5 replies to this topic

[Jamian]

The second proof of concept file makes you restart level 1 after you go down the stairs in the boss room. However you keep all your equipment and stats. So this demonstrates how you can progressively build a stronger character floor after floor, assuming you have a little luck with the powerups you get.

[Avaro]

I like this! This concept seems really interesting and it looks like it works well. I like how enemies don't randomly drop hearts, rupees, etc and that these items are limited. It's also interesting how pots only drop something the first time you slash them (I assume?). I think that the rocks you can bomb should probably also randomly drop something, sometimes. Your bombs are limited anyway.

 

Also, what I don't like here is the magic meter. I don't exactly know how it fills up and it is so limited, I don't think I would even use some of the magic items because their cost is greater than their effectivity. By the way, I've never played the Binding of Isaac but I've heard of it. Will you be able to implement saving? If you can't save your game, that wouldn't be funny xD

[Jamian]

Yes, I was thinking of making rocks randomly drop items as well. Pots only drop something the first time you visit the screen (otherwise, one could grind for hearts really cheaply).

 

The magic meter fills up a little bit every time you clear a room.

 

As for saves, the way things work in the Binding of Isaac is as follows:

- You start a run, you either die or you reach the end.

- You start a new run. You don't keep the upgrades from the previous runs, but the game remembers your accomplishments over time (ex: you beat the game 10 times, you spent 100 rupees in the shops, etc.).

- After certain requirements are met, the game expands (deeper levels, new bosses, new items, etc.).

 

So while you do start from scratch every time, your overall progression is not lost.

[Air Luigi]

Avataro, the final edition of this quest is supposed to be like a roguelike. You can't save and you always start from the beginning. You have to complete the quest in one sitting. But every play is different thanks to the random factor, so you never know what to expect.

Edit:oh well, Jamian explained it xd

Edited by Air Luigi, 30 March 2015 - 11:18 AM.

[Moosh]

This is super cool. Do you think you'd be willing to share the code? In particular it's the floor generation I'm curious about.

 

Some bugs/suggestions/general thoughts:

• Sometimes when I bomb a rock in a large group  and place the bomb directly on top of it, it bombs an adjacent rock instead. Super frustrating.
• One time I found a shop with some magic and a room with magic in the middle of some spikes right next to each other. I planned to use it to get a triple dice item use, but after the first use the magic in the middle of the spikes disappeared and the shop was completely different. Does the dice reroll floor items too?
• I bet you could make the blue hearts actually appear blue on the subscreen if you had each heart on the subscreen use a different set of tiles and used CopyTile() to change them.
• I think if you used Game->SetComboData() instead of Screen->ComboD[] you could have things like rocks and pots stay destroyed when you leave the room.
• Similarly if you're okay with having more maps, I think you could use other screens on other maps to remember item locations and the sort. So when an item is created, it writes to a combo on a different screen and when an item is destroyed, it removes the combo. Of course item positions would need to be snapped to the grid in this case and you couldn't have them stacked on top of each other.
• Once you've used one of the colored die, I think it should say somewhere which type it is when you pick it up. Since each color corresponds to an effect, it only saves players time it would take to open up notepad and write down which are which each run (or having better memory than a Moosh as the case may be).
• I think bosses should have a name above the health bar. Preferably ones that reflect on how Binding of Isaac this is with names like Polstro's Voice and The Duke of Bats.

[Jamian]

I'll send the code to you in a PM (warning: messy code in sight).

 

In a nutshell, when you generate a level, every screen is assigned a status, tiles to copy, treasures and enemies to spawn, flags to assign, etc. Then you are warped to a completely blank dmap, and on each screen all the appropriate data is "pasted" based on what was decided during generation. It starts by creating a path to a treasure room and to a boss room and it makes sure these screens are always accessible. Then it builds other rooms upon that path in a semi-random way.

 

- Bomb issue: I'm aware of this, I want to fix it.

- Shops are not supposed to reset. The shop was a late addition to the demo and it's still buggy. I have to investigate.

- I was planning on scripting a custom lifebar for that reason, but your idea might be simpler. Making blue hearts visible is definitely something I want to do.

- I'll try Game->SetComboData() for that. That would be neat.

- Having the map remember item drops is probably a bit challenging but doable.

- Having dice remember their effects for you: Yep, that's also on the to-do list.

- Ditto for boss names. I like your suggestions

Edited by Jamian, 31 March 2015 - 05:51 AM.