Aeges Road, Dialog, Inventory, Shopping, and Change

This really isn't new news. I have severely altered Aeges Road until it is but a remnant of its former self (as seen on beta testing). Everything from simple movement to combat has been either modified or completely changed. Aeges Road also has some new additions that really have me excited. 

Dialog is something I was working on last week, and all I have left to do is make the interface look nice. I was going to do a comic dialog to avoid having to draw portraits for each character, but now I am content on just drawing the portraits and taking the dialog interface in a new direction. 

I was also only planing on doing simple JRPG dialogs, until I read an article that reminded me how much fun I had with the dialogs in Star Trail and Ultima 7. I have basically hybridized the two interfaces and took the elements I felt would be a good fit for the game. I scripted two main NPC's using the new dialog system and the results are solid, simple, and impressive. I am not placing screenshots because it is a hideous sight right now. 

Once I was done with dialog, there was another item of business to take care of, shopping. I am excited to announce that shopping is now fully functional. It has a nice barter system that makes buying and selling both interactive and stat based.  I am still tweaking the stat basis a little right now, but the possibility of making a profit at the store front is a real possibility right now. 

In the process of doing the store front, I faced my biggest gripe with Aeges Road, stripped the inventory screen out completely, and replaced it with a grid based inventory system. The inventory system itself is fully functional, it just needs some layout improvements. My biggest mistake in the previous design was in trying to put everything into one interface, this interface is strictly for inventory. 

Now that the TODO list is minus two big items, (and all in two weeks time) I have added a few TODO's to replace some current TODO's that just never fully developed into the creature that they needed to be. A class based system has been replaced with a skill based system that awards titles for your choices. I plan on making some quick creation buttons for three basic class types, but leaving the character fully editable afterwards for further tweaking. 

Finally, Aeges Road might not be Aeges Road any more. I have another title in mind, as well as a different angle on the basic story that brings some elements of the existing story into a much clearer context. I have not finalized this decision, but I feel that it is the right move. I will be much closer to a release before I officially announce one way or the other.