4X WWII Wargame for windows and Mac

Community Forums/Showcase/4X WWII Wargame for windows and Mac

Mainsworthy(Posted 2016) [#1]


Ive added graphics and nuclear war, commando raids air raids, trading resources invading , massive area to fight over , 1000 locations that can have land air and sea units from both sides in,

https://numbergamer8.itch.io/rouguelike-warcomputergame


Mainsworthy(Posted 2016) [#2]
ok updated and finished nuclear war intime for xmas


AdamStrange(Posted 2016) [#3]
mmm, not sure if the roguelike tag is valid here?
just ascii text does not a roguelike make.

There is no map, there is no exploring, nothing that sort of invokes any kind of reference to a rogulike visually or gameplay wise.

Just a thought ;)


Mainsworthy(Posted 2016) [#4]
Hi Adam Happy Xmas. I was told roguelike is loose now, all you need is random and an inventory. I think its meant for two things really random world and low graphics . but its free so I cant say I'm making a profit :)


Mainsworthy(Posted 2016) [#5]
In case anybody is reading, I finalised many things now in version 78, I made nuclear options every week, and I balanced a lot of numbers , and altered the attack system, and I made the messages more decripted


Brucey(Posted 2016) [#6]
This is the wikipedia definition of "roguelike" which seems to fit how I would see it :
Roguelike is a subgenre of role-playing video games characterized by a dungeon crawl through procedurally generated game levels, turn-based gameplay, tile-based graphics...


Maybe you could call it... "Text-based wargame ... " instead?


Mainsworthy(Posted 2016) [#7]
When I looked into roguelike a while ago , you have the classic opinion what your mentioning, and yes I agree that sounds most rogue, but I found out its been watered down now with many branches calling them selves roguelike , the proper rogue didn't use tiles it used ascii text, and you have major graphical programs now calling them selves roguelike, so are they wrong or do they just pick an element from a rogue classic kinda like we say rpg elements. anyway I'm not arguing I'm just thinking out load


Mainsworthy(Posted 2016) [#8]
ok I have branched into a graphical version and a text version, both compiled for Windows and Mac, both full screen and windowed options. Massive update, done all sorts of things with the LIST , I added an empty area list to help with land grab, I have added officers, and you can assign the officers to lead in the decision phase,

Its finished now, I simply have completed it.

https://numbergamer8.itch.io/rouguelike-warcomputergame


Mainsworthy(Posted 2016) [#9]
is anybody a wargamer, who could give feedback on such as my game, or are those reading all button twitchers :) I hope Xmas will bring you here looking for a free game.


AdamStrange(Posted 2016) [#10]
mmmm, Your game concepts are superb. your game design, not so.

TBH it is not a rogue-like (in any definition). Note: ASCII a rogue-like does not make.

Looking at the images it is virtually impossible to gauge what sort of game this is. There is (loads) of ascii test - none of it seems related, but I am sure it is. then you have some screen thing with some horrible graphics. and then some other even more horrible icons.

Oh and there is the 'red' version. Have the aliens arrived? or were jealous eyes watching?

The red version looks like something from very early atari ST days... But there is a visual completeness that the pure ascii one doesn't have.
Comments here are:
My EYES. Text Color Overload. red text on red background - unreadable, violin blue text on red background - unreadable
Banks of bright green text all screaming look at me, all looking meaningless

To Quote 'Bobs Burgers': "It's not magic... It's tragic !"

For anyone looking for something free in a war-game. This would not be the place to start. free should not mean terrible quality. it can be, but that just gives 'free' a really bad name. And as a review this game is terrible.

Did I play it . Hell no! I couldn't get past the screenshots. This is not a game for downloading, this is a game for avoiding.

And that is the real problem here. You have Brilliant ideas and concepts. And you (seem to) have the programming chops for battle AI (Which is bloody hard I might add), but your visual end result is just not good.


Mainsworthy(Posted 2016) [#11]
well thanks Adam, for the viewpoint, as always a graphical guru, The graphics in a wargame arnt that important, I know that goes against the grain for you let me explain, wasteland classic had really interesting gameplay but is dated now, but some people rather play that than the big budget version 2, its not a wargame but you can see what I mean. I do also know a wargame with great graphics is still better than poor graphics, and all my graphics are crud :)

I wish I could collaborate with artests but I just like going it alone and do as I want no pressure,

If the creator of a game says his game has RPG elements can you say it dosnt or is it upto the creator to describe it :) Rogues are random games and that's what I'm choosing to be like. but I know rogue is a rigid theme, I take your point.

and your right the red text is bad now I look at it :)


Derron(Posted 2016) [#12]
If the creator of a game says his game has RPG elements can you say it dosnt or is it upto the creator to describe it :)


I would leave that up for the players. A game creator could say things like "AI is learning while playing" and at the end it is just an "If lostGame() then IncreaseTimeToThink()".

If the player expects "RPG elements" to be things like Attribute updates, and he does not find that, then for this player "RPG elements" are not existing in the game. Even if you understood "NPCs having dialogues with you" and these dialogues are in that game.


@ graphics
As we discussed in the last project of yours: seek for help regarding GFX _while_ developing and I if someone helps you I am sure, that at the end the final result will make you happy too - and of course potential players count will be higher than before (graphics are the invitation card of your games).


bye
Ron


coffeedotbean(Posted 2016) [#13]
@MainsWorthy - Certainly the most visual appealing of your recent releases, the ones you've posted previously are largely screens full of numbers and text which doesn't appeal to me personally. But you do you if enjoy making these kinds of games there is always an audience.


Derron(Posted 2016) [#14]
Of course it looks graphically better than older games of Mainsworthy, but Adam is absolutely right with the colors:

there is no sense in having all texts colored. You might better slidly adjust backgrounds (the "panels") if you want to split information into parts. That way you could use "calm" colors for the texts so it does not look that "over-excited".

There are plenty of possibilities to make it look "sleek" - and of course with creating some reuseable assets (or basic assets to advance from when creating theme specific assets).


Eg. the Images on the top left ("portraits") just look "copy pasted in". Put them in portrait-frames might improve situation - as the frame "unifies" the differences.

I understand that a single developer gets used to its own food but let it taste others and you might get feedback how to spice it up.



bye
Ron


AdamStrange(Posted 2016) [#15]
@Mainsworthy. Heres a tip/thought for you
if you didn't know your game - would you have any idea of what it was or how to play it?

If you can truly answer no - then there is something wrong with the presentation.

And no - having a black opening screen with 'how to play' is just wrong too. as this says. "this far too complex to be obvious" (people never read instructions - they really just want to get straight into it)

think about a simple text adventure:

you are on a windy road
exits are N,S,E
What do you want do do?<input>

it's told you where you are and what you can do and now want you to do something. all text and all obvious.

You could have it as a graphic with NSEW buttons, but how would the user know what to press - see where I'm going here?

Keyboard controls are another thing. if they aren't signposted (Press U to unlike or press the unlike button), most people will never know that pressing U is the same as pressing the Unlike button. And saying "you could have read the instructions is really saying "I don't care if you couldn't be bothered to find out how this thing works"

Taking something from just working to being user friendly is a very big step. and in some cases it needs to be the first thing not the last thing.

As I said. Your ideas and concepts are brilliant - possibly some of the best I've seen. but your implementation of them feels hurried and a bit sloppy. With a little thought (an some polishing time) they could be superb ;)


Mainsworthy(Posted 2016) [#16]
thanks, for the Help guys, I am improving slowly I think. I always think Ive don't a good game until I get the opinions of you guys then I look again.


Derron(Posted 2016) [#17]
Of course you improve - but it is time to go further than a "game prototype" - and your games do not just lack some polishing, they often lack any serious efforts to make them visually attractive. They stay in their "programmers art"-state.

The game here, at least shows, that you try to improve in that area - now the next step is to search for collaboration in that (and maybe other) areas of the game.
For this you of course need to be willed to accept changes to code (eg. to add "ghost"-sprite-drawing for dragged units or so).



Here is another suggestion for your upcoming war-games:
if you used a "iso"-perspective, you could reuse units from civ2/freeciv etc.
They offer a variety of themes (pirates, ancient, medieval...) and I could offer some units / tiles for it (we've done a lot that time).



bye
Ron


coffeedotbean(Posted 2016) [#18]
My advice is for your next one to go at it with an empathise on graphics, for example the menu options across the middle of the screen make them into buttons to help distinguish them from the text on screen, make it clear what you can interact with and what you cant.

Of course if you're not really into graphics and don't have much experience with making graphics I can see that an unattractive hurdle but I think it's one that needs to be overcome. you could make the best game in the world but if a screenshot does not impress within seconds no one will know about it.

Some good free software is;

http://www.getpaint.net/index.html
https://www.gimp.org/
https://graphicsgale.com/us/


AdamStrange(Posted 2016) [#19]
Just to remind me - You're working with blitzMax?