First thread

[Administrator]

28 May

Ugh headache, and endo, and fgshjkuukssjl

Yesterday I updated breeding script to include cere and paint mark genes. From a dozen or so test breedings... most multi-paint results are utter madness, but some are rather nice.


29 May

Fixed/updated a few little things here and there, nothing major. Let's update adoption script and others with the new genes too...
Orrr not. Gah, I can't focus x) Ended up updating the gene lab (url: /design/create ) with all current options. Your previous choices are stored. You can use this tool to generate 'dream griffs' or just see how mutations shift colours, what marking combos look like, etc.

Later you'll be able to create griffs directly - the alleles are all worked out already, it's easy to plop them in DB - but I cba right now, too tired.

[Administrator]

30 May

These randomly-generated names never fail to amuse me. Tickleknight, Sunspy, Archaven, Burnbone...
Anyway. Cleaned up the stud system a bit; now there are additional checks during breeding, to see if the male is still up for stud and you can afford the fee (this will prevent anyone messing round with keeping tabs open, banking their money in another tab to skip paying, etc). And if you own him, you won't need to worry about fee/status at all, of course.

(Gawd, so many of these opal-splashed griffs are hideous. OK, I've only been lazily using a single mother and a few ugly fathers, but still. Need to make some items that turn opal paints white/black, re-randomise paint shapes, or remove all paints entirely.)

Updated the egg adoption script.

31 May

Created new Nest page, which has a selection of randomised eggs to pick up. If there are fewer than 20, it automatically generates a new egg when the page is visited, so there'll always be at least one available. The egg sprites are cropped etc, and still don't always load... but they WILL all load if you right-click and 'reload image' them. That's better than the usual griff images - you can properly browse these.


The normal adoption page (where you can pick the breed) will stay for now, only for easy testing purposes. Eventually there'll be more random nests like these dotted around the continent, where you can find griff/pegasus/dragon eggs of certain (rarer) breeds.

Also had idea for a new feature: the junkyard. It's a page where you can pick through heaps of randomised crappy, low-value items that need fixing/cleaning/recycling to become usable. You can pick up 5 free things a day. Very rarely, valuables may appear; machine parts, quest items, ancient treasures... but nothing is labelled, so you'll have to recognise things visually.
There could be a limit to how many super goodies can be picked up per day, like 5 for example. After that, no more will appear. But how is everyone to know..? Just keep looking and hope to get lucky.
edit: well that was a fast and easy little task! Done. Obviously need a long list of junky items to fill it with later; for now it's a mix of normal items.

1st June

Holy crap, where is the time flying? D:
Well, done some more AJAX practice. It's kinda brain-hurting, but I'm learning quickly... now on the perch pages, you can update the griff's name, biography, duel status, stud status and fee, group and tag, instantly. Much nicer than having to hop around loads of pages!
Tomorrow, will Ajaxify the options for removing wearables and changing relationship notes.
And should tidy up the pages to have sections in tabs, something like...
- one for daily news and commands
- one for all griff info (personality traits, genetics, role, skills; this is where name etc are changeable)
- one for companion/treasure/wearable/bg info
- one for the relationship notes

Also planning how to redo battle system from scratch, using AJAX instead of pure JS. This will mean battles are trackable; griffs locked in until they escape/win/lose, and things will be cheat-proof. There'll have to be a table for storing battles in progress, and hopefully it'll be easier to do all the calculations with a PHP 'backend'. Dunno, it just feels more solid and reliable than JS lol.
I really wanna try big battles, with lots of griffs in the party, and multiple enemies. Either a sensible number, like 4 griffs... or could go insane and try 9 or 12.
Too early yet though. Need to add another stat (magic resistance, to go with magic power) and think about what to do with HP/MP now they're based on user.

Maybe... griffs can have own HP still. The user-mage just gives them extra protection from death.
If a griff runs out of own HP, they'll stay conscious but start drawing from user's HP pool. And obviously if that hits 0 the battle will end, even if other griffs are fine; it's dangerous to be out in wilderness with a mage too exhausted to do anything, and the party will have to retreat.

A griff at 0 HP will be weakened... orrr could they actually be powered up, as master's magic is now fuelling them? That would be an interesting choice for players. Deliberately let griffs fall into that state, and risk draining total HP? Or play it safe and keep griffs 'autonomous' but weaker?
(not sure if extra MP would be used up by this state either, hmm)

[Administrator]

3rd June

Added animated HP bars to battles. Easier than expected. Not gonna bother styling the ugly battle pages yet; wait til redone the system.

Added tabs to perch pages, and also inventory because why not. So much neater now!

Would like to upgrade shops, inventory etc with some AJAX. Basically so you can click on items, a pop-up window will show the info and options to buy/sell/use/whatever, and you can do stuff instantly without all this extra page-loading and returning.
Alas, this is proving to be tricky. >.> Tried a few methods, using jQuery for the pop-up stuff, but it just means looooads more item info to load per page. So no. Gotta use AJAX all the way.

4th June

Woo! Getting somewhere with that, in inventory. Populating the box with item data. The dropdown lists are now custom for every item; instead of listing your whole flock and then giving 'could not use' messages on some griffs, the list will only include griffs that can use it. For example, gene-altering stones are intended to go in the nest, so only your unhatched eggs will be selectable.
Haven't yet added the sell option, or the actual usage function (got the button ready with dynamic changing griff-ID, but will require another AJAX call to send it to... another script, that will actually contain item functions. Whew! Ajaxception).

Also need to make simplified version of this, for shops. Only the item name needs to be looked up, and the only option will be to type quantity and buy. Probably shoulda started with this rather than complicated inventory, but hey.

Spent most of the night drawing more breed linearts. Yay dragons, unicorns, hippalectryons, pegasus! Posting some previews over in 'more breeds' thread.

... 9th June, wtf

Drawing these lines is taking a while. Those darn Hippalectryons >.< Here are little previews of a few equiney breeds!

[Administrator]

10th June

Working on shops. New buy script now working, after lots of SQL headaches. Still learning...
Money isn't taken away yet, for test reasons. Though it is checked, so you'll get a warning about not being able to afford stuff. Just buy 1 or a few at a time and see the number appear/increase in your inventory.

Annoyingly, returning a json-encoded array doesn't work - this would make it possible to instantly visually update multiple things at once, like user's money counter and the number of items the box says they have in inventory. No idea what's wrong... it just doesn't work! Argh.
Thankfully it's not a maaajor problem here.
Gah, I seriously hope I can get those arrays working somewhere though! Else the new battle system won't be possible D:

Did some planning for that. Now should be able to design a much more complex system, with equipped items having weights that affect evasion, etc. Looking at Lufia and other RPG series for inspiration.

It would be possible to use items from inventory, but for some reason I dislike that idea. Feels too easy?
The mage and their griffs are far away somewhere, they should only be able to use what they brought with them. Either each griff has a few more 'holdable' slots, or the mage is able to carry stuff on belts, a bag etc.
Will probably go with the latter; you can have chains of up to 12 enchanted stones/vials/blades to throw or use in battle. It would be hard for animals to physically handle such items, and the user's role needs to be distinct from their griffs, anyway.

Now got another small idea: a kind of gallery or exhibition area, where users can publicly show off items they have. I suppose just a clone of the inventory, with some tweaks... might have a go now...

11 June

Well, that was easy! Users' showcases can be viewed by others, and you have a page (myshowcase) where you can move things back to inventory.
Just need to...
- remove them from showcase again, whoops (right now they get added back to inv, but not subtracted here, meaning endless duplication, heh)
- add the opposite function in the inventory page, to move items to showcase and subtract them from inventory.

Also had ideas for making critters more interesting: remove them as items completely, and treat them as individuals, like mini-griffs.
They can have very simple genetics, like m/f sex, a few colours, battle bonuses (1-10 points, to one stat), 2 spells. Of course they'll be much easier to raise than griffs; maybe one 'young' stage at most, that lasts a few days? Breeding is just chance; if you cross the right species you might get a rarer one. Each critter can be attemptedly-bred once a day, with any other of the opposite sex.
They would need own separate exchanges, but could also be traded to new owners while being a griff's companion. New critters could be found in the wilderness, or attracted to your garden, or you could set some of your griffs in 'critter hunter' role, so they have a chance of finding them daily... ooh!
Shouldn't be too technically hard... I just worry about designing hundreds more little creatures, as if these big ones weren't enough art already. x)
Suppose all my rejected or old creature designs over the years could come in handy.

Also! thought about a new, more detailed crafting system. Basically you choose a griffin (who will be Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced or Master skilled, depending on their Technical points) and then the 3 items.
Each recipe (possible combo) will be in one of those four stages. Your griff can try any of them, but if their skills aren't high enough, it's increasingly unlikely they'll succeed.
Each user will have own recipe book, where they can unlock recipes (make them visible) from talking to NPC, finding pages, etc.
You don't need to have unlocked anything - just select items and try - but if it's not known, it's just very unlikely the griff will make anything.
- if a combo doesn't exist, nothing will happen; materials stay in inventory.
- if a combo does exist but your griff doesn't manage to complete it, the materials will be wasted.
- if combo exists and griff manages it, then check the item's own chance of success. If fail, send a message of acknowledgement like "oh no, everything was going well, but the temperature or tools caused failure..."
- if combo exists, griff manages it and the chance is lucky, then materials are removed and you get shiny new item.
For all crafting attempts, regardless of results, there's a chance griff will gain a skill point. It's more likely if the crafting was successful.
As for limits, without using time... hm. Say each griff can only craft 5 things a day before getting tired or sth. Earlier I thought "what about making a craft session take up one of their time-of-day periods" but that would be super annoying for users, leaving them with no time for other daily commands. And if you reached evening and couldn't craft anything, ugh. So nvm.

Also also! Seriously tempted to make a new, simpler forum... frankly there are heaps of myBB features that aren't needed here at all, and a bunch of features that are needed but kinda impossible to add, due to the separate database being used. >.<
So uh, I'll see how it goes. Will keep this one up, for my dev ramblings at least, heh.

[Administrator]

13 June

Was busy last night. Drew a hippogriff lineart and sketched some fantasy deer.
Building new forum tonight. Since the url 'forum' is taken for now, it's under 'gathering' instead.
- set up DB tables
- set up main category index
- set up individual category pages, listing threads in sticky and non-sticky types
(note: unsure how to fetch the latest post info... it's not a RowCount, just FetchObject, but idk how to grab that exact one) done now!
(also, UGH pagination. Nope, can't get it working now)
- now setting up thread pages, listing posts...

15 June

Now you can create threads and post in them (except in admin area, if you're not admin, and if you're banned from posting or are not logged in).
- (done) Add post id and "time posted:" up in the corner of each post.
- (done) Threads should be ordered not by id, but by the last time they were posted in (or created, so new ones will be at top).
- (done) AJAX is now used for creating threads and posts, and page is auto-refreshed so you see your new thread, at top. For posts, it's also very smooth - page doesn't even seem to move/refresh, if lucky. Just click to the last page and your new post is there!
- Pagination is apparently impossible the usual way, but it's alright, it turns out JS can handle it on the client side instead! Whee.
(done, for posts only. Threads are in table cells, must redo in divs)
(also I worry about huge threads with thousands of posts - all loaded on one page... eek! Will have to auto-lock them after so many?)

- Think about adding signatures. Users should be able to turn them on or off - both seeing them, on anyone's post, or just showing your own sig after your posts.
- Add report button in corner of posts/threads. Should take user to a page to fill in the reason etc, and a new thread or post is added to secret mod/admin forum. Sending an auto PM to an admin wouldn't be so reliable; what if they're offline but others are online?
- Add editing option. Could be done easily on another page, but that's clunky... would be nice to use AJAX for instant updating, right there. Replace the usual text div with a textarea containing same text? Wonder if an element can be changed like that.


- And I wish it were possible to show the tiny page-list under thread titles, so users can jump to the first/last pages, like most forums to... but now 'pages' are done in JS, so there'd be nothing to link to.

[Administrator]

16 June

Ffffooorrruummmss *staggers like zombie*
OK, found a nice jQuery trick for repositioning the 'make a report' box for each button, and... whew, this all works nicely! Again no separate pages, just click, type something and report is sent.


Next, um... need to make posts editable...
Gah, that was a headache! But it seems to work just as smoothly, yay. Only posts are included; too tricky to show/hide/include/not-include new fields for thread titles, icons etc.

Oughta use a whole new 'edit thread' box instead of co-opting the post edit box. Mmm.
And mods/admins can see extra options, to lock/open/move/delete/edit anything about them. Should be easyish task for tomorrow.

[Administrator]

17 June

Er, well, I SHOULD be finishing that little task... but today, had some new ideas for griff roles, and can't help it. Gotta start making this feature now x)

Roles are basically employment contracts, for individual griffs. One might be a remote village guard, carry materials around a building site, look after eggs/chicks at the Heat Stones site, be a physician's emergency steed, gather forest plants for a herbalist, or if really strong and good at battling, even the personal steed of a prominent NPC hero.
Every day they're in a role, griff will get a salary of money, and/or (?) possibly an item, chosen from appropriate list. This will replace the usual random morning gift you get when visiting griffs every day. Roles last between 1 and 30 days, then your griff is unemployed again. Search for a new one, that they meet breed/skill/personality requirements for... or you might prefer to leave some unemployed, because they're a breed that sometimes gives rare items or sth.
(also I'm leaning towards "employed griffs are busy at work and therefore cannot go travelling" so your tough explorers will have to be left free. Each role is happening in a location - maybe a remote village or region - so your griff isn't allowed to leave that area until it's over.)

A large range of super-easy, low paying roles will always be available from NPCs, so beginners can find something for most griffs. Medium roles will be here and there. These all can be searched and applied for, from a central place.
Hard and elite roles won't be searchable; you'll have to send griffs travelling around continent to meet those NPCs and see what's on offer.

I'm very tempted to make roles creatable by users too; it should mean something, hiring griffs to work on stuff. You want to build 5 more perches? Or expand your garden space? Then officially you're opening a Project, and 5 slots will open for griffs with relevant skills. When the slots are all filled, your project will begin, for a certain duration of days. After finishing, you'll have your new perches or garden etc.

Say there's an Imperial Defence and Development Fund which covers lots of costs, to encourage rebuilding and breeding of griffs. So you don't need to pay full salaries (5 builder griffs, on 600 tokens each a day, for 5 days... could get expensive), just an amount upfront. Optionally, you can offer bonus money or an item, for any/all of the roles, if you're keen to get those slots filled ASAP.

Well, enough rambling! Gotta set up a basic working test.

[Administrator]

Oh my goodness... NO... NOOOOO!

My shitty computer has somehow corrupted the PSD file where I was drawing all these equine lines... NO!!!!

Fuck. There were dozens of them, large and detailed, carefully drawn for weeks. Now a single black layer. Arghhh!

Sigh. I was stupid and didn't think to individually save them all as PNGs... never expected this to randomly happen.

Ughhhh. But... at least, these were only linearts... I was planning to redo all bases later anyway, to be in my new shaded/lineless style... so I guess I can just hastily sketch these again, for game testing. Yeah, I'll rush to do that.

[Administrator]

19 June

Sooooo then. Ugh. I've decided just to sprint through sketching these breeds again, filling in the body part colour sections, and try to throw 'em all onto the game as fast as possible, poor quality be damned.

[Administrator]

new page?