I'm sure development of a Yserbius remake on Slohand's end is ongoing at a rapid pace. =) I've also started work on a different clone which I plan to release under the GPL, running on an engine I designed that can rapidly prototype and develop 2D programs such as Yserbius and INN.
While working on the guild hall interface, I had an idea which might help further speed the process; it'll certainly help me, and it'll doubtless help slohand as well, and best of all, it'll help involve the Yserbius.org community in the development process.
Recreating the various interfaces and dungeon maps of Yserbius will likely be the most time-consuming part of recreating Yserbius. However, to recreate Yserbius, we'll also need to pull all the statistics from the original program, like "How much XP does it take to get from level 11 to level 12" and "What sort of stat bonuses are conferred when wearing the carnivorous medallion". So, this is my idea: let's all work together to release a standard set of Yserbius documents, detailing all the information which a person who wanted to remake Yserbius might need.
To get us started, I've compiled a list of all the items in the game, and stuffed them into an excel table in the csv format (a very simple format which can be edited in excel and notepad). I've also ripped out a few of the item icons to get us started.
A small excerpt of the table in its current form...
However, the table is at present very incomplete. What I'd hope for is for those users here on the Yserbius Forums who want to help speed up the development process for a Yserbius remake might take up the torch, helping fill up the table and/or rip out new item icons as you come across them in the game. To get this first bunch of data, I used Dosbox, the Yserbius game off of this site, and VitaminF. Not at all complicated, and very rewarding.
Please post here if you're willing to help finish this table up. Having an open documentation of Yseribus information will surely help slohand, as well as any future Yserbius projects. =)
You can download the current iteration of this table here:
Items.csv
How is the table laid out; how can I best view it and edit it?
The table is probably best viewed in excel or any other spreadsheet program; you can download a free spreadsheet program from http://www.openoffice.org/ as part of the OpenOffice suite; alternatively, you can simply open the file in notepad, although the data will appear to be all 'scrunched up', and it'll be a little harder to figure out where you should stick your new data.
The table lists all of the possible attributes which an item can have up top. These attributes include obvious entries, such as 'name', 'buyprice' and 'icon', but they also include entries which might not be so obvious, like 'modtype' and 'effectlvl'. I'll be including definitions of every field, including the possible values it can have and what those values mean, shortly hereafter.
Using CSV files as an item format table is standard throughout the gaming industry: blizzard north used it (or a very similar format) for Diablo 2.
How to post your additions to the table:
Once you've ripped out some new stats, they'll need to be merged into the main table. I suggest that you post the entire line which you've edited. For example, if you took the following line:
...and added data for which guilds can use the item, the buy price, and the sell price, you would post this:
It's that simple!
We should definitely keep a record of who has contributed; in order to properly credit everyone.
These are the item icon names:
sword
scroll
ring
redpot
purplpot
prism
pass
mailcoat
mailcap
lockpick
jacket
insignea
hammer
goldkey
cap
buckler
bluepot
bluepick
If you see any icons which are missing, please rip them out to a 30x26 pixel gif with an obvious 'transparent color', and I'll add them to this list. I've used magenta, rgb 255,0,255 as the transparent color. The 30x26 selection should be made around the grey 'inventory slot' size (the inventory slots are exactly 30x26 pixels if you neglect the outside black border).
While working on the guild hall interface, I had an idea which might help further speed the process; it'll certainly help me, and it'll doubtless help slohand as well, and best of all, it'll help involve the Yserbius.org community in the development process.
Recreating the various interfaces and dungeon maps of Yserbius will likely be the most time-consuming part of recreating Yserbius. However, to recreate Yserbius, we'll also need to pull all the statistics from the original program, like "How much XP does it take to get from level 11 to level 12" and "What sort of stat bonuses are conferred when wearing the carnivorous medallion". So, this is my idea: let's all work together to release a standard set of Yserbius documents, detailing all the information which a person who wanted to remake Yserbius might need.
To get us started, I've compiled a list of all the items in the game, and stuffed them into an excel table in the csv format (a very simple format which can be edited in excel and notepad). I've also ripped out a few of the item icons to get us started.
A small excerpt of the table in its current form...
However, the table is at present very incomplete. What I'd hope for is for those users here on the Yserbius Forums who want to help speed up the development process for a Yserbius remake might take up the torch, helping fill up the table and/or rip out new item icons as you come across them in the game. To get this first bunch of data, I used Dosbox, the Yserbius game off of this site, and VitaminF. Not at all complicated, and very rewarding.
Please post here if you're willing to help finish this table up. Having an open documentation of Yseribus information will surely help slohand, as well as any future Yserbius projects. =)
You can download the current iteration of this table here:
Items.csv
How is the table laid out; how can I best view it and edit it?
The table is probably best viewed in excel or any other spreadsheet program; you can download a free spreadsheet program from http://www.openoffice.org/ as part of the OpenOffice suite; alternatively, you can simply open the file in notepad, although the data will appear to be all 'scrunched up', and it'll be a little harder to figure out where you should stick your new data.
The table lists all of the possible attributes which an item can have up top. These attributes include obvious entries, such as 'name', 'buyprice' and 'icon', but they also include entries which might not be so obvious, like 'modtype' and 'effectlvl'. I'll be including definitions of every field, including the possible values it can have and what those values mean, shortly hereafter.
Using CSV files as an item format table is standard throughout the gaming industry: blizzard north used it (or a very similar format) for Diablo 2.
How to post your additions to the table:
Once you've ripped out some new stats, they'll need to be merged into the main table. I suggest that you post the entire line which you've edited. For example, if you took the following line:
Code:
1,Short Sword,1,0,,,,sword,0,,,,,,,,,,EOL
Code:
1,Short Sword,1,0,bkrtcw,25,10,sword,0,,,,,,,,,,EOLWe should definitely keep a record of who has contributed; in order to properly credit everyone.
These are the item icon names:
sword
scroll
ring
redpot
purplpot
prism
pass
mailcoat
mailcap
lockpick
jacket
insignea
hammer
goldkey
cap
buckler
bluepot
bluepick
If you see any icons which are missing, please rip them out to a 30x26 pixel gif with an obvious 'transparent color', and I'll add them to this list. I've used magenta, rgb 255,0,255 as the transparent color. The 30x26 selection should be made around the grey 'inventory slot' size (the inventory slots are exactly 30x26 pixels if you neglect the outside black border).
