old-NOTES.txt

TODO:

     BALANCING:

       scenario1: bare bones, only essential quests plus a few
         side quests. Game should be beatable, if only barely.

       scenario2: do all side quests for xp/money.
         Game should be relatively easy.


     [X] Add an identify spell somewhere, or an identify service in towns
     [X] Make loot give unidentified items; add more loot


 Adjustments:
     [x] remove Emerald Key from after SK quest
     [x] put 2nd gem in MONA
     [x] put Indigo Statuette in Bamboo Grove
     [x] move WPTO's Music Box to FI (buried?)
     [x] move cemetery to another location, blocked by marshes.
         East of Great Desert??
           cemetery has the King's crown
     [x] adjust Marshes Palace, require sword, ring, crown
           to sit on throne;
             then, give armor, 4th gem.
             restore kingdom.
     [x] give Emerald Key in NOKE or nearby
     [x] build YNIS, remove statue, hints about crown and sword
     [x] build King's ring quest -- Ice Caves
     [x] build sword quest -- statue at NE end of island
     [x] build Marshes Palace Vaults - find 4th gem, armor
     [x] build Portal.
     [x] remake cemetery -- Dark Lands

 NEXT: After Desert quest:

     - Monastery has 2nd gem
     - so, after Obelisk player has 3 gems.
     - Statuette is not in Graveyard, it's in Bamboo Grove.
     - get Statuette from Bamboo Grove, return it to Indigo, get
         Marshes spell
     - enter Marshes Palace, find out about vault, hint:
         need Sword, Crown. Find them in FI.
         Get Emerald Key.
     - Go to FI, enter with Emerald Key
     - Subquests:
         crown - in the Ice Caves
         sword - in the statue NE of the island
     - Return to Marshes Palace, open vault, get 4th gem,
         get King's Armor (ultimate armor).
     - Go w/ 4 gems to Portal.
     - Portal is somewhere more accessible -- east of BL?
         Don't require player to travel through FI again.

     - WPTO's Music Box is somewhere else (side quest).
         Buried in the snow in FI somewhere??

     ALT (with AQTO):
       - Return to Marshes Palace, enter vaults, get Compass.
       - With Compass, go to WPTO and sail to AQTO.
       - Explore AQTO, find 4th gem.



 * PROBLEM: if player doesn't have money to pay boatman to DE,
   how do they get money?? Are they stuck?
   (they could sell stuff... but is it enough?)

   How can the game give the player money to ensure they
   have a certain "net worth" at each given level?

   IDEA: add an Arena hut: don't gain experience, but each
   fight pays a certain $. That way player can always grind the
   arena for cash if they want to. The arena temporarily closes
   when player's cash is above 1000?
   ...or some other slot machine like thing. Casino?
   ...can play some sort of game to gain gp?

 * Next: entering the Marshes City requires you to wear
   King Vahn's armor and wield King Vahn's sword
   because it says "only the king can enter".
   In the city player will find the item that allows them
   to go to the Underwater City.


 * Make Protect spell affect a single character so it's less
   overpowered?

 * Add traps? Spell to detect traps? Amulet that warns about
   traps?
 
 * Invisible enemies?


OPEN ENDS:

 * There must be cartographers in each region to update the map.

 * Lena's Jewelry box must be found somewhere

 * IMPORTANT: King must prevent player from getting SK_LIGHT quest
   if they don't have Vic in their party (king says "it's too
   dangerous, you can go as long as Vic goes with you").

 * IMPORTANT: There must be a way to remove a cursed item?



BUGS:

[ ] JAIL level has blue sky now, leaking

[ ] Resting at an inn does not exercise the same logic as
    eating a food ration, so it's missing stuff like clearing
    CEF_RESISTANT.

[X] World map position does not update after portal travel.

[ ] Stunned enemies still hit correctly; they should normally miss

[X] Ranged attack target selection does not allow selecting middle
    cell when all 3 enemy cells are occupied.

[X] ** Battle against 3 slimes occasionally gets stuck
    when Lyla attacks first

[X] Unconscious casters can still cast spells, drink potions, etc.

[ ] *** Using item does not advance battle turn!

[ ] Paladin spell cast anim in battle is melee attack, needs
    to be spell anim if BAT_AF_SPELL flag is on.

[X] Check if battle correctly goes to GAME OVER when no chars left
[X] Don't let players access their equipment in JAIL level.
[X] Don't let player save game in JAIL level.

[ ] What if player saves game via fountain, in a dark level,
    and has no torches?

[X] Implement AMULET_OF_HEALTH effect!


IDEA FOR PROGRESSION:

  Quest rewards are marked as S, M or L.
  The actual XP and gold value varies depending on the party level,
  such that to advance to the next level the party needs 4 S quests,
  2 M quests or 1 L quest.


SPELL IDEAS:
  * Bravery: increases att but decreases def
  * causes damage AND heals
  * make enemies more likely not to target you
  / push an enemy away
  * pull enemy toward party
  * remove stunned status (Steady)
  * enable someone to have 2 attacks next turn (Haste)


ITEM IDEAS:
  * Merchant's ring -- gets better prices.


IDEA: Objective of the game is to collect all 50 crystal shards
that are scattered around the world. So the player must explore.
Leveling up, etc, are just a way to explore, because with
better levels previously very hard areas become easier so you can
go there and collect shards. Some of them are lying around in caves,
some of them are part of trading sequences with NPCs, some of them
can be bought for large $$$, some of them require side quests,
but all are optional -- the player just has to get 50 shards,
in whichever way they like. There are more than 50 in the game,
say ~100, so the player only has to get half of them to win.
This way, the entire world can be open for exploration,
Dragon Quest style, with death simply resetting the player to
the central town with some money loss.

IDEA 2: It's open world. The only objective is to East and defeat
the Sorcerer King. The player is free to go anywhere and do anything
to level up.

TODO:

[X] NEW COMBAT CALC: Dmg Mult = 1 + (Att-Def)/20
    Player att is approx 6 * L
    This means that:
      * every 4 levels player gains +1x damage.
      * every 20 of defense of an enemy,
          it negates 1x damage, so effectively 4 levels of the player

    We can do away with damage resistance in this case.

[ ] Add more equipment shops in FOVI/MTN/SUTO so player can
    upgrade a bit.

[X] Don't let the player have more than 6 of the same item
    when buying so they can't fill up their inventory with stuff?
    Make it so that the store "runs out of stock" so it doesn't
    seem artificial.

[ ] ranged attacks: make it so that on combats where one side has
    ranged weapons, it starts at a distance and automatically
    closes in? So there are 2-3 rounds or so of only ranged
    attacks?
    So at every full turn everyone moves closer to the center of
    the screen automatically.

[ ] add descriptions to all items

[X] do away with LPS entirely? Move all to GPS?

[ ] Inn should *also* save to a backup slot
[X] Monsters should drop gold (so that there's an endless source
    of gold with wandering monsters).

[ ] Implement apple revenue system
[ ] Implement altar rewards system

----
BATTLE:

Plan: leave battle as-is, cell-based maneuvering is interesting
if there are enemies with ranged attacks that stay back while
enemies with melee attacks stay at the front.

Idea: auto close gaps: if there is an empty cell between
players and enemies, automatically move either side closer to
the other to close the gap without requiring anyone to explicitly
move. That way when players clear the first line of enemies,
there won't be a boring turn where they just tell everyone to
advance to the new space.

----

CLERIC SPELLS:

Heal              Heals up to 10 hp
Defense           Increase DR by 1
Accuracy          Increase ATT by 15
Confuse           Decrease enemy ATT
Strengthen        Increase DM20
Heal+             Heals up to 40hp
Release           Removes HELD effect from a char
Cure Poison       Removes POI effect from a char
Heal All          Heals all by up to 40hp
Withdraw          Escapes from battle.
Avoid             Avoids wandering monsters
Shelter           Guaranteed rest in wilderness

WIZARD SPELLS:

Burn              Up to 10 damage, melee
Fire orb          Up to 30 damage, ranged
Fire storm        Up to 20 damage, area
Haste             Selected party member gets 2 attacks next turn
Hold              Hold enemy
Light             Light
Kill              Kill one enemy (low enough level)
Leap              Leap 1 tile
Merchant          Get better prices

SYS SYSC_SPEAK text limits:

10 lines, 28 columns
(set cc=33, to account for ' DS ' prefix).

NEW PLOT:
Party rescues Lucas, receives set of 4 crystals.
Lucas says take the crystals to Marcus.
Marcus steals crystals, puts party in jail.
Party leaves jail with help from Olmur.

Olmur explains that the 4 crystals open a portal to the Astral Plane,
which allows someone to go in there and either save the world from
evil, or become the new evil ruler.

Olmur says there is another set of 4 crystals hidden around the world,
and now they must find them.

Buy-in: anyone who touches the crystals is bound to the mission (like
a curse). Olmur himself is cursed.

STORY:

An Evil Sorcerer, for no reason other than
furthering the plot of this game, has
cast an evil spell upon the land, creating
monsters and cutting off cities from one another.

The world awaits a brave warrior to go defeat
the Evil Sorcerer and reclaim the land.
Spoiler: that's you. Although that's highly
optimistic, given your limited funds and
equipment. No pressure, but the whole world
is counting on you.

Good luck!


QUESTS:

PART I - Isle

* main: get to Northshore <- [cross forest]

* cross forest (sea?) <- potion of Orientation <-
  northberry to Tower wise man <- [northberry], [Jump spell]

* northberry <- cross swamp <- special Cleric spell of protection <-
  temple of X can grant, but needs idols back for altar to work <-
  return the [3 idols].

* jump spell <- get from reading book in Orchard Owner's Office
  <- get key from Orchard Owner <- save orchard

* idol 1 <- cave near Orchard Road
* idol 2 (stolen by band of thieves) <- enter hideout to find it <-
  reveal secret entrance <- [Reveal spell], [hint about entrance]

* [hint about entrance] <- hut in Riverside, in exchange for
  [Apple cider] <- obtained from Orchard Owner

* idol 3 (bought by Y) <- exchange w/ Y for [emerald].

* Reveal spell <- taught by wizard in City Z.

* emerald <- get to bottom of Great Mines <- need pick to clear rocks
  <- sold in Riverside?



FUTURE:

plane shift <- plane shift spell <- Great Library <-
  membership ring to Great Library <- some quest



BALANCING:

S: 4 + 4.4 * (L-1)
Ag: 4 + 4.1 * (L-1)
HP: 15 + 6.8 * (L-1)

Basic weap = +1 level for attack
Good weap = +2-3 levels for attack
Great weap = +4-5 levels for attack
Epic weap = +7 levels for attack