Mirage Source

I would just like to overview mirage, then I will make my point for you to reject/accept.

PROS/CONS of mirage vs Other engines

PROS: Simple source, Not extremely bloated, Good community (you may laugh, but people here do give good help compared to other places)

CONS: It takes time to make a game. You have to have vb6.


I have seen many arguments on this forum about adding new features saying that "Mirage is just a base". Mirage was a game, was it not? I think the best way to get new members into this community is to make it easy for them to make games. My first online game was in Elysium Diamond. It was complete crap, and it crashed every 2 hours or so. The mapping was so bad it almost burned your eyes. But my friends and I had fun with it. We were able to create a little story line, and there was always a few people on the game.

There are enough tutorials written already to make mirage usable out of the box. That is why I propose a version of mirage (open source) that has some tutorials in it that would rapidly increase game development. Now I could go off and make this version myself, but I think that it would be much better if it was tied into this community.

What I think this version should include:
Ip Config
Some graphics (perhaps rpgmakerxp, or http://www.rpg-palace.com/, or http://www.lorestrome.com/pixel_archive/main.htm)
More layers (mask2, fringe2)
Ranged weapons(done right, I may write up this tutorial later)
The ability to decide your own hp and exp and not use the default formula's (though leave them in as a guide)
Visual inventory
Visual shops
Visual spells



If anyone thinks this would be a bad idea, please explain to me why. I really don't want another project on my hands .

_________________

If Dugor lets me do things my way here, I'll post a list of features, and allow users to "vote" on what they think is good for a solid basis. Until then, please don't discuss it - we don't want genusis adding in ranged weapons :p.

"Ranged weapons(done right, I may write up this tutorial later)"

I would take it from that part of my advanced magic system from Rising Flames (secure, 360 degrees)

I did the config:
viewtopic.php?f=128&t=5385

_________________

Your thing would provide an excellent base, because you're quite a decent coder, as far as I know. Still, I hope every addition will be discussed before added, to make sure it's working perfect.

Add guilds and It would be perfect!

_________________
I is back!

Just an Update to show what I have done


Visual inventory (dugors tutorial, all polished up with scrolling up and down. Shows what item is selected, advanced description)
Item Descriptions (I didn't realize that mirage didn't have this. It is very useful.)
The tutorials I posted recently (config file, stop speedhacking, stop server crashing from non-numeric strings, easy warping)
Added rmvx graphics for sprites, using mack's rtp for tiles (old rising flames graphics)

Next up is more layers, then I am going to make it so you can put an image on the picturebox for spells and inventory (so its not just white).


EDIT: I put all gui elements into seperate editable images, I also made a content image for the spellsbox,inventorybox, and descriptionbox. Also fixed a bug when opening the spell editor (check the bug-fixes section). Added mask2 and fringe2 layers. Going to add an admin panel then release!

_________________

Thank you! I can't wait for it!

_________________
I is back!

The first version is out!

http://www.box.net/shared/4zxzj84z84

Notes:
Change the gui files in the interface folder to change the gui.
Click and drag on the inventory box to scroll through it.
Descriptions have a limit of 45 characters.
press f12 to access the admin panel.


Things to do for next version:

optional 32x64 sprites
attacking animations on the person being attacked
hp/mp bars for other players and npcs
npc names on hover
player names on hover


TESTING SERVER!
change the ip in ipconfig to 98.109.137.143 to go to my testing server. Try any hacks etc on this server, and I will try to fix them up for everyone. I may also make a small game on the server for everyone to play .

If you would like admin on the server please post here.



EDIT: I had fixed a bug, but then my computer crashed and i forgot to fix it again. Oops! If you downloaded the bugged version please redownload, or patch your version.

http://www.box.net/shared/4zxzj84z84

Serverside under

change

to


Clientside under

change

to

_________________

Another update!

http://www.box.net/shared/4zxzj84z84

The server now uses a data.ini that controls the game name, and max level. You may also want to change the game name in the config.ini clientside, but it checks with the server once you log in.

There are now hp and mp bars for all players, and hp bars for npcs.

Player and npc names show up on hover, npc name color is determined by its behavior.

I think I did more updates, but I forgot what they were .

I decided not to do 32x64, unless someone really wants it done.





The source is at a point where I think it is acceptable. Now I will add Features that everyone else wants. Please make requests. If there is a tutorial please link me to it. Let's try to get a discussion going.


Remember to try the test server by changing the ip to 98.109.137.143

_________________

Thank you very much, Labmonkey.
one question though, how would i make the names of the NPC's and the player characters always show? instead of on mouse hover?

Oh and i would like to see speech bubbles lol. small feature. but i like it

Careful Labmonkey, It's not a horrid idea, just make sure you don't end up recreating Elysium.

_________________

@Jared, if you want NPC and player names to always show, you would first have to look for this


and remove the If statements including CurX and CurY

@Nean The goal is actually to recreate elysium, just not as crappily programmed.

But yea, I have put out 7 tutorials in 2 days, so I am kind of done. I am only going to do new features if more then one person wants them.


So if anyone else wants guilds, speech bubbles, visual spells, visual shops, and ranged weapons, or has reason why I shouldn't add them please post.

_________________

I think that right there is enough, anything after that should be optimizations or little features. After this is when I would start telling people that if they want some more stuff, use a tutorial or make it yourself, it also doesn't hurt to take in a request from a newbie. But I think your doing good with this, I tried it out and I liked it.

_________________

So you say all of them go in? And the point of this was to make it so people don't have to torrent vb6 or spend $400 on it on ebay to use mirage. I am not going to put in actual game specific features, like a pokemon system, but I do want to put in things that all games could use.

I am thinking of doing ranged weapons next. Should I just rip out what I did for rising flames, or should it be only 4 directional arrows. Should arrows have their own editor, or use values in items? Should arrows require ammo? Should there be a preset range on arrows?

If I make guilds, do I have to create a guild creation item/tile?

Should I add scripting for tiles? (something even people with vb6 can find useful)

_________________

I think what I see is this happening:

Labmonkey gets mod, everybody loves him, people find out his code sucks, he gets demoted, then banned, then he makes an engine called Chaos Engine.

_________________

Well in that case, I think that a basic sadscript function would be helpful just in the sense that people without VB will use it, maybe for items Tiles and NPC's, spells wouldn't really need it because anything you would script for spells could be EASILY hard coded. As for the arrows, I think the current elysium arrow system its a little weird because of the 4 directions, arrows should be able to go any direction. I think the way it should work, is that when you have an NPC or player targeted, you just hold control and it shoots the arrows at them, and if your moving, make it shoot slower or not shoot at all, maybe the player has to facing the direction of the NPC? And as for Guilds, I think a guild creation item would be nice, maybe a GUILD NPC asks for a guild key or soemthing and if you have one, it takes it, a guild creation form pops up and bam, make your guild.

_________________

Also,

-STR Bonuses for Weapons
-DEF Bonuses for Armor/Shields

You're doing a great job so far, thanks!

_________________
I is back!

<3




That seems way to specific for what I want to do. I think I am going to have 4 directional arrows, as if I remember right I completely redid my arrow engine in rising flames to support curving arrows , and no I don't want to give that out to everyone . Also i don't think you can do rotation in dx7 (rising flames is dx8), so all of your arrows would have to be orbs. Arrow and bows will probably work like this, unless people have better ideas on how to do it.

You open the item editor, and make a bow. This changes the adds sliders:
Arrow Picture
Arrow Speed

Speed would be in tiles per second.



That really doesn't seem needed. Weapons already give damage bonus, and Armors and shields stop damage. I don't think they should also give hp.

_________________

Ok thats cool, just some food for thought

I would also suggest making a server side ini with a shit load of settings so people with less experience can just mess around with the settings there.

_________________

You mean like:

-Max Level
-Max Guild Members
-Max Spells, Items, Shops ect.

_________________
I is back!

This doesnt just have to be me programming you know .

_________________

Found a small bug in drawing player names.

find

replace with


I will do a update of the version in a little bit with some more features.


Also, nean and I and maybe a few others are gana make a little game on the test server. If you wana help out, or just play it, remember the ip is 98.109.137.143

_________________

What features are comin next?

_________________

Some small little things that I am sure everyone is ok with.

Multitile select
Horizantal scrollbar for tileset
The fix for the player names

_________________

ok sweet sounds good dude.

_________________