Snooch to the nooch - why would we want to hire someone to do something we're obviously enjoying and learning from.

No way am I hiring - I'm not even letting anyone else near the code (except dear Koshy).

Nice try - at work we get loads of posts on the boards to hire someone to do what we're employed to do ! Narf !!

Tatakai v1.4 has now been released. See the site for more info at http://kyonshi.co.uk/ikitclaw

Includes:
More from Moogie's MOD
Flying heroes & monsters
Better town menu system, incorporating the item chest for item storage.

Work on Tateru should commence soon, maybe to get the application core together. This should make it easier to build Tatakai MODs without headscratching and fixed-length string editing !

Huzzah !

PS: For users with WinXP SP2 and the evil Windows Security Centre, the blocked content on my page is in fact just a mouseOver TABLE background colour change - I left it in to show how silly the WSC is.

d00d - so close now !!!

WMP is the aforementioned Windows Media Player. I just plopped the control onto my application and tell it to play music - any format supported by default on WMP9. Unfortunately, although the control is invisible and 1 pixel large, the stupid Play/Pause/Next/Previous tooltips still show up - mebbe disable the mousey methinks...

How should I go about submitetd updates - i don;t just wanna bratwurst Ty again with dribs and drabs. Can I get a worklog of my own (I'm all envious and jealous of Grom and Stordarth...) ?

***edit***
Typed WMP is WMP - WMP is synonymous with Windows Media Player - spliffal-confusions

Update: OK - I got carried away developing, and haven't made any new test releases ! Sorry !
Tatakai is almost finished. WMP is in there now, so MP3s and MIDIs can run. There's lots of new stuff.
I'm just putting together some nicer graphics in the default MOD, Moogie's updating her MOD too. There will be a site update along with all of this...soon. Just in case you'd thought Tatakai was dead, or my other lung had popped =D>

Almost there....

Then Tateru development will commence - the builder tool to make your own MODs.

Thank you, goodnight =P>

PS: Nice new olde forums....

Just pondering on Tatakai and other things. Then I thought, would people go for a programming model of Tatakai ? Are there many programmers out there who would find a Tatakai DLL useful ?

Imagine writing your game...

Tatakai.NewMap(30, 30)
Tatakai.LoadMap("map03.map")
Tatakai.AddPlayer("Steve the Slayer", 2, 4)

I'm wondering about rewriting Tatakai with a cool object model to compile a DLL. This will allow the Tatakai objects to be hooked to custom display, input and sound interfaces, so you could program your own game and leave all the game engine stuff to the Tatakai.DLL ??!!

Comments ? Suggestions ??

Though before you start, I do develop components for a living - I'm interested in who would find this useful, if at all.

*joins in the jumping and clapping*

Happy to oblige - request, download, enjoy...

I have plenty of fun things to add and many good future plans for Tatakai. Hats off to testers assisting my quest and kudos to Devlyn & the rest of the SS.

Just a thanks for keeping such a tidy site and the topic for Tatakai.

Have added an update the the project discussion - just in case you have to manually paste that into the Tatakai page updates !

Keep up the good work and enjoy the summer...

I see no rules against double-posts, especially to keep a project update near the top of the forum !
Tatakai test release v1.3 has just been uploaded and testers have been notified.

Amongst other things, the new Tatakai has :
*experience for friendly magic - an overlooked feature has been added
*attack action always default selection - avoids accidental stay orders
*individual hero, monster and item SFX
*more flexible image definitions
*introduced town files making each town specific
*variable levels of monster AI

The structure of the resource files has been reworked, and individual town files have been added. I'm currently working on a richer town customisation, allowing shop stock to be set, and eventually have town walkabouts too !
Issues concerning display settings and changes still persist - I need to learn more about the variations behind DirectDraw...

"There's still a lot of debate about the relative merits of Microsoft Visual languages"

- yup Cortez, that's why I skirted the issue.
Regardless of a corporate strategy, if a product is used widely, then its a good platform to work with. Lets not ruin this topic or attack Microsoft.

Anyway, glad to see Our Dark Infernal Lord uses C++ !!
C++ & Java would have been a stable choice for me, except I wanted a rough-and-ready application for the majority of Windows users.

Although these languages can be used to great effect and are free of many platform constraints, it is more laborious IMHO to get the required effects than a visual, OS integerated language.
If something's already in place, why re-invent the wheel ? (to mix methaphors)

I'm curious to hear about any Delphi development though....

There's still a lot of debate about the relative merits of Microsoft Visual languages, but I'd like to add Microsoft Visual Basic as my language of choice exclusively for the Windows OS.
Microsoft products have the added support of a centralized online system and a dedicated IDE which makes a sturdy system for designing Windows software.
I've made use of the popular DirectX API and take advantage of other Windows inclusive software and libraries in my game.
I know it may be mean to exclude other non-Windows OS, but I believe that most home users go Microsoft by default, and those who opt for other platform are fully capable of running an emulator >

Arg ! The GFX are nothing to do with the game and are dodgy test images.
The graphics and sounds and everything else is user customizable.
Download and enjoy modifying Tatakai and bringing your own scenarios to life.

For anyone who has decided to make their own SHF-style game, but haven't got much more than some pictures and a rough story plan, Tatakai is for you !

It took Moogie 2 days to set up her own MOD (which I've bundled with the download) - so you should find it easy to edit Tatakai.

and of course the new SHF1 remake for GBA...

..I think this topic is analogous to "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if someone invented a way to network everyones PCs worldwide..."

I've been linked to this site for a while, but have yet to get my game up to a decent stage - until now.

Tatakai is based mostly on the original SHF, written in VB6 with DirectX.
However this is not all. I've deliberately desinged Tatakai to make it customizable, so users can build their own MODs - characters, enemies, maps even whole campaigns with story cutscenes.

I've had the main part of the game ready for ages, just tweaking it here and there but now I've put in a MOD by Moogie and made some decently ruthless AI I think its worth talking about and getting a wider opinion.

Tatakai is available to download by request - I want some confirmation that it runs on your system - and there's a whole site about the game at http://www.kyonshi.co.uk/tatakai

Incidentally, I'm getting a development application together for the purpose of making Tatakai MODs easier to make, and have longer term plans to make a SHF3 style 3D game along the same customizable lines as Tatakai.

I hope I've peaked some interests....[/url]