1210 replies to this topic

[Katuko]

Alright. If I may ask, how far along are you in creating Matoran?

I have not touched Matoran besides what sprites I got from the original Rayg kit. I was actually thinking I'd use Metruan sprites for them, since the "McToran" are very flat and limited in poses and the rebuilt versions look silly, quite frankly.

Oh, another suggestion: I would recommend allowing multiple torso types to represent multiple Toa builds (i.e. the Metru, the Mata/Nuva, the Inika/every other Toa ever...). Same goes for Matoran.

Yes, I have been thinking of that. Just note that for every new sprite, I have to cut each into parts for color blending (body, limbs, other parts, eyes...) and also create an entry per frame in the arrays that determines weapon/mask position. X, Y, angle. Per frame. Needs to be pixel-perfect. Might also require additional details if I add heads that can turn, since right now they are stuck in the same perspective regardless of motion, and that makes me unable to add animations such as the twirl kick someone made once.

The female versions of the Toa will be easier, at least, since I've made them specifically to follow exactly the same size and position constraints as the originals.

Edited by Katuko, Nov 06 2012 - 11:11 AM.

[Meta-Mind]

Alright. If I may ask, how far along are you in creating Matoran?

I have not touched Matoran besides what sprites I got from the original Rayg kit. I was actually thinking I'd use Metruan sprites for them, since the "McToran" are very flat and limited in poses and the rebuilt versions look silly, quite frankly.

True. Mahri Nui Matoran probably work too, as they're officially the "original forms" of the Matoran - or at least very close.

Oh, another suggestion: I would recommend allowing multiple torso types to represent multiple Toa builds (i.e. the Metru, the Mata/Nuva, the Inika/every other Toa ever...). Same goes for Matoran.

Yes, I have been thinking of that. Just note that for every new sprite, I have to cut each into parts for color blending (body, limbs, other parts, eyes...) and also create an entry per frame in the arrays that determines weapon/mask position. X, Y, angle. Per frame. Needs to be pixel-perfect. Might also require additional details if I add heads that can turn, since right now they are stuck in the same perspective regardless of motion, and that makes me unable to add animations such as the twirl kick someone made once.

The female versions of the Toa will be easier, at least, since I've made them specifically to follow exactly the same size and position constraints as the originals.

I'm aware of that (well, technically, I guessed, but I guessed correctly). The solution I came up with was to keep the limbs and such the same in most poses, so the only position that would need editing would be the Nuva Armor.

[Katuko]

Hm, interesting. I didn't notice until now, but the Metru body at least seems to have been made that way, to fit the hands and feet in the same position as the Mata body. Might make things easier than I first expected.

[Meta-Mind]

After some checking on my part, it looks like the Inika bodies aren't so well-built. They're actually slightly larger than the Mata bodies, though a bit of editing could fix that problem (and besides, all Toa are Mata-sized in canon IIRC). Mind if I begin?

[Katuko]

A pixel or two doesn't really matter. If the sprite looks good otherwise, no point in removing details just for that. I'd rather see some missing animations, like a Rahkshi falling on its back and/or face.

[Floridian Citrus]

*finds Katuko*

:3


Anyway, I'm really liking the idea of having different armor variations for the Toa. Although, just really the Metru, as I that'll always be my favorite armor style. Inika, not so much, but still. Variations, FTW!

[~Shockwave~]

Achievement unlocked: kill self with fall damage. from hitting the ceiling.

anyway.... I had an Idea for the disk launcher.
so, I was thinking, maybe it could have a boomerang like affect, sort of like in the tales of the tohunga game.

just a thought.

[Bulik]

Nah, that's the whole point of the mask of rebounding.

[Meta-Mind]

I would say that for the Disk Launcher, a random disk is loaded each time it's fired, out of each of the eight default types. So basically, this:
Each disk has three stats: its "Metru" power (which adds to the default), its "regular" power (of the default eight only), and its power level (which determines something different depending on power. Disks themselves have a small HP value, which can be canceled out in midflight by a strong enough attack.
Metru:
1. Ta-Metru: Deals more damage regardless of disk type, can obilerate other projectiles in flight
2. Ga-Metru: Curves to track foes or other potential targets.
3. Po-Metru: Homes in on other projectiles and cancels them out.
4. Ko-Metru: Swerves into the background to avoid any hitbox powerful enough to destroy it in one hit.
5. Le-Metru: Longer range.
6. Onu-Metru: Instead of being canceled out by an attack, will return to the user in a boomerang-like fashion the first time it is hit.

Powers:
1. Reconstitutes at Random: ...
2. Freezes: Will freeze the target. Power levels 1-4 have a chance of not freezing, power levels 7-8 freeze for longer amounts of time.
3. Weakens: Target's power temporarily reduced. Levels 1-3 will reduce it by one for about ten seconds, 4-6 by one for about thirty, and 7-8 will reduce it by two points for around thirty seconds.
4. Removes Poison: When fired, any poison on the target or the firer is cured. Still inflicts damage as normal despite its otherwise beneficial effect.
5. Enlarges: Essentially inflicts the effect of a Mask of Growth on the target for a certain amount of time. Target's Dexterity is reduced as long as the disk is active.
6. Shrinks: Inflicts the effect of the Mask of Diminishment on the target for a certain amount of time (increases with higher power levels). The target's strength is reduced as long as the disk is active.
7. Regenerates: Does not heal the target, but instead refills a bit of their weapon, armor, and masks' "break meters."
8. Teleports: Teleports the target to a random location within a certain area. Area increases with higher power levels.

I was thinking that the "weapon activate" button might be "reload," which switches out the current disk (visible in the HUD) for another one after a short animation.

So yeah, a lot of coding... but it would be amazing to use.

[Nujanii: Kanohi Master]

reconstitute at random give you a randomly generated setup for a short period of time? (like makes a new char with random species, mask, powers, tools, stats, etc.)

[Bulik]

reconstitute at random give you a randomly generated setup for a short period of time? (like makes a new char with random species, mask, powers, tools, stats, etc.)

Brilliant! How about there are a set of 5-10 "backup characters" for the reconstitute and random and some may be a bit overpowered than usual while some are weaker(and some are normal) so this could either be good or bad for your enemy.

[Katuko]

Achievement unlocked: kill self with fall damage. from hitting the ceiling.

Let me guess: Low gravity + being caught in a tornado?

anyway.... I had an Idea for the disk launcher.
so, I was thinking, maybe it could have a boomerang like affect, sort of like in the tales of the tohunga game.

just a thought.

I could make disks a separate throwing weapon, and then the fact that you only have one would be offset by it returning to a limited degree. The launcher will not have auto-rebounding disks unless you wear the Mask of Rebounding, since it has an ammo count and thus doesn't run out as quickly.

I would say that for the Disk Launcher, a random disk is loaded each time it's fired, out of each of the eight default types.

An interesting prospect, and one that I have considered, but having so many disk types and so much randomness involved in it does not make me a happy designer. If any given disk you load could be "max power poison disk with homing effect" or "very weak long-range freezing disk" or even "randomizes your target"... it would be mayhem. Maybe as an extra game setting or something, but I think it would just be too much for one weapon to have so many variations.

I do enjoy the idea of the Kanoka themselves; they weren't really used all that much in the canon story and they have effects that could be interesting in combat. However, the randomness that would ensue here could throw game balance out the window again. I'll put it in my idea scraps and see if I can work it in somehow, but the issue is (to repeat) the excessive randomness.

An alternative would be to actively track the type of every disk you are carrying and that spawns, but the effect would be that we have a weapon that could still vary extremely in function. Maybe it would be better to customize the launcher itself upon spawn (giving it a random Metru alignment and disk effect and leave the effects at a single level), but it might still be too much.

I was thinking that the "weapon activate" button might be "reload," which switches out the current disk (visible in the HUD) for another one after a short animation.

Reminds me: I'll need a sprite animation (arm motion) for reloading a disk launcher. Just putting the hand up or something, should be pretty simple for me to do.

reconstitute at random give you a randomly generated setup for a short period of time? (like makes a new char with random species, mask, powers, tools, stats, etc.)

Something similar was suggested for an eventual Energized Protodermis pit in Mangaia, but I nixed it then. I feel that if you are to be hit by something, it should be a clear effect: either harmful or beneficial. Imagine being hit by several disks in succession, even! Every shot would be extremely unpredictable.

[~Shockwave~]

Achievement unlocked: kill self with fall damage. from hitting the ceiling.

Let me guess: Low gravity + being caught in a tornado?

nope. I edited the stats to be... 300000, I think. pressed the jump button. you do the math.

speaking of wind powers, I love how I can fly without a Miru, although, not without difficulty. not to mention how fun it is to fling myself into the ceiling with that ability with my insane stats.

[Nujanii: Kanohi Master]

I still think my reconstitute at random power idea could work. However, I think that kanoka, as much as I like them, ought to be a rather low priority. Perhaps we ought to discuss it as such? I mean, when Katuko is done with all the Toa/Rahkshi powers and kanohi, then we ought to discuss such things in earnest.

But since it's being discussed, how about this?
-metru disk type selected in "select weapon" interface
-each disk deals damage (based on metru and distance traveled) and activates specific ability
-power level determined by your stats (strength or mind, I think)
-certain powers will have to be either eliminated or postponed. Like shrink for example. The spriting for that would be... well, I think you can imagine.

Might also be nice to be able to select which disk you choose to load (like hit "1" key for regenerate at random disk) but that might be a bit overpowered.

The Onu-Metru effect ought to be more like "when disk is destroyed, your 'quiver' gains one more kanoka" I think, because the above proposal is rather complex sounding.

[Bulik]

Maybe the disk launcher should only be used by matoran(if they are added) to balance it out.

[Katuko]

speaking of wind powers, I love how I can fly without a Miru, although, not without difficulty. not to mention how fun it is to fling myself into the ceiling with that ability with my insane stats.

In what is to be my redesigned engine I'm thinking of making Toa of Air able to do like Lewa and glide a bit like that when wearing a Miru.

I think that kanoka, as much as I like them, ought to be a rather low priority. Perhaps we ought to discuss it as such? I mean, when Katuko is done with all the Toa/Rahkshi powers and kanohi, then we ought to discuss such things in earnest.

Yeah, Kanoka powers are low priority until other things have been implemented.

But since it's being discussed, how about this?

-metru disk type selected in "select weapon" interface
-each disk deals damage (based on metru and distance traveled) and activates specific ability
-power level determined by your stats (strength or mind, I think)[/b]

I think I'll be making projectile launchers have static damage, with things like STR and DEX affecting reload speed instead. Your character's special power could, like with future melee weapons, be channeled into the disk at the cost of some EP.

-certain powers will have to be either eliminated or postponed. Like shrink for example. The spriting for that would be... well, I think you can imagine.

I'd just scale the sprite down in-game for a quick and dirty effect. Growth would be worse, because scaling up would make the sprites extremely blocky and pixelated.

The Onu-Metru effect ought to be more like "when disk is destroyed, your 'quiver' gains one more kanoka" I think, because the above proposal is rather complex sounding.

Eh, it would just be a duplicate of the magnetic grab effect, perhaps with a bit less perfect curve.

Maybe the disk launcher should only be used by matoran(if they are added) to balance it out.

I think most weapons should be available to everyone, especially since I made the Rahkshi staff available to Toa. Vakama used a disk launcher in the story, so if I restricted the weapon then it would be impossible to play as him.

The disk launcher, like some basic blades I will be adding, needs style variations, by the way. Obviously Vakama would use one with flame styling.

[wolf66849]

Are you planning on making more of the less known masks like rebounding and undeath.

[Bulik]

Are you planning on making more of the less known masks like rebounding and undeath.

He is already working on the mask of rebounding, but I don't think he will do undeath.

[~Shockwave~]

dang...
so, I figured out today that my computer is much worse than I thought... the computers at my school can apparently run this game like a well oiled machine.... and those computers are ​ awful...

and I found a peculiar anomaly. so when playing a rakshi of gravity, occasionally I will spawn as a rakshi of fear...
yeah....

[Katoris]

Alright. If I may ask, how far along are you in creating Matoran?

Oh, another suggestion: I would recommend allowing multiple torso types to represent multiple Toa builds (i.e. the Metru, the Mata/Nuva, the Inika/every other Toa ever...). Same goes for Matoran.

And I thought I was the only person who suggested Matoran.

Edited by Katoris, Nov 09 2012 - 11:09 PM.

[rahkshi guurahk]

dang...
so, I figured out today that my computer is much worse than I thought... the computers at my school can apparently run this game like a well oiled machine.... and those computers are ​ awful...

and I found a peculiar anomaly. so when playing a rakshi of gravity, occasionally I will spawn as a rakshi of fear...
yeah....

That will happen to me as: rahk. of grav., any toa to toa of fire, rahk. of shat., and rahk. of disn.
post 701!

[~Shockwave~]

and another one. playing as a toa of ice, I was attacking the exo-pyro, and it just vanished. nothing else changed, the sky was still red.
guess it can't be frozen anymore.

[Katuko]

Are you planning on making more of the less known masks like rebounding and undeath.

I'll add and remove masks as I see fit, really, so there's no way to tell. I'm planning on making a new engine where adding stuff might become less rigid than it is right now (being locked into that specific drop-down menu rather than just adding stuff and have the game list the available items automatically, for example).

dang...
so, I figured out today that my computer is much worse than I thought... the computers at my school can apparently run this game like a well oiled machine.... and those computers are ​ awful...

There is this nice Game Maker game called Iji, which ran smooth on my old Windows XP laptop, but started lagging and has kept lagging on any newer machine I have tried. Spec-wise this one is a lot better, but apparently there are internal system changes somewhere.

and I found a peculiar anomaly. so when playing a rakshi of gravity, occasionally I will spawn as a rakshi of fear...
yeah....

That will happen to me as: rahk. of grav., any toa to toa of fire, rahk. of shat., and rahk. of disn.

The element of Fire and the Rahkshi power of Fear both have value 0 in the game's internal table of powers, so when the spawn system glitches and resets you to default that's the powers you get.

I have no idea what causes this problem, as it generates no error messages and I have never actually encountered it myself while testing. I don't think it has anything to do with which powers you are using, but thanks for being detailed in your description of the issue.

and another one. playing as a toa of ice, I was attacking the exo-pyro, and it just vanished. nothing else changed, the sky was still red.
guess it can't be frozen anymore.

It just vanished completely? That's strange. If it goes beyond a certain distance it should warp back to its starting position, but I suppose that code didn't trigger if it somehow ended up stuck inside the stone pillar or something.

[rahkshi guurahk]

The list of errorsmshall possibly expand soon(checking for 'exploits')

[Katuko]

Define "exploits". Injecting variable values into the program to create infinite health? Editing the save file to ridiculous levels? Ripping open the game *.EXE and taking a dig at my source?

[rahkshi guurahk]

Envinromental, weapon, and powers.
EDIT: Unexpected error occured when running the game

Edited by rahkshi guurahk, Nov 10 2012 - 07:36 PM.

[Katuko]

Ah, just the basic kinds of exploits, then. Exploit ahead.

[TNT-Vezon with an Olmak]

Hiding something we should know about Katuko?

[Bulik]

Define "exploits". Injecting variable values into the program to create infinite health? Editing the save file to ridiculous levels? Ripping open the game *.EXE and taking a dig at my source?

*light bulb appears over head*

*begins reading "Hacking for Dummies"*

[Katuko]

Apart from the fact that if we ever play online together I can program my character to be to invincible while also feeding you misinformation so that it seems you have actually hurt me (thus hiding my cheating) when you don't have a snowball's chance of ever beating me... no. Nothing you should know.

[TNT-Vezon with an Olmak]

Oh, OK



Now that I have my standard response out of the way, can I just say how freakin' amazing that response was? That was beautiful...
Ok, back on topic. Are you going to do bamboo disks? If so, would they work in the disk launcher?

[~Shockwave~]

no, the pyro exo flat-out vanished. I scoured the map, (even though I had witnessed it falling off and warping back at one point (not this time.), but hey, ya never know.) but found nothing. and it was still stormy.
I'm gonna go ahead and test it again. I'll let you know the results.

.... .... now it's fine... .... ....

Edited by <shockwave>, Nov 10 2012 - 08:03 PM.

[TNT-Vezon with an Olmak]

no, the pyro exo flat-out vanished. I scoured the map, (even though I had witnessed it falling off and warping back at one point (not this time.), but hey, ya never know.) but found nothing. and it was still stormy.
I'm gonna go ahead and test it again. I'll let you know the results.

DUDE! That happened to me one time and I was like, "what the heck? Where did you go? *teleports down to look for remains. Doesn't find any, so returns to the top* "Well I'll just restart and hope for the best." It worked.

[Katuko]

Are you going to do bamboo disks? If so, would they work in the disk launcher?

Being able to carry one or more throwing disks without the launcher will likely be another weapon, yeah. They are basically required for proper Matoran anyways. Discarded ammo from the disk launcher (if it does not break on impact, we'll see how the mechanics go) could be picked up and thrown.


Disappearing Exo-Toa appears to be another error I will have to look into.

Edited by Katuko, Nov 10 2012 - 08:40 PM.

[Meta-Mind]

I would say that for the Disk Launcher, a random disk is loaded each time it's fired, out of each of the eight default types.

An interesting prospect, and one that I have considered, but having so many disk types and so much randomness involved in it does not make me a happy designer. If any given disk you load could be "max power poison disk with homing effect" or "very weak long-range freezing disk" or even "randomizes your target"... it would be mayhem. Maybe as an extra game setting or something, but I think it would just be too much for one weapon to have so many variations.

I do enjoy the idea of the Kanoka themselves; they weren't really used all that much in the canon story and they have effects that could be interesting in combat. However, the randomness that would ensue here could throw game balance out the window again. I'll put it in my idea scraps and see if I can work it in somehow, but the issue is (to repeat) the excessive randomness.

An alternative would be to actively track the type of every disk you are carrying and that spawns, but the effect would be that we have a weapon that could still vary extremely in function. Maybe it would be better to customize the launcher itself upon spawn (giving it a random Metru alignment and disk effect and leave the effects at a single level), but it might still be too much.

Hm... well, I was picturing the Disk Launcher as a very versitale weapon. How about this: Metru is selected during weapon customization (possibly with a slight shape/style variation for each Metru, with a seventh option being Vakama's Ta-Metru Toa Tool), the "weapon trigger" key cycles through available disks at the cost of a "reload" animation leaving the user vulnerable, and the power level is determined by a function of the user's Mind stat (and possibly Strength as well).

Reminds me: I'll need a sprite animation (arm motion) for reloading a disk launcher. Just putting the hand up or something, should be pretty simple for me to do.

Want me to try my hand at it?

reconstitute at random give you a randomly generated setup for a short period of time? (like makes a new char with random species, mask, powers, tools, stats, etc.)

Something similar was suggested for an eventual Energized Protodermis pit in Mangaia, but I nixed it then. I feel that if you are to be hit by something, it should be a clear effect: either harmful or beneficial. Imagine being hit by several disks in succession, even! Every shot would be extremely unpredictable.

Hm... perhaps for Reconstitute at Random disks, whichever item is targeted (with a system similar to how you defined Disentigration earlier) will randomly "shapeshift" into a pre-set shape and be unusable for a few seconds? For example, blocking foes might have their shield transform into... something... and become temporarily useless.

-metru disk type selected in "select weapon" interface
-each disk deals damage (based on metru and distance traveled) and activates specific ability
-power level determined by your stats (strength or mind, I think)
-certain powers will have to be either eliminated or postponed. Like shrink for example. The spriting for that would be... well, I think you can imagine.

I would say that Shrink Kanoka could be accomplished just fine as long as there was already a system in place (with the Mask of Diminishment, probably). Simple in-game resizing might work as well.

Might also be nice to be able to select which disk you choose to load (like hit "1" key for regenerate at random disk) but that might be a bit overpowered.

I would say a cycle, so new buttons don't have to be incorporated soley for the disk launcher.

The Onu-Metru effect ought to be more like "when disk is destroyed, your 'quiver' gains one more kanoka" I think, because the above proposal is rather complex sounding.

It could just boomerang if hit, like the Mask of Rebounding or Magnetism's grab.

Maybe the disk launcher should only be used by matoran(if they are added) to balance it out.

Seems to me like it might be better to allow players to customize. For example, if I want to play as, say, Vakama Metru, I can't do that with Disk Launchers reserved for Matoran.


Finally, I think I'll share a little war story of mine, which happened fairly recently. It's actually fairly funny, and showcases a notable AI bug plus the problem with the current Durability system, so it's actually fairly relevant to the game itself.

I was on Karda Nui, playing one of my secondary combinations (Air Toa + Nuva-design Miru + Air Saber). I searched around for the Keystone for about twenty minutes or so, but still couldn't find it - and normally, I can get it in the first couple of minutes at the most.
Eventually, things started going downhill. My Air Saber ran out of durability, so I was now completely weaponless. Being a Toa of Air, I tried to Cyclone my foes to death - only to discover to my dismay that every character I could find was either a Rahkshi or a Toa of Gravity! As a result, Cyclone did little-to-no damage, so I was forced to run and hide from most of my enemies for the next five minutes or so.
Eventually, I managed to finish off a Rahkshi of Silence and steal its staff, and went into melee combat with a few Rahkshi. I managed to score some kills, only to realize to my disappointment that I still couldn't find the Keystone. Long story short, I ran around killing CPUs for about five minutes, searching for the Keystones, until my "borrowed" staff's durability ran out as well.
At this point, I was getting a little frustrated. My Nuva Armor was just a distant memory at this point, and I'd had to replace my Miru five times with the random hovering free samples. I went to the left village and took a Staff of Shapeshifting - but I was attacked by a Rahkshi of Disentigation, who reduced my health to 30 and destroyed all of my scrapped gear, even my Kanohi.
I managed to run to the teleporter in time to save myself, and ran to the other side of the platform to grab a Miru. To my dismay, there was a Toa of Gravity there, and I nearly died by Gravity Pin. As it was, I managed to snag the Miru and smash the Emanate command in time to jump and hover over him - but he was still chasing me, and my health was near-critical.
After running and dodging for a full thirty seconds or so, I flung him into the air with a Cyclone as I'd done about ten times. When he didn't come back down immediately as he had previously, I became curious - so I stood on a Suva to heal back to full health and used my Emanate to rocket-jump up to the roof.
Once I got there... there was a massive crowd of at least five Rahkshi, plus the Toa of Gravity I'd just flung up there, all stuck to the ceiling. They weren't moving, the only visible action was a Rahkshi of Laser Vision shooting, and as I watched, the Toa of Gravity, plus one of the Rahkshi, died.
This is the annoying part - when the Rahkshi died, the "Keystone Acquired" message appeared over the crowd! The Rahkshi had literally been hovering at the ceiling for the entire battle, doing nothing, and they had taken the Keystone with them. I've noticed this bug before, but never noticed it nearly as much as I did then!
...Then after I spammed Cyclone a few times, they all died and I finally snagged the Keystone. But that's not important in the slightest.


Point of this anecdote: your AI's pretty buggy, and I really don't like the current Durability system.

[Katuko]

Hm... well, I was picturing the Disk Launcher as a very versitale weapon. How about this: Metru is selected during weapon customization (possibly with a slight shape/style variation for each Metru, with a seventh option being Vakama's Ta-Metru Toa Tool), the "weapon trigger" key cycles through available disks at the cost of a "reload" animation leaving the user vulnerable, and the power level is determined by a function of the user's Mind stat (and possibly Strength as well).

Yeah, I understand that including a Kanoka launcher only to make it fire regular projectiles is a bit boring and throws away a lot of potential gameplay effects, but I think I'll just add it as that at first and then program powers to the disks later. A neutral, "powerless" version would naturally be available as well, in case someone's OC doesn't use powered disks in their launcher.

Reminds me: I'll need a sprite animation (arm motion) for reloading a disk launcher. Just putting the hand up or something, should be pretty simple for me to do.

Want me to try my hand at it?

Be my guest. Make any sprite you want, really.

Hm... perhaps for Reconstitute at Random disks, whichever item is targeted (with a system similar to how you defined Disentigration earlier) will randomly "shapeshift" into a pre-set shape and be unusable for a few seconds? For example, blocking foes might have their shield transform into... something... and become temporarily useless.

I like this idea. Temporarily applying a debuff to the struck item (heavier shield, smaller shield, fragile shield, etc) would work a lot better than just scrambling the whole character, I think. A direct hit on a non-armored foe could do that, but not the go-to effect for any hit, I think.

I was on Karda Nui, playing one of my secondary combinations (Air Toa + Nuva-design Miru + Air Saber). I searched around for the Keystone for about twenty minutes or so, but still couldn't find it - and normally, I can get it in the first couple of minutes at the most.

You might take delight in hearing that a redesign of that level would entail splitting the Keystone into six pieces, placed at semi-random positions in the level. Each piece would swirl around the user or be displayed in some other way so that it would be easier to see who has it.

Eventually, things started going downhill. My Air Saber ran out of durability, so I was now completely weaponless. Being a Toa of Air, I tried to Cyclone my foes to death - only to discover to my dismay that every character I could find was either a Rahkshi or a Toa of Gravity! As a result, Cyclone did little-to-no damage, so I was forced to run and hide from most of my enemies for the next five minutes or so.

Well, if you had the primary power available I suspect you might have had an easier time, but I see the problem.

Eventually, I managed to finish off a Rahkshi of Silence and steal its staff, and went into melee combat with a few Rahkshi. I managed to score some kills, only to realize to my disappointment that I still couldn't find the Keystone. Long story short, I ran around killing CPUs for about five minutes, searching for the Keystones, until my "borrowed" staff's durability ran out as well.

Did these NPCs not have weapons?

At this point, I was getting a little frustrated. My Nuva Armor was just a distant memory at this point, and I'd had to replace my Miru five times with the random hovering free samples. I went to the left village and took a Staff of Shapeshifting - but I was attacked by a Rahkshi of Disentigation, who reduced my health to 30 and destroyed all of my scrapped gear, even my Kanohi.

This right here is probably the biggest problem with the game mechanics right now, I agree. A single hit from certain attacks can break your items, and armor does not last for very long. I was going off the typical FPS version of armor (Counter-Strike, for example), where it is just some extra health padding of sorts. Clearly BIONICLE lends itself better to a proper RPG model, though, so that's where my redesigned engine will be going. Not to turn-based RPG, mind, it will still be the same game with the same style and such. It will just be a bit better in the whole "numbers" department.

I managed to run to the teleporter in time to save myself, and ran to the other side of the platform to grab a Miru. To my dismay, there was a Toa of Gravity there, and I nearly died by Gravity Pin. As it was, I managed to snag the Miru and smash the Emanate command in time to jump and hover over him - but he was still chasing me, and my health was near-critical.

I had actually forgot that I ever added that ability. Thanks for reminding me.

The Rahkshi had literally been hovering at the ceiling for the entire battle, doing nothing, and they had taken the Keystone with them. I've noticed this bug before, but never noticed it nearly as much as I did then!
...Then after I spammed Cyclone a few times, they all died and I finally snagged the Keystone. But that's not important in the slightest.

Point of this anecdote: your AI's pretty buggy, and I really don't like the current Durability system.

The current AI is pretty stupid, really. All it does is simulate button presses based on some predetermined rules. Rahkshi easily get stuck to the ceiling because they want to get slightly on top of their opponent before they drop back down, but when both are doing that they will hit the ceiling and neither will get that little height advantage they need. The current alternative is that they start dropping down immediately, meaning that they will never really fly except to save their life (and earlier, they didn't even try to break their fall).

Better AI is indeed in order, especially since every AI player lives only to spite you. They don't care if they eat a whole EP bar's worth of flamethrower so long as they can get that one melee attack on you. They don't care if they have the Keystone or not, they just want you dead. They don't care for the boss or anyone being a larger threat than you, they only care about the closest enemy. A more state-based AI, coupled with a hidden RPG-esque "aggro" stat could help alleviate this.

Item durability I have discussed a bit earlier, and yeah: it will change.

[~Shockwave~]

and, one more thing. is it normal that when the game loads my RAM jumps from around 50% to 94%? that may be causing some issues.

now that I've messed with some things and gotten the CPU to level out at between 10% and 20% (sometimes lower.) when I'm not running anything. (as apposed to solid 100%) and it's still a bit laggy. (but not as bad.)

[Katuko]

That depends entirely on how much RAM you have and how your computer uses it. Percentages mean little to me; the actual amount of RAM the process uses is a lot more descriptive. My laptop uses about 725 MB worth of RAM for BIONICLE Fighter. The actual game files are much smaller, but when images are unpacked into memory and the game runner itself starts working, it requires more. However, it keeps stable at that amount, and together with Firefox, Steam and some other stuff it's still not maxing my RAM usage.

The CPU is more important for lag, since the amount of calculations it can run per second has a big effect on games. In my redesigned engine I will be taking steps to reduce this amount, with the goal of making the game run a lot better. For example: Right now, fire damage is applied per step. That's 30 times per second. Instead, I could make it count down only every fifth step (but at five times the damage per step), thus reducing the workload while still keeping the damage count just about the same. To a player I don't think it matters whether you lose 0.01 health 30 times per second or 0.2 health 6 times per second. TF2 and many other online gets by with applying fire damage every half second, so I believe it'll work fine even if it's slightly less smooth. Strike that, I can actually make the bar display count down smoothly anyways. So yeah, win-win by dividing the damage-over-time a bit more.

[TNT-Vezon with an Olmak]

I don't know if this is a problem on my end or your end, but if I kill Exo-Pyro and there is a Nui Rama nest still up and nobody can kill it, it keeps creating more Nui Rama and the whole game gets extremely laggy.

[Katuko]

That's a feature, actually; though it is one I should have put a toggle option for. When you kill the boss the remaining hives increase their spawn rate so that you have something which might actually challenge you when you are running around with the Overcharge. It also serves as a stress test. I should put a counter on how many Rama there are, perhaps.