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Messages - bugfartboy

#16
Be the change software testing you want to see in the world! Glad to be of help. I'll be excited to see future demo releases in the future.

They get a bad rep sometimes, but have you considered submitting the new game under Steam's Early Access or GOG's Games in Development programs, once you're closer to release?
#17
I downloaded the demo this afternoon to try out. Here is my feedback. All of these were written down and grouped by what map I was in. Apologies if it they're jumbled. Disclaimer: The game locked up on me during the caravan battle. That is as far as I reached.


Concerns

Major




LoggingHaving the "Log" button is nice, but it appeared to only work the first time I pressed it. At first I thought it simply didn't work when a dialog box was on the screen, but it later appeared to not work at all. This is unfortunate because I was unable to generate a log file when the game locked up on me.
CameraUsing the scroll wheel to zoom out was very inconsistent. At times I would need to scroll in just to get it to scroll out further. The maximum zoom-out felt inadequate, especially for a tactical game where seeing what's going on is important.
Dialog ActionsThere were several instances where the dialog box would begin to render, vanish while a character moved as part of the script, then pop back up. It was kind of disconcerting, and I felt like I accidentally skipped ahead in the conversation when I really didn't.
Lakshmi BanaDespite Emma sprinting every round to reach her, Lakshmi Bana was cut down in front of her. When she fell, the "Player should not see this" message referring to the CheckForMoreDialog action came up. Lakshmi had no words in death.
VisualsI like how the terrain and objects look. The sprite-based graphics (characters, menu/dialog boxes, etc), look bad when used alongside them. I understand that this is very much so a work in progress, so I'm hoping there's a plan to get sprites updated so the graphics feel cohesive. Overall, I kind of miss how terrain and objects look in the original. Everything fit together nicely and, while the visuals weren't necessarily stunning, it complemented itself extremely well.
Game Locked UpThe turn after Lakshmi died, Emma tried to use Sprint. The game zoomed in on her, then stopped doing anything. The music continued to play, but nothing responded. As mentioned above, I couldn't get a log file for it since the key stopped working.

Minor



LightingTying into Visuals above, the checkbox pattern visible on the ground around the campfire when Zash and Red attacked looked funky.
"10 Years Later"Minor nitpick: The dialog box during the "10 Years Later" screen looked to be a lighter shade of black than the background, so it stood out maybe more than intended.
Edge PanningI'm hoping edge panning finds its way into the new system.
Action ZoomZooming in when characters use an ability felt a bit unnecessary. I'm not saying it's bad, but it would be nice to be able to disable it in the settings.
Counterattack DeathDuring the campfire fight, Red died to a counterattack. Is this an intentional change in the AI's behavior, or was Red just feeling lucky?
Skill A/V EffectsMind Shield was really emphasizing the target's mind: the base of the bubble started at the target's neck. Arced Shot should be called "Missile Launch" judging from the light blast sound effects.
DoorsSince I couldn't open any doors when defending the village from bandits, I can only assume the good people of Adelbrae finally learned to lock their doors.


Praise



Indestructible Corpses!Seriously, why aren't people building castles of the stuff? Corpses are immune to all damage, and have a ludicrous amount of hit points! What's not to like?
Game IntroI liked that the music started, the Unity splash faded in, then out, then Sinister Design logos did its thing, and THEN the main menu came up. It felt so professional. It also didn't take an actual eternity to sit through like some of the ELDER games I've SCROLLed through.
FACIAL EXPRESSIONS! :D'Nuff said.
Eyeless MooksDo you need reassurance that the bandit you're about to cut down in the heat of battle isn't actually a person? Look no further than their face! You see, you, your friends, and even your enemies that actually have names have eyes! That generic bandit, though? They don't. They're not sentient. Kill them. Kill them now.
InventoryIt took me a few minutes to realize that the Inventory screen was now integrated into the character details screen. I like being able to see exactly what each item is doing to my character! A border around the inventory region would help it stand out even more, I think.
Text decorationAdding it was a bold decision.
Talk BubblesI like the little dialog bubble that pops up when a character is talking. It's a nice, unobtrusive way to indicate who's doing what.

Suggestions



CounterattacksWhen a character triggers a counterattack, maybe extend the delay between them slightly? The current character's action would be replaced with the counterattack's name before it could be read sometimes.
Counter FlairThis is frivolous, but adding something like "Counterattack: {SkillName}!" when displaying the skill used to counterattack might make it seem more exciting, or draw more attention to it.
TAB to CycleIf there aren't plans for it already (I may have overlooked it), could a button be assigned to select the next character in the turn order? The Tab key would feel natural as the default.
Deployment InventoryAn "OK" or "Exit" button on this window would do wonders.
Self-Only skillsIt would be neat to be able to activate self-only skills directly from the action bar. Clicking "Sprint" and then clicking the character who's using it feels unintuitive. I understand why it's happening from a mechanical perspective, but it feels unnecessary from a playflow perspective.
Deploying CharactersI miss drag-and-drop deployment. As is, the deployment screen could use something more to make the currently selected character stand out. Swap characters' positions if they're both already deployed would help make deployment smoother.




I think that's all of my notes for now.
#18
True Messiah / Re: True Messiah: your questions answered!
December 01, 2019, 08:28:05 PM
Speaking of Providence, can Providence+ be used on a space, in reaction to another player moving low units onto that space, to negate the move? The preemption rules only refer to preempting miracles, not movements.
#19
True Messiah / Re: True Messiah: your questions answered!
November 29, 2019, 04:47:04 PM
Good to know! That's what I had guessed, but it wasn't super clear. They should come in handy in particularly involved combat phases.
#20
True Messiah / Re: True Messiah: your questions answered!
November 28, 2019, 06:37:43 PM
What's the purpose of the little tokens emblazoned with the entity depicted on the Providence miracle? I've read through the rule book a couple of times, and haven't seen an explanation. It's entirely possible I'm just overlooking it.
#21
Forum Games / Re: Corrupt a Wish Foundation
November 28, 2019, 06:36:36 PM
Granted. Unfortunately the pious benefactor who purchased them all tries to pay you in stacks upon stacks of little cardboard gold coins.

I wish the climate would revert to its pre-Industrial Revolution state.
#22
Forum Games / Re: Corrupt a Wish Foundation
November 28, 2019, 07:06:33 AM
Granted. Unfortunately the wish only lasts for four years, after which it loses all potency.

I wish I had more people to play True Messiah against.
#23
General Discussion / Re: Ask the developer a question!
October 31, 2019, 06:18:18 PM
The Chicago Cultural Center was an interesting visit, especially the digital flowers exhibit they had set up. Thanks for the recommendation! It's a shame the offices of Sinister Design don't offer public tours, though.




Quote from: CraigStern on October 31, 2019, 10:02:27 AM

-- two new operators are supported when altering integer values: f and c. These impose a floor and ceiling, respectively, on the named value.

For instance:

SetVal/MoralePenalty,f:2

This will check the value of the custom integer MoralePenalty; if MoralePenalty is found to be less than 2, it will then be set equal to 2.


This reminds me, does the new system support a RemoveVal/ValName action? One thing I remember from playing around with the old engine's scripting system is that it was too easy to leave orphaned or one-use variables in the save file. A way to clean up after myself would be convenient.
#24
General Discussion / Re: Ask the developer a question!
September 18, 2019, 10:21:10 PM
I did a search through the forum, and couldn't find anywhere you'd discussed this prior:

Are there any locations in Chicago you would recommend to visitors? Any spots that aren't advertised or known as well as you wish they were?
#25
General Discussion / Re: Ask the developer a question!
February 08, 2019, 10:30:55 PM
Thanks for the write-up! It's a bit more complicated than I expected, but I can't claim to have written anything as involved or complicated as a game engine.

Quote from: CraigStern on January 30, 2019, 09:07:36 AM
...oh, and about Unicode: getting Unicode characters to work in Unity at all is kind of a process, unfortunately, so probably not. However, your question has inspired me to add support for a couple more ASCII characters I can foresee people wanting to use, so hopefully that'll do. :)
That's a bit of a bummer, but understandable. I'm glad we got a couple of new characters out of it!




Quote from: CraigStern on February 07, 2019, 02:58:35 PM
-- a fun new feature I threw into the game: skills can now have scripts attached to them via the runsScripts attribute, just like items!

When used, a skill with runsScripts on it will run each script once for each target that the skill hits. (For purposes of special characters in skill-initiated scripts, the game will treat the attacker as the triggering character, and each individual unit hit by the attack as though it is the secondary character.)


This is more of a statement than a question, but this feature makes me inordinately happy. I'm having flashbacks of desperately logging what abilities the player has selected by using the OnAttackSelect trigger, just trying to activate specific scripts based on the character and ability the player had selected, to no absolutely no avail. I don't even remember what I was trying to accomplish (was it really years ago already?), just that I couldn't feasibly make it work.




How does the future look for custom status effects, possibly using scripts for custom behavior?
#26
General Discussion / Re: Ask the developer a question!
January 29, 2019, 11:07:17 PM
Quote from: CraigStern on January 29, 2019, 02:17:49 PM
-- new special character, the double-semicolon (;;)! When this character is detected in text, the game swaps in a comma. This allows you to use commas in your script action parameters without totally screwing things up! (The game uses actual commas to delimit script action parameters--using the double-semicolon in script action parameters allows you to sidestep this effect.)
I have my guesses, but I'm curious how you're handling parameters internally, and what the processing order is. At what point in the process of reading/handling the XML node do you do your string substitution? Is it just once, or do you cycle through until nothing else can be replaced?




Is the new engine unicode-friendly? That is, if I type a '•' (U+2022) or a '≸' (U+2279) into one of the files, will it render correctly in-game? If yes, what's the likelihood of getting support for inserting the actual code for a character, such as "•" "•" "•" for a bullet point, and handing it off to be converted+replaced with the appropriate character?
#27
General Discussion / Re: Ask the developer a question!
August 02, 2018, 05:37:40 PM
That would be pretty cool, if you get to!

If memory serves, weren't you thinking of adding a flickering or animated type of light to TT? Is the possibility for such a thing in the cards for the new engine?
#28
General Discussion / Re: Ask the developer a question!
August 02, 2018, 04:58:56 PM
Will the new scripting system be able to add/remove/modify individual points of light, or are they hard-coded only?

Will the scripting system be able to change global weather?
#29
Quote from: CraigStern on July 09, 2018, 11:33:11 AM
he chose to edit or omit certain tracks in the interest of making the OST a more enjoyable listen

That's disappointing to hear, given the track is actually pretty neat, but entirely understandable. Thanks for the explanation!
#30
Playing through Telepath Tactics again, I realized there was music in the game that I didn't recognize. Was the music track "ThereWillBeBlood", found in the Caravan Battle Prelude (I think), not included in the Telepath Tactics Original Soundtrack?