I consider it, and haven't ruled it out. There are several problems with a 'futuristic' setting however. The most troublesome is that guns are too strong.
Onward to todays thoughts:
C++
I have a long time been an advocate for using C++ in *bands. Today I converted the program to be in C++ and added the first class. The good thing a about a C to C++ conversion is that it can be done gradually. For others seeking to make their programs use objects I would recommend to start with the small stuff, taking a bottom up approach. Starting with a large struct could easily lead to a mess that would take forever to clear up.
CMake
I don't like having to keep track of dependencies manually, and using GNU Autohell is worse. So I made the same decision as KDE an use CMake to create makefiles.
More on stats
I converted the stats to use a natural notation (..., 18, 19, 20, ...). Was saved the hassle of creating a converter by doing it right from the start.
Still there's more to do with stats. For example, I would prefer the stats to have a linear instead of exponential behavior. Also, one stat consists of several values (birth, current, max, ...), so a stat should probably be a class.
Finally, I noticed 18 + 100, the natural stat maximum, hardcoded in several places in the code, so I added a STAT_MAX constant.
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If you don't have a custom setting in mind already, something 'futuristic' would open up the choice of races. Plus it hasn't really been done (although Steamband has elements like that).
How you treat stats would be fairly heavily dependent on your setting. I tend to think of Wisdom as traditional knowledge and Intelligence as street smarts. I've also thought of using two stats for spellcasting (maybe one for mana and one for fail rates); in FA, that would be INT+DEX for mages, INT+CHR for necros, WIS+CHR for priests and WIS+DEX for druids.However the number of stats, that's another issue. I have thought about everything from 3 to 7 stats. There's two issues here really: 1. Charisma has to either be made useful or go. I'm considering the idea of adding some kind of charm effect/skill to make it useful. (As has been done in other variants.) 2. Wisdom & Intellect, in most cases you need one, but not the other one. I'm think I'd either takes a WoW approach of Spirit & Int or makes Wis handle spells, while Int handles rogue and crafting skills.Leave a comment:
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My variant development journal
So, I got started on my variant. Since there's a lot of thought going on about the project, and a lot of ideas that it would be nice to get some comments on, it seemed best to me to start a thread to contain the discussion, instead of spreading it out. Well, enough rambling about that, on the first subject.
Name
All projects need a name, but unfortunately the name is usually not clear from the beginning. Well, since I had to pick something I choose to name the svn tree iBand. A suitable name, since it doesn't sound too lame, and has to be replaced before the first release.
Setting
Custom. I will move away from anything that has copyright issues, and try make something original. The Tolkien stuff will be removed gradually.
Races
This one is tricky, I want to avoid stock D&D races and furries, while not being limited humans. The Half-anything races will be axed first, since they annoy me.
GPL & dual licensing
Luckily the Sangband code is nearly completely dual-licensed. Fortunately the issue was clearly described in an e-mail from Leon:
Since then Hutson and Mogami has been found, and given permission. We figured out that main-win has been rewritten be Leon and should be clean.The first and more important is that, although the Angband code
used in Sangband is very nearly GPL, "very nearly" isn't the same is
"fully". There are at least four people who contributed code to Angband
and/or Sangband who have not been found:
1. Randy Hutson worked with BEN to code the Angband RNG.
2. Ross E Becker is mentioned as a contributor in main-win.c
3. Angband uses some code by Eric Bock. Sangband uses quite a bit.
4. Angband uses some code by Takashi Mogami. Sangband uses more.
(there are also three people who worked on maid-x11 or main-xaw who
haven't been found, but this doesn't affect Sangband now)
At least the X11 and Xaw ports will be axed, so the only missing person is Eric Bock.
Fortunately his contributions are clearly described so they can be axed if necessary. But, hopefully someone knows how to contact him or he shows up some day.
Stats
I will get rid of the 18/XX notation, now that there's no conservative maintainer that can stop me.
However the number of stats, that's another issue. I have thought about everything from 3 to 7 stats. There's two issues here really: 1. Charisma has to either be made useful or go. I'm considering the idea of adding some kind of charm effect/skill to make it useful. (As has been done in other variants.) 2. Wisdom & Intellect, in most cases you need one, but not the other one. I'm think I'd either takes a WoW approach of Spirit & Int or makes Wis handle spells, while Int handles rogue and crafting skills.
Whew! Glad to get that out and off my brain. Time to go back to coding.
Leave a comment: