Here's what I've been getting done on LoE lately.
Skill item requirements
Certain skills require tools, reagents or ammo. For example, the Fireball skill requires Flame Ember and the Poison Daggers skill requires Throwing Daggers. Flame Ember and Throwing Daggers are consumables that can be found or bought. On use they give the player a certain amount of ember energy or daggers to use. Need to implement UI to show equipped ammunition/ember energy/etc.
Ranged weapons require ammunition
Arrows, bolts and bullets can be found or bought and are necessary for the proper function of ranged weapons. Also, ranged weapons can inflict friendly fire. Shotgonnes are no longer. Rifles are long-range, two-handed guns.
Skills
Been adding some skills piecemeal. Emphasis has been on simple, distinctive skills that pack a punch but often have cooldowns. Skill use is the deciding factor in combat at the moment. Auto-attacking will get you dead.
I have a fairly solid idea of the skill trees I want to implement, each with ~5 skills. I'll post that on the project tracker.
Mission One
I'm getting the hang of the level editor. I've got a very short, static area with some bandits whom I've given custom abilities. I still need to figure out how to incorporate the following things into missions:
-Stat/Skill-based checks. I plan on implementing skills for mages, rogues and technologists that allow them to interact with 'trigger' items in levels. Rogues will be able to pick locks. Technologists will be able to manipulate machinery and disable traps. Mages will be able to dispel wards and activate magical nodes. I also think it'd be doable to implement extra dialogue options for characters with high charisma, or allow them a skill tree that includes speech skills that are similar to what the technologist and rogue have.
-Stealth. This is a lower priority, but I have a concept I'm pretty sure would work. It would simply require some experimentation.
This sounds cool, gytfunke.
I thought about ammunition, but I do not know how to do this. So I decided that it is easier to make a special ammunition (like scrolls) - bombs, explosive arrows, etc.
Thanks, Kva!
Actually, problems have come up with my ammunition
Gotta fix it somehow.
Nix the healing entirely for now. I might add it back in later if not having it proves too bizarre.
Then, what were you thinking for the influence branch on the skill side?
This coggle thing is pretty, pretty good. What I'm working with right now looks something like
this.The categories you suggest have been spread out amongst the trees. For example, the Elementalist tree would have both offensive and defensive magic. I'll probably allow players to unlock the entire skill map with enough effort so they can mix and match any skill they like in their 4-skill loadout.
Im glad you like the coggle tool! I looked hard for something that would actually help, work well/easily AND be cool to look at
So we can keep coming back to refine it, others can watch and maybe jump in with ideas.
Sorry for the long absence! I still havnt got all the time in the world, but i so wanna get TL1CP out then help you on LOE!
No worries, PJ. Seems like everyone's been pretty busy of late.