Shannon V. OKeets
Posts: 22095
Joined: 5/19/2005 From: Honolulu, Hawaii Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Lothrim Hi Shanon Out from lurking (having watched this space for more than 6 months) I just had to post a few notes to you. When you took up this project some time ago I quietly laughed at the world for producing yet another fool willing to try on the task of implementing WIF. I liked Chris, but I considered his effort doomed from the outset. I must admit that your effort has turned me into a believer. Now I only cry because you have to spend time doing trivial stuff like positioning units inside a 96 pixel space. It would be great if you had more people to help you with the basic stuff, so you could code a proper AI. I am still a doomsayer I guess, when I predict that you will fail to produce a good AI. But don´t let that discourage you. I will buy your game no matter how much the AI sucks. Having a virtual WIF board that you can play with your friends on email is GREAT. Regarding your tries to make the stacks 3D: Having the shadows to the top left might be handy in terms of space, but it is contratry to the way shadows work in windows. Light is always comming from the top left. Also you need a highlight of the other side of the counter in white. If it is impossible because of space, I would rather have flat counters, possibly with am indication that there are multiple units in the hex. Regarding stacks: You have chosen 3 categories: - single unit - small stack - large stack I would suggest that you keep it at 2 levels: - single unit - stack The other option is confusing, and the difference between a large stack and a small stack is not really usefull. Indicators (lights): While we are at it, my opinion of them is that they should be eliminated if at all possible. An indicator that surounds the entire unit is good. (I belive you have included that already), but a status-light like "has moved this turn" is crap and should be replaced by movement arrows on the map to indicate the path traveled. Also attacks could be displayed with arrows. (see Gary Grigsby's World At War way of doing it) It's always great to hear from new voices. Your suggestion of 1 unit versus more than 1 unit for shading is a possibility. In WIF, having 3 in a stack is sort of a key number (when playing with divisions). This part of the design is still very young and I hope to gather more suggestions/alternatives about how to make it better before making any final decisions. I am less perturbed by going against the 'standard' lighting scheme than most, I guess. It might be disconcerting at first use but after playing the game for a while the difference will fade away. Attack arrows are already part of the code during the land combat declaration phase. I had the graphics artist upgrade their quality last month. Modifications to the colors for the shadowing do need to be made. What I have in place now lets me code the routines that get the right colors for indicators to appear at the right time. Marking out the path traveled isn't feasible in WIF. The unit density in the front lines is so high, that if I were to do that, it would look like a bowl of spaghetti run over by a steam roller. [At one time my brother and his wife, having consumed quite a bit of wine, gave into the temptation to let their 2 year old eat spaghetti with his hands. They placed him on the floor, with a tablecloth spread out underneath him, and let him have at it. When all was done, they picked up the tablecloth with him still inside of it and carrying the whole mess to the bathtub for a long soak and thorough wash.] During game play it is almost a given that players will want to reconsider/undo moves. They possibilities are so numerous and there are so many units to move, that players frequently change their minds. For that reason having indicators for which units: can move, have moved, cannot move is a very useful feature. If I made it controllable by a toggle switch, I would bet that it would always be turned on. But I am still open to that possibilty.
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Steve Perfection is an elusive goal.
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