Vapourware Codexian Game Development Thread

[Tavernking]

Making sound is also important and difficult. https://youtu.be/SHrjZdePpXM
But the game is more enjoyable, I confess.

I haven't been following your game, but does it have a flanking mechanic?

 

[TheDeveloperDude]

I haven't been following your game, but does it have a flanking mechanic?

1. units get bonus damage if they attack from the sides or behind
2. AI has very rudimentary flanking tactics

 

[TheDeveloperDude]

I am experimenting with bigger battlefields. https://youtu.be/Eupj7ccqX_A
But my units are going under the buttons.
In lwjgl I can slice the screen for different viewports. Easy as pie.
But in libgdx this seems difficult/impossible?

 

[TheDeveloperDude]

I am experimenting with bigger battlefields. https://youtu.be/Eupj7ccqX_A
But my units are going under the buttons.
In lwjgl I can slice the screen for different viewports. Easy as pie.
But in libgdx this seems difficult/impossible?

But it seems in another games https://youtu.be/bgJ_K_s85wY?t=1673 it is no big problem if buttons are over the map.
(Anyway I need make/override own special viewport for slicing the screen in libgdx.)

 

[TheDeveloperDude]

I am implementing some siege in the game.
https://youtu.be/LmDgFjVw1yo

 

[Reinhardt]

so what are gud map tools? preferably free, because there are big troubles with cards because of war. want to mess with kotc2 module creation.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

so what are gud map tools? preferably free, because there are big troubles with cards because of war. want to mess with kotc2 module creation.

kotc2 has its own level editor doesn't it?

 

[Reinhardt]

so what are gud map tools? preferably free, because there are big troubles with cards because of war. want to mess with kotc2 module creation.

kotc2 has its own level editor doesn't it?

doing it without even basic plan is not the best idea

 

[rusty_shackleford]

so what are gud map tools? preferably free, because there are big troubles with cards because of war. want to mess with kotc2 module creation.

kotc2 has its own level editor doesn't it?

doing it without even basic plan is not the best idea

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/grid-cartographer-best-tool-for-drawing-classic-rpg-maps.92853/

 

[Ninjerk]

MSPaint

 

[Tavernking]

so what are gud map tools? preferably free, because there are big troubles with cards because of war. want to mess with kotc2 module creation.

 

[TheDeveloperDude]

Zooming in-out the strategy map in Steel Breeze Empire
I have to do it because my eyes are getting worse and worse

 

[infidel]

So, I've released Parasite in Early Access. As usual for me, with no marketing (a thread here and a post on /r/roguelikes). According to the Steam documentation, you don't get any visibility from EA release, you launch visibility round is saved for the actual release. Buuuut it looks like blessed Gaben does give you a very good chunk of traffic (240k impressions and 9k views).
Looking into the details, 10k views on Reddit translated into 600 views on Steam, so it was all mostly the tags and search. And I still have my launch visibility round unused, so that's great. The response has been very positive, I even got 5 reviews (I think I had like 1 or 2 for Evil Cult in the first week)! And even better, they all go like this, "hey, I like the game, here are my thoughts..." and a wall of text after that. Now I'm positively motivated to focus all of my free time on the game.

EDIT: Hey, I got my first negative review! "The game is way too hard. 7 minutes of play time and I've died 3 times."

I think I'll add that to quotes later.

 

[TheDeveloperDude]

Steel Breeze Empire - automatic siege
https://youtu.be/0dk-uVO2NUk

 

[NoMoneyNoFameNoDame]

So, I've released Parasite in Early Access. As usual for me, with no marketing (a thread here and a post on /r/roguelikes). According to the Steam documentation, you don't get any visibility from EA release, you launch visibility round is saved for the actual release. Buuuut it looks like blessed Gaben does give you a very good chunk of traffic (240k impressions and 9k views).
Looking into the details, 10k views on Reddit translated into 600 views on Steam, so it was all mostly the tags and search. And I still have my launch visibility round unused, so that's great. The response has been very positive, I even got 5 reviews (I think I had like 1 or 2 for Evil Cult in the first week)! And even better, they all go like this, "hey, I like the game, here are my thoughts..." and a wall of text after that. Now I'm positively motivated to focus all of my free time on the game.

EDIT: Hey, I got my first negative review! "The game is way too hard. 7 minutes of play time and I've died 3 times."

I think I'll add that to quotes later.

Good job men! In my experience the visibility rounds only increases views/follows/wishlists. I'd reckon It's best to do them before your game loses interest entirely.
When you finally release out of EA you get similar (but maybe 1.5x to 2.0x) interest as first releasing in EA. However if most of your customers are loyalists who already knew of you prior to EA , EA will be almost as good if not better.
It helps a lot to be renown already.

But becoming renown in multiple places is a lot of work. You're better off making your game better so it can be renown itself.


Sorry if preaching to the quire.

 

[TheDeveloperDude]

Design your own castle

 

[Reinhardt]

maps r teh hard

 

[Nathaniel3W]

So for a week or two I really wasn't sure which direction to take my game. I couldn't think of a good story to give the expansion. I talked to some people, thought about it some more, and decided for this expansion, it's going to be procedurally generated.

Here is version 1 (with temporary map assets) of the map generator.

Perlin noise for the elevation, a different Perlin noise for the forests. Random odds with a falloff function for choosing between desert/grass and snow/grass.

I think what I'm going to do with this is use it as the basis for a dungeon generator. First, set down the tiles. Place points of interest around the map, then make paths connecting those points through the world map. Every tile you walk through loads a new level. Each level could contain a town, monsters, quest objectives, or whatever. I think I'll have a few variation levels of each possible combination of hills, mountains, grass, desert, snow, and trees, and then some randomly placed variations inside those levels. Players may start to see some repetition after a while, but hey, this is a free expansion and I'm still experimenting.

 

[barker_s]

It's been a really long time since my last post. My day job and kids make my game dev activities slow down to a snail's pace... yet there's still some progress . I'm still working on my hobby fantasy 4X strategy game project, which recently hit a 5-year mark since the beginning. Decided to stop counting from now on.

From a technical standpoint, I'm still elbow-deep in the base rule system, which I need to finish up before I can create any kind of content. I tweaked it recently to use an ECS approach, which greatly improved its readability. I'm also currently implementing C# source generators to cut on the boilerplate required. It makes my head explode sometimes, but hopefully, it will be worth it in the end.

From a design standpoint, I totally dropped the 'Suzerain' (immortal mage ruler) mechanic in favour of putting more focus on the actual civilization-building/heroes. I got a few pretty solid mechanics thought up already, but a lot more is still in flux. Nearly every month I come up with a different mechanic which solves some of my previous problems while introducing different ones. Not gonna lie, it gives me some serious anxiety and I'm afraid it won't go away until I'm able to properly prototype them.

Last, but not least, some of you Unity haters are gonna be very happy about it. A while ago I switched from Unity to Godot. It went way easier than I thought and I gotta say I really like this engine. The only problem I encountered is that Godot doesn't support compute shaders yet, so I had to get creative while rewriting my terrain system. Fortunately, I found this little library that allows you to run simple C# programs on GPU, so I managed to bypass the lack of CS, while also making another part of my code engine independent. You can see the result in the video below. I recently added the submerged parts of the landmass which fade into the depths of the water. It's supposed to sell the idea that you're looking at the land at an angle. Not sure if it works or not, please let me know. I'll eventually try adding shore foam/waves as well.

 

[TheDeveloperDude]

After 100 turns I have managed to conquer 1-2 territories of my enemies.
Suddenly I was attacked in the back by the Ore Horde from nothing!
https://youtu.be/GRVXKQuOl6c
Is the A.I. cheating?

 

[TheDeveloperDude]

Should I release a half-baked demo for my Masters of the Unknown Worlds crpg game? https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/my-new-crpg-under-heavy-development.66765/
It is playable, there is some quests and dungeons.
Ot is it better when the full game is ready?

 

[Norfleet]

Should I release a half-baked demo for my Masters of the Unknown Worlds crpg game? https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/my-new-crpg-under-heavy-development.66765/
It is playable, there is some quests and dungeons.
Ot is it better when the full game is ready?

Started with the half-baked demo to see if there are any obvious flaws in the core gameplay loop.

 

[Norfleet]

From a design standpoint, I totally dropped the 'Suzerain' (immortal mage ruler) mechanic in favour of putting more focus on the actual civilization-building/heroes.

Honestly, you should keep the God Emperor. I mean, you could TRY to create a dynamic where the ruler isn't somehow an immortal being, but when you consider it, the player ultimately provides that kind of immortal continuity of focus anyway, so you may as well have a God Emperor figure. At least then, the fact that the civilization somehow retains continuity of purpose and vision makes sense.

 

[barker_s]

Norfleet I'm not saying no, since I changed my mind on some designs multiple times so far. I feel, however, that this is a feature that brings very little in terms of mechanics to a project which is already scope-creeped like hell. And in terms of theme, I'd rather put the focus on the civilization's progress/customization. A concept that is IMO underutilized in fantasy 4xs (as opposed to the concept of an immortal sorcerer-king ).

 

[Norfleet]

Yeah, but who is controlling/directing the civilization's progress/customization? If it controls itself, you run into the Crusader Kings problem: The AI is a bunch of random dudes derping around, somewhat derpily, while the player provides some kind of trans-generational guiding force in the form of an immortal ghost that serially possesses the kings of a dynasty.