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 Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   05-20-07 13:43

Greetings all!

I'm going to try to stick with this thread for updates on the progress of the "Savage Empire Total Conversion" for Ultima VII/Exult.

During the past few days, I have been tinkering with Gimp and shape files. I'm not ready to show anything yet, but I will soon. I will list the objects currently completed/almost (needs tweaked) completed:

1.)Stone Oven - as seen in the Kurak village. It is based off of the original, but modified. The colors are different, and there is more detail. I am considering making separate frames to animate the fire when the player/npc uses it. I am very pleased with how this shape turned out.

2.)Bow - based off of the original, but applied to the Ultima VII bow frames. Again, I am quite pleased, but one frame needs tweaked.

3.)Bamboo Endtable - uses U7 wooden endtable as a base. IMO, it looks better than the original, but maybe to bright a green...

4.)Bedroll - both inventory and in use positions are done. They are based off of the ones used by the pc/npc's while resting in the original.

5.)Jaguar Skin Rug - based off of the S.I. leopard rug, modifed to look like the original. I am thinking of making a bedroll with that and the folded skin, just for different options for the player. There will be frames for each cardinal direction. Many items will get this treatment.

6.)Jaguar cloak - just a recolored leopard cloak. I create or recolor extra items here and there, which weren't in the original, but might be added for more depth.

7.) 2 Large and 2 Small Mats - I tried to give them a basket-weave look. One large and small mat retain colors similar to the original, while the other two are much more dark and green in color.

8.)One Large and One Small Stalk of Bamboo - These are basically finished, maybe a tad bit more tweaking to go. They both have leaves. I'm considering making more frames with the leaves in different positions, for a more varied look. I'm also tempted to animate leaves slowly falling from the stalks. I haven't worked on animating anything with them falling after attacked yet, but I have some ideas...

9.)Crate - wooden crates that are very similar to the ones in Rafkin's lab are complete, with a recolored ship's hold gump. I used the ship's hold gump, since it is wooden and square.

10.)Basket - recolored U7 basket to look like the original. I used the basket gump from Ultima VIII, moved the handles on it to match the actual item, and used the bag gump as a base. Actually, I had to move the handles, because the checkmark overlapped the handle, but now its better. I also recolored the U8 gump to match the basket.

11.)Metal Buckets - three frames- empty, water, and tar. Complete.

12.)Inventory Bamboo Poles - for making rifles and stuff. When harvested, the pole will be green, and must be kiln-dried in the oven, turning it yellow and making it usable for projects(well, thats the idea anyway!).

13.)3 Main Shields - The 3 main shields are done, but the frames for leaning or hanging them need work. I want to have shields and spears hanging on the walls of certain dwellings.

14.)Spear - 90% complete, needs tweaked. I tried to make the spearhead look either like obsidian or flint.

15.) Player Gumps -

a.)Paperdoll Gump - Beta version is complete. I call it a beta, because I might change the style a bit, but I haven't decided. All of the icons are replaced with S.E. interface-icons. They animate like the originals, and they all function properly. The stone head from the top of the screen in the original is used in certain parts of the GUI. He replaces the Disk Icon, and blinks with red eyes when you click him.

b.)Stat Tab- Complete.

c.)Tactics Tab - Complete. Halo is replaced with the Stone Head. Unprotected=eyes closed, Protected=eyes open and blue in color.

d.)Check mark - recolored to green.

...and the last item to mention for now is............


16.)Bamboo Walls - Nearly complete. I have something I am finally pleased with, but I have to finish the corner-pillar piece. After that, I'll do the thatched roof tiles, tweak the door, and create a curtain and shutter for the windows, wall hangings, etc. I'm going to create another wall set that is similar, but with vertical bamboo instead of horizontal bamboo. This is due to my idea of giving each tribe unique dwellings.

I have alpha versions (one frame each) of Rafkin, the default S.E. Avatar. I have decided that each tribe will have unique clothing (what little they will be wearing). For example, the Kuraks clothing will be all made of jaguar skin. I'm still working with the swing bridge. I may go with one that looks more like the original (using U7 boards), but either way, I'll be using the rope railings, since they are working so well. I also have a log graphic from Ultima VIII that I'm going to modify for this T.C.

I think thats it for now. I have a few things started but not finished yet. I have a .gif of all of the original tiles, and I black out each item that I complete, sort of like a checklist. When all of the objects are done, I'll start experimenting with chunk tiles and mountain tiles. I have decided that I will use some items from the SNES version as a base, but everything will be tweaked.

More info to come soon!

Scythifuge
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Malignant Manor 
Date:   05-20-07 14:31

Chunk sizes are 128x128. You can import them as shapes with less functionality. You would set them as 8x, 8y, 0z size. If the tile had water, the party would still walk on it. You could make smaller water tiles and place them on top as a fix. Any objects that are not flat will become so. So it is best to leave out rocks and trees (they can be placed with separate shapes. Just clone the terrain around it to cover up the gaps left by taking them out.

Mountain tiles would be best to import as separate shapes for each size. If I knew what the mountains looked like I could explain better. If they are basically topographical symbols like "^^^^" then I would say forget it and just use the U7 graphics instead.


12.)Inventory Bamboo Poles - for making rifles and stuff. When harvested, the pole will be green, and must be kiln-dried in the oven, turning it yellow and making it usable for projects(well, thats the idea anyway!).

Sounds possible to do although complicated.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: SB-X 
Date:   05-20-07 19:12

Will you be posting screenshots here soon? (perhaps you will wait until those new shapes are put in place on the map)
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   05-20-07 19:35

Quote:
"Mountain tiles would be best to import as separate shapes for each size. If I knew what the mountains looked like I could explain better. If they are basically topographical symbols like "^^^^" then I would say forget it and just use the U7 graphics instead."

I have an idea for tackling the mountains, but I have to practice using E.S. and Gimp some more.

Quote:
"Will you be posting screenshots here soon? (perhaps you will wait until those new shapes are put in place on the map)"

I'm waiting to finish some items, especially the tweaking of the bamboo walls. The new screenshots will be similar to the originals, meaning that I will be setting up a scene to display the new stuff, but there won't be any functioning game yet (no dialogue or quests, etc.). I'm hoping to be able to completely recreate Intanya's hut and the lab with the new shots.

In the meantime, I will keep working on things. Since my last post, I have created a macuahuitl (Aztec obsidian sword) that looks nice. However, it is rather large and will have to be shortened, as it is supposed to be a one handed weapon. I might leave the large one in there for the Nahuatla guards. It would do massive, critical damage. The Spanish recorded how an Aztec warrior decapitated a horse during battle, with a macuahuitl that was 3-4 ft long. I based this one from the two-handed sword frames, and now the macuahuitl is almost as long as the avatar is tall!

I also created a bamboo corner post for the bamboo walls, now I just have to tweak them all. They won't snap together right, so I suspect I messed up a value somewhere in there...
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Malignant Manor 
Date:   05-20-07 20:00

Here is some code that should work although I can't test it. It has no frills. There isn't a wait period for the bamboo to cook. It assumes that you are going to double click on the green bamboo and then target the kiln. The the bamboo will change colors. It assumes that the two types of bamboo are different shapes.

After that, it assumes that there are two other parts that make up the rifle and they share the same item shape. If you set the shape difference too high to where the item shape doesn't exist it will cause a game crash when you create the item. That is a good sign to recheck your math.

Whenever you release your mod, I can reconfigure and double check this. Code looks nice in ConTEXT, but will probably look like crap in the forum.


Green_bamboo_pole shape#(1024)() //assumes 1024 is the shape number of the bamboo
{
var DOUBLECLICK= 1;
var Kiln= 799; //assumes 799 is the shape number of the Kiln
var yellow_bamboo_pole= 1; //assumes that yellow bamboo is one shape higher than the green bamboo, the number can be negative to indicate that it is a lower shape number
var AVATAR= -356;
var click= UI_click_on_item();
var get_shape_click= UI_get_item_shape(click);

if (event == DOUBLECLICK)
if (get_shape_click == Kiln)
UI_set_item_shape(click, (UI_get_item_shape(click)+ yellow_bamboo_pole)); //changes from green to yellow bamboo
AVATAR.say("The bamboo is finished");
}
Rifle_tool shape#(1025)() //assumes 1025 is the shape number of the rifle tool
{
var DOUBLECLICK= 1;
var PARTY= -357;
var AVATAR= -356;
var click= UI_click_on_item();
var get_shape_click= UI_get_item_shape(click);
var Rifle_part_Shape= 675;
var Any_Quality= -359;
var Yellow_bamboo= 1025; //assumes that yellow bamboo is shape 1025
var Part_one_frame= 0;
var Part_two_frame= 1;
Var Rifle_shape= 1; //assumes that the rifle is one shape higher than the yellow bamboo

if (event == DOUBLECLICK)
if (UI_count_objects(PARTY, Rifle_part_Shape, Any_Quality, Part_one_frame) >= 1){ //checks to ses if party has Rifle part 1
if (UI_count_objects(PARTY, Rifle_part_Shape, Any_Quality, Part_two_frame) >= 1) //checks to ses if party has Rifle part 2
if (get_shape_click == Yellow_bamboo)
UI_set_item_shape(click, (UI_get_item_shape(click)+ Rifle_shape)); //changes yellow bamboo to a rifle
UI_remove_party_items(1, Rifle_part_Shape, Any_Quality, Part_one_frame); //removes 1 part one rifle part from party inventory
UI_remove_party_items(1, Rifle_part_Shape, Any_Quality, Part_two_frame); //removes 1 part two rifle part from party inventory
}
else AVATAR.say("We need more components to make the rifle");
}
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   05-20-07 20:17

Thanks, Malignant Manor! I don't know very much about code yet, but I'm sure that this will come in handy. There will be other variables to consider. Rafkin must be in the party, the Avatar must give him the dried bamboo, and the party must be at the lab. Thats generally how it worked in the original.

The fresh bamboo and the dried bamboo are two different shapes. The bamboo rifle will look different, having been modified by Rafkin, and also to function as an animating weapon that the player can use. The rifle will then require gunpowder. I want to add a subquest in which the player finds a source of lead ore, and gets rudimentary musket balls cast for him/her by a Nahuatla metal worker/jewelry maker npc.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Malignant Manor 
Date:   05-20-07 20:29

That scripting is beyond me. (I just started.) The best I could do is add a check for if the party is in doors (I know how to do that) and if I had the NPC #, I could probably set it up to make sure that he is in the party although I have never done it. That would probably be good enough if there are building tiles in the lab.

I forgot to say that this assumes that you are double clicking an object and then targeting the yellow bamboo. It can be any object and would allow you to use a different tool on the bamboo to make a blowgun or something else.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   05-23-07 13:14

Just an update:

I am going to be out of town for the weekend, and will not be on the net. I'm going to have my pc, so I'll be working on S.E. in my spare time. I am trying to get things ready so that I can post pics of the new stuff by the end of next week.

There are some obstacles that I must overcome to meet the screenshot-goal. My bamboo walls all are the thickness of doors, which looks realistic and nice. However, my variations of the corner post do not line up with all of the pieces, even pieces that align properly with everything else. I have an idea that may overcome this situation, and it involves drawing posts in slightly different positions. My posts are not as thick as the originals, because then they would look out of place and silly. The way I see it, most of the posts and walls are of the same thickness, and thus align properly. Because all of my walls are as thick as doors, I will need a post for each position that doesn't align. It is kind of annoying, but not hard to do. I may also tweak the colors of the walls, since they seem a bit too bright.

When I create a new weapon or armor piece, the avatar will not equip them. He holds them like a regular object, or they go into the backpack. However, if I replace an original U7 weapon or armor piece, then they work perfectly. Again, not much of a problem, as there are enough U7 weapons and armor that I can replace them with everything from S.E., but it is agitating. After this mod, I'm thinking about an original, non-Ultima game, and that would need more weapons and armor.

A couple of new objects go underneath objects that are at the lowest point, and I have no clue why this is. If I click the object on top, it will select the object that went underneath. There are other things that need tweaked, but these are the major ones.

Newly completed items are the one-handed macauhuitl, and the aztec cloth armor.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Malignant Manor 
Date:   05-23-07 13:47

If it is BG, you can just disable the paperdolls if they are set up to use the appropriate slot in ES. Weapon problem if it isn't viewed on the screen (not just the paperdoll) properly is probably an improper in-hand offset. There is usually a different offset for each frames. Make sure you click apply before you change a frame or it forgets what you did.

You need to get a file from the Exult source called paperdol_info.txt and modify it to either use old paperdoll graphics for the items or create new graphics (another pain). You place it in the patch directory of your mod. Only the stuff you change needs to be included although the old stuff makes a good quick reference. Here is where it is located in the Exult source.

exult-cvs.tar.gz\exult-cvs.tar\exult\data\bg\paperdol_info.txt for the BG file.

exult-cvs.tar.gz\exult-cvs.tar\exult\data\si\paperdol_info.txt for SI.


The file has more details about how to set stuff up.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Gruck (---.abhsia.telus.net)
Date:   05-24-07 23:27

I can't wait to see your great work! Even if I prefer Martian Dreams to Savage Empire.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   05-28-07 16:14

QUOTE:
I can't wait to see your great work! Even if I prefer Martian Dreams to Savage Empire.

Thanks! I hope that people like what I've been working on.

We had some rain while we were at the cabin, so I used that time to rework the bamboo walls, and watch Mel Gibson's Apocalypto. I had to make various adjustments, as well as various different "pillars" to get the walls to line up, as well as get the required room sizes. I am quite pleased with the results. All I have to do to show off Intanya's Hut is to finish a few items that belong in there, and get some workable thatched-roof tiles. The U7 and SNES S.E. ones are no good "as is", but both will be used to create the new ones. If there are any delays in showing screenshots by the end of the week, it will be the roof tiles.

In addition to tweaking the walls, I have made a "jaguar skin" curtain that you can double click to slide open or closed. There will be mini curtains for certain windows. Some npc's will use the curtains for doors, rather than actual doors, though there will be actual doors as well.

Other things I'll be working on are more weapons, and tweaking with the colors of some of the weapons, with the biggest priority being the roof tiles.
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 Screenshots of new objects
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   06-03-07 16:57

Well finally here are some screenshots. They are not as completed as I wanted them to be, but unforseen delays (such as a long-time friend coming to town) are making things take too long.

The thatch tiles are no where near completed, but I threw in a couple of experimental ones to show what I'm working on. Many small items are not completed, so only the walls are a reconstruction of Intanya's hut. Screens of the lab will have to wait until the next time as well.



Here we have the hut, with jaguar skin curtains. All places in the remake will have more detail, so the curtains are more realistic. I'll probably make different curtains/tapestries. I cannot figure out what the design of the tapestries in the original S.E. are supposed to be, so I made the window curtains jaguar skin as well. The door has the original look of the bamboo walls, which I though was way too much.

On the left you can see the obsidian-headed spear, and the Nahuatl cloth armor. In the middle lies 3 macuahuitls. The small one is a one-handed weapon. The one in the middle is a two-handed version, and the one on the right is a Master Macuahuitl, of which only one or two will exist in the game, and must be taken from powerful characters. On the right mat, are the three main shields that appear in S.E.



This shot is just to show that you can open the curtains. I haven't figured it out yet, but the window curtains are supposed to open and close. I had to draw new "window walls" with open and close frames, to make them solid. But I can't figure out how to make the game switch to the next frame when I click on it.



Here are shots of the GUI. I'm still tweaking portions of it, such as the offsets of the icons.



Here is a shot of some random stuff. We have the bamboo plants, as well as the fresh/dried harvested versions. You can see the buckets, the wire screen, the bedroll both open and closed. On the left are two versions of the new and improved oven. The crate is displayed, as well as a recolored giant spider, and various mats. The bamboo table is present, but I think that I'll recolor it.



Here are the basket and crate gumps.

Well, thats all for now. I have other works-in-progress going on, as well as touch-ups to these graphics here and there. The bamboo walls while nearly finished, need some pixels removed or recolored, with some tweaking with the alignments, but not too much. Next round of screenshots will have the roof, other buildings, the rest of the Kurak village items, and hopefully the lab.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Malignant Manor 
Date:   06-03-07 17:18

The new shapes look pretty good so far.

Something like this should work for the window. "1111" is where you put the shape number and you need to change the frame number to whatever frames they correspond to.

Window_curtain shape#(1111) ()
{
if (get_item_frame() == 0)
set_item_frame(1);

else if (get_item_frame() == 1)
set_item_frame(0);
}
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Skutarth 
Date:   06-03-07 18:10

This project has gotten a lot farther than I thought it would.
Thank god.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Dominus 
Date:   06-04-07 04:37

Great looking. Congrats!

--
Read the documentation and the FAQ are your friends! There is no excuse for not reading them! RTFM
Read the Rules!
We do not support Piracy/Abandonware/Warez!
Dom
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Gruck (---.abhsia.telus.net)
Date:   06-04-07 06:48

That looks awesome. Keep up the good work. As your work progresses you should consider opening up the project to get others involved.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: wintermute_turing_ai 
Date:   06-06-07 19:20

Excellent work. Keep it coming!
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   06-07-07 17:42

Thank you everyone, for the positive feedback!

I've taken a short break as to avoid getting burned-out on the project, but that hasn't stopped the flow of ideas. I will resume this weekend, and will be alternating projects to avoid burnout on any of them. I wasn't feeling any burn-out, but I know to avoid it! The closest I came to burn-out was when I had a "wall-frame" for the bark shield, but accidentally tripped the powerstrip that the pc was plugged into, and it wasn't saved. That was a real bummer...

I'm going to have to resize the roof tiles, or use a mixture of sizes to get them to fit properly on top of the bamboo walls. I'm going to try to finish many small items as well. If I stick with the smaller items, I could probably get quite a few of them finished, then start on bigger things such as the tiles.

Another thing I am considering is making many versions of the same weapons. This of course would come later, after a lot of other artwork is completed. The idea is that each warrior would probably have his own tribal/clan markings on his weapons and shields. This idea came from many pictures I have been studying for the project, Mel Gibson's Apocalypto, and how pleased I was with the one-handed and master macuahuitls.

Now something about fauna...

I am considering increasing the size of the snow leopard, and recoloring it. This will be the jaguar. The smilodon (sabre-tooth) will most likely be based off of the snes version.

The original game didn't have scorpions, but they appear in the SNES version (the SNES version recycles a few things from U7, such as sea serpents). I have read that there are scorpions in the Yucatán, and since I want to add more to the game, they will be in. They will be recolored.

I am still unsure as to how the dinosaurs will be done, unless there is a way to construct them from various tiles, like they were in the original S.E. I just can't see them being as small as the dragons, drakes, and hydra from U7. Thats one of the things that I actually disliked about U7 and U8, was the creature sizes for tsome of the monsters. Too small...

A bit about the flora...

I have decided that I want the player to have interactive access to every edible item in the game. Therefore, I plan to draw a banana tree, maize stalks, amaranth, etc. The idea is for the player to be able to forage for food while out adventuring and exploring, or to be able to prepare foods and bake them in a stone oven, cooking stone, or a campfire. Items would include things like tortillas and amaranth/honey cakes, roasting meat, and other such foodstuffs. Speaking of honey, there must be bees as well...time to research prehistoric bees!


I am having a lot of fun doing this, and I am learning many things that I didn't know about pre-Colombian mesoamerica, as well as tribes from all over the world.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   06-26-07 16:04

I took a few days off from both the game and my music, and decided to actually play some games here and there. I was having some trouble with some item frames not turning out the way that I want, and wanted to give it a rest. During the past few days, I have been working on graphics, on and off. I also think about what I want to add to make the game more interactive. For example, I am considering putting a machete in the lab, which the player will have to use to access certain parts of the jungle, with hacked foliage regrowing after so many game days (similar to my bamboo idea). This would also allow for the creation of hidden, "secret" areas that the player can find and explore. Only certain types of foliage would be hackable, thus creating specific paths to these areas. I have to be careful with these ideas though, as I don't want the game to become tedious.

I know that I have mentioned this before, but I have decided that I will definitely be using some sprites from the SNES version, though many will be tweaked a bit (I have been exploring the SNES version, and going sprite hunting). While my goal is to create as many new sprites as possible, I want them to look like Ultima graphics, or at least be heavily inspired by Ultima graphics. There are not enough flora sprites in either Ultima VII or S.E. for SNES to create the rainforest environment that I have envisioned. By using sprites from both games as well as creating new ones (such as the bamboo), there will be a greater variety of plants.

Reusing graphics is also very practical. For example, I do not see a need to redraw certain graphics like a single banana. I could use the single banana from U7, the banana bunch from SNES S.E., and just have to draw the frames for two bananas/three bananas/etc. I believe that most of the food items should be stackable, with graphic representations similar to gold coins and other stackable items.

The NPC sprites from the SNES version will come in handy. Originally, I mentioned that I would probably draw basic clothing on the naked avatar frames. It looks like the artists on the SNES version did this for many of the male and some of the female NPCs. However, I absolutely hate the SNES avatar and will be modeling the male avatar after the original. Also, the avatar and Rafkin npc's clothing is tattered. While this look would be great for some of the modern characters that have been trapped in Eodon for a while, I don't believe that the recent arrivals would be in such a state in such a short period of time. Oh, and one major problem with the SNES NPCs is a lack of frames. Walking frames for generic NPCs probably won't be a problem, but there are no sitting, sleeping, or spell casting frames (at least as far as I can tell thus far).

I'm sure I mentioned this before as well, but when I (and/or others, if a team gets formed) get the majority of the graphics redone, I want to go back and make new versions of many items. While doing research on various cultures for source material, I came across pictures of an Aztec horizontal drum. This reinforces my plan to make each tribe as culturally independent as possible. There will be some shared aspects of course, being that these tribes share the valley, but I want the player to feel that he/she is visiting a completely different tribe in each village.

Speaking of a team, if anyone wants to contribute any graphics, please let me know. I haven't written much about assembling a team, frankly because I am worried about such an endeavor. I have a particular vision of the look and feel of the game, and I don't want to hurt any feelings if I reject something. I don't have much experience working with a team on such projects, as I am used to doing everything myself, especially with my music projects. Either way, it will get to the point where I will run into roadblocks that I will not be able to cross by myself, especially when the time comes to program the usecode stuff.

Well this about wraps up another long winded post/update. While the goal is still to show a completed Kurak Village and Rafkin's lab in the next screenshots, I find myself jumping around, working on various objects. It certainly feels good when I can check off another completed item, regardless of where in the game it will be.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   07-01-07 18:32

This isn't one of the screenshots that I was going to show next, but I want some opinions from Ultima fans on a couple of objects, as well as show off a couple of lab items and pots.



In this shot, I included the oven/kiln for size comparision. Here we have the Nahuatl Sundial-Calendar. When I put it together from the sprites of the original, it appeared far too small for what I consider to be a monumental city-center-piece. So I blew it up, but in order to maintain the design, it now appears to be "anti-aliased" compared to everything else. If I didn't do it that way, some of the intricate design of the sundial would have been compromised. Please give your opinions on this matter.

The fountain is now a single object, created from the original 3 tiles. I added a base to the bottom of the fountain, as the original look flat. Doing that also made it taller, and I may make it even taller than that! As far as I can tell, the water uses color cycling for it's animation. Well I don't know anything about that yet, so I loaded up Dosbox, lowered the cpu cycles, and took screenshots frame by frame to get the water animation. This resulted in a fully animated, 7-frame single object, 37x52 pixels. Its ES dimensions are 3x4x6. I was thinking about the fountain all weekend while at the cabin, and whipped it up in about 20-30 minutes when I got back. I'm quite pleased with the results, as it is my first animated object. Its too bad that I can't show off the animation with the screenshot.

The fire extinguisher is basically finished, but I may tweak a pixel or two. Its funny, but I spent more time on those scissors than a lot of the other objects! Scissors seem to look the same in most games, being limited to a few pixels, but I think that I managed to create a modern looking, common pair of scissors (I'm sure that many of you have a orange-handle pair lying around the office or house!).

The "new" basket is from the SNES S.E., and hasn't been recolored/touched up yet. You can see original and modified versions of the S.E. pots, still being tweaked. The urn-looking object is from the SNES version. There will be variations of these objects, for uniqueness to both villages and individual homes.

Well, thats it for now. I mainly want an opinion on the sundial, and the height of the fountain (I could break the fountain back up into separate tiles again, and double each of them!). Work continues on some other objects, and thatch roof tile experimentation continues...
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Warder (---.02-64-756d6513.cust.bredbandsbolaget.se)
Date:   07-01-07 20:55

The smaller version of the sundial looks much better. :)

Great job on the rest though.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Paulon (---.dialup.ihug.co.nz)
Date:   07-01-07 22:10

Nice adaptions and updates on most of it.
Sundial: I think you're right about needing the increased size, but it needs to be redrawn in the larger size rather than simply having the smaller image enlarged. The large one in the screenshot just looks crappy compared to the rest of the artwork.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   07-02-07 07:32

Thank you for the feedback and the compliments! I'll try to redraw the sundial later on today. I agree that the large sundial as it currently is, looks like someone vomited all over it.

The lab is nearly finished. I have the floor tiles completed, as well as the open-crate graphic. The tables are also done. I put the lab together, and I have to tweak only a couple of things. I was going to post a screenshot, but I accidentally messed up a couple of items by screwing up the offset, which cut the edges off. After I fix those, I can take a screenshot. I haven't drawn the machete yet, but it is still on the list of planned items.

As far as the Kurak village is concerned, I still have to draw a handful of items, and hopefully figure out how I'm going to handle the roof tiles. After I finish the sundial and lab, I'll try to focus on the village.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Artaxerxes 
Date:   07-03-07 09:34

a few comments

* sundial: try to blow it up using another scaler. More info about scalers on http://scale2x.sourceforge.net/index.html

* the fountain is perfect. It blends great in the environment.

* same for the extinguisher. Great proportion and colors.

* the scissors might need more work. Sorry. Maybe an orange fade at the extremities of the handle.

* I love the tall urn, just below the scissors, on the left. That too really looks Savage-Empire-esque

* Kiln too is perfect.

* the top-right urn in the group of six might need some shading.

Out of curiosity, is the fire in the kiln using palette rotation?

Great job otherwise. Keep up the good work!

Artaxerxes
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   07-03-07 21:27

Thank you for the feedback and compliments, Artaxerxes! I'll tweak the scissors. I agree that there needs to be a tad bit of shading done. The one pot is a work in progress, I keep experimenting with different colors and designs. I'm not using palette rotation, because I don't know how to use it yet. The colors are a filler for where the glow of the flames will be. One idea was to create separate frames for the fire, like I did with the fountain. I am interested in using palette cycling, as I think it will help a lot with certain objects. I'm also having a hard time doing the translucent glass effect.

Now, without further ado, here is the screenshot of the beta version of the lab!



The lab floor is made from the original tiles, arranged in 4x4 tiles for ES. The tables are a mixture of the original, plus one of U7's tables. The computer, which I felt belonged, has been tweaked to have a dark screen, power and HD lights, as well as the power and reset switches. You can see the new jars for the sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate. The hammer next to the wire screen is an alpha version, because it reminds me of a tomahawk. The mortar and pestle is included, but I may modify the base, or remove it all together.

On the table next to the mortar and pestle, is a new addition to the lab. It is a Bunsen/Tirrill Burner that turns on and off with a blue flame. Connected to the burner is a mini-propane tank. I figure that the burner could come in handy for possible world interactions. Also, Rafkin would need some extra equipment that isn't present in the original, in order to construct various items, hence the tongs.

The fire ax has complete weapon frames. The open box uses hay from the chicken coop graphic for filler. The hunting rifle was drawn up only moments ago, and I threw it in as a sneak peak. It is a bolt-action, which I tried to show, but working with few pixels can be difficult. I wasn't sure about the gun-strap, but my son insisted that I keep it on there. I haven't worked out the rest of the frames yet though. I am working on a pump-shotgun as well. Just about everything else is stock U7 stuff, for now. I'll probably use the alchemist stuff as is. The broken bottle is there because I feel that a level room being transported via moongate to uneven ground is going to cause some things to fall over.

Now for the improved (but beta) Sundial.



I discovered that I can create larger images. In the past, ES would crash when I tried to do that. I noticed that the turtle tiles are 72x72 pixels, so I knew that redoing the sundial would be no problem. I wonder what the limit is? If there is no limit, or if the limit is quite high, then creating the dinosaurs will be easier. It will also be easier to create other large objects.

Hopefully within the next couple-few days, I'll have the Kurak village modeled, as well as more items. I'm tempted to begin work on the cliff graphics, but I'm trying to stay focused on the objects.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   07-03-07 21:35

I forgot to mention that the rifle uses the stock from the U7 musket, and that the sundial will have frames for each hour during the day.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   07-03-07 21:42

...and the tank uses an ale bottle as a base...lol!
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Malignant Manor 
Date:   07-03-07 22:00

The limit for Exult Studios right now is 8x8x7 tiles (64x64x56 pixels), mainly because you can't set shapes any higher. I think it can go way higher, but no one seems to want to upgrade Exult Studio and Exult to allow it. You can have much larger sizes althought they won't work properly. They render wrong and aren't collision detected properly because Exult thinks that the shape is smaller than it actually is. You also can't place anything on the portion of the shape that exceeds the size limit.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Norseman (---.vktv.no)
Date:   07-04-07 00:19

Didn't somebody claim that most of the models from the U6 engine could be converted to the U7 engine quite easily? Altho I donćt remember the exact details
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   07-04-07 04:59

"The limit for Exult Studios right now is 8x8x7 tiles (64x64x56 pixels)"

The Sundial is currently 70x72 pixels. I'm going to set it to 8x8x2 tiles to start with.

" I think it can go way higher, but no one seems to want to upgrade Exult Studio and Exult to allow it. You can have much larger sizes althought they won't work properly. They render wrong and aren't collision detected properly because Exult thinks that the shape is smaller than it actually is. You also can't place anything on the portion of the shape that exceeds the size limit."

That would be awesome, to increase the limits of the engine! I'm sure it will happen eventually, similar to adding multi-map support. While I'm assuming that creatures may be able to be made with multiple tiles like the giant turtle, that will be more difficult I think. Part of me is worried about recreating all of these items if the dinosaurs cannot be properly represented (though the pterodactyl and a couple of others should be ok) . I'm still hoping for an increase in stackable tiles!


"Didn't somebody claim that most of the models from the U6 engine could be converted to the U7 engine quite easily? Altho I donćt remember the exact details"

I can't recall if I mentioned that or not, but it is quite easy. The perspective is just about the same. Of course, some objects are too small when converted, or the colors are wrong due to different palettes, or the design of the original is basic compared to what could be done in U7 (such as the oven and the fire ax). Almost everything is bigger in U7, and thus can be more detailed.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Dominus 
Date:   07-04-07 05:12

All looks quite nice, the sundial looks good now. But I would do away with the rifle strap. Even before reading your text, the strap sprang into my eyes.

--
Read the documentation and the FAQ are your friends! There is no excuse for not reading them! RTFM
Read the Rules!
We do not support Piracy/Abandonware/Warez!
Dom
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Crysta 
Date:   07-04-07 06:17

the fire axe handle looks too thin
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Marzo Sette Torres Junior 
Date:   07-04-07 06:50

Quote:

The limit for Exult Studios right now is 8x8x7 tiles [...] I think it can go way higher, [...]

Let me squash this notion now, then: the size data is stored in the tfa.dat file. The originals reserved 3 bits each for x, y and z, and added 1 to x and y sizes. This means that the size limit in the originals *is* 8x8x7. Furthermore, there isn't a single unused bit in TFA which could be used to extend the shape sizes. I have planned to switch to a text-based format for the Exult Studio-saved shape data somewhere in the future; until then, we are stuck with TFA or will have to come up with an intermediate binary format which extends TFA; I am, however, reluctant to do that as it will become obsolete.

Note that the graphics themselves can be bigger than that; it is just the "3d size" of the shape which will be so limited.

------
Marzo Sette Torres Junior
aka Geometrodynamic Dragon
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   07-04-07 09:49

"All looks quite nice, the sundial looks good now. But I would do away with the rifle strap. Even before reading your text, the strap sprang into my eyes."

Thank you, Dominus! I'm going to tweak the sundial the same way I did with the oven, by putting nicks on the top and small cracks in the base. I think that you are right about the strap, and I'll remove it. I haven't completed the other gun frames yet, but I think that the strap will be a pain in those frames.

"the fire axe handle looks too thin"

I've been thinking that as well. I have one that is wider, but needs tweaked. The thin handle was done so get the screenshot completed. Other than that, its completed. The swinging frames have a proper handle on them.



"Let me squash this notion now, then: the size data is stored in the tfa.dat file. The originals reserved 3 bits each for x, y and z, and added 1 to x and y sizes. This means that the size limit in the originals *is* 8x8x7. Furthermore, there isn't a single unused bit in TFA which could be used to extend the shape sizes. I have planned to switch to a text-based format for the Exult Studio-saved shape data somewhere in the future; until then, we are stuck with TFA or will have to come up with an intermediate binary format which extends TFA; I am, however, reluctant to do that as it will become obsolete.

Note that the graphics themselves can be bigger than that; it is just the "3d size" of the shape which will be so limited."

I look forward to the text-based upgrade. In the meantime, once I complete the majority of the items and flora, I will attempt to create large dinosaurs. This will be difficult because of the amount of detail, and I will probably and formally ask for help from artists on those. The pteranodon will more than likely be based on the SNES version, but recolored to match the original version (and enlarged).

I was trying to find 3d models of dinosaurs, in order to rotate them to a U7 perspective, draw the 2d sprites from them, and use the textures from the dragon and drake sprites.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   07-05-07 05:21

I decided to start using a spreadsheet to organize all of the information for each item (such as origin, in-hand offset, etc.). Not only is it a good way to have a master list of each item/tile in the game, but it is a safeguard in case I have a crash. Also, I have had to return to vanilla S.I. and B.G. a few times to get item information, when I imported a frame and the info got screwed up (and thus not place or appear properly in-game). Some graphic-creating may slow down a tad while I gather all of the information. So far, the screenshots only show the items and how they will be placed. Everything will need to be replaced once the actual world is built, but I'll have the screenshots and the spreadsheet to go by, which will significantly speed up that process.

I drew a few more objects last night. I have 3 versions of Jimmy's Notebook, but I can't decide which one to go with, so I'll post a screenshot soon that shows them, and people can give their opinions on which one is best. The main frame of the oar is done, but I'll be drawing frames for use as a weapon. I forgot that the fire extinguisher can be used as a club, and will need attack frames for that.

A few other small items are done as well. Almost all of the generic village items are complete, and I'll soon begin to tweak the jaguar-skin stuff such as the bedding, curtains, folded skin, and the jaguar itself to be better colored. I went to the zoo with my son recently, and got very good looks at an actual jaguar for reference.

Also, between today and the end of the weekend, I'm going to try to do some "small item" crunching, in order to get a majority of those completed and out of the way. I need to do some major tweaking for the "being held" frame of the hunting rifle, as it is totally off, and looks like it is floating next to the avatar. Also, I have modified a couple of items from the lab screenshot, and may add more detail to every location in the future. My goal is similar to what Richard Garriott's was for the Ultima games, and that is to make a world that is a real as possible.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   07-10-07 12:08

Quick update:

While the next round of screenshots aren't ready yet (due to work on certain shapes, especially roofing tiles), I have been working on many things.

Approximately 20 new/remade shapes are completed or nearly completed. There are a couple of new items as well. Certain items have been tweaked, such as the fire ax handle. Some items are "tentatively" completed, meaning that I will post some shots for opinions at some point. A lot of work needs to be done to determine the x,y values for origin and offset on many items. While I said that I would work on the database, I have been drawing a lot instead. If the muse is visiting, I shall not ignore it!

I'm working on some things to make editing certain objects easier. Using the silverserpent tiles from Ultima 6, I have created a "blank snake construction set" that I will use to both assemble and color snake frames. All pieces are on one large png, and I can copy and paste the pieces together. I have done this with certain default creatures that will be undergoing only minor changes, such as the parrot and the leopard (the former being recolored once or twice for variety, and to recolor the snow leopard to become the jaguar). This technique also aids in creating animated objects, such as adding flames to things.

I've been thinking about the difficulty level, and I wish for this version of the game to be more difficult. After all, it is the SAVAGE Empire! The original could be completed in an unacceptable amount of time. I want the player to feel that indeed they are in an unfamiliar, hostile and treacherous environment, where failure and death can come very easily if one is not careful. The player should be on his/her toes while wandering through the jungle, for who knows what may jump out without warning (and kill half the party in 2 seconds). I have other ideas that are realistic which I shall mention at another time. Any thoughts on difficulty level are welcome.

One example that inspired me to make the game harder, are scenes from Peter Jackson's King Kong, where modern people and weapons were not enough to go by in some situations. Another example would be running into traps set by native hunters, as seen in Apocalypto. One thing that I can guarantee is that the player will not be loading up on everything that they find in the beginning of the game, as the player will start with no backpack (must be acquired), and have only the modern knife and the clothes on his/her back. Satchels can be found early on, but will not hold a lot, and will definitely not hold large items. I'm even thinking of moving the locations of some things, such as the lab, so that players of the original will have more of a challenge.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: siodine (---.dsl.rcsntx.sbcglobal.net)
Date:   07-11-07 05:37

What visual style is that in your screenshots Scythifuge?
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   07-11-07 08:38

Quote:

What visual style is that in your screenshots Scythifuge?


I'm not sure what you mean. I'm trying to stick to the traditional Ultima look, with both the remade shapes as well as the new shapes.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Dominus 
Date:   07-11-07 09:35

Siodine must mean the Windows GUI Visual Style :)

--
Read the documentation and the FAQ are your friends! There is no excuse for not reading them! RTFM
Read the Rules!
We do not support Piracy/Abandonware/Warez!
Dom
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   07-11-07 09:44

Quote:

"Siodine must mean the Windows GUI Visual Style :)"

Ah, silly me! It is Royal Noir.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   07-21-07 00:23

Here is another update...


Well I'm still working on the thatched roof tiles here and there, because I keep bouncing around doing different stuff. I've completed a bunch more items, both from the original as well as a new one or two.

The screenshots of the village are still not ready due to the roof tiles as well as a couple of objects. I haven't redone/ported any "skeletal remains" yet, and I keep trying different things with the roof tiles. A couple minor items, such as the turnips, aren't done yet. One thing that is stalling progress in those areas are thoughts on how I'm going to accomplish this or that, which almost always results in experimentation.

One thing that I've started to work on are the mountain tiles. I'm not a good enough artist yet to create all-new tiles as detailed as mountainsides, so I'm working with the originals, snes version, and the u7 mountain tiles to create what is needed. Whenever I do post a screenshot, I hope to have made progress in that area, since I think that it is quite major, and I haven't come up with anything that I am happy with as of yet. Also, I've began to take a serious look at the tiles that make up the chunks, but tweaking those have a ways to go. I've also been messing around with the flora, and have alpha versions of some modded trees, such as a very tall palm tree, which is an edited u7 palm.

Now that color cycling and transparency are functioning, I've completed a few Kotl items with these effects. Almost every Kotl object that I have completed is a redesign of the original item. I'm not going to list them at this time as they could be considered to be spoilers. In addition to the cycling and transparency, I've been making more animated objects like braziers and torches.

One new item that I'll mention (since I've brought it up before) is the shotgun. Since I plan on the final game to be harder and longer, I've created some new objects, the shotgun being one of them. I have the first frame drawn and the ammo tiles (1-6 shells) drawn. My plan is for it to function similar to the triple crossbow. I have other little stuff such as different necklaces, earrings, a hammock, a smaller back strap loom that I haven't animated yet, for use by the player to make cloth...

I've also redrawn some things; like the crate, and will show them soon. The sundial is nearly finished, it needs frames for some of the sun phases. With all of this said, some objects will be nearly unchanged, however. For the blue boulders that appear in the original, I have recolored a boulder from u7 for this T.C. The atl-atl is almost unchanged from the original S.E. version, since I couldn't think of a better way to redraw it. These things should be expected here and there with certain objects, especially objects of very few pixels. Everything will be recolored though, since the palettes from both games are different.

Check back for updates!
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   08-02-07 16:45

The mountain-tile situation is nearly solved!

While thinking about the problem one day, I decided to treat them as walls. Since I don't need the 64x64 mountain top tiles, I went back to the S.E. mountain tiles, and experimented with 32x32 and 64x64 pixel sections. The tops blend in with the grass, and look the way they are supposed to. Now it is just a tedious process to create and define each mountain tile for the various configurations that they are to exist in. I'll have to then tackle the waterfalls, with each frame having to be enlarged to match up with the mountain sides. After that, I can then finish the swinging-bridge that I started a few weeks ago. I will add things like vines to some of the mountain tiles. There will be outcroppings here and there for pteradon nests from where they can swoop down to attack the party.

Because of the illusions that the mountain tiles give, and the Exult multi-map feature, the caves will act like they do in the original S.E., or in newer games like Gothic (like when you enter the mines), and some instances in Serpent Isle. Entering them will look and feel seamless, but each cave will have a teleporter within the first few steps that will teleport the party to a different map that contains the cave. This was a given for the Myrmidex tunnels (since they can only be entered through a tunnel opening on the ground), but will probably happen for every "dungeon".

I have also began work on ground tiles for new chunks. For now, I seriously doubt that I will be creating a bunch of new chunks, opting to place the majority of trees, walls, and other such tiles by hand. The few chunks will be for roads/paths, bodies of water, etc. I have replaced many water tiles to look like the originals, and only have to tweak the color cycling and a few pixels. I'm going to attempt to recreate the grass tiles for the plains and other areas that aren't jungle, and attempt to create a "mulchy" bunch of tiles for the thicker jungle areas.

I have also created some new weapons/items that aren't in the original, but are historically accurate. One of them is a Tepoztopilli, which replaces the halberd and was used by the Aztecs as a large thrusting spear that could also to slashing damage. I found a drawing from the conquest of an Aztec shield, and incorporated the design into another round shield (same stats, just different look). A sling will be added, but will most likely be a recolored U7 sling.

More to come, and hopefully some screenshots soon!
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: cyberfugue (---.hsd1.va.comcast.net)
Date:   08-02-07 20:39

Looking forward to seeing more!
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Matthew Johnston 
Date:   08-04-07 13:11

"For now, I seriously doubt that I will be creating a bunch of new chunks, opting to place the majority of trees, walls, and other such tiles by hand."

you may find that creating a bunch of combos with trees/walls/rocks/etc for certain types of areas will speed up terrain building and provide flexibility with placement of things that you don't get with chunks, but once you have a few combos created it will go far faster than individually placing each tree or whatever by hand for each chunk.

looking forward to seeing more of this project
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   08-06-07 12:55

"you may find that creating a bunch of combos with trees/walls/rocks/etc for certain types of areas will speed up terrain building and provide flexibility with placement of things that you don't get with chunks, but once you have a few combos created it will go far faster than individually placing each tree or whatever by hand for each chunk. "

Combos will definitely be utilized for certain things, like mountain ranges that tend to repeat, or objects that consist of multiple shapes or frames like roofing, large trees, etc. I'm hoping to avoid any repetition of foliage, which is prevalent in many tile-based games. Also, I'm hoping that when I begin to build the actual world, it will be easier to fill everything in due to being able to increase the resolution, and thus see a larger part of the world at a time, noticing any gaps or flaws that might otherwise be overlooked.

"Looking forward to seeing more!"

"looking forward to seeing more of this project"

I can't say when new screenshots will be posted, because I have determined that I will finish certain things first. Its like I'm a producer working for myself! I'm setting goals that I must reach prior to new screenies. There are things that I am tempted to show right now, but I'm going to save it for when I finish the mountains, water, shoreline, and some grass tiles. I'm hoping that it won't be to far off, but I have to tweak offsets, add or remove a pixel here and there, and experiment with coloring.

I can say that the "short" northend mountainsides are approximately 75% completed. I have to draw some vines here and there (the player will be able to pass through the thicker vines like in the original, to simulate climbing them), and I have stone steps that fit in seamlessly and face the cardinal directions. I'm still experimenting and tweaking the southend sides, because the player can't really see them, but has to know that they are there (well the player can see mountains whenever there is a corner). Initial experimenting with the bridge revealed that I will have to tweak things, because the player couldn't walk onto the bridge (being blocked by the mountain edge). I'll get it figured out eventually!
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   10-02-07 17:45

Greetings!

Here is the status of the project. It is not on hiatus, but is rather moving slowly. I am working on this or that and touching up or redoing some of the graphics here and there. I took a vacation from stuff like that over the summer for the most part, but still thought of the project often. Some aspects were getting frustrating, and I don't want to get burned out. Little things like breaking up a large object into smaller tiles, then trying to get them to arrange properly in E.S., and then edit the properties of each one so that they behave properly can take many hours on some occasions. Often I have fun because when something works, it feels great! But when it gets tedious, its time to work on something else or take a break.

At the moment, some of the mountain tiles still need some tweaking, and copies with various differences need to be made. They are heavily based off of the original Savage Empire tiles, and do not use the SNES version's at all. Some of them have vines, steps, and bamboo/stick ladders that are passable. Problems still include getting proper bridge-end tiles, which will require some rework on a nearly completed rope bridge. The ropes are tide to the tops of long posts with human skulls attached to them! But I have to break them up into smaller tiles and try to make them passable.

Many objects are completed, some new plants are in the works, and a lot of work on the Avatar has been done. One of the very tedious things is creating the 8x8 pixel tiles that make up the chunks. I have water tiles almost completed, and I have ground textures (modified from screenies of an unreleased Ultima game ;-) ) that need to be broken up into 8x8 tiles. I am having some difficulty in making the shoreline tiles and the "transition-from-one-terrain-to-the-other" tiles.

If anyone who can draw wants to help out with the ground tiles, let me know!!!

In the meantime, in order to get more practice drawing and using E.S., I have been working during the past four days on a project codenamed "Ultima 81". All I'm saying for now, is that it isn't a medieval-type rpg...
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Crowley 
Date:   10-03-07 10:16

Quote:

Speaking of a team, if anyone wants to contribute any graphics, please let me know.


I might be able to help with that, provided I first learn to use GIMP. I wouldn't classify myself as an artist, I just fiddle with graphics programs from time to time and have contributed bits and pieces to some fanmade mods.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: SB-X 
Date:   10-03-07 23:12

Is there any way you could hand those simple but repetitive tasks you mentioned to other people to work on? Even though I havn't played S.E., it looks interesting, and I'd love to help in any way possible.
I can also work on usecode.

Thanks for the update.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   10-04-07 18:37


Quote:

I might be able to help with that, provided I first learn to use GIMP. I wouldn't classify myself as an artist, I just fiddle with graphics programs from time to time and have contributed bits and pieces to some fanmade mods.

Quote:


Is there any way you could hand those simple but repetitive tasks you mentioned to other people to work on? Even though I havn't played S.E., it looks interesting, and I'd love to help in any way possible.
I can also work on usecode.

Thanks for the update.



I would be more than happy at this stage to receive help in certain areas of the project! What I'm probably going to do over the next few days is go over all of the assets for the project, determine what I need help on and prioritize each item. The first thing I'm probably going to seek help to accomplish is the ground tiles.

I'll definitely need help with usecode, since I'm clueless about it at this time. But my main focus (phase I) is to get all of the graphical assets done. Phase II would be world building. Phase III would be game creating with usecode implementation. Phase IV would be music and sound effects. Phase V would be beta testing, with Phase VI being an official release.

One thing that people can do if interested is draw random tropical plants (that would appear on Earth between the Yucatan and the edges of the Amazon, for example I will no longer be including bananas, but rather plantains). I just don't want any hard feelings if something isn't used, is all. I have graphics that I decided against using, or set aside for other projects. Maybe someday we can have a huge amount of graphic assets that can be used for any Exult project! There are many things I am itching to show to the public, but am unwilling until I can create the scenes I have envisioned. However, if artists jump on board , I will of course share the graphics with them. Maybe we can get an official team started, and get another Ultima remade like the Lazarus team did with Ultima V!

Another thing worth mentioning is that I finally acquired a Savage Empire Cluebook!!!!!!!! As I was hoping, it goes into a little more detail than the game itself does, plus having all of the maps in one book is handy, even though some maps will be different from the original.

One other thing. Not to sound stingy, but all original images that I have created that appear in this thread, aren't to be used without my permission. I only say this because I don't want them used in other projects until this one is completed! Of course, this doesn't include the graphics that I merely tweaked, only the ones I have drawn from scratch. After Phase VI, I will consider all of my S.E.T.C. graphics freely available for everyone on Earth to use for their Exult projects!
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Chris Thompson (71.238.34.---)
Date:   10-05-07 09:30

but those people not of this world will not be allowed to use them?
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   10-05-07 12:37

Quote:

but those people not of this world will not be allowed to use them?

Not unless they go through the proper procedures to get an Earth visa!
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Malignant Manor 
Date:   10-28-07 23:33

It is very easy to create usecode to change things on a weapon strike. The only problem that can really occur is if you use it to change the shape of a object that was created as part of a chunk or if the item has screwy usecode to begin with. When you change the shape and restart the game (this might also happen when the game reloads a superchunk into memory), the original shape and frame will return. I believe that the modified shape will still be there as well. It might be hidden or obstruct the original. In extremely large quantities, this can also cause slowdown.

I might test this later, but I'm pretty sure that is what happens when you just hack move one of the objects and should apply to other changes as well.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   02-10-08 16:28

A little update, since its been a while:

I'm trying to finish up the new bamboo walls that will be exclusive to the Kurak tribe. Those early yellow walls have been completely replaced with ones that are more reminiscent of the original game's walls. Those yellow ones look silly to me now. I had some major trouble getting them to look right while snapping together properly. They are a major reason for taking a break and practicing with drawing other graphics! The next challenge will be drawing thatch-roof tiles, which I am concurrently working on. I have a few preliminary designs, based on the original U7, SNES U7, and SNES S.E. thatch-roof tiles, but I'm having a hard time getting them to line up since the bamboo walls have changed so much. I'm using the Emp and Harpy nest tiles for some of the graphics to save time. If anyones to give it a go, I'd be happy to check out your work!

I also have preliminary straw walls for another hut style, an initial wall of "stacked-stone" for the neolithic Barako tribe based from the "fortress" wall, and some Aztec-inspired Nahuatl walls. All of these will be much easier to finish up than the Kurak walls, because they use the basic size and shape of U7's walls. For the Barrab tribe, I am going for a vertical-bamboo wall on stilts look, with a green-leafy thatch. For the Barako roof tiles, I'm thinking of some stitched hide, or a hide/thatch mix, but I haven't started that yet.

Once I finish the majority of the walls, I'm going to go back to tackling the grass, dirt, grass/dirt, and water tiles. I'm studying the color-cycling effect of the waterfall from the Silver Seed as well.

Once I get some of these things finished, I'll be comfortable with showing some screenshots. If I do another sample on the "sample thread", maybe I'll throw a couple of S.E.T.C. things on there!

Also, if anyone knows of any sites with ORIGINAL Aztec art/patterns/designs, I'd appreciate any links to these sites!
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: FF45t1z (---.riv5.nsw.optusnet.com.au)
Date:   02-11-08 05:56

I really commend what you're doing! It's brilliant, Savage Empire is very very underrated!
Just a small suggestion for way later on in your project,
To give Rafkin's lab a little more impressive look, try adding some wrecked/blown out walls. You might be able to find some tiles from the original U7 to help this along. I'm kinda thinking what the Britannian mint looked like in Serpent Isle after it was transported, as opposed to just the floor space being ported over.
But that's just a little suggestion for something that would look interesting.
I'd love to help out, but I'm afraid right now I have a mountain of work going on. Perhaps when the project gets under way I could help out a little.
Will keep you posted.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   02-11-08 18:30

Thank you FF45t1z, for the support and suggestions! The lab in the screenshot is just a mock up to test tiles in Exult Studio. Some of the graphics have been replaced (such as L-shaped countertop pieces, a black desk, different computer, etc. since then), so nothing is final yet, but I am taking all suggestions into consideration!
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   02-15-08 18:55

Ok, I believe that I finally have all of the pieces for the Kurak walls nearly finished. Except for the door which isn't tested yet, and a pixel or two, these are what they are going to look like. Much improved over those yellow one



Much improved over those yellow ones! I'm still messing around with the roof tiles, which will need to cover different variations of huts. I truly believe that the walls for most of the other tribes will be easier, since the shape of those will be more in line with Ultima VII's walls.


And here is a sample of some other stuff in progress:




Here we have an avatar concept, based on the original box cover. I am imagining different versions without the hat, tattered clothes, etc. But nothing is final. The knife needs to be shrunk a bit. I fixed the ax handle a long time ago, and the tribal ax is close to completion. The sundial is something that I wasn't going to show yet as it isn't quite done, but I couldn't wait any longer! Also displayed is the new bamboo design. There will be variations as well as different stages of bamboo growth.

I have some grass/dirt tiles that I'm working on based off of the original version's, but more in line with the Ultima VII style. I may wait to post any other shots until the roof and ground tiles are done.


Oh, here is one last thing:



I've been messing around with recoloring the original portraits through palette conversions. I'm unsure how the portraits will be handled at that stage, but for now I'm just experimenting.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   02-16-08 19:57

I've got a preview of tiles-in-progress (that I may need help with) as well as a couple of other objects, but I seem to be having trouble with image shack at the moment...

But I'll give it a shot. I'm not sure what is going on, since all I did to post the screenshots in this and the "New Graphics Samples" thread was to copy the link from image shack. I'll post both links (forum options 1 and 2):




(Edit by Dominus, so the thumbnail is only showing - considering how big your screenshots are, the thumbnails are better here IMO)
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   02-16-08 23:45

There is no option to edit posts, so Dominus or anyone else with moderator abilities, please fix the redundant posts.

The grass/path tiles are what I am currently tinkering with. I like the looks of them, they fit well with the theme of the game. Since chunks are 16x16 tiles, I have to work out a non-haphazard way to implement them into E.S. They are based on the original game's tiles, but these are the first ones that I was comfortable with showing to the community.

On the lower left, I have one of the petate mat variations, since there will be a few variations per tribe. Another macuahuitl is displayed, and there are others. I'm going for a variety of looks for similar objects, to be more realistic. There will be multiple versions of same-certain items. The scepter is a Nahuatl priest concept item, based on an article I have read concerning an artifact related to the rain god Tlaloc, and should at this time be treated as a "magic wand" (unusable at first by the P.C.). The well is based on the original game version, but animated using the original U7 well frames to have the metal bucket "scoop in and out with water", but is in concept stage. I also included some Nahuatl tiles that I am working on, but are about finished, besides variations. It is based upon the original version, which has a petate weave design, but with adobe brick.

The original Savage Empire was meant to be a more directed game, more adventure style than the Ultima VI/VII style. The more I think about it, and the more I write about it, the more I come up with. Though I refuse to deviate too far from the original story or canon, I would like this game to add more VI/VII elements to the Savage Empire experience, but with an "epic" feel. I have a lot in mind for this game, depending on the future capabilities of E.S., and whether or not I can assemble a team to assist in bringing the idea to fruition. Stay tuned, and contact me if you are an interested artist, or can script with E.S.!
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: FF45t1z (---.riv5.nsw.optusnet.com.au)
Date:   02-17-08 07:05

The new avatar graphic looks incredible! Very good work!
One idea to consider about portraits, though you've probably entertained the idea already, is to use photographs to achieve the SI style portraits. I'm sure plenty of people associated with the project would be able to help out and lend their faces, plus you can find and modify pictures from anywhere. This would allow you the freedom to seamlessly add new characters without having to rely on creating new portraits in the style of the old ones. ( probably much harder )
A big challenge will be porting the conversations over to the U7 style conversation tree. When it reaches that time, I'd be glad to help out in that area.
I think that the ES engine would allow room to add much more depth to the game world, a story which truly deserves a depth equal to that of U7/SI. Keeping close to canon is needed, but there's still so much room within which to expand.
Also music, I have extensive experience with MIDI/MIDI to Synth and real instrumentation and composition.
When the time swings around, if I'm not around here to help out with music or conversation. You can grab me at: ff45t1z [at] gmail ( you get it )
Also email me if you need any examples of what I can do.
Peace
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   02-17-08 10:15

Thank you, Dominus, for fixing the screenshot situation! And thank you FF45t1z, for the compliment on the avatar w.i.p. and for your email address!

While I'm not thinking too much about the portraits at the moment, I will more than likely go the S.I.-style route. Though I will probably have borders and backgrounds for them like in the original game as well as U7pt1. I'm not sure if its possible in E.S. yet, but I would like to have different backgrounds for portraits based on the time of day and location, like the original. I'm assuming that I'll just need extra frames for each portrait to reflect this, and that scripts would have to be made to switch them.

As far as the conversations go, I will need help implementing them into E.S. But I will be adding to the story and changing a few conversations. I would like more NPCs and quests, so there will be more conversations for those, as well as an expanded storyline.

Also, I will definitely be looking to add more music to the game, and will eventually ask for aid in that area as well. I will be asking for people as soon as I get enough graphic assets done that world building can actually take place. The ground tiles will probably take a while, and I'm waiting to see what the Exult team does with increasing the lift, as that will determine how mountains and waterfalls are handled. The ground tiles are very hard to see in E.S., especially with my current monitor, and initial experimentation with creating new chunks hasn't worked out so well. One experiment will involve drawing the chunks in the gimp, and then put them in E.S. in a certain order.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Marzo Sette Torres Junior 
Date:   02-17-08 11:06

Quote:

but I would like to have different backgrounds for portraits based on the time of day and location, like the original.

BG had borders depending on the city from which the NPC was, but not depending on time or location in other ways; and SI had neither. But I assume you meant the BG behavior. So, moving on :-)

Quote:

I'm assuming that I'll just need extra frames for each portrait to reflect this, and that scripts would have to be made to switch them.

Correct. It is similar to Rowena (in BG) or Laurianna (in Keyring mod) -- you'd select which frame to show depending on the circumstances.

If you want to (and don't think it will look too out of place), the AvatarPack can be freely mixed with other mods.

------
Marzo Sette Torres Junior
aka Geometrodynamic Dragon
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   02-17-08 11:47

Quote:
"BG had borders depending on the city from which the NPC was, but not depending on time or location in other ways; and SI had neither. But I assume you meant the BG behavior. So, moving on :-)"

The borders would use elements from the original S.E., similar to the player/stat gumps I created a while back. While I like the quality of the actual portraits in S.I., I was always disappointed that they lacked "picture frames" as seen in S.E. and B.G. When the time comes, I'll attempt to merge the styles.


Quote:
"Correct. It is similar to Rowena (in BG) or Laurianna (in Keyring mod) -- you'd select which frame to show depending on the circumstances."

Excellent! I also just took a quick look at the B.G. portraits in E.S. and noted that Spark, Erethian, and a couple of other NPCs have other portraits for different circumstances.

Quote:
"If you want to (and don't think it will look too out of place), the AvatarPack can be freely mixed with other mods."

Thank you Marzo! I will definitely take the AvatarPack into consideration when I start focusing full time on the portraits.
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 Re: Official S.E. T.C. Update Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   02-27-08 17:25

Work continues...

I stopped work (again) on the thatch-roof-tiles. They are a pain. I'm going to work on them again soon, but I've been working on Nahuatl npc/item/building graphics.

I have a bunch of adobe-style walls made for the nobility and peasant class. The nobility-walls have pits in them, but otherwise have no exposed framework or adobe brick. Doorways are painted red, blue, yellow, or green since they could afford the paint, and are made from a timber frame. Peasant walls on the other hand have exposed framework on the inside walls, along with walls that have had the plaster crack and crumble away in spots to reveal the adobe brick underneath. Their door frames are probably going to be unpainted.

Nahuatl royal palace and inner temple walls have designs painted onto them, and are of a lighter, more white-washed color. I also have a (frame 16) concept for the Nahuatl usurper, Huitlapacti, as well as concepts for a noble, and concepts for male and female peasants.

I have also drawn a few more designs for the Nahuatl shields, and macuahuitls. The kiln has been touched up a bit, as well as a few other objects. I'll post some Nahuatl stuff when I finish with the main walls, which require a few touch ups. One example of a touch up that actually turned into a new object is an L-shaped (two-piece) counter top with a sink. Of course, the sink won't function once the lab is in Eodon, but I think that a lab would have a sink in it.

As far as mountain, waterfall, and pyramid tiles go, I'm putting them on hold to see if the Exult team increases the lift rate. I experimented with making a temple with existing 36x36p tiles, but it is just too small for an epic pyramid! I'm going for Tikal or Temple Mayor sized pyramids. The Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacán is also inspiration, as well as added back story for this remake.

Speaking of remake, Dominus if you read this post, I was wondering if you could change the title to "Savage Empire Remake Thread" since some people might not know what the S.E.T.C. is about!
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   02-28-08 08:38

Thank you Dominus!
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Dominus 
Date:   02-28-08 11:51

You're welcome, I'm here to serve :)

--
Read the documentation and the FAQ are your friends! There is no excuse for not reading them! RTFM
Read the Rules!
We do not support Piracy/Abandonware/Warez!
Dom
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Wiz (---.cpe.net.cable.roger)
Date:   02-29-08 00:05

I don't mind redoing some of the sprites you need for the remake on the condition that I can use/abuse them in TFL if I see fit :-)

~ Wizardry Dragon
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   02-29-08 14:57

Quote:
"I don't mind redoing some of the sprites you need for the remake on the condition that I can use/abuse them in TFL if I see fit :-)

~ Wizardry Dragon"


That sounds fair! Did you have any sprites in mind?
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Wiz (---.cpe.net.cable.roger)
Date:   02-29-08 15:07

Well I was going to make something similar to the old SE-ish crates for one of the TFL cities, was what prompted the remark.

Anything else you'd want?

~ Wizardry Dragon
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   02-29-08 15:40

I have some newer versions of the crates, but would be interested in what you have in mind. The crates I have are being sized for the items they contain, for example I have a wide yet short crate for the guns. Added back story to explain why guns and ammo are in the lab have to do with a safari exhibit that Rafkin was supposed to oversee being set up prior to the moongate-to-Eodon incident.

I am very interested in tropical/jungle plants of all shapes and sizes. I'm going to make palm trees that or 2-3 times the size of U7's (in fact, many plants are going to be larger). I'm going for a very lush look for the rainforest sections of Eodon.

Of course, anything that anyone would like to contribute will be taken into consideration. I do not believe that the project will ever be completed without help!
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: foody (---.cpe.net.cable.roger)
Date:   04-01-08 15:21

Any idea where is the main webpage so I can bookmark it and if there is any demo for download? I would love to play Savage Empire in Ultima 7 engine.
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   04-02-08 04:56

Thank you for your interest! I don't have a web page yet, nor a demo.

I'm currently experimenting with some ideas. I'm trying to stay focused on actual world building assets such as water, grass, and mountain graphics, though I have a lot of other stuff.

I am hoping for an increase in lift height for the ideas that I'm working on. I'm experimenting with wall-based mountains, and water that the player can walk through being only partially submerged (which would set up neat scenarios with crocodiles! I also have a waterfall "wall" that uses color cycling and looks very torrential. An increase in lift will allow a realistic portrayal of the Nahuatl Teocalli pyramids.
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   04-02-08 05:23

I just noticed that the lift goes up to 255 in the latest snapshot!
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Marzo Sette Torres Junior 
Date:   04-02-08 07:51

Quote:

I just noticed that the lift goes up to 255 in the latest snapshot!

Yes, but beware: Exult won't *save* nor *load* these correctly; DrCode hasn't written that part yet. Best to stay away from high lifts for now.

------
Marzo Sette Torres Junior
aka Geometrodynamic Dragon
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   04-02-08 08:38

Quote:

"Yes, but beware: Exult won't *save* nor *load* these correctly; DrCode hasn't written that part yet. Best to stay away from high lifts for now."

Thank you for the warning about the saving and loading. What is exciting though, is that I can go ahead with designing the Teocalli pieces and test them, as well as finish up the grass/water/dirt "blocks" and mountain walls that I'll use to build the majority of the map!
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: DrCode (---.mentorg.com)
Date:   04-02-08 16:57

Yes, I've got to do a bit more work. Damn these real-world activities!:-)
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   04-02-08 21:09

Quote:

"Yes, I've got to do a bit more work. Damn these real-world activities!:-)"

I hear you! I'm a single dad who also likes playing games, so my projects have slow periods, especially because I'm currently working solo. Though in a way, those slow periods allow me to think of cool things to try!
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Wiz (---.cpe.net.cable.roger)
Date:   04-07-08 09:05

I just, between two jobs, worked 10-14 hour days for the past 8 days. :P Life does that to you sometimes, which is why TFL is not something Ive had too much time to work on.
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Skutarth (not logged in) (---.vctrcmta01.vctatx.tl.dh.suddenlink.)
Date:   04-07-08 16:02

I may or may not have time to help out when I'm out of college for the summer.
You might know that I started working on a Savage Empire remake for the Exult engine a while back. Thanks for resurrecting the dream.

PS: Alt+PrintScreen will take a screenshot of the selected window in Windows XP.
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: DrCode (---.mentorg.com)
Date:   04-08-08 17:20

About the higher lifts: I finally got to the point where I realize that there's a fair bit of work to do. Changing the file formats won't be too hard, but detecting when objects block tiles will have to be rewritten, since the current system assumes lifts <= 15 and uses fixed-sized arrays for this. This is why, if you try to drop an object on something else where it's z-coord > 15, you'll get a red X, or the object will end up behind where you tried to put it.

This still shouldn't be too hard; but I need to set aside a bit of time for it.
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   04-09-08 04:32

Quote:

"I may or may not have time to help out when I'm out of college for the summer.
You might know that I started working on a Savage Empire remake for the Exult engine a while back. Thanks for resurrecting the dream."

Any help and/or contributions will be greatly appreciated and considered for the project! Hopefully at some point, the dream can become a reality. I'm currently looking for rain forest plants.

Quote:

"About the higher lifts: I finally got to the point where I realize that there's a fair bit of work to do. Changing the file formats won't be too hard, but detecting when objects block tiles will have to be rewritten, since the current system assumes lifts <= 15 and uses fixed-sized arrays for this. This is why, if you try to drop an object on something else where it's z-coord > 15, you'll get a red X, or the object will end up behind where you tried to put it.

This still shouldn't be too hard; but I need to set aside a bit of time for it."


DrCode, many thanks for the hard work that you, Marzo, and all of the others do on Exult/Exult Studio! It helps keep Ultima alive.
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: DrCode (---.mentorg.com)
Date:   04-09-08 10:52

Thanks! But I think lately, Marzo's the only one doing hard work!
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Malignant Manor 
Date:   06-10-08 08:18

Could you possible release a patch so people can experience what you have done so far? (besides just screenshots)
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   10-18-08 05:57

Quote:

"Could you possible release a patch so people can experience what you have done so far? (besides just screenshots)"

My apologies, Malignant Manor. I missed this post. I got into new relationship at the time and it put the project/Ultima/Exult on hold.

I cannot create a patch for a couple of reasons:

1.) I am very critical of my work and only reluctantly post shots,

2.) and I have no idea at the moment how to make a patch because I have focused only on drawing graphics rather than learning anything technical concerning Exult.


This is where others will need to come in. Scripting competently is beyond me without detailed tutorials, and I also need artists. After establishing the art direction, I will not at all mind if artists who love Ultima come in to help. Even though Exult/Ultima VII has their limitations, I cannot help but try to cram as much detail into the game as I can. If one looks at a picture of a real rainforest, they can see see what I mean!

With the advent of the higher lift values, I am looking for rainforest plants that look as real as possible considering the axiometric view, palette, and resolution limitations. With the added back story I have in mind, it doesn't matter from what area of the world the rainforest plants come from. In fact, they could be "extinct", which will actually fit in with the Time Lord aspect of my rewrite of certain aspects of the story...
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   12-13-08 01:52

Another post to say that the project is not dead!


Work on the S.E.T.C. continues. Though I haven't drawn as much lately, I have been doing a lot of reading on the subject matter and working on concepts.

Due to the lift increase and look of the original game, I have decided that when all of the terrain art has been drawn, the world will be built with "blocks". The only chunks will be water with palette cycling, with the blocks being added for the first level and up, of the ground. Mountain/tepui(mesa) faces will definitely be walls, though I haven't drawn or discovered a desirable texture, though the test walls use a modified version of the original texture. The hollows of these mesas will have cave systems except for Myrmidex caves which will be on a separate map.

I have three different shades of mulchy-grass, but need mulchy-terrain for the thicker parts of the rainforest areas.. Some blocks will be "rounded-off" for a hilly effect as seen in a couple of areas of Ultima VI. Blocks have to be drawn and aligned for the dirt paths. These paths will not be as "road-like" as in the original, except for the area surrounding the Nahuatl.

Rocky terrain is in early concept and needs to be done along with lava for the Jukari and Haakur areas of the map. These areas will also need flowing, pouring, and spraying lava. I have a "wall" using color cycling for big, torrential waterfalls but needs slight tweaking.

Some changes are being made to the original story. The Jukari are going to be presented in more of a stereotypical barbarian form, with bone axes, loincloths, horned leather helms, etc. They will live in huts of leather/furs,/large bones. I would like to add a new tribe that is more of the stereotypical jungle-cannibal Jungle Hunt style menace that the Timelord asks the Avatar to eradicate from the valley. The game is called "Savage Empire", so I want the game to be more dark, savage and primitive, where surviving isn't as easy as it was in the original. Ultima VII requiring characters to eat is a plus, as players will have to use survival skills to win the game. Shields and weapons will be specific to each tribe, save for generic weapons such as spears, and I have two styles of hut walls nearly done.

These changes have allowed me to think of numerous quests and realism to be added. For example, the Nahuatl may have a limited supply of obsidian due to the Myrmidex/cannibals/warring tribes disrupting the Jukari obsidian tribute, making it difficult to supply the Yolaru with macuahuitls. Quests to obtain obsidian could be added (once the player deals with other Nahuatl problems). Since tribute from the tribes have ended, the Nahuatl might get restless, which is put under control by Crazy Spector and Huitlapacti bringing back human sacrifice on top of pyramids...


I am still looking for people to contribute art for the game. Mountainside textures will be considered, as will tropical plants. Trees can be fairly tall. Those who can are are willing to draw 32-frame npcs will be greatly appreciated! I have frame "16" of 4 or 5 npcs that need the rest of the frames done. Very few Ultima remakes see completion, and I will not give up on this one! I have ceased drawing random stuff, and have focused on doing things somewhat in order:

1.)Water/terrain tiles and terrain-walls for mountains and various waterfalls. (then build map)

2.)Building materials; walls and roofing. (Construct villages)

3.)Flora (create forests and plains)

4.)Objects (village items, weapons, props)

5.)NPCs

6.)Fauna

7.)Misc.
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Kensu (---.localdomain)
Date:   12-23-08 03:28

I suggest everyone disabuse themselves of any dewy-eyed notions about The Lost Vale.
Especially when you consider something about those screenshots: that isn't snow, it's clouds.
So that does indeed mean that in screenshot Screen13, the Avatar is jumping between two clouds.

Super Avatar Brothers, indeed.
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Dominus 
Date:   12-23-08 15:00

wrong thread?

--
Read the documentation and the FAQ are your friends! There is no excuse for not reading them! RTFM
Read the Rules!
We do not support Piracy/Abandonware/Warez!
Dom
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Kensu (---.localdomain)
Date:   12-30-08 04:00

Yeah... I must've hit "back" once too many.
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   12-30-08 05:53

LOL...at least the thread got bumped! Interesting thing is, maybe The Lost Vale is among the archived Origin Material!

Anyway, about the S.E.T.C............

Since I cannot focus on any one part of the project and keep getting interrupted by playing games of The Witcher and Privateer, I keep working on random things...

I lost the "completed" versions of the Kurak bamboo walls, and have to re-import them into E.S. to reconfigure them to snap together properly. I have thatched walls completed for another tribe, and preliminary work on a "stacked-stone" look inspired by Skara Brae for the Barako tribe. Working with photos of the site have also given me ideas on a mountain-side texture. One idea is to have the Barako dwellings consist of sunken earth-dwellings like at Skara Brae. Building the world with walls and blocks should make this possible. Since the Barako are mountain-dwellers, they could have settled on a spot that allowed them to dig deep enough for their dwellings, thus making their mountain home a veritable fortress to protect themselves from rival tribes, dinosaurs, and waves of Myrmidex attacks.

I have three different shades of grass, and three different shades of mulchy-dirt (for beneath the canopy). Work has begun on creating blocks with dirt paths. When I have settled on mountain-textures, the tops of the mountain walls will have the grass applied to blend seemlessly with the grassy blocks. When one comes up to any elevated terrain, it is essentially a building made with terrain-textures.

Today, I recolored much of the parrot frames to look more like a scarlet macaw. That is about 80% done. Next animal will be the snake. New objects have been created that were mentioned in the Official Cluebook, such as blue-lacquered Kotl armor, found in their ancient city, and croc-skin Urali armor, but are considered WIP.
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   01-29-09 02:01

1/28/09 UPDATE:

For some reason, I still cannot get these mountain textures right. So I have violated my plan to finish drawing terrain objects first and have been drawing or reshading inventory/prop objects. The forum has been slightly dead lately, which scares me (nothing from Marzo in a while, I hope everything is alright!), but I am hoping that some artists & scripters that love Ultima and have spare time see this thread!

Please forgive me if any of these objects have been discussed or already shown...

Some new objects include a Urali crocodile-skin armor, probably be slightly better than Ultima VII leather armor. I scrapped the original armor which was based off of the U7 leather armor, and drew a new one from scratch. Blue lacquered Kotl armor including breastplate, greaves, and arm guards are done.

I'm trying to represent all items possible, so I have a safari shirt that the avatar starts with, as well as a safari hat (modified from previous screenshot) that will go in the helm slot. A slightly different version would be found on Segallion, and a smaller gray version for Jimmy Malone's hat. I have a white long labcoat for Prof. Rafkin, and three different shades of trousers inspired by a Martian Dreams object. Ten different shields, eight different macuahuitls (obsidian swords), two backpacks, twelve different clay pots (recolored versions, will recolor even more), waterskin, leather satchel, various jewelry (going to draw more), a wooden crate for the rifle, and a wooden crate for other objects to replace the orignial yellow one (but needs recolored, too dark brown). I have a two piece (snaps together) L-shaped counter top with sink. One version has a gray top, the other used the granite pattern-fill from Gimp, not sure which to use...

The computer from the software pirate easter egg in S.I. has been tweaked and there is a monitor that is powered on for before the lab is transported, and one for afterwards. Jimmy's camera is basically done, as I'm sick of tweaking it. I had about 20 different versions of that!
Oh and the avatar's hunting knife is smaller and not as cool as the first one I drew, but the first one is too big for the game's resolution. Random other objects, and a few WIPs...


So I am looking at pics of Mount Roraima (a tepui) for inspiration for the cliff sides. This was the tepui that inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write "The Lost World" which in turn seems to have inspired the original Savage Empire. If anyone wants to draw walls with a goot tepui texture, please do! I'll add the grass texture to the tops of the "walls" that need them. As always, any tropical plants are welcome. Any art contributed shall be considered. I've been working on this off and on for almost 3 years. Lets get a team together to see it to completion!

Scythifuge Dragon
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Petrell 
Date:   01-29-09 04:14

Nice progress Scythifuge. Any change on screenshots of some of the completed pieces? Any plans of building a site for the project?

Marzos absence is worrying. There has not been updates to source code since 25th of november last year and his last post is from 7th of december so it's been almost two months already. None of his posts indicated he was going to be absend from the project.

He has been the code monkey and driving force of the development for yers now so basically the entire project has ground to a hald on his absence. The HD project is also on halt without someone to direct it and any volunteers it might have atracted are likely to lose interest if this continues. Someone needs to take up reins and organise the effort before it's too late but is there anyone beside Marzo who is capable of handling it?

Worse still, Pentagram is in same situation as there have been no progress since early november and both Matthew Jimenez and Willem Jan Palenstijn seem to have disapeared as well. Palenstijn has been contributing to Exult development so his absence hurts exult too.

_____________
Obsibian Dragon
-==(UDIC)==-
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   01-29-09 05:03

Thank you for the reply, Petrell!

I haven't taken any new screenshots as all of the new stuff is in large png files that I refer too as "master canvases". I have a "completed" canvas, as well as "WIP", "flora", "building material", and "fauna" canvases (and random others!). My original Exult files became very convoluted with all of the new objects/test objects, making it tedious to add new stuff, arrange it and take screenshots. I wish that there was a "clean" method for adding/removing/testing new stuff. After a while, I want to post new screenies, but only after I have some world-building objects ready to go.

I have never created a site, nor will I for this project until I get at least an artist and scripter attached to the project.

I hope that everything is alright with Marzo and others involved with Exult and other projects. The community needs people with knowledge and skills in order to keep Ultima alive. I am in constant fear that Ultima is on its last legs...
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Andy1 
Date:   01-29-09 05:18

Good going Scythifuge! I never played Savage Empire, but I remember the boxes. I started playing Ultima games at Ultima 7. From what I've heard, Savage Empire has a good plot. Thank your for your effort, and I look forward to following your rendition as it moves along.
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: artaxerxes_ (---.localdomain)
Date:   01-29-09 18:30

Scythifuge,

is there someplace on the web where all your progress can be seen and/or downloaded?

thx
Artaxerxes
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: TDI (---.localdomain)
Date:   01-29-09 18:56

Maybe a red moongate appeared in Marzo's living room. He stepped in, and was magically teleported into Exult. Now he is one with the code, waging battle against the bugs, with Iolo, Dupre and Shamino at his side, a two-handed sword firmly in his hands.
On a full moon, Exult players might encounter him ingame, hacking away at his enemies.
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   01-29-09 19:38

Thank you everyone for our replies and interest!

Artaxerxes,

The only stuff publicly available is what I have posted in screenshots on this forum, much of which has been changed since then. When I get the terrain pieces done and some sample world-building completed, I'll probably post new screenshots. Much work will need to be done to tweak the items once they are in Exult, such as hand-placement and the like.

Today, I began work and completed much of the vinyl-sided walls of the Avatar's house on Earth, since I am thinking that I want the game to start there, with the Avatar going to sleep and having the dream with LB about the moonstone (maybe an interactive dream like in S.I.), and have the player actually go to the museum to speak with Rafkin. I'll be looking at the intros from VI, MD, and the beginning of IX to create the Avatar's house and yard, complete with the stone circle. A cab could "teleport" the Avatar to the museum. This of course means that I'll have to draw modern stuff for the house and museum (some of which can be recycled from the cyberpunk project). Using the multi-map capability of E.S., these will be on separate maps.

Of course, the player will be able to bake bread in the house before embarking on the journey...
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Warder (---.localdomain)
Date:   01-29-09 21:41

I wouldn't take anything from the start of Ultima IX as inspiration; that area is clearly built as a tutorial and makes no sense at all. :P
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   01-29-09 21:58

Warder -

I'm just looking at the textures and house layout, though I'm going with the other two games mostly. I view the beginning of Ultima IX as a "dream sequence", though I sort of view the entire game as a dream...a very bad dream!



So I got the Avatar's inventory clothing done, as well as Rafkin a Jimmy's inventory clothing. A watch for the Avatar (maybe a recolored pocket watch for Rafkin), and a new whip WIP. Black boots for the Avatar, gray loafers for Rafkin, and brown ones for Jimmy.

Also, I just looked at some cyberpunk-project-canvases and noticed that I had some modern day stuff WIPs, such as a refrigerator, stove, tub, shower, toilet, animated ceiling fan...
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   01-30-09 03:19

Busy day!

Completed toothbrush, toothpaste, kitchen sink/counter top, bathroom sink, refrigerator, wardrobe cabinet, dresser, end table, and nearly completed glass topped end stand and coffee table. Also found my old couch WIP. Tweaked a lot of random stuff today as well.
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: artaxerxes_ (---.localdomain)
Date:   01-30-09 13:35

We should have some sort of a Wiki for SE Remake, where users (proven to have legal access to SE data) could access the yet-to-be done SE data and submit reconstructed images.

Artaxerxes
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   01-30-09 17:54

That sounds like a great idea, Artaxerxes! Though I don't know how to go about creating a wiki!

Many items I have drawn or redrawn no longer look like the original S.E. items, though they represent them. Items that use originals are drastically changed, such as the grass texture for example. I took the original grass and road tiles, removed the black color, and scaled the image while recoloring them with the u7 palette, and am in the process of drawing random sticks and stones upon them, as well as reshading variants for beneath tress, other side of cliffs, etc.

Other items are additions made from scratch, like plants that aren't in the original, but are being expanded upon to create a U7/more realistic jungle experience. Anyone wishing to contribute can email me at sythifuge@hotmail.com, or by posting pics on the forum!

I am hoping that with EA/ EA Mythic beginning to release all of the Origin archives to the public, that they won't mind graphic assets from out-of-print games to be reused in remakes that in turn, help to promote their IPs.
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Tsetra (---.localdomain)
Date:   02-01-09 20:26

I know it's not worth much, but myself and I'm sure plenty of others are looking forward to this. I wish I had the time to help out, but I'm wrapped up in projects of my own (namingly Morrowind)
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   02-05-09 03:19

Another UPDATE:

I've been working on the Avatar's house a lot the past few days, with tweaking of Eodon stuff here and there. I want to finish the Avatar's house and possibly post a screenshot or two. I will place the circle of stones nearby the house. Rafkin's lab should be easy since it will look the same on Earth as in Eodon, but with walls and two doors (with the one to the museum-proper locked, unless I get really ambitious!).

I was trying to recreate the entertainment center from the Ultima VI intro, but it would look too massive, so I will have to scale it down. I'm hoping to have many interactive items, such as turning the tv on and having three frames of alternating blue colors to indicate that it is on. The bathroom sink has 16 frames so that it can be filled and drained. The bathtub is being a pain though! I have random items like a toaster, with the idea that the player can use a bread knife on a loaf, and use a slice of bread on the toaster to create toast ( sprites all drawn!). I have some items that need testing, like pieces for a possible book shelf. I also drew a desk phone and a wall phone, inner walls, carpets and floor tiles, a couple of books, and some other stuff....
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Petrell 
Date:   02-05-09 06:09

You seem to be making nice progress. Just don't overdo it with detail as you will have to make usecode for all that to work. Also if you put too much detail in the intro and rest of the game has less functions you may end up making false expectations about rest of the game (like some games where first 1/3-2/3 are good/great but devs ran out of steam/ideas/time and end game is pure rubbish).

Keep it up and your grand children may well be able to play it yet ;).

_____________
Obsibian Dragon
-==(UDIC)==-
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   02-05-09 13:46

Thank you for your reply, Petrell!

The detail I am planning for the beginning of the game is also planned for the rest of the game, such as harvesting and drying bamboo before use, extra quests, turning healing plants into "potions" in Rafkin's lab, etc. I don't know much about usecode yet, but I'm assuming that some of these interactions are simple to implement. I'm trying to go for the Ultima VI-VII spirit!

The planned intro is actually simple. The Avatar's house and yard will be on a separate map, allowing the player to explore the house and play around with stuff, have the dream, and phone a cab to "teleport" to the lab, which will be on another map. From there the player can have dialogue with Rafkin and Jimmy, and then hopefully a cutscene can be scripted that shows Rafkin setting up the experiment on the moonstone (basically how npc's place plates and food in Ultima VII), following with the lab being transported, possibly in a similar way to the ship arriving in the beginning of S.I...
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Wizardry Dragon (---.localdomain)
Date:   02-05-09 22:37

The introduction cutscene you are looking for can easily be done in UCC script {} blocks, it would just require fiddling to get the positions, etc. right.

Theres some examples of this in TFL, and the Keyring Mod.

An example from Keyring (phorum will probably massacre the formatting):
script item
{	//cast spells: freeze party (Vas An Por), create magical barrier around
	//Laurianna (Vas Ort Sanct Grav) and move party around (Vas In Por):
	nohalt;					continue;				sfx 110;
	face north;				say "@Vas An Por@";			actor frame standing;
	wait 1;					actor frame cast_up;			wait 1;
	next frame;				wait 1;					previous frame;
	sfx 108;				say "@Vas Ort Sanct Grav@";		wait 2;
	next frame;				wait 2;					previous frame;
	wait 2;					next frame;				wait 2;
	previous frame;				sfx SOUND_TELEPORT;			say "@Vas In Por@";

	//Actually teleport the party:
	call zaurielTeleportPartyAround;

	//Long casting ritual:
	wait 2;					actor frame raise_2h;			wait 2;
	next frame;				wait 2;					next frame;
	wait 3;

	//Make more spell effects:
	call zaurielRitualCutscene, SPRITE_EFFECTS_ZAURIEL;

	//Cast the dragon form spell (Rel An-Quas Ailem In BAL-ZEN)
	actor frame standing;			say "@Rel An-Quas...@";			actor frame cast_up;
	wait 2;					sfx 66;					wait 2;
	next frame;				wait 2;					previous frame;
	wait 2;					say "@...Ailem In BAL-ZEN@";wait 2;

	//Actually shapeshift Zauriel:
	call zaurielRitualCutscene, DRAGON_SHAPESHIFT;

	//Finish the ritual:
	next frame;				sfx 64;					wait 2;
	previous frame;				wait 2;					next frame;
	wait 2;					face west;				wait 2;

	//Say last words and wait a bit:
	call zaurielRitualCutscene, PARTING_REMARKS;			wait 2;

	//Begin combat:
	call zaurielRitualCutscene, BEGIN_ZAURIEL_COMBAT;}


[edit by Marzo: fixed formatting]

Cheers, Wizardry Dragon
Lead Designer, Ultima VII: The Feudal Lands
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   02-06-09 00:19

Wow Wizardry Dragon, thanks! Looking at this script and some other sample scripts posted by forum members, I can almost see what is going on, but I have virtually no programming/scripting experience. That is why I'm hoping that those who do, decide to come aboard the S.E. Remake. Though I would love to learn how to understand and write these scripts!

I think about it a lot. Many little scripts will be needed, such as ones to turn lamps/braziers/torches on and off, make campfires to cook meat, etc.

But for now, I'm the only one working on the project, and am currently only creating art assets and concepts, and conducting historical research. After I finish the Avatar's place and the museum lab, I'm going back to work on Eodon by finishing up terrain assets, and then focus on one village at a time, with of course the random object...
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Wizardry Dragon (---.localdomain)
Date:   02-06-09 05:43

I am doing a _ton_ of usecode work for TFL, and as you may imagine, Marzo has done a ton of similar work for Keyring. If you have questions about usecode, feel free to ask either of us.

In fact, I'd have to dig it out, but I do believe I wrote the first UCC documentation out there :-)

On the topic of documentation, however, you will be able to find the TFL code in the SF repository and it has several examples, and a good bit of it is documented with NaturalDocs on the TFL website, which you can find at: http://www.thefeudallands.ca/srcdocs/index.php?page=www.thefeudallands.ca/srcdocs/index.html

Soon it will be updated to include documentation of the UCC intrinsics.

A couple specific points:

A) Light sources being on/off - I presume you mean lit during night and off during day. It is in the NPC usecode to light certain light sources during night, it would just at worst have to be adapted for new shapes. I believe (Marzo can confirm/deny) that anything in the light source shape will be lit by NPCs if it is too "dark" in their current location.

B) Making campfires cook meat would be a little trickier, however it is certainly doable. I suggest looking at how the sword blanks getting heated by a forge works, in Alun Bestor's Quests & Interactions modification.

(BTW, if you want a website for the remake I can set you up with something on my server similar to U7TFL's stuff. I don't mind :) )

Cheers, Wizardry Dragon
Lead Designer, Ultima VII: The Feudal Lands
www.thefeudallands.ca
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Malignant Manor 
Date:   02-06-09 06:08

Light sources being turned on and off by npcs are hardcoded in schedules.cc. The light source tab just makes the object emit light. It's extremely easy to just use the shape numbers already hardcoded. I think he is talking about just having it turn on and off with double clicks though which is simple usecode.
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Wizardry Dragon (---.localdomain)
Date:   02-06-09 06:17

I think you misunderstand what I mean. There is a specific set of objects in shapes.vga for "light source" "lit light source" and "spent light source" specifically. IIRC, the aforementioned schedules code should light a "light source" object nearby if it is unlit during certain times (I dont have the code on hand to verify directly though, Id have to dump it)

Tl;dr: I mean the object "light source" not an object with the "light source" property (and thus tab)

Cheers, Wizardry Dragon
Lead Designer, Ultima VII: The Feudal Lands
www.thefeudallands.ca
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   02-07-09 01:39

The only light sources that NPCs will be operating are braziers (Nahuatl) and torches (all tribes), while the Eodon portion of the game takes place. While in the Avatar's house, only the player will be using light sources, while the museum portion will take place during daylight hours. Currently, I have three light sources that I'll need to test. A regular table lamp, a Tizio lamp from the Ultima VI intro, and a light switch for walls. I have no idea how to implement them into E.S. so that the player can turn them on and off. The ceiling fan WIP could probably use a switch as well.


One note about Petrell's concern about all of the interaction in the beginning: While I am hoping for as much or more interaction in Eodon, I think that the player being surrounded by modern amenities in the beginning will create a cool and realistic contrast to the primitive Savage Empire! During the short time in the house, the player will have electricity, food in the refrigerator, running water in the kitchen and bathroom, etc. Once in Eodon, the player will have to trek for fresh water, hunt and fish for game and cook the meat or become famished, find or create torches for light or wander in the dangerous dark jungle with dangerous creatures and cannibals, find reagents for spells and plants for making medicines, etc. If its possible, I would like for the player to be randomly attacked while camping in the jungle, like in earlier Ultimas!
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   02-15-09 05:54

UPDATE:

So, I was compelled to work on Eodon stuff, even though I said that I would finish the Avatar's house stuff first (which is 80-85% completed). I just cannot stay focused! I need artists to jump in to work on stuff so that I can stay focused on specific tasks...


Anyway, so I was looking at the original fountain and the basic editing that I did to it, so long ago, Since I am trying to avoid using original graphics, I decided to give redrawing it from scratch (but using the original as inspiration) a go. At first, I was like "Man, there is no way that I am going to pull this off!" But after a few hours of work, I think that I have something! After drawing that, I created a different version for Kotl city, since the original Kotl city was rather bland. While perusing the "Blogging Ultima" blog, and seeing that modern players find areas to be a let down, I have decided to spruce things up a bit, and have some new backstory for the "time stop" chamber, involving the Kotl hero, Katakotl. There will be more props created for Kotl city, and I shall strive to make it a more exciting place to explore. So I created a new jungle fountain, and a more pristine 128x128 pixel fountain for Kotl city (which is broke up into 64x64 pixel pieces).

After that, I decided to work on the Fabozz statue. Again, I felt that I would be unable to recreate the sprite, but after a few hours, my kids are telling me that it looks great! (they play a lot of newer stuff, but they love old school games as well!) I am thinking about posting shots, but I don't know if posting "later portion of the game" shots is such a good idea...I will mull over the idea while thinking of what to try drawing next.

Speaking of what to draw next, I have been thinking about the Haakur tribe. They are neanderthals, and dwell in caves. To spruce their area up, I may draw cave-walls with the cave painting graphics. Other than that, I'm not sure what to do. Their npc sprites will probably be similar to the SNES version, but all NPC sprites are waiting until all of the other assets are done. Any ideas or suggestions from the Ultima community will be considered
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   02-26-09 21:56

UPDATE:

New items drawn:

I redrew the kiln/oven from scratch. I also drew a statue that is partially inspired by the Toltec statues at Tula, and has designs on it, including the Ultima serpent. Overtime, I'll probably draw other statues/broken statues/broken walls that are remnants of the Kotl and hint at other civilizations.

I have drawn a tomato plant attached to a wooden stake as well as a chili plant, and a pole bean plant, and am almost done with corn stalks, all for the Nahuatla. Food will be able to be harvested from these, and will be available for trade in the Nauhatla market. I have also drawn cacao tress, one tall and one short. These will be in the jungle, and chocolatl wil be able to be harvested from these, for spells, potions, and for trade. Sprites for the pods and for the individual beans are drawn as well. I may draw squash.

I have also drawn a metate y mano which replaces the original game's grinding stone. I have 32 frames for grinding corn into masa (to bake tortillas on a comal (drawn), the equivalent to Ultima VII's baking bread). Frames will need to be drawn for grinding other things, such as the ingredients for making clay-pot-grenades.

Next up is tweaking this cool and free 2d texture for the mountain sides. I may be able to make some sort of demo, maybe a small island to show off my plan for world building, as well as some of the new graphics, but I have no time frame for this.
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: nickasdf (---.localdomain)
Date:   03-03-09 21:34

would be nice to see a more up to date screenshot of work in progress please :)
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Kensu (---.localdomain)
Date:   03-04-09 00:59

How many z-levels does U7/Exult have? Will you be able to make those cliffs for real, or are you going to have to fudge like the original game did?
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   03-04-09 02:12

nickasdf-

I'm currently working on the cliff-"walls" (finally!), I'm hoping to post screens after that and some tweaking to the Nahuatla stuff. The texture I acquired from Spiral Graphics was reduced to 128x128p from 512x512p, and needs to be busted up into pieces for the walls and corners, and horizontal walls need to be darkened slightly, and all topped with the grass textures, and random pieces will have vines/moss/plant growth. It is a very tedious process...


Kensu-

I am unsure of how high the z-levels on the current CVS go, but I did a quick experiment by stacking a bunch of 32p squares to build a pyramid, and it went rather high. The plan is for actual cliffs, with cave systems and things to explore and find inside, palette-cycled waterfall-walls, blocks of water so that the player can wade through waist deep streams (and deal with crocs and nasty piranhas...

So far, I'm sticking with my plan of using a default chunk and building the map with "blocks" and "walls".
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Martin 
Date:   03-04-09 04:01

Wow, those screenshots look amazing!
I shamefully admit that i never finished Savage Empire, was the only Ultima Game i couldn't finish.
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   03-06-09 00:25

quote -

Wow, those screenshots look amazing!

Thank you, Martin! Many of those graphics have been replaced or tweaked since then, and I will probably tweak/redo the gumps as well. Everything else is on hold for now while I mess around with the mountainside texture, which is tricky because I need the regular wall shapes PLUS the corner pieces, and have the texture remain seamless for any width or height of the mountainsides. It may take some time for it to all work out, unless I can find somnone with better skills to bang them out quicker.
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Simon Martinez (---.localdomain)
Date:   03-24-09 08:10

That is a great job what you have done so far!. I looooved the savage empire, great game.
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: artaxerxes_ (---.localdomain)
Date:   03-24-09 12:24

sorry, I must have missed that again, but where does one see all your screenshots, or for that matter, download some of your creation?

thx
Artaxerxes
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   03-26-09 01:10

Sorry, I haven't had time since the last post to work on the project, lots of stuff going on that interferes with such things! If any artists could join the project, I would happily send the mountain textures for tweaking, as I am having a hard time creating seamless walls and corners. I will resume the project, but not sure when. Once the mountain walls/corners are done, I can probably create new screenshots.
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Phoenix1224 (---.localdomain)
Date:   04-22-09 19:31

This project sounds like an amazing idea, I just hope it continues to its end product.. Makes me wish I knew how to do any of this stuff so I could lend a hand.
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Dude (---.localdomain)
Date:   04-23-09 02:26

Wasn't there a project to remake U6 with the U7 engine, too?
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Dominus 
Date:   04-23-09 10:27

@Dude
Please stick to the topic. The thread is long enough as it is, don't add more clutter to it. I don't know of such a project. If you or ANYONE else wants to further discuss this, please open a new thread (I'll delete further replies to this here).

--
Read the documentation and the FAQ are your friends! There is no excuse for not reading them! RTFM
Read the Rules!
We do not support Piracy/Abandonware/Warez!
Dom
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   05-18-09 03:06

Greetings all!

I just wanted to mention that the project is still active, but that due to relationship/kids/upcoming baby/new job I haven't done anything for about three months, but have resumed recently, though on a limited scale. While on the job, I think a lot about what I want/will do as far as the scope of the project.

The mountain-texture thing is still an issue (was last thing worked on), so I will for now be using modified versions of the original game's textures, because they work seamlessly. I was trying to be as unique as possible while still keeping with the original feel, so heavily modified versions of certain things will have to do in order to keep the project moving forward. Time flows differently for me than the average person, but I realize that much time has passed since my original concept shots for this project were shown.

I do have quite a bit of new graphics, believe it or not, and I will finish up certain things in order to show screenshots that will reflect gameplay. My Exult is clustered due to experimenting and what not, I wish that there was an option to remove shapes (i.e., shape-tests that I would like to remove since they don't work or fit). Organizing everything has been difficult, and it is hard to fathom how a professional game company organizes and tracks all of their assets.

I have new Nahuatla stuff, so that many buildings will have unique designs (but similar construction), most of the Nahuatla plants, cocoa tree, inventory items (B.G. style for now), weapons, food (plantains in place of bananas, need to draw a plantain plant) , statues/fountains (got a complete Fabozz head) among many other things...

Everything will continue at a snail's pace until people join the project. Right now, getting artists on board to finish up art assets is top priority. I simply cannot do everything by myself, unless the game is released by 2015. Plus, I still draw graphics when time permits for other Ultima-related projects in order to not get burned out on S.E. and also to improve my skills.

So artistic Ultima fans, draw some jungle stuff!!!

William Scott Franklin
Scythifuge Dragon
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Lathlas 
Date:   05-18-09 12:06

I've never played Savage Empire, so I'd need to find some reference points, but if you post a list of art you need I can start pushing some pixels around.

Check out my Map and Face threads here for some references. I'm not an artist by any mean, but I'm pretty handy with Photoshop so I can definitely convert existing BG items and textures pretty well.

--------

No matter how badly the idiots outnumber you, they're still the idiots.
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   05-19-09 03:54

Thank you, Lathlas! I'll try to compile a list of specific items that the project needs as soon as I can. Anyone interested in helping can draw anything that belongs in a tropical rainforest. With extended lift values, trees can be much taller than Ultima VII trees. It will really help when I finish up some stuff and assemble some stuff for screenshots...
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Melchett (---.localdomain)
Date:   07-16-09 00:50

Hi, I'd love to help if at all possible (you are basically making Savage Empire look like I imagined it would when I first read about it in that free origin catalogue thing back in the day), but being a technical black hole I'm really not sure how I can :p.

How does one actually go about drawing the objects in such a way that they can be imported into Exult Studio?
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Kensu (---.localdomain)
Date:   07-29-09 23:27

On a related note...
Has anyone else had problems using u6decode on SE's lzc files? I can't seem to decompress any of them; I keep getting an error message which comes from the segment where it checks the header.
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: theruler (---.localdomain)
Date:   11-04-09 22:33

Any news about this project?
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Dominus 
Date:   11-04-09 22:47

http://exult.sourceforge.net/forum/read.php?f=1&i=330301&t=330301 first answer by Scythifuge

--
Read the documentation and the FAQ are your friends! There is no excuse for not reading them! RTFM
Read the Rules!
We do not support Piracy/Abandonware/Warez!
Dom
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Oryon (---.localdomain)
Date:   11-05-09 13:25

By all the gods of the Pantheon, i salute you!

I would sell a kidney for an Exult conversion of The Savage Empire.
Great job!!
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   11-06-09 06:03

Thank you Oryon and others who have commented on the project. I truly wish that I had more time to work on it.

I have many assets drawn, and the only things keeping me from showing screenshots are that I haven't imported them into Exult (they are on multiple canvases with names like nahuatl_completed_items_canvas.png or avatar_house_canvas.png), and that I am no good at acting as my own producer and do things out of order rather than in an orderly fashion with a schedule. When the day comes that I post some shots, they will most likely be mockups.

Maybe if I start showing some stuff, other artists will join, but no one has posted or emailed any samples as of yet.

I have a lot of the Avatar's house assets completed, so perhaps I should try to set aside a few hours and post a mock-up. I will do my best...
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Crowley 
Date:   11-06-09 06:46

I recently sent you email about helping with the art. Of course, that went to the "sythifuge" address listed on your profile...
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 Re: Savage Empire Remake Thread
Author: Scythifuge 
Date:   11-06-09 08:33

I just checked my email and responded. Many thanks!
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