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Messages - JeenLeen

#61
I found one through the Donut Tower map.

If I push a unit off the tower such that they fall down the tiles that represent height in the tower, normally they fall to the water and take the appropriate falling damage.  However, if a flying unit is between the pushed unit and the tile they should land in, the game freezes.  (The music continues, but even the rain stops moving, and I have to Ctrl-Alt-Del to get out.) 

I just tested it again and it was a spearman pushing a healer down.  Below the healer was an empty 'height' tile, and below that was a shadowling (between the healer and the water.)

---

Also, and I'm not sure if this is intentional or not, but if a object that existed as part of the scene (in this case a wooden bridge in the Archipedigo map) gets hit with the fire power and gets the burning status, it doesn't ever take burning damage.  When I click on it, I don't see the status listed as a status ailment.
The same thing happens if I create something (I used a wooden barricade) and hit it with fire.

I can see why most status ailments would not apply to objects, but burning (and perhaps Soften--it lowers defense, right?) seem exceptions.
#62
Quote from: JeenLeen on May 01, 2013, 11:15:54 PM
2. On the Donut Tower, I killed the last unit by drowning (shoved them into the hole in the middle.)  It then went to my turn, but did not declare me the winner.  When I end turn, it goes to the enemy turn, and one enemy cursor shows up (facing north).  After a few seconds, it goes back to my turn like the enemy ended turn.  I eventually Surrendered to end the match.

I had a similar incident to the above one happen later on last night, but with lava instead of water.  In the really small lava room (it gave me an army of 3 soldiers--sorry; away from game so not having the name), the enemy turn started with them having 1 guy in the lava and a 2nd out of it.  (The third had been killed.)  When the turn started, I think I saw it start to move the guy out of the lava as he died (i.e., the death/smoke animation happened in the lava, but he started moving to a ground tile before vanishing.)  The directional cursors on the enemy units remained, but I couldn't do anything and had to Ctrl-Alt-Del to get out.

Also, sometimes when the enemy army acts, it seems like more than one unit acts at once.  One starts, but as they end their turn (are attacking/are being counter-attacked by who they attacked), another enemy unit starts to move.  This isn't necessarily problematic, but the game slows down a tad when that happens.  If the last enemy unit attacks someone who can counter, sometimes the next player's turn starts before the counter-attack damage is dealt.  (I believe I saw this in the downloadable trial version from Kickstarter as well, but I was using a version about a month old.)
#63
I downloaded the version around 11:30 EST on May 1.

Two bugs I noticed:
1. On the Archipedigo stage, an enemy crossbowman destroyed a wooden barricade I made.  I could then control their units instead of mine.  After moving one of their units, the game glitched so I could control nothing.  The music kept playing, but I couldn't control any units.  I Ctrl-Alt-Del to get out.

2. On the Donut Tower, I killed the last unit by drowning (shoved them into the hole in the middle.)  It then went to my turn, but did not declare me the winner.  When I end turn, it goes to the enemy turn, and one enemy cursor shows up (facing north).  After a few seconds, it goes back to my turn like the enemy ended turn.  I eventually Surrendered to end the match.

Sorry for no screenshots.  I had pushed the unit into the rightmost part of the hole.  The cursor showed up one more space to the right (on the normal ground tile I pushed it off of.)
#64
Quote from: CraigStern on April 25, 2013, 04:29:34 PM
You cannot have characters voluntarily walk onto squares they can't normally walk onto, but you can shove them.

With the modding features, could I create a tile that works like lava (deals 20 damage if you are non-flying on it at turn-start, and if you move off of it, it uses all your move, no action allowed, and 2 energy cost) except that units can move into it normally?

Can any tile be given the 'need to swim through' feature that water and lava have (i.e., the "if you move off of it, it uses all your move, no action allowed, and 2 energy cost" I mention above)?

If I can create such, do you know if it would cost 1 move to enter and then all your move to exit, thereby allowing you to move through without taking any damage, or all my move to enter and I'd have to wait until next turn to exit?
#65
Can a unit willingly walk into lava?  If not, could/would you add that in?  (In the demo version I have, I don't believe I was able to but I may be wrong.) 
It just occurred to me how there could be some, likely rare, times when taking 20 damage and losing a round to swim through a square of lava could be a wise tactical move.

In a similar vein, should units be able to 'jump' and take falling damage/stunning (if applicable) by moving off of a high-elevation panel onto a low-elevation one?  I'm just talking about moving to the square next to them, not any additional movement.

Edit: on that note, I realized while playing through the campaign demo that the assassin could use Leap to jump (it seemed) any amount of elevation.  I jumped from the ground to the top of the tower those two sniper-archers are on, for example.  I assumed this was intentionally allowed--I appreciated how awesome being able to do that was--but I figure I'll mention it in case it was a bug not a feature  :D  (And, again, this was using a demo version from about a month ago.)
#66
Quote from: CraigStern on March 29, 2013, 03:35:07 PM
Quote
9. Can a character, when they join, have their level set to the party average, or does the level have to be hard-coded?

You can modify character stats by using the SetStat action in scripted dialog, meaning that it's 100% possible to let the player have a choice of stat increases for certain characters. You can do the same with skills using the TeachAttack action.

The second thing would be tricky. You can have a character level up using the GiveExp action, and you can have dialog react to a character's level using IfStatGoTo, but taking the average of every characters' stats is not currently supported.

In another place, you wrote about how there we can set variables that can be raised or lowered as the game goes on, the most obvious being money but I know another poster wrote about using it for loyalty, fatigue, or other more abstract notions.

With the current modding systems, would be anything that can be done similar to the following:
1. at the beginning of the game, create two variables, one to track the total levels of the party (TotalLevel) and one to track the number of party members (TotalChars). 
2. Whenever a new character joins the party, increase TotalChars by 1.  I imagine this would be very easy to do given what I read in the other thread.
3. Whenever a character levels up, increase TotalLevel by 1.  This party seems trickier.
4. When a new character is set to join the party, have their level be set to a variable (AverageLevel) instead of a number.  AverageLevel = TotalLevel / TotalChars.
Of course, after #4 is when #2 and #3 would actually occur.  TotalChars = TotalChars + 1, and TotalLevel = TotalLevel + AverageLevel.

I know I'm not using the the coding language, but should the idea above work?

#67
An additional question: when making a battle scene in the editor, can you set the Fog of War on or off for that particular battle? 
I'm considering having it on for some fights to represent a magical mist the players have to deal with, while for most battles it will be off.  I think I recall it can be turned on or off in the settings... and I could just tell the players to turn it on for that fight... but it'd be more fun to have it set.

If I made a custom class that had a crazy high perception (20 or 30, for example) for one of the NPCs, would that effectively negate the Fog of War for the enemy party (at least as long as that unit was alive)?
#68
I'm contemplating some options in a campaign I want to make using this game, and had some questions?  Part of the idea is to do a tabletop/pen-and-paper RPG like-game using this, with the RP done inbetween fights, and sometimes I control the NPCs (as DM) and sometimes letting the AI do it (to save time.)  The PCs (probably 3) will control custom-made character classes and recruit additional characters as the game progresses.

I have a number of questions, and am dividing them into different topics below.  My apologies if they are already discussed elsewhere.

Multiple Armies
1. Would campaign mode allow multiple armies (such as a 3-way battle)? 
2. Would it allow 2+ to be controlled by players (for example, PC-controlled player's party, PC-controlled DM's party (enemy), and CPU-controlled (enemy))?
3. Would it allow alliances (ex. the party the DM controls and the enemy NPCs are allied, or the PCs are allied with NPCs they are to protect)?
Making zombies
4. Can a unit be given a 'activate when you die attack' that creates a unit belonging to another army when and in the square it dies?  (I like the idea of a zombie plague, and if a character dies, it rises as a low-level zombie)?  I think I remember that 'Create' skills can let you assign a thing like a bridge or barrier to belong to an army, but I was wondering if it can work the same for creating a unit.
5. If you create a summon-like ability (a Create attack that creates a unit), would the enemy AI know to use it or just ignore it?  (Idea of a summoner/necromancer class.)
Recruitment
6. Can the branching plot work off of if a unit survives a battle?  For example, if they manage to save an NPC, it joins the party at the end of the battle, but if it died, the game just goes to the next scene.
Battle Design
7. Will there be something like a copy & paste feature with designing battles?  I can see some plot paths using the same map and basic battle features, but a few minor things change (whether the enemies are called Rebel or Imperial, for example, or the troop composite).  Rather than recreate what I already made and edit it, it'd be easier to reuse and slightly modify a battle I already crafted.
Leveling
8. Is it possible to, as a unit levels, let the PCs choose what happens (either as an in-game feature, or by me between battles opening the proper file in a text editor and modifying the character's entry)?  While I plan to have most of the PC's army level up as in the demo, for their actual characters I want them to be able to choose how their stats increase and to be able to buy skills from different classes (so even if based on a spearman, they could purchase a healing ability.) 
9. Can a character, when they join, have their level set to the party average, or does the level have to be hard-coded?

Thank you.  And if any of the above are not possible, I understand.  It sounds like they are, but since I won't have the system for a few weeks yet to fiddle with, I want to know what the possible options are before I start working out a plot for the campaign.

Edit: added question #9
#69
Quote from: CraigStern on March 25, 2013, 08:26:29 PM

Quote from: JeenLeen on March 22, 2013, 12:39:37 PM
When it says 'click to begin' (I forget the exact words) for when a turn starts, could you add that 'press any key' also starts the turn?

Hm, probably. Right now, the Esc key serves that function. (It also advances dialog and closes menus.)

That should work fine if the 'any key' function can't be added in.  Glad to know it works for dialog, too.   :)

Quote from: CraigStern on March 25, 2013, 08:26:29 PM
Quote from: JeenLeen on March 22, 2013, 12:39:37 PMAlso, could an option be added such that, when you exit a battle before ending it in campaign mode, the game saves any experience/items gained?  I realize that it could be too much to be able to save a battle mid-game (though that would be nice), but if at least xp were maintained, I wouldn't feel like I lost my time investment if I had to quit a battle before finishing it.  Plus, it would give players who want to a chance to level up their party extra or strengthen weaker players by fighting most of a battle, quitting, then starting again.

Hm. If I do something like this, it'd be via full-fledged mid-battle saving. I don't want to encourage players to grind by constantly quitting battles halfway through!

Would there be any random battle zones or ways to level up? 
Though if there are no ways to just level, that does add a tactical edge about having to level up your party somewhat evenly to keep them all on equal footing.  Personally I don't care for it and would rather have a way to level up--plus fighting old battles and trying different tactics could be fun--but I see how it's an interesting element for the game.  I remember Vandal Hearts (PS1 game) was like that, and it made the game a little harder but didn't really hurt it.
#70
That sounds wonderful and has convinced me to get a copy.  Thank you!
#71
I'm not sure if this is a bug or not, but in the weapon depot battle (the one pictured two posts above), at one point the enemy soldiers starting attacking bridge tiles I had made that had no use to me instead of pursuing me.

I had cleared out all the enemies on the map except for the two archers on the far left elevated region and the enemies that show up with the leader.  I had moved my units into the base in the middle of the map, and was setting up to really hit them hard once they came inside while also looting the barrels.  Two enemy swordsmen were ahead of the rest of their party, and they just started attacking the bridge tiles.  These tiles just extended 1 square into the water; they did not even reach the other side.  The swordsmen could have come around the base to attack me instead, but it was like they got distracted by the bridge tiles and decided to ignore pursuing me.  (I didn't know of these forums at the time, so it didn't occur to me to take a screenshot.)

Again, not sure if it's technically a bug, but the AI seemed screwy.  I guess it could have made sense if they were waiting for the rest of their party to catch up them and decided to just do that instead of standing there, but it didn't seem that way.
#72
When it says 'click to begin' (I forget the exact words) for when a turn starts, could you add that 'press any key' also starts the turn?

Edit: I was just playing the public demo, and by mistake hit either the option to surrender or the one to exit the game.  Could you add a question like a "Are you sure?" pop-up beforehand to prevent accidental exits?

Also, could an option be added such that, when you exit a battle before ending it in campaign mode, the game saves any experience/items gained?  I realize that it could be too much to be able to save a battle mid-game (though that would be nice), but if at least xp were maintained, I wouldn't feel like I lost my time investment if I had to quit a battle before finishing it.  Plus, it would give players who want to a chance to level up their party extra or strengthen weaker players by fighting most of a battle, quitting, then starting again.
#73
In the final version of the game, will there be the option for one player vs. multiple computer-control armies, all fighting against one another?  What about 3 players verses 3 CPU (or 2 players verses 4, or any other combination)? 
From the videos I imagine these exist, but want to make sure before I back enough to get a copy of the game, since that's a key selling point for me.

In multi-player, is it all players using the same computer by default (I guess taking turns with the keypad and mouse)?