Tethical, online FFT clone

[Pickle Girl Fanboy]

This really should wait until after 1.0, but nevertheless:

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Implement features from PSP wireless play?
* Invisible characters are actually invisible to enemies.
* Time limit to input commands option, defaults to wait or AI = (n) seconds/minutes per turn to input command, does excess time rollover?  how about a total of (n) minutes to input all commands, and once you run out, every action then defaults to AI?
* Action limit option = (n) actions per side per battle.
* Clocktick limit option = battle is over after (n) clockticks.
* Traps.  Optional.  Also, trap placement.  Option to randomize type of trap.  Option to randomize trap placement.  Dialog upon trap trigger should be "It's a trap!"
* Option to quit mid-battle.  Option to disable quitting mid-battle.  Option to penalize the quitter on quit.
* Choose post-battle spoils.
* Press a key just before Attack (as in Attack command) to add knockback.  Optional.
* Lock weapons if hit% is close to 50%.  Add lock weapons dialog and key presses.  Optional.
* Trap disarm dialog.  Can be either rapid key presses, quick "evade" key press to reward quick thinking, or an "enter code" dialog to reward cool-headedness.  Optional.

[Kivutar]

@Cheetah: Thanks for the images, I don't know if I will use them or code the thing using a different approach, but thanks anyway.

@Pickle Girl Fanboy
This is a usefull list.
They will be implemented in the future.

I started to use github token system: https://github.com/Kivutar/tethical/issues?sort=created&direction=desc&state=open
This can be used for bug reports and feature requests. If you use it, please make sure to submit atomic tokens.
I think it is a good beginning for teamwork.

[Omegus]

Hello all from sunny Kandahar. You guys have really progressed since I left. How is everyone ill be home in a couple of weeks (hopefully in time for Christmas). I'll talk you all soon.

[Kivutar]

Omegus, I'm happy to have news from you. Come back soon.

[wemustexpandordie]

Hi

I do acknowledge the fact that you aren't making much more than a demo for the fact that it this is a lot of work.

However on another part of the forums I made a list of ideas much of which isn't possible unless you start from scratch.

Again I acknowledge that you're not trying to take in more work than you can, but Dome gave me a link to this page.
I guess he wants me to show you.

After all maybe you'll get quite a bit of help and you did say you'd make it as open source as possible.

so here's the link to my post.

http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=8259.0

[Kivutar]

Thank you. Some of your ideas are in the scope of tethical, some are not, but it is always good for us to ear about what people want.

[zephyros]

I have one question. Is the entire engine going to run with Python, or is Python just used for the map tool inside C++?

[lirmont]

The engine runs in Python. Tethical (the engine) runs inside of another engine (Panda3d). The version of Panda3d Tethical uses is the Python binding.

[zephyros]

Okay gotcha. Thanks for the response lirmont. I had read that some games could use python tools but the main engine could be written in another code type, so I wasn't sure. 

I'll be watching the progress of Tethical as it expands. Great work so far!

[Zand3]

Hi guys, I'm a complete noob to this site and I don't know anything about programming, but I've always wanted to play FFT online ever since I was a kid. The first time I got Xlink Kai to work was magical and enthralling. Unfortunately it was not worth the effort just to find one person to play with, but the dream lives on! I was hoping to find a forum section for xlink kai players on this site, but doesn't look that way. It would be cool to build a community like that, or if this project turns into something like that, that would be amazing too of course. Anyways, just wanted to reach out and speak my thoughts and see what people are thinking out there. Best wishes.

[Omegus]

Hey everyone, Guess who just became a qualified s.n.i.p.e.r.... Anyways just jumped on the old inter-hyper-web to check on the progress of the engine and I must say it looks great.Really you guys have done a ridiculous amount of work since I left last year for my tour. I also wanted to ask if any one here also knew about this project going on right now on kickstarter. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shoreboundstudios/shadow-remnants . The idea is the same as yours. But it looks like they are going to release near september 2013 from what I have seen on the page.

[lirmont]

Congratulations on your sniper certification, man! Also, thanks for touring. I had not heard of that project before your post, but I do market research time-to-time and there are several such ventures. For instance, there's a full TRPG with a crafting component for android phones that's been out for years at this point (believe the price was $19.99 when I saw it in google's marketplace). However, the difference between those products and the aims of Tethical are somewhat fundamental. Each support feature brings Tethical's engine to be more and more like a development platform for TRPG games. If any of those games had to suddenly be different, could they? Probably not without a lot of work, because one-off games aren't built that way. I've seen a lot of my work come together recently (speaking of my sprite animation tool) and formulas will come together soon to be used in-game (I'm working on the testing component for them now). I've already begun reorganizing Tethical's code base to support events (you can see one of a song from an opera), and other things are in the works from me. Thanks for your continued interest in the project.

[Omegus]

Hey just saw the opera event video, great work. Great to hear things are really coming together for you guys and gals on the team. I hope to be the first to try out the engine when it is finished.

[Sajátgép]

Hey there, this project looks awesome, did read the forum awhile now.

As everyone feels when seeing something good, as do I feel the need to give some help.

I'm learning computer engineering, and know some c,c++,java, but don't have a clue on python(sadly).

But I ask, if I can do something to help, maybe easy but time consuming things, or things that need hard logic thinking, feel free to tell me.(I even could start learning python at an average speed.)

[lirmont]

Thanks for your interest and kind offer to help, but, from one programmer to another, it's a bad idea for a beginner to learn Python in the face of learning C/C++/Java. Python's approach, while programmatically similar, is radically different to type-safe approaches to variables you face in C++/Java. Further than that, I did not know Python when I began helping with this project, and so reading my code may likely earn you some bad habits.

Beyond that, things that require complex logic are few and far between at this point (which is good) and all of those places relate to the database schema I wrote for this game engine (something else you'd have to learn and know). There is a bunch of work involved there to make the code readable so that it can be maintained, but it heavily depends on a caveat feature of Python (overriding the "get attribute" method of a class) you would not be familiar with in C/C++/Java.

Perhaps more than anything else, the engine is at a point where it needs graphical contributions so that there are no remnants of FFT assets in the main branch. Things like sprites, effects, and miscellaneous assets would greatly help the engine's progress. That is to say, without those things (permissions to use those things), I will be unable to publish working examples of some game states to the master branch of the engine. Clearly, that's not a big deal to me; I wrote all of the programming that deals with states and so I have that code already. However, the reason something like this engine doesn't exist already is because it's a lot of work that not just anyone is able to accomplish. I'm trying to make it easy for people to use and maintain, but I will draw the line there in favor of spending my time working on my own gaming project with the engine I've spent so long to help write.

Anyway, thanks for your continued interest in this engine.

[Sajátgép]

I don't really have any skills in grapics, so I must say I'm sorry about this.

Keep up the good work, I will be watching. D:

[HAX]

So the main goal of this project is to be able to play FFT against others right? If so then i'm excited.

I hope the mechanics remain the same, it does say FFT clone.

As far as contributing goes, i'm proficient with 3D, but no programming, so if i can help i will.

[contaejus]

Ah I see you no longer give fucks about this.

[Ilium]

Hello all. Count me as one of the many who are extremely interested in this project. Has progress here stalled, or are there not any updates? This program would have huge advantages when played alongside another project being developed by myself and several others: Final Fantasy Simulation (FFSim). FFSim is the spiritual ancestor to the game Heroes of Ivalice, a game over six years old with a once huge player base.  The game is a text based forum rpg ran with the mechanics of the original FFT. (Additional reading about the project on this forum here and here.)

I envision Tethical would be perfect to use as the combat system for this game, and we would like to extend our hand in partnership. If there is anything I can do, anything at all, I am at your disposal. I am an experienced programmer with a strong grasp on C++. We also have a great sprite artist doing good work for us at our forum, if you guys have anything specific you need done graphically, let us know. There are a couple of us at FFSim who are deeply interested in the progress of this engine.

[lirmont]

No, progress hasn't stalled on the project as a whole. I've just been working on finishing and sealing up one of the tools associated with the overall project. The engine was to the point where I needed to implement shield blocks, weapon guards, hamedo actions, and the like, and, while I could easily program those types of moves to occur, I wouldn't be able to see them go off in the client without the work I recently put into the sprite animation tool. There are still a few things I have to fix related to that, but the actions in question will make their way into the reference implementation of a battle system (it currently mimics FFT's battle system because it's basically the gold standard for such systems, in my opinion).

As far as supporting the project, it's primarily in Python, which you'll likely find difficult to transition to (as code blocks are represented by indentation and type enforcement is very loose). However, you can read up on Panda3d (the engine the engine is developed on), if you so desire. Mostly, I'd like to have a database of custom FFT sprites freely available for use to contributing members within the context of this particular engine. I'll trade any such contribution for a generic license to non-beta software related to the project. Right now, that only includes the Sprite Animator tool (requires a Windows platform or virtualization), which generates XML files that enable the engine to display all manner of 2D characters, monsters, and effects.

Once I have more than zero sprites that I can offer to contributors, I'll work on a website to deliver them to said contributors. If you choose to send something, please do it via a private message to me here on this forum. Otherwise, you can contribute design and feature criticism on tools or features already associated with the project in order to gain contributor status if that's something you want (namely, access to a beefed up version of the Sprite Animator tool I wrote).

Thanks for your continued interest in this project.