Dungeon Master Forum

Having now played with it a bit today, I can agree that it is a really good bit of software. Very, very useful. Not just for DM projects, but for a whole range of other things. I like the way you can 'collapse' the code for each section. Very handy when you have a very long text file. It would have ...

Am currently designing with 105x105 sized levels. There is a grid drawn onto each level splitting each level into thirds (ie, 3x3, or nine boxes), which crudely aligns to the various areas and locations matching the sketch design of the dungeon structure. This also aligns to a basic 3d model I've ma...

I personally find designing the dungeon with a GUI is essential for my way of working. But I find in certain instances inputting graphics and elements into the editor way faster using the text editor than doing it through in-editor dialogues. Inputting new graphics into RTC can be very tedious, and ...

Hey Linflas and Terkio, just checked out Notepad++. It's brilliant, exactly the sort of thing I was after. Thank you so much.

yes, it can be time consuming ebs, but here is how to take advantage of it, once the painstaking prototype of what you're creating is done, make sure it is on a single tile, copy the whole damn thing, just replace the unique triggers, counters and actions. I end up getting it all down in the mind, ...

Woh...Wordpad...! I remember that....! Wow...building an entire dungeon without a map editor? That's properly, impressively, hardcore.... Interestingly, it's probably also how the FTL team originally built DM and CSB back in the day. I wonder how they actually put them together? Is there any histori...

Obviously, the RTC dungeon text file holds all the detail for the dungeon, whether it be a custom dungeon or standard. I've found a lot of work can be done in the text file without actually having to go into the RTC editor - in some ways it can be easier to manage creating wallsets, adding bitmaps, ...

Well, based on what GG said in the thread Sophia kindly provided, I think starting in the middle is ok in terms of level depth relating to experience, ie, going upwards is not going to make it 'worse' in terms of gaining experience.

Thinly disguised microtransactions should be implemented on all dungeon objects and actions to provide a more integrated social dungeon feel. "Pick up Cheese for £0.69?" "Fluxcage Lord Chaos now for £5.99!". Etc.

DungeonBook beckons.

Thanks Sophia. Quite cryptic from Mr.Gilbert there.... I did do a search before posting but somehow didn't see that post.

Not sure I understand that chaos! So how do I make the lowest level have the lowest experience, and the highest level the highest experience? I can't see any controls in rtc to set properties these per level. Or were you thinking clever use of teleported or something?

Is it possible in RTC to control the level multiplier for experience? In DM, you get increasing levels of experience multiplier the deeper down you go; ie, lower dungeon levels means more experience. Can you control this multiplier in RTC? What if you wanted to start at the bottom of a dungeon and w...

SU, if the party throws an object at the stair, how do I stop the object crossing through the stair? Ie how do I make it land in front of the stair whilst the party can step 'into' the stair object to get into the teleporter? I can't figure this out. The stair object I created clones a Doorframe obj...

Yep, DOSBox is awesome if you want to run the old stuff on a new(er) machine. Makes the whole process painless and easy.

Geeky I know, but I do like the odd bit of tinkering with an ancient machine to get an old game going.....!

You probably thought of this already, but....Do computers that old have cd rom or USB? I can't remember. On your current 'modern' machine you can possibly go to various drivers archive websites and hunt around there. You could also get hold of a USB floppy disk drive to use in your modern machine to...

Hey SU, thanks so much for the in depth explanation, really appreciate it. Will give this a go over the next few days. It looks quite complex, but from reading this I have learnt the principle of triggers and toggling to avoid the infinite teleporter crash, which is good. Will let you know how I get...

actually, I just realized we're making this way more complicated then it needs to be. Everyting's all on the same level, right? So all you're doing is faking moving up/down a level, so you can easily simulate this with graphics alone, and ditch the teleporters. What you'd need is a Stairs_Top objec...

Hey Trantor, thanks for the link to the txt file, it's very interesting to view that, really appreciate you sharing it. :) I can see what you mean about the outdoor scenarios. Chaos/Trantor, I have set up a test dungeon, creating a cloned standard door frame floor object, modified to use the base st...

Chaos, you'd absolutely love a ps2 game called 'Shadow of the Colossus'. I think you said the last console game you played was pong but at least check it out on the Internet. It's a piece of art. In my top 5 all time ever videogames (along with DM, naturally).

I didn't bother with companions either, or a horse. Thought it much better just me and big wide world or the deep dark dungeons. (But always secretly harboured a wish for a four person party... just saying... )

Coooool. I remember those films and scenes. Great stuff. I was very young but they made a big impression

True. It can get tricky if you get carried away and load too many mods, and if you're not diligent about cleaning up the ones you discard. And it does require a little care and attention when installing them. But if you limit yourself only to a select few, then the experience is well worth it. The r...

Ameena, just on the annoyances of Skyrim's UI, if you have the pc version there are a few excellent mods to improve all of those issues. In fact if you have a little time there are a few more to greatly overhaul the entire skyrim experience (graphics, sound, mechanics, etc) that make it significantl...

It's not so much that I was thinking to make a huge dungeon, more of a spread out one, if that makes sense. Just trying out some plot ideas for size ('scuse the pun....). Teleporters would be the only way to go with one particular concept in mind.

Thanks all for responses. Yes, Chaos, the teleports workaround was what I was thinking about after Terkio's first post..! It seems the only way if a level is that big.

Thanks Terkio. ( Am not able to reach rtc as is write this. ) What about offsets? Can you offset a 200 tile level by 199 tile over a second 200 tile level? This would give a superimposed game area of say 399 tiles.

Has anyone pushed rtc to the max in terms of level size? By this I mean setting the level 'dimensions'. Ie a 32x32 tile level is somewhat standard. This can be set higher, but how much higher can it go? Has anyone pushed this to any sort of limit? And regarding offsets - ie, the offset of a level in...

Yeah I've had a go on it, using the actuated sculpting pen. It's incredible. Feels like you're sculpting solid objects for real. Didn't use it with stereoscopic glasses however.

Thoram, I think I see where you're going with that statement.....! SUPER technical... almost philosophical.

2.5d was a term used for games like Doom and Hexen. The level construction was achieved by drawing lines/vectors and regions in what was effectively a 2d cad drawing, then assigning projected heights to each line and region, and a material. The engine then projected these heights into a faux 3d repr...