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f13.net  |  f13.net General Forums  |  The Gaming Graveyard  |  Game Design/Development  |  Topic: Update on my game... 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
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Margalis
Terracotta Army
Posts: 12335


on: February 23, 2007, 12:02:09 AM

You can find out of date info and screens at margalis.f13.net

It has been a while since I gave an update...because it has been a while since I made any progress.  angry A lot of random crap has come up recently (including lazyness) but I'm back in the saddle.

I really want to leave my current job but it pays well and if I get a game dev job I will likely be working longer hours, meaning less time for hobby stuff. So my goal is to work on my game nights until it is in good shape, which will hopefully speed things along since I don't want to be at my current job too much longer. The fact that I want to leave my job is getting me in gear again because I want to be far along when that happens.

I'm moving from the prototype stage to the...prototype 2 stage. tongue I'm taking a step back and trying to get the general rules flow working from top to bottom. I'm ignoring matchmaking and deck-building for now, decks are just text files and there is no lobby, when you connect you pair with whoever else is waiting.

What I am concentrating on is the game logic from when the game starts to ends. I have a lot of the middle pieces working - you can move around, attack, kill stuff, etc, but right now things just start in mid-stream with all your units already on the field. How did they get on the field? Who knows?

So I'm fleshing in the beginning - two clients log on, they send over the decks they chose, server tells one of them to start, they draw some cards, play some units, end turn, player 2 starts, etc etc. I'm also generalizing the logic to support any number of players.

I'm also taking some ideas that were rather rough before, like what exactly can go in a deck and the relationship between individual units and their templates and soldifying that.

My goal is that relatively soon you can play a game with all the parts in place. Some of those parts may be represented very poorly graphically and be annoying to operate, but they will be there and the game logic will support them. Then it's just a matter of interface/graphics. I'm actually not that far away now, it is more a matter of some restructuring and hooking stuff together than anything else.

One nice thing is that some time away has given me a different perspective, it is easier for me to see now where certain things were not well-designed.

vampirehipi23: I would enjoy a book written by a monkey and turned into a movie rather than this.
Alkiera
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1556

The best part of SWG was the easy account cancellation process.


Reply #1 on: February 23, 2007, 08:14:16 AM

How did they get on the field? Who knows?

Have you seen/played Dreamblade?  It's a minis game from WotC that works out kinda like your game on a tabletop.  Anyway, you spawn your creatures with points generated by the dicerolls for initiative.  Each player rolls 1d6, the total is the number of spawn points available to each player, and the person who rolled highest goes first.

If either player rolls a '1', there is no spawn that round.  This can't happen the first round, nor can it happen 2 rounds in a row.  In those cases, the '1' is re-rolled.  Ties go to the player who's won the most rounds; ties there mean both players re-roll.

I like the system because you are less likely to run into 'mana suck' issues like MtG, unless you've stacked your warband with lots of high-cost units.  In that way, it's good to have a few cheaper units so you can at least spawn something, when the dice come up low.

It also has scoring based on territory control.  You kill enemies and hold strategic points on the map to gain victory points; at the end of each round, the person with the most points wins the round; 6 rounds won wins the game.

This also encourages some cheaper units, as you can spread cheap units to cover more scoring locations.  You'll need to reinforce to hold them, but if you can cover more than your opponent, you can win a round or two in the early game.

One nice thing is that some time away has given me a different perspective, it is easier for me to see now where certain things were not well-designed.

Indeed; it's amazing how code you wrote a month or so ago might as well have been written by someone else.  I've gone back to look at old code and wondered, 'What on earth was I thinking?'

--
Alkiera

"[I could] become the world's preeminent MMO class action attorney.  I could be the lawyer EVEN AMBULANCE CHASERS LAUGH AT. " --Triforcer

Welcome to the internet. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used as evidence against you in a character assassination on Slashdot.
Margalis
Terracotta Army
Posts: 12335


Reply #2 on: February 23, 2007, 05:16:03 PM

I'll take a look.

I definitely want control over the map to be important. I was thinking "resource nodes" would give you some bonuses like extra mana, an extra card draw, etc. Good for pushing the action and encouraging map skirmishes.

My resource system is pretty similar to M:TG but lessens the chance of color screw and I have a couple other ideas (stolen from the WOW TCG) to minimize flood and screw to some degree. I like the M:TG resource system for a number of reasons but I expect my matches will be best of 1, which means getting screwed is not acceptable.

---

Most of my old code was messy prototype code, which was fine. My problem was I didn't switch over into a neater mode soon enough. Of course part of that has to do with the fact that I do most of my work between midnight and 4 AM.

vampirehipi23: I would enjoy a book written by a monkey and turned into a movie rather than this.
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