I have no desire to use IRC ever. Sorry. It shouldn't be that much trouble to collaborate the details through email, though. (or even through this thread, actually)


That aside, something I always have trouble with is setting up a status screen. Here's a concept of what I have so far, but the text isn't actually aligned according to how the game would normally handle graphics tiles. I believe everything has to align to a 4x4 grid, but I moved some text over a couple of pixels in this case.

I want to have one ubiquitous status screen that outlines all relevant details, maybe including elemental and status resistance properties. I suppose those aren't absolutely necessary though.

EDIT: Actually, I messed around with the status menu some more, and I like the results so far. I've also worked out some ideas for other sub-menu screens, such as the equipment screen.

Assuming we're basically porting the original game concept to B&W with the three-person party system and all, I'm thinking battles would look something like this. When a battle is initiated, you would see an overview of your party's status, and the pointer would allow you to select which character will input their command first.

Once a character is selected, the command menu would be superimposed on the screen. If you select commands like Magic or Item, an inventory would open. You'll notice a pointer at the bottom of the inventory - scrolling all the way down would jump to the next page of the inventory. When you've selected a command, spell or item to use, selection brackets would be superimposed on top of enemy sprites so you can select your target. Different spells have different targeting parameters. Those that target all enemies will superimpose individual brackets over all enemy sprites at the same time.

When all three party members have registered their commands, everyone then assumes their turn in an order specified by all participants' agility values. The bottom window that was previously used to display commands and status will read out a series of verbose actions, such as, "Maya attacks Gremlin A..." followed by a brief animation appearing in the enemy sprite section, if there's an animation associated with the action. Either way, when enemies take actions or take damage, their sprites flicker briefly.

That about sums up the gist of the battle menus. How does that sound?

This is just a font I put together for an Ultima-inspired idea I had. I'm no longer working on that project, so I figured I may as well put the font out there in case anyone could make use of it. Feel free to use it in any of your projects, modify it, etc.

I've attached a few example screens illustrating the font in effect.

Err, I'm not dead. (sorry, I don't remember my original login details) I just haven't been active in these communities in a while. As far as I know, Iambian still has my email address. I used to correspond regularly with him via IRC, but I haven't used it in a while.

Iambian is welcome to pick up where I left off on the project, but of course, he's just as welcome to get in touch with me if he needs my input. I dropped him a line recently, just in case he may have forgotten my email.