[ian-reeds-games] Re: Releasing Tactical Battle 1.12 in the next few days
- From: "Allan Thompson" <allan1.thompson@xxxxxxx>
- To: <ian-reeds-games@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2013 23:30:59 -0500
Hi Ian,
I don't know what to tell you about the funky sounds. I have win xp, and I have
heard alot of griping about how it handles sounds so maybe that is the problem
which is nothing you could even test for if you don't have it also.
I am thinking seriously about windows 8. I guess it will all depend on the vets
affairs, if they can help me out. that's always a hit or miss.
I updated the zombie map a bit.
I put in some cools ounds for the shotgun and pistol, hopefully they sound a
little more like what they are supposed to sound like.
I have death sounds for the gate and fence. Not perfect but better then nothing.
I put in items and updated the item stuff so that all the items can be taken,
transfered, dropped etc.
I got to admit, Ian, I was wondering if items were going to be a bear of a
thing to handle. I thought it might be way complicated with dozens of flags a
mile long, lol.
But no, it was relatively painless, and after just one brief episode with a
few typos the items were working just great. In fact, if I may use my favoritie
buzzword, "Intuitive", that is what it was, really intuitive and easy to use
and makes it so easy that it is actually really fun using items. This was such
an excellent job.
I threw in some items to wear for armor as well as new weapons. a knife, bat
and a tire iron, as well as the longbow and a hunting rifle.
I made the molotov cocktails and grenades into items, and bareing that bug, it
works great.
I didn't switch over any of the main guns however. I wanted to wait till items
and points get all figured out before doing that.
which makes me think of several things right off the bat.
Is it possible to restrict items. For instance a housewife isn't going to pick
up an assault rifle dropped by a soldier and know how to use it properly, or in
a fantasy setting, someone might not want their wizard to walk around in
platemail.
secondly, is it possible to turn an item into another item? some examples are:
a military rifle haveing a bayonet added to the front of the rifle to become a
spear so to speak. Or the same gun could be turned into a club once the bullets
run out. I could probably cook something up in a skill with points, but not
sure how items would do it, if ever.
Creating an item might be interesting as well, or taking it apart as the needs
of the map dictate.
For example, a molotov cocktail involves gasoline, a bottle and a rag. How can
these be added together to create an item.
Another question I had was armor. If someone wants to build up armor as pieces
instead of a single piece how do the protection values stack or should they?
Just bringing this up to add to one of your lists, lol.
Lastly updated the user guide, and I think I made it so the zombies don't bite
the objects around the place in the first round.
The map pack is updated.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/68028683/One%20shot%20wonders.zip
"The truth will set you free"
Jesus Christ of Nazareth 33A.D.
----- Original Message -----
From: Ian Reed
To: ian-reeds-games@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2013 1:52 AM
Subject: [ian-reeds-games] Releasing Tactical Battle 1.12 in the next few days
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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