Casting Spells

[DerSaidin]

Quick guide to casting spells for anyone new:

First of all, you need to bind some keys

The config stuff can now also be done by executing the default.cfg config in the weaver mod directory:
/exec default.cfg

1. Press MOUSE4 or MOUSE5 or whatever you bound it to
2. Continue holding that key down.
3. Click and drag MOUSE2 in a direction, then release MOUSE2
4. Repeat previous step until spell is complete
5. Release MOUSE4 or MOUSE5

Your spell is now being held, like a weapon. Select it, then fire it (MOUSE1). Spells which are being held consume your available power.
Your available power limits how many spells you can do at once.

casting.png (307.84 KiB) Viewed 11508 times

For list of spells see spells design document at http://www.dersaidin.net/weaver/forum/v ... f=2&p=1#p1

[DerSaidin]

The config stuff can now also be done by executing the default.cfg config in the weaver mod directory:
/exec default.cfg

[Delirium]

Just seeing it from the screen shots it looks like the caster director thingy in the middle will get in the way, how about a bit of transparency?

[DerSaidin]

Yes, some cvars to configure that and how its used are planned, but they'll come much later.

[Snailpaste]

How long will it take to cast spells?

it looks sort of complicated.

[dutchmeat]

It can be done within a few seconds, it might look complicated, but you will get used to it.
It's even a bit similar to 'Fahrenheit's action system.

[eiM]

it looks like it would take ages to cast and stop your moevement but actaully you can even cast complex spells in under a second. The spell cast demonstration footage should show that =)

[Resin]

This looks very cool.
I'm guessing your trying to keep this as simple as possible just to get it done but...
Are elements dynamic to each other meaning light counteracts dark - water vs. fire that kind of thing?
could there be different spell types such as defensive/healing/offensive close/ranged/vampiric(syphoning)
Are there any plans for group spells?
This looks like it is all in the player UI, will there be corresponding animations to show what some one is up to so that you can see when someone is preparing a spell or holding a spell and what type it might be.

I'm just imagining something like a smokey bubble, perhaps animated semi-transparent thing that looks like what you have in the forum banner. So that if you see someone has an offensive fire spell prepared you could conjure a fast fire shield (or water shield?) or if they were friendly someone specially skilled in earth could add their earth power to a fire mages fire spell. You might also then be able to sabotage to explode it in its user's face or syphon energy from it while it is being held.

Things I've long wanted to see.
Probably a bit early for this type of thing.

I would also like to see an animate spell so you could have different elemental pets - ifrits and golems and the like.

[DerSaidin]

Spells don't quite interact closely enough to combine with other players, or counter enemies spells. That would be much harder to program, and it would also shift the focus too far from an FPS. This game is primarily an FPS. Thats also why there'll be no pets/summoning spells. This is not an RPG. There are not pets, no RPG style items (but CTF flag - yes, item to steal as objective - yes, but these have no bonuses), no leveling up, no unlocks. This is a FPS.

As mentioned in another thread, there will be fractals corresponding to the elements being casted. When the spell is complete, the player who made it gets an icon on their hud to show that its ready to fire. Their team mates will see an icon for that spell above their head. Enemies will not know what they have, but may be able to guess if they saw the elements being used.

Spells were originally separated into aggressive and defensive, but we decided it would be less confusing if they were all accessed together.

Spells are grouped by their primary element (the first one you pick). Shields have to match the element they block - fire shield blocks damage from fire ball.

[Resin]

I see. Your looking at a much faster pace than what I originally thought.
I like the fractal sprites.

[Jani]

Here is my 2 ideas about how the casting could work, no testing on these yet:

Idea 1:

[01:36] <Jani_> it could work like this:
[01:36] <Jani_> Hold magic button (mouse 4)
[01:37] <Jani_> move the mouse over south-east: click mouse3
[01:37] <Jani_> then move it to east
[01:37] <Jani_> and click mouse 3 again
[01:37] <Jani_> release 4 and the spell is ready to be casted

Idea 2:

[01:41] <Jani_> but I don't understand why it has to be done twice
[01:41] <Jani_> why not just (this is an example)
[01:41] <Jani_> move mouse to right
[01:41] <Jani_> which is "water" element
[01:41] <Jani_> then a new branch pops up
[01:41] <Jani_> 3 options
[01:42] <Jani_> you go to north-east one, which is water cannon
[01:42] <Jani_> and release
[01:42] <Jani_> the spell is ready

Didn't want to waste proper ideas that I got dead tired

[DerSaidin]

Option one is moving the mouse then right clicking, instead of click-dragging it to the right.
Thats not a bad idea, could be added as an option later, for now it would actually be a significant bit of work to support that.

Short cutting, well, in a usability sense it wouldn't be a bad idea either.
However, the number of elements in a spell is significant for the amount of power it takes. Also casting more powerful spells is intended to be more difficult.