Game Script Manual Available!

[Boaster]

Hello members and visitors!

I have just completed the Game Script Manual (GSM) on this date of A.D. two-thousand-eleven, November 7.

The GSM is be available to those who contribute a minimum donation of $5.99 via Paypal. However! It will be available for the first week (November 7 through November 14) at a reduced minimum donation of $3.99.

The Game script Manual covers the following items:
      Page 1 … USING THE RIGHT TOOLS.
      Page 2 … SYSTEM SYMBOLS.
      Page 3 … MATHEMATICS, OPERANDS AND PROCEDURES.
      Page 5 … STARTING WITH THE BASICS.
      Page 5 … REAL VS INTEGER STATS.
      Page 6 … UNIT EDITING.
      Page 9 … ARTIFACT EDITING & ARTIFACT BASICS.
      Page 13 … ARTIFACT MODIFICATION: Non-Wield Mods Version.
      Page 16 … ARTIFACT MODIFICATION: Wield Mods Version.
      Page 20 … SPELL EDITING & SPELL BASICS.
      Page 25 … SPELL MODIFICATION.

To send your minimum donation to Mantera by Paypal, use the Donate button on the website or on this message board.

The GSM will be available only as PDF file.

Reply to this thread if you have questions.

[EDIT]
Since the donations have a set minimum, it is appropriate for me to establish a maximum donation. While the minimum donation does effectively work as a set "price," donors can in fact donate more than what's posted.

The maximum donation allowed is set at $20.99. Anything more than this amount in a single transaction will be refunded.

[the Fallen]

Alright; I donated. How do I get the file?

[Boaster]

Check your email now.

I generally wait for Paypal to generate an email to my account about a donation to alert me. But since you have posted here, I don't have to wait for that.

Thanks for the donation!

[Boaster]

Today is the final day for the reduced minimum donation.

After which, the minimum amount becomes $5.99. The maximum will remain at $20.99.

[michaelj]

This is awesome! I love this game, and have been looking for a long time for a way to mod it. I sent you a donation of $6 through Paypal. Thanks!

[Boaster]

Thanks Michael. Check your email!

[myrddin]

Hmmm. I'm not too interested in modding the original game, but I'd like to be able to get certain units (gob archers, wolf riders, witches, siegfried, brunhilde) available for play in the original. I'm not sure if I'd be able to figure out how to do that with just a few pages and no knowledge of mpq editing. I'd be glad to give $20ish to have a barely modded game with availability of these creatures in the lord editor.

[Boaster]

7/24/2012
For a limited time!

Game Script Manual is available to those who donate $3.99.

When this offer expires, this post will be deleted!

[Boaster]

The time window has closed.

Donation required set back to $5.99.

[deathmerchant]

Is the GSM still available? I figured I should ask since the last post was made last year.

[Boaster]

Feb 26, 2013 10:30:55 GMT -6 deathmerchant said:

Is the GSM still available? I figured I should ask since the last post was made last year.

Yes, it is available.

[huami]

donated $20 bucks, I'll just wait around the corner till you see the mail come in from paypal, curious enough, is this gsm in pdf format? word?

[Boaster]

Mar 22, 2013 4:15:55 GMT -6 huami said:

donated $20 bucks, I'll just wait around the corner till you see the mail come in from paypal, curious enough, is this gsm in pdf format? word?

GSM is in pdf format.

[Corpse Core]

Greetings!

I have also donated in order to acquire the game script manual. Lords of magic has been one of my favorite games since I was a child and seeing what you Mantera have done to improve the game has inspired me to try my hand at modding the game as well. It will be quite a learning process, but I hope to reach a point where I can release patches of my own making some day.

However, if I may offer some critique Mantera. 

1. Your mod does a lot to improve and simplify the over all functioning of the game which provides a much smoother experience. However, I cannot help but feel that it has become cluttered in regards to map symbols and lord customization in regards to units (which I feel should be regulated to the base selection).

2. The map editor has seen exceptional improvement with the GS5R3 mod, especially in regards to the addition of Gold and Brewery symbols and encounters. But as mentioned before, the symbol catalog feels cluttered as more than a few of those symbols serve only certain purposes and unnecessary other than for map flavor, which is largely a "Legends of Urak" kinda thing.

3. The biggest commendation I can offer is for managing to re-balance the game where each faith has a more-or-less equal starting. It certain was quite apparent how big of a disadvantage players had compared to other faith, or that some faiths seem to be weaker than others. 

I know this doesn't nearly cover all of your modifications to the game, but I must say it is impressive. These critiques are simply food for thought, I personally am a "polish without the chrome" kind of guy myself.

Keep up the good work!

[Boaster]

Jan 19, 2014 17:45:08 GMT -6 Corpse Core said:

Greetings!

I have also donated in order to acquire the game script manual. Lords of magic has been one of my favorite games since I was a child and seeing what you Mantera have done to improve the game has inspired me to try my hand at modding the game as well. It will be quite a learning process, but I hope to reach a point where I can release patches of my own making some day.

However, if I may offer some critique Mantera. 

1. Your mod does a lot to improve and simplify the over all functioning of the game which provides a much smoother experience. However, I cannot help but feel that it has become cluttered in regards to map symbols and lord customization in regards to units (which I feel should be regulated to the base selection).

2. The map editor has seen exceptional improvement with the GS5R3 mod, especially in regards to the addition of Gold and Brewery symbols and encounters. But as mentioned before, the symbol catalog feels cluttered as more than a few of those symbols serve only certain purposes and unnecessary other than for map flavor, which is largely a "Legends of Urak" kinda thing.

3. The biggest commendation I can offer is for managing to re-balance the game where each faith has a more-or-less equal starting. It certain was quite apparent how big of a disadvantage players had compared to other faith, or that some faiths seem to be weaker than others. 

I know this doesn't nearly cover all of your modifications to the game, but I must say it is impressive. These critiques are simply food for thought, I personally am a "polish without the chrome" kind of guy myself.

Keep up the good work!

Thank you for your kind words. Have you received the email with the GSM? I sent it out yesterday.

In response to [1] & [2], does this mean to say that you see a problem with the map having added sprites, or something else? Please explain.

Also, what do you mean about the Lord editor? Are you saying that providing casual players with the option to acquire the 3rd Tier creatures a problem?

By no means would I consider the rebalancing I've done as "perfect," however, I would say I did the best with what seemed to make the most sense. I balanced champions between each other, and military and creature units between each other as well.

[Corpse Core]

Jan 20, 2014 16:18:54 GMT -6 Boaster said:

Jan 19, 2014 17:45:08 GMT -6 Corpse Core said:

Greetings!

I have also donated in order to acquire the game script manual. Lords of magic has been one of my favorite games since I was a child and seeing what you Mantera have done to improve the game has inspired me to try my hand at modding the game as well. It will be quite a learning process, but I hope to reach a point where I can release patches of my own making some day.

However, if I may offer some critique Mantera. 

1. Your mod does a lot to improve and simplify the over all functioning of the game which provides a much smoother experience. However, I cannot help but feel that it has become cluttered in regards to map symbols and lord customization in regards to units (which I feel should be regulated to the base selection).

2. The map editor has seen exceptional improvement with the GS5R3 mod, especially in regards to the addition of Gold and Brewery symbols and encounters. But as mentioned before, the symbol catalog feels cluttered as more than a few of those symbols serve only certain purposes and unnecessary other than for map flavor, which is largely a "Legends of Urak" kinda thing.

3. The biggest commendation I can offer is for managing to re-balance the game where each faith has a more-or-less equal starting. It certain was quite apparent how big of a disadvantage players had compared to other faith, or that some faiths seem to be weaker than others. 

I know this doesn't nearly cover all of your modifications to the game, but I must say it is impressive. These critiques are simply food for thought, I personally am a "polish without the chrome" kind of guy myself.

Keep up the good work!

Thank you for your kind words. Have you received the email with the GSM? I sent it out yesterday.

In response to [1] & [2], does this mean to say that you see a problem with the map having added sprites, or something else? Please explain.

Also, what do you mean about the Lord editor? Are you saying that providing casual players with the option to acquire the 3rd Tier creatures a problem?

By no means would I consider the rebalancing I've done as "perfect," however, I would say I did the best with what seemed to make the most sense. I balanced champions between each other, and military and creature units between each other as well.

Yes, I have received the manual but haven't had the chance to read it in detail just yet, thank you.

As to the critiques of the mod, basically what I am referring to is "UI Clutter." There is nothing wrong with the sprites in and of themselves but rather the UI window was not expanded to contain the additional previously added sprites, creating a clunky cluttered look. This is a particular problem with the customize lord editor. Originally, players were not able to purchase 3rd tier creatures and additional lords as they were a part of game play and could only be obtained via conquest/temple acquisition. From a design perspective, allowing these unites to be purchased via lord customization undermines the game play. Game play aside, the two issues that needed to be resolved when implementing these unites into the lord editor UI window was lack of space and the exceptionally high barter point cost for these 3rd tier creatures making them basically un-purchasable to begin with. Thus they become empty sprite clutter. So, the solution is to either expand the UI window and reduce the barter point cost for the unites, or to simply scrap them and go back to the original line up of purchasable unites in via lord customization. On a side not the individual champion UI window would also need to be expanded to accommodate the inclusion of last names, I've had a few either cut off mid name or simply not show up because they were too long. The last names were a nice touch to be sure, but can become visually unappealing due to lack of UI window space.

As for the map editor the sprite clutter is minor with only a handful being useless as they weren't meant to be used in customizing maps. A prime example would be the "windmills" as when attempting to use them they simply did not show on the map with there assigned encounter. Some of these sprites were only meant for "Legends of Urak" adventure use instead of custom maps made for conquest. In short anything outside of the brewery and gold sprites that were added in the GS5R3 mod are more-or-less unnecessary clutter.

Out side of the UI clutter laid out above, everything else is polished and well implemented. Though on a small level, I don't agree with the changing of texts for some of the lord descriptions (Air Giant Warrior, Fire Giant Warrior, Air Giant Mage, etc, etc) as I feel the original text was adequate and the additional explanation being redundant considering what is already apparent.

Basically, the overall sub-point I'm trying to make while playing devils advocate here, is that arguably "less is more" when it comes to dealing with UI clutter. Which is what I meant when I said "polish without the chrome."

While I'm on a rant here, now that I think about it. Outside of these offered critiques, your mod already addresses my original intentions when wanting to mode this game. The patches I hoped to make were "quality of life improvements" such as:

1) Adjustable cursor/mouse speed.

2) Faith balancing.

3) Removed CD check.

4) Completed map editor with brewery/gold encounters and sprites.

5) Balanced barter point-to-purchase in the lord editor.

6) Transparency windows with colored text.

Etc, etc.

In fact Mantera, your mod ACTUALLY FINISHES an almost completed game!

[orzie]

As for the map editor the sprite clutter is minor with only a handful being useless as they weren't meant to be used in customizing maps. A prime example would be the "windmills" as when attempting to use them they simply did not show on the map with there assigned encounter. Some of these sprites were only meant for "Legends of Urak" adventure use instead of custom maps made for conquest. In short anything outside of the brewery and gold sprites that were added in the GS5R3 mod are more-or-less unnecessary clutter.

I as a creator of new Legends of Urak, which are still in progress, have to fully disagree with that point. GS5 maps are very beautiful with those objects - say, even the tree stack sprite allows to create forests which were not available before.
There was no object I left misused in my upcoming Life Quest, but also there was no object left misused in the GS5 Map Collection I managed to compile. These objects really help to develop the maps, make them looking unique and original.

On my side I would vote for more, more and more such objects, regardless if they can be left only as decorations or actually functional structures.

Also, there was no problem with objects for me, every object appeared in the game just fine. There is another issue with invisible objects in the map editor, but that's another story.

[Corpse Core]

In that case I shall forfeit the "useless sprite argument" as it appears to be an isolated incident in my case as some simply do not show up. I'm offering my critiques based on my own experiences with the mod and assessments. So if anyone else has a different assessment, the do share, the more feedback we can give Mantera the better the mod can potentially be.

There is nothing wrong with having more sprites as options, but to avoid sprite clutter the UI window dimensions need to be increase to properly accommodate them. Also with the addition of 3rd tier unites as options, a barter point-to-purchase balancing needs to be on the list-to-do.

[orzie]

Custom Lord Editor should be treated more as a debugging tool or a stuff for fun. It's not possible to use it for a "balanced" game.

[Boaster]

I could generate a mod update specifically to you, but that would take time which is something I can ill afford with a new job I am getting into.