Betrayed Alliance 2 Development Journal

[Doan Sephim]

Disclaimer:
This game is not done, or even nearly done; It's closer to 1% complete at this time. There is no timeline to completion or guarantee thereof.

Development Backstory:
Six years ago was the release of the first part of Betrayed Alliance. While ending on a cliffhanger, I never thought I'd work on it again. I just wanted to release something that would justify all the time I had put into it. Six months after release, I put together a walkthrough and noticed some bugs and issues and filed them away. Two years or so later, I patched the game and had more than a few people playing the game and asking if I'd work on it again. The answer was always, “No.”
But that's when I started getting ideas. Every once in a while, I'd pick it up and work on something. The bug would bite me, and not an irritating programming one, but the creative one that pushed me with motivation.
On and off, I am working on the sequel.

Some Artwork:
After seeing how excellent the artwork was in the fan-made SCI-like project "The Crimson Diamond" I spent some time looking more carefully at some of the artwork from the old SCI games to get a better grasp on how to make my artwork better. One big thing I walked away with was I almost never used the color Black but it was heavily used in a lot of the old games. I doubt I'll be able to reach the level of the old games or the excellent work seen in the Crimson Diamond, but I think I've made some progress.
The Forest are that our heroes escape to at the end of Book 1:



Aside from the forest, I have to fill in much of the lower half the game's map (Only the top half was created/utilized for the first game):



The Southern Castle (Nothing to show of this area yet)

Getting to reuse areas from the 1st game feels great as I won’t have to recreate those resources (although slight alterations will probably take place)

Expectations:
I'm just posting this as a place to post artwork, ideas, and milestones.

I'm open to all forms of criticism.

[gumby]

One criticism, looks like the water wheel isn't aligned properly with the building (top looks tilted inward toward the building). 

Glad to hear you are moving towards a Book 2.

[Collector]

Why not also move onto SCI1.1 for it?

[Doan Sephim]

One criticism, looks like the water wheel isn't aligned properly with the building (top looks tilted inward toward the building).

Good catch. That will be a tough one to fix, but I think you are correct. Doing perspective on a prop can be tough sometimes.

Why not also move onto SCI1.1 for it?

My primary reason is just that those were my favorites of the Sierra games. I always liked the parser and I enjoy the limited palate.

Secondary reasons would be that I will get to reuse a ton of resources from the previous game and that I'm already very familiar with the tools.

[MusicallyInspired]

Nice!!

[EricOakford]

Why not also move onto SCI1.1 for it?

My primary reason is just that those were my favorites of the Sierra games. I always liked the parser and I enjoy the limited palate.

Secondary reasons would be that I will get to reuse a ton of resources from the previous game and that I'm already very familiar with the tools.

An idea could be to move to SCI0.1 (which is what QFG2 uses). It fully supports SCI0 views and pics, but sounds will need to be upgraded to the SCI1 format. It also manages memory much more efficiently - between my SCI0 and SCI01 templates, SCI0 has 20618 bytes of free heap space in the test room, while SCI01 has 29456 bytes of free heap - nearly a 9000 byte difference!
SCI01 also has the doVerb method, which can be mapped to parser commands, as used in KQ1SCI and QFG2, as well as support for polygon-based paths.

Just an idea if it turns out heap space will be a problem.

[Doan Sephim]

An idea could be to move to SCI0.1 (which is what QFG2 uses).

This is an interesting idea, and I have to say the addtional heap and path functions are of interest to me. I wonder how cumbersome the transcription of my project to that would be?

In fact, I don't really know how to do that at all, as the options when creating a game with Companion is SCI0 or SCI1.1.

Am I missing something?

[Kawa]

In fact, I don't really know how to do that at all, as the options when creating a game with Companion is SCI0 or SCI1.1.

You put the SCI01 template in the TemplateGame folder and it'll be there in the New Game dialog.

[EricOakford]

An idea could be to move to SCI0.1 (which is what QFG2 uses).

This is an interesting idea, and I have to say the addtional heap and path functions are of interest to me. I wonder how cumbersome the transcription of my project to that would be?

In fact, I don't really know how to do that at all, as the options when creating a game with Companion is SCI0 or SCI1.1.

Am I missing something?

No, you just need to download the template here. As Kawa said, you can then put it in the TemplateGame folder, and it'll be there in the New Game dialog.

I wonder how cumbersome the transcription of my project to that would be?

You'd have to change from Studio to Sierra script. I designed my templates to be as close to the original Sierra source as possible.
Also, keep in mind that the 900 script range and script 255 are specifically intended for system scripts, which should not be edited (except for the Menu script). If you need to make custom properties for things like the inventory or ego, you should instead create subclasses and instances in the game-specific scripts.

[Doan Sephim]

No, you just need to download the template here. As Kawa said, you can then put it in the TemplateGame folder, and it'll be there in the New Game dialog.

Done! Thanks.

You'd have to change from Studio to Sierra script. I designed my templates to be as close to the original Sierra source as possible.
Also, keep in mind that the 900 script range and script 255 are specifically intended for system scripts, which should not be edited (except for the Menu script). If you need to make custom properties for things like the inventory or ego, you should instead create subclasses and instances in the game-specific scripts.

Luckily, I recently converted everything from Studio to Sierra Script, so that won't be a problem. It'll take me some time to tinker around a bit, and hopefully I'll be able to get back to you on the conversion progress.

[MusicallyInspired]

I think I'm going to move KQ2SCI to SCI01 myself! I guess I forgot or it didn't really click that it was in a ready state.

[Doan Sephim]

Just a quick update:
Progress is being made, albeit very slowly on the follow up (still at about 1% completion rate). I'm split between working on this and finishing the Patch for the first part (which is now almost finished)
I'm still very much in the notebook phase for BA2. But major story points are down. Some puzzle elements and possible features include:

• A scavenger hunt for Magical / Mythical items

- Cloak of invisibility
- Telepathic Pig
- Cursed Frying Pan
- Your suggestions!

• A WWE-style philosophy battle
• Two-playable characters that can be switched at will (first 1/3 of game only)
• Forest monsters with multiple ways to evade/kill

- Traditional Battle Screen
- Have them fight each other
- Have a giant smash them
- Trap them in an area and burn it (gruesome!)
- Your suggestions!

Here's the current mock-up of the forest monster (subject to change...I think I'll make his rags/clothing gray)


While a lot is being planned in the notebook phase, I'm still working on some rooms:
Here's a broken-down bell tower in the forest and cliff overlooking the river separating the North are and South (only the North was playable in the first part)



Feel free to drop some of your thoughts. I'm very open to ideas and puzzle considerations. With only the story aspect generally firmly in place, there's a lot of space for me to go in different directions, but I'm already excited to execute on the ideas I have already.

[MusicallyInspired]

Nice. If you want my suggestion, I say keep the forest monster's clothes red. Really pops out more, and for EGA it can resemble a number of different colours. Almost looks like it could be brown for instance.

[Doan Sephim]

Nice. If you want my suggestion, I say keep the forest monster's clothes red. Really pops out more, and for EGA it can resemble a number of different colours. Almost looks like it could be brown for instance.

What do you think? I'm liking the gray better and I have a couple reasons for it
1. These are gargoyle-like monsters that can turn into and out of stone, and gray tends to work better for that idea.
2. They're supposed to be dead/undead monsters and I think being drained of color (even clothing sells that more)

But you are right about it popping out more...maybe I could use different color clothings...

[Doan Sephim]

"End of the World Party"

Idea: On eve of nation going to war, a wealthy person hosts a nihilistic party involving a "death game"
The 9(?) guests are each given a random hidden card.

Each card has a task:
King of Hearts - Find the declare Queen of Hearts (both win)
Queen of Hearts - Find the declare  King of Hearts (both win)
Ace of Spades - No winning goal
Jack of Spades - Find and declare the Ace of Spades (Ace dies)
Queen of Spades - Find and declare the Jack of Spades (Jack dies.)
Queen of Diamonds - Steal King of Diamond's Card
King of Diamonds - Find the Queen of Hearts (Queen dies)
Queen of Clubs - Find the King of Hearts (Queen dies)
Joker - Knowledge of All Cards, wins if false declaration is made.

Anyone may make declaration at any time. If makes wrong declaration, dies.

Not exactly sure how this will all looks and or play, but I wanted to have a murder mystery part of the game, and it evolved from crime scene investigation to crime scene participation. I'm curious about any ideas, potential problems, and gameplay considerations (like reshuffling after so much time)