[ian-reeds-games] Releasing Tactical Battle 1.12 in the next few days

  • From: Ian Reed <support@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: ian-reeds-games@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 06 Feb 2013 23:52:08 -0700

Hey everyone,

I'm thinking it's about time to release another full version of the game.

Some of the highlights of 1.12 have been:
random damage and chance to hit,
scripting,
random sounds,
more customizable teams,
the new rounds and turns system,
effects that cause initial damage or healing just as skills do,
effect modifiers that apply to a specific skill rather than all skills,
items and equipment,
and quite a few smaller but worthwhile features.

I may add another small feature or 2 before the release but will be mostly focused on bug fixes.

The full change log is in the P.S.

So, now is the time to submit map packs for inclusion in the full release.

I'll paste the standard guidelines we've used for previous releases here:
We all want player experiences with our map packs to be good ones, so on that note please keep the following things in mind before submitting a map pack.

1 Please include a user guide because it helps players to understand how things work in your specific map pack and is also a great place to provide some extra background story and atmosphere to your map pack theme.
2 Please make sure all your maps are beatable.
3 Make sure none of your maps have errors when they load.
4 Remove any testing maps that will confuse new players.

Currently I plan on including the One Shot Wonders, RedWall Abbey and Tomb Robber map packs. I'll be downloading them fresh from the links on the map packs page just before I do the full release.

If anyone else wants their map pack included please ensure the 4 guidelines are met and let me know.

Thanks to everyone for your support of the game and the great feedback and content you contribute.
Ian Reed

P.S.

Here are the changes for version 1.12
1 Added ability to specify numbers as ranges or dice rolls for flags related to inflict, restore and protect. 2 Added a chance= flag to skills that takes a number between 1 and 100 to indicate the chance of that skill succeeding.
3 Added the ability to do scripting in the game to add new features.
4 Added a Scripting Guide that documents how to do scripting in Tactical Battle. 5 Made it so that self_effects and self_remove_effects still occur even when a skill fails due to the chance= flag. This allows an exhaustion effect to still occur on the caster even though the spell failed. 6 Added the ability to have more than one sound associated with a unit's cursor or death sounds and skill sounds. Each time the game should play one it chooses randomly from the list associated with that sound. 7 Made it so that when a skill fails the game attempts to play the skilName_fail.wav sound instead of the normal sound. 8 Made it so if no fail sound exists for the skill it will play "skill_fail.wav" if one is available. 9 Fixed a bug where defeating a unit that blocked sight would not make the tiles behind it become visible. 10 Fixed a bug where splash effects would announce damage to a particular point even when it was 0. 11 Fixed a bug where if 2 map packs had intro music with the same filename the first music file played when you moved to the second map pack. 12 Added Team files that allow you to configure how many teams exist in your map pack and what names they have as well as how they feel about other teams. 13 Rewrote the way turns were handled to use a new Rounds and Turns system that is easier for everyone to understand. (This breaks old maps) 14 Added a no_turn Team flag that indicates that team does not get a turn. Useful for structures that do not belong to a particular team and don't need a turn. 15 Made it so that inflict and restore can be reduced to 0 due to modifiers and protects. 16 Added the following dynamic flags to Effects: health_ignore_max, health_restore, health_splash_restore, health_inflict, health_splash_inflict.
17 Added the splash_range flag to effects.
18 Added the ability to have effect flags affect specific skills. For example these flags could be used on an effect to affect the attack skill. attack_health_inflict_mod=, attack_health_restore_mod=, attack_actions_cost_mod= 19 Added a flag for terrain called special that makes it so that terrain is announced when pressing shift + T and the terrain sound is played whenever it becomes visible. 20 Added an allows_actions point flag and the shift + A hot key that announces any of your units who still have points that allow actions. 21 Revised the keys that give information and the ones that take you to the last source or target of an action. All descriptions of the current unit, terrain and their effects can be obtained by pressing shift + F4. 22 Added the shift + P hot key for cycling through possible targets of the current skill. Only useable when choosing a target for a skill. 23 Added an announce flag to effects. If present the game announces whenever that effect is added or removed on a unit. 24 Fixed the bug where AI would not take range modifiers into account when determining if it could use a skill.
25 Added a chance_mod= flag to effects and terrain.
26 Added a sight_range_mod= flag to effects and terrain.
27 Added a hidden flag to Point files that stops them from being announced to players when the F4 key is pressed. 28 Added a not_useable_on= flag to skills. It takes a comma separated list of unit types that this skill can not be used on.
29 Added a replace_terrain= flag on skills.
30 Added a fizzle_replace_terrain= flag on effects. Note this does not occur if the effect is removed before it fizzles. 31 Added the ability to create custom items that can be used like skills or equipped to enhance your character and skills.
32 Added the ability to place items in the map editor using the I key.
33 Items are announced when your review cursor moves to a tile that has them and you can press F5 to get a list of the items.
34 Added the equip_slots= flag to Units.
35 Added the ability for items to affect a specific skill when equipped by specifying a skill prefix in front of _range_mod= and _chance_mod= flags as well as any point modifying flags.
36 Added the take_item flag to skills for defining a skill that takes items.
37 Added the useable_once and useable_forever flags to items to define how they should be consumed.
38 Added a manage_equipment flag for skills.
39 Created menus for equipping and unequipping items.
40 Added a ranged flag to items that indicate that range modifiers should affect the unit who equips the item. Ordinarily the range modifiers are only applied if the unit's base range on a skill is more than 1.
41 Added the replace_skill_sound= flag for items.
42 Included Craig Brett's scripts and documentation. Most notably he's included a script for charming / controlling / capturing enemy units.
43 Stopped the current tile from announcing right after you use a skill.
44 Moved the map packs into a sub menu of the main menu and removed the word "Play" from the beginning of each map pack name and each map name to facilitate better first letter navigation. 45 Fixed a bug where the shift + P key was not taking positive range modifiers into account.
46 Added the control + R hot key for announcing the current round.
47 Fixed a bug where choosing to use an item would allow you to back out to choose a different item but never let you cancel far enough to not use an item at all. 48 Added the items= unit flag for specifying which items the unit starts with. 49 Updated the equip_slots= unit flag so it can also supply starting equipment. 50 Made it so that when a unit dies all of it's items and equipment are placed on the ground.
51 Added a give_item skill flag.
52 Added a drop_item skill flag.
53 Added the control + shift + R hot key to reload the map editor. Useful to make the map editor aware of new unit, skill or item files you've added. 54 Fixed a bug where map editor team toggling would only cycle through team numbers 1 and 2. It now cycles through all defined teams.


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