Comments and Lastest Build Updates

[Bob stew]

Hello, I'm Bob stew, a (big) fan of the Cf series and Issasoft in general.
Before anyone gets confused, I'm not Bob.

Issa, I just downloaded build 33. I haven't the time now, but I'll give feedback on it tomorrow night. Sounds like it's a big improvement from your last build.
As with build 22, I liked the map. The cf2k2 area system was kind of boring. : P
Customizing boosts the replay value, of course, and being able to breed and buy chickens is a nice feature.
Nice work! I can't wait until it's finished.
Being able to look at the pictures at the wall was funny, too, and when the bookcase hints are in place, the pokèmon clone will be complete.
Oh, and one more thing. Using builds is a great idea. Please do that in the future too, so we can follow your progress. You'll get more opinions and comments that way too.
Thank you for what you're doing. I still play 2k2 and 2k for a couple of days in a row.

[Bob stew]

Well, i've tried out build 33 now. I'm on level 14 with one of my chickens.

I don't know if you want me to list any "bugs", which I can't really call it, since the game is not supposed to function properly yet, but the easiest problems to fix should be making the chicken die when you slaughter it, and set the "next level" experience limit one level up when breeding.

The problem with breeding is that if you use for instance two chickens on level 4 and 5, the level of the new one will be either 4 or 5, never below.
Let's say it got level 5. Then it will have 60 in XP, but it will also have 60 XP until next level. So you only need to battle with it once, slaughter it 10-20 times to get breed money and repeat.
Sorry if you knew this, but it doesn't hurt to mention it.
Just tell me if you don't want me to comment the "bugs" yet, but I thought that, since you do this in your spare time, you can't afford too much time looking for these things.
I have more suggestions, if you want to hear them.

Will you give us any clue of what will be included in the next build?
Another tournament would be great, the first one gets a bit easy after a while.

Btw, you only get $3 from winning the first tournament when it says you should get $10.

[Bob]

Ya i agree alot of stuff that Bob stew said, maybe by giving some ideas on what is comign up int he new build could raise the hype a bit.Anywayz great build i notice alot, and only played for maybe 20 min. Im gonna play it again 2nite and probaly have more feed back..BTW Bob stew nice name.ALso Issa keep up the good work

[Issa]

Go ahead and spill out all the suggestions and bugs you have. But remember its still in production. Give me all the bugs you can find, it will help me fix them faster instead of finding them myself.

I will look at the bugs you have mentioned so far and fix those.

Can you explain the breeding bug a little, I dont quite get it.

I havent worked on CF since build 33, but this is what I am planning for the next build:

-I hope to get another town done by the next build
-Hope to get some more multiplayer code done (just the basic connection)
-Get the intro done
-Add more things you can "talk" too, objects

And if you really interested, this is my TODO list (just some comments I have in the code somewhere so I know what to work on):

'need to add opponents to battle
'need to make "special" opponents
'work on areas
'need to work on map
'work on special attacks in battle
'need to add intro
'work on opponent attacks (Defend, item, special) in battle
'add medals
'add hints
'Need to add more random miss sounds
'make subroutine for chicken type stats
'make subroutine for playing battle music
'Finish stats for buying chickens (defaults) on everything
'add abilities to use on map via chickenstatus screen
'add tournament opponent chicken stats when starting battle based on chicken too
'need to fix icons for forms
'need to make inns not dependent on walking but on the tile used
'Need to encrypt save/load
'Add save editor (maybe?)
'Fix blood/battle counters

[Issa]

I worked on it today, heres what has been done for Build 34 so far:

-Fixed a bug where it said your chicken gained a level when you cancel on the tournament screen
-Arctic chicken can now use its special ability on the map and make snowmen on ice tiles!
-Changed the code so now you can "talk" to objects from any direction instead of facing them
-You can interact with more objects
-Fixed bug when starting a new game, an arctic chicken special ability variable was not set making the game think it had no map abilities
-Added desert tournament

[Issa]

More on build 34:

-You can now learn level 2 and level 3 skills when you level up, they are based on a percentage. For example, for each rank you are, you have a 5% chance of learning a level 2 skill, and 2% chance of learning a level 3 skill. The higher your level, the better chance you can learn a new skill at level up. You cant learn a level 3 skill until you learn a level 2 one though, but you could learn them both at the same time.

[Bob stew]

[quote]Can you explain the breeding bug a little, I dont quite get it.
[/quote]

No wonder you didn't understand it, it was a bit clumsy formulated.
Let's say that I breed two chickens called Roy and Bobo. Roy is on level 6, and Bobo on level 7. I breed them and get Johny.
In this case, Johny can never have a level lower than 6. Let's say Johny's on lvl 7.
Further, his experience is at 80, as it should be, just as if Johny just gained level 7, but his "next" is also at 80, although it should be 100.
So after one battle, he will exceed the "next level" limit, and he will have 82 on experience and 125 on "next". Then you breed Johny (lvl 8 ) and Bobo (lvl 7) (yes, I know that sounds kinda unnatural) and get Maurice (lvl 7 - 8 ). Maurice will also have his "next" one level lower than it should be, so after one battle, he increases his level by one.
Repeat.

If this didn't make sense, (remember I'm not american) just try to breed a chicken and then battle with it once, or simply look at his stats.

I discovered a couple of chests located at the same tile as a mirror and two urns at the second floor of the inn, giving the effect of chests that look like ordinary tiles. Not a big issue though.

Will we be able to use skills in battle in the next build?
Don't rush it, though. The number of towns and tournaments are more important to me. Great thing you added the desert tournament.

I'll have to compliment you for the forums, too.
Most people would be too lazy to create a forum for each of their games.
Much tidier this way.

[Issa]

K, I will fix the breeding issue, I think I know what it is. I probably just did something like getNext(CHICKENRANK) when I should have put getNext(CHICKENRANK + 1).

As far as the pots and stuff, yes, you should be able to find hidden treasures in objects.

I dont know if I will have skills or not, maybe, depends on how hard it is to program and what I feel like doing.

[Bob stew]

I meant chicken skills/spells.
You can't actually use them in battle in build 33, unless I've missed something. I have tried.

The zoo cellar walls are not solid, by the way.

As for the hidden treasures, I should have suspected as much. Pretty used to finding treasure exclusively in chests from your earlier games, though, so I didn't get it at once. :p

[Issa]

Yea, thats what I mean, having skills added to battle.

[Issa]

More on build 34:

-Fixed issue in Breeding and Buying chickens where ExperienceNext was equal to Experience
-Fixed issue where buying a chicken added the wrong chicken to your inventory
-Save files are now encrypted (meaning you will need to start a new game in this build, it wont load)
-Added stats based on chicken, ie, each chicken gets its own stats when it levels up and they can max in each stat differently. See help file for exact details. Of course, final values are subject to change as I balance the chickens.
-Added river town next to desert
-Made some changes to map creator
-Worked on help file
-Slaughtering works properly, deletes the chicken and sorts (phew that was hard work!)

[Issa]

Well I started the multiplayer code, its VERY difficult. The concept is simple but getting it to work looks hard. Need to create a couple threads for the connection, then write a ping function, etc. I am hoping to at least get the server/client connection code done by the next build, and have the ability to chat. Its very flexible though which is nice.

I also added a new town in the desert!

[Issa]

More on build 35:

-Opponents now defend with an 8% chance
-Select Area screen now works, you can travel between desert and crossroads right now
-Added prozac graphic, items graphics now show in battle
-Opponent now uses items
-Underground tile wall is now NOT walkable
-Shrunk the viewable map by 1x1 square. I've done this to increase the speed since now there about 20 less tiles to draw on screen making the map faster for low end machines. I found the slowness of the map to be VERY annoying and the only option as to decrease the viewable area. But hopefully this will be a benefit rather than a problem.
-Pressing F3 opens Select Area screen, pressing F1 opens Help File
-Defending bonuses are now accounted and subtracted for when calculating damage

-Worked on opponent logic in battles (In this order, basically this is how the opponent "acts" in battle, whether it will attack, defend, use an item, etc) Obviously its all subject to change but this is what I decided so far.

1) If chicken health is at 33% and the item limit is not reached then use a seed to heal
2) If chicken mp is at 25% and the item limit is not reached then use a berry to heal
3) If behavior is at 25% and the item limit is not reached then use a prozac to heal
4) 8% chance to defend
5) 20% chance to use a random level special ability
6) Catch all - Just attack

[me]

hey issa! remember me?

anyway, I haven't gotten the latest build, but I have a suggestion. If you haven't already, put secrets. As in, secret items, places, and secret battle areas. That would be cool.

[me]

I got the build, and its great so far!

Oh, you misspelled "accept" in the help file. [i] I only [b]except[/b] email...[/i]

[Issa]

The Robotic Chicken is a side quest that you can complete. As far as other secrets I will have a few, not sure what they will be though.

[me]

how about an equipable that you can get only if you have all of the current best? Or a secret stash of potions? Maybe even a secret town only reachable with a robotic chicken with superjets?

Just off the top of my head...

[me]

Or a chicken that you get while breeding 2 rainbow chickens gives the offspring special moves/stats! And the rainbow chickens would live in the sky and you have to plant a special seed that grows a beanstalk up to the sky!

>.>;;;
Stop looking at me!!

[Issa]

I just tried to reproduce that slaughterhouse bug, I cant figure it out. I didnt get any duplicate chickens. Maybe you are misunderstanding how it works? When you slaughter a chicken, the game will sort the chickens, to fill in any gaps. But I didnt see any missing ones. Can you give me some steps to reproduce it or send me a saved game and tell me what to do?

[me]

GGGRRRRRRRRR!!!!

Sorry for the confusion. Ok, this is what I have to say:

My diagram post shows what happens when I play. Then, you said what
happens when you play. What happens to you and I are different. The
post I made after yours which I scratched is incorrect, I misread your post.

[me]

Ok

1)start a new game
2)fill all chicken slots (not sure if this matters, but it's how I did it)
3)go to zoo and slaughter, oh say the middle chicken in the 3rd row.
4)if bug is recreated, then the chicken in the last slot in the 3rd row should
now be in the slot of the slaughtered chicken as well as its starting slot.

Who knows, it might be my game?

[Issa]

I was able to reproduce the bug after trying and trying. Its pretty complicated but I will have a fix by today.

[me]

Glad I could help!

[me]

Going good!

Here's an easy one to fix:In the desert town at the inn, there is a staircase. It leads to a dark room where you can't go anwhere.

[me]

Hey! What's goin on?

I thought I'd drop by to say hi, but that was about 5 minutes ago.*tear* Then I saw the homepage, and I thought "WOW! That's awesome!"

It brings the memories back!

Well, I'm hoping to see CF2K5 turn to a great game. I haven't been here, I've been doing things. Just lettin you know I haven't died or anything like that. I might not be here as frequently as before, but if I have anything to say, I'll be here!

[Issa]

Build 36:

-Changed all sound code to use direct X, which should prevent some lag
-Sky Chicken can now use Jump ability in battle-Dark Chicken can now use hide ability in battle
-Started to work on skill code for battles
-Added FBall skill attack in battle, animation is done as well as sound
-Fixed slaughterhouse bug where chickens would duplicate and not be removed correctly (It "should" be working but I have not extensively tested it)
-Fixed bug where the code would not catch a No or Cancel response when slaughtering a chicken
Fixed walk offset bug where it was showing the wrong chicken type walking around in battle
-Chicken now has a name in Arcade Mode
-To be consistent, I have removed all button labels and changed them to regular text labels, this has also dropped down the filesize and also the draw time of windows, I prefer text labels anyway since they are easy to work with
-Inn, Items, Weapon Shop, Tournament, Zoo are now all the same people. Wrote code so that its now not dependent on the tile and now the location on the map where you are.
-Temporarily disabled "Training Mode". It is all messed up right now and I plan to make it better than what it is anyway. Like a real tutorial on how to play.

I have been struck by a sudden Chicken Fighters programming mood, we will see how long this lasts!

[me]

I got the build, and its great so far!

Oh, you misspelled "accept" in the help file. I only except email...

It was late when I saw that!

Anyway, do you have a guess of when you'll be done? From what I see, it may take about another year. But that's if you don't get progrmming fever. But thats a good thing. You should see Warioware Touched for the DS. They released it too darn early and it was good for a month.

[Issa]

I will get a build out by this week or next, it will probably be build 37, not much in it though. I have just been not interested in programming, thats all. I'm glad you guys understand, it sucks, but you know, its better when the game is complete based on my standards and not based on a date. This happened with CF2002, I rushed that game out and version 1.00 had so many bugs and things I just left out. But I went back and fixed it up. I may just change the game name to ChickenFighters.NET and then I can release it anytime.

[Issa]

Build 37:

-Revamped Training Mode: It is not an interactive screen that is accessible anywhere from the game. It will show up when you first start a New Game for people to learn how to play. You will be able to click on the tab for the tutorial you want then view it. On each page I have tried to keep it simple and to the point, adding little extra hints/notes here and there that players should know about. It is a simplified help file basically with all the details removed.
-Removed the Help File screen: The Tutorial will take place of it.
-Started adding pictures for opponents in battle
Changed the hero face code so its less of a hassle and easier
-Changed splash screen and added start up sound
-Added River Tournament
-Bug Fix: Reset Battle command menus back to its starting position to fix several issues where it would appear you are clicking on an option but in memory its not reset so you select something else. Fixed Autobattle when using an Item/Skill

[Issa]

Build 38:

-Buy Equipment Screen is all done
-Bug Fix: When opponent uses a seed or berry it now adds mp/hp correctly.
-Bug Fix: Fixed bug where the opponent will always miss
-Worked on Chicken Catching. Working on code to base it on area you are in, chance of agression based on the type of chicken and chance of finding chickens based on area. Worked on the screen to be more friendly
-Completed the Intro Scene
-Fixed Bug: When capturing chickens the skills are now set properly
-Capturing Chickens: Notice appears now on the map when you capture or if you died
-Fixed Bug: When you die capturing a chicken, you now wont get it. Oops!
-Fixed Bug: You cant choose a dead chicken to attack with in capturing
-Completed Chicken Catching Screen. (Not necessarily chicken catching based on areas, thats not done, just the user interface and catching a chicken, battle)
-Fixed a lot of bugs related to Chicken Catching such as if you didnt have any chickens with you the game would crash, and bugs that allowed the chicken to use items in battle. Chicken types were also wrong.

[Issa]

Build 39:

-Added weapon and defense modifiers to Chicken Status Screen
-Bug Fix: Opponent Armor now calculated and displayed correctly
-Battle: Added Helmet armor modifiers code. This will defend against natural attacks (spells basically)
-Battle: Nature ability now coded and gives +1 natural defense
-Bug Fix: Fixed an issue when the treasurechest code executed, if you were at the end of the map it would crash and give you an out of bounds array error
-Bug Fix: You now cannot enter a dead chicken in the tournament
-Battle: Opponent now limited to amount of seeds/berries/prozacs it can use.
-Battle: The # of items you have now shows up in () when choosing Item command.

[Eco Master]

Hmm... Dont know what was up with the equipment area, its just fine!

Anyways, There are 2 empty rooms. One in the desert area (equipment area upstairs I think) and the river town (last boat). Just listing for convienience!

Oh, the chicken capture screen doesn't tell if a chicken will be agressive or nt, it will always say its not agressive.

I've yet to test the tournaments. *goes to do that*

[Issa]

Chicken catching issue has been fixed in the latest build. I also fixed the river. Didnt find that desert building, can you give me the exact coordinates? Open up the map and give me the X/Y so I can check it out. A lot of issues were fixed in the tournament as well so I'm sure you will find a lot of bugs that are probably fixed. But let me know in any case.

[Issa]

K found the desert building. I will add something right now.

[Eco Master]

Mmkay, the opponents aren't attacking.

They suck. Lol.

When they use seeds, nothing happens.

When you choose to buy the 2nd helmet, it says you're buyimg leather claws.

Uh, lvl 10 for 2nd claws? Im scared Unless those are the only equipment in the game, then its just fine.

[Issa]

K, check out my notes before you post bugs. Opponents not attacking has been fixed. When they use seeds, that issue has been fixed. Equipment screen has been completed, it will tell you what you are buying instead of always saying leather claws.

You can get to level 50 so level 10 for second claws should be ok unless you want to suggest a different method then let me know.

[Eco Master]

I was thinking that the longer into the game you get, you can buy better equipment. unless the Mystic claws do like 20-30 damage or something that makes better claws too good.

Oh and is that a arctic and flowery town I see in the making?

[Issa]

The best claws in the game do 8-15 damage. How many weapons do we need in the game? I could, after version 1.00 of course, add more weapons in a patch. Equipment that give extra stats or do special attacks. But not at this time, it will be a patch. These are extras that will be added.

[Eco Master]

[quote="Issa]
And if you really interested, this is my TODO list

'need to add opponents to battle
'need to make "special" opponents
'work on areas
'need to work on map
'work on special attacks in battle
'need to add intro
'work on opponent attacks (Defend, item, special) in battle
'add medals
'add hints
'Need to add more random miss sounds
'make subroutine for chicken type stats
'make subroutine for playing battle music
'Finish stats for buying chickens (defaults) on everything
'add abilities to use on map via chickenstatus screen
'add tournament opponent chicken stats when starting battle based on chicken too
'need to fix icons for forms
'need to make inns not dependent on walking but on the tile used
'Need to encrypt save/load
'Add save editor (maybe?)
'Fix blood/battle counters[/quote]

Yes. Now.

Or wait until you get all the chicken's coding correct.[/b]

[Eco Master]

Hmm, okay then, how much hp will the final opponent have ? (estimate?)

Oh, and how high does the attack stat go, cause that'll make you do extra damage. Then I'll see if that's good.

[Issa]

Press F11 on the map. Thats basically my "save editor". To make an actual save editor is kinda a waste of time.

[Issa]

If you look in the help file you can see what the max stats are per chicken. Basically around 120-150 is the average max stats.

I have no idea how much HP the end guy will have, way to far to even think about that.

[Eco Master]

Okay, that'll be good.

When's the next build gonna be released?

[Issa]

I just emailed you the current sub build with all the changes I have mentioned.

[Eco Master]

Was I supposed to keep my previous build?

Every time I load the new file, It comes up with an error about the splash screen, and I can't get in the game.

[Issa]

These are sub builds. To use them, copy these files into where you previously installed the game. It just overwrites the map file and exe file.

1) Install Build 37
2) Copy over the exe and map.data file to get to the latest build

[Issa]

Build 39:

-New code was added for Arcade Mode, Chicken Catching, and Tournament Mode to base the stats of chickens based on their type and rank. Then in addition modifiers depending on the type of tournament. So basically, a level 5 ranking sky opponent will have stats based on a level 5 sky chicken, plus some extra stats depending on the difficulty of the tournament. This should balance the hero and their chickens and make the battles random (no one chicken should be able to beat one battle).
-Fixed a couple issues in Arcade mode

ToDo: Add code to tournaments so that the player is aware of what chicken the opponent is entering, just their type and rank. This will allow you to make a decision on which chicken to enter.

[Eco Master]

Sorry I'm late, REAL late, but the game looks fine! Though one strange thing happened...

I caught a calm lvl 44 arctic chicken. Its awesome.

The weapons will be just fine, considering the 4th items I got (debug'd :p) murdered other chickens.

So yeah, it seems all you need to do is make the rest of the tournaments and other stuff and you're set!

Oh, and some minor things:
1) Down near the patch o' flowers, there is an odd tile in the river.
2)There's a cave you can't go into at 48/298. Dunno if it's supposed to be there.

Lol, the snowmen in the north arctic area.

[Issa]

Build 50:

Yes, build 50! I went through the entire code and cleaned it up a bit and its farther along than I thought so I am making build 50! Which means the game is halfway done!

All that really needs to be done is adding the tournaments, finishing the map, and adding special abilities in the game.

I am not going to list what has been updated but it is a lot of little things not worth mentioning. This build is pretty stable, a lot of the bugs have been worked out.

Therefore I am going to let this build stay out for a while until another is released, probably up to build 60 or something.

So when I post it next week, test the crap out of it and find bugs for me! The hard programming is over, now its just busy work and finishing up things.

[Eco Master]

YESSSSS!

Now the long part is over! You can count on me to test as much as needed!

*does the Issa Dance*

WOOHOO!!