ERYFKRAD
Barbarian
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2012
- Messages
- 28,237
Oh, you nigger.Doesn't 'deterministic' in gaming terms mean that it is basically 100% linear?
Oh, you nigger.Doesn't 'deterministic' in gaming terms mean that it is basically 100% linear?
Chess is deterministic.Doesn't 'deterministic' in gaming terms mean that it is basically 100% linear?
Doesn't 'deterministic' in gaming terms mean that it is basically 100% linear?
Except no, he couldn't. I've got no qualms about women being presented as main characters, or frontline fighters, for that matter. Mr.Stern certainly has all the artistic licence he needs to portray ladies as leading characters, notwithstanding what the real history might have to say on that matter. And I have played and enjoyed titles like Heroine's Quest, Kult and Joan of Arc, among others. What I dislike here is simplistic, schoolgirl fanfiction lvl writing that relies on all the worst feminist cliches around (simplistic might not be bad per se - Mr. Bean is comedy at its simplest, yet immensely enjoyable, while this is another kind of simplistic - crude, banal and thoroughly uninspiring). I'm not saying this kind of writing or storylines don't have a right to exist - if the game was an equally simplistic garbage, it would be a match made in heaven, but seeing as the game is a complex, nuanced tacticool rpg, this kind of storytelling diminishes the whole experience. Well, it did for me.I think you could profitably debate vazha about gender norms (honing your arguments, and perhaps nudging folks toward a better acceptable of your views, which are similar to ones I've talked about in Primordia marketing!).
So it's like deterministic combat rather than annoying RNG. Sounds good. A deterministic game would be not so much.Doesn't 'deterministic' in gaming terms mean that it is basically 100% linear?
Nah. Determinism usually refers to mechanics which allow you to predict with 100% certainty the outcome of your individual choices--but because you (and your opponent) will make different choices each time, the game is never the same twice. Think about Chess, or Go--does every game of these that you play turn out exactly the same? Probably not, right? You and your opponent are going to be making different choices and trying out new strategies in each game. So even though the outcome of any one choice is predictable, the course of each match can still vary pretty wildly.
Hey all! It's been a little over a year since our last update on the new Telepath Tactics engine, and I'm still plugging away. Despite taking some time to release a new board game, I've made a ton of progress--so much so that it would be impossible to set it all out here in its entirety*.
That said, here's another little summary for you:
- First and most importantly, mid-battle saving is now in-engine and working as advertised!
- We've got proper 3D terrain integrated into the game now! (One nice thing about the new 3D terrain: characters who get shoved into water or lava now visibly sink into it instead of just, like...standing on top it).
Did I mention that there's a new Sand tileset?
- Push/pull-type skills are now more powerful. Falling damage now occurs even when dropping a single tile of elevation, and enemies can be slammed into each other to deal significant damage to them both!
- Created new skills for classes that didn't have many, as well as alternate high-level skills for the core psy fighter classes to offer them differing tactical roles at high levels. There are now more than 150 different skills in the game!
- A proper lighting system, instead of that janky 2D approximation we had before.
- We now have a dedicated shop interface! Shops are highly customizable, with the ability to flexibly generate stocks of available items with a high degree of precision over both pricing and content. Oh, and they support selling off unwanted items.
- Procedural item generation is a thing! The engine now supports generating equipment with differing base materials, at differing levels of quality, and with special characteristics (sturdy weapons have increased durability; blazing weapons have reduced durability but a chance to set enemies on fire; armor-piercing weapons ignore 50% of the enemy's resistance; and so on).
- The engine now has a calendar system that tracks the progression of time, allows events to occur based on the number of days passed and/or the current day of the week, and so on.
- Dovetailing with the calendar system, the engine now has systems for managing food and character salaries. (I won't be using these particular systems in the TT rerelease, but I have plans for them in a future title using this same engine--stay tuned!)
- There is now a working campaign editing suite! As of now, the suite contains a map editor with fully functional autotiling (meaning that you can simply paint terrain types onto the battlefield, and the game will do the work of figuring out which specific tiles to use based on the stuff surrounding them); an in-depth character creator with its own built-in portrait builder; a dedicated cut scene editor with sub-editors for building custom shops and unit rosters; and a dialogue and script editor with predictive text suggestions and in-engine explanations of the more arcane engine-related features (like reply types and script actions). Still on deck: item and skill editors!
Creating a portrait for a new shadowling in the Character Editor
Picking out a new background in the Cut Scene Editor
Hopefully that gives you an idea of what I've been up to! True Messiah stuff ate up more time than I was hoping, but I'm hoping to have an official announcement sometime in the coming months. Until then!
- Wayyyyyy more cut scene backgrounds. Telepath Tactics had 6; so far, the new engine has 38 with more on the way!
- The scripting system is more powerful and flexible than ever before! A vastly expanded selection of special characters allow direct access to all manner of in-game data that you can slot directly into script actions, reply actions, and dialogue. As of now, 104 distinct script actions have been fully implemented.
- Procedural character generation is a thing! Proc gen characters have their own unique generated names, portraits, backgrounds, traits, stat growths, skill progressions, personalities, hobbies, and personalized dialogue. They can interact with one another, form relationships and memories, and directly impact each other's morale. There's a lot more to say about this, but I'll leave it there for now.
Yours in tactics,
Craig
I'll post the full thing here if you don't mind Craig Stern. Liking all the improvements but how close are you to the re-release?
I'll be releasing a brand-new title (same universe, related story) using the engine before I do the special edition TT re-release
I'm surprised you couldn't finish the game. At release there was the very annoying slowdown when battles dragged on but that was patched. Once that was fixed I was able to finish with maybe 2 crashes total...Look, I just want to play a bug free Telepath Tactics game. Whatever works I guess. Just sucks to have to wait.
Releasing another game before releasing a fixed version of TT kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth tbh.
Calling it hotseat mode instead of local multiplayer might have helped.And what about local multiplayer? It kinda felt like that fell flat as a selling point, and ended up just making Steam users mad when they read "multiplayer," ignored the word "local" preceding it, and discovered that the multiplayer was not, in fact, online.
Please don't do a related story. In fact, please forget you ever wrote this story in the first place. Do something along the lines of earlier telepath titles at least.I'll post the full thing here if you don't mind Craig Stern. Liking all the improvements but how close are you to the re-release?
No prob, and thanks!
For logistical reasons, there's a good chance that I'll be releasing a brand-new title (same universe, related story) using the engine before I do the special edition TT re-release. In either case, though, my best guess is that the next release will be coming in 2020, and that the other should follow in the year after.
Craig Stern This with me leaning more towards hand crafted maps1. I always like hand crafted maps vs procedure generated ones, but I don’t have a preference regarding your game.
2. I don’t think I saw anyone talk about multiplayer once. I’m not a big MP fan.
Patching TT would generate little to no new sales, in no small part because it’s saddled with negative Steam reviews and won’t get new press reviews. Releasing a new game gives him a clean slate and the possibility of significant revenues. Seems like a much wiser course.
I'd love a gameplay video of the improved engine :DWhat's up, RPG chums? I just wanted to pop in to say that I've been assiduously slaving away in the game dev mines all these months, and things are coming along smoothly. I'll be doing my usual end-of-year progress report in approximately a month-and-a-half, and announcing The Next Thing at around that time as well! "Get hype," as the kids used to say! :D
!!-- socioeconomic classes attached to different life skills can now vary somewhat.
Also also, what could be a good move is just have a new steam listing for the upgraded version (so to remove the negatives) whilst giving THAT version to previous customers. Win win.