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Everything posted by marthsk

  1. Hi guys! Sorry for the lack of updates lately. As I said before, the pace of updates will be slower than it was at first, mostly because we're sharing time between our personal and professional lives. In my case, I have accepted a new job (which is quite a blessing for me), and will be training to learn what I need to for the next few months. Not saying there won't be updates, but I'm definitely saying we'll take our time. I know Valeor has been busy as well, mostly saving the day time and time again at his job (which is typical for him ). Here's a quick status update: - Storyline: It's ALL planned out. All of it. All the quests, plot twists, bad guys, you name it, it's all planned. And even a bit beyond that. (Hint: possible future expansion) - Map: Main map is mainly done. Dungeons are WIP as we go along. - In-game systems: That's my part, and where we need to catch up. So yeah, the hatemail about slacking should go my way! - Artwork (gfx & audio): Still a WIP at this point. I won't give out percentage numbers because most of the time, hobbyist devs pull numbers out of their butts. I know, I used to do that. I'd rather tell you how it is with concise words than with numbers I don't wanna recrunch every step of the way. So that's it for the moment. We all appreciate the good words you guys send about our work. Remember, the online test server will remain up, and will periodically be updated as we go along. So you'll see our buggy progress as we do.
  2. Interesting find... in brand new Youtube (somewhat) 60fps-ness! (make sure you select 480p60 for quality)
  3. I implemented code from a lib (or maybe a snippet I caught on the forums, not sure anymore) that facilitates gliding, played with the values, and blended that with a lib that lets you map keys to do whatever you want (this is how I got WASD to work, along with Q/E). And in the mappings, I trigger movement via changing locs rather than Move(). It's a bit more complex than that, but that's the best way I could simplify it. Can't remember the libs name, I simply copied them into my code so I could tweak some of the core procs to fit with what I wanted to do. But you could find those easily on the BYOND resources section.
  4. I don't know, I'm not involved in that project. I don't think that will change a thing, really. That's his personal project, so Fox would be the best person to ask.
  5. DQTL Update: Foxfirenelli is now part of the dev team. Live build of DQTL: http://www.dqtl-server.ml

  6. Hey everyone! I'm glad to announce that Foxfirenelli is now officially part of the development team for Dragon Quest: Timeless Lands. He will take care of artwork design and will also contribute to story-line development. We have the game's main story planned out now, and we are in the process of implementing the key locations. Functionality-wise, items are to be implemented, along with the search function and treasure chest functionality. Spells will follow afterwards. Please note that while the updates are not as frequent, it doesn't mean we're working less on this project. If you have any questions on the project, you can ask either Valeor, or Foxfirenelli, or myself.
  7. The one I'm most accustomed to: Prepare thyself well, Dragon Warrior, for thy most challenging quest ever awaits. - Art thou ready, young one? - Yes, King Lorik!
  8. As shown on the online build, the dungeon/cave music has been changed to a superb (in my opinion) NES-like rendition of the DQ9-styled DQ3 dungeon theme. Shout-out to my partner in crime, Valeor, for this great piece of 8-bit goodness.
  9. First of, thanks for the kind comments. We certainly hope to bring a high-quality final product, so we're glad to see we're on the right path. Other players will be visible at all times, as people will do their quest alongside other players (on the online version). And from what I observed, they moved as smoothly as you do. There is only one glitch with the party movement system that I can't get around, due to timing shenanigans with the BYOND client: if your leader bumps into something and immediately moves after, the second character will be synched off and the line will "try to catch up" until you stop moving. It's an annoying aesthetic bug, but it bears no impact on functionality as far as I'm aware at the moment. This will have a lesser impact on the solo standalone (offline) version.
  10. DQTL Preview: Get BYOND, login as Guest, then go to http://www.dqtl-server.ml

  11. Preliminary preview: Pre-requisite: Latest version of the BYOND suite - http://www.byond.com/download/build/506/506.1247_byond.exe Connection URL: http://www.dqtl-server.ml After installing BYOND, simply create a userID from the BYOND site, and use it to log into BYOND. You could try using the Guest login, but your mileage may vary using that in future releases. Then click on the connection URL. It will automatically connect your DreamSeeker client to the game. Keep in mind that this is a very, very early demo. It is still missing a lot of core features. I am just putting that out there to get your feedback on the general feel gameplay-wise, for a BYOND game. I don't care if stuff gets broken within this session. Matter of fact, I would very much like it, so I can fix all of it. Most importantly, I hope you guys will enjoy this very early preview. --- Controls --- WASD: Move E key: command/confirm Q key: cancel PS: The ads at the start are from BYOND, not me. There are none within the game.
  12. Dragon Warrior 4 Game Genie debug codes (from GameFaqs, http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/563409-dragon-warrior-iv/46747046 ) : "What is it? A while back, a Game Genie code to unlock Debug Mode for this game was discovered. Check out the topic titled "Balloon bug and outright cheating" for more information on this. Basically, the game will check the address at $C000 to check its ( constant ) value in order to make some decisions on what happens. For example, if $C000 has its 4th bit cleared, the game will let you select which chapter to start on when you create a new game! Since this address always has a constant value, only a Game Genie code can change it, and hence, a Game Genie code that clears bit 4 will enable this option, which is obviously intended for debug purposes only. ( Hence, it is a Debug Mode option enabled through a Game Genie Code ) Cool, what's the code? Not so fast. Unfortunately, a little bit of an explanation is needed, because things are not as simple as we all wish they were, and without this explanation, you'll likely won't like the Debug code too much... There are 20 possible known places where the game checks $C000 to make decisions, hence having 20 programmatic effects. Some of these effects, unfortunately, are undesirable, so a Game Genie code must be carefully selected so that only the bits we want to set and clear are done so. Here is the breakdown of the 20 addresses: Effect Number, Bits needed to change, Effect 1 = 0x08 = Chapter selection enabled 2 + 3 = 0x80 = Press B to walk thru walls in locations 4 + 5 = 0x80 = Press B to walk thru walls on world map 6 + 7 = 0x40 = No random battles, press and hold Start to re-enable them 8 = 0x10 = Return has multiple locations enabled 9 - 16 = ALL = Slot machines behavioral changes 17 = ALL = Casino monster Colosseum / Battles ??? 18 = ALL = Casino monster Colosseum / Battles ??? 19 = 0x40 = Casino monster Colosseum / Battles ??? 20 = 0x20 = Boss battles ??? The first 16 effects are fully known and desirable. Effects 17 and 18 are simply unknown and therefore are potentially problematic, OR completely harmless. It is best to avoid them unless and until they are fully understood ( which may be never ) Effect 19 is bad and will crash the game, and finally, effect 20 is probably good, but still unknown, so who knows... All bits start as set, so to enable a Debug Mode, we want to CLEAR the required bit(s). As you can see from above, the No random battles debug effect requires that we clear bit 0x40, but the harmful effect that freezes the game is also enabled when bit 0x40 is cleared. As a result, we cannot make a single Game Genie code that will clear this bit without worrying about the bad side effect that it will cause due to the other effect that this bit controls. We can get around this kind of problem by making additional Game Genie codes, but this is beyond what we want to do right now. For starters, we need to completely understand what the unknown effects really do, ( which will probably never happen seeing as how no one is really interested enough to continue this work ) and then we can make the best possible codes for the effects we want. DEBUG MODE GAME GENIE CODE 1: SAFEST Enable as many effects as possible that are desirable, but do not enable any of the bad effects or unknown effects. Basically, we need to keep 0x40 and 0x20 ON so that we do not suffer their effects. Doing so will also prevent the other 2 unknown effects from happening. This version will therefore be the safest. However, since we will keep those 2 bits on, we also loose the No random battles effect, as well as the slot machines effects. C000 ? FF : 60 = ATEGAENY DEBUG MODE GAME GENIE CODE 2: COMPLETE Enable all Debug Mode effects. This will result in the game crashing when you get into certain battles, including the Colosseum. As long as you don't get into ANY battles, this version should be completely safe. C000 ? FF : 00 = AAEGAENY Why would the game crash due to a debug effect? Although there is no real way of knowing the answer to this, my personal theory is that this debug option was meant to enable some sort of battle editor, or something of the sort. This probably took a lot of additional resources, and so the entire thing was probably scrapped. When the debug code tries to enable such a mode, it essentially calls into a piece of code that doesn't exist, because it was removed altogether, thereby causing a crash. Note that this is 100% a theory and there is NO WAY of knowing if there is absolutely any truth behind this at all! Please do not spread this as a rumor of any sort! We all hate that! This is simply a theoretical possibility of how a debug mode would cause the game to crash. Nonetheless, there is likely no way to ever know why the game crashes for sure, but the point is, it does, so we need to avoid that debug option in our final and ultimate debug code. Enabling bit 0x40 can crash the game if I get into a random battle, but it also disables random battles, so why is it unsafe to use? Good point, but remember, if you press and hold start, you can get into random battles again, and then suffer the side effect. Also, the effect happens on boss battles as well as Colosseum fights, so you need to be sure to avoid all battles if you try the complete debug code... What are the slot machines' changes that take place with the debug code? They are relatively minor. 1 - There is a message that is displayed or not displayed when you start to play. 2 - You can stop the reels by pressing the A button. 3 - Reels can spin for a longer amount of time before they stop on their own. 4, 5, 6, 7 - The reels decelerate smoother. 8 - When a round is over, pressing and holding a button won't prevent the next round from starting. For the most part, they are automated-testing-friendly effects, not really anything you would care about... much... How can I help figuring out the last 4 unknown effects? I made some Game Genie codes that would enable ONLY those 4 effects that are currently unknown. Here they are: // 17 - Casino monster Colosseum / Battles ??? AEXZXLLA // 18 - Casino monster Colosseum / Battles ??? AEUEIPGI // 19 - Casino monster Colosseum / Battles ??? AAVUEYIG // 20 - Boss battles ??? SZEZGXSE You may need to enable all 3 of 17, 18 and 19 to witness the game-freezing effect. For the most part, figuring out 17 and 18 would be nice, but they appear to be related to the game-crashing effect, number 19. It appears they all deal with the same issue although only one of them actually leads to a crash. I doubt their effects will ever be known because I predict that whatever they are supposed to do, it is something that was removed from the final build of the game completely... The 20th effect seems legit, although I don't know what it does. Address $6E44, bit 0x40 is always set before a boss battle, but this debug effect skips the setting of this bit... it would be nice to know what this is supposed to do... So, that's pretty much it. I'm pretty much done researching the debug code. The only thing missing is those 4 unknown addresses, so anyone that wants to figure out what they do ( at least the last one ) and report back, that would be great. Enjoy! :)"
  13. New videos for Dragon Quest - Timeless Lands will now be posted on archive.org instead of youtube, as archive.org doesn't reduce the video quality of files. Plus, 60 fps, so you'll see EXACTLY how smooth the game should play. Recommending Google Chrome along with VLC's video web plugin.

    1. Woodus


      Looks good, can't wait to play it


  14. From now on, I will be posting videos on archive.org, as it keeps the exact same video quality/framerate when you upload videos there. Recommending Google Chrome along with VLC's video web plugin. See for yourself: https://archive.org/embed/dqtl_testvid
  15. We should be fine in terms of media. Now I just need to develop the base further. Also, I think I didn't post that before:
  16. Hello all, Development of the game will resume within the next 30 days, most likely sooner than later. Long story short, major health issues came up and kept me away. But that has all been taken care of. I'll just need to get accustomed to my code again, and we'll get this damn game running!
  17. It's been a while, hasn't it, Den?

    1. Show previous comments  1 more
    2. Democrobot


      Get out.





























      Just kidding.











      Or am I?

    3. Stepchan


      Demo, that startled me. I thought the updates section spazzed on me when I opened this.

    4. ignasia


      Then welcome back, and you've come at a very intriguing point in time.

  18. Yo everyone! Just thought I'd quickly let you know what's going on. I'm taking a small break these days as there are matters I need to attend. I'd rather not discuss those, but rest assured that I'll keep on working on this. I haven't recoded the damn thing from scratch for nothing! Yay, I actually made it short! But seriously, it's just until I take care of what I need to. Nothing bad, just a bunch of stuff that both came up and piled up, really. I'll keep you all in the loop.
  19. More mapping has been done, courtesy of my good friend Fozzbozz. I've been busy on my end, and hopefully I'll get the items/equipment thing done soon.
  20. If only the DQ9 save hacking tool had a reverse search function for grottos... I would've loved to try to reproduce that. It's probably like those rare maps that have metal monsters only floors.
  21. Thanks. One of our friends made one for us as well, as well as some other tunes, such as the one I'll post in a sec. We'll see which one we'll use. BGM of the moment:
  22. THIS! All the Goof-Off/Jester Class was really good for was getting an easy Sage at Level 20, and even then there's a better way to go about it that yields are more powerful Sage. Though it involves a good number of hours of grinding. (And the remakes add a second Book of Satori to make two sages.) Well you could also farm Blue Beaks for the rest of your life, but who wants to do that?
  23. Tell me about it. And that tends to happen increasingly the larger your audience becomes, turning a portion of your fandom into this. The Goof-Off is replaced by the Minstrel in later installments, and to be honest, he is more useful than the Goof-Off. With that said, we could always implement something similar to the random moves they were doing as an option, but I wouldn't make it something that you can't control, as the Minstrel is my startup jack of all stats, so to speak.
  24. Here's a THING: Had been a tad bit more busy with that estranged concept that is life outside of the internets. And I've tried to polish a few things already in motion in the game's code. Also, Fozz finished up the sprites of the classes we'll use in the game, as well as their female counterparts. And the Minstrel's sprite has been reworked completely. For the next few days, I'll be working on the inventory/equipment HUDs and interaction. Here's a rundown of my plan, and the order I'll take: - Items/Equipment framework (HUDs, interaction, usage, equip) - Status HUDs updates in relation to equipment - Treasure Chests and search function - Doors and keys - Overworld spells - Combat system As usual, no ETAs, as ETAs mean stress, and stress drains motivation. Anyone ever wondered why hobbyist projects fall apart most of the time? That equation is the answer. Screens of the new sprites:
  25. Haven't tried it myself, but... whoa, that's one way to guilt-trip the player. It's like: "Not only did you break her heart, but because of YOU, her whole life became HELL! ...You may want to go ahead and erase that adventure log, then MAYBE you'll become a better human being after making up to her for it in your new game!" I'm BARELY hamming it up.
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