Modding questions

Discussion in 'Modding Discussion' started by Mikali, Jun 21, 2015.

  1. Mikali

    Mikali Void-Bound Voyager

    Here are some questions I asked on Steam but didn't get a complete response about. I thought I would ask them again if that's okay.

    Couple of questions:

    1. Does this game have an open world level design, where you can wander around? Or is it a linear set of missions that you have to play in a set order?
    2. What are the pixel dimensions of each tile?
    3. Does the game have thin walls like X-COM, or does every wall take up an entire tile?
    4. Does the game take into account line of sight? Can objects obstruct your aim?
    5. What are the advantages to modding this game compared to Shadowrun Returns?
    6. What is the maximum size of a level/map?
    7. Are the sprite graphics 32-bit?
    8. Can we distribute mods as standalone games, or do players need to own a copy of Halfway?
    9. Are character sprites limited in size? Can I create character sprites that are 2x2 or 3x3 tiles in size?

    Thanks!
     
    • Seminus

      Seminus Halfway Developer Developer

      Hey @Mikali

      I answered some of them over at steam but lets sum it up here again. But first thing first: You can find nearly every answer to your questions over here in our Wiki:
      http://robotality.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
      I think we have covered nearly everything that you may be looking for and a bit more ;)

      1. The game itself is a mix of levels and a map on which you can select which you want to play next. It is rather linear but has some none-linearity to it. If you mod the game you can do both: Having a linear game with an overview map to select what mission next like in halfway or just connect the levels like you want without the map.
      Also you can make the mission far more nonelinear as we did.

      2. 32² but you can combine more together to make bigger unique tiles.

      3. That is up to you. The engine does not limit you there. But we use 1 tile for walls as it makes reading the map easier.

      4. Yes walls etc does take away LoS also big Object with a full cover attached to them via collision map.

      5. Cant tell as I did not mod Shadowrun. :)

      6. No hard coded limit. You can go as big as you want until at some point the game may crash, but map sizes far bigger then 100² should be not a problem.

      7. yes 32bit pngs.

      8. Under the normal modding eula: No. Every player needs the game to play the mod.
      But if you really want to talk about that drop us an email at "hello at robotality dot com" and we talk about a potential license that covers that but really no promise there. I mean what game/developer allows you to share your mods as standalone besides some Valve SDK based games. :) But we are open to talk about everything.

      9. Yes it should be possible. The endboss is for example bigger then 32². But you need to test around with that. If there are problems with that we can looking into it to solve that for you.

      No problem. you are welcome. :)
       
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      • Mikali

        Mikali Void-Bound Voyager

        Another question (sorry there are so many!)

        This is really hard to explain. In my current RPG Maker project I have character sprites that are larger than 32x32px, but are meant to be used on the default 32x32px map tile. This means that the "base" of the character is not the center of the sprite, but slightly off center.

        [​IMG]

        Is this possible in Halfway? Can I define where the "base" of my sprite is? Looking at Image Processor this does not seem to be the case.
         
        • Seminus

          Seminus Halfway Developer Developer

          I double checked it. You are right: Currently it is not possible to have bigger units then 32².
          The whole game art and rendering is made around that size so I would recommend to resize your artwork to fit in that space.
          The endboss was a special case and is hard-coded to fit into the tile-system.
          But looking at the art style you have I think it should be possible to rescale the assets without loosing too much of the detail. :)

          Let me know if you need any help.
           
          • Mikali

            Mikali Void-Bound Voyager

            The problem is, I also have bigger sprites such as this:

            [​IMG]
             
            • Seminus

              Seminus Halfway Developer Developer

              Okay I see. If you plan to have cars you can drive as a player, this may be a bit too complex to develop without access to the source code.
              If you want to use them as object in the level: No problem at all. You can do that without the SC.

              HW modding has it's limits when it comes to changing the core gameplay of having a team of X characters doing tactical combat stuff. :) As I have no idea what your plans are it is a bit hard to say if it is going to work or not. Some stuff could be done with workarounds others may not.
               
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              • Mikali

                Mikali Void-Bound Voyager

                You can see here what I want to achieve graphically:

                 
                • Seminus

                  Seminus Halfway Developer Developer

                  Okay I see.
                  With tiles you need to stay on the 32² size. You can combine mutliple tiles to make more complex patterns or you can use objects to create big structures like houses and cars and stuff. So there you should not face any problem.
                  For the character: As said, it would make sense to resize them to 32² to avoid any problem. Try it and it may look okay. Halfway was always planed to look retro so we build everything around it to work with low res pixel art. That is something we can not change that easily.
                  But with some experimenting you should achieve a similar look like in the video.

                  On the gameplay side I see more problems lying ahead of you: You have a different combat system that is more like Final Fantasy and a XP based RPG system lying below. That won't be easy to change in Halfway as we do not have such a system but one that is based on items (stims) to level your character up.
                  I mean your game could still work but it would be more Halfway style then what you have there in the video.
                  There are some limits what you can do and what not on this side. That is something we will improve in our next game. :)

                  Anyway let me know if we can help and if you have more detailed questions.
                   
                  • Mikali

                    Mikali Void-Bound Voyager

                    Okay, thanks for the help!

                    [edit]

                    The lackluster combat is why I am trying to get away from RPG Maker. Halfway is more detailed, yet simple enough that it can be used in other settings than just SciFi/Space Opera. Shadowrun Returns on the other hand will always be a Shadowrun campaign setting. There's no way to adapt it to something else.
                     
                      Last edited: Jul 2, 2015

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