Written by: Kuiriel
Well, this was a hell of a ride, I must admit. Major stuffups on my behalf and not following instructions given by the instructor (Ajoc) resulted in my being caned by the almighty referee. It's not nice when you go to look at your spellbook and get killed by successive lightning bolts much to your opponents amusement. I mean, all I did was go up to him and start hacking away at him, curious as to how many hitpoints he (the ref) had. And starting up a match to discover you don't actually know how to start... the match.. is probably something a fair few people have gone through, never bothering to read the 'readme' files provided with downloads. Its simple. DRINK THE POTION! Now, that said and done, this little MOD rocks. I interviewed Ajoc back way when this was mostly a concept, and it's nice to see a MOD go the distance. So, along with some snazzy new screenshots by Ajoc and I, (these, incidentally, are what delayed this interview being posted by nearly a week - DirectX8.1 problems) the interview and my small personal review, this is quite a read.
Kuiriel : So, Ajoc.. I see MageDuel is out. What have you got now, as opposed to when I first interviewed you?
Ajoc: Well, to run it up, three complete mages, each with 9 new spells and a ref character. This is all you see up front when you play...a lot more goes on behind the scenes.
Kuiriel: Like the intense scripting poor Potencius had to go through to in order to get summoned creatures to attack other members of the party - the real enemies in MageDuel?
Ajoc: For example, yes, hehe. There was a big problem with the way multiplayer allies work in BG2.
We still don't think it's perfect, but it's the best of over 5 or so script re-does..
Kuiriel: What are the three mages out? And their spells?
Ajoc: There are more mages in development, but the ones so far are:
Skeletal Mage: Summon Skulls, Skeletons, Skeleton Warriors, Bone Golems, Skeleton Mage, Special Lich. He also has Lich Door, (better Dimension Door) and Skeletal Shield.
Cadaverous Mage: Summon Plague Rats, Zombies, Ghasts, Carrion Crawlers,Zombie Ogre Mage, Flesh Construct, Vampire Character. Other spells include Cadaverous Images (a la mirror image) and Vampiric Gaze (paralyses all but undead creatures).
Elven Mage: Summon Forest Creatures, Elven Scouts, Elen Archers, Forest Spirits, Elven Champions, Forest Guardian, High Sorceror. Other spells include Nature's Beauty (re-memorize level 6 spell) and Forest mist (all creatures given amazing armour class)
The War of the Twisted Rune - Click on image to enlarge
Kuiriel: Now that we know what the choices so far are, to those who wonder, why should they download MageDuel?
Ajoc: Well, MageDuel isn't for everyone, as it is meant to be for multiplayer gaming, which some people don't do. However, if you do play multiplayer BG2, then this offers a non-cheated duelling system, which is both fun and easy to use - as easy as importing a character and using a potion to start a duel.
Kuiriel: Great! So, I can use my woosee level 14 swashbuckler from SoA against a level 39 arch-lich or mage someone else went through ToB with? (People do ask..)
Ajoc: Well, no, not as such. The characters in MD are pre-made so it's fairer, and it also allowed the new spells to be implemented easier. The clever thing about Potencius' system is that you don't technically have to use a mageduel mage to start the duel off...a few slight changes would make it an pen ended ref duelling system, which maybe worth looking into. The potion on all of the MageDuel mages summons the shapeshifting ass-kicking all powerful referee to declare winner and losers. You could just import a MageDuel mage and use the potion, hehe.
Kuiriel: So, suppose I just imported the potion using CLUA..
Ajoc: then yes, i suppose you could, all though it is untested and may cause problems with the 9 foot rule. The 9-foot rule is the only winning condition: To win, you must reduce all opponents to 1hp and make it so they have none of their creatures within 9 game feet of them. When a player loses, he becomes stuck to the spot, all his creatures unsummoned.
Under Elven Assault - Click on image to enlarge
Kuiriel: How popular has this been so far?
Ajoc: Popularity has been weird. V1.2 has had over 1000 downloads (go look for yourself at the teambg download stats!) but I hear of very few people having played it. I hear many people not understanding how to get started - they miss out on the potion step. Everyone I have played it with has enjoyed it loads, just no one has had the initiative to host a game on gamespy except a few people. If you don't drink the potion, the creatures you summon vanish away... it's to stop people from summoning an army before the ref starts a duel.
Kuiriel: What network protocols can MageDuel be played across?
Ajoc: (Through Baldurs Gate 2) Anything players 2+, network/tcp-ip/ipx etc.
To get my personal screenshot, I went online and setup my mages. A random GameSpy chap popped in and decided to watch. Unfortunately, MageDuel is not a spectator sport, and I wasn't able to start shooting until he left. Now, there are still a few bugs being ironed out. An example is the 10 creature spells, which cause a slight lag whenever cast. Something to keep in mind is to give your creatures commands immediately after summoning them, as they are liable to get bored and rip each others throats out with blunt pitchforks if you leave them waiting for too long.
Kuiriel
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