Shades of the Ancients

[Joyce]


Dev Server Status: 

Server Info:

Shades of the Ancients is an old idea of me and my boyfriend that we've been working on and planning for quite some time, some might remember the engine my boyfriend was working on (SOTA Engine) which he posted on here and got deleted.. made a fuss off and whatnot, so let's just say he refuses to go back on here and blah blah.. Well, anyways! Those days are past, and we're currently working and planning on a game that'll actually get to release ;) It's much less huge as the old one was for the initial release, and we're using the EO engine as a base engine.

Currently we've been focussing on getting most of the game mechanics working, we're not even halfway through the mechanics we eventually want to add.. But so far so good, and we're doing quite well if I may say so. Anyways, below is the.. well, 'story' of the guy that caused the corruption you'll be dealing with for the initial release of the game. We plan to bring him into it quite often, but at the lower levels you'll rarely see his name mentioned, maybe once or twice because people wonder what happened to him.

>! It was a rough time for us all.. Our corrupted landlords were pushing us all to our limits, we were forced to labor in the Mines of Agony as we called them. What we were there for nobody knew, not even the taskmasters did, there was no Ore, no Gems nor Gold to be found anywhere in that cave.. Yet, we were to dig further and further up to the point where there was no more pure oxygen, suffocating the ill and weak. It were harsh times for us all.
I believe it was the second alignment of the sun I had seen in my lifetime, I was a mere boy forced to serve the lords just like everybody else, but rather then putting me inside the mines they forced me to study ancient artifacts, I did not understand why.. I did not understand how either, they gave me directions to ruins, caverns and various other locations, but everywhere I went I did not understand what to do.. I could not understand why they sent me there.. The only explanation I obtained was the ever same “You’ll know when you find it, boy.. And when you do you shall make us very happy”, after those words their eyes were filled with greed and the need for power.. But, I never understood why until that day.
>! It was just another day like any other, I said goodbye to my family as they were dragged down into the mines, and reassured my little brother we would see better days some time before I headed off to get a new task for the day. Once I entered the great hall where the lords resided I had an eerie feeling, a feeling like there was something not quite right. But I shook it off and walked further to obtain my orders. “You are to search the ruins of an unknown city hidden within the mountains, there is a temple which might be of interest to us there.” was all they said before they handed me the map with its location.
>! The journey itself wasn’t as hard as I had imagined, the climb was easy almost as if the air itself was pushing me upwards towards the giant plain up on the mountains. It took me almost half a sun-cycle to get up there still, but when I made it I was surprised, there was no city, there was no temple.. Had they lied to me? There were only a dozen statues, six on each side, aligned in straight rows towards.. I couldn’t see, there was a blurry figurine at the end of the display.. It almost seemed like a heathaze, but the sensation of just looking at it was.. Amazing! I’m not sure what it was, but with each step I took to get closer it felt like there were people touching me, dragging me closer and closer to the hazy bit.. And as I reached the end everything went dark around me, the haze spread and suddenly the fabric of reality was torn apart inside it, creating a small rip in everything where a small human-like creature walked out of staring at me.
>! “So you have come..” was what I heard in my head, and it felt as if something stabbed a dagger deeper and deeper into my heart as the creature came closer. “Do you know why you’re here? Do you know what you are?” Were the words that come up in my mind.. But I couldn’t answer, my mind went blank but the creature nodded as if I answered.. And pointed to a flow of wind next to me, which seemed to take my shape. “You are nothing.. You are everything, you are the flow of air through their lungs, the air that keeps a bird afloat, and the air that suffocates people within the mines your so called ‘Lords’ are in..” I grasped for air, and fell down onto my knees even further, my vision went black alltogether and it felt as if my body was torn to shreds by a thousand blades. “They sent you here thinking I would let you help them accomplish their selfish goals.. But I won’t make that mistake again.. I was doomed to stay imprisoned here until the next one came along to take over my duties as an Ancient.. Now, your time has come to avenge the deaths of the innocent, and to set things straight in this world.. As it should have been.” The pain suddenly faded, and I couldn’t feel a thing.. at all.
>! When I could finaly get myself to stand up, I saw the entire place had been ruined, everything turned brown and the trees and plants died as soon as I walked towards them. We all heard the stories of the Ancients, but we believed them to be false.. But this creature, talked as if he was the corrupted Ancient of Air! I looked around some more, trying to figure out the cause of this curruption around me, only to see my own body rotting away before my own eyes, I stood there looking at my decaying corpse which was lying beside me.. But I felt nothing, I looked at my hands only to see there were none. Just a flow of air, and heard the voice of the creature inside my mind “We are one, you are me.. and I am you.. We should head off now, and fix what I did wrong so many years ago.. Don’t mind the corruption, it will be dispelled by someone.. over time.” And so without any form of control over my body at all, everything went blank..
>! The next thing I know was looking over the pit where the Lords their castle once stood, proudly next to the mine, but there was nothing. Everything was destroyed leaving only a few houses standing in a small town I had no memories of being there.. I wasn’t sure what I did, and I stood there for ages.. and ages.. And I still do as the corruption of my airflow slowly fades away, I watch this town stand against the horrors my corruption created.. Wondering why and how this happened, drowning in my own sorrows.

It's not great, but it works and does the trick.. There'll be some hidden books and scrolls in the game which will be quite valuable to a store, but will also contain pieces of lore that won't be available anywhere else.. So do keep an eye out for them when we hit Beta ;)

Anyway, as of right now we do not have much to show in terms of screenshots, but because everyone likes them so much I'll put up a few below.. The ones I've shown before in the topic I made in Show Off, for the quest system.

>! 
>! [](http://www.freemmorpgmaker.com/files/imagehost/#641c8777ace8b9790c88c71fcf50ebb6.png)
>! [](http://www.freemmorpgmaker.com/files/imagehost/#85cab8f41755adb1401bdd4a8414e9a5.png)
>! [](http://www.freemmorpgmaker.com/files/imagehost/#0ab7f735fcc3ea3913d36544f531b2c0.png)

>! **Quest System Screenshots:**(Note that the map this was put on was merely a map designed for testing purposes)
The first one, where I'm reading the quest info and decide whether to help the poor dude or not :P
[](http://www.freemmorpgmaker.com/files/imagehost/#1687c7996854840d4d2449e32233223d.png)
>! The second one, looking at my quest log:
[](http://www.freemmorpgmaker.com/files/imagehost/#cd5b74bf4d3459ad64bde6f1cbac28bd.png)
>! The third one, where I just completed all the objectives and look at the log again.
[](http://www.freemmorpgmaker.com/files/imagehost/#9b41f5319041216250b1339ff1936e82.png)
>! And the fourth one, where I turn it in :)
[](http://www.freemmorpgmaker.com/files/imagehost/#49a06bfad44b6b2bdd7e562acf6ac20c.png)

Anyways, as for 'specific features that'll make your game awesome'.. Well, I'm not entirely sure what to do here. In a way every ORPG designed with Eclipse is the same, I however plan to ditch the entire mob grindfest idea most have, and actually implent a decent quest-based system. As well as an interesting crafting economy to work with. But we're in a too early state to make any promises about that.

As for the latest updates.. Please do check [Our Site](http://www.damoose.nl), which will always contain the most recent updates and patchnotes for our development server.. But for the sake of your sanity and inability to click links(*glares at lololololol people*) I'll put up a log below as well.

>! @Patchnotes:
>! > **Client Side**
> -Added Exclamation Marks to NPCs that either have a new quest for you, or are awaiting your return(e.g. simply haven't finished all their quests yet).
> -Added a database holding the quest string data to make it about 20 times faster when logging in.
> -Fixed an issue where Potions would always display 0 as their restorative value.
> -Modified the tutorial system.
> -Added a bunch of new tutorials
> -Changed some of the GUI to include [McVizzle](http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php?action=profile;u=11761)'s work.
>
> **Server Side**
> -Removed the quest strings and moved them to the client.
> -Fixed an issue where dropping an item would always trigger the quest log messages.
> -Added support for the new tutorials.
> -Fixed the tutorial system so that you'll only see them once, they'll no longer appear every time you log on.
>! @Patchnotes:
>! > **Client-Side**
> -Fixed a few issues with some tilesets.
> -Switched out the old items for new ones.
> -Added some new paperdolls.
> -Fixed an issue with the shadow on a resource sprite.
> -Fixed an issue with quests that require you have have another quest already finished, these will now display their status correctly.
> -Fixed an issue that'd occur when a player had more then one quest in their log and completed one of them.
> -Modified the item system to use a single item image for both the drops and the inventory.
> -Changed the rendering order of equipment.
> -Fixed the issue where blood that was from an NPC would transfer over to a
> different map on the exact same X&Y locations as it was on your old map, this
> data is now ereased every time you switch maps.
> -Added an option to render NPC Names in the client.
> -Added an option whether to render Player names or not.
>
> **Server Side**
> -Fixed directional blocking for NPCs, they will no longer ignore these boundaries.
> -Changed the way a player death is handled, you will now lose Experience based on your level, and when this amount exceeds the amount you currently have you'll lose all your Experience instead of levelling down.
> -A player will no longer lose their equipped gear when they die.
>! @Patchnotes:
>! > **Server Side**
> -Added support for 'scripted' events to both Tiles and NPCs.
> -Modified the drop system's mechanics, NPCs can now drop up
> to 10 items, as well as drop specific items which are only
> available when on a certain quest.
> -Fixed the questlog to update properly when you drop more
> then one item or pick more then one item up from the ground.
>
> **Client Side:**
> -Cleaned up the quest handling sequence, it should now respond
> much quicker.
> -Added an NPC speech Dialogue that allows us to create 'Talk To'
> quests.
> -Added quite a few new music files, these are provided for free
> by NGXMusical.
>! @Patchnotes:
>! > **Client-Side**
> -Fixed an issue where the quest text wouldn't appear correctly on the screen.
> -Fixed an issue where the loading screens would dissapear.
> -Modified the looks of the Character screen a little.
>
> **Server-Side**
> -Modified the formulas that determine the amount of EXP,HP,MP and SP a player has, or has to obtain in the EXP case.
>! @Patchnotes:
>! > Yes, we’ve just pushed out Patch 0.0.5 to our Development server!
> There’s not many changes but we’ve added a system which will be used
> throughout the entire game.. A quest system! This is very important
> and we’re quite proud of the result we’ve managed to obtain. Anyways,
> here’s the notes:
>
> **Server Side:**
> -Added full support for both the quest log and quest system.
> -Removed the annoying message that came up every time a
> player joined.
>
> **Client Side:**
> -Added a questlog as well as a simple NPC dialog that shows
> -what quests an NPC has to offer you. The quests are tagged
> with various simple marks, [N] = New Quest, [P] = In Progress,
> [C] = Completed and [X] = Not available yet.
> -Modified the sound engine to support much more formats,
> as well as music streaming.
>! @Patchnotes:
>! > **Server Side Changes:**
> -Modified the Resource system to no longer display the damage done,
> instead it’ll show you a message you’ve made a hit.
> -Reduced the amount of items a player can carry along to prevent
> the clipping of items in your inventory panel.
> -Added Support for the AFK/Away command.
> -NPCs will no longer send you an empty message every time you hit them.
> -Changed the Classes to use the proper sprites for male/female.
>
> **Client Side Changes:**
> -Changed the way player names are rendered to allow AFK tags to show
> up.
> -Changed the layout of the game screen to a more fancy looking layout,
> it’s not finished yet however and has no graphical features as of yet.
> -Updated the character graphics so they don’t stand out from the terrain
> around it.

I thank you for your time reading this, and am open for any suggestions, comments or rants against me, the game or my hairstyle honestly go ahead. :P And I'll keep you guys posted as much as possible with new updates!

[Ne-o-x]

OMG Cant wait to test it :D
Also I love your EO edits :D

[Joyce]

Just pushed out another small patch..
@Patchnotes:

> **Client-Side**
> -Fixed an issue where the quest text wouldn't appear correctly on the screen.
> -Fixed an issue where the loading screens would dissapear.
> -Modified the looks of the Character screen a little.
>
> **Server-Side**
> -Modified the formulas that determine the amount of EXP,HP,MP and SP a player has, or has to obtain in the EXP case.

@Ne[o:

> x link=topic=61765.msg652683#msg652683 date=1277240977]
> OMG Cant wait to test it :D
> Also I love your EO edits :D

Thanks :) I'm very far from releasing anything playable right now, but I plan to at least get something done in the next month.. Maybe a few teaser levels to play through for people ;)

Also, I added two new screenshots to the first post. :)

[Ertzel]

Looks great Yami, after seeing some of your EO updates I can't wait till you start a test server for this game.

[ENIGMAX]

    Awesome, the full screen play mode and buttons at bottom :P

[ZoSo]

Cool style on your game :).
Its kinda noir :). I like it.

[Joyce]

@Ertzel:

> Looks great Yami, after seeing some of your EO updates I can't wait till you start a test server for this game.

Thanks, I'll be working on finishing up the NPC Speech, and I'll add a 'scripted' tile function as well. :)

@[PIERATE:

> uh-nig-muh-xâ„¢ link=topic=61765.msg652795#msg652795 date=1277262311]
>
>     Awesome, the full screen play mode and buttons at bottom :P

It's not full screen, it barely fits on a 1024*768 screen, but nowadays most people run that resolution at minimum, and most people I know run either 1280*1024 or larger. It's just a nice large fancy screen :P Still needs some work however..

@ZoSo:

> Cool style on your game :).
> Its kinda noir :). I like it.

That's the entire idea for the first parts of the game :) The original tiles were much brighter and compared to these they even look awkward, I toned their saturation down A LOT to make it seem more gloomy, and 'corrupted' as the story goes.

EDIT : Just made a modification to the server, I can now create programmed events that occur when a player steps onto a tile. ;D

[Joyce]

Development Patch 0.0.6 released!
@Patchnotes:

> **Server Side**
> -Added support for 'scripted' events to both Tiles and NPCs.
> -Modified the drop system's mechanics, NPCs can now drop up
> to 10 items, as well as drop specific items which are only
> available when on a certain quest.
> -Fixed the questlog to update properly when you drop more
> then one item or pick more then one item up from the ground.
>
> **Client Side:**
> -Cleaned up the quest handling sequence, it should now respond
> much quicker.
> -Added an NPC speech Dialogue that allows us to create 'Talk To'
> quests.
> -Added quite a few new music files, these are provided for free
> by NGXMusical.

EDIT: Server Hotfix:

> -NPCs that get killed by another NPC will no longer drop a quest item.
> -Removed the annoying NPC speech in the chatbox.
> -Added support for Quest 3

And a new screenshot..

>! [](http://www.freemmorpgmaker.com/files/imagehost/#0ab7f735fcc3ea3913d36544f531b2c0.png)

[aaaron]

pretty cool ;)

[Joyce]

Thanks, and I've been fixing some more stuff. ;D

> **Client-Side**
> -Fixed a few issues with some tilesets.
> -Switched out the old items for new ones.
> -Added some new paperdolls.
> -Fixed an issue with the shadow on a resource sprite.
> -Fixed an issue with quests that require you have have another quest already finished, these will now display their status correctly.
> -Fixed an issue that'd occur when a player had more then one quest in their log and completed one of them.
> -Modified the item system to use a single item image for both the drops and the inventory.
> -Changed the rendering order of equipment.
> -Fixed the issue where blood that was from an NPC would transfer over to a
> different map on the exact same X&Y locations as it was on your old map, this
> data is now ereased every time you switch maps.
> -Added an option to render NPC Names in the client.
> -Added an option whether to render Player names or not.
>
> **Server Side**
> -Fixed directional blocking for NPCs, they will no longer ignore these boundaries.
> -Changed the way a player death is handled, you will now lose Experience based on your level, and when this amount exceeds the amount you currently have you'll lose all your Experience instead of levelling down.
> -A player will no longer lose their equipped gear when they die.

That's all for now, It's not the final patch yet.. So I'll work on it some more, fiddle with some features and see if I can fix what little issues there are.

EDIT: Just made it render NPC names when allowed to in the options as well.
EDIT2: Fixed NPC Directional Blocking :)
EDIT3: Added Playername rendering options.

[Minilinkki]

Look from woman = Awesome game

This looks really good, keep it up.

[Joyce]

Thanks! ;D Progress may be a little slow, but I'm pretty much doing this solo since my boyfriend's working all day.. And I get to bozo around on it. ;) But so far so good, not much done on the playable side of the game, but there's been done a lot on the programming side. :kiss:

EDIT: just made it so the Exp loss is determined by level, the higher your level the more Exp you lose when you die.. And when you lose more Exp then you've got the game will automaticly simply take away every bit of Exp you do have, rather then making you level down or have - Experience.. Also made it so that you don't lose your equipped gear anymore when you die.

EDIT2: Lol, here's the server speed:
Got to love fast connections. xD

[Joyce]

Just pushed out Patch 0.0.7..

@Patchnotes:

> **Client-Side**
> -Fixed a few issues with some tilesets.
> -Switched out the old items for new ones.
> -Added some new paperdolls.
> -Fixed an issue with the shadow on a resource sprite.
> -Fixed an issue with quests that require you have have another quest already finished, these will now display their status correctly.
> -Fixed an issue that'd occur when a player had more then one quest in their log and completed one of them.
> -Modified the item system to use a single item image for both the drops and the inventory.
> -Changed the rendering order of equipment.
> -Fixed the issue where blood that was from an NPC would transfer over to a
> different map on the exact same X&Y locations as it was on your old map, this
> data is now ereased every time you switch maps.
> -Added an option to render NPC Names in the client.
> -Added an option whether to render Player names or not.
>
> **Server Side**
> -Fixed directional blocking for NPCs, they will no longer ignore these boundaries.
> -Changed the way a player death is handled, you will now lose Experience based on your level, and when this amount exceeds the amount you currently have you'll lose all your Experience instead of levelling down.
> -A player will no longer lose their equipped gear when they die.

EDIT : Just fixed a little bug that caused talking to a friendly NPC with some fields unfilled to crash the client.

[BluBear]

Looks very nice, but i don't think the GUI is your biggest problem. That would be the overused tiles and sprites you're using.
Some customs would be awesome.

[Joyce]

Erm, I was using these tiles and sprites far before they were overused, and barely anyone knew about them.. So I'll stick to them, besides they beat RMXP by far.. And it's very unlikely to find anyone to do some custom ones on short notice. ;D

[Joyce]

> **Client Side**
> -Added Exclamation Marks to NPCs that either have a new quest for you, or are awaiting your return(e.g. simply haven't finished all their quests yet).
> -Added a database holding the quest string data to make it about 20 times faster when logging in.
> -Fixed an issue where Potions would always display 0 as their restorative value.
> -Modified the tutorial system.
> -Added a bunch of new tutorials
> -Changed some of the GUI to include [McVizzle](http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php?action=profile;u=11761)'s work.
>
> **Server Side**
> -Removed the quest strings and moved them to the client.
> -Fixed an issue where dropping an item would always trigger the quest log messages.
> -Added support for the new tutorials.
> -Fixed the tutorial system so that you'll only see them once, they'll no longer appear every time you log on.

Some of the above changes have already taken effect on the live server.. The marked NPC feature will however have to wait until the next patch, or the next quest update.

And a picture showing off the new marked NPC:
[](http://www.freemmorpgmaker.com/files/imagehost/#497d00c96c5169ff02176b63353291e5.png)

[Skillzalot]

This is coming along really nicely good work.

[Joyce]

@Patchnotes:

> **Client Side**
> -Added Exclamation Marks to NPCs that either have a new quest for you, or are awaiting your return(e.g. simply haven't finished all their quests yet).
> -Added a database holding the quest string data to make it about 20 times faster when logging in.
> -Fixed an issue where Potions would always display 0 as their restorative value.
> -Modified the tutorial system.
> -Added a bunch of new tutorials
> -Changed some of the GUI to include [McVizzle](http://www.touchofdeathforums.com/smf/index.php?action=profile;u=11761)'s work.
>
> **Server Side**
> -Removed the quest strings and moved them to the client.
> -Fixed an issue where dropping an item would always trigger the quest log messages.
> -Added support for the new tutorials.
> -Fixed the tutorial system so that you'll only see them once, they'll no longer appear every time you log on.

And a screenshot with the new UI so far:

>! 

Edit:
Server Hotfix:

> -Fixed an issue with updating the quest log when dropping an item that can't stack.
> -Balanced out the amount of HP regenerated a bit more.(Player Spirit * 2.5 every 15 sec)
> -Actually load the Spirit Stat from the class file.

[Yxxe]

looking good once again Yami, keep up the good work.  :azn:

[Joyce]

Thanks. ;D I have some other things to show though.. The maps I've done so far[(link)](http://www.freemmorpgmaker.com/files/imagehost/pics/5f905eb1d329c059e3ad1490fae2a896.png):

>! Click the link for the full image!

and the interface as it is right now[(link)](http://www.freemmorpgmaker.com/files/imagehost/pics/ed75f1199cc5f73960ce869ba5fe6427.png):

>! 

[Zetasis]

I really like the lore for this game. I can't wait to find out what the corrupted Ancient of the Air did. Very interesting idea. I don't believe I have ever heard a story like it.

[Alatar]

Nice project. I like the storyline, the UI and the mapping with Inquisitor tiles. Also, nice to see someone coding a quest system to EO, keep on that ;D

[Joyce]

> **Client Side**
> -Support for QuestMarker Refreshing added.
> -Fixed an issue with some quest data being capable of corrupting.(e.g. the text you see when starting a quest)
> -Fixed an issue with some tutorial images not unloading from the memory.
> -Fixed the way the spell screen is rendered, it will no longer render them on invalid locations of the UI.
> -Added an option to change your password. Type /account to access this panel.
>
> **Server Side**
> -Completing a quest will now trigger a refresh of the QuestMarker check to prevent NPCs from having exclamation marks over them when they have no quest for you.
> -Fixed a small mistake I made in the constants data.
> -Added some spells the player gets when he/she creates his/her character.
> -Added server-side support for the new password modifier.

Don't worry, I'm still working on it :) Not as steadily as before.. Because I had a few things to do, but I'm still on it! I'm also trying to get Silent to wake up and show me his work on the site so far :P But oh well.

[Joyce]

There we go, just tossed out the new Patch.. ;D

@Patchnotes:

> **Client Side**
> -Support for QuestMarker Refreshing added.
> -Fixed an issue with some quest data being capable of corrupting.(e.g. the text you see when starting a quest)
> -Fixed an issue with some tutorial images not unloading from the memory.
> -Fixed the way the spell screen is rendered, it will no longer render them on invalid locations of the UI.
> -Added an option to change your password. Type /account to access this panel.
>
> **Server Side**
> -Completing a quest will now trigger a refresh of the QuestMarker check to prevent NPCs from having exclamation marks over them when they have no quest for you.
> -Fixed a small mistake I made in the constants data.
> -Added some spells the player gets when he/she creates his/her character.
> -Added server-side support for the new password modifier.

EDIT : Tossed out some small fixes..
@Patchnotes:

> **Client Side**
> -Fixed the issue where some / commands would not dissapear from the chat window.
> -Fixed an issue where the change password screen would not correctly dissapear.
>
> **Server Side**
> -Fixed an issue where non-currency quest rewards could not be handed out in one reward slot.

;D

[Ne-o-x]

OMG I Really Love your Work and how the game look!

JUST Please dont drop this project because  I want to play this game to bad!