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Author Topic: Building an empire-building PBEM game (Development and testing continue)  (Read 6293 times)

Vanigo

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I've been working on an empire-building game for about a month now, designed for PBEM and play-by-post. It's loosely based on the Age of Restoration forum games I invented over on the corresponding forum, which tended to die out because they were so much work. The game I'm making now, being largely computerized, will be much easier.

Currently, it is not at all playable - but I'm getting close. I've built administrator and player interfaces, and you can currently expand your borders, improve tiles, build cities and roads, build infrastructure in your cities, grow your cities, and build units. You cannot, however, do anything with your units, which is my next big task. (EDIT: Or, rather, you can, but only because I haven't disabled the administrator unit/army popup in the player interface.) There are also undoubtedly many many bugs, although I think I can eliminate most of them by forcing the player to interact only with the topmost pop-up window.

You can check out my current build here:
Admin interface
Player interface
A saved game

Saving and loading is done by copying and pasting XML, since Flash can't do much with files on the user's hard drive unless the flash file is itself downloaded. (As for why I'm using Flash, it makes interface stuff really easy, and running inside a browser is a nice plus.)
« Last Edit: March 18, 2012, 04:35:27 pm by Vanigo »
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Ninteen45

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Re: Building an empire-building PBEM game
« Reply #1 on: February 20, 2012, 10:38:14 pm »

HEY GUYS HE CHECKS OUT IT'S ONLY A LURKER.  :P

Good for you. Quite a few computerizations of games work out well.
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Vanigo

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Re: Building an empire-building PBEM game
« Reply #2 on: February 29, 2012, 09:27:22 pm »

I've got some news (since I know everyone's been just dying for an update): The basic engine is complete! The game is now technically playable - it just isn't likely to be much fun, since there are only three buildings (two of which are useless), two unit types, running out of food or money doesn't actually do anything, etc. But you can claim territory, build cities, improve tiles, build units, and send your armies to fight other players. The links in the OP should link to the new version now.
It's undoubtedly very buggy, so if you find something, please let me know.

Aside from debugging, my next task is to populate the game with content - unit types, resources, buildings, tile improvements, and so on. If anyone has suggestions for them, go ahead and speak up!
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quinnr

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Re: Building an empire-building PBEM game (Now playable-ish!)
« Reply #3 on: February 29, 2012, 09:52:12 pm »

Definitely watching this, gotta love play-by-email games!
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Nirur Torir

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Re: Building an empire-building PBEM game (Now playable-ish!)
« Reply #4 on: February 29, 2012, 10:07:38 pm »

This might just be a thing that will lure me to some sort of IRC, although I'm not sure how well fast-paced AoR would work.

It would be nice to be able to cancel after looking at a city. I also don't see why aquatic cities need to be hard-coded out (merpeople or future times), although I don't see such content being much of a priority.

Will it be possible for people to add content themselves, either through the the load XML paste, or a second XML area for mods?
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Vanigo

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Re: Building an empire-building PBEM game (Now playable-ish!)
« Reply #5 on: March 01, 2012, 08:51:55 pm »

Will it be possible for people to add content themselves, either through the the load XML paste, or a second XML area for mods?
I've been considering that. I'd want it in a separate XML file, just because duplicating all that data everywhere makes me sad. Problem with that, of course, is that you're doing two copy+pastes to load the game instead of one. I think loading mod XML from an external file would work okay, though. People would need to rehost the game if they wanted to mod it, then, but that seems reasonable to me.
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Vanigo

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Re: Building an empire-building PBEM game (Now playable-ish!)
« Reply #6 on: March 01, 2012, 09:22:58 pm »

I should probably explain what all the rules are, shouldn't I?

Spoiler: Overview (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Food and population (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Map tiles (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Cities (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Military units (click to show/hide)
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Vanigo

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Re: Building an empire-building PBEM game (Updated again)
« Reply #7 on: March 03, 2012, 08:15:35 pm »

I've put some more work in, and implemented some new functionality. Chiefly, I've implemented special abilities for units - the only ones currently in use are Charge and Chargebreak for cavalry and pikemen, but several others are supported. I've also restricted tile improvements by terrain type, implemented experience levels for units, and made a few other minor changes. It's getting to the point where it would be worth tooling around with it to see if I've made any serious game design or balance errors. Would anyone like to help me test? This is still really early alpha, of course, but I'd love to hear what some of you think of the game so far.
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quinnr

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Re: Building an empire-building PBEM game (Updated again)
« Reply #8 on: March 03, 2012, 08:38:50 pm »

I've put some more work in, and implemented some new functionality. Chiefly, I've implemented special abilities for units - the only ones currently in use are Charge and Chargebreak for cavalry and pikemen, but several others are supported. I've also restricted tile improvements by terrain type, implemented experience levels for units, and made a few other minor changes. It's getting to the point where it would be worth tooling around with it to see if I've made any serious game design or balance errors. Would anyone like to help me test? This is still really early alpha, of course, but I'd love to hear what some of you think of the game so far.
I would definitely love to help you test the game! Just let me know what to do.
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Vanigo

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Re: Building an empire-building PBEM game (Updated again)
« Reply #9 on: March 03, 2012, 09:13:36 pm »

I would definitely love to help you test the game! Just let me know what to do.
I think I'm going to run a test game over in Forum Games and Roleplaying. Check this thread.
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Vanigo

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Re: Building an empire-building PBEM game (Updated again)
« Reply #10 on: March 08, 2012, 11:55:09 am »

Little update: I've implemented some more functionality over the last week, including boats, units that carry other units, and buffs and debuffs.
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Drago55577

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Re: Building an empire-building PBEM game (Updated again)
« Reply #11 on: March 08, 2012, 12:33:50 pm »

 Civilizations much?

Still good work on making a game
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Vanigo

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I've been continuing to develop this. I've implemented terrain defense bonuses, siege weapons, some special properties buildings can have, special civilization-wide bonuses, and some other stuff that doesn't come to mind right at the moment.
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Drago55577

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I've been continuing to develop this. I've implemented terrain defense bonuses, siege weapons, some special properties buildings can have, special civilization-wide bonuses, and some other stuff that doesn't come to mind right at the moment.
What kind of of do I need to play? I'm bored of civilization now.


Still goodwork
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Rip goat, more loli
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Vanigo

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What kind of of do I need to play? I'm bored of civilization now.


Still goodwork
I... am not quite sure how to parse this.
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