ManGodAi4x / AquaCoop, Comic, Cinematic…Terminal Dark.

[Rman Virgil]

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On Cliff Face: I've mentioned elsewhere that I consider cliff face (& water) to be a powerful tools in the map makers pallet kit for designing game play opportunities via pure map making craft. Throughout the screen caps I've posted you can see the variety of techniques I use in creating cliff face. In keeping with the adage of form serving function the variety is to please aesthetic sensibilities (specifically what has been identified and called the landscape art instinct) and also effect game play in challenging fun ways.

The 2 screen caps below illustrate 2 particular approaches that can serve the same GPM ends but are entirely different aesthetically.

One is the more ordinary way of making cliff face and the other is strikingly different.

The strikingly different way is a lot more interesting to me aesthetically, so much so, that I have seriously considered making ALL my cliff face this way. But I haven't. I have made the more ordinary as well. Why ? Because I believe the contrast between the 2 is itself of value.

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[Rman Virgil]

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Northeastern Sector Modifications Done:

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[Rman Virgil]

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Some Screens of this last modified sector: Now that I'm settled again into my CO HQ, I'll get back in earnest to sorting through pics from my latest journey for archiving & U/L. (I'm also thinking of making a particular topo modification to the Novice Player start base in the far Southwestern sector. Nothing major like what I just did in the NE sector but definitely inspired by it. In keeping with form serving function it will open up another set of tactical opportunities in both maneuver and operations. But I'll get to it after i make some progress on the pics organization.)

[Rman Virgil]

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.......... last modified sector: ......... (I'm also thinking of making a particular topo modification to the Novice Player start base in the far Southwestern sector. Nothing major like what I just did in the NE sector but definitely inspired by it. In keeping with form serving function it will open up another set of tactical opportunities in both maneuver and operations. ..........)

Done.

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[macuser]

As in EVERYTHING done. Great. Thanks rman.

[Rman Virgil]

As in EVERYTHING done. Great. Thanks rman.

Thank you. That means a lot coming from someone with such demostrated gifts & abilities as yourself.

In particular I admire how you are able to program & make art at the same time, which I've never been able to do - so I long past decided to stay away from code. One of my kid brothers manages to handle both just fine too - professional programer / software engineer & professional musician, songwriter & singer for many years now. I don't know how you guy's can switch different parts of your brain like code writeing & art making so effectively in the same window of time. This ability always makes me think of Leonardo Da Vinci, one of my heroes growing up thanks to my grandma's tutelage on my mom's side.

I think we all have basic credos, articulated or not, we live by to the extent they become instinctive.

My credo is comprised of 5 seemingly simple precepts which when lived authentically I think are very powerful enablers. One of those 5 is to "always do your best." The beauty of this precept is that if you abide through think & thin, over time that bar of excellence is raised continuously.

In answer to your thread in Lounge BB, WZ 2100 has been a marvelous arena to explore a variety of disciplines & likewise develop a slew of competencies out of that simple passion for the game. And out of that as well your mettle is tested across the full spectrum of what I will just call "disposition".

- Regards, RV

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[macuser]

Thank YOU for the compliment - I just do what I have fun doing . So do you have it for download or will it be included ingame?

[Rman Virgil]

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Thank YOU for the compliment - I just do what I have fun doing . So do you have it for download or will it be included in game?

For d/l in about 10 - 14 days to a few members like Olrox who have offered to help me in this final phase of balance testing & feedback I'll very much need prior to wide release (for reasons explained below).

I was holding off on completing the Player 7 Scav A.I. Force Strength & Oil Resource Placements and solo testing the resulting game play because I wanted a change in the present Scav Rules that requires a source change. It's going on a month now since this issue was raised and there has been no discussion about it let alone any real prospect of changing the source.

So I have been thinking about my options going forward.

1.) Accept the status quo source and work around it in my designs.

2.) Change the source (with the help of my kid bro & a good friend who are both very proficient at this being industry pros for years), and distro a forked binary with this work.

I decided yesterday to go with option # 1 because I think I can effectively work-around what I consider a rule shortfall and because I do not want to get into precipitating a fork (for a number of reasons I won't get into).

My main issue in this final phase to release is that I can NOT adequately test my implementations for balance and will have to rely on a few folks who can (like Olrox) to share their GP balance evaluations-insights so I can make final adjustments to the Scav Force strength & placements and also the very much related Oil resource quantity and placements. After that I can put it up for mass dl-ing at the WZ Addons created by Zarel (though I may put it up first in the Showcase BB to solicit additional stress-testing feedback and changes to supplement those provided initially by members like Olrox).

So ... I have imposed this 10-14 day deadline on myself (and a freeze on implementing any more new map feature ideas which keep coming to me unabated) because I could go on easily for more months working on this it's such pure fun - the creating and playing with the results. But I do wanna share what I've done to this point sooner than later, ergo the self-imposed deadline.

Again, this Aqua Co-op: Stock Edition is intended solely for 4 Human Players (2-veterans & 2 novices, each team comprised ideally of 1 vet / 1 novice) - absolutely NO skirmish A.I. game play for the simple reason that right now there is NO Ski A.I. that can adequately deal with the basic challenges it embodies.

However, Aqua Co-op: Elite Edition will include a bundled Skirmish A.I. that WILL be able to deal with the map's basic challenges and I will also implement those new map feature ideas I have frozen out of this Stock Edition. The Ski A.I. that will be bundled with the Elite Edition will be able to readily fulfill the role of the Novices in Team Play and if there is only 1 Human Player, I think it will also be able to Play one of the Veteran Positions quite adequately. The Elite Edition will also include a modded Player 7 Scav A.I. that will give scavs some air defenses and an air offensive unit - both at present constitute a major Achilles heel for scavs. This last will be done to advance Scav Air Power but definitely NOT to the point of parity - just enough to present an added challenge, modest but interesting.

Anyway, that's were it's at with this project.

I was gonna attach a few more of those interesting Vista in-game screen caps but the BB software is totally fracking them up like I've never seen before (in preview mode) so until that issue is fixed I've removed them.

- Regards, RV

EDIT: Forum attachments are still making crap of images so I am otherwise hosting the images I wanted to post originally.










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[Rman Virgil]

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For d/l in about 10 - 14 days to a few members like Olrox who have offered to help me in this final phase of balance testing & feedback I'll very much need prior to wide release (for reasons explained below).

Making progress & thinking ahead to -

My main issue in this final phase to release is that I can NOT adequately test my implementations for balance and will have to rely on a few folks who can (like Olrox) to share their GP balance evaluations-insights so I can make final adjustments to the Scav Force strength & placements and also the very much related Oil resource quantity and placements. After that I can put it up for mass dl-ing at the WZ Addons created by Zarel (though I may put it up first in the Showcase BB to solicit additional stress-testing feedback and changes to supplement those provided initially by members like Olrox).

More volunteers for that phase would be helpful & appreciated..... but remember what is called for in the balance testing:

Again, this Aqua Co-op: Stock Edition is intended solely for 4 Human Players (2-veterans & 2 novices, each team comprised ideally of 1 vet / 1 novice) - absolutely NO skirmish A.I. game play for the simple reason that right now there is NO Ski A.I. that can adequately deal with the basic challenges it embodies.

Basically if you volunteer to help, you need to speak for 3 buds you can play with that follow the set-up I will re-cap visually below. Your feedback-input will also have to be specific & pragmatically reasoned so I can go forward to make those changes on my end prior to wide release. Map coordinates &/or Screen Caps would also be helpful with the feedback recommendations for changes.

I usually do this phase of testing in the LAN club of gaming buddies I belong to but we are on hiatus for a few months yet and I'd prefer not to hold off general releasing till then.




Map is much changed in all object details and topographic nuances from the above image however the basic player positions & set-up criteria are still valid.


Some gratis caps from one of my limited testing sessions - in this scenario starting at T3. BTW, these are at maximum camera zoom-out and the map fully revealed FoW-wise ... it's just the camera angling against my variegated level contouring that gives it a FP PoV type feel-appearance and that too is by design.








NOTE on Forum Attachment Function: Not only still corrupting images but also .zip & .rar archives... ergo why I am still using off-site hosting.
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[Rman Virgil]

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Quick follow-up on my last post....


I always work with a Plan A, B & C. Part of my basic lived philosophy: "If I'm gonna indulge in wine it'll be with a fine Gouda & cracked pepper crackers. Otherwise I find a way to go Nike & just do it.

Plan A:

....Basically if you volunteer to help, you need to speak for 3 buds you can play with that follow the set-up I will re-cap visually below. Your feedback-input will also have to be specific & pragmatically reasoned so I can go forward to make those changes on my end prior to wide release. Map coordinates &/or Screen Caps would also be helpful with the feedback recommendations for changes.

Plan C:

I usually do this phase of testing in the LAN club of gaming buddies I belong to but we are on hiatus for a few months yet and I'd prefer not to hold off general releasing till then.

What then, pray tell, is Plan B ?

Plan B:

However, Aqua Co-op: Elite Edition will include a bundled Skirmish A.I. that WILL be able to deal with the map's basic challenges and I will also implement those new map feature ideas I have frozen out of this Stock Edition. The Ski A.I. that will be bundled with the Elite Edition will be able to readily fulfill the role of the Novices in Team Play and if there is only 1 Human Player, I think it will also be able to Play one of the Veteran Positions quite adequately. The Elite Edition will also include a modded Player 7 Scav A.I. that will give scavs some air defenses and an air offensive unit - both at present constitute a major Achilles heel for scavs. This last will be done to advance Scav Air Power but definitely NOT to the point of parity - just enough to present an added challenge, modest but interesting.

Basically I can finish up the Skirmish A.I. that will be bundled with the Elite Edition and use it to bring the level of balance testing to a more satisfactory state going it solo. In particular, I am focused here on the 2 Veteran Player Positions relative to each other and the matrix of challenges they must contend with.

Some more Vista Caps:







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[Rman Virgil]

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More recent in-game Map Preview:

To compare with the older one posted above detailing the Player Set-ups.

The main difference between this preview and the current map state (as I continue apace the work) is that this one only has about 10% of the Oil & only 20% of the Scav Force strength placed.



This relates to some comments in another thread I'll reproduce here:

Anyone can open the map in flaME to see where the oil is. anyway, if the map's well made, the player won't be able to simply memorize where the oil is.
~Olrox

I'll go a step further.

Based on my recent work with Aqua Co-op, even if you could memorize all the oil placements it wouldn't give you an edge over those who didn't or couldn't. I know that sounds radical and off-the-wall but I'm pretty sure it will hold up to practical scrutiny.

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[Rman Virgil]

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Some more caps... these are from one of the Novice positions I had not displayed in detail before.

Just about got the 2 Novice positions balanced in all respects. While complex they are orders of magnitude less so than the 2 Veteran positions which I am going to next with not as much trepidation as I had just a week ago. So many are the factors influencing the balancing of these positions that girding myself, mustering courage even, for attempting to balance them solo was, to be honest, a factor. I believe I have a handle on how to go about it now with the Novice positions behind me.

It remains to be seen whether the totality of it's innovations will work & succeed as conceived. But if it does, it is not likely to be duplicated any time soon - in its totality, that is. The all around challenges are dizzying & exhausting to implement, to be blunt. On the playing side, it is my hope that the challenges it will offer will prove to be a source of inexhaustible delight - for that was the impetuous that shaped the innovations in the first place.









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[Rman Virgil]

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The limited balancing I can do with the current A.I.s of the Veteran positions continues vis-a-vis Player 7 Scav Force Strength & Resource Distribution and as is my wont I am also tweaking topography for pure aesthetics as well those topographic dimensions that directly impact game play balance.

Below are some screens of the area I'm currently in called the Crimson Mane Caldera which will introduce one of two fresh variant opportunities into game play for AirLift and is also tied to Veteran Game Play by way of the Scav Contingent that each Veteran Player will control from the outset. Not so obvious is that there is a complex matrix of balance considerations involved here that are also intended to subvert the usual mind-set of assumptions for strategic choices & the resultant ho-hum, but of course, tactical decisions.

This complex matrix of balance considerations & testing must absolutely be expanded from my current use of the A.I.s available which are incapably of even covering the totality of the basic mapping. Thus, I'm still dwelling on these questions -

Should I finish developing the Ski A.I. that can handle this map so I can continue a more fully expanded testing ? Should I wait for my LAN buds to re-convene in 3 months to complete this critical stress-testing phase ? Should I just open the MP testing after I'm done with the very limited solo testing I can do at this point ?

I guess I'll sort out a decision sometime soon.












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[NEXUS]

Rman Virgil, I wish you good luck on making this map, as it looks like it will be great when you finish it.

[Zarel]

Hey, Rman, do you, by any chance, think it's time for a beta?