Game:Wandering Hamster/development
From OHRRPGCE-Wiki
[edit] Latest Changes
Curious how things are progressing?
[edit] License Change
Complete. Wandering Hamster is now licensed as under the GPL. (Older versions were freeware, with no permission to redistribute modified copies.)
[edit] How Can I Help?
Right now, I need help in the following areas:
[edit] Bug spotting
If you see any bugs or have suggestions for improving things, you can add notes to the Bugs page.
[edit] Music & Sound
All of the GPL-incompatible songs have already been replaced, but a few songs could do with improvement. See Soundtrack
Also, I (and every other OHR game author too) will need a lot of help making nice-sounding attack Sound Effects. Many attacks in Wandering Hamster currently lack sound effects entirely.
[edit] Graphics Improvements
I am happy with most of the pixel-art in Wandering Hamster, but many of the sprites and tiles do leave some room for improvement. I welcome any artwork that anyone is willing to volunteer. I think the battle backdrops probably need the most work.
[edit] Proofreading
I used to have this irrational hatred of apostrophes. I have fixed most of the missing apostrophes, but a few might still lurk. Any textbox spelling fixes would be most appreciated. You can note spelling mistakes on the Bugs page.
[edit] Enemy Gimmicks
I feel the battles in Wandering Hamster are mostly pretty boring, and other people have backed up this opinion. I want to mitigate this by adding some kind of gimmick for every single enemy in the game. This is a list of gimmick ideas. Some (Many? Most?) are not feasible yet due to engine limitations, but maybe fleshing out this list will help inspire good new engine features. These are just ideas, none of them are written in stone. Anybody is welcome to add more.
| Enemy | Gimmick Idea | Feasibility |
|---|---|---|
| Plip | One-hit-kill rewards you with plip-slop. Take it to the Plip Tamer's house for a mini-game. | Need other item reward triggers besides random percent. |
| Chum Bug | (Chum Bug==Cabbage Beetle) Reduce cabbage beetle HP. Add cabbage non-enemies to formations. When fatally hit, Beetles take a bite of cabbage to restore life rather than dying. Destroy cabbages to make the beetles killable. | Need counter-attacks with support for before-death attacks |
| Broaste's Conscripts | Some of the guards should be originally Hasim's Guards who were conscripted by Broaste when he took over. They were weak willed to change sizes so easily, and there should be a way to change them back. Maybe a special "Negotiate" spell menu that only appears during the castle sequence. Negotiating should only work some of the time, so it might be a slower strategy than fighting, but it could include some funny dialog. | Requires Plan for enemy AI improvements. Negotiate menu would need tag-based spell learning. |
| Broaste's Mercenaries | Some of Broaste's invaders should be mercenaries who can simply be bought off. Successful bribing would cause them to stop attacking you and to start attacking other enemies in the current battle (and they would no longer need to be killed to win the battle) | Requires Plan for enemy AI improvements |
| SeedSpitter | Seedling spawning is already something of a gimmick. Might be interesting if it spawned them with attacks too | Need attack-based spawning |
| Seedling | Might be interesting if a seedling with no SeedSpitter present could take root and grow. | Done |
| Lode Rat | Blind, attacks by smell. Maybe use a smelly item to make it target other enemies? Maybe use a deodorant to prevent it from targeting you? | Requires Plan for enemy AI improvements |
| Pavender | I see these as elusive. Maybe they could appear in formations with other enemies. They would not count for winning, and could hide themselves, then re-appear briefly to do an attack before hiding again. Like they dive under the surface of the water. Killing one (and getting its rewards) would require lucky/tricky timing. | Possible |
| Monkeymagi | Currently only attack and erode your MP. Should also cast magical buffs on one another. Buffs that change a single-use elemental attack would be cool. A transmogrification that temporarily turns a Monkeymagi into a Monkeybrawler would be cool | Done |
| Uberplip | Already has gimmick of breaking into three. Would be cooler if the resulting pieces were PlipFragments instead of regular Plips. They could re-join into an uberplip if you failed to kill them all fast enough | Needs various new spawning features |
| Zombie | Already has gimmick of respawning if not killed by magic. Maybe needs more? | Needs a spawning feature to spawn-on-death in its own slot, so it could co-exist with other monsters in a formation. |
| Jumping Knight | Has Jump gimmick. Should be able to trip him when he lands. Not sure how it would work... | ? |
| Guardian | Make his shield more effective. Should be able to destroy his shield. Rust it with bubble, break it with a physical attack. | Done |
| Evil Knight/Helm | Killing the body first should cause the head to magically explode. Killing the head first should cause the body to get a massive speed boost, a big accuracy loss, and enough poison damage to self destruct shortly. | On-death counterattacks, and attacks that only target specific enemy IDs. |
| Archer | His arrows automatically pick up an elemental buff if you hit him with an elemental attack. Maybe make them capable of buffing one another in this way too (Fire arrow, Bolt Arrow, Bubble Arrow?) | Need battler state bitsets, enemy ai improvements. |
| Myrmidon (non-boss) | No ideas yet... Maybe a good candidate for Mercenaryness? | ??? |
| Mimic | Should be able to change temporarily change itself to look like you and mimic some of your attacks (not fully become a hero, just change into an enemy drawn to look like a hero) | Possible; I think Crystal Chasers did this already. |
| Horror | Currently a clone of Zombie. Should still have only-magic-kills rules, but should also grow bigger and more dangerous the longer you go without killing it | Needs spawn-on-death-to-own-slot |
| Imprawn | Should be floating (add shadow). Not targetable by certain attacks. Other attacks knock it to the ground and make it targetable. | Need battler state bitsets, and targeting rules that respect them. |
| Shrike | Higher evade, harder to hit with phys attacks. Magic attacks should change it into an easy-to-one-hit-kill form. (Burning shrike, drown shrike, shocked shrike, etc.) | Requires counterattacks. |
| Lefty | Grows new arms, attack goes up. When hit, loses arms | Requires counterattacks |
| Queen Shrike | Summons shrikes, reacts to the presence of burned, drown, shocked, etc shrikes with matching elemental attack spells, heals damaged shrikes | Need enemy AI improvements, attack-based spawning |
| Stone Goblin | No good ideas yet... Something that involves shattering it? | ??? |
| Troll Fraternity | Add more Troll types. (maybe for the whole alphabet?) Add a Shout menu (like Negotiate) that only appears in a Troll battle. Each different letter can be beat by shouting a specific slogan, so if you can learn which slogan goes to which troll you can instakill them all. | Needs tag-based learning, specific-target-based chaining. |
| Heavy Guard | Phys attacks should knock him back. He should be able to move forward, and can only attack when close, but attacks hard! | Need moveable battle slots, enemy ai improvements |
| Tetra Knight | Should be able to do the classic "three illusions, one real enemy trick" that appears in many other (non-OHR) RPG games | Need enemy AI improvements, spawning improvements |
| Arch Guardian | Already has attack-up-defense-down gimmick. Needs something cooler | ??? |
| Loyalist | No ideas yet... | ??? |
| Tickula | Already has gimmick of only attacking targets that have already attacked it. Should make this clearer. Targetless Tickula should do something cute and/or harmless. When hit, tickula should do something that exposes his current target set | Needs counterattacks |
| Mugboar | Currently can randomly attack enemies also (foil for Tickula). Maybe there should be a way to intentionally confuse Mugboar? | ??? |
| Red Plip | Water (or bubble) magic should turn it into a bog-plip (which would be flammable?) | Needs counterattacks |
| Hermit Toad | Add a few shell-types to formation. Hermit Toad should be able to switch shells, getting different attacks. Destroying empty shells would deny him that shell's mode. | Enemy AI improvements, battle slot swapping, attack-based changing. |
| Opossum Slayer | Beating him turns him into an NPC on the map, who says something and bounds away. Beating him maybe three times gives an extra reward, and removes him from the random circulation. (or something along those lines) | Already doable |
| Knilb Dog | Already has poison gimmick, needs more. | ??? |
| Netherwog | No ideas yet... | ??? |
| Rhinoctopus | Already has blinding ink gimmick, needs more. Maybe: Phys attacks enrage, cause it prepare a charge attack. Charge attack can be interrupted with another phys attack, but provokes and ink counterattack? | Counterattacks |
| Tiger Plip | No ideas yet... | ??? |
| Moggycellular | Should float like Imprawn. Maybe should be able to divide self? | Need battler state bitsets, and targetting rules that respect them. |
| Vampire Cell | Should use drain attacks more vigorously than it does now. If HP reaches max, should divide, each half getting 50% HP | Spawning improvements, AI improvements. |
| Wild Mersheep | On the map, collect items (valentines? phone numbers?) from female merewe. Use them in battle to make male mersheep loose interest in fighting. Only works once per phone number. Make several different kinds of male mersheep. Matching the right kind of mersheep with the right merewe could result in extra rewards for good matchmaking. | Attacks that can only target a certain enemy class, plus some scripting & tagging magic. |
| Eyeless Shark | Maybe a "chum" item that can be used to make it attack other enemies (same as the Lode Rat idea) Other ideas welcome... | Enemy AI improvements |
| Any other ideas? |
| Boss | Gimmick Idea | Feasibility |
|---|---|---|
| Broaste (1) | Currently calls two minions when alone. Should rant and rave. Should lower his guard when bragging about something-or-other | Enemy AI improvements |
| Myrmidon Mini-boss | No ideas yet... | ??? |
| Broaste (2) | Hasim is the gimmick of this battle. Broaste should talk crazy. Maybe something else? | ??? |
| Alpha-Omega Troll | Already has form changing. What else? | ??? |
| Broaste Ghost | Already requires the Teddy Bear to win. Is that enough? | ??? |
| Jormungandling | Already has Tied-up-Bob, doesn't need any more gimmicking. | Ok! |
| Snakespleen | Already has pulp spawning. Is that enough? | ??? |
| Strange Man | Already has mask loss, Probably doesn't need anything more. | Ok! |
| Snake Uvula | No ideas yet... |
| Special Enemy | Gimmick Idea | Feasibility |
|---|---|---|
| Plip Tamer & Tame Plips | Add more battles to teach about some of the other enemies gimmicks | |
| Fraidy-Plip | Currently instantly runs away. Shouldn't run away unless you make a move. There should be a special sequence of attacks that will not scare it away, and will instead purge it's fear and unlock a secret boss | Needs enemy AI features and/or counterattacks |
| Stress Cat | Should bounce around the room when you hit it | Needs counterattacks, attacks that can target empty slots, attacks that swap battle slots, maybe more? |
| Rausnarr | Possible criminal proceedings for beating him up and robbing his house? | Already doable |
| Meumei | Make her much harder, losing should not be a game-over event. Triggers a humiliation sequence? Win either by getting really strong, or by finding catnip somewhere to cheat with. | Already doable (catnip might need counterattacks) |
[edit] Plot Plans
Spoiler Alert! This article reveals secrets, and reading it might deprive you of the joy of discovering those secrets for yourself. If you like surprises, you may want to stop reading now!
- Introduction
- Introduce the conflict at Hasim's castle - Some of this artwork needs work.
- Introduce Bob
- Flanat Area - I am rather unhappy with this section. I think it could be a lot cooler. I wrote this part of the game back in the days of the 4-map version, so there are a ton of features (most notably plotscripting) that don't get used here
- Sidequest: practice battles - I think I might make the plip-tamer a mandatory part of the beginning, rather than a tiny side-quest. I am thinking that the series of tame plip tutorial battles (which I created to test tag/NPC/text-box interactions) could be replaced by a short venture into a small Plip Garden mini-dungeon
- Explore Flanat - Needs more people
- Introduce James
- Learn you have to Beat Broaste - This section is a bit tedious, and I want to replace it with something funnier and more fun than just trudging to the castle, fighting a battle, and trudging back
- Dungeon: Flanat Castle Main Hall - Storming the castle could probably do with some plotscripted fun
- Boss: Broaste
- Mission: Rescue Hasim
- Dungeon: Flanat Castle Tower
- Sidequest: Rescue Dusty
- Find Hasim
- Boss: Broaste (2)
- Reward: Access to Flanat Castle Basement
- Dungeon: Flanat Castle Tower
- Flanat Castle Basement
- Choice of reward
- Behind Flanat Castle
- Cactus Sighting #1
- Shortcut: Outhouse Warp-hole
- Mission: Cross Mountain
- Sidequest: Take Dusty Home
- Dungeon: Troll Mountain
- Cactus Sighting #2
- Boss: Omega Troll
- Sidequest: Early visit to Ixnekolan
- Dungeon: Broaste's Castle
- Learn of Broaste Ghost Curse
- Find Disguise (Myrmidon Suit)
- Find Teddy Bear
- Boss: Broaste Ghost
- James Takes Castle
- Mission: Help Skeppio and Rathmara
- Dungeon: Gallopeg Forest
- Boss: Jormungandling (Unbeatable)
- Sidequest: Beat Jormungandling This is very difficult but possible, but nothing special happens yet happens
- Bob gets swallowed
- Boss: Jormungandling (Unbeatable)
- Dungeon: Gallopeg Forest
- Dungeon: Jormungand's Belly
- Miniboss: Snake Spleen - (Finished)
- Minigame: Serpent Greens Putting Range (Mini-golf) - (Finished)
- Find Gisli the Viking
- Boss: Uvula
- Escape the Snake - CURRENT VERSION ENDS HERE
- Dungeon: Kelp Reef - I am really looking forward to this one. Bob and Gisli will have an oxygen limit. They must swim from mer-sheep to mer-sheep to replenish their air. Running out will not make you die, but it will set send you back and make you try again.
- Mer-Sheep Village - A small village to refuel and resupply and enjoy some mer-sheep related humor
- Mission: Steal the Pirate Ship
- Freedom of Movement - I'm not sure exactly how much freedom of movement I will give the player here, but I do want some new content to appear in old locations here.
- Something new in Flanat
- Something new at the Plip Tamer's - or maybe in the Plip Gardens?
- Something if you visit Lord Hasim
- Something new if you visit Dusty
- Signs of James's Madness - James is starting to act very strangely. Nothing bad yet... just strange
- Another Cactus Sighting
- Something new in Ixnekolan - I don't think I want Bob confronting Skeppio and Rathmara just yet, but getting to talk smack about them to all the other cats in Ixnekolan seems like fun
- Havoc
- New Continent - A new easy-to-find continent with an easy-to-find town
- Unamed Town
- Introduce Havoc - Havoc is loosely based on my Real-Life friend Matt Boggs. He has been patiently waiting to be in the game for nearly eight years. I think I will be re-drawing his sprites to turn him into an anthropomorphic bear. (still with the mask and gun, of course)
- Paintball Minigame? - The prospect of plotscripting this makes me feel depressed and demotivated, so I probably won't do it. I want Havoc to take Bob paintballing, but I'll probably end up doing it with the regular battle system, in which Bob uses special masked graphics and equips a gun weapon.
- Unable to Leave - Ship gets sabotaged? Gisli gets drunk? I dunno yet.
- Ask James For Help - Bob will send messages to James (maybe using a fantasy version of the internet powered by CPIP) asking for help. James's response will be distinctly unhelpful.
- Mission: Raise money to fix the ship - Or to post bail for Gisli?
- Culinary Duel to the Death
- Introduce Lord Pxargo, and his culinary Challenge - Lord Pxargo, AKA Chef Pxargo is the pompous ruler of the local castle, and the self-proclaimed Greatest Chef Alive. Beating him will provide enough prize money to fix the ship, losing will result in shame or possibly death (Trivia: Lord Pxargo appears in Spitwars as Sir Chef)
- Bob Fails - Bob can't cook, and makes an embarrasing mess, and barely escapes with his life
- Havoc Offers - Havoc reveals that he has a secret love of cooking, and offers to try to beat chef Pxargo
- Mission: Collect Ingredients - A monster-hunting quest. Havoc needs the very best ingredients to beat Pxargo. I'm not sure how many ingredients there will be, but for each ingredient, there will be at least:
- Inadequate - Havoc will not accept it, and send you back
- Good - Need at least this to proceed
- Extrordinary - Will be difficult to get or require extra effort
- The Culinary Battle - If you only collected "Good" ingredients, you will end up having to sabotage Pxargo, and fight your way out with the prize money. If you collect at least one extraordinary ingredient, the cook-off will go differently, and you will win. Multiple extrodinary ingredients will give you extra rewards (up to and including new battle skills for Havoc)
- Sidequest: Confront the Cats - I think at this point, I think I will let you meet Skeppio and Rathmara again, and either beat them up, or forgive them, with differing results.
- The Madness of Lord James
- James is attacking Castle Flanat! - History is repeating itself, and Lord Hasim's kingdom is once again under attack
- Unsuccessful defense of Castle Flanat
- Boss: ???? - Some kind of wooden robot war machine maybe? I dunno.
- Flanat Village Enslaved - And your characters too
- Escape from the Mines
- Dungeon: Waffle Mines - James puts the citizens of Flanat (and you) to work in mines under Flanat Castle. Really strange mines. Why are there fresh buttered waffles burried in the ground? (I'm making this up as I go. I think I might be hungry)
- Help From a Friend - If you helped Dusty before, and took him home, he wll help you out now
- Mission: Get the Hot Air Balloon - Hasim sends you to the 45° City to ask for help. To get there, you need an airship.
- Some Kind of dungeon maybe?
- Vehicle: Hot Air Balloon
- More Freedom of Movement
- Trouble in Jamesland - And more clues as to the origin of his madness
- More Cactus Sightings - Hint Hint Hint
- Trouble in Ixnekolan
- Trouble in Havocs Not-yet-named Town
- Trouble in Mer-Sheep Town
- Maybe some side quests
- Trouble in Jamesland - And more clues as to the origin of his madness
- Dungeon: 45° City - A floating City in the clouds, so named because its floating mechanism never has worked quite right. It is tilted over on its side. I might use some walking-plotscript magic to make your movement slanted, if it isn't too much of a pain to do so.
- Some Kind of Boss
- Introduce King ??? - That's not his name, I just haven't picked out a name I really like yet. He is a disembodied head in a jar with robotic arms and legs (treads?)
- Showdown with Lord James
- Boss: Lord James' - With frighteningly enhanced bubble-mage powers
- Evil Potted Cactus Revealed - The King knows how to break curses and exorcise posessions, and he reveals the Cactus Demon who was manipulating James (and Broaste before him) to aquire the terrible and awesome power (the butter in the waffles) hidden beneath Castle Flanat, for the purpose of aiding its grand evil cactusey scheme to poke every living thing on earth
- Final Chapter
- Access to all available playable characters
- Chance to go back and finish side-quests
- Dungeon: Double Nightmare Terra-Cotta Cactus Hell - Or something like that...
- Boss: Evil Potted Cactus
- Final Boss: First Decorative Desert Plant of The Apocalypse - Obligatory One-Winged-Angel-esque mega-transformation
- Ending
