Post by Yelsavick in Shield and counter/heavy attack demo comments

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So I tried this out, this adds so much already. I don’t know if purists might find this annoying as an addition (although I suppose nothing is stopping them from just playing normally) but this is already shaping up to be exactly how I want to play King’s Field US.

Would it be possible to backport your additions into King’s Field 1’s port? I only say this because I admit to also wanting the minimap in some compacity. I know that’s a dev tool but maybe that could also be an optional change? A minimap that fills out when you get maps/go to new areas?

swordofmoonlight3 years ago (2 edits) (+1)

SOM has an automap system but it doesn't fill itself out as you go, although that would be a good addition. It's the funky looking map. The reason it's funky is the tiles need to be assigned 3x3 icons but right now they're all the same icon so you just get a sense of the shape of the map from it. You can turn this on with Alt+Alt+M but I call it a "Rescue" in the INI file because I don't think it enhances King's Field, but it's easy to get lost on maps, especially those made by novice game developers who don't appreciate how essential landmarks are to making 3D spaces navigable.

If by "KF1" you mean the sample game that comes packed in with SOM, sure I'll eventually add this to its arm model. I'm not sure when I will get around to it. It only has 3 attacks that I'd have to design counter-attack animations for that hopefully work with all kinds of weapons (it uses the same horizontal swing for Crescent Ax as for katana so it may prove difficult.) I'm slow to do upkeep work on the pack-in models, it's hard being the only person interested in developing SOM.

P.S. These extended "attack" features are just shaping up. They're going to become much more refined and elaborated over the course of the next few years or so. The Action button is fully mature by comparison, if anything it's doing too many functions, I wish that some of it could be offloaded onto the hand/attack buttons, but that will require a way to holster weapons so hands don't always swing them. The counter-attack isn't a novelty, it will be a primary way of doing sword fights that are more true to life, or true to movies. Controller vibration is coming soon and it's going to be integral to playing the game instead of just an effect. It's going to be how you can respond to situations faster than is possible by waiting for something to appear on screen and consciously responding with your controller and waiting for the response, which is all very slow and impossible, so vibration will be key to overcoming this technology/physiology loop latency problem. KF is abstract so you can think of the vibration as an abstract representation of your character's senses.

Edited: Thanks for responding BTW. You're the first legit responder. I'm always surprised how flat my work lands online. I don't know why people don't engage more and seem skeptical if anything.

Yelsavick3 years ago(+1)

Oh I didn’t know the automap was a default feature, I haven’t played around much with SOM itself. Maybe it’s not an enhancement for KF fans but I am dreadful when it comes to KF navigation so it’s almost mandatory for me. Even something as small as just the shape helps out a ton. If not I’d be looking up maps and that’s not the most fun alternative.

And yeah I was referring to the sample game, although by most accounts I was assured it was a remake of the original KF1, but if not it’d at least be interesting to use. I like the idea of adding a more methodical and complex combat design into a game with relatively simple combat system - but also a game that encourages that sort of ideal. I generally also prefer the smoothness that SOM provides over the PS1 originals, mainly in movement, running etc. Maybe one day someone could try Shadow Tower for it, but I doubt that very much!

As for the lack of response, I think it’s just the unfamiliarity with SOM and KF in general. Often when something is unheard of or rarely talked about, it almost seems suspicious. I think as far as itchio and other things are concerned you could try and give yourself your own unique group name instead of just using sword of moonlight. Maybe it’s also the long paragraphs and such, you’re working on a lot and have a lot of specific ideas and that could be hard to take in all at once.

swordofmoonlight3 years ago

Well, I actually develop/maintain Sword of Moonlight, so that's the name that makes the most sense! The automap is an original feature, as are the regular maps, however they were limited to using them as an item in the game, whereas you're remarking on this clickable pop-up display that's a new enhancement, as is the smooth experience and solid visuals.

SOM is about continuing King's Field, so it makes perfect sense to further it along its natural trajectory instead of trying to limit it for some misguided rationale (that seems crazy to me but it's something I often hear, that it should be frozen in amber, I find people's reactions strange more often than not) and as for this project my goal is to preserve the art and scenario in terms of its essence. As for the rest it goes by whatever is default for Sword of Moonlight.

Yelsavick3 years ago

Would it be possible to attach the automap functionality to the item? That’d be cool, like you have to use a map item or something to gain it?

And yeah it’s understandable that you want to express where you’re taking the project. I think most people can see it as an improvement patch (SoM) of sorts, or overhaul, remake (of KFII) etc.

swordofmoonlight3 years ago

That's how maps work by default. It's a cheat to pull the map up that way. But it just shows you the map in the Use Item screen like King's Field does it. Before the project is finished It will be possible to bind any item (incl. maps) to a button like pressing Start to use an item in KF. But I don't know if it's good to officially support a real-time map. That feels like one of those things modern games may provide that shouldn't be on the table. But you can use the Alt+Alt+M system to turn it on and it will be remembered after you turn the game off so you never have to do it again. Or bind it to buttons like in this demo.

swordofmoonlight3 years ago

Edited: It occurred to me you may have been asking about adding a new item to KF2? Or at least I may have misunderstood because I'm too close to the technical side of it. We can work out something later.

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