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View Full Version : Upcoming Demo Release of New Tactics-Style Game



UnitOfTime
12-01-2016, 12:04 PM
Hey All,

I saw recently that TAO was shutdown, so I decided to develop a similar type of game for myself and for others. I have a basic version of my game up and running (minus graphical/interface polish), and wanted to do a casual (version 0.9) release to those who are interested. I'm hoping to have the game hosted for people to play by December 9th (assuming nothing goes horribly wrong).

My plan is to start a feedback loop with anyone who plays to find out what features to add next and what bugs to fix. So I was planning to eventually make a polling/bug reporting system inside the game. My dream is to have regular balance patches and new character releases to keep the game interesting and to grow the community of players.

Anyways, enough hopes and dreams. Here are the current features I have:


In-browser, multiplayer turn-based tactics game
Personal account logins
Basic matchmaking (no ranking/Elo system yet)
Basic locked set of characters: Knight, Archer, Assassin, Druid, Enchantress, Wizard, Witch, and a Barrier Totem


I'm hoping to add these features as soon as I can:


In-game polling/bug reporting system
Customizable Sets for you to start matches with
Matchmaking Elo system
Improved graphics


I'd love to hear your thoughts, interest, or any other comments you might have! Below is a short gameplay GIF of how it currently looks with very first draft graphics.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/56657351/DemoGif/DemoGif.gif

Mar
12-01-2016, 01:06 PM
Wow looks great, very similar to TAO. Can't wait to see what you have to offer, creating that feedback system within the game is a really good idea. It'll make it much easier for beta-testers. Good luck!

UnitOfTime
12-01-2016, 01:24 PM
Thanks for the feedback. I truly appreciate it! My plan is to start with a basic TAO recreation and then build new systems with potentially more exciting tactical complexities/more game depth, but not deviate too far from the original gameplay pattern.

Hulky
12-01-2016, 02:11 PM
Wow that is really really good. Is it 2D or 3D the way you built it?

UnitOfTime
12-01-2016, 02:16 PM
Thanks! I modeled everything as 3D objects (mostly because I'm bad at drawing). Then pre-rendered it into a bunch of 2D spritesheets which are used in the game. Having 3D models in my pocket could be nice later if it starts to make sense to rewrite the frontend to 3D. But for now it's all 2D.

Mar
12-01-2016, 02:40 PM
Do you have a blocking mechanism yet or is that still in the works?

UnitOfTime
12-01-2016, 02:51 PM
There is a blocking mechanism in place; however, I'm not sure how well received it will be (also it's up for change if needed):

In the original there was a percent chance to block ALL of the damage, then if you blocked that attack, the next attack would have a higher probability of landing (I believe, but correct me if I'm wrong). I decided that could lead to some non-determinism that might influence players to make decisions that didn't make sense tactically: eg, making a really risky move that pans out because they got "lucky" or it could punish a smart play because 90% of the time you'd hit, but it gets blocked somehow.

So in my version there are block percentages for each edge (e.g. for a knight: [front=50%, right=25%, left=35%, back=5%]) and when damaged from those edge, the percentage is used to actually block a percent of the damage. So if you do 24 damage where 50% is blocked, then 12 damage lands.

TL;DR: there is one but it is slightly different from the original in that it blocks a percent of the damage rather than all of the damage a percent of the time.

Mar
12-01-2016, 03:29 PM
Interesting, I like the idea behind it since you can still do damage and the luck-based variable is decreased significantly to lessen lucky wins or lucky losses. It also gives you foresight since you can at least depend on doing some damage. So, the blocking would reset after every hit/miss then? I would really like to see how this plays out, I think your game is the closest to TAO so far and many would be interested in trying it out.

Posting it in the Facebook group and adding the feedback system would give you some help if you need it.

UnitOfTime
12-01-2016, 03:50 PM
Thanks,

Yeah that's the basic idea of my blocking system. There aren't really any "misses" anymore. You are guaranteed a certain damage based on what edge you are attacking from. I suppose it is more of a defense system, where your defense is higher when you are attacked from the front, and lower when attacked from the back.

Thanks for the advice, I'll focus on the feedback system in-place before I host the game.

The One
12-05-2016, 01:11 AM
I'm very interested in playing an alpha version of this game. It's cool to see how similar it looks compared to TAO. Count me in.