw their gun.

you could give fistfighting characters some fun ways of disarming enemies before they can draw their guns. if you've ever seen the trinity movies or other bud spencer/terrence hill things, that's the sort of shit im thinking of.

Yeah, I'm planning on making disarms a part of melee combat (as well as ranged combat, ie. shooting guns out of people's hands, if you get a special ability).  I haven't watched any of the Trinity movies yet, but I've been meaning to. 

[andy wolff]

I really like the goals you have for this as you've described them so far. The mockups are also mighty nice. Good luck

[i-kari]

That pistol is just cute.

On that UI, have you considered aligning the attribute values to the right for better readability? It would be quicker to skim through them.

[Alec S.]

On that UI, have you considered aligning the attribute values to the right for better readability? It would be quicker to skim through them.

Yeah, I might do that...

Anyway, I've been tweaking the stuff I have so far in the combat prototype.  Fixed some pathing issues, fine tuning the punching and dashing, playing around with a test level-layout with enemies wandering around.  This is starting to become a game.

[Alec S.]

Jared's got a sample character animated (which he'll then break down into a template for the various components for the character creation system).  In the mean time, I've got it running around in the prototype:

[Blambo]

It looks cool, but the fact that the gun is pointing straight at the camera when he's walking down looks weird, since in other cycles he's pointing it in front of him, and the walls have some perspective from top down.

[Alec S.]

Talked with Jared about it and he's working on an edit to change the perspective on the gun (which I think looks a lot better).

Laying some groundwork for the more simulation-ey elements of the game.  Made a class that stores character relationship information.  Characters will have a list of relationships with other characters and factions that will determine how they treat them.

[s0]

Yeah, I'm planning on making disarms a part of melee combat (as well as ranged combat, ie. shooting guns out of people's hands, if you get a special ability).  I haven't watched any of the Trinity movies yet, but I've been meaning to.

the trinity movies are really vulgar low comedies lol. they aren't really "good" per se (though as a godfrey ho fan that shoudnt be a problem for you) but they have some nicely choreographed slapstick fight scenes

[Alec S.]

Yeah, I can enjoy myself some pretty bad movies (For example I have a deep abiding love of "The Fighting Fist of Shanghai Joe" [yes, this is where I first heard the Have a Nice Funeral, Sartana will Pay theme]).  I've heard about the Trinity movies, just haven't gotten around to watching any.  The closes thing I own is "Trinity And Sartana" on one of those 20 movie packs, which I'm assuming is neither an official Trinity nor an official Sartana movie.

[joseph ¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

Aaaah! I wanna make a western game!

This is really cool, I'm getting pretty hype.

[Alec S.]

Thanks!

Working some more on enemy behavior.  If you aren't openly hostile, but get too close to a potentially hostile enemy, they will give you a warning with a little talk bubble that pops out above the character.  My current plan is to make it so if you don't comply with the warning or request, the enemy will become more suspicious of you, and possibly draw their gun, open fire, or make sterner warnings.

What I'm trying to slowly build towards is a situation where character's interactions with you will be based on a combination of their relationship with you (or example, if a character likes you, they probably wouldn't be threatened by you, but if you were already on bad terms, they might warn you to keep your distance) and the current situational score (location, the character's current task, and your actions can modify the situational score).