Dev update: designing tiles

[ADMIN]

tronman63304

Understood.

Actually there'll be no walking sections in TU2.

And rather than inflict more dodgy 3d cutscenes on players, I thought I'd hire an artist to produce a series of graphic novel comic panels and show those between levels to push the story along. Probably be a bit more stylish and the player could flick through or pause as they like.

[tronman63304]

sounds great

[U.I.M.A]

Wow, sounds like quite the undertaking! Any plans for a release date as of now? How much of the planned game are you finished with?

As for requests, it would be cool if there was some way to order the other tanks around in a commander style. Things like "cap that node" or "build tower here".

[ADMIN]

Wow, sounds like quite the undertaking!

Yes - but even a small game is a lot of work. Don't know if the punters quite realise that sometimes...

How much of the planned game are you finished with?

Long way to go yet.

it would be cool if there was some way to order the other tanks around in a commander style. Things like "cap that node" or "build tower here".

Careful now - I think adding too much complexity was what plagued the Battlezone games
I think players enjoy the fact that TU has RTS elements which mostly take care of themselves - it's more about the action.

Having said that, in the strategic map I'm looking at having 'hero' units that can be committed to a battle to better the odds.
If the player also decides to play the battle 'on the ground' for which hero units have been committed, then it'd be cool if those units acted as 'wingmen'.
Would want to keep it very simple though - say LEFT CTRL to cycle wingmen, RMB on terrain or allied unit for wingman to guard, click on enemy for wingman to target, click on sky to have wingman form up and protect player. KISS principle.

[johno]

Heartily agree that even a small game is a lot of work...

Personally I think you have really good design instincts; both the feel and the gameplay of TU1 are really unique and refreshing.

Keep it up man, we're all looking forward to TU2!

[LegoRobot]

I do hope it will be possible to burn/mow down those trees in the course of combat. Are any of the structures you've shown destructible?

I'm also disappointed to hear that there'll be no on-foot segments as I felt they really added to TU1. I was hoping for infantry units to be honest, as I feel that'd make larger battles more interesting and chaotic.

[Scribble[SFD]]

While I agree there should have been a "skip cutscene" key/option for TU1 (for when you play the game multiple times), I think the walking parts and even the long tower climb added A LOT to the ambience and immersive feeling of the game. If you are stuck in the tank the ENTIRE game, the game well, feels like a tank game. Which TU is, but TU1 felt MORE than a tank game. It felt like an exprience, a good story, a real world I lived in.

Another example, is the Sheep part, which was absolutely great. TU2 needs something similar like that again, perhpas this time with a Llama (in which case is also a throwback to older games [I really miss how people use to call each other Llama in Quake 1 and Quake 2 days, now everything is just "noob!" so bland and dull]).

Also, although comic storyboard style cutscenes seem to be the new trend, I don't think they are necessarily a good trend. Although, granted that is my opinon. However, I did rather enjoy the simple charm of the cutscenes you had in TU1.

The only thing that I would say that made me think "this could use more work" was George's model, although his face and head were well done. George just needs a bit more realistic looking body, mostly the arms I would say. For the in-computer world characters, the models are fine, just George's body could be refined a bit.

I think I would miss the "old George" if he was done comic storyboard style......

[ADMIN]

SC

Regards the sheep riding, a pinch of humour at the right time can go a long way

About using graphic novel style graphics in place of cutscenes - cutscenes may have their attractions but they're also quite time intensive to set up. So it's a toss-up between hiring an artist to create evocative artwork that can be slotted in with little trouble and using the saved time on more core work (such as AI), or just biting the bullet and coming up with stuff that's borderline ok - as in George's animation which was a concrete example of trying to do everything oneself

I'm not at the stage of hiring an artist yet, but it'll be a milestone when I do, that's for sure.

I did rather enjoy the simple charm of the cutscenes you had in TU1.

This is where you used your imagination, I'm sure

[Scribble[SFD]]

Yeah, basically, I am saying you did fine. I think the game is fine without outside help. My only tiny suggestion would to be update George's model a bit, but get the hand/face.