Hiatus Update

To anyone who still have hopes for Land of Strangers, apologies for infrequent updates are not something I'm going to give. The year hasn't been booming for LoSt, but the project is simmering, and I can at least say a new release is in the works.

still doin' the work of the lord

Some refactoring had to be done, including porting to updated versions of the Python tool chain, so version #14 will have changes to the engine and interface. Last week I had a fit and added basic terminal support, which went as well as could be hoped. I'm confident that that it will be doable to add more UI tweaks later.

For the terminal mode, the greatest challenge was how to make the hexagons, and how big … in the end I chose the smallest resolution (with each hex 1 line tall and 2 columns wide), to fit as much of the map as possible in a terminal window. With that decided, input and output was easy to implement. Rather than using external libraries, I wrote the functions using ANSI escape codes directly. It's a solution that's portable across major OSes, and workable as long as I don't get too fancy.

While LoSt has been ported to Python 3 and a saner architecture, work on content has been on hold. Ideas are not lacking, and I'm nearing the point of adding stuff back in, as I will get to world generation and NPC behavior, two big topics with pending redesigns ;) It's a really big piece of the puzzle, but necessary to populate the open game world of LoSt. 

In short, once the new engine is off the ground, I can concentrate more on adding content and fun stuff to the game. Current mood is optimistic regarding a working release in the near future. At that point I might make a github repository for LoSt, although I don't know if it interests anyone except myself.

As always, Minotauros

Slow Results II

The last few years, Land of Strangers' development went into a hiatus, while ye olde questionnaire about content wishes stayed around in the sidebar. Now that I'm hoping to put more time on LoSt again, it felt about time to close the poll ;) We clocked in at 82 voters. (On a side note, I think 82 must be a lucky number in The Land, being the atomic weight of lead.)

I will compare the results to my own wishes and plans, of course, always happy about any feedback from interested parties. It helps understand how people are perceiving the project, and what I might do to further my own plans, increase overall "readability", as well as scratch the potential fan base's itch ;) 

With that said, here are the results in order:

Dawgs (1st – 4th; more than 30 votes) 

38 Mounts and vehicles
37 Camping, survivalism
31 Changing world
31 NPC companions

The contest for gold and silver is tight between Riding and Camping. I think horses and trains are a given feature for a game like LoSt (as well as boats and some oddities, like pogo sticks). Camping/survivalism is a feature I've personally been on the fence about. Seeing that it's a popular wish has of course made me think about possible designs – if so, definitely something in my own, slightly experimental style

… On a shared third place are "Changing world" and "NPC companions", both among my personal favorites. Going ahead, I'm definitely focusing on game world factions and groups, including the possibility for the player to form alliances, gain rumor etc. Being part of a posse should be a feature (and not necessarily as their leader).

Second Lead (5th to 11th; 25 votes or more) 

29 Drinkin' and drugs   
29 Rumors and investigation
28 Non-lethal combat
27 Dice games, gambling
26 Ropes and lassos
26 Tinkering, farming
26 Visions, dream quests

This tier of results have some strong contenders. Some feel genre-inherent in the psychedelic wildwestworld of LoSt, like booze (29), gambling (27), and rope use (26). Others relate to planned open world concepts like NPC companions and changing world (investigation mechanics and non-lethal combat). Regarding tinkering, we'll see – to me, it feels like a feature so prominent in many RPGs that doing anything new or interesting with it really demands a lot of work. It probably won't be a main concern in the next few versions, but I might yet find some fun way to add a tinkering system.

Miscellaneous (12th to 20th; 20-25 votes)

25 Fire and water
24 Calendar, seasons
24 Mines, caverns
22 Aging
22 Construction, base building
22 Dynamite and traps
22 Light and darkness
20 Disease
20 Height map

Some interesting options here; most of these are nifty ideas that can be implemented to enhance simulationist aspects of the game world. Which of these make it to the game, will depend on various factors, like whether they serve as auxiliary features to other content, or if the ratio between amount of work to add a feature, and how much fun it will bring, seems promising. A few are on my definite todo-list despite lukewarm responses in the poll, like a simple system for landscape elevation, at least as a way to create borders and bottlenecks in the landscape with ravines and plateaus.

Backwash (less than 20 votes)

13 Add better interface!
12 Retirement, ghosts
2 Other (Comment)

The "Add better interface" option is actually a jocular throwback to a previous poll about UI, most of which I've haven't gotten around to reacting to, although I've been working on it ::) So the next version will include important features like mouse support and a better graphics engine (another feature high on the todo-list is to add sound effects, and hopefully an original soundtrack). The option to retire player characters and have previous character runs affect later playthroughs did not garner a lot of support, although I can't guarantee that it won't pop up if it feels natural at some point. In the "Other" section, one voter left a comment asking for trading as a feature, and I've got to say it's a good idea, and frankly not overused in open world games, although I'll have to chew on it for a while to see what might come of it. Another voter clicked Other along with every single other poll option, but left no comment, whether that might have been a bot or a very enthusiastic player who simply wants more of everything.

With the poll closed, all that remains is to extend thanks to all who participated. I can now happily get to work on the system for dynamic NPC factions, which should scratch some of these itches. I will keep you posted as work progresses. 

In the meantime I think it's not yet too late to wish you all a happy, prosperous year ahead. Stay Lost, and keep fucking that chicken!

As always,
Minotauros

Slow results

Me hearties! It's been a whole year with no progress reports on the blog, after I started refactoring the whole project last winter. I've been concentrating on other stuff – publishing a book and also going back to university (starting a course in computer science). So it's been a slow year in development, but on the flip side I've cleared time and headspace to fiddle more with programming in the time to come.

The latest tech

Regarding the current state of the code, I did put in some work last spring, updating the tool chain and reassembling many basic features. What I have at the moment is a slimmed down code base with the base functionality, but no real content. Where I left off last year, it was time to reimplement world generation, and after that NPC behavior. Both of these will see some redesigns, and both are systems I find highly motivational to code, since the game world comes more alive with every step of the road.

I think Roguelikes can make up for their lack in linear storytelling, by making the world capable of generating meaning in its own right. In Moby Dick, Herman Melville writes: «Out of the trunk, the branches grow; out of them, the twigs. So, in productive subjects, grow the chapters.» I'm quoting this for no particular reason other than my immense love of Melville. In LoSt, I want the narrative structure to be less like a tree, but rather a mesh of interconnected roots, or perhaps something akin to what Derrida described as a «dredging machine» (machine à draguer).

Going forward, I'll try to imbue the game world with a sense of direction and vague purpose, by focusing on factions and other forces of influence as fundamental building blocks of the game world. Last week I've picked up the old code base and design notes, and have started some simple prototyping for generating these forces and representing their relations in a graph, which should be used to inform stuff like terrain generation and quest lines. A working system will not come overnight, but should crystallize in not too long if I put in some time and effort.