Beta 4

[SnotlinG]

Here we will post our progress at Beta4.
The main goal for Beta4 is:

Teamgames, which then means updates to
1. Mapeditor to support making teammaps
2. Community, create teams, teamladder, host teamgames etc
3. The gameclient, possibly movement at the same time for the diffrent teams

Heroes
1. Better ruin functionality
2. Items
3. Possibly some kind of quests

Scenarios
1. Mapeditor functionality for creating scenariomaps
2. Community, for hosting scenarios

[SnotlinG]

First glimpse at the scenario editor mode

[SnotlinG]

So far we have added some more functionality to the mapeditor, with 2 new terraintypes, and a bit improved logic for the bigtiles etc.
Im adding a scenario mode that maps can be created in also (in addition to the 2 we have currently, i.e. random startpositions and mapcontrolled startingpositions). When creating a scenariomap you can set starting armies on the map that are owned by specific players etc.
Also adding guardtowers, plus some more 1 square-buildings.

I have started to look at the team-mode now, as usual it is a bit more tricky than expected

Some more screens of the work in progress in the mapeditor

[SnotlinG]

In Beta4 the position of Neutral units will be remembered in the FOW.
Also, Towers will hide what units are standing on that tile for the enemies.
Towers wont be shown on the map until you have discovered them.



About to move into the FOW where we previously have discovered a Neutral Giant guarding the city...


Discovering a new enemy Tower when unfogging the area...
Also the info about the Neutral unit was correct, as we can see it is still there

[piranha]

I've been working on the community part of the site for beta4, going through all pages and see if I can make things more intuitive. When we completed beta3 we started to buy some advertising but tracking users it turned out that most people just left on the first page and for those who have been looking at active players might have noticed that is was up around 300+ people just after beta3 but dropped to 120-130.

Of the few people who decided to register even more never got into a game because there were either no open game there or they didn't feel like waiting for a new game to start just to try if this is something for them. So they didn't come back.

Hopefully the fine tuning I'm doing now will translate to better result with new visitors.

Like some have pointed out in the forum there is need for the same kind of job in the game as well.

[SnotlinG]

In teamgames you will be able to vector some of your production to your allies cities.
Thus encouraging teamwork etc

[SnotlinG]

For Beta4 I have finally taken the time and reworked the pathfinding function.
It is now based on the A* algorithm (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A*_search_algorithm), but a bit modified to take all the movespecials and conversions between land and sea into account.
It is alot faster now, and successfully creates paths over bridges and Anchors

Still thinking about if i need to break the calculations if it takes to long time or not.

[piranha]

I've been working on ruins for a couple of days now. Should be done by this week.

Also worked on the hero revamp which is in many ways connected to the ruins since its dealing with items and dealing with how ruin battles will work.

We decided to use another value than the STR value to combat ruins. Ruins are guarded by undead units so we call it undead lore.

I've removed the less useful upgrades for heroes and introduced something we call ability points that can be used for different type of upgrades so you wont pick between leadership or pillage for example.

Here are some screenshots from the new hero window.


This is the first tab, hero skills which replaces the view in beta3. We haven't come to balancing anything yet, just working on the layout and getting the functionality right. Main difference is there are fewer options and that different heroes will have different heroic skills.


Next one is the equipment screen where you can drag items between ground, your backpack and the hero slots that will boast the heros stats.


The third screen is the new ability point screen.

[SnotlinG]

Since there has been more and more ideas for strange movement-abilities, that were not in the original scope, I have now re-created the entire movespecial system, opening up for much more flexibility:

# Now we can give units with movespecialabilities diffrent cost on diffrent terrain. For example the Scout normaly pays 3 on all terrains in Beta3. But in Beta4 we can make him pay 3 on most terrains, but only pay 2 on Desert and Ice.

# We can also set some movespecials to be non-groupable (pretty much as in beta 1-3 for Flyer).

# We can give some units the option to be groupable with som non-groupable movespecials, for example Hero is groupable with Flyers, SeaCreature and all types of boats. A Flyer is groupable with a Boat, i.e. can use the ships low-cost for moving at Sea, but it is not groupable with a SeaCreature, so it cant use a SeaCreatures low-cost for moving at Sea...

# We can also give some units the option to not be groupable with groupable movespecials (eh, lost you there? ) For example a SeaCreature on Land will always pay its high cost for moving, even if grouped with a Dwarf in the Hills.

# Units now have their movespecials assigned to the specific unit, instead of locked to the unittype as previously. This is good as it makes it possible for Heroes to gain new movespecialabilities

# In addition to this I did a small change to the onmouseover-info, now it will display the cost for moving on the terrain for the current selected stack. So an Elf unit will display cost:2 when you hover the mouse over Forest.

[SnotlinG]

Since Piranha prepared the layout and basics of the diplomacy popup/functionality a few weeks ago I have been working on integrating it with the server functionality, and finally some results to show

In Beta4 everyone (except teammates) will be considered as in "war" from the beginning. You will be able to offer/accept Non-Agression Pacts (N.A.P) with other players, and when doing so, you have the posibility to decide the number of turns and if something is offered/demanded in return.



Player test is offering me 2 diff NAPs, one where I would get some gold if I accept, and one where I have to pay by giving away my city Avalon


Making a pretty bad choice, I accept the one which demands my city Avalon


As can be seen the city changes owner, and all my units (2 heavy inf) is moved outside the city. If there is no space for them to move too, they will be lost