[Mod] Spiders (v3.1)

[Worst]

Hi!

I'm a quite new Knight around here, as I only started playing last sunday or so
(In-game I've been using the alias thatman)

This game is quite fun, so i've been playing it against Moo almost every evening since then :P

I think the game really could use more content though.. so after I tried the beta, and learned about its modding capabilities, I couldn't help making this mod:



Download in attachment
Note: this needs the beta Stephen posted in here
EDIT: Works with the latest release now! (Knights v. 21)

Update: v2, spider sprites adjusted a bit (as seen in the 2nd screenshot)
Update: v2.1, fixed a typo in the code (thanks for spotting it Stephen!)
Update: v3, three types of spiders, spiders in barrels, mod toolbox support.
Update: v3.1, fixed an issue with mod toolbox.

[ImpassIve]

Hehe, nice work! =) I had a similar idea, but with small and fast spiders with paralyzing bite)

The only remark about this mod - maybe, you may make sprites just a bit more faded..?

P.S. Just IMHO.

[Worst]

Hehe, nice work! =)

Thanks  :)

I had a similar idea, but with small and fast spiders with paralyzing bite

Not a bad idea, I wouldn't mind seeing more than 1 or 2 types of spiders in the same dungeon :D

The only remark about this mod - maybe, you may make sprites just a bit more faded..?

Yeah I was thinking of making them less colourfull, since at the moment they look a bit out of place..

P.S. Just IMHO.

Heh no need to clarify that.. I can take critique and suggestions just fine 8)

Btw. If anyone is interested in using this mod as base for their own mod; feel free to do so as long as you credit me for my work.

[Stephen]

Oh, wow, I'm impressed. You got that out pretty fast :)

Going to try this out now...

[K9]

Love it!   Bring in the spiders.

I don't remember hearing that one before, definitely haven't seen those drawings, cool.

If you haven't already, look around at lot of cool ideas in old forum posts, mainly to be sure not reinventing.

You can see Trolls, wands and other related mods/ideas, previously suggested and samples available in some cases.

Spiders in the dungeon are definitely a villain to be battled, and lot of related spinoff ideas in gameplay.  (As already implied, large slow paralyzing boss spiders protecting treasure/exit, and small fast deadly spiders, each with different markings to indicate their poison, and web tiles   that slow down or drain energy when encountered), for example.

[Stephen]

Nice mod.

I found a mistake, in spider.lua you have:

Code Select Expand

ai_avoid = all_open_pit_tiles

This should say:

Code Select Expand

ai_avoid = C.all_open_pit_tiles

This is because "all_open_pit_tiles" is defined in the "classic" module (classic/tiles.lua to be precise).

Unfortunately, I think this is going to be a common mistake... people are going to want to copy/paste code from other modules (especially "classic") and they will sometimes forget to add the "C." prefix. I don't know if there is much we can do about it for the moment though.

[Worst]

Oh, wow, I'm impressed. You got that out pretty fast :)

Glad to hear that :D
I guess the reason I got it pretty fast is that I have prior experience with modding various games, so the process was not entirely unfamiliar to me (Infact, there were concepts that are similar to what i've seen in other games).
Though this is pretty much the first time i've touched Lua, so i've been just now learning the basics of it.

Love it!   Bring in the spiders.

Thanks ;D /me hands a plate full of spiders

I don't remember hearing that one before, definitely haven't seen those drawings, cool.

Heh well, as I just now drew the sprites for the mod, there's no way you'd have seen them earlier than that :P
Not sure if you had a such underlying thought at all, but I could definitely understand if you were even just slightly suspicious about new sprites.. I've been in various modding communities, and seen a lot of mods by different people; It's not uncommon at all for some to rip art from other games or authors.. Thus I think it's only sane to have a bit of wariness, and not take everything someone says for granted.

If you haven't already, look around at lot of cool ideas in old forum posts, mainly to be sure not reinventing.

I checked out some of the topics, there's certainly been some cool ideas in there. Some of them I guess I could try out at some point. :) (that being said, there were also ideas that were really 'usual' and simple, ideas that I had already thought about before ever reading the forums.. so even if someone might have posted a such idea earlierly in the forum, I dont think i'd credit them for such.)

Spiders in the dungeon are definitely a villain to be battled, and lot of related spinoff ideas in gameplay.  (As already implied, large slow paralyzing boss spiders protecting treasure/exit, and small fast deadly spiders, each with different markings to indicate their poison, and web tiles   that slow down or drain energy when encountered), for example.

These are neat ideas, hopefully we can see them happen :)


A little update on the mod: Modified the sprites to fit better with the rest of the game. New version added to first post.

EDIT:

I found a mistake, in spider.lua ...

Oops, this explains why I think I saw one spider running into a pit today. Thanks for spotting it; I've uploaded a fixed version now.

Unfortunately, I think this is going to be a common mistake... people are going to want to copy/paste code from other modules (especially "classic") and they will sometimes forget to add the "C." prefix. I don't know if there is much we can do about it for the moment though.

Yeah.. this is a really easy mistake to do, I've done it plenty of times while testing. Trying to figure out a bug for hours, only to eventually figure out that I missed a "C." prefix in an earlier part of the code :P

Not sure if it would be possible at all to do with the Lua parser or such, but what if it would give a warning if you have a variable that matches one of the C. variables, but has no prefix? (Sure there would be false positives, but I think it could reveal typos easily)
Or maybe even better if some of the variable names would be restricted to only be used in the "C." or "M." namespace, so if you forgot the prefix, and would have otherwise exactly the same name, it would give out an error.

[Stephen]

Not sure if it would be possible at all to do with the Lua parser or such, but what if it would give a warning if you have a variable that matches one of the C. variables, but has no prefix? (Sure there would be false positives, but I think it could reveal typos easily)
Or maybe even better if some of the variable names would be restricted to only be used in the "C." or "M." namespace, so if you forgot the prefix, and would have otherwise exactly the same name, it would give out an error.

Something like that is needed, yes.

I do think the "namespace" idea is important. It should be possible for two different modules to use the same variable name, without clashing. Otherwise we are going to get problems with name clashes, especially as more and more modules are created.

However, as you say, there should be some sort of error message, instead of just silently failing.

I have added a ticket to Trac (#203) and I will try to figure out a solution at some point. For now though I want to concentrate on doing the next Knights release.

[K9]

Just played some great quests with new creature/features on Thatman's (aka Forum name:Worst) test server, including Moo too.

Loved the Spiders, Living Armour (Thatman's ideas) and multiple wands (implemented from Impassive_rus drawing and/or Romanio_rus I believe).

Lot of fun - actually "seeing" how Lua opens a wild world of possibilites.

For a very interesting glimpse into this, hook-up some gametime with Thatman and Moo!

Moo told me about his mod (with random bear traps), would like to see that one in action soon.

There are some old postings and graphics with Trolls too (I bet they are possible now), even without the new gameplay modes, seeing some different creatures around really spices things up.

Thank you very much, Stephen for making it possible and Everyone that contributes their time toward new content!

[Worst]

I've uploaded a new version: Spiders v3

- This version now includes 3 different sizes for the spiders, all of them having some differences
in their properties.  The 'spiders' menu item will randomly select different types to spawn. (Ie. there isn't 3 menu items now.)
- If the 'spiders' setting is not set to zero, there's a chance that barrels may contain spiders.
- Added support for ImpassIve_rus mod toolbox.

The new version is attached to the first post.

[ImpassIve]

Hehe, thanks for supporting toolbox mod)

Btw, I like this version of your mod. Different sizes and spiders which can be found in barrels... pretty interesting =)
Also tried your telewand mod and it is cool too ;)

[Julian]

I love the Spiders mod! I made the graphics a little scarier and added a sound effect.

[ImpassIve]

I love the Spiders mod! I made the graphics a little scarier and added a sound effect.

An unofficial compatibility patch based on this version