Status Update

"Mark Garnett" <m.garnett.TakeThisOut@optusnet.com.au> wrote in message
news:494debd3$0$25646$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
> Hi Rob,
>
> It's looking pretty good. I am really looking forward to seeing those
> units on the map, I think it will look pretty awesome.
>
> I am at the stage of entering army data at the moment, however my editor
> is just Notepad so it's a pretty dreary task and just really consists of
> typing in a series of comma separated values.
>
> After this I then just have to flesh out my scenario file format so that
> when a user loads the scenario it "builds" it's forces from the unit mix
> and places them at the right coordinates on the map.
>
> Once that is done, which is not a hard task just a little time consuming,
> I then have start work on making the GUI usable. At the moment it just
> consist of a map window and a couple of scroll bars. I need to have a
> think about what informationn the user will want presneted when they click
> on a hex and then work out how to issue orders. Rather than go the
> obscure way of the HPS Ancient games (which I really like by the way
> although awful GUI), I am going to try and tie everything into a right
> click context menu.
>
> I'll see how I go with this, I'm sure it's much harder then it sounds.
>
> I am far lazier than you when it comes to putting up screen shots etc.,
> but I must say your posts are pretty inpriring in getting me to refocus on
> the task when I see how much you accomplished in a very short period of
> time.
>
> Cheers and good luck!
>
> Mark
>
>

Thanks Mark,

The data entry part is always the biggest pain, more so when it's in notepad
as one can easily miss values. At least on the bright side, it only needs to
be done once!

I did a little upgrade to the Army Editor this morning to allow it to clone
units, as I figured that most armies will have many units that are
identical. My feeling is that if a wargame is to be successful, one needs to
include all the editing tools possible for the end user to create their own
content, this is one of the reasons I have decided to get the tools
together - that and the fact that it allows me to test the critical
technologies before they are integrated into the main game.

Sounds like we are both at similar positions, that of entering data and
figuring out the scenario file format. The latter is quite important as it
will make one think about how victory conditions are going to be achieved,
which will have an impact on the AI in the game.

The GUI is going to be the make or break for the main game. Like you I will
be spending a lot of time on this. Although I like the HPS games, the one
thing I don't like about them is that the units themselves displayed
practically no information! One has to click on them to get that information
out. I'm aiming for the approach where the main information is at hand on
the counter, with additional supplementary information available on request.

Good luck with your project, I know how hard these can be to write when you
have the other distractions around you at home. Look forward to seeing how
your project grows in the future.

RobP

On 21 dec, 10:24, "Rob P" <robertapoll....RemoveThis@hotmail.com> wrote:
> My feeling is that if a wargame is to be successful, one needs to
> include all the editing tools possible for the end user to create their own
> content,

It's a checkbox that reviewers and gamers alike tick (or not), but
don't count on your gamers to create much additional content.

> the one
> thing I don't like about them is that the units themselves displayed
> practically no information! One has to click on them to get that information
> out.

Right - and from a UI that's a PITA because it forces you to re-direct
your eyes from the unit in the center of the screen to the unit info
tucked to the side/bottom of the screen.

>I'm aiming for the approach where the main information is at hand on
> the counter, with additional supplementary information available on request.

Why not auto-display additional info when the mouse hovers above it
for more than 0.25 seconds ? Not in a window, but in an overlay.

> Good luck with your project,

Ditto - keeping a close watch on this

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

<eddysterckx.RemoveThis@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:d673c660-dbfb-455e-a6b1-ded813826e69@w24g2000prd.googlegroups.com...
> On 21 dec, 10:24, "Rob P" <robertapoll....RemoveThis@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> My feeling is that if a wargame is to be successful, one needs to
>> include all the editing tools possible for the end user to create their
>> own
>> content,
>
> It's a checkbox that reviewers and gamers alike tick (or not), but
> don't count on your gamers to create much additional content.
>
>> the one
>> thing I don't like about them is that the units themselves displayed
>> practically no information! One has to click on them to get that
>> information
>> out.
>
> Right - and from a UI that's a PITA because it forces you to re-direct
> your eyes from the unit in the center of the screen to the unit info
> tucked to the side/bottom of the screen.
>
>>I'm aiming for the approach where the main information is at hand on
>> the counter, with additional supplementary information available on
>> request.
>
> Why not auto-display additional info when the mouse hovers above it
> for more than 0.25 seconds ? Not in a window, but in an overlay.
>
>> Good luck with your project,
>
> Ditto - keeping a close watch on this
>
> Greetz,
>
> Eddy Sterckx
>

Thanks Eddy. A overlay in the main window should be fairly trivial to do, so
I guess I will give it a go to see how it looks. Will be spending tonight
finishing off the Armies import (I've done 8 out of 15 so far), then will
chill out for Christmas and proceed with work on the Scenario editor early
January - that is if the coding bug hasn't got me to start earlier!

RobP

Some great work, Rob. How did you like going to 3D from 2D
development? My experience has been strictly with hand-drawn maps and
pieces for my games, but I've been playing with Blender.

How was the migration to a 3D platform?

Looks very interesting, Rob!

"Raging Tiger" <RagingTiger.RemoveThis@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:da7c62bd-d001-445f-b44a-d37c16ab23a4@r15g2000prh.googlegroups.com...
> Some great work, Rob. How did you like going to 3D from 2D
> development? My experience has been strictly with hand-drawn maps and
> pieces for my games, but I've been playing with Blender.
>
> How was the migration to a 3D platform?
>

I've not really done any games on the PC platform, so I don't know much
about the 2d side so can't comment too much.

The learning curve for 3d has been a bit steep and there have been times
where I have been cursing myself for doing it - like a few weeks back where
I was trying to figure out how to put dynamic text on the units. I can
remember thinking that if I had done it in 2d the problem would have been
solved very easily!

Still, I do enjoy the 3d side. I started with a 3d graphics engine that I
wrote about 2 years ago, but after I finished it I couldn't figure out a use
for it and it just gathered dust. Earlier this year/late last year I started
an app to take shuttle elevation data and create maps from that.
(http://ooan.blogspot.com/search/label/Contours). I originally wanted to use
this for a wargame, but I decided it wasn't really usable for the scale I
was looking at so it got shelved.

Over the last year or so I have learnt a lot about 3d, but I'm also aware
that I'm just scratching the surface with it. Even trivial things like 'how
do I make terrain with multiple textures?' took a while to solve.

I have looked at blender for modeling in game elements, but in the end I
decided to go for an approach where the units and the terrain are all
dynamically created on the fly. This way I wouldn't have to learn how to
model myself!

I think I decided to go with 3d, because it looked like I'd have to use the
same Microsoft API's for 2d, that is unless I went down the old GDI route. I
figured if I have to learn direct-x for 2d, I might as well go the whole hog
and learn 3d!

It's good writing games rather than business apps, they look cool and in my
case it even interests the family when I got nice 3d things moving around.

In many ways I'm lucky, in that by developing this as an amateur rather than
as part of a company, I can take as many risks as I see fit or try out many
things, all without fear of wasting money. My library routines are already
building up and there are many aspects with the current game, such as the
map, that can easily be adapted for other purposes.

RobP