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How I'm improving the original Yserbius experience in MedievaLands

ZaneDubya

Active Members
#1
Hey friends! If you've seen my posts on this forum you know I'm a huge fan of Yserbius and have worked hard to recreate it at https://www.medievalands.com. Now that the original game is more or less completely recreated, I'm starting to think about ways to improve the original Yserbius experience without changing the underlying game.

I want to talk about how I'm improving the experience of Yserbius combat without changing any of the numbers or algorithms. Last month I added item tool tips, so you can see what statistics an item has without experimenting in combat. This month I added pop up numbers so you get a better idea of who you and your party are attacking, and how much damage you are doing. You'll also see numbers for healing and mana restore in and out of combat.

Another big feature I added this month was in-game Guilds and Guild management! You can now create a Guild for your friends, set a guiding philosophy, and recruit new members. Yserbius in the 90's was famed for its collection of close-knit communities, known as Guilds. Guilds such as Kingdom of Yserbius, Soldiers of Yserbius, KAAOS, and TheMercs organized events, challenged each other in combat, and helped each other conquer the dungeon. There are already three Guilds set up and surely more to come - who will you stand with?

I also added chat tabs in the Dungeon and Tavern so you can keep track of messages from your Guild, the new Global chat channel, your friends, and your enemies. Now you won't lose track of chat because combat messages push everything out of view.

Here's what you can expect in June:
* PvP Challenge combat!
* More Guild features!
* News about adding support for the Fates of Twinion!
* The original Yserbius music (if enough people are interested)!

Hope to see you all in the 'Cano soon!
 
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Reonis

Active Members
#3
I've been playing this off and on for the last week and it's been a joy. I never play Yserbius when it was live and only knew about it from some of the regulars on Empiriana. With it offline, this has been scratching that itch for me lately!
 

Reonis

Active Members
#4
Again, I only play this lightly off and on, but this has been great. There's a core group of regulars that seem to do the same. At the rate I'm going, I'm never going to fully explore the volcano though!
 

ZaneDubya

Active Members
#5
Hey Reonis - I am glad to hear you're enjoying it! Thank you for posting here. :)

I'm not sure if I'm going to be doing anything else with this game or the underlying engine. It's presently stable and almost entirely bug free. A few people have asked about Twinion and Cawdor, but I hesitate to take those games on. It would be an undertaking of hundreds of hours because of the differences in the sequel's data files and map scripts, and the fact that I (naively) coded the ML engine to be very coupled to how the original game works. Still, it's an idea that lingers.

I'm also considering a new game, but this is more of a zygote of an idea than a fully formed project. :) I'd like to springboard with the use of some of the code from MedievaLands and create a dungeon crawler with a tactics combat mode. As I've started to build this out, I've realized that although I have demonstrated that I can put together a complete game engine, I don't really understand how to create an engaging player experience. To address this I've started working my way through some game design books, and am currently reading the truly excellent "Advanced Game Design: A Systems Approach", which was written by one of the designers of Meridian 59 and Ultima Online. Hopefully this will help fill in the knowledge that I'm missing.
 

ZaneDubya

Active Members
#6
Hail Slohand and all!

Just wanted to drop a note here to let everyone know I've been working on Twinion for a couple of months. Getting very close to the end here. Hope to have something to show off in a month or so.

After that, I should have a nice, generic engine that could handle other multiplayer blobber games within the parameters of the game design of Yserbius.

Cawdor? Maybe!

Something new? Who knows!
 

ZaneDubya

Active Members
#7
Hail all,

Twinion took me much longer than I thought it would, but it's finally up and running alongside Yserbius on at https://www.medievalands.com. The two games play side by side on the same server, sharing a single chat room, guild system, bulletin boards.

Another huge addition that I think will be of interest to the folks who visit these forums: I have added a brand new Treasure System to both Yserbius and Twinion. The new Treasure System adds seven million new items to the original count of 252 items in Yserbius and Twinion. These new weapons, armors, rings, and amulets are created from 80 stat modifiers never seen before in Yserbius. You can select your preferred combination of items to forge a unique play style. If you plan on venturing into Cleowyn's palace, for example, you will want to equip items that inflict more damage on the undead.

These new items are slightly to somewhat more powerful than the old Yserbius items. And you will still find all the old quest items and the very best drops from the original game exactly where you would expect to find them: the Flex Sword, Barbarian Axe, Infinite Armor, and other favorites mentioned in FAQ from the early '90s can still be found in their old locations.

I have also added a new Item Bank in the Keep, which expands your inventory so you have space to keep your favorite quest items and loot drops.

Let me know if you have any questions. :)
 
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