Telepath Tactics - opinions

[CraigStern]

What kind of names will lizardmen have? Can you give an example?

[spoiler]As'syrik
Addir
Ak Rilik
Akro
Ambuur Fangiss
Ambuur Kalaw
Ambuur Predat
Ambuur T'ayil
Angura
Anol
Bacha Lisk
Bas Silisk
Bas'keen
Basak
Ber Zerik
Blud Fangiss
Blud Jowah
Blud Kalaw
Blud Predat
Blud T'ayil
Bramak
Chi'karik
Chi'tin
Des Serret
Dor Sal
Drakkon
Du Lap
Ekto Thirim
Eldar
Fangiss Ferat
Fas'ol
Fik'rik
Filesh Tayir
Firin'zi
Furak
Ga'tor
Ge'ko
Gra'wuul
Gu'warid
Habacha
Hee'la
Hibis'kis
Hik'wana
Hiss Fangiss
Hiss Ferat
Hiss Kalaw
Hiss Predat
Hun Tor Ferat
Huuk Fangiss
Huuk Kalaw
Huuk T'ayil
Hwa'ral
Jowah Ferat
Ka'lard
Ka'lyme
Ka'mil'yan
Ka'mo'tor
Ka'rapis
Kalaw Ferat
Karok Adyl
Keel
Klo'aca
Kon'strikt
Korliss
Kowaal
Kra'ko
Kre'pus
Kresst
Kri'kit
Kri'silith
Krikta
Krill'acha
Laan Fangiss
Laan Kalaw
Laan Predat
Laan T'ayil
Lim'mib
Liss Zarid
Lor
Mange
Monit Tor
Mult
Predat Tor
Prehen S'ayil
Prelen Seek
Ra'kaka
Ra'kirin
Ra'kuur
Ra'pet Fangiss
Ra'pet Kalaw
Ra'pet Predat
Ra'pet Tor
Ra'tok
Ra'tul
Ri'kit
Ros'tral
Ru'waar
Sa'kayil
Sa'kull
Sa'kute
Sa'nout
Sal Amand
Sal'bas
Salow
Samak
Sang
Scarl Fangiss
Scarl Kalaw
Scarl Predat
Scarl T'ayil
Sensiss
Serat Fangiss
Serat Kalaw
Serat T'ayil
Serepent
Shad Duur
Sharip Fangiss
Sharip Kalaw
Sharip T'ayil
Si'kink
Si'lith
Si'lyde
Sil'enduur
Silit Thur
Sna'ruul
Stok'kuur
Su'kwala
Su'pine
T'aleen
T'ayil
Ta'hong
Tak'sin
Takal
Tal Fangiss
Tal Kalaw
Tal Predat
Tarsik
To'kay
Tor Pir
Tuu'atara
Venn'imiss
Wirim
Ya'rik
Ya'seek
Yuro'mastix[/spoiler]

[SmartyPants]

Wow, I only expect about three names.  Those lizardmen names are pretty cool.

[bugfartboy]

What gave you the ideas for the names you're using?

[CraigStern]

You have no idea how long I spent compiling the names lists.

The game has to have a unique name for each unit on the battlefield. Because the game features matches between up to 6 players with armies of up to 24 units apiece, there can be up to 144 units on the battlefield at once. If every player creates an army composed entirely of the same type of unit, the game will need to have a bare minimum of 144 names to choose from. So I had to come up with a lot of names.

What gave you the ideas for the names you're using?

With the lizardmen, a lot of the time was spent researching types of lizards (monitor, basilisk, etc.) and reptile anatomy (cloaca, scute, dewlap, etc.) and thinking of how I'd imagine a lizardman saying it (Bas Silisk, Monit Tor, Klo'aca, Sa'kute). Some others are just nonsense words that sound a bit like how I'd imagine lizardmen talking (lots of harsh consonants like T and K, lots of S's and R's, pauses in between certain syllables enforced with an apostrophe or a space).

[ArtDrake]

So, out of Swordsmen, Spearmen, Bowmen, Crossbowmen, Assassins, Cavalry (scorpion riders), Lizardmen, Engineers, Stone Golems, Bronze Golems, Energy Golems, Spirits, Mentalists, Pyrokineticists, Cryokineticists, Photokineticists, Skiakineticists, Psy Healers, Red Spriggats, Frost Spriggats, Black Spriggats, Golden Spriggats, Shadowlings, and Phantom Armor, I count either as few as five different sets of 144 names [since theoretically multiple classes could share names -- I mean, you're not going to have 3456 different names, are you?], up to possibly seven sets if spirits and phantom armors each have their separate name sets. That's between 720 and 1008 different names.

Those estimates made on my part, how many different names do you think you'll be putting in the game?

[CraigStern]

There are four sets of names that are shared among the human characters: male first names, female first names, last name beginnings, and last name endings. Three of those four are combined to make a character name. The other races each share their own sets (golem names, shadowling names, spriggat names and lizardman names). The spirits use human names. All told, the game comes with about 1,590 names.

[Ertxiem]

I'm impressed!

[bugfartboy]

How do you have those names stored? Hard coded in, or in a separate file such as a text file that the game accesses. If you're going with the latter, that'd allow for some player customization, provided they could safely change it.

[CraigStern]

Yup: just like pretty much everything else, names are kept in an external .xml file that you can easily edit with any basic text editing program, (e.g. Notepad).

[deathknight1728]

This isn't as much of an opinion as I'm sure the game will be great. It would be really cool if there some sort of story/singleplayer to the game, but even if there isn't much, I'll be more than glad with all the other features.

[bugfartboy]

This isn't as much of an opinion as I'm sure the game will be great. It would be really cool if there some sort of story/singleplayer to the game, but even if there isn't much, I'll be more than glad with all the other features.

Guess what

[SmartyPants]

Would it be possible to modd a unit to be able to swim without taking damage like the Pirates of Fire Emblem?

[CraigStern]

Currently, you can do this by making a unit fly. However, to really make a unit like a Fire Emblem Pirate, I'd need to add a third movement type: aquatic. I was actually thinking of doing this at one point, but sort of forgot about it. It remains on the wish list, though it's not especially high priority just now. Feel free to remind me in a couple of months.

[SmartyPants]

Is it possible for a Mod Character to use Multiply like Cygnus?  Instead of creating a solid state shield, barricade, or change, can a mod skill create another unit?

[CraigStern]

It is indeed possible to summon new units to the battlefield through user-created Skills! (For instance: I just now added a new "Summon Stone Golem" skill that allows you to plop a brand-new Stone Golem on the field under your control. It took about a minute to stick in the Attacks.xml file, then add to the Engineer's list of attacks. I just tested it and it works fine.)

You can even have Create attacks that summon more than one instance of a character type at once. (I just created a second attack that summons nine Stone Golems at once!)

However, with that said, it actually wouldn't be possible to recreate Multiply exactly, since Multiply (a) summons multiple different types of units at once, and (b) places them at randomized locations around the battlefield.

EDIT: For the record, I'm not going to actually keep Summon Stone Golem in the game--it would be massively unbalanced. I just created it to confirm that the functionality is there.