A tough purchase?

[CautiousChaos]

hello everyone,

I've been debating Scallwag for a little while now and am having difficulty getting past the price tag for what appears to be a shell to a game. I've been through the demo levels (up to about 6) several times and though each time the level layout is randomized, the encounters and what you find in each level largely is the same. There's a lot of marketing around the RAGe engine, but I don't see myself modding much and haven't seen anyone jumping into that as well.

Maybe there's more to this game than meets the eye, but based on the demo, it all looks very sparse and routine despite the claims of randomization.

Does the full version offer a different experience in the first 6-10 levels than what I am seeing in the demo? Is there more to the game than I see now? Has anyone else had buyer's remorse?

-cc

[S.R. Krol]

One thing to bear in mind is the demo is limited in what it provides in terms of content. For example, the full game has about 45 monsters to fight. Likewise, more items, mutators, etc. The core experience doesn't change though (e.g. it's still a single-character dungeonhack game).

And yes, unfortunately folks have not dipped into the modding pool (or at least have not shared their work here), which is a shame because modding is where it's at. I can understand though if you're not planning on doing any yourself the hesitation.

If you haven't already I'd suggest checking out some of the reviews linked in the review thread to help with your decision.

[CautiousChaos]

Perhaps a question or two?

As I am playing I am finding that when I encounter a specific type of beast it hits me the same number of times for the same number of hits points each time I encounter that type of beast.

Example. I find a black ant. It hits me twice at 4 points per hit. I hit it twice at 11 points per hit.

Later, I find another black ant. It hits me twice at 4 points per hit. I hit it twice at 11 points per hit.

This happens consistently. It erodes some of the unpredictability of encounters. Is this normal?

Second question is around modding. I've looked over the HTML documentation around modding at the parameters stated in the guide look clear. Almost easy. How is the game modded? Is there some type of additional tool or is it a matter of editing XML files?

-cc

[S.R. Krol]

CautiousChaos said:

As I am playing I am finding that when I encounter a specific type of beast it hits me the same number of times for the same number of hits points each time I encounter that type of beast.

This happens consistently. It erodes some of the unpredictability of encounters. Is this normal?

As far as I understand the amount of base damage is constant based on the damage type and strength, although it can be modified by mutators. So attacking with your fist will yield a set amount of damage points.

Now what shouldn't be happening is the same number of hits. When making an attack (character or monster) there is a check made based on the base to hit modified by the target's defense.

I'm not sure if damage can be randomized for a range, or if it you can only give a base damage rate. That's something Chronic Reality would have to answer.

Second question is around modding. I've looked over the HTML documentation around modding at the parameters stated in the guide look clear. Almost easy. How is the game modded? Is there some type of additional tool or is it a matter of editing XML files?

It's not even XML, for the most part plain ol' text files. If you look in your demo directory you should be able to see some (I think they're in the same place in the demo as the full game, which should be game\media\config). Graphics are all just .TGA files, and sound effects .wav files.

So for most users you can easily change/mod how the game plays, looks, and sounds with nothing more than what comes with Windows. If you can do C++ you can create plugins which would allow you to make bigger changes.

The demo actually allows a fair bit of modding by changing out files. It won't allow you to save a mod though as an unique unit, but in the full game you can create a mod and load it up from the game's menu.

[CautiousChaos]

Thanks! That helps quite a bit. I have an interest in seeing how the random map generator can be modded, even outside of the parameter tweaking that I see you can perform within the config files. I haven't seen any information on modding outside configuration files. Did the developer have any additional documentation on that? Their website talks about it, but nothing is found.

-cc