hm. i checked it, and the shield code is exactly the same in k8ivan as in comm. fork (ok, let's call it "vanilla" from now on, because this is The Definitive Edition now .

i mean, i checked all places where `IsShield()` is checked.

wow. thank you for pointing that! i haven't compared the whole code yet (it is HUGE! , only took the parts related to new items, characters and magic effects. so i'll take a look now!

i thought about doing something with shields myself. there is the thread here, where you proposing several changes, including adding shield bashing. that is something i am thinking about too.

currently (no changes to shields yet), i tried to go with a light shield and a short sword, and… meh. throwed the shield into some kobold soon enough, and picked up the second sword.


tbh, i never ever reached Oree without wiz mode. this prolly has something to do with my preferred playstyle: i HAET pets and praying! i am starting to think that the game should take a note that the player never prayed to anyone despite seeing altars and reading the books (or maybe forbid reading books too), and never tamed anyone, and spawn some better gears and stat raising fluids in this case. it should be subtle, and nothing in the game should hint at it, but it would be fun hidden mechanics, i believe. and maybe will give me a chance (still no, because of danger level .

…and i just remembered why i never used heavy weapons. for dual-wielder UT is a toy, Jenny doesn't stand a chance, and i can run around farming the plants to no end. but tried the same with long swords, and… killed by a hedgehogs. or plants. or Jenny. with more training heavy weapons will prolly perform better, but i never lived long enough to see that.

implemented option to use outlined items. not quite happy with the result, but i believe i'll get used to it. not all items are outlined, though: food and some other items aren't.

also, once i decided to go with heavy weapons, the game started to spawn various enchanted short swords and such. and i found bones with light weapons arsenal. tell me what you want, "this is not in the code" and such, but i really believe that this game is sentient, and it has very twisted sense of humor.

tbh, i am still really far from being ready even for pre-beta playtesting. besides many bugs to fix, i need at least proper in-game command console, and some way to dissect saves. maybe even store all moves and actions in save games, so i'll be able to replay everything.

btw, "action replay" would be a killer feature by itself. it could be very small (we only need to save player actions), and people will be able to pass around their winning records.

of couse, making the game deterministic will take some efforts: it is using PRNG in a lot of places, and in some places we should use "throwaway PRNG" which doesn't affect the game (like for various visual fx).

that's right. recruit Sherry, and cast some protection spells on her. and forget about Izzy, he is no more. or basically anybody else in the game.

but i'm more about making various "end game routes" mutually exclusive, because OP player will prolly wipe the floor with Oree and his minions, for example. it might be fun to show everybody who's The Boss, of course, but… i don't feel like it plays good with "the spirit of IVAN". also, this adds some strategy too: should i go for Elpuri and Petrus? or help Aslona officials? or rebels? or became a wizard? choosing one of those should close other routes. at least that's how i envision the game.

hm. i just realised how badly i need playtesters. in almost two decades i NEVER (no exaggeration!) ever played as heavy weapon warrior. i mean, no, i never used two-handed swords, or halberds. the game says they are "inaccurate", and that was enough for me to ignore them completely. i was also throwing away shields the moment i found the second sword. my build is always dual-wielder, and it is usually two short swords, or gauche and short sword, or katana and… you got the idea. maximum dexterety, no heavy armors, and all that. i never even realised starting spears as a weapon.

i know that "inaccurate" doesn't mean "you will miss each time", and that big weapons are better at blocking than small ones, but… that knowledge lives in some separate part of my brain. "me grow bananas. me fear things much longer than banana."

also, i always wanted to know, but constantly forget to check… now i checked it, and yes, Sherry can single-handedly (ok, with two hands clear the game of everybody. basically, the only two places where she dies is wizard's lair (she couldn't get to them fast enough), and Oree's Lair entry, where she slaughtered almost all golems, but was broght down by several critical hits.

ported almost all new items from comm. fork (except several which have no use in k8ivan), and some more characters. basically, 6 or so new characters left to port. it's not hard, just very tedious copypasta work.

of course, it doesn't mean that everything will magically start working properly: there are a lot of subtle changes over various places in comm. fork, and i have to go through the source code, comparing things. sadly, comm. fork inherited the original code as is, so everything is thrown into several huge files, without much sense or order. i spent a lot of time splitting that to "one source file for each class" in k8ivan to make everything manageable, but i lost the tools i wrote for that. so i prolly have to recreate the tools first.

still, i hope to have the playable version with most community content done in several weeks. and then i can resume working on the database, and prolly on some other support tools. and start fixing bugs i introduced during the port, of course.

hm. interesting idea! there is a wizard in Aslona, and he prolly could have some more sidequests. prove yourself, and the wizard will make you his apprentice.

this should be something simple, though, because a huge quest will make the player overpowered. maybe yet another route to finish the game? i.e. instead of doing favors to Aslona officials, screw them, and go learning magic?