Warscale - First spell! (w/2 screenshots)

Hi everybody!
This week was nice for Warscale... even when I got really depressed for failing my driving test (anyway I have booked another the on July 10). I managed to do everything I was supposed to and now you can see not one but two new creatures which join the Warscale armies!

What was planned
Weapon positions
The last week, I had some problems implementing the equipment resource basically because that resource just doesnt use the item mountpoint. I really thought it would be easy to solve (and it was) but it was tricky. Anyway now you can see that everything is on the right location now. (Ori... this fix was due to your request).

Animation setup
I managed to create an animation naming solution in the creatures datablocks. So I place all the animations I want the unit to use like:
sequenceATTACK = "axeswing axeround axebase";
And Warscale is able to select one of these animations at random and play it. This way the units wont use the same attack all the time which makes for a nicer presentation. This systems currently works for attack, defense, damage and death animations.

Update the unit info
The unit miniview now will load all the equipment the unit currently has and will show it. In addition, the unit information has been updated to show the equipment bonuses for damage, armor and other attributes.

Make the Berserk power work
This was a hard one. I really was conviced I had covered all the angles but never imagined that making this work would require so much effort. I dont know if you ever had one function which you heavilly use in many places of your code and suddenly realize that you just need to change its behaviour. That was exactly the problem. I had to search that (#$%$@#$) function in all the code and make it work fine everywhere. The good point is that everything looks fine now and the bugs have been solved. So Warscale officially has it first working spell!!!
Of course I still dont have any special uber cool animations or visual effects but as you know, Im focusing on gameplay right now, not in visuals. I will enhance effects during the second stage.
The miniview was also updated to reflect bonuses from magical effects.

Load the goblin shaman
Ori was extremely kind and removed the staff from the goblin hands so now I can mount another things. Havent mounted nothing right now. Ill love to see this shaman casting a nice magic missile.
On the other hand, it may looks a little gray... more like a zombie... I will try the other skin later.


What wasnt planned
Button names
Each action button has an icon, but now it also shows a name for each action so when you hover on a button, the action name appears. It even shows the names of the special powers. It looks better now.

GuiObjectView mount positions
Funny enough, I really thought the GuiObjectview supported the object mountpoints and it does but not completely. It just discards the rotation information for the mountpoint. Fortunately it was easy to fix (I posted the solution in my previous blog) and it was the base for fixing the equipment resource. it works fine now and maybe you can see the orc with its mounted weapons on hand in the mini view.

Wolf death animation
The MMOWorkshop critters pack has some kind of problem with the death animations which just crashes the engine. This has been discussed a lot. Looks like torque requires some terrain transforms which the Milkshape sources for those models wont provide. Again, a small hack on the engine was required. it is described in the forums (search death animation crash).

Black Bear
This is a simple creature I decided to upload. The black bear only has a simple attack so you might think, whats so spectacular? You will see on this week plan.

Orc helmet
I decided to add the orc helmet to the items. It doesnt provide any armour bonuses, its there just as a visual.

Screenshots!
This week I have a couple of screenshots for you from the new units.
In the first shot you can see the avatar surrounded by its units. You can see the weapons are on its right place now.

The second shot shows the units from behind. You may also see the label when the mouse hovers over a button.


The plan for this week
So why Im so excited about the bear? Because its the first Large unit. You know, Warscale will allow to use many creatures, some of them will be really really large (like a dragon or a giant). When the unit is too large, the game sizes the area occupied by the unit appropiately for path finding or combat. Also, if you place a full sized dragon behind the wizard, it will obstruct the view and make everything harder. Of course you can move the camera but the idea for me was that each unit should be able to be configured using a mini size. This means that while the unit is behind the wizard the unit will display small, but when summoned it will grow to its full gargantuan size.
Even when the black bear is not a Large unit (they are small for a bear), I plan to implement skin changes so next week you will have a grey bear (grizzly), a brown bear, a polar bear. Even a dire bear!
The bear is just the first unit which will allow me to test and implement many new features in warscale.

a. Hand Unit size
As I mentioned, when a unit is behind the wizard or enters the graveyard, it should scale down to a manageable size.

b. Unit real size
When the unit is summoned, it should gain its full size. This size may be even larger or smaller than the default model size so that I can create large or small versions of a unit. Test all the functions related to size like path finding and melee reach.

c. Skin change
This is another feature of Warscale. The skin change will allow to create new units just by changing the skin name. So the black bear will become a grey bear or a polar bear and the wolf will become a hell wolf or a snow wolf (which will become the Alpha Male unit).

d. Dire units
Of course the changes on size and texture should allow to create some new dire units. Dire units are larget and more powerful versions of the same units. Remember the Worgs the orcs ride in LOTR:Two Towers? Something like that. Size control will allow to make giant spiders or giant humanoids. Lots of new posibilities. (As Igor from The Dork Tower would say Huzaaaa).
Again, thats why Im so excited with the bear.

e. Shaman magic missile
Of course I wont forget the shaman magic missile.

So, if everything goes fine, this week I will have about 4 additional bears, three additional wolves and maybe an spider. This will bring the count of units to about 13.
I still have lots of models from the packs. Expect at least 2 new units and one new spell/power each week from now on. One of the powers I have in the future is the Alpha Male power to give +2 attack and +1 move to all your wolves.

Roadmap
Artifacts - Easy one. Like creatures but no movement. Usually grant global powers to the controller.
Sorceries - This is a hard one. Invoke area spells, force fields, walls, unsummon. I need to make a list.
Items - The equipment system is working but I need items. Maybe the tridinaut pack will help.
AI - Still trying to decide if I need to make an AI or just making an online player vs player version will be enough.
Update networking (I havent updated it to the latest versions).
Model store (yep, the business side of Warscale)
Item Store (more business)
Avatar cofiguration (dress your avatar with lots of magic items).
Army editor (mix and match your units).

Once this roadmap is finished, I can consider the alpha version finished.

Call for help
If you play Dungeons and Dragons, Magic The Gathering and Warcraft, have followed this blog and would like to help, I need to make a list of spells and artifacts which will become the units in Warscale. I plan to release this first version with 40 creatures, 20 spells and 20 artifacts. No need for a 3D model or anything, Im interested in the concept but at least an art sketch would be required. All units should be low level effects (1-8 in D&D) but there may be tricky spells more like MTG than D&D (like unsummon).
Players will be able to use up to 40 units in their armies but no more than 4 of one type so I suppose that with 80 total units (40-20-20) it should be enough for a starting server. I plan to add 2 more units each week (creature, artifact, sorcery or item) after the launch.

Luck with your projects!
Guimo