Katuko

Uh...Katuko? I clicked on "posted image" and it said "problem loading page" Is there something wrong with my internet connection or what?

Nah, it's just that the image host I use went down and apparently isn't getting back up. You'll notice the same with a lot of the other images I've posted on this forum.

 

Thanks for reminding me, I'll take the time to fix it soon.

So, when are you exactly going to make servers and stuff

It's going to be pretty much as you describe, once I get around to doing it. One person hosts, the rest join via IP or something. I could set up an online database that provides everyone with a constantly updated list of active servers; the rest I will have to figure out as I go along.

 

The game has taken far longer to develop than expected (I'm just doing it in my spare time, after all), but until the engine is semi-stable I don't have much to work with for online gameplay either.

Wow. That's... Technical. My main coding language is BASIC, but I might try to learn JavaScript for GameMaker.......

GameMaker uses its own scripting language called GML (GameMaker Language). It's similar to a lot of other languages, but is rather forgiving when it comes to syntax. Certainly a lot easier than JavaScript, I would say. As mentioned, you can use the drag-n-drop icons at first, until you familiarize yourself with the program.

 

I mostly use sprites from existing sprite sheets. I do make some on my own, but I'm too slow at making good stuff to be spriting a whole game by myself.

I want to make a bionicle game too.... how hard is it to make one?

How hard it is depends on what kind of game you want to make, and also what tools you choose to make the game with. Pure programming languages are a lot harder to use for beginners than a dedicated game design program is. If you've done programming before, I would recommend searching for engines or frameworks that are written for that programming language. Otherwise, get something like GameMaker (for a general game) or RPG Maker (mostly for classic turn-based RPGs). If you're going for 3D I'd suggest Unity, but know that 3D is usually harder than 2D. Personally I use GameMaker. I've thought of switching it out a few times (Construct 2 looks to be semi-popular for HTML5 games, as is Javascript), but I've always come back to it. The convenience is simply too great to pass up for a hobby-level game designer like me.

 

I had no prior experience with programming when I started using GameMaker many years ago. Although it still takes time to learn the right concepts and techniques for a properly designed game, using a program like this is a great help. This program provides you with a scripting language that you can use for coding the game, but it also has many pre-defined functions loaded up into simple drag-n-drop icons that is a fantastic help for beginners.

 

It does not, however, come complete with full game engines. If you want to make a platformer, you have to set up the gravity yourself; if you want an RPG, you have to do all the stats and the whole turn system yourself; and so on. Luckily there are tutorials and examples for most game types already.

 

GameMaker: Studio is the latest edition of this program, and the Standard version of it is free. If you're brand new to making games, I will suggest downloading that and taking a look at the tutorials. If you need help with anything, feel free to PM me about it.

I'm also going to make the running rahkshi's sprites and can I make a flying rahkshi like in the mask of light ? ^^

Denevol has touched up my walk animation for Rahkshi, but feel free to try another variation (and especially one better suited for running). I also got flying Rahkshi, which you can find in the 2003 sheet of the Rayg collection, but a few more frames of animation might be nice to make the transition smooth.

 

I'll have to update this blog post today to make it a bit more up to date, I think.

EDIT: Done so.

Okay I'm going to try the rahkshi sprite, but can you please give me the current sprites for model

I have most of the Rayg kit (plus some of my own sprites) here: Dropbox (10.81 MB)

 

I would be really happy to help ^^

I appreciate the enthusiasm.

 

Then I have a question : the visoraks sprite are juste wonderfull... do you provide to had them in the game ?

They are going in-game sooner or later, yes.

Do you provide to make other classes ? like bohrok for example.. it should be great !

Bohrok were planned, but scrapped because they were basically just Toa with reduced ability to carry any items. I did look at their powers when first designing this game. I thought they would have the ability to headbutt for melee, curl up to block, and roll to gain movement speed. Krana would work as Kanohi. I ultimately scrapped the Bohrok in favor of only Toa and Rakhshi, though, since the game is already a massive undertaking, and every new thing I have to program takes time.

 

Bohrok could possibly re-use a lot of the powers, but I decided to go with Skakdi instead as "elements, lite edition". They are simpler to shove into the existing animation system, since they have more existing sprites. Not saying that Bohrok couldn't be done, they are just not a priority.

 

Bohrok, -Kal and -Va will most likely appear as NPC enemies, so you will get to see them in-game, at least.

 

 

I already have sprites for Bohrok walking, headbutting, jumping/flying, firing powers, and getting hurt. They are pretty much done by InnerRayg already.

 

Something I could need is a sprite of a Rahkshi getting knocked down -- face down is probably easiest to sprite.

I have an idea for ignika's weapons : by pressing the weapon touch , we can switch to mellee weapon to ranged weapon, with a little animation for switching to vertical to horizontal sword's position

You are not far off from what is (secretly) planned for a few of the Nuva weapons!

 

And for more shields : Tahu's adaptive form shield.

I have the front view for this thing, but I'd need the 7 other angles as well, plus a few frames for making it spin. I have managed to make a few other shields myself, but that animation would kill me.

 

If you wish to make sprites, though, that would be splendid. I can usually use even somewhat crude sprites if I touch them up first. Having the groundwork laid for me makes things so much quicker.

Pathfinder makes you start dying at 0 HP. You will bleed out by 1 HP every round after that, and if you reach a negative value equal to your Constitution score, you die. In D&D I believe they use -10 no matter your Constitution. Every round you also round the die to see if you stabilize. If you do, you stop bleeding out, but are still unconscious until healed. While someone is dying, you can opt to kill them.

 

BIONICLE happens to have very sturdy characters, so I don't think I'd have a problem with "only" fainting after being tossed through a wall at 3 HP. But if I choose to get back up and then get tossed through the same wall once more, I think that would justify an injury. I think a BIONICLE RPG could do well with saying that any damage beyond that which puts you at 0 HP is ignored, but that additional damage can be inflicted after this point to critically injure or kill you. Perhaps there is a period of a few rounds after this first occur where you do not get this "saving grace", so that if you choose to heal yourself and keep fighting you can now go into negatives if you're not careful.

 

Say, when you take damage that goes beyond your HP, you get 3 points of "fatigue", get put at 0 HP, and become unable to do much of anything. This would be very similar to D&D's "downed" state, except maybe BIONICLE characters can manage to stumble away from the fight without fainting. For every round after this, you roll to see if you may remove one of these fatigue points. For as long as you have any fatigue points, you are not protected from damage that would exceed your HP, which means that you can get more permanent injuries. Any hit that actually puts you into negative HP will cause a real injury and possibly unconsciousness. The type of injury can be somewhat directed by the attacker, allowing - as an example - a Toa to put his foe unconscious but not dead. If you are healed to regain HP, you may take normal actions in combat again, but the fatigue must be removed the slow way, and you are now at risk of getting downed instantly.

 

D&D also has some rule about massive damage - if you take more than a certain amount of damage in one hit, you have to make a Fortitude save or else be instantly downed. Certain things also have an "instant kill" switch on them, when you could not realistically survive in any way.

 

 

 

For elements, I kinda like the typical mana/power points approach. Each ability costs a certain amount of points, but like D&D Psionics you could possibly spend a few extra points to "charge" an ability to be stronger. This would work nicely for Toa, I think. When your points run out you must wait for them to recharge. It's simple to understand and fits well with the canon version of elemental energy in some form of battery. Having 3 point stats shouldn't be much of an issue - one for HP, one for your element, and one for your mask/equipment power.

I think the matoran should have the metru nui or 2003 build the "tohunga" style is a little too short if you ask me

I prefer those sprites myself, but I don't have a walk animation for them. You may notice I stuck Nuhrii on a Muaka in the section header pic, though. I hope to include each basic type of Matoran body as options; same goes for Toa Mata, Metru and Inika builds.

If that could become a possibility, I'd be totally sold. I'm an engineer by trade, so playing a character that hasn't "powers" but can use tech to fight? That's what I'd totally go for.

Vortixx are scheduled to use their tech to fight, as they have no powers either. I suppose I could make some of their gear available to Engineer Matoran. Functionally I imagine they would work like weapons or as re-purposed Kanohi. For example, a device that projects a force-field like a Hau, or maybe a jetpack and a gun that shoots out a grappling hook. That's another discussion, though.

 

On that note, (and a slight tangent from matoran) is it possible for you to make a toa take "control" of an Exo-toa and control it? Like, gain extra health, and can use the blasters, but just can't use elemental powers while inside, (but can still use mask powers) kinda like in the story? I just think it'd be cool having random exo toa wandering around and letting a toa character hop inside it and use it as extra armor

The reason I'm even contemplating Matoran riders is that I'd have to lay the groundwork in order for Toa to use Exo-Toa; which has been a planned feature for some time. It's the same kind of code, so once one type of vehicle/mount is programmed, it is easy for me to re-use the same scripts for different things.

 

In fact, the reward for defeating the Exo-Pyro boss was originally going to be that the armor cooled down and allowed you to ride it as a normal Exo-Toa. I ran into trouble with the code, though, because once I removed the player and replaced it with an Exo-Toa the game control system would count you as dead and respawn a normal copy. I have fixed this to an extent -- this is what the current Mahiki power was a test-run for. I can replace the player character without triggering respawn. Still, I have to program a proper player-controlled Exo-Toa, and that is best done from scratch in the new engine. The old one is too messy to change at its fundamental level.

 

I'll probably make a preliminary test run for this, like I've done with the Kanohi Kadin, the chain lightning power and the Laser Crossbow in the past.

Originally I wrote "crafters", but that's not an actual word, so I changed it to "workers". I'll call them craftsmen.

 

I considered having Miner/Engineer be a thing, but I could't find any good abilities for them. I don't have sprites of the Boxor or any other real Matoran-appropriate vehicles, but if I find/make some it could work to make them construct vehicles.

can you tell me how to turn the .char files of bionicle fighter into png files

The *.char files only hold text information about a character's equipment, colors and stats. The actual sprites are stored in the game itself. If you want to make a sprite sheet out of your game character I am afraid you will have to make it manually (though recoloring an existing Rayg sheet and pasting the heads on should be pretty quick) or you will have to wait until I make a program which can compile your character to an image file. That will take a while before I get around to, but I am planning to include an option to export your character in some future version of the game.

now don't call me a noob but I don't know how to place a sig

If you go to My Settings up via the menu in the top-right corner of the site, you can find a tab about Signature on the left. Then you will get a box where you can input your text, images, BBCode and such.

 

It should be noted that the above code boxes are messed up due to the forum software glitching, and I haven't fixed them yet. I'll get around to doing that, but the needed format is as follows (replace < and > with [ and ] in the actual code):

 

<url=http://www.bzpower.com/board/index.php?showtopic=418> <img=imageURLhere> </url>

 

The image URL will be the URL containing an image from majhost.com in the boxes above. Most of them are juts missing the IMG tag.

Latest version (14) has basic point matches. New game modes will come in future updates as well, Capture The Flag included.

 

Character creation will always have fixed bounds, and they will be equal for all players.

In a perfect world, the window-washer lifts would move up and down, etc.

It's less than perfect, but lifts that move are easily within the realm of possibility.

 

Could you provide a few notes as to what certain elements should be? I notice platforms, lifts and huts, but the circle thing in the center and the (background) lines at the top confuse me somewhat.

 

Please shrink any future images, by the way. A full-quality scan at 4 MB may not be much in this modern age, but it's still a bit larger than most images people upload unless they need the max resolution.

 

Glad you more or less liked them

Also, if this is possible, I think it would be a nice touch if the tentacle can't be seen until someone is above the pit, then the tentacle zips out, grabs the poor victim, and pulls him or her to his or her death.

Very possible. I could make it poke out ever so slightly - twitching around in the deep, dark, murky depths - when you get close, just to hint at your imminent demise.

 

Or a "plz no" moment for those who remembers the pit but are moving too fast to dodge.

<Sketches>

I like the Cord. It has a fair mix of tight tunnels and open space, and includes plenty of terrain possibilities. Stone and dirt for most of the area, with some water puddles, air, shadow and light as other elements. Even heat and flame gets in, as part of the leak from Voya Nui's volcanic activity.

 

Clever way of using water bursts as a lift system for non-flyers. I'll definitely be using that idea.

 

 

I also like Mahri Nui, though the surface might not be required. The map would just be cut off above a certain depth level, with the Takea you have noted as a Living Barrier to prevent players from venturing too far. Air bubbles from the weed field, small caves and the underwater village would allow non-water breathers to keep going without drowning all the time.

 

Instant death pit in the form of giant squid tentacles look... splendid. XD

 

 

The Coliseum is interesting. It is indeed a bit barren as a map, but it can have a shifting floor to compensate. In that case I don't know if the central tower will be included as any major platform, except maybe for a flier looking to take a break. A lift could be used to get people up/down, like Dume's platform.

 

 

Le-Koro looks nice. Might need some redesign here and there to be less dependent on jumping platforms. In that case a few more solid leaves and branches to stand on could work fine, and the rest of your map design here looks good.

So, could you give a specific a list of mask that need spinnies and Ect.?

They are in the sub-list below the entry that mentions them. Felnas and Matora-styled Adaptive Akaku, for the time being.

Here's a link to the brickshelf file, when public:

http://www.brickshel...ry.cgi?f=530167

I took the liberty of sketching 3 other possible levels, and also drew some spawn points, jump pads, death zones, and boss summoning sparkle things. Please excuse my horrid handwriting.

The folder is still not public, so I think it'd be better to deep-link each file, maybe.

 

Sound, huh? Go on the BMP (Biomedia Project) website. Then go to our music section. It has sound effects and music for a lot of other Bionicle media. Seriously, you should see it.

Already been there. I grabbed the BIONICLE Heroes music heard in v13 from there, as well as the MNOG mask-switch sound effect which I have edited to be a bit shorter. It's a very useful site.

This might be kinda late, but I might be able to do a sketch of Mahri Nui for a new area.

I haven't got any sketches of a Mahri Nui area, so feel free to do that if you want.

Matoran were considered early in the game's run. Due to the sheer size of the project and the balance issues that would arise from adding an inherently weaker species, I've dropped it. Matoran will appear as NPCs, rather.

Maybe Vortixx tech could combine two other abilities, EX. Teleport and turn invisible for 5 sec afterwards?

I'd rather have them carry several pieces of equipment, I think. They're going to have three free buttons in Power 1, Power 2 and Mask/Ability, after all.

To anyone willing to help with voice work: I have created a simple document with more info. Find it online here.

Hey, you got the code boxes up! Nice!

Eh, for some reason the image tags inside the code boxes keep getting stripped away, or formatted strangely. The image tags around the image URL will have to be fixed manually after copy/pasting, at the moment.

That sounds like a great mechanic. Will the routoka(Spelling?) shield be able to launch a little attack, like maybe something that pushes people back a bit when you stagger, to buy time?

It's spelled Rhotuka. I have trouble with that word myself.

 

I plan to make it possible to do a simple push while blocking. The Rhotuka shield will instead have a charge-to-fire projectile, though it will not have much power either. I will also make sure you can't just spam it all the time, by adding a recharge or something.

And will the shields have extra powers?

It would depend on the shield. The Rhotuka shield is kind of unique.