Graphics Progress

Just giving an update on current progress, I've been working on some new graphics for the game. Added a screenshot showing it all implemented including new path and fence graphics which finally makes use of the 'Fences' tab in the editor.

I'm going to continue designing up new graphics for the rest of the week until I'm satisfied that I have all I need for the starting town before progressing on to implementing more engine features which would be: Player stats, enemies and combat. at which point I'll have to improve/implement a more advanced AI to include moving sprites that will also agro on the player when they get too close.

here is the screenshot:

Sprites and the Content Pipeline

Been awhile since I've last posted. I've been spending the couple of days getting my head around how to work with the content pipeline in regards to saving and loading of npcs and other sprites using XML documents. Its been very complicated work and a nightmare debugging but I'm proud to announce that I've implemented the ability to save and load npcs and other sprites using the content pipeline successfully which brings me to my next announcement:

Houses! I've designed some Ultima7 perspective style wall and roof graphics and added support to create houses through the editor. I didnt make up a new video demonstration this time as creating a house is quite a time consuming process at the moment but I've added a new screenshot that shows a simple, already created house.

For now I'm going to work on speeding up the creation of houses as right now it does take a long time, they use pixel perfect positioning instead of clipping to the tile grid as the walls are a different shape to the tiles. But perhaps I'll work on making it so the walls clamp together when nearby each other to get positioning correct instead of carefully placing each wall exactly right.

And thanks for those who helped out with the sprite flickering issue, its now also been resolved.

NPC Editor functions implemented

another step towards completing the editor, the ability to add NPCs to the game through the editor is implemented. I've created another video demonstrating the new NPC component and actually adding them to the tilemap. check it out under development videos on the right.

It starts by displaying the NPC component of the editor when you click the npc add mode button where before it will let you add npcs to the tilemap you must make sure to enter all required details such as the npc name and what script file it will be using as well as the graphic to intially use. It then allows adding npcs to the tilemap by placing the middle of the sprite graphic in the precise position of the mouse cursor.

Features to be added soon:

* Buildings, trees and other objects
* Player stats
* Combat and utilizing the quick slots (actionBar) with a basic attack ability.

with that done I believe I'll take a break from the programming side of things to get some more tiles and graphics sorted out.

Editor Updates

Just giving an update on progress so far. I've implemented the following editor functions:

Create New Map
Add New Layer
Save Map
Open Map

Getting these going was more trouble than expected, I had to make custom components for each screen instead of using the pre-made winforms dialogs, but after its all over with I am quite pleased with the results. all four function correctly and continue the graphical style of the editor.

I've added some screenshots that show the new components on screen.


Next feature on my agenda is adding support for creating NPCs in the editor, I'll be implementing a new editor component that allows input for the NPC's name, script file, if they are quest holders or vendors, gender and which graphic to use.

I'll post again once the component is ingame.

What is Destined Rings

Destined Rings is a real time RPG being created with inspiration from the classic game Ultima 7, still believed by many to be one of the best PC rpgs of all time.

It is a story about prophecies and how they are not always what you believe them to be. Set in a fantasy background Destined Rings follows the turning point of a young woman's life when she finds herself the victim of a dark prohecy where she is believed to be the cause of the imminent destruction of all life. Sending her on a fast paced journey of survival, discovery of an ancient past and the destined fullfillment of a prophecy the world is determined to prevent.

Destined Rings combines all your favourite fantasy races such as Elves and Dwarfs yet adds a few of its own, including a race designed in the popular anime style of half human, half cat, the Skaerijj Empire will play a major role in the development of the story.


Stay tuned for more posts to come, I'll be releasing more background information about the game over time.

Blog underway

Hello all, finally got around to creating this blog. I'm planning to use it to create a journal of the development progress of Destined Rings, my computer Roleplaying Game (RPG) that I am developing.

The game is still in a very early development stage, I've added a video demonstrating what has been implemented so far. Basically I've added the beginnings of an overlay (HUD) for both the game and editor and am working on implementing the editor menu options with New Map and New Layer dialogs completed already.

I've got help from an artist to create custom high-quality sprites to replace the temporary ones that I currently use as a placeholder to get things underway.

Anyway, I'll post more about the actual game concepts soon.