@Ramidel -That’s good feedback. I’ve wondered how players perceive the different routes for a while now. I can’t actually tell the difference since I wrote all of it and the story paths run concurrently in my head when I play.
And yes, it is particularly cruel to Maria to send her adrift in the balloon. Worse, in a way, than selling her back to her enemies in the south because you know the eventual outcome there.
@Lucas -I actually did consider that, but then realized it would be far too much work for too little of a dramatic payoff.
@Protagonist -@jps175 has the right of it. You can steal Reginald’s army and take it on a rampage back to Preston Springs. The forcible takeover can be particularly amusing if you spared the bear from chapter 3.
@vampierkid222 -Thanks. Enjoy.
On a somewhat sadder note, I am going to need to use my dropbox for beta-testing a new game and will be yanking out the Tin-Star files soon. The change-over will take a couple of days at most.
It is almost ready for Beta, but I’m getting a strange error message whenever the stat screen button is pressed when running it in dropbox; 'Couldn’t load URL: scenes/choicescript_stats.txt “access to restricted URI denied” code: “1012” nsresult 0x805303f4 (NS_ERROR_DOM_BAD_URI) location: "File:///C:/Users/Allen/Dropbox/Public/Web/scene.js Line:265 .
Various sites on the web tell me that it is because Firefox doesn’t want me loading cross domain content, but their fixes are beyond my pitiful java skills. Strange that I didn’t have this trouble with Tin Star’s stat screen.
I’ve got to admit that gunning down the populace of Preston Springs left something of a bitter taste after I’d got to know them so well (Carrie seemed to feel the same way). Not that Preston himself didn’t have it coming.
@Protagonist -Nicely put. If the renegade path doesn’t make you feel uneasy, then I have likely done something wrong. How did it go down for you?
As an announcement, I have opened a new discussion folder ‘The Midnight Horror -Beta Testing’ on this site. It is from the horror genre and hopefully has plenty of suspense and dread mixed into the atmosphere. There are even a few puzzles and a little combat to be had, though not anything like Tin Star.
You can play the beta version via a link to my dropbox.
How did it go down? I looted the town (except for a few storekeepers of whom I’d grown particularly fond) and gunned down anyone who got in my way.
If I could offer one criticism of Tin Star (and this really isn’t a major issue: I thoroughly enjoyed the game and have played it at least half a dozen times) it’s that a high Gunfighting stat makes you invulnerable in combat. In a battle, such as the one at Preston Springs, there should always be a chance that someone’s going to get the drop on you and blow your brains out.
@Protagonist -Nice to know that you felt compelled to spare a few. That was what I had been going for.
As for the problem with a high gunfighting stat, yeah, it can make you nigh invulnerable in a gunfight and some rifle show-downs. There is a historical precedent for that, Wyatt Earp springs to mind, but I can see how that would get boring.
If this was a first person shooter, that wouldn’t be a problem to fix. For this kind of programming I tried to make it so the MC would run out of bullets eventually, or that a foe would close in for a grapple, but I get the feeling that I came up short at times.
I’ll put it on the list, but the list isn’t seeing much sunlight right now. I’ve got too many projects in the air all at once. Though… maybe this would be a time to use the Survival Skill once again to spot foes before they get the drop on you during the Renegade path at Preston Springs…
@AllenGies I wouldn’t say you came up short at all. Tin Star is an exceptional game, and it’s no more than a matter of personal taste. (I suppose the contra is that some people might complain if you did tweak it.)
Looking forward to seeing more of your next project.
Well, I’d just remember that you can’t solve everything with your pistols.
“Just max gunfighting at every opportunity” is a valid option, since Gunfighting is the most useful possible skill…this is the Old West, cowpoke. But gunfighting skill alone won’t help you make peace with the Indians (unless by “peace,” you mean to dig a whole lot of graves), save the town from flooding or help you make a deal with Fredrick Upton. Up until you turn Renegade, it won’t help you make much money either. It also won’t help you that much in the railhead war, because rifles are the name of the game there and that means Sharpshooting.
Still looks a bit rough (I’ve just submitted the request to change the title punctuation, because there’s another video game called Tin Star), but feel free to bounce around, edit, and invoke the Wiki Magic.
@Protagonist -Thank you for the praise. I will continue to tweak the code, but right now I am indeed invested in trying to make my next effort, ‘The Midnight Horror’, a decent game.
@Ramidel -That is a good summary of the limits of gunfighting. And the entry on TV Tropes is really slick. Many thanks.
@JTAL -I’m glad you liked it. The epilogue is indeed a scene unto itself.
@Crigley13 - As Ramidel said, I’ve swapped out the code in my drop box for my current project. I may swap it back in eventually for feedback, but it will be a while.
@RoseQueenKamijo - It is on the editting list, but I’m having trouble finding time to return to Tin Star with other works still in progress. Also, my day job is kicking me around right now. I wish I could tell you when I’d begin and complete that addition to Tin Star, but the truth is that I just can’t say.
i just picked this game back up and i feel kinda stupid for asking this,but…what does the resolve stat do in the game and if you can include an example i would appreciate it
@AllenGies: If I may put my two cents in, anything the size of an actual Native path (which would have significant differences in a lot of places, much more than being Chinese) should be a DLC/IAP expansion pack.
@Matteller -Well, resolve represents your character’s willingness to see things through; mental stamina or willpower. Often it is a secondary stat that determines if you succeed at a cost or fail with less of a consequence. Very rarely is it used as a primary stat.
@Ramidel - Well, I may have spoken too soon to @RoseQueenKamijo . I had to fix a loop and also finally tracked down the Winthrop error. Since I need to update all the files anyway, I am shoe-horning in the option to play an Indian (Generic native, Yokuts, or Tongva).
Alas, as you indicated, it will take a lot of programming to significantly change the Native path. For now there will be additional choices during character creation, more dialogue, some reaction options, a boost or penalty here or there, etc. Not much to write home about, considering, at least not yet. In time I may develop some dedicated DLC for both the Chinese and Indian paths, but for now it will be largely chrome.
So, that said, let me open the floor to others to talk about the divergences in the Native Path. Obviously portions of the epilogue may radically change if an Indian character makes the Shoshone’s well being important. Some attitudes toward Indians might also be altered, but largely on a local level. What else would need to be altered?
