DMNet : a Dungeon Master multiplayer remake

[Kroah]

Hi retro-fans,

If you like delving into dark dungeons haunted by thirsty creatures, but prefer doing it with a living meat shield a friend or family, my new project may interest you (who says Bloodwych ?).

With some reverse engineering nights and the help of Christophe F.'s hard work, i started working on DMNet : a C# multiplayer version of Dungeon Master (and Chaos Strikes Back).
It uses a TCP/IP connection (one client being the host).
I won't recommend playing it with more than 2 parties right now (some things may not work).

[ Show youtube player ]


You can download the first release of DMNet on my website:
Kroah's Game Reverse Engineering Page

If you finish DM (with DMNet), you can import your parties to CSB (instructions in the ReadMe).

Custom dungeons are supported if no DMute hack has been used (Kids Dungeon provided as example).

Some additional features from DM (check Settings.ini):
- Other party health/stamina/mana bars (dungeon view & top right)
- Creatures health and stats (fire resistance, etc.)
- Detailed champion stats
- Experience gain
- Unwanted (really ?!) fireballs on other party (hint: don't abuse this feature to explore in harmony)
- Potions (or foods) can be used on another party member by clicking on the top right grey champion with a consumable (both parties must be on the same cell):


You can contact me here, on the renowned DM Forum or on my forum, wherever you like.

Have fun "partying"!

PS: DMNet is based on the Atari version of DM/CSB (yes, you won't hear creatures walking, sorry)

[gimbal]

Cool. I wish I had any friends!


(... that even know what Dungeon Master is, never mind want to play it).

[malko]

Neat (net) idea
My mini-Gozillas have started playing it on Amiga.
But it gives me the idea to test your version (net-PC play) during coming summer holiday.
Thanks for your work!

[Pyromania]

This looks like a really exciting project, thanx for letting us know. I bet it’s lots of fun to play it with friends.

[gimbal]

It fuels the fire to do the same to Captive I think the "outline humans" are a smart solution for not getting in each other's way.

It does make me wonder. These games are known for throwing traps at you, especially walls and doors that close behind you or pits that open up. That would mean that parties get stuck, don't they?

[malko]

Originally Posted by gimbal

[...] It does make me wonder. These games are known for throwing traps at you, especially walls and doors that close behind you or pits that open up. That would mean that parties get stuck, don't they?

I think this answer your question (from the provided site (1st post)) :

Known limitations:

• no side/back attack anim (creature and party)
• the dungeon view is not updated while falling in a trap
• invalid object placement/location (e.g.: Conflux v1.11 L1/X22/Y0 text and door object should be swapped)
• cloning/chesting

[gimbal]

No I'm too stupid to understand that.

[malko]

^ . This is not how I see you

[Kroah]

Originally Posted by gimbal

These games are known for throwing traps at you, especially walls and doors that close behind you or pits that open up. That would mean that parties get stuck, don't they?

Hi Gimbal,

We have played all DM levels without being stuck even if it could happen i think.

When a wall closes behind you, if a party is on the closing wall cell, the game waits the cell to be freed before closing the wall. But if the other party was before the closing wall, yes, they could be stuck.

It's more likely to happen in CSB where puzzles are way nastier and complex.

I think DM/CSB should be played while knowing roughly what could happen to not be stuck.

At worst, an automatic savegame is done every minute in case the player would want to backtrack.

[malko]

Thank you for the precisions Kroah.

The 'To Do' list mention improvement that are not related to the 'Known Limitations'.
Do you plan to 'fix' the Known Limitations ?
If yes, could you give us some details about the general idea? I mean, usually when you fall in a trap, you find yourself one level further. Do you plan the falling party :
- to be able to 'explore' alone the 'new' level until the rest of the team join ?
- to not be able to move and wait for the rest of the team ?
- other ?

TODO list:
recording game
ingame chat system
custom party graphics in dungeon view

[Kroah]

Originally Posted by malko

Do you plan to 'fix' the Known Limitations ?

Not actually.
Most of those limitations are deeply nested in the engine itself, making it difficult to change without impacting the whole.

Originally Posted by malko

If yes, could you give us some details about the general idea? I mean, usually when you fall in a trap, you find yourself one level further. Do you plan the falling party :
- to be able to 'explore' alone the 'new' level until the rest of the team join ?
- to not be able to move and wait for the rest of the team ?
- other ?

By the sentence "the dungeon view is not updated while falling in a trap", i mean the dungeon view is not updated *while* falling. i.e. the party immediately reaches the destination cell without *seeing* the fall.
In DM, a special loop render the screen while falling, blocking the main game loop.
In DMNet, i have split the update logic from the rendering logic, so i can't easily implement this, and i don't think this is really annoying.

[malko]

Thank you for the clarification

[Valken]

Amazing! I need to get this up and running for some MP DM!

Maybe we can see MP Eye of the Beholder / Lands of Lore bitmap series next one day?! or even Dungeon Hack MP version?!

[AmigaHope]

Originally Posted by Kroah

I think DM/CSB should be played while knowing roughly what could happen to not be stuck.

At worst, an automatic savegame is done every minute in case the player would want to backtrack.

The big never-go-back moment in the original DM is when you complete the firestaff by adding the powergem, which then locks you into the bottom part of the dungeon (I believe the golem level and below). This also locks you away from food from the regenerating screamer room, so you now have a fixed food supply from this point onward, forcing you to constantly use potions to survive if you run out. This is endgame though, so unless you were bad at clearing out levels earlier, you can basically just go defeat Chaos in a few minutes.

I think they did this to prevent you from giving Librasulus the completed firestaff, which would make the ending weird. (You famously get the bad ending by bringing back the incomplete firestaff, and Librasulus kills you).

Of course people quickly found out that you could cheat by throwing the completed firestaff past the pressure pad that senses you have it, thus not locking the dungeon down.

Still this is one part I clearly remember which could permanently lock someone off.

[Hercules]

Wow another new release that can be played online. Congrats on your work. Looking forward to giving it a whirl once the network card is up and running.

[BastyCDGS]

Originally Posted by AmigaHope

The big never-go-back moment in the original DM is when you complete the firestaff by adding the powergem, which then locks you into the bottom part of the dungeon (I believe the golem level and below). This also locks you away from food from the regenerating screamer room, so you now have a fixed food supply from this point onward, forcing you to constantly use potions to survive if you run out. This is endgame though, so unless you were bad at clearing out levels earlier, you can basically just go defeat Chaos in a few minutes.

No, you are never locked out from even the top level (where character creation takes place). There is even an alternate ending when you run, with the firestaff equipped, to the top level entrance where everything started instead of beating Chaos with it.

This, however requires solving additional puzzles which aren't required, when you just want to beat Chaos. *HINT*

EDIT: Forget, what I wrote above, I just forgot that there is a difference once the firestaff has been completed,

[alexh]

Thanks for all your hard work. Most check it out