return of Civiliza

[Dale]

500kb? Bah, no problems then.

[neonext]

there's way too much work to do for when i want this to be released (i want an early public beta to help with the bug fixing), however i do not want to release a public beta without some kind of structured gameplay.

to help me out some more, list these features in order of importance:

- music
- sound effects
- resources
- goverments
- diplomacy
- nukes
- wonders
- happiness/disorder
- random maps

[neonext]

i'm not updating the list, but i'll give updates of the progress as i make ground.

all the land units have been added, up to future era. nano era units have not been created yet, anyone with unit suggestions please come foward.

sea units and air units will be following soon, however i'm not sure if the ability to transport units will make beta (there will probably be air transports (cargo planes)as well as sea transports).

city improvements are slowly making their way in the game. all the land units are stat-based, and very easy to throw in the game, but the city improvements require individual programming - very easy to do, but a little more tedious and harder to test.

speaking of testing, there hasn't been much alpha testing to report about lately. this might change soon, i have a couple sessions planned including a 3-way session which has not been done yet.
no games over the internet have been played yet, but i have 3 people waiting for the alpha when it is ready.

technologies are being added as needed by units and improvements. there is a bar that fills up as you aquire research points (note to self: good idea for a random event right there - a sudden boost or loss of research points). after a technology is discovered you will receive a message telling you that you have discovered that tech, and the computer will automatically assign new tech to research, which you can change when you are ready. btw, for all the messages that you get during play, they won't be intrusive and pop up the screen, you will be alerted with a small button and then you can go through the messages at your liesure.

[Dale]

The list for me:

- maps
- govs
- happy
- diplo
- resources
- nukes
- The rest under here.

Cargo units: Any plans for a cargo helicopter?
Messages: I like the idea you've come up with. I hate those intrusive boxes!

[neonext]

yes, but there will be no paratrooper unit in the game, instead you will be able to transport any of your land units (or possibly only infantry units). i'm not sure if i should make a helicopter unit for attacking and a seperate one for transporting.

[Dale]

Probably the best idea for you then is have unit sizes. Infantry = small. Tank = medium. Ship/plane = large. Then you could have various cargo units with specific size restriction:

- Helicopter can carry small units.
- Troop ship can carry 4 small units or 2 medium units.
- Galaxy class airlifter (the ones the Yanks use at Pine Gap) can carry 4 medium units or 1 large unit.

Something like that anyway.

[neonext]

sounds good.

do you have any good ideas on a diplomacy model? i think because of the type of messaging involved that it should be similar to civ2, except with a few more options.

[neonext]

last night's pre-alpha testing was delayed due to a bug which caused start-up problems for the hosting player (a nastly CTD bug).

the problem was fixed quickly, but it was too late and the session had to end early. now, it is organized again and we're about ready to begin. this time there will be 3 of us running civiliza over my network here at home. the highest i can get here is 4, which will probably happen at least once before release.

the reason why this session is important is because it greatly affects the release date.

if all goes well, release will be soon

[neonext]

the results are in. tried an 8 player game including 4 ai players, was playabe, but as i was expecting, lag has become an issue.

this is my first multiplayer game, so i'm not surprised at all.

a switch to a true client-server architecture would solve most of the lag problems, and packet optimization would help too. i think at this point the most important thing is getting the game out so people can play it, so i will be concentrating on getting needed features into the game, and i'll work on speed-related issues after it's out

[neonext]

oh i might add it was pretty fun

cant wait till ships, aircraft and diplomacy are added, this game will be great

[neonext]

just proving that feedback gets turn into reality:

Dale, the #1 item on your list has been added, the generation of random maps. Although the old civiliza routine is being used, it works decent enough and a loading screen has been added for the map to be sent to all the client computers.

The map generation is based on the players' start locations, which are placed randomly on the map a certain distance away from each other (this will be an easily editable option eventually).

[neonext]

i'm going to release this early so that i can get help with bug fixing and suggestions/comments/questions.

there will be no sea units, air units, diplomacy, music, goverments, disorders, resources, or nukes.

that might sound like a lot, but i think you will be surprised how much of a playable game this already is.

there are still things i need to do before release: bug fixing, sound, game setup options, and art.

oh, and i still need a name for this game. any ideas? the best i've got so far is 'global conflict', but that one is taken already.

[neonext]

everything is coming along fine except for sound.

i can't get the sound to work yet. this game doesn't like my sound engine for some reason.

i've basically tracked down the source of the problem, but am unable to fix it yet.

i honestly think this game (or any game for that matter) is worthless without sound, even though there is very little sound used in it.

i will release this a day or two after i fix sound

[neonext]

ok i didnt expect to post a follow-up so soon, but here it is..

sound is in. it's not exactly what i had in mind, but it's in. from the looks of things, there will be 2 limitations:

- sound will only work in fullscreen mode (will probably fix this soon after release) [edit: there is a workaround for this until it is fixed]

- sounds will be packed in the exe (which means you will not be able to edit them, and you will have to download them every time you update the program - fortunately the sounds are pretty small).


expect civiliza (or whatever it will be called) to be out by thursday

please try it, even if you played the old one.
it's similar, but almost an entirely different game. i spent many hours like and for people to be like

edit: it turns out the sound system is much better than i thought. it is my first sound system that allows more than one sound to be played at a time

[Dale]

I'll be there giving it a try.