Category Archives: roleplay games

Important Magic Stones 1.2.1 bugfix!

Some mac users reported a problem with the recent Magic Shop addition: if the current druid was the first one in the list, on some mac systems once you exited the Shop, it was disappearing (druid from 2nd spot on weren’t affected).
I recommend anyone to upgrade to 1.2.1 (just redownload from my server) to avoid this problem.

My sincere apologies for this problem, hope not many people were affected. This update is one of the biggest ever made to the game, but I should have tested the mac version more accurately!

TOD: character creation

Ok so I’m starting to work on TOD character creation. I’ve decided to change the available races. I’ve removed the “half-elf” because… I don’t like it πŸ˜€

Seriously, I want to make some differences from the standard AD&D rules/classes/races! so here it comes, as you can see from the screenshot below (click it to enlarge):

tower of destiny character creation

Human is the classic base race, then there are Ice Elf, Wood Elf, Dark Elf, Dwarf and Orc (yes the orc portrait is still missing from the game…).

A brief description of each race below:

Humans are the most versatile race: capable to learn any class or skill, they rarely reach extraordinaire levels in a specific one. They’re more inclined to become warriors than spellscasters.
Ice Elves are gifted with innatural intelligence and quickness, making them really excellent spellscasters or long range fighters.
Wood Elves are very similar to Ice Elves since are very quick, but have high wisdom instead of high intelligence, and are a bit stronger in melee combat.
Dark Elves are the best choice for spellscasters, having good values in all the three primary casting attributes. They have low constitution and aren’t suited for close combat.
Dwarves are tough and strong, but very slow, so are a perfect choice only for defensive fighters. Casters aren’t very frequent in the dwarf race but is still possible to find some.
Orcs are the second most common race in Aravorn after humans. They learn fast and are very strong and robust. Orc casters usually have weaker spells and run out of mana easily.

    More infos coming soon!

    Magic Stones: Lands of Fire Beta!

    I’ve just uploaded in my beta server the latest Magic Stones expansion called “Lands of Fire”. You can find more info here.

    Of course report any bug you find in my forums or with email. I’ve also finished the “Magic Shop” add-on, which can be bought separately for only $5 (you need a valid Magic Stones license to use it). It adds a shop where you can spend experience and prestige points to buy upgrades for your druid, in particular “perks” that are special skills your druid can use through the whole game making the battles a bit easier to win!

    Download the beta versions here:

    http://www.didone.com/games/MagicStonesTrial.exe
    http://www.didone.com/games/MagicStonesTrial.zip

    TOD: class specific attributes and more

    I did more experiments on the view of the game, I’m happy about the classic first person view, a la Dungeon Master, even if of course the gfx efforts will be more than a simple 2d topdown/isometric view.
    Call me nostalgic but I really want to recreate the atmosphere of those old classic, and keeping that visual feeling will be essential.
    I’m still thinking about the classes. I want to innovate a bit, but at same time don’t want to push it too hard…since I still need to sell a decent amount to live, I don’t want to revolution the roleplaying genreΓ‚ yet πŸ˜‰
    Anyway you can be assured that you won’t find only similar spells to the classic AD&D spells “magic missile” or “fireball”. I want to make also some original spells, for all the casting classes in the game, which right now are Druid, Wizard, Sorcerer and Healer.
    Also I’m thinking about the use of the other attributes like Knowledge, Wisdom and Intelligence for non casting classes, and viceversa. They’ll have some impact for sure, but of course not as the main ones.
    Knowledge could influence how many new moves a fighter can learn per level, for example. Still would be hard to find another use also for Wisdom and Intelligence. Also, in this case would mean people could make a fighter with average skills and be better than a big tougher one? sure, intelligence plays an important role in fights, but if a small fighter can overcome a big strong one, is mostly thanks to the quickness, agility, rather than pure intelligence. I think is more the instinct, reflexes that guides a fighter in the frenzy moments of a close range fight…!
    Nonetheless I’ll try to find a proper use for all the attribute, for all classes. But fighters will be more influenced from the fighting attributes, and casters will be influenced more from the casting attributes.

    Tower of Destiny: the Golden Giant Scorpion!

    giant golden scorpion

    Ok this is my first Photoshop mockup… isn’t in-game screenshot yet. I just composed the image with the different “depth layers” I was talking before, and put one of the monsters I have already rendered, a big one, the Golden Giant Scorpion! fear! πŸ˜€

    I’m pleased about the result. There’s also a small animation for each monster, nothing fancy otherwise the game would take too much time, but I think that already the still image looks cool. At least for me πŸ™‚