Frayed Knights: Ripping The Guts Out

This month, the adventurers Chloe, Arianna, Dirk, and Benjamin spend the whole time trying to get through the first five minutes of the comedy RPG, Frayed Knights.

Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em Skeletons
Much of this month was spent on combat.

When I got to spells, I ran into some problems. Mainly, I came to realize the spell system was too complicated for this kind of game (which is more about old-school sensibilities and making with the funny). So I decided to simplify. That snowballed, as I realized that the spell system was the justification for the skill system. So I axed that to. In the end, I had to rip out the guts of it of the core game mechanics, and made it more of a class-and-level based system rather than skill-based. Since the player is controlling a party of (usually) four characters, it seemed like the better way to go. Too much micromanagement spoils the fun, but the new, improved system should still allow plenty of customization.



Anyway, after all that, the game now has one playable turn-based combat encounter, with four pus golems that look like DrewFX's skeletons, melee combat with default weaponry and armor, stopping to catch your breath, and rudimentary spellcasting with no special effects (other than monster animations). Wow, almost ready to ship!

Not.

I also managed to squeeze in the new, improved movement system. I revised the dungeon, re-prototyping it all using Torque Constructor (that's a whole adventure in and of itself), capping the second room with a hastily-constructed fountain with a solid white texture that unfortunately resembles nothing so much as a half-buried, giant toilet with the seat cover flipped up.

Hmmm.... that might just work. I may have to keep that.

TGE + TGB = Nothing
Once upon a time, I combined the 2D Torque Game Builder (1.02) with the 3D Torque Game Engine (1.4) to create a monster that is the underlying technology of Frayed Knights. After buying the new ArcaneFX expansion for Torque, I tried to do the same thing with version 1.52 of TGE and 1.5 of TGB. I had all my old notes, and I was ready to do amazing things.

I gave up. The two technologies may have been joined at the hip at one point, but evolution has divided them, and it's just not worth it to try and reconcile their differences anymore. They are two very different engines now, highly optimized for doing their own things. And I gotta say, TGB 1.5 impresses the heck outta me with what I've seen.

So now I'm either going to have to merge an older version of TGB into the ArcaneFX package (and my own custom changes to the engine), or merge ArcaneFX into my older code base. Or do something even more bizarre, like try and replicate only the parts of TGB I need into the Frayed Knights code base.

But that's a problem for another day...

Weekly Updates
For weekly updates on the progress of the game, check out the Frayed Knights development blog.

What Else Is Up
I also recently parted company with Wahoo Studios / NinjaBee, on very friendly terms. I was actually looking to escape the game biz as my "day job," but then another game studio made me a very nice offer at the last minute. They were also very cool about the indie games thing. I miss the environment and people at NinjaBee, but not the commute.

I can't say what I'm working on at the new job, other than it's "multiplatform" and NOT an indie title.


Jay Barnson
Rampant Games
Tales of the Rampant Coyote