To be honest, I haven’t really been working my complete ass off the project I am working on now. In fact, as far as games programming is concerned, it is almost impossible to me to stare in front of the screen and code 1000 lines. If I were a normal programmer working on same gay random program, I could because I just don’t care about optimizing it. But games are different. There like many ways to approach and if I liked a way of coding, doesn’t mean my teammates does too.
So I ended up having to ask everyone about almost every method I’m doing and vice versa. Most important is to make sure everyone sees the same picture of the game to prevent disputes and such in the long run. My current team is giving me many mixed emotions and great experiences despite being in it for only 3 weeks. I must really thank them after the entire thing is done.
We are working on a game based on mostly strategy. I will not divulge anymore information by request of the team, myself and the leader. What I can tell everyone is that the game is based on stats, lots of formulas, most of them requiring dice rolls. Currently, the stats themselves pretty much decide the course of a fight, with dice rolls affecting less or none if the stats difference for a certain comparison is too wide a gap. Oh the entire game is grid based. Everything else, I’m afraid, is classified information that I shall not type here.
Coming to this comes a pretty long way; 3 weeks in fact to finalize the idea. Initially it was supposed to be free movement (non-grid based), but we (I think) find that without grid is too demanding for a game of our type (no, it’s not your standard RTS for those wondering) and the feeling that not many will like it due to the uncertainty factor.
Then came the Hit Points and stats format. YH came up with a brilliant paper prototype to simulate his idea. I swear he rolled a natural 20 on his “Think of New Idea” check. It is an idea that somehow clicks with every gear it contains. Not to mention he spent quite some time developing on the idea. Heber and I somehow misinterpreted his display of the prototype, thinking that the prototype is to simulate better the game flow for us, for most of us have trouble visualizing this odd game which idea is still extremely vague, leading to a small argument.
YH wanted to stick to his stats system, while heber and I were thinking of a very customizable equipment->stats system. I wasn’t really sure though, during the argument, I had a bunch of thoughts on my head while heber is sticking really close to his customizable system and YH sticking to his stat system. I gave it tons of thoughts. It was only then I realized the paper prototype is not to showcase the game system, but to show the power of YH’s simple yet deep stats system. I also realize that due to the time constraint, it is hardly the time to think of a new idea, and equipment stat system require tons of work and is not tested yet while YH’s stat system was tested, proved to be fun, easier to code and worth a shot, also considering I haven’t thought deeply into his prototype yet (it’s just a darn prototype after all). It proved to be a lot deeper than I initially thought and after a few games more with the prototype and some discussion, I actually think porting this into a PC game might actually work, but it’s a risk I find, a risk that at least have a reward of having something in our portfolio.
Before that was the 1 hit kill percentage suggestion by Heber. Now, I am the type of unlucky person who hates losing dice rolls which was supposedly in my favour. I hate it even more if the penelties are harsh. Basically, as long as an armor is dented, there will be a chance for one hit kill no matter what gun you use. I can immediately picture this in DoW perspective: bonesinger walks to terminator, rolls a lucky roll and chops the terminator down with a single cut.
When YH implemented a less harsh system into the game, heber still wanted to stick to his one hit kill idea and a generic HP system. YH wanted his prototype’s less harsh (alot less harsh) luck factor idea and his ‘armor’ system. Me, I prefer that there is NO luck factor involved and a generic HP system. 3 different ends of the world, but my ears are always open for convincing. Thus YH conveniently takes out the paper prototype and displayed his less harsh method of approach. Before he did that, he had a really tough time convincing me and heber about using his armor idea on PC. It looks great in Tabletop, but can it make it in the PC?
This leads to the little dispute we had (sorry for the horrible chronological order of things but I’m just typing my mind now), the little dispute which I have remained silent thinking while YH and Heber were arguing on which idea is better. Heber asked for a vote, which I immediately stopped him. A vote is a horrible horrible way to resolve such things. I could see that the customization idea can definitely be worked on, but neither can I see a reason not to work YH’s idea either. So I have to make my stand somewhere and I chose YH’s idea for many many reasons:
1) Easier Coding
2) I need more time to research on his idea
3) It is already there, tested and approved
4) The only thing stopping us is the uncertainty of whether it can work on a PC…a really really stupid reason to not proceed with the idea I then realized.
5) I see no reason why it wouldn’t work
6) It is easier to manage and understand, yet there is this depth somewhere.
7) It is concrete. We played it, we liked it, and the only thing stopping us is reason #4.
I dunno if heber was disappointed, because honestly, I weren’t. I wasn’t disappointed about losing that idea because I am working on a concrete game now. We played the prototype a few times in the library (btw the new cafe there is godly) to develop a feel for the game and delve into the game mechanics. At first, I didn’t like it. Correction: At first, I couldn’t get used to it. So I gave it time and thought about it a lot at home (thus disrupting my coding process and neglecting my social life due to my inability to concentrate on two things at once). That’s where all the clicking takes place, how everything suddenly seems clear. I beamed a smile that day; I am working on something I like and can visualize.
Before I came home to type this, I was playing another round of the prototype at YH’s house. It was pretty fun, just need to balance a few things up before we can start adding more and more really interesting creations.
On the DoW side:
1) Tau owns SM. Kroot + Vespid rush is too much for any SM to handle…seriously…
2) I will be quitting Eldar until it gets buffed. Till then I’m probably gonna stick to Orks.
YH’s Orks is improving to the stage where he can beat my Eldar in Blood River after giving him tons of tips against Eldar. And thinking about it, god what the fuck does Eldar have to fight Orks?
Posted by faylar 
Posted by faylar 
Posted by faylar 
