Some of you may remember me asking questions about game design regarding a RTS project. Well it has reached a level that I feel comfortable to show to some unbiased people.
The game is available in German and English. It is an alpha version so expect some bugs (And please report them along with the circumstances)
The game will ask for network access (for multi player (a server is started for single player too) and for the version server). No data will be logged nor provided to any third party.
Since now I have offered this game only to family members so both the change log and the control-documentation are in German and the later is about half a year old. So I have decided that a video which shows the first part of the game where a small base is build would be a much better help than updating and translating all that. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3GxDx3MPfU
Major problems while "figuring it out". (Not all implemented functionality is shown in the video so I would like to know if you feel that a standard functionality is missing or to well hidden.
Exploits (Like setting up some orders in a special way to duplicate resources, or gaining other unintended advantages.)
FlowerChild wrote:For example, I'm feeling such a whim right now, and look forward with anticipation to the feeling of satisfaction that shall come from acting upon it.
Haven't tried the actual game yet, but poking around in the menus, I came across a few things to look at.
Initial menu:
Tooltips for starting or joining a server say "mashine" instead of "machine"
One of the menus you can choose is called "Sever", when I assume you meant "Server"
The "Speeds" menu could use a bit of clarification. What are "Mouse LR" and "Mouse "UD"?
In the lobby screen, the button to toggle between an open slot, an AI, and a closed slot is tooltipped as "slottyp" - I'm guessing it was meant to be "slot type"?
Downloading while uploading some things for the edolas resurrection. It will be a while but I have school to deal with anyway. Looking forward to trying it. :D
Kaitocain wrote: Snow is not fire, so it can still rain.
Basic Information:
The game is intended to be full 3D. Meaning unit movement and positioning is completely free.
The current map is spawn point symmetrical. All eight spawn points are located on the same horizontal plane.
Only the "Pirate"-Computer player will attack all others will build some basic units and stop.
There is no way to "win" the game yet. (I have plans though)
Unit abilities beyond movement and attack are defined by its modules. Most modules can be upgraded/replaced/build with the module configuration module.
All weapons have an individual stock of ammunition. Meaning a unit may display 50% ammunition but does not fire because the weapons on the side facing the enemy are depleted.
Units need Energy to work (some modules like the radar do too), fuel to move (if they have engines), ammunition to fire (if they have weapons) and must be repaired. All this is provided via drones. The drone module needs resources which are mentioned in the module's tool tip to operate and "ship parts" to build drones.
Basic controls:
[RMB] Right mouse button
[LMB] Left
[MMB] Middle (press scroll-wheel)
[SW] Scroll-wheel
UI Concept:
[LMB]-Click will do something
[RMB]-Click will stop/abort/delete something
[MMB]-Click will alter some mode
While position something holding-[shift] will switch from horizontal to vertical positioning.
Camera:
[SW]: Zoom the zoom level affects the positioning speed.
[RMB]-Drag / QEPageUp-Down: Rotate
[MMB]-Drag / WASD: Move centre horizontal
[MMB]-[RMB]-Drag / RF: Move centre vertical
[MMB]-Click on object (Asteroid, Unit, Message, Unit-button(Groupmenu/Unit finder)): Focus camera on object/unit
[C]: toggle follow focused unit, will stop it the camera is moved
Menus:
All buttons should have a tool tip describing the button's functionality.
[RMB]-Click / [ESC]: abort-order/close last menu
[MMB]-Click on buttons: Circle trough modes if any (The button's mode indicator will change, e.g. "Attack")
Unit-Menu:
[LMB]-Click on buttons with a full frame will open a submenu or start a select-target process (Cursor should change, click on the desired target)
Hovering over Icons with a corner-frame (passive modules) will display the tool tip and the use of the module.
Holding [ctrl] while giving a queue able order (movement, transfer cargo, build station/ship/module) will append the order to the unit's order chain. Otherwise the new order will clear the order chain.
[Right-Ctrl]-[Del]: self-destruction of the selected unit.
Known issues:
Sometimes the mouse cursor will not change back when the TextInput is left.
Units can be selected while clicking on a DropDownList's Item if a unit is located "under" it. All other GUI-Elements should prohibit unit de-/selection while the cursor is over them.
"We are not shooting for realism,.. we are shooting for awesome!"
"Mouse LR": Left/Right moving speed
"Mouse "UD": Up/Down moving speed
This will not affect the speed of the cursor but the speed the positioning works which is also scaled with the zoom-factor.
On the default settings the speed at which e.g. a station-phantom (transparent blue/red) moves with your mouse movements should feel comfortable.
I will think of something.. Maybe "Mouse sensitivity"..
"We are not shooting for realism,.. we are shooting for awesome!"
A new node was added to the map files: "<imgName>[file name]</imgName>" to enable custom images to be shown in the server lobby. Images should be 150*60 pixel and must be located in the "Maps" folder.
Weapons
Defensive weapons like Antirocketbeams will ignore the "hold fire"-mode now.
Start-Menu
Under the option tab "General" the detail limit is now adjustable. You define how far a object (nebula) may be away from the camera before it is shown with less detail.
Under the option tab "Speeds" you no longer have the option to adjust vertical mouse movement independent from horizontal movement. While this option was rarely used it caused a lot confusion.
In game messages
The messages for insufficient resources while building (units, stations, modules, drones) include a list of the needed resources now.
Unit menu
Modules: Mining/gas collecting now display the resource they are harvesting.
Cargo module menu: The freight list is now displayed with icons instead of text so that the list should no longer be hidden by other GUI elements.
Cargo transform module (Refinery, Forge,..) menu: The feedstock and production list is now displayed with icons instead of text.
Units
Plasma Cruiser (Tier 1) - Sturdy close combat unit with a plasma weapon.
The pirate cruiser (Tier 2) has fewer weapons, lower hit points and weaker armor now.
Modules
The range of module configurator-modules was reduced and does scale with the module's tier now.
Reload- and repair-modules use stemmater now.
The color of shields was changed to blueish.
Gas collectors whose nebula is depleted search for a new one in regular intervals now. So towing them to a new location has the expected benefit of starting the harvest.
Formations
Now each position in a formation has a role depending on the expected enemy position.
Units have a formation role depending on their function and will try to find a formation position matching it.
Phalanx formation's positions were adopted to suit the new roles better.
Box formation's position order was adopted to suit the new roles better.
Wall formation's positions were adopted to suit the new roles better.
Claw formation's positions were adopted to suit the new roles better.
Bugfix
While in infinite production mode, cargo transform modules (Refinery, Forge,..) do not longer destroy resources if the product count reaches the number of one cargo box.
Cargo transfers which are initialized from a stationary unit (platforms or stations) work again.
"We are not shooting for realism,.. we are shooting for awesome!"
The video is provided in German but has English subtitles and explains how to handle modules which are existential to progress and access to the higher tiers. Since all games that I know (but Homeworld which has a similar mechanic) do handle progress in a different way and several of my testers did not find the method to deal with modules until they were guided directly to it (which I find strange since they had no problem building units) it may be time to rethink it or make it somehow more intuitive.
"We are not shooting for realism,.. we are shooting for awesome!"
Unit movement/ "Shipyard to gathering point"-Path was adapted to make the move more fluent.
Interface
Unit selection with [Shift] will add to the selected group even if it was shortly released. A new group will only be generated if no group was selected before pressing [shift].
Freight in selection and inventory is now listed in the same order.
In the fright menu "Maximum count in target" is now the default transfer mode.
Migration NGUI-Free to NGUI-Licensed. (There may be still some resulting interface bugs present)
Centered menus will be blurry on uneven screen resolutions. (While in windowed-mode even resolutions will be enforced now)
Fog of War
Objects do have three modes now
Visible: is permanently visible to all players. (Asteroids, Mission objects (default))
Discover: a friendly unit must have seen it once. (Platforms)
FoW: must be friendly or a friendly unit must be able to see it. (Units)
Missions: define special challenges and goals.
In the directory "Missions" a number of xml-files and "missionTemplate.txt" are present. The later includes the file format and all conditions usable in mission files. With those one can create new goals or even small campaigns. Which can be chosen in the server lobby.
A menu was added to display the status of each player and your own mission progress.
Certain missions will create mission objects. Those are valid movement targets, can be defended by micro-carriers, have an informative tool tip like asteroids and can be focused by a click with the middle mouse button.
Modules
Shipyards now do have an additional release point to make the leafing path more fluid.
New units will leave the shipyard with a uniform speed.
Units
Expedition ship: anti-fighter-cannons were replaced with triple rocket launchers.
Supply post: anti-fighter-cannons were replaced with triple rocket launchers.
Destroyer: triple rocket launchers replaced with Artillery.
Armor and hit points of most units were rebalanced.
Weapons
Projectiles will ignore own shields and units within a certain distance. Explosions will still cause damage to friendly units.
Anti-fighter-cannon: Removed
Artillery added: Long range, no target tracing, armor penetrating.
Armor penetration and damage of most weapons were rebalanced.
Bug fixes
Gathering points, whose units were turned, can be dragged correctly now.
While positioning a station phantom you can no longer activate the unit finder. So it can not close the unit menu without restoring the mouse cursor.
Fixed visual problems with some muzzle effects.
Friendly foreign units, which are not within a radar's range, are visible now.
The hosting player can no longer chose a different map while he is ready.
Instead of only when getting hit units will repeatedly request repairs now if any is needed.
"We are not shooting for realism,.. we are shooting for awesome!"
The group menu does remove destroyed units automatic.
Some frequent messages are now grouped by position rather than unit.
Messages regarding battle are now displayed in red.
"Under attack" and "destroyed" have different icons now.
The background of drop-down-lists and the tool tip was changed to improve the readability.
There are now options to define the number of cargo box sizes to transfer in the cargo module's menu's amount selection list. This is always the size of the cargo destination. For "unload" this is the other unit, for "load" orders it's the actual unit.
In the order queue menu the "sort by type" button was removed and a "sort by distance to view point" option added.
The status menu can be hidden now.
Mission objects have an indicator which shows the "near by"-area when the mouse is over it.
In the unit menu the "stop"-button has been shrunk.
In the unit menu does have a "Info"-button now, which shows the unit's and weapon's values.
The unit finder can find towing and supply units now.
Patrol points can be removed by a [RMB]-click now.
Patrol points do show a tool tip now.
When the "m"-button is pressed the view is centered on the expedition ship.
While playing in single player mode (only one human player) the game menu (F10) pauses the game now.
While giving a movement order to a unit the movement mode can be toggled with the [MMB]-click as well as by pressing [tab] now.
Towing
Units, asteroids and mission objects do have a weight value now (I know it is mass in that context but that would be confusing with the resource)
Spawn point asteroids can no longer be towed.
The maximum tow speed depends on the target's weight.
Tow modules do have a maximum tow weight now. Target which exceed it can not be towed.
Tier 2: Units up to the size of the expedition ship, small stations and the mission objects: "MissionOb_Casing" and all "MissionOb_Broken".
Tier 3: All units ans small asteroids.
Missions
MissionOb_Broken01, MissionOb_Broken02, MissionOb_Broken03, MissionOb_Broken04, MissionOb_Broken05, MissionOb_Broken06 added. Those are pieces of a larger one and will start to move towards one another if moved into proximity.
Mission objects have an additional attribute now: "dominationCap" which sets a limit to the domination level a team can gather at the object. Default: 100. (The sum of the caps must be smaller or equal to the limit set in the domination condition.)
Logic conditions "And" and "Or" added. Those can contain other condition tags which will be evaluated accordingly.
Time related conditions "TimePlayed" (from game start), "Time" (from actual mission start) added.
Units
Changed the system of how the game defines the fire direction of a given unit. It is now possible to define a whole set of fire directions for each unit. This is most obvious for stations and the expedition ship. In case of the destroyer you can now switch between artillery and slow down rockets by switching fire directions. The other weapons will not be deactivated but the unit will turn them away from the enemy.
Destroyer: fire direction "ahead" added, rotatable artillery replaced with fixed artillery cannons in the fore, deck and bottom weapon slots were mounted with rotatable ion-cannons.
Expeditionship: fire direction "ahead" and "aft" added.
Weapons
Tactical rocket: damage and explosion radius increased.
Slow down rocket: effect duration and radius increased.
Weapons which do fire projectiles without target tracing will no long fire at movable targets.
Fixed bugs
Slow down rockets do no longer catapult targets.
An critical error in the damage computation was removed.
Hiding the chat works now from the first click.
AI-player to calculate the passed time from game start rather than from program start.
Tier 3 Moduldock has build costs again.
The tool tip for unbuildable units and modules was fixed.
The language selection does work again.
If a patrol with only one point was generated it will be automatic removed now.
"We are not shooting for realism,.. we are shooting for awesome!"
The Serverlobby does show the description of the selected mission.
The tab "Server" in the start menu now holds a list of all visited servers. You may change or delete the entries.
Pressing F3 in game will now toggle the debug screen where general statistics of loaded objects is shown. If the game uses excessive amounts of memory this might indicate a memory leak.
Before the game starts the mission window now shows who is still loading.
The Info menu of each units shows the effect type of any weapon.
The size of micro units on icons has been increased.
While placing Gascollectors you no longer can choose a build side outside of a nebula.
There is a new tab "Shortcuts" in the start menu. You may configure each shortcut here. The configuration is stored in "Shortcuts.xml". It is not recommended to alter the file directly.
The shortcuts from any tooltip is the default setting and will not change if the shortcut was altered.
All positioning actions (Stations, Groupmarker,.. ) do use the same key to toggle between horizontal and vertical mode which is used for camera movement. (Shift)
Repositioning/drag is now triggered by the same key the camera movement is. (Holding-[MMB])
A Shortcut was added to "Attack" orders (group and unit) [C], "Switch broadside" (group and unit) [Shift+C], "switch fire mode" (group and unit) [Alt+C]
Units
A purely civil chassis is used for Gascollectors now.
Computer/AI
Battle units will now assist non battle units who are under attack.
Non battle units will now flee or request aid if they can move.
The humanoid AI was adapted to use the tiered system from the spawn AI.
The tiered AI system can now be serialized so a different model can be loaded at runtime.
Freighter do react on requests and transport goods to requesters.
Bug fixes
While the unit menu is open pressing 'M' will no longer focus on the main unit.
Mission titles and descriptions are now localized. (English language key in the mission files was wrong)
Spawn point position corrected.
Spawn point 8 can be used again.
Micro carrier can now be build and will work now.
Carried units without weapons can be deployed multiple times now.
Multi player
The "Ready"-status of a gamer is no longer inverted.
Choosing a color with more than two connected players (including AI) fixed.
Selecting a mission while players with different localization settings are connected will now work.
An error was fixed which did make it impossible to initialize a foreign player's units correctly. (missing Modules, Weapons,..)
An error was fixed which did make it impossible to initialize AI-Units at the clients.
An error was fixed which did cause nebula to have no or negative collectible gas when the client took longer to load the map then the server.
"We are not shooting for realism,.. we are shooting for awesome!"
In the mission menu latency values will be displayed instead of the player's status if the ping time to the player is longer than 50 ms.
While you enter a chat message the game will ignore the input.
While you enter a new unit name the game will ignore the input.
Pressing "F12" during a game session will take a screen shot and store it in the folder "Screenshots".
Pressing "F5" during a single player game session will save the game to "quicksave".
In game menu (F10)
The in game menu has been rearranged to provide space for menu tabs.
If the game is a single player session, tabs to save and load sessions will be available. You may load or overwrite an existing save game by clicking on it. To create a new save game you must enter a new name and click "save".
Saving and Loading single player game sessions
Tabs were added to the server lobby (start game). The first contains the known menu to create a new session. The second lists all saved single player sessions and you may load any of them by clicking on it.
Tabs to save and load sessions were added to the game menu (F10) too.
Pressing "F5" during a single player session will save the session to "quicksave".
Towing: If the target is within the module's reach the unit will no longer turn towards the target but start towing it immediately.
Computer foes (humanoid)
Industry produces required goods and will stop overproduction.
The Expedition ship will produce chemicals for energy.
Production list extended so it will build tier 1 battle units.
Intern event-optimization
Intern redesign to enable single player sessions to be saved and loaded.
Bug fixes
Patrol points can be sorted by their distance to the unit again.
"We are not shooting for realism,.. we are shooting for awesome!"
You may choose a seperate key combination for this now. The default is set to [LMB]-Drag.<br>
This results in "Unit selection" and "Group selection" laying on the same key. To avoid confusion a selection box has to have a minimum size now. It is no longer possible to click on units to add them to the active group or select units while a group is active.
Wrackage
Wrackages are leftovers from destroyed units which contain resources.
They may be towed by any towship which is capable of towing asteroids.
They will be destroyed by weapons which do area damage and will decay over time.
Wrackages may be salvaged for their resources by a nearby salvage module.
Module
Salvage modules will automatically collect near by wreckages and salvage them for containing resources.<br>
There is no unit which has a salvage module mounted by default so it must be build manually.
Save and Load
The exact status of an AI-Player is stored now to avoid repetition of the actual wave / building orders.
The queue of drone modules will be saved now.
Formation and the defence target of micro carriers are saved now.
Bugfixes
Pressing "M" while a moveable unit is selected will allow you to give an movement order again.
Units which were loaded from a save game are now able to use their weapons.
After loading a savegame groups which were assigned to a number key can be selected by pressing that key again.
"We are not shooting for realism,.. we are shooting for awesome!"
