Quick Update

Only a little update this week. Spent a good deal of time working on the invasion mechanics and the UI, and I can say it's working pretty nicely at the moment. I'd estimate it's about 75% complete so hopefully I can get a working demo up soon. I've also been working on creating a map composed of the regions of space that each system controls. This is mostly a visual feature, but it should make the game look a bit more interesting and make it easier to see what territory is owned by you and the enemy. I'm implementing this using Voronoi diagrams, and the code for that is pretty complex so don't expect to see that any time soon! The map has been slightly jigged to fit onto a 50*50 square grid. This doesn't really affect how the game looks but helps with map generation since systems can no longer be closer than a certain distance.

Next week I am off on holiday, so the next update should be the week after. I will also have free weekends at that point so development should pick up again (and it's summer finally!). Sorry for the brief post, but I'll be back soon!

Crucible XXIII 20/06/2014

So last weeks calendar got busy pretty quickly- hence why there was no update last week. This week I reckon I've done a fair bit of work, almost all on the invasion system and the horrors it entails. My old invasion system and UI was pretty crappy, so I had a lot of code to simply remove and rewrite to start getting the new one in. Much of the behaviour of the UI elements in the new invasion system actually requires a fair bit of thinking and has somewhat done my head in. I think it looks pretty good now, but I'm not 100% happy with the layout (I'm try to design it so that it will fit a 1024 * 768 screen, despite using a full HD monitor- surprisingly tough to do).

State of the Game (Build 1.20 [side note- what do these build numbers mean? I don't know]):

• Created the system invasion UI. I have included a picture of my design, and also of how it currently looks in game. Although the in-game screen is a bit bare, it does include some features I did not previously think about when doing the design. Most notable differences are that I have included a reset button for both heroes and the entire screen. This recalls any tokens you may have distributed if you are unhappy with them. You can also distribute each token manually. The system is built so that multiple tokens can be moved at the same time to speed things up. Also included is a breakdown of the value of your tokens (explained last week and later in this blog).

 Screen design. More filled and more spacious than the in-game screen.

In-game screen. Some UI elements are a bit small, but I'll work on this.

• The tokens themselves are used to distribute the various attributes of your hero between the planets in the system. Assault tokens distribute the offensive power (damage) of your primary weapons amongst planets. Auxiliary tokens distribute the offensive power of your secondary weapons, and Defence tokens distribute the protection offered by your armour (explained below).
• If your heroes' primary weapons can deal 400 damage to a planet's defences, and your hero has 4 Assault tokens, each token allows you to distribute 100 (1/4) of your primary weapon's damage to planets. The tokens can be distributed however you like. Having more tokens provides you with greater versatility with how you can deal out damage to different planets. The same applies to Auxiliary and Defence tokens.
• Defence tokens have a percentage block value for each token. This denotes what percentage of incoming damage from planets will be deflected. If you have 200 Armour, and 4 Defence tokens, each token will block 50% of damage from the planet they are placed on. If all 4 are placed on one planet, 200% of damage is absorbed- which is not an efficient use of your tokens since 100% damage absorption would prevent all damage reaching you. Any damage that is not absorbed by the defence tokens is received by your Armour- which in turn reduces the effectiveness of each token. When your Armour is completely depleted, your heroes health will begin to be depleted (not happy times).
• I've included the designs of the individual tokens. The Auxiliary token represents an artillery shell, whilst the Defence token represents a sort of futuristic shield. It may sound contrived but the Assault token is supposed to represent the barrel of a rail gun (but only I really know that!).

And that's it for this week. Hopefully next week I will have finished the invasion mechanics and can get to work on some more interesting stuff  (If there is no blog post, that means I didn't finish!). 

Crucible XXII 06/06/2014

Well after a couple of busy weeks (not game work) I have managed to produce some stuff to show, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it a normal state-of-the-game update. As far as I am aware my timetable next week is clear so expect some more significant and interesting things to happen then. I did get my star models done (this?) week, and we spent some time getting them in the game. I think it looks awesome, and I've included a screen of how they look in-game, as well as some close up images for your viewing pleasure...

 Also why is my Power counter not working!?

From left to right; Binary Star, G Type, K Type, Red Giant, White Dwarf

Spent a very long time writing lore, coming up with names for and redesigning the system improvements, implementing the missiles that I spoke about, and coming up with a much better redesign of the invasion system. 

When your hero begins a system invasion they are presented with a screen showing all the planets in the system. The hero will then be given a certain number of tokens depending on the gear/tech you have unlocked for them through research. These tokens come in 3 flavours- Primary, Secondary, and Defence. Primary tokens are used to distribute your Primary offensive power between the planets. Secondary tokens are used to distribute your secondary offensive power (i.e dropships/artillery) between the planets. Defence tokens are placed on planets to reduce the amount of damage they can deal to you. 

Say your hero has 3 Primary, 2 Secondary, and 4 Defence tokens. They place 2 Primary tokens on one planet, and 1 on another- resulting in 2/3rds of the primary offensive power of the hero being diverted to one planet, and 1/3rd to the other. The same is true of the secondary tokens. The defence tokens halve the possible incoming damage- this is half of the modified value so two tokens will reduce the incoming damage by 75% not 100%. 

Finally each hero will have a unique ability that helps them in battles. Soldiers can convert all tokens to defensive tokens for a short period of time, all whilst healing, but with the inability to attack. Infiltrators use their bomb-skills rather than use secondary tokens. Finally Diplomats will auto-retreat to the nearest friendly system instantly, and leave a status effect on the enemy system.

Of course this is all subject to minor changes, but the overall mechanics I think are pretty solid, and have received good feedback- but I'm always open to hear what you think! Until next week.