Underworld Character Generation

One thing I want to do in this game is give the player complete control on how they create their character, within the limits of the attribute set. This means that the character will not have randomly generated attributes. Instead, each attribute starts off with 1 point (the minimum value), and the player can assign additional points to an attribute from a pool of points.

This lets the player customize their character as they see fit, based on how they want to play the game. If they want to specialize in combat, then they can assign more values to strength, dexterity and agility. If they want to delve more into the magical arts, they can boost their charisma and wisdom.

Not only does this allow the player more control over the game, it also gives the character more personality since they are a direct creation of the player rather than some impersonal random number generator.

Underworld RPG System

I am taking a different approach to the RPG system in Underworld than I have in my previous roguelikes. I have always implemented an open-ended system, but for this game, the system will be closed. Each attribute has an upper limit on the value, something less than 100, and each race will have different limits. For example, a Human will have the following limits:

• Strength: 60
• Stamina: 60
• Dexterity: 60
• Agility: 60
• Intelligence: 60
• Charisma: 55
• Wisdom: 55

Since a Human is considered the baseline race, the other races will have higher or lower limits.

Since the values will be between 1 and 100, I can use percentage rolls against the various attributes for success or failure, which makes the system very manageable from an execution standpoint.

One other change is the attribute upgrade system. Instead of just accumulating experience points and converting them to attribute points, each character will have a level, and when the level increases, the player gets a handful of points to spend. The levels are based on target experience point values, which is a calculated value based on the intelligence of the character. Each new level will require a higher value of experience points than a previous level.

By using character levels, I can distribute the class abilities across a set of character levels and I don't have to worry about keeping track of things like mana, or casting time and such. This will reward the player for gaining a new level, but keep the progression manageable, and hopefully active through out the life of the game.

When the character has reach the full value on all their attributes, they will be able to add bonus values to attributes or class skills, so that they will still be able to upgrade their character through the game.

While this system is different than my previous systems, I think it is more natural and "realistic" and will keep the game from becoming just a series of slug-upgrade rounds and allow more of the other aspects of the game to come to the forefront.

Underworld

Here are some screens from my new project Underworld. Underworld is going to be a fairly large roguelike game, with multiple realms to explore, many different races and classes, quite a few monsters, and a large assortment of items.

Right now I have the following races defined:

• Human
• Elven
• Dwarven
• Halfling
• Orc
• Troll
• Centaur
• Ogre
• Goblin
• Gnome
• Hobgoblin
• Half-Giant
• Draco
• Felence
• Canide

Here is the preliminary list of classes:

• Cleric
• Barbarian
• Fighter
• Paladin
• Rogue
• Mage
• Wizard
• Ranger
• Druid
• Elementilist
• Monk
• Reaver
• Spiritist
• Bard
• Thief
• Assassin 

You'll be able to select up to two classes for the character.

The roleplaying system will be different from all my other games. I'll make a future post going over the system in detail once I have the details finalized.

Chladni

I posted some images from my Chladni generator program I wrote some time ago. Here is a sample:

Virtual Ink Getting Updated

After a very long time, i.e., years, I decided to get my Virtual Ink site back in play. I added a new theme, fixed up some links and I'll be adding in new content too.

Toothpick Mania

Like most people, I use toothpicks to dig out the annoying little pieces of food that get stuck in my teeth. Steven J. Backman however creates art with his. The blurb on the title page, "The Essence of Patience" says it all.

Wordle

I can across a cool app on the web called Wordle. You enter some words and it creates some word pictures. I entered in the text of my book The Horde and this is the result.

Kindle Madness

Well, it has been a while since I updated this blog. Frankly, I forgot I had it. :) So I changed the name and decided to add a new post.

For my birthday I received a Kindle and I have been doing some reading, mostly of the old classic kind from Project Gutenberg. I had never seen the e_Ink technology before in person and I really like it. It makes reading on a device almost like reading a real book, and is much better than trying to read for any length on a normal computer screen.

One thing I plan on doing is to publish some of my work as ebooks. It is free and would probably sell better than the POD publishing I have tried, which as netted me nothing, although it cost me nothing as well. I'll post here how it goes.