Coding Task List - Before IB2 Initial Release

[youngneil1]

It is fun to to reveal all the stats of pc and creatures. This is also great for a better understanding of what's going on and what's (not) working from a debugger's perspective. Especially info on effects will be helpful in campaigns that make heavy use of them. Eventually,I will add the info functionality to triggers and interactive props on the battlefield, too (this makes tying those in much more user friendly).

A long term plan is to restrict info on creature shown to a trait value in the party (or a global int). DC required would depend on the creature and the specific stats to reveal. So, discovering a creature's weaknesses might become part of the gameplay.

Another logn term plan is to tie the existence of certain triggers and props on the battlefield to another trait (think of a ranger scouting/choosing the portential battelfield location prior to the encounter, revealing eg healing/buffing squares or removing harmful squares).

In both cases, the approach is to connect main map traits with adavnatges on the battelfield, adding functionality to classes that are weaker in one-on-one swordplay/casting but bring out of the box advantages to the whole party.

A way for mobile devices might be that a long press on a creature/pc might show the info box on a creature's/pc's stats (on top of blended out log). Another long press on the same pc/creature (while infobox on stas is shown) might switch to info on effects (and back again with another long tap, back and forth). All short presses and button clicks might hide the infobox (stats/effects) and show the normal log again. Just one way to do it - once you start toying with it more (and likely better) options wil open up for sure .

[Dorateen]

Hi youngneil1,

Just a head's up. I downloaded version 182 and tried to use an item that cast a summoning spell. It worked in version 176, but not in 182. It does use the charge without any spell point, and the character does end his turn. In the combat log, it does indicate the spell fired, (PC creates Summon Ally) but no bear shows up. It seems like there was an issue with the effect firing. I will do some more testing, as I have other items that cast spells.

edit: It worked for a wand of fire, and cast fireball without any problem.

So my next question is, could it be a problem with a custom spell, since I added the summon ally spell later in the toolset?

OK, I did some backtracking, and downloaded version 180. Please see the attached image. It shows that a character was able to call for an ally (this is from using an item) and the bear is created on the combat map and added to the initiative bar at top of the screen.

However, this no longer works in version 181. One of the changes mentioned is: "- fixed bug that prevented summoned allies from opening inventory in combat via hotkey I"

Could there be something that caused a problem with summoning allies in combat? This had to be introduced somewhere in 181. Hope that helps!

[slowdive]

Tying the unveiling of enemy stats and combat triggers to traits or other PC items sounds like a great way to add more depth to combat.

I have been play testing IBx with Hearkenwold 176 mostly. One thing that would be nice, if it is possible, would be to add a user toggle for turning on/off the scrolling system. That may be what is causing the slow FPS. It could be considered a "graphic's setting" for those with slow CPU/GPUs. I tried to decipher the code for the scrolling, but I'm a bit lost as it is very complicated and detailed system.

[youngneil1]

@Dorateen: Thank you very much for the detailed heads up and research on the nature of the summoning bug. I will look into it after I have my head cleared from the current riddle of combat scrolling I am stuck in.

@Jer: Sorry for the code mess with the main map scrolling sytem (well, and many other systems, too ). I will look into making it optional (toggle) - I fear though that this will be very tricky work as it is rooted deeply into many places. Maybe I can hack it a bit with a very fast one-swipe-whole-square scroll - remains to been seen if this will fix the performance issue though. Do you experience the bad performance on regular laptos/notebooks/desktops, too (or only on phones/tablets)? Edit: And in case it happens on regular laptops/notebooks/desktops (Windows systems in this case), does normal IB show the same slow performance on these systems, too?