On 7th Jul 2010, crazymerlinman321 wrote,

Hello Steve. I am here to report a couple of things.

So the first thing is that the black thundermonks are not on the same alliance. Is it supposed to be like that or not?

Next thing is that I think that the ninjas that throw shurikens are way too strong. I put like 4-5 ninjas on the screen vs like 100 of skeletons warriors, archers and headthrowers. The ninjas won. So I thought about toning there damage a bit down or decreasing their range or something.


steve replied,

I agree the ninjas are too strong.

As for the black thundermonks, I'm not sure what team they are meant to be on. I guess that's up to whoever suggested them.

On 26th Jun 2010, crazymerlinman321 wrote,

Bug Report!

Ok. So when you go to the instructions menu, it will load for like 3 seconds and it will show a black screen. During the loading, there is feint E in the background.


steve replied,

There are other situations where the letters do not completely fade out or fade out unevenly. I've not spent much time on it, but if someone figures out why this is happening and sends in some code to fix it I'll happily include it :)

On 1st May 2010, crazymerlinman321 wrote,

How do you make maps Steve?Like proper maps because i just edit the already made ones like Citadel.I would like to know how to make the maps?I know it has something to do with Director or something If so could you give me the link for the download?


steve replied,

The good news is you don't need Director. Just copy the map called new_map into the map_to_play folder.

Now give it a new name and open it in a text editor.

Now you can set the size of the map

Where it says #mapSize: point(4,3)
change the first number to how many rooms across you want and the second to how many rooms up and down.

so #mapSize: point(15,2) will give a tall skinny map
#mapSize: point(2,10) will give you a wide map

You can also set which room is the first room the game will display when the map is played. The first number is number of rooms from the left edge of the map, the second is the number of rooms down.

so
startRoom: point(1,1)
Will start the game in the top left corner of the map.

If you want the game to be playable, make sure there is a merlin character in this room. If there isn't the enemies that are there will just fight each other automatically. (which can be fun in it's self)

You can come back and change this setting whenever you feel like it.

Optionally you can also set an endRoom. If you set this the map will be complete when merlin clears this room. If it's left at #none, the map is complete when Merlin has cleared all the enemies from the map.

Now save the file and close the text editor.

double click on map_editor.exe and away you go!

On 26th Apr 2010, crazymerlinman321 wrote,

You how it says in the MR4 credits:Bugtester_hereos:still to come.
I would like to try this job but i just don't how to do it so can you tell me


steve replied,

Well, I'm not really using the proper bug database at the moment. I want to bring the bug reporting into the site proper. Once it's done it'll be possible to be a bug tester and then I can tell you.

On 7th Apr 2010, madmarlon wrote,

hi, first i want to say how awesome the website and MR is. then i have a question with the editable stuff in the merlin open 22 folder "casts/data". when i change the name of the monsters i want to summon (for example: "summonarcher" to "summongolem") it wont work in the game, it just says "an item that the game is expecting to be there is missing", but i'm hundred percent sure that i spelled the name of the unit correctly, maybe it is not saved in the right folder. pls help


steve replied,

thanks!

I haven't tested this but here's what I think you need to do.

edit the file casts/data/act_monsterSummon.txt

Find where it says #multistage
change
#summonArcher: 12,
to
#summonGolem: 12,

delete
#summonGolem:31

change
#summonBoulder: 25,
to
#summonBoulder: 25
(remove the comma)

If that doesn't work please let me know.

On 3rd Apr 2010, cjfjcjfjc wrote,

Another bug report

OK.

-Ice golems are on a different team to rock and dark golems.
-If Merlin is very fast, he can run through diagonal gaps in walls:

W-Wall

M-Merlin

w....m
.w....
..w...
...w..
....w.
.....w

w.....
.w....
..wm..
...w..
....w.
.....w

w.....
.w....
..w...
...w..
.m..w.
.....w

-If Merlin isn't so fast, he can still be knocked through such gaps by the knockback from golems.

-4-armed dark golems summoned using monster summon will downgrade into normal rock golems when killed, but enemy golems don't.

-Merlin grows a bit if he levels up too much.


steve replied,

The ice golem team can be changed easily enough.

The diagonal gap issue is a known issue. Fixing it is ... tricky.

My own solution to it was to never leave solid diagonals on the map design. For now, I suggest you do the same. I'll look into it when I get time but that could be a long time away.

I'll have to look into the golem situation.

On 30th Mar 2010, cjfjcjfjc wrote,

OK. bug report.

Is there any way I can massively tone down gained XP? I'm sick of reaching level 30 after 3 or 4 screens.

second, sometimes Merlin will inexplicably stop while walking. I need to take my finger off A/D (I always seem to be moving horizontally when it happens) and then press it again for Merlin to keep walking. It's annoying!


steve replied,

There are two ways to do this.

One is reduce the amount of experience each creature gives.

The other is to increase the amount of experience merlin needs to gain a level.

I did some work a while back to level out the experience given by different enemies. I'll revisit it in the future.

If you want to do it yourself, you'll need director right now. However, if you can wait for the next MROpen you'll be able to do it by editing text files.

In the data cast, is the data for all the characters. Each one has a property called #experienceImWorth by changing that number you can adjust the amount of experience gained by killing that character.

I haven't noticed the walking problem myself. Are you sure it's not your keyboard?

On 18th Mar 2010, megaman4ever wrote,

BIG BUG REPORT(anyone get the pun? :P):

Soo, I was thinking you probably don't really visit carefree's bug site anymore, and this will contact you for sure, so I decided to do it like this.

So, in my newest map, the room (2,1) is shown as ally room, and when you come near from (3,1), there are green arrows leading to the room. It has quite some goblin builders. Nothing but goblin builders.

Ok, bug reported!

Also, cut the gobbo tower's HP by half. The builders make one too fast and it takes over a minute to blast one down. Besides, blasting one is too easy because often you can just keep out of range, which makes blasting one quite a tedious thing right now.


steve replied,

Ok, in the data cast, find the member called act_goblinBuilder.

Open that and change

#minimapStatus: #fre,

to

#minimapStatus: #inf,


That tells the minimap to show the square with goblin builders in as infested (#inf) rather than friendly (#fre).

To change the goblin tower's HP, find the member called garTower in the data cast.

Change

#energy: 100,

to

#energy: 50,

or whatever you think. alternatively (my recommendation) would be to leave #energy where it is as you can kill the goblin tower with about eight hits of the golden sword.

Instead turn

#inertia:96,

down to

#inertia: 75,

Which will make the towers take more damage from blast type attacks.

Good luck!

On 17th Mar 2010, megaman4ever wrote,

Would you give me a list of the objects usable for cutscenes and the commands too? Thanks, and I hope I'll get around to making some!

I'm referring to the 'turntoface' and 'at' etc.


steve replied,

A complete list of commands can be found in the scripts cast in the member call modThespian in the function called performLine.

I'll reproduce the commands here.

#at
#atPlayer
#dropProp
#enterStageLeft
#enterStageRight
#exitStageLeft:
#exitStageRight
#fadeDown
#goMode
#gotoWings
#goWastedMode
#propAt
#produceProp
#putAwayProp
#speakLine
#teleportInAt
#teleportOut
#turnToFace
#walkTo
#walkToPlayer

This isn't a very good list as it doesn't tell you what parameters to send through and in what order. I'll have to do better when i have more time. You can get a sense of it by looking at functions with the same names as these commands. But I will try to do a better list when I can.

I also don't have a comprehensive list of characters you can use. This is simply because I haven't tested them all.

Sorry I couldn't be more help. I think we need a documentation project.

On 4th Mar 2010, Varo (Merlin) wrote,

I have downloaded the merlin map creator thing and when i open it also with a new map in it it just says: "Script error. Continue?" help me please (oh and i did not understand what company was im from denmark ^^)

Varo


steve replied,

Don't worry about the company thing I should get rid of that.

Erm, not sure what happening there. can you send me the map that you're trying to open?

Just reply to this email with the map attached.

Thanks

On 1st Mar 2010, ♪ (Dear crazy merlin(...)) wrote,

I've been planning on making a tutorial for adding enemy data. I'm planning on leaving the lizard soldier up as partly done for example purposes, since its just about ready as it is.


steve replied,

Cool.

On 28th Feb 2010, crazymerlinman321 wrote,

How do u make the character u want to make and put it into ur own game like on merlin open.Like the mini flamethrower guy and the farmer.They are all on map editor please tell me


steve replied,

There's quite a lot to it. I haven't created a tutorial on this yet. Musical note and others kind of just worked it out for themselves.

Ok, to get started you'll need Director MX or Director MX 2004. Download the Merlin Open file and open the dir.

In the data cast you'll see all the data for each character. You'll also need to add graphics to the gfx cast and add the new character to the tilesets in the game engine and the map editor.

That's the basics.

On 21st Feb 2010, crazymerlinman321 wrote,

How do you add pictures to the suggestion and is there site where u can make sprites?Can u tell me?I would like to help by adding pictures


steve replied,

You can add pictures by uploading them to another site such as imageshack then copy and pasting the url they give you into the comment.

You can make sprites using the GIMP and following the tutorials I pointed you to elsewhere.

On 21st Feb 2010, crazymerlinman321 wrote,

Big fan of merlins revenge.I have been playing since I was 3 years old.I would play non-stop every day even know i defeated it.Its too bad they closed down bonus.com:(I cant wait t'll we finish mr4 I will help all the way man.


steve replied,

Good stuff! I've been playing since I was oooh 26 or so.

Yeah I miss bonus they were good people.

On 21st Feb 2010, crazymerlinman321 wrote,

If one of the suggestions are on the list will it be in the game beacuse i have posted many suggestions for MR4 but im just afraid if it will not be in the game.Its really ok if the suggestions are not in the game.


steve replied,

If someone does the graphics and the data for an enemy it will go into MR Open and can be used in maps. If they don't you can always do it yourself.

At some point we will probably do MR4 based on what's in MR Open.

Spells are more tricky as they tend to require in-depth programming by me. But I do intend to getting around to adding lots of stuff at some point in the future.

On 21st Feb 2010, crazymerlinman321 wrote,

thank u for thanking me of my suggstions but as i have heard of Ulin the great and musical note etc.helping out.I would like to help out as well in mr4 and the rest of the games.Could u please tell me how,ima eager to know.


steve replied,

Certainly, just download the latest MR Open, and start making changes.

There are tutorials on the downloads page to help you get started and I have some more on google docs which I'll give you access to.

Once you've added stuff and you're happy with it, send it to me or upload it to
http://themetalbox.com/tmb14 and I'll include it in a future update.

On 20th Feb 2010, crazymerlinman321 wrote,

how do u leave comment sorry im a newcomer to the site but im a huge fan of merlins revenge I have been playing since i was 3 years old


steve replied,

Well, I think you've worked it out - I approved your 15 suggestions this morning :) good stuff!

On 20th Feb 2010, crazymerlinman321 wrote,

You should really get an assistant Simon because the game process is really slow and people are really eager to see the full mr4 game(including me).P.S Are u going to make mr5 and 6?


steve replied,

Well musical note and Ulin the great have been adding content to MR recently, and megaman4ever has done so in the past.

I'm concentrating on making the tools to allow us to collaborate better right now. Once I'm happy with those I'll continue with the games (although I suspect they'll kind of make themselves at that point)

On 29th Dec 2009, Swormzo0 wrote,

How do you include the completed game cutscene? I tried putting it in cutscene_to_play... but it doesn't detect it.


steve replied,

I just took a look at it again to remind myself.

Ok, try this:
1. Make sure there is only one cutscene at a time in cutscenes_to_play
2. Make sure you have the latest version of merlin_open (inside the folder should be a file called merlin_engine_47_load_and_play_cut_scene.dir)
3. Double click on merlin_open.exe
4. Click start game from the menu

If you're still not seeing your cutscene, please write back with exactly what you do see and cut and paste your cutscene into the message so I can try it for myself and hopefully get to the bottom of this.

Thanks for writing in and helping make this better.

On 29th Dec 2009, Ulin the great wrote,

Hello, this message is more of a question as to when you can release a list of the all the valid usable characters for the cutscenes in Merlin Open


steve replied,

I took some time today and did it now :)

I haven't tested all of these, but they should work.

Characters
----------
#berlin
#goblinRunner
#king
#merlin
#ochre
#ochreHydra
#scarletWizard
#tv
#ulin

Props
-----
#blackScroll
#blueScroll
#gmgBullets
#horriblePotion
#treesRocks
#treesRocksBW
#whiteScroll

I'll include this list in future versions of merlin_open in the docs folder.

Hope this helps, I look forward to seeing your cutscenes.
Steve
Hoope this helps,