Hello Sir...
...if I did something wrong, I hope you could explain it to me...
@FabArt ...
Firstly, we'll have less of the 'Sir', if you please..! 'Douglas', to you; no formalities here, thank goodness. ;-) Thanks enormously for your comments, which are highly appreciated, pros and cons alike. I'm far too close to have such a vision of the playability, which is why a Demo is so important.
To address your issue: did you do anything wrong..? Not at all, you were just unlucky. By complete coincidence, I started the Game anew last night, and found easily enough Iron in the first few minutes. In fact, it's only lately that Iron has been required for these repairs, as I needed to incorporate the use of the minerals early on in the Game.
I fully understand the potential problems in the use of Random; in fact there is a great deal of it in my Game, from attribution of Gold to choice of 'conversation from NPCs, the opening of doors etc... I have a 'Luck' counter in there, which adjusts the limits of Random to prevent having (a rare possibility...) no Luck at all in some circumstances. I'll have a look at that, and probably 'tweak' the distribution of minerals to ensure that, whilst remaining Random at heart, there is enough supplied at first to make the Game more playable. Thanks for the feedback on that, then; I should be able to arrange things to avoid future frustration. I would say, in my defence, that there are so many sources of 'gifts' all around the village that it doesn't take long (once one knows where to look, of course..!) to accumulate a real fortune. Speaking to NPCs is also a sure-fire way of getting (Random...) gifts, too, with no risk of robbery from any Jackanapes..!
I'll thank you, too, for the kind words regarding the music and general ambience. The music is al my own and,without having been composed originally specifically for this use, I found to be a perfect fit. There is a certain continuity in the Village, at least, as all comes from the same orchestral piece I had composed. As the Game expanded, with more Maps and atmospheres, I've had fun composing further pieces, this time with a particular Map in mind. Of course, you'd have to continue playing to hear 'em all..!
As for the French Twins, they came about purely by accident. I'm British, but have been living and working (now retired...) in France for over forty years now. These NPCs and their dialogues just came out spontaneously as I typed away unconsciously; it was only later that I realised my error, but decided to keep the text in French just the same. That's what comes of carrying on when tired..! They play a very important role in the Game, later on.
Enough for now. I'll look at the distribution, but you may like to carry on just the same; there's much, much more to be discovered. I'll update as soon as I've found how to improve things and let you know. You'll be added to the Credits as a Tester, bien sûr..! Meanwhile...
Have a nice day
Douglas
Now then, how to go about this, eh..? Let me see...
Edit : OK, I've 'tweaked' the Random distribution such that, if one has already been unlucky (bitten by Jackanapes, knocked on a closed door, had bad luck in a conversation etc...), the distribution changes to give a 2/1 chance of Gold and a 1 in 3 chance of a mineral. This should ensure (although still Random, so never guaranteed...) that, early on, enough Gold and minerals are found. As luck increases, more food will be offered, but the Jackanapes will also become an option, as will finding nothing at all. Each of these last will tilt the balance towards finding Gold or a mineral, however, so even being unlucky becomes, in a certain sense, lucky..!
I've updated the Web version (I only had to upload the Common Events file; a matter of seconds...), which also contains the Credits, so they're up to date, too (can be found on the Table in the Hero's Home...). If you'd care to try it out again, is there an improvement..?
Cheers
Douglas
