ToME Wiki
Bard's Tale
Current Status Nov 30, 2006:
Bard's Tale development is presently on hold. I'm working on two modules at the moment, and lately I've been enjoying working on Dragonball T more than Bard's Tale. The current version is not really playable, but it does do some moderately unconventional things, and may contain some useful code samples for other module makers. In particular, secret.lua demonstrates complete randomization of building locations in town, as well as hiding them, so that they are not 'visible' until actually found, and changing the terrain feature when the player locates them.
Download
The current version of Bard's Tale is built for alpha10, and WILL NOT RUN with more recent alphas. It is available from: The ToME Modules List
Summary
Basically the game is a recreation of the 1985 Interplay game of the same name:
Neat Things Things That Do Work
- New class/leveling system: change class at any time, gain levels for each class separately
- New 'secret building' system: Building locations in town are randomized with each new game, and 'hidden' so the player has to find them. (functional)
Known Issues / To Do
- Fully half the spells still need to be coded
- Bardsong doesn't work yet
- Very little of the Main plot/story line has been added
- Lots of thematic monsters and items to be added
- Dungeons exits generally place the character incorrectly
- Still need to add 4/5 special levels
- Help files are minimal
General Comments for Playtesters
- No balancing has been done. Mages will be dead in thirty seconds. I recommend playing a warrior-type for the first several character levels, at least.
- Leveling is not automatic. You will have to find the review board to gain levels and learn spells.
- No resting. Temples heal you.
- There ARE five dungeons. It's just not immediately obvious how to access any of them (for thematic reasons) and some of the plotline (and help files) that make it realistic to figure things how don't exist yet.
Try the Magician's Phase Door spell. It's neat.
Not spectacular...but neat.
Chatter
NerdanelVampire: I knew things wouldn't work all that well, but after I created a character in alpha11 I ended up in a mapful of pure granite.
BucketMan: Mmm...yes. Bard's Tale is completely untested with alpha11. Well...I suppose it's been tested a little bit now, by you. I'm having a weird problem with alpha11: for some reason arrow keys don't work at all. Also, since this release, I've found myself working far more on Dragonball T. I'm afraid Bard's Tale is likely to be on the back burner for a little bit. I'll pick it up again, but it will probably be a couple weeks.