Weapon research

The RPG system of Kaduria is more physically based. It means there is more research to do with weapons and armours. I like doing research, but I don't want to dig too deep into that stuff. However it's interesting to realize how little we modern people know about medieval type weapons. Why they were like that and how they were used. In fact I think even actual scientists don't know everything yet, because the practical knowledge was lost when firearms were invented.

The techniques that were used had been developed during thousands of years. Imagine all that fighting and the history of weapon development to become better at killing. It's so revealing and tells a lot about us humans.

When I read about medieval weapons there is always something I didn't know or realize. Let's take an example of arrows. I knew they have a pointy end, but I didn't realize there were so many types of heads. Each of them had specific use. What I'm going to do is take essential head types and model them in Kaduria. It's something else compared to just having a regular arrow.

Item class design

Item class hierarchy is divided into three layers: main class, item datatype and subtype datatypes. The main class is almost ready actually, only trap handling is undecided. Item datatype is the main class for data-driven section of the whole system. But the interesting stuff happens in subtype classes which now are under heavy development. Data-driven approach is something that is not only modular, but it also creates a kind of order in programming which I find helpful.

Some subtypes are already there, but I think most of the subtypes need a dedicated class. In fact many parts of the item system is still unfinished, but subtype classes are very similar to each other and it's quite easy to create them from technical point of view. The difficult thing is the game design in them. What properties items have? How you can use them? Things like that.

Decisions in game design

One of the big problems in development for me is the game design. I have a habit to leave some things later and then realize it has been two or three years since I tried to solve some design problem. In roguelikes there are lots of problems related to RPG system and how to create interactions between objects. I think we all would like to create complex interactions, but it requires more generic and able engine. Limited actions are much easier to do, but it's including a decision to create a limited gameplay rule. I know that I have to make those decisions or this game will never be released.