Chochlik: Adding Lua, UI and more from Stratagus

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qualakon
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Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2013 3:13 pm

Chochlik: Adding Lua, UI and more from Stratagus

Post by qualakon »

Chochlik is a Diablo 1 mod that is aiming to bring the classic game to modern systems in a whole new way.

Chochlik, while being a working-title name, has replicated the first 16 dungeon levels including all quests and even some of the removed quests that were never implemented. It's a whole new engine built using Visual C++ 2010. I know this forum doesn't deal with Diablo but I wanted to know if some things were possible and I can tell there's a lot of talent here. Being built using c++ (rather than asm/hex which is how modders changed Diablo [I'm sure you all know this]) I am hoping to attract some of you to help me build a mod with of my own with the Chochlik engine when that time comes.

Currently Chochlik is in an alpha state and as such is only Single Player. There are now 6 classes available, each with a different look in game. With all these changes I want to give the game a facelift and I saw/refound Stratagus and thought this project could help ours. I'm not too sure how compatible the code would be as I haven't seen it yet but I wanted to field these questions to you.

1. I suppose it's possible to bring Lua programming into Chochlik? I haven't seen the source code yet but the mod maker has already said that he would release the source, making it publicly available, just like Stratagus. Hopefully we can get some helpers to convert the probably hard-coded events, quests, spells and other scripted data into lua files.

2. The Main Menu and user interface of Stargus, in particular, looks impressive. I saw the custom work of DinkyDyeAussie and thought that Chochlik could benefit from a new UI, especially if we wanted to make it for touch screens. It would take a little bit of work but I think it would be easily possible. What do you think?

3. Multiplayer. As I said previously, the Alpha is only singleplayer. I'm not too sure how Stratagus works with multiplayer but I'm pretty sure we'll have to right our own methods from scratch. Is there anything with the Stratagus engine that would work for a Diablo 1 RPG?

If you want to see what Chochlik looks like so far you can go to Khanduras.net and click on Showcase under Community for some gameplay videos (excuse the mess). They are a little dated now, doesn't show the new characters for example, but it shows off the new engine and a removed quest. The modmaker keeps saying how that because it's written in c++ the possibilities are endless. I'm seeing if that's true.
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Kyran
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Re: Chochlik: Adding Lua, UI and more from Stratagus

Post by Kyran »

"Chochlik is a Diablo 1 mod" is all I needed before checking out the video.

Aw man, look at those stats, look at those menus! This game is cool! I can't wait to see how all this was implemented.

I come back to the thread.

Oh, it's a different engine.

Damn.
04:27 jim4 why haven't you added wc1 support? this project sucks. i'm only going to use freecraft
05:06 jim4 finished wc1 support yet? i've been waiting for 6 years
05:10 jim4 new things scare me
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Big Daddy
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Re: Chochlik: Adding Lua, UI and more from Stratagus

Post by Big Daddy »

Creating an interpreter for Diablo is a hell of a lot easier than modding it through reverse-engineering and assembly patching, believe me.
Cleaner, too.

I support this sort of project.
qualakon
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Re: Chochlik: Adding Lua, UI and more from Stratagus

Post by qualakon »

You know what, BigDaddy, I gave hex and asm a shot. I downloaded the programs needed and it was the slowest way to alter code that I have experienced. I have a lot of respect for those early pioneers that helped start editing Diablo.

Fortunately for the modding community as a whole, a Polish programmer has taken it upon himself to create his own version of Diablo. It looks pretty impressive and is far more capable than anything we've seen so far. At the same time, I'll have to say that Mordor, Yarik and TH team did a fine job and sustained the community for a very long time, considering. But this mod will allow those programmers and other modders alike to create new content unlike anything we've seen before. With the right amount of luck, the engine can run on OpenGL, enabling 3D environments. That's a lot of work once you think about it. But very possible. To start we just want to retell the original story and throw in a couple extras. That's where the original request came from, implementing Lua would allow for the next modder to create new experiences easier than Mordor and Ulmo did.

Chochlik is the project name, who knows what it will be called in the end. I don't know when I'll get access to source code, he wants to release a well-tested product. It's being played as we speak and I'm sure we'll see a public beta soon enough. Might not be until the new year or even later. I'll be sure to let this forum know though. Or you can pay attention to Khanduras.net, I will post it there for sure. I'm looking for talent and ambition. Usually people that support free and open-source games have both qualities.
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Big Daddy
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Re: Chochlik: Adding Lua, UI and more from Stratagus

Post by Big Daddy »

I always found it fun to bust out IDAPro, and reverse something like Diablo.
That being said, it was only feasible when unemployed, as it took me weeks to get anywhere tangible.
Converting Ulmo's Stash for the Diablo Spawn 1.09b, that took a long time, but it was quite a learning experience and enjoyable in a very cerebral way.

I'll be keeping an eye on chochlik for sure. Diablo, like Warcraft 2, deserves far more attention than what it's getting these days.
qualakon
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Re: Chochlik: Adding Lua, UI and more from Stratagus

Post by qualakon »

I'd thought I'd post this video as an update:

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Kyran
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Re: Chochlik: Adding Lua, UI and more from Stratagus

Post by Kyran »

The video is private.
04:27 jim4 why haven't you added wc1 support? this project sucks. i'm only going to use freecraft
05:06 jim4 finished wc1 support yet? i've been waiting for 6 years
05:10 jim4 new things scare me
qualakon
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2013 3:13 pm

Re: Chochlik: Adding Lua, UI and more from Stratagus

Post by qualakon »

Sorry about that Kyran, I was hoping the mod maker would keep the video up longer than that.

I didn't make a mirror or screencap the video at all, but you can see my observations here:

http://khanduras.net/forums/chochlik/ch ... ting/#p320

Edit: I have managed to upload a mirror, you can see it in the link above.
rose61
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Re: Chochlik: Adding Lua, UI and more from Stratagus

Post by rose61 »

This mod will allow those programmers and other modders alike to create new content unlike anything we've seen before. With the right amount of luck, the engine can run on OpenGL, enabling 3D environments. That's a lot of work once you think about it. But very possible. To start we just want to retell the original story and throw in a couple extras. That's where the original request came from, implementing Lua would allow for the next modder to create new experiences easier than Mordor and Ulmo did.
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