Along The Tech Tree: 139

ID:86849
 
Dec 3 2009, 3:23 pm
Keywords: techtree

I have not taken the time to offer interface suggestions since Witches' Chess made it into the guild.  However, I did read Krystian Majewski's three part analysis of Mass Effect's problems over at Game Design Reviews...  Don't do those things.  How's that?

BTW, for those who have not already noticed, my sticking with the old version of BYOND is really hurting me as I try to keep up with news.  I don't suggest holding off if you can help it.  (I just don't want to worry about updating my graphics handling while I'm already upgrading other aspects.)

Devourer of Souls updated his hybrid, Witches' Chess.  His forum's release log has yet to be updated.  However, a bit of searching reveals a player count fix and a new ability to cancel challenges.  Also mentioned are a method to avoid accidentally accepting challenges and a fix for a possible pawn promotion bug, but I don't know if they made it in.

Calus CoRPS has been doing some soul searching.  Naturally, I'm a souless tyrant so I only commented on the brief mention of his turn-based wargame, Fortay.  Calus CoRPS claims that the game died.  I'm curious about the isometric update, balance, and whether I should bother with interface suggestions.

Calus CoRPS also described Gerdan's Bot Duel as the inspiration for his own bot-scripting game, Junk Metal.  I'll list the former if Gerdan is active or players request it.

I accepted two of Mechanos7's games into the guild based on their descriptions and accessible files.  However, I have been unable to play them with the old version of BYOND I'm using.  I'm relying on guild members to tell me if the genres are incorrect.

Empire Defense appears to be a tower defense game with 10 waves of 7 different types of enemies.  Riverside is a turn-based wargame with 15 types of fantasy units.  Check them out.

Bakasensei updated his RTS, Age of War.  The game was rebalanced and fixes were provided for unlisted issues regarding players, administrators, and archer units.  Meanwhile, Kaizoma appears to have joined the staff as a host.

Falacy posted a picture of what appears to be an unreleased update to his defense game, Gold Guardians.  I'm curious if the interface will be updated as well.

I keep calling Geldonyetich's persistent world, Vehicle Wars, an RTS.  However, the mechanics depend on the faction.  Terrans play like an RTS, Natives play like a building simulation and frelling zombies Privateers play like a vehicular combat RPG.  Geldonyetich theorizes that trying to blend these three experiences together in his first project is what has taken him so long to settle on a design.

Still working on Murder on Station Mosasisan, Gamemakingdude ran a poll to determine his next project.  The strategy option won.  Of course, Gamemakingdude posted the poll in his Horror Guild so zombies could be making an appearance.  Frelling zom...  Wait.  They're on our side now?

EMQ Productions' stock market boardgame, Make or Break, was submitted to the guild.  However, the button that displays instructions does not appear to work.  I have no clue how much of the game relies on player actions and how much relies on randomness.  Does anyone else?

AZA's Build A Space Game contest will start accepting final entries on the 15th.  Contestants have had three months to create their games in order to win $250 and other goodies.   Read AZA's post for how games will be judged.

...I wonder if subscribing to AZA's BYONDMail will let me finally comment on non-BYOND blogs.  I don't post a lot, but I get miffed when I try to fix someone's bad URL just to find out my Gmail address is filtered.  (You've scarred me, GameSetWatch and GameHounds!)

I updated my arcade action game, Wrangle, Warp and Weep with interface improvements.  The smaller Strays seem to really help people understand what's happening.

I'm still working on an update for my card-battling boardgame, PathWrath 2.  I made some minor interface tweaks and created a shrine for the last winner that displays the medals they won.  I'm running out of minor changes so I should finally get around to finishing the separate phase interfaces I mentioned ages ago.

Fooldom Come: One subscription. Many games.

Oasiscircle offered a progress report for his team's project, The Value of War... You know there are blogs for text, right?

That's cheating! I call "do over" with a review from The Dice Tower.

Dec 3 2009, 3:26 pm
The zombies aren't on our side...
There's going to be a special mode, where you have to take control of a country/nation and protect it from oncoming waves of zombies and other creatures. There will be some big bosses, such as Bigfoot, the Kraken and more.
Dec 3 2009, 3:37 pm
I know there are blogs, right? ;)
Dec 3 2009, 3:54 pm
Minor correction: There are not 15 types of units in Riverside, there are 15 units per side. There's actually 4 kinds of units.
Dec 3 2009, 3:56 pm
I'm confused, why aren't you updating? You don't have to change your graphics around with the new version, you just need to add two or so lines of code under world to keep things as they are, IIRC.
Dec 3 2009, 4:25 pm
Tiberath wrote:
You don't have to change your graphics around with the new version, you just need to add two or so lines of code under world to keep things as they are, IIRC.

I tried out the new release, but it brought back horrible memories of the early days of 4.0. In other words, it has potential but it's buggy as hell. I'm personally sticking with the pre-Iso version for a few months until the kinks are worked out.
Dec 3 2009, 5:03 pm
Why do people never have screenshots on their hub entries?
Dec 3 2009, 6:24 pm
@Tiberath: I don't even know anymore. I just don't want any surprises. This update is taking much longer than I intended.
Dec 3 2009, 7:10 pm (Edited on Dec 3 2009, 7:16 pm)
"I'm curious about the isometric update, balance, and whether I should bother with interface suggestions."

The isometric update will be released no later than January. Interface and other small suggestions are always welcomed.

Balancing these units have always been difficult, I'm thinking that implementing XML, which would allow customizable units by the host, could be a good idea. Along with that, the host could create new and unique units. But, I quit working on this game programming-wise a while back, and I highly doubt I'll return.

Other than that, I am no longer going to produce updates for the game unless a bug needs to be fixed.
Dec 7 2009, 9:47 pm
SilkWizard wrote:
I tried out the new release, but it brought back horrible memories of the early days of 4.0. In other words, it has potential but it's buggy as hell. I'm personally sticking with the pre-Iso version for a few months until the kinks are worked out.

Not to derail this thread too much, but if you are having problems in the new release, please report the issues or add your comments to an existing bug report. As far as we are concerned, 460 is stable-- the kinks have been worked out. There are a few reports that we're currently investigating, but it's looking like they are bugs that exist in pre-455 versions. YMMV, but we need to know about bugs to fix them. For our purposes, it is best when the most serious developers provide feedback, because it tends to be a lot more testworthy.