Warscale 32 - Alpha!

Happy new year to everybody reading this blog!

So, this blog is to announce that Warscale has reached Alpha state!!!

What does alpha means?
It means that this game is feature complete. Granted, important tools are still missing, but I consider those things to be game support and not integral part of the game per-se (even when they are in fact critical). Right now the game itself is in a playable form and has a complete sequence from the intro screen to menues to the game and back. All the editors are in place, music is in place and equipment works. Menus work, I have some interesting tricks like popup menues and floating screens and customizable tooltips.
On the server level, the security has been improved and the latest version works in dedicated mode (text only) allowing me to use my deceased laptop as a server station and also has improved the speed more than ten times.

In this final week I have also programmed a game updater. This task was intended to be developed later but I had some free time and I was really bugged by this problem. This updater is pure Java 1.5 executable meaning that I will be able to use it in any project I want and on any platform supporting Java. As the backend I decided to use the SVN protocol that, even when it doubles the client size due to the file duplication, is a safe, known and powerful protocol so I dont need to worry about programming other server. Think about it as a remote deployer.

The road to Beta
What does Beta means?
In software engineering, beta is the status where everything has been polished to a decent status, major bug have been fond and killed and the system has been stress tested. New content is added like levels, graphics, sounds. For Warscale it means I will need to handle some important things like:

a. Web site - A nice web site to show the game. It should show screenshots, news, forums, and allow the players to buy gold pieces.
b. Player registration - Allow players to create new accounts from the login screen. Requires creation of new screens.
c. Debugging - As usual... bugs are everywhere. You must kill them. Right now bugs appear while resizing screens, opening some menus and so on.
d. Usability - Everything should be linked in the right way. Keys should respond as expected and be consistent everywhere.
e. New content - Find and buy music and new models... I will need lots of $$$ for this.
f. Gameplay - Everything should move and behave as expected. I.E. If a creature attacks it should face its target.
g. Create new creatures and spells - I moved this task from alpha to beta because its a hard one. I will try to start with simple creatures. Just vanilla ones which move and attack only. In the road I will add some creatures with special abilities. After buying and reading some Warhammer manuals I have decided to do some small changes to my definitions but nothing critical. I want to create at least 40 creatures, 40 equipments, 40 artifacts and 40 sorceries (magic items).
h. Green Ear integration - This is a desirable thing but not critical. Anyway almost everything fits into the GE structure so it should be relatively fast to implement. I think the problem is that the docs say this pack is for Windows only and I consider this game as multiplatform. Maybe I will just wait until the GE 1.5 version which should be multiplatform also.

That should be all... my timeframe for reaching beta status in 6 months divided as:
Basic web site - 1 week. Hopefully I will contract somebody to do the design so I consider this week as the time to setup the server and make sure everything is ok.
Player registration - 2 weeks
Debug current features - 1 week
New content for music and screens - Cannot tell... depends on my budget to contract a 3d modeller or buy the sound tracks.
Gameplay - 3 weeks - includes fixing all the current creatures adding special effects. Will require some contract work for 3d models and special effects and debug current spell system.
Create new creatures and spells - 20 weeks Requires buying creature packs and create more effects. 4 months for 160 units means 40 units each month. Thats about 1 unit each day... HEEEELP!!!!
Green Ear integration - Not critical - 2 weeks

This is about 27 weeks which is roughly 6 months but, as you see, this stage depends a lot on my ability to raise funds to devote to asset creation so it may take longer or shorter. Maybe selling the Warscale technology (or maybe code) to the engine owners given GG approves it. Dont know... time will tell...

When all the gameplay and major bugs are fixed and I have at least 10 units of each type, I will call a closed beta test.

So, thats all! I wanted to leave you with a small video of the current state of Warscale but Im too lazy to create a youtube account so I leave you with a small shot of the updater in action.

Luck with your projects!
Guimo