[DEPRECIATED] Campaign 4 (Old thread)

[Goth Zagog-Thou]

By GOLLY that is some elegant code, aubergine (the cam1a.js). Totally readable.

And yes, I believe the "base under attack" should be in rules.js.

[aubergine]

BTW, this is what I have so far in my attempt to create a sequencer API and implement your initial sequence in it:

(excuse the very long lines - I wanted to keep each step on one line and some of the console msgs are very long -- cut and paste in to text editor to see without word wrap)

Code: Select all

	Sequence.define("introSequence", sequenceProcessor, [	
		"[Transport Technician]: ... damned Scavenger technology ... come on, guys, let's get this Scavenger Sensor rigged up.",			6*SECONDS,
		
		{task:"transferObject", object:"someLabel", to:me},																					Sequence.NEXT,
		"[Transport Technician]: There it goes. We've got the Overhead View. Tactical Sergeant Gibbs, UHF comm check.",						Sequence.NEXT,
		setMiniMap.curry(true),																												6*SECONDS,
		
		{task:"spawnDroid", template:"TacSergeantGibbs", position:"someLabel", owner:me, experience:64, moveTo:"someLabel"},				Sequence.NEXT,
		"[Sgt.Gibbs]: UHF comm check confirmed. Signal is five-by-five. Good job, people. All units, offload and proceed to formation.",	7*SECONDS,

		{task:"spawnDroid", template:"CommandTurret", position:"someLabel", owner:me, experience: 64, moveTo:"someLabel"},					2*SECONDS,
		
		{task:"spawnDroid", template:"RailGun1", position:"someLabel", owner:me, moveTo:"someLabel"},										2*SECONDS,

		{task:"spawnDroid", template:"RailGun2", position:"someLabel", owner:me, moveTo:"someLabel"},										2*SECONDS,

		{task:"spawnDroid", template:"RailGun3", position:"someLabel", owner:me, moveTo:"someLabel"},										2*SECONDS,

		{task:"spawnDroid", template:"AssaultGun1", position:"someLabel", owner:me, moveTo:"someLabel"},									2*SECONDS,

		{task:"spawnDroid", template:"AssaultGun2", position:"someLabel", owner:me, moveTo:"someLabel"},									2*SECONDS,

		{task:"spawnDroid", template:"AssaultGun3", position:"someLabel", owner:me, moveTo:"someLabel"},									2*SECONDS,

		{task:"spawnDroid", template:"RepairTurret1", position:"someLabel", owner:me, moveTo:"someLabel"},									2*SECONDS,

		{task:"spawnDroid", template:"RepairTurret2", position:"someLabel", owner:me, moveTo:"someLabel"},									2*SECONDS,
		
		"[Sgt.Gibbs]: Okay people, Transport Two and ourselves have crash-landed in the south-central coast of Alaska.",					7*SECONDS,
		
		"[Sgt.Gibbs]: The sensor data shows several Scavenger bases and moderate population density throughout this region.",				9*SECONDS,
		
		"[Sgt.Gibbs]: Our first order of business is to secure the area, find out who shot us down, and find Transport Two.",				9*SECONDS,
		
		"[Sgt.Gibbs]: It is vital that we protect our Transport. The locals may try to destroy it, so we either guard it or clear the area.", 6*SECONDS,
		
		"Sgt.Gibbs: We need to keep our eyes open for anything we can use to contact HQ and call for rescue.", 								6*SECONDS,
		
		{task:"setMissionTime", time:100*SECS},																								Sequence.NEXT,
		{task:"addMessage", id:Obj1Msg, type:PROX_MSG, to:player, showIntel:false}, 														Sequence.END
	]);

[Rman Virgil]

@ Rman: Sure, keep playing it. The missions themselves won't be changed, merely expanded for guidance, clarified as needed, and combed-out for glitches. The underlying framework will be different, but not the gameplay. The current builds are still valid. I have bugfixes to apply, still. I will likely put out another release or two using the current code.

@ sensor: make sure you aren't allowing your Commander or the two Hero units (Gibbs and Wilkes) to be destroyed.

Will do with reportage of any thing new that may come up.

Was wondering if a .pdf guide a player could have open while playing, that included all your console messages per mission and any other tid bits that would not constitute spoilers, could minimize the sense of getting lost in the heat of battle and forgeting to slow or pause the game in time to read the console messages before they disappear and move on to the next brief ? Or will the changes you mentioned going forward, make such unnecessary ?
.

[Goth Zagog-Thou]

A walkthrough is an excellent idea. As always, Rman, you come up with things I hadn't considered.

Remember also that the text on-screen will be accompanied with voice clips (of which I'm preparing to start work on!). The dialogue time will be adjusted (and we may need to come up with the .js code to allow text to stay on screen longer) to match. Hopefully being able to specify how long text remains on screen will alleviate some of the troubles, as I know that most people aren't speed readers. I'd even like a "caption space" separate from where the standard text messages appear on the screen, so that we aren't confusing the player; perhaps above where the research facility / build queue boxes are, between the bottom of the screen and the center of it. I'll make a quickie shot in a minute to explain what I mean.

Lots of irons in the fire right now.

[Goth Zagog-Thou]

This is what I'm thinking. Might need the transparent pane there, Warzone-style.

Rough, but I'm sure you get the idea.

[Rman Virgil]

This is what I'm thinking. Might need the transparent pane there, Warzone-style.

Shot1.png

Rough, but I'm sure you get the idea.

I think that will do the trick. Won't have to shift your focal point away from the center of the action.
.

[aubergine]

For the text on-screen time issue, why not split it in to smaller chunks?

[aubergine]

Where are the templates defined? In JS API, there's no function to produce a droid based on a template (you can enable templates, and enum them, but not actually produce droids with them). So looks like addDriod() func will need to be used instead, specifying the various components.

[Goth Zagog-Thou]

Actually I've been thinking a little bit about this. What if we were to determine the game difficulty the player is using, and generate different units that the player gets based upon that?

For example, if we're playing on Easy mode, we get Python bodies. Normal would be Cobras, and Hard would get Vipers.

Then it would TRULY be a challenge on Hard mode. If we have to generate templates in-script, why not take advantage?

[EDIT] Templates are in templates.txt, and are defined in the .vlo (currently).

[aubergine]

Ah, then you'll find this useful: difficultyScale()

*note to self: Must get that new version of Util API released!*

[Goth Zagog-Thou]

Soo, moving right along. I've been working on the 15c scripts again using 15f's map (the one labelled nicely). This will be for Release-15g. Changes/Notes include:

- Fixed the asserts caused by factories going poof -- and yes, it was my fault after all. That particular issue should no longer trouble anyone.
- If you save both Transports, you get a nice surprise at the end of M3 when taking over the base.
- I know why Autorepair isn't working. And yes, I can fix it (and plan to for this release).
- Cyborgs are fixed now.
- Nexus factories in M4 now build more than just Construction Droids .. you've been warned.
- We're still using WZScript for now, since it's more compatible on 3.1. Yes, I'm working on a JS build for 3.2, and it'll be ready when 3.2 is. For now, we'll keep to the mainline.
- Performance improvements will continue to be the order of the day. This includes removal of unnecessary features in areas that don't really need many. This process will continue throughout development.
- I am currently investigating an issue with AA emplacements causing HUGE performance hits. I may need to figure out something else concerning the AA emplacements in Base M2-Nexus and the Scavenger Base south of there.
- The Scavengers will begin getting their Choppers sorted, finally.

[Goth Zagog-Thou]

Hot snot, I know what I'm going to do for not saving Transport Two now.

[Goth Zagog-Thou]

I'm spending this weekend cleaning up and retooling the scripts to match the map labels and markers I did in FlaME last weekend. Everything should be much better organized and less cluttered up when I'm done.

I'm also applying the extra "user friendliness" (extra beacons, sub-missions, etc). This plus the changes above will result in Release-16.

No ETA yet.

[Goth Zagog-Thou]

The new "Divergent Paths" code is coming along quite well. Here's where I'm at with it:

- M2 events are done. (2 Mission lines main, 3 at the end depending on what happened with each Transport)
- M3 has it's Mission lines framework in place. (2 mission lines resulting from M2's stuff)
- the first conditional (saving both Transports) results in entering M3 at a different location for a Mission line all it's own.
- the second conditional (saving one or the other, but not both Transports) results in the Mission line being what it always has been.
- the third conditional (saving NEITHER Transport) results in a new Mission line that goes immediately into the northern 1/3 of M4's area and eventual relocation to M11's map. (This map is ONLY accessible from this Mission line!). Eventually the player will work back INTO the M1-M6 map area.

Aside from some implementation and isolation work in the M2 part of the script, it's been an interesting ride thus far for this release cycle. I plan to have the Mission Lines at least functional (if not feature complete) by the end of the week.

You guys are gonna love this.

[Rman Virgil]

...You guys are gonna love this.

No doubt. You are going way beyond the original in replay value.

Come to think of it, who ever may write a guide down the road might even find mind-mapping software helpful.

.