Competition 68

[Nick]

Competition 68 is now available from here. It is a Steamband British Naturalist - the first full caster we've had for a while (if I understand naturalists correctly).

Competition 67 still has a couple of days to run.

[Donald Jonker]

Something just basically wrong about a naturalist beginning with a fur cloak, isn't there?

[PaulBlay]

Something just basically wrong about a naturalist beginning with a fur cloak, isn't there?

Sure you're not thinking of naturist?

[buzzkill]

Crash

Something just basically wrong about a naturalist beginning with a fur cloak, isn't there?

That's probably the least of his problems.

Any-hoo, I downloaded Steamband (x86 Windows compile of Steamband 0.4.1final) and created a new character. I can distribute the skill points, but the game crashes as soon as I try to move, or take the stairs. Win XP, fully up to date, blah blah blah. Is it just me?

No graphics, yet again, if anyone cares.

[Donald Jonker]

Sure you're not thinking of naturist?

Naturalist is a pretty slippery signifier, but yeah, I'm probably thinking somewhat anachronistically...

@Buzzkill - I have the same setup but no crashes. Bummer. Have you tried the boring/probably useless reboot, restart, fresh zip & savefile?

As far as graphics go, for a burgeoning artist such as yourself, I wouldn't see this so much as an obstacle as an opportunity.
For Steamband, hell, even I'm tempted to cook up some tiles.

[Nick]

I can distribute the skill points, but the game crashes as soon as I try to move, or take the stairs. Win XP, fully up to date, blah blah blah. Is it just me?

Odd. There is a known crash bug associated with town monsters moving, but this doesn't sound like it.

[rdanhenry]

The Naturalist is not really a caster in the traditional sense. He can learn spells and cast them out of books, but so can any Steamband character. He develops class powers and may not want to spend points to develop magic that would overlap with his nature-oriented powers. He is a power-oriented class, although his powers are while the Naturalist's powers are not melee-centric like a Dashing Hussar's, he is still probably best off developing melee to back up his powers. These powers do include healing, detections, and damage-dealing (but a *band character usually gets these one way or another - I wouldn't call a devices specialist a "caster").

The Gentleman is the spell-caster of the Steamband classes, the only one with access to the full trees of spell-casting skills.

[Nick]

OK - I've played gentlemen a bit, but never naturalists. In any case, it looks like a change of pace from the stream of rogues, assassins and warriors the competition has had recently.

[buzzkill]

... Steamband (x86 Windows compile of Steamband 0.4.1final) and created a new character. I can distribute the skill points, but the game crashes as soon as I try to move, or take the stairs. Win XP, fully up to date.

After another few minutes of testing, I've come to the conclusion that this crash only occurs if the window I'm playing in is maximized. I can play windowed (even with a full-screen window) without crashing. Upon crash, there are three consecutive 'error message' pop-ups that I have to close before I get back to the desktop.

[buzzkill]

As far as graphics go, for a burgeoning artist such as yourself, I wouldn't see this so much as an obstacle as an opportunity.
For Steamband, hell, even I'm tempted to cook up some tiles.

I missed this nugget the first time through. Am I sensing a collaboration, because I might be interested. It would be one heck of a job though, considering the eccentricity of the monster catalog.

However, It's not just a lack of tiles. I don't think that there is any 'graphic support' within the game itself. Weather this is just a matter re-compiling, of some serious coding is beyond me.

[Nick]

However, It's not just a lack of tiles. I don't think that there is any 'graphic support' within the game itself. Weather this is just a matter re-compiling, of some serious coding is beyond me.

Fairly serious, I think. I added graphics to O, which was not too bad; there would be more work for Steam, because the code to draw them has been taken right out of (or has never been in) the dungeon drawing routines. The support is still in the platform-specific files, but for 8x8 and 16x16 tiles only.

[Pete Mack]

Fairly serious, I think. I added graphics to O, which was not too bad; there would be more work for Steam, because the code to draw them has been taken right out of (or has never been in) the dungeon drawing routines. The support is still in the platform-specific files, but for 8x8 and 16x16 tiles only.

There's 3 things:
1. Adapting the main-xxx.c ports to the latest from V or Un.
2. Backporting z-term.c
3. Adding the options (in the .ini file or the menus)

There's really not much other support for gfx; the core of the game only knows about the map, not about the actual view.

[Nick]

There's 3 things:
1. Adapting the main-xxx.c ports to the latest from V or Un.
2. Backporting z-term.c
3. Adding the options (in the .ini file or the menus)

There's also tile-drawing stuff in cave.c - like your other three, this can be grabbed from any of the variants with graphics. Then, of course, there's also the double/triple tile stuff...

[Donald Jonker]

Am I sensing a collaboration, because I might be interested. It would be one heck of a job though, considering the eccentricity of the monster catalog.

If M. Campbell or some such gets all this business sorted out, then I'd be very interested in working on it. Victorian lit is a bit of a personal passion. But anything less than 32x32 would be an injury to the bestiary, I'm afraid.

[Pete Mack]

I have only one request: don't use too much detail, and try to avoid half-tone colors. IMO, the best angband tileset remains the one from MacAngband. I'd love to find a copy; I've only ever seen a couple screenshots.