No. Graal doesn't have any sort of shaders or much to do special effects with. The fact that I was able to pull it off is merely an abuse of some game mechanics, and nothing intentional.

iOS doesn't support MIDI files.

idk why stefan doesn't want to add mp3s when the graphics take up hundreds and is continuously being increased as we see people with customs.

That sounds so shady

teehee

I chalk that up to him not being the smartest guy around. The graphics already take up hundreds of MB, so why not add some music to make it better, since new hats and heads and custom graphics don't really improve the game at all, while a good soundtrack can make or break an environment.

I'd like to see a screen effect like the one in the iEra zombie mode except changed a little.

I came here thinking you meant the Fallout Nightstalkers :(

Then how does Deadwood's lighting work?

A lot of graphics may eventually amount to a large sum of MB's worth of data, but it takes quite a few heads, shields and bodies to equal the size of a single mp3. However graphics are stream-line downloaded as needed, so you're not sitting there downloading many MB's worth of graphics at the same time. This wouldn't be the same with music which would have to be packaged with the app itself.

Very differently. Deadwood's lighting simply overlays a dark effect. However you can not subtract from the darkness, so you can't add more visibility around the player like I have in my screenshot. This CAN be done though with a fairly simple technique, but then you can't have more than one lightsource, which is what I was suggesting. There could be three routes for various quality, which I suggest let people choose to alleviate possible lag on various generations:

Simple: Like deadwood. It's dark, and light sources simply emit a light effect. This doesn't help visibility much though
Moderate: Draw a dark effect and remove the darkness around the player using a technique. No multiple lightsources possible, however give light sources in the level light effects
Advanced: Create a paneleffect that subtracts darkness from each light source. A more intensive method, but actually increases visibility around the player.

Honestly, I kind of want to know your stance on iClassic's soundtrack. Regarding the light, the advanced method would probably be the way to go, as it would actually make things visible and have quality. It would make tower taking at night an interesting experience.

All three would be implemented, and players would get to choose based on what runs best on their iPod.

Ah, I see. That would alleviate problems concerned with having older systems.

Not entirely. Gen 1 would still probably have problems even with the simple lighting.

Wouldn't most people have upgraded from Gen 1 by now?

problem is advanced would be laggy as hell.

It all depends on how the iPod version handles intensive panel drawing.

Gen 1s can't download apps, but Gen 2 and 3 are screwed.

Lucky me I'm a iPod 4th gen user haha watch out 2nd and 3rd gen users.

Good work Rufus. I saw a hint at this actually coming soon. There was a guard standing in the way of a cave and he was saying he wouldnt patrol at night :)

BANNON'S CAVE LEGGO

I still doubt it would come anytime soon, it would require a huge amount of work to do correctly, and they still have to finish the quest.

Hmmm yeah it takes a lot less work to make a hint than the actual thing

Nah, Rufus can do it with his eyes closed

Not as much as you might think. Actually coding the system won't be as demanding as making sure everything works properly, everybody is happy with it and making use of it.

Sure you could just dim the screen at set intervals for everyone and make outside pk at night, but that would look half assed.

Making baddies attack towns at night, having windows light up(to simulate lights from inside),having different events at night and day, and changing the music to fit the theme of night would take a consistent effort.

Nah, Rufus can do that in 2 seconds

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/58874942/Ph...%2026%20PM.png

Actually finally got around to testing my idea, and even though it runs fine on my PC it lags pretty bad on my iPad; this could be because of the higher resolution but I dunno. I'm a bit disappointed, I knew it probably wouldn't run as well as the PC but I was hoping that dropping the quality of the effect(which I did, quite a bit) would help, but it didn't. I think it has to do with slow RAM or something in the iPod/iPad, as the GFX chip shouldn't have a problem rendering the effect, so I'm gonna chalk it up to the RAM not being able to write the drawingpanel fast enough.

Is there any possible alternative or solution?

For what I wanted? Nope.

That looks really nice, almost as good as I pictured it in my head.

As for the lag on iPad, I'm pretty sure Graal is more cpu intensive than gpu intensive, in terms of scripts-I don't think Graal takes advantage of the GPU for scripted effects. Is it the shading of the tiles that lags it, or the lantern light effect? Just shading the screen with teh dark blue is a really nice feel, perhaps you could get away with that.

also maybe jsut have the normal lantern effect, but change the player sync distance at night.

Then it would have to be done differently. Are there alternative methods of giving off the illusion of nighttime?

It's not a loop problem, as there is no looping being done(other than for players, which in this case is only 3). It's a problem with drawingpanel.

And design-wise I wouldn't have used player lightsources because of the sheer amount of players on iClassic. I'd only have used NPCs as light sources, for things such as lamps and torches in levels.

maybe use images to draw over the tiles that display at night to simulate a light effect for non moving things like lanterns? it would require the graphics team to make images for specific areas, but the result would be the same and not use as much processing power.

I just read this thread, but I like pretty much everything that has been said. With the guards not out, Pyrats should roam york, Baddies should roam other places, bats should come out on overworld, Different bugs should be present such as more lightning bugs and things such as spiders/scorpians and less day bugs. Lanterns would be so cool bug i understand the problems associated. Mabye more of a threat to dying, since its night. Mabye at late night if you die you go to the closest spawn point? (EXA: unstuck me, hotels/inns, tower spawns)

One thing to add that I thought sounded insanely fun. If at night, when you die you respawn at respawn points. Then there could be another guild activity in which they have leaderboards for guild night kills ratio. It could be called "Night-kill" scores. Or mabye its based on K/D. Or somthing. Many cool guild things could be added along with nighttime PK-world zone.

So you're essentially suggesting a leaderboard for guilds' collective kills(that rhymes!) during the night? That's a great idea! I agree with you on every other point as well, except for those damn bats. I hate those things.

There really are no alternatives. The method I used was pretty much conceptualized by me and is a hackish way to even achieve it. The fact I could even pull it off in Graal would probably surprise a few developers.

The only other "alternative" would be to only have a circle around the player themselves, which is fairly easy to do. However that wasn't what I had in mind and fits in place with the "moderate" setting.

Doesn't Era have a system with weather that makes it darker and stuff, and causes streetlights to turn on?

Perhaps Classic could have a similar system, its enough to show that its night, just not as beautiful as we would hope.

It has to be beautiful and perfect, otherwise iClassic's unpleasable fanbase will complain that the update isn't good.

There are people that appreciate the worst of things, and people that fail to appreciate the best of things.

That is definitely true, although sadly, iClassic is mostly made of up the latter. I know one person who was b****ing about how long it took to get a simple fetch quest, instead of appreciating the fact that there actually was an update. People will complain about anything. (Note: that may have been a hypocritical statement, as Psycher complains about most things that e does not find to his liking. Like those stupid virtual daters.)

About the lighting problems and how you want the lantern to actually help visabilty... Have you guys seen the maze in deadwood? The lantern helps a lot in visabilty... Like I'm serious... It's dark and when you turn the lantern on it actually helps. It doesn't just create and effect. Couldn't anything be done the same to the overworld?

Lantern light effect sucks ass.

That was only for that area, and it's pretty annoying.. I was hoping night wouldn't be zero visibility, just dark like in a dark cave..

All zones outside PK-able @ night? all4it.

Most cave systems I've been in are zero visibility. All you could see was the underground river reflecting the light from the glow worms, and the glow worms themselves on the cavern roof. And that was only a tiny part of the system. The light went in for maybe ten metres, then it was all black. I agree about you needing to see things, though. Maybe it should be more the level of light when you're in an airplane, and it's taking off, and they but all lights but this ones glowing down from the wall on... If that makes sense to anyone.

I'm all for this idea. It'd also be cool if the guards did something at the castle... Maybe if there was an added doorway, and the guards forgot to guard it at night, and there was something in there. I don't know what, just as long as it isn't a free hat or hat store. And guards could start to guard a few more; like, maybe a room leading to the bedrooms would be guarded heavier.

This idea would be awesome to see, especially if you could slowly see it getting darker, and all the NPCs hurrying around and doing things. That last bit might be a little hard though.

Ohhh, and you could use it for a new Hallowe'en quest. There's a guy, and if you stay in his house after sundown, he barricades you in to 'stop the Baddies coming in,' and then, as he just laughs nervously in a corner like a maniac, you need to get out... Or something. Maybe counsel him. Hurrah.

*bump*-any update going to come of this...

Facebook wouldn't be able to see any differences between day and night. Fail idea.

I don't really understand that. Why?

The Facebook client doesn't support seteffect or anything that would make a visual night effect viable.

Oh, okay. That sucks.

Sucks for them? *hoping the idea isn't set aside*