Southern Lake

Ideas for the lake south of the town.

I intend to work on a lake south of town. It'll include the existing map south of town adjusted to the new grid size (see A1 and B1). Quests using the current south map can use the updated maps with 100x80 size (taking 20x80 from the right tile) so the quests should remain relatively unaffected (or 100x100 depending on how the map gets integrated).

Here's a rough sketch with 3 detailled tiles (A1, B1, B4) that I'm almost certain to include. I might remove row 3 and a few shore tiles to reduce work.
Please note that this plan's not finished yet. It's only posted to give an idea of what I'm planning to do. Red squares mark unfinished plan tiles.


I'm not sure yet about how I'm going to shape the lake. I want every tile to be unique on its own. For example C2 could be a swamp-like tile. Other examples would be curvy shorelines, beaches, islands, walkable shallow waters, cliffs, etc.

The 4 islands on the maelstrom tile are entered from adjacent tiles by walking over shallow waters.

Maybe I'll include piers which teleport the player to a corresponding pier as if they drove by boat. Avoids cluttering up the lake with bridges and shallow waters.

I'm not sure whether I'll add lily-pads or not, maybe I'll keep pads unique to the swamp tiles and a few lake spots near the shore.

I'll also include boats which I'll prototype with the current tileset.
Though the prototype looks nice enough to not be a prototype:


As for NPCs, dialogues and quests, here's a few ideas. Please notify me if some of the quests do not fit within technical limitations or if something else is off.

Code:

Entrance (A2 or B2):
Lore NPC (skeleton sprite):
Tis' some new landlubber me ol' eyes see. Welcome t' tha lake o' undead pirates.
[Undead Pirates?]
  Ya hearin' well, lil' one. Thar's been some guy be callin' 'imself Dotex or somethin' like that.
  We be ol' sailors 'n fishermen but he be chantin' some curse, ya see. // Technically Dotex modified the code, though to an old legends-believing sailor it sounds just like that.
  [But isn't a pirate cool?]
      Tell ya what, kid, fishes be scared, too. Boy's been makin' our fishin' days harder.
      But that ain't goin' to get me ol' bones down, mark me words.
      [I wish you the best.]
      [Arrr, we be partin' ways now!] // not sure if the verb 'to part ways' can be used in the context of 'bye', english's not my main language
  [I feel sorry for you.]
      No worries, mate. Me bones be ol' but nothin' ain't gettin' me spirits down.

Fisherman (skeleton sprite) ashore (A2 or B2):
Mate, ya better look out. Thar's a maelstrom out thar. Ya better stay on land 'n bridges 'n shallow waters.
[Thanks for the tip.]
[Do the fish bite?]
  Aye, can't ya see?
  ...
  Curses, that landlubber o' Dotex glitched me catch away. // some excuse to not have a fish pile tileset...
  [Did he take your fishing rod, too?]
      Nay. Tis' rod just be thin. Nothin' big pixels be showin'.

MAELSTROM (B4):

A big maelstrom sprite rotates in the middle. Debris moves around in circles with different speeds in different lanes. Debris may also only be visible during maelstrom quests.

Someone (normal sprite) on the southwest island:
Help me! My buddy was stupid enough to step out too far and is now caught in the maelstrom!
[How can I help?]
  I'll put a rope around you. Hop in, avoid the floating debris and catch my buddy. I'll pull you out then.
  [No man's strong enough to pull someone out of these currents!]
      Trust me, I'm a sailor. I lift barrels everyday!
  [Let's do it!]
      Quest: Forced circular movement in the maelstrom, controls allow to move to or away from the center.
                Debris hurt and move slower or faster than the player but don't change "lanes".
                Upon touching the buddy in distress who's moving in the same direction but a bit slower the quest is completed. Failure on death.

Someone (normal sprite) on the southeast island:
Help me! I was stupid enough to promise the guy that I can pull him back ashore with the rope I've tightened to his waist. But the current's too strong! Pull together with me!
[There's debris in the maelstrom!]
  That's why you'll have to either pull or let loose when he's about to smack into one!
  Remember, pulling is slower than letting loose!
  [Walk away.]
      Help! Heeelp!
  [*Grab the rope.*]
      Quest: As explained. Debris knocks the guy halfways back to the center.
                Finished if the guy touches the shore. Failure if time runs out.
      Rescued Guy:
      Phew! Thanks for saving me!
      Oh, look! A chest's washing ashore. I'll leave it to you.
      (Opening the chest: Reward)
      Rescued Guy:
      Oh no, I'm slipping! *splash* // Explains why the quest can be done again.

Someone (skeleton sprite) on one of the northern islands:
Tis be the feared maelstrom. Ye better don't take a swim, mate.
Debris be washin' ashore. Want t' go fetch 'em? Oughta be worth a few pennies.
[Nay.]
[Aye!]
  Tis be the catch: Ye be payin' me 10 gold. It be me grounds yer lootin' off, ye know?
  Ye also gotta stop if ye loot more than 5 gold or somethin' else. Ye can keep all ye find.
  [What? No way.]
  [Sigh. Take it.]
      Quest: Barrels wash ashore and are opened upon clicking within interaction range.
                Some barrels are empty, few contain enemies, some contain 1 up to 5 gold,
                rarer cases contain common loot and very rare cases contain rare loot. Loot may be unique to the quest if available.
                Quest is finished when looting 5 gold or anything else. // Best case scenarios: Non-gold loot or 9 gold (last barrel gives 5 gold after having 4 gold)

I do like the concept of a giant lake.

However, there are a few issues with it.
1- Players can't swim/walk on water. This means this giant lake is actually just as big as 1 map.
2- Teleporting for pier to pier will be confusing as players don't know where they will end up. It will not look good. Fighting on the small platforms is probably not optimal either.
3- The current engine doesn't support moving water / attracting players towards a point. At least not in a nice looking manner. The maelstrom will most likely not look good.
4- An overworld region must be extendable and be able to support various varied quests (20+).
5- The game doesn't currently have pirate sprites.

Suggestions:
I'd suggest to create bigger islands connected with bridges. Each island could have a theme. Somewhat like The Wind Waker.
The center of the lake could be a giant mountain/underground instead of a maelstrom. A mountain could be used to extend content.

Looks like a lot of work. I really like the idea of having a boat on docks. What were you thinking in terms of size? Small row boat, or mid-sized? I was thinking something relating to the size of a house or large enough to span the distance of the northern edge of the docks when compared to the dock image above.

As a summary of our discussion in-game:

-The lake becomes a sea so it can be extended at will.
-You will design the plan of the shoreline. The sea is left blank for now.
-Anyone can create their own island on a 1x1 map to be part of the overworld.
-Your maelstrom idea is one of those islands. The maelstrom area and the rest of the overworld are logically independent. (Removing the maelstrom area won't cause the overworld to crash/fail.)
-The maelstrom itself would be an actor that rotates.

rc wrote:4- An overworld region must be extendable and be able to support various varied quests (20+).
[...]
I'd suggest to create bigger islands connected with bridges. Each island could have a theme. Somewhat like The Wind Waker.

I've talked with rc and we agree on doing it a sea rather than a lake. I'll fully plan out the initial shoreline and anything beyond the shoreline will be islands that are worked on separately.

rc wrote:2- Teleporting for pier to pier will be confusing as players don't know where they will end up. It will not look good. Fighting on the small platforms is probably not optimal either.

As for the transportation, my current idea is to have boat NPCs that basically teleport (or if we're to take it a step further, drive) the player to the island of the adjacent overworld tile the pier's facing towards. RC might also have some other ideas for the transportation.

rc wrote:5- The game doesn't currently have pirate sprites.

Oh, but it has:

Whip wrote:I really like the idea of having a boat on docks. What were you thinking in terms of size? Small row boat, or mid-sized?

Any size depending on what fits. But with the current tileset only these yacht-sized rafts will do. Bigger might work, but too big and it's .. flat?

Whip wrote:I was thinking something relating to the size of a house or large enough to span the distance of the northern edge of the docks when compared to the dock image above.

There could be an island that isn't an island but a floating city of raft houses. I think the Pokemon games have such a town.

Ark wrote:
There could be an island that isn't an island but a floating city of raft houses. I think the Pokemon games have such a town.

Pacifidlog Town in Gen3. http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pacifidlog_Town

Map south of town: Before/After
Please ignore the seam west of the waterfall. It won't be visible in any map transition and I may fix it before release.
The other cut-offs of the old map are in non-pictured adjacent tiles which aren't completely finished yet. The location of the river is convenient and keeps retconned map borders still natural with minimal changes. The quests based on that map can keep their old maps which don't have noticeable differences (I even wish to keep those old maps for the quests, they fit together really well).

That looks really good. I get such a nice vibe from the area -- especially near the 'make-shift' camp with the caravan.

Finished A2 and fixed the waterfall seam this lunch break.

Looks great!

The tiny bridge would need to be enlarged a bit as the player is x2 tile wide.

Finished B2. I'm not particularly fond of the water-sand transition but the current tileset does not offer a way to go around it. I may update the tileset when I've got more time to spare.
I hope the game offers a way to override non-collision, too. Otherwise my stone fords will have to be replaced with bridges or overgrowth that really don't fit the place visually.
As the tile's walkable space touches the southern border, I did not include a pier. There'll be a normal map transition towards a pier, that doesn't teleport/transport cross-tile but to the island of the tile itself.

rc wrote:The tiny bridge would need to be enlarged a bit as the player is x2 tile wide.

Thanks for the hint. I'll test all maps before I release them and fix it then.

Finished C2 and D2. I also changed the grass layer colors to be alternating as suggested by rc.


I'll test the maps and send them via pm. As for the islands I'll wait a bit because I need more time to spare and want to create a few quests first.

That looks awesome!