Warscale 56 - Fast and furious
by Guimo · 01/15/2010 (5:12 am) · 7 comments
Hello everybody!!! Im back!!!!
I know I promised you all to let you in peace for at least a couple of weeks but it looks like I need to break that promise. The code rewrite went way smoother than I expected so I was able to finish the changes in just 5 days, all tested and working!
What changes?
If you remember from the last episode, I decided to switch form a player turn to a per unit turn, meaning all units naw act in initiative order. When a unit enters the game it is assigned an initiative value and the game keeps track of all the unit initiatives assigning the turn in the appropriate time. This is a 20 points initiative table meaning that when a unit acts it is moved back in the table 20 positions. The units may have initiative modifiers meaning that some of them will be pushed back more or less spaces so they will be quicker or slower than other units.
Of course these changes forced me to debug all the test cases and in turn it allowed me to debug a large ammount of bugs. The importance of test cases. The turn logic change forced me to rewrite the AI (which is minimal just for testing) and also reduce the complexity of the client interface. Finally I added a table with the initiatives for each unit so the players will easilly be able to see who's turn is next.
Here is a shot with the new initiative table in the top left corner.
A point of improvement would be to have a wait button to allow the unit to go back 10 position but only if it has done nothing in this turn. The clases support it but not sure if its worth it.
The plan for this week
This week I'm going back to more units. I will focus on equipment, artifacts and spells only asa I have just little of them compared to creatures.
Luck with your projects!
Guimo
P.S. The code for the initiative table is quite simple and even when linked to Warscale it can be easilly adapted. If anybody needs it then send me a mail.
I know I promised you all to let you in peace for at least a couple of weeks but it looks like I need to break that promise. The code rewrite went way smoother than I expected so I was able to finish the changes in just 5 days, all tested and working!
What changes?
If you remember from the last episode, I decided to switch form a player turn to a per unit turn, meaning all units naw act in initiative order. When a unit enters the game it is assigned an initiative value and the game keeps track of all the unit initiatives assigning the turn in the appropriate time. This is a 20 points initiative table meaning that when a unit acts it is moved back in the table 20 positions. The units may have initiative modifiers meaning that some of them will be pushed back more or less spaces so they will be quicker or slower than other units.
Of course these changes forced me to debug all the test cases and in turn it allowed me to debug a large ammount of bugs. The importance of test cases. The turn logic change forced me to rewrite the AI (which is minimal just for testing) and also reduce the complexity of the client interface. Finally I added a table with the initiatives for each unit so the players will easilly be able to see who's turn is next.
Here is a shot with the new initiative table in the top left corner.
A point of improvement would be to have a wait button to allow the unit to go back 10 position but only if it has done nothing in this turn. The clases support it but not sure if its worth it.
The plan for this week
This week I'm going back to more units. I will focus on equipment, artifacts and spells only asa I have just little of them compared to creatures.
Luck with your projects!
Guimo
P.S. The code for the initiative table is quite simple and even when linked to Warscale it can be easilly adapted. If anybody needs it then send me a mail.
#2
I shall be satiating with the search for more info on what you are attempting.
Keep up the good work fella!
01/15/2010 (6:11 am)
First time I've seen your project. And I must say even this little bite looks to be a rather curious and interesting morsel.I shall be satiating with the search for more info on what you are attempting.
Keep up the good work fella!
#3
01/15/2010 (9:16 am)
Yeah, Guimo's Warscale posts are always epic and progressive at the same time! Good stuff as ever. :) 
#4
Says he's too busy to post blogs --- posts more blogs than ever before!
01/15/2010 (11:23 am)
Initiative order - yep that's smart and novel, not something you see much of in gaming (eg: I can't think of any other example).Says he's too busy to post blogs --- posts more blogs than ever before!
#5
All I can say is that I love the direction and the evolution of the game over time, but at the same time keeping focus on the objective and the really important things.....
Let's hope someday I have something nearly as interesting to share
01/15/2010 (11:43 am)
Great progress. I started reading your blogs from post 48, and found them so rich and interesting that I decided to start from blog 1 (it took me almost a week!!!). All I can say is that I love the direction and the evolution of the game over time, but at the same time keeping focus on the objective and the really important things.....
Let's hope someday I have something nearly as interesting to share
#6
I think the 'wait' feature is essential. For instance, you're trying to position a unit for an attack on a more powerful unit but they're out of range for their attack. That should only slide back 10 places, like you said.
Patrick
01/15/2010 (11:44 am)
Nice blog, as usual Guimo.I think the 'wait' feature is essential. For instance, you're trying to position a unit for an attack on a more powerful unit but they're out of range for their attack. That should only slide back 10 places, like you said.
Patrick
#7
@Steve
Gunbound
@William
I got used to make blog posts as a tool to record my progress and the technical difficulties I had in the way. Also, by writing my short term plans I force myself to do it so I can report the results in the next blog.
@Patrick
Basically I only need to make small fixes to handle this case. Believe it or not one of the problems I have is finding a proper icon to represent the wait and end turn. I was even thinking about using the same button but if you did nothing on this turn you only slide back 10 positions flat, but if you did anything (walk, attack) you slide 20 minus initiative.
01/15/2010 (7:33 pm)
Hey thank you! My narcisist side is gratified by your words.@Steve
Gunbound
@William
I got used to make blog posts as a tool to record my progress and the technical difficulties I had in the way. Also, by writing my short term plans I force myself to do it so I can report the results in the next blog.
@Patrick
Basically I only need to make small fixes to handle this case. Believe it or not one of the problems I have is finding a proper icon to represent the wait and end turn. I was even thinking about using the same button but if you did nothing on this turn you only slide back 10 positions flat, but if you did anything (walk, attack) you slide 20 minus initiative.
Community Manager Michael Perry
ZombieShortbus