Latest "The Cursed" available here - Page 10

Latest "The Cursed" available here

Azaremoth's epic game about bones, undead, demons and magic set in a futuristic environment.

Moderator: Content Developer

User avatar
ThinkSome
Posts: 387
Joined: 14 Jun 2015, 13:36

Re: Latest "The Cursed" available here

Post by ThinkSome »

Maplist added.

Right now I'm not entirely sure what tactics to use for gaining players. But I'm pretty sure that once someone is interested enough in the game to go through the terrible ordeal (/s) of getting onto the lobby server, the empty rooms are a big turn-off.

Additionally, I'm not sure whether the ones who join and quit within 30 seconds are actually there for that game, or they just misclicked when attempting to join some other room.
raaar
Metal Factions Developer
Posts: 1094
Joined: 20 Feb 2010, 12:17

Re: Latest "The Cursed" available here

Post by raaar »

First, congratulations on the game, it looks very nice. Twenty years ago I played both doom and C&C and thought about an rts that merged both. Apparently, this is it!

I played a few cursed games a few months ago. Took some notes on a txt, but never got to finish it and post here...

what i noticed was:

--- animations
- there's something wrong with the legged unit scripts : sometimes the walking animation stops working completely (regardless if they move or not)
- legged move animations need improvement
- spinning blade attack on undead hero doesn't look good, it should loop with normal forward slash attacks
- melee attacks should have impact sparks, dust or something

--- balance
- cheap human AA turrets are too effective, especially against expensive air units (like bone dragons)

--- UI
- had trouble figuring out how to access the higher tech buildings as undead. It's not clear that what the heart of darkness does is enable necromancers to morph into advanced builders.
User avatar
azaremoth
Cursed Developer
Posts: 549
Joined: 17 Feb 2005, 22:05

Re: Latest "The Cursed" available here

Post by azaremoth »

raaar wrote:what i noticed was:

Thanks for the feed back. For one of the last few updates I did already improve the animations for human soldiers and ironed out all frozen animation bugs hopefully. For the other topics:

Major changes 1.424 => 1.425

Balance
- imperial AA towers massively nerfed (increasing costs by 60%, range by 10% and reload time by 23% while decreasing the damage by 20%)
- increased effectiveness of Sarge's machine guns against flying targets (Sarge can now hit anyting in a 180° angle in front and above him)

Polishing
- impacting melee weapons now will cause an particle effect
- moved relevant commands for builders to the tab with build icons (morph + area mex). This will make it more obvious if a cursed unit can be morphed to next level
- updated shade's attack animation to be a little smoother
- added build split widget to allow smarter tast allocation if several builders are selected
User avatar
azaremoth
Cursed Developer
Posts: 549
Joined: 17 Feb 2005, 22:05

Re: Latest "The Cursed" available here

Post by azaremoth »

Aaaaaand the bug fixed version. :roll:
  • Major changes 1.425 => 1.426

    Balance
    - shade's illusions will slowly lose hp over time instead of just disappearing (you can prolong the life time by healing now)
    - necromancers will not parry melee attacks anymore (this was also removed from all other units)

    Bugs
    - fixed game freeze introduced by new shade animation

    Polishing
    - replaced several groud plates for imperial buildings to avoid strange optical effects under debris
User avatar
azaremoth
Cursed Developer
Posts: 549
Joined: 17 Feb 2005, 22:05

Re: Latest "The Cursed" available here

Post by azaremoth »

Awards should be fully operational without issues now.
  • Major changes 1.426 => 1.428

    Bugs
    - fixed faulty links for load screens (build trees did not show up)
    - fixed adjustments to starting metal and energy not being respected by the game
    - fixed ground plates never to disappear

    Polishing
    - CEG for units in healing aura will only spawn if units are actually healed
    - Awards were fully implemented includung a new set of trophies

    Balance
    - burrowed units will regenerate hp faster
    - hps of the cursed Altar of Evil was increased to be balanced against the imperial tech center. One nuke was sufficient to eliminate the altar.
    - hps of the imperial aa tower were reduced by 17%
User avatar
azaremoth
Cursed Developer
Posts: 549
Joined: 17 Feb 2005, 22:05

Re: Latest "The Cursed" available here

Post by azaremoth »

  • Major changes 1.428 => 1.429

    Balance
    - flight height of all flyers was readjusted (gunships 150, bomber 175, intercetor 200, seeker 80)
    - removed AA capabilities from the imperial raider
    - increased hp of the imperial bunker by 12.5%
    - capture speed of the witch was reduced by 50%
    - movement speed increased for cursed necromancer (+10%) and imperial advanced builders (+20%)
    - costs of necromancers increased +10% and reduced for imperial scout drones (-20%) and plasmatowers (-7%)
    - cursed defender toweres do 5% more damage now
    - reduced build speed of tier 1 imperial builders

    Bugs
    - fixed freeze after game was finished (cuased by luaui)
    - fixed capture award showing capture value/damage instead of number of captured units
    - fixed repair speed being to fast for imperial builders

    Polishing
    - collision volumes of corpses were optimized to avoid "phantom obstacles" on the battle field
User avatar
azaremoth
Cursed Developer
Posts: 549
Joined: 17 Feb 2005, 22:05

Re: Latest "The Cursed" available here

Post by azaremoth »

Actually I was planning to add support for the team games in King of the hill mode. However, it was more oportune to implement a modified version of Control Point Victory that also contains the option for one single control point.
  • Major changes 1.429 => 1.430

    Features
    - Skirmish AI will take control of any chosen non-supported AI
    - Control victory mode was implemented to replace and expand the current King of the Hill mode
    - CAI was adapted to be able to play Control Point Mode
    - Added new award for captured control points

    Balance
    - imperial Barracks do cost 5% less and build units 20% faster now
    - imperial War Factories do build units 12% faster now
User avatar
azaremoth
Cursed Developer
Posts: 549
Joined: 17 Feb 2005, 22:05

Re: Latest "The Cursed" available here

Post by azaremoth »

  • Major changes 1.430 => 1.433

    Bugs
    - fixed metal extractors barely turning since integration of lua metal spots
    - updated lups code to avoid rare errors

    Balance
    - costs for flyer factories reduced by 200

    Polishing
    - loadscreens were updated
    - added undead bug variants
    - readded trusters of airplanes changing size during acceleration
User avatar
azaremoth
Cursed Developer
Posts: 549
Joined: 17 Feb 2005, 22:05

Re: Latest "The Cursed" available here

Post by azaremoth »

Ready for Spring 104! And I did implement CMD_RAW_MOVE and gadgetized swarming and skirmishing behavior (before I had included the respective widgets) to be able to switch it on and of per unit individually. Here I also implemented that jumping units will automatically jump to the target if commanded to attack. This reduced necessity for microing a little.
  • Major changes 1.433 => 1.434

    Bugs
    - (hopefully) adapted all pieces of lua to be compatibel with Spring 104
    - removed unused land and idle mode state icons from the UI
    - fixed Sarge aiming a little off from the actual shooting trajectory

    Balance
    - reload time for imperial AA towers increased by 10%
    - cursed Agares should hit targets a little more accurate now
    - imperial scout aircrafts are less accurate against moving targets now but do little more damage

    Features
    - implemented improved automated unit behaviors comparable to a light version of ZeroK's unitAI for several units (jumpers, skirmishers, swarmers). Moreover the functions are now all in a gadget and can be deactivated per unit individually.
    - implemented improved unit movement (CMD_RAW_MOVE gadget from ZeroK)

    Polishing
    - changed weapon grafics of cursed redeemers
    - changed belial's autogun visuals
    - cursed AI players build also undead bugs and bonebeasts now
User avatar
code_man
Posts: 260
Joined: 19 Jan 2014, 13:10

Re: Latest "The Cursed" available here

Post by code_man »

Nice work as usual.

One thing i noticed is that the zombies cannot target underwater mexes.

Looking forward to more.
User avatar
azaremoth
Cursed Developer
Posts: 549
Joined: 17 Feb 2005, 22:05

Re: Latest "The Cursed" available here

Post by azaremoth »

Always improving stuff :-)

What kind of zombie are you refering to? Only the melee units should be able to attack under water. Hopefully these can also do that.
User avatar
code_man
Posts: 260
Joined: 19 Jan 2014, 13:10

Re: Latest "The Cursed" available here

Post by code_man »

I meant the zombies/chicken defense/surivival ai.
Sorry about the confusion.
raaar
Metal Factions Developer
Posts: 1094
Joined: 20 Feb 2010, 12:17

Re: Latest "The Cursed" available here

Post by raaar »

Nice work.

btw, how to repair/heal demon units?

melee attacks should have impact particles, sparks or something. Glowy energy blades would also be intuitively more appropriate as they cut through tanks and buildings (in the case of the undead hero, they do it quite quickly).
User avatar
azaremoth
Cursed Developer
Posts: 549
Joined: 17 Feb 2005, 22:05

Re: Latest "The Cursed" available here

Post by azaremoth »

Image

So, a mini-update. The melee units do already cause sparks when impacting.

Demon units can be healt by witch or hero auras - it is kind of quick regeneration. True repairing is only possible for mechanical units. For the imperials, priest do true healing eating up the personal mana pool.

The Surivival AI did attack my underwater mexes (tested on Tropical) as long as melee units can reach them. However, there are some units trying to attack submerged units/buildings even if they can never hit them. I'll have a look and see if there is a way to implement an additional target check. At least cursed mages are able to shoot underwater now.
  • Major changes 1.434 => 1.435

    Balance
    - cursed mages can shoot under water now

    Polishing
    - cursed shade's blades do have a plasma sword look now
Attachments
lasershade.jpg
(134.39 KiB) Not downloaded yet
raaar
Metal Factions Developer
Posts: 1094
Joined: 20 Feb 2010, 12:17

Re: Latest "The Cursed" available here

Post by raaar »

how about using lups (or mixing it up with the blade model), the same kind that's used for aircraft thruster effects.

that could be used to draw a "light-saber" kind of blade only when the unit is engaging in combat. You could also use a flashier effect when the unit is doing the attack animation.

the spinning attack is effective in terms of game mechanics, it allows it to keep firing while dodging stuff, but it's a bit weird. One would expect it to slash whatever's in front of it. Spinning attacks with melee weapons are often used on games as an occasional special attack, not the default one.
User avatar
azaremoth
Cursed Developer
Posts: 549
Joined: 17 Feb 2005, 22:05

Re: Latest "The Cursed" available here

Post by azaremoth »

Mini-update. I fixed the transparency bug introduced by my Photoshop version - exporting a png is totally different from directly saving a file as png. Makes sense? No way!
  • Major changes 1.435 => 1.436

    Polishing
    - optimized transparancy for build pics, awards and individual partly broken command buttons to enhance visibility
    - renamed the Mancubus to Moloch as the name "Mancubus" was obviously created by id Soft.
Image
Attachments
new_puildpics.jpg
(174.59 KiB) Not downloaded yet
User avatar
ThinkSome
Posts: 387
Joined: 14 Jun 2015, 13:36

Re: Latest "The Cursed" available here

Post by ThinkSome »

What are the conditions that have to be satisfied for heros to become available in the build list? I thought it only required the tech center, but it seems that is not the case. Are they limited to 1 unit? Additionally it is a bit hard to find oneself in the build list, would it be possible to somehow colour-code the entries?

Upgrading mexes to level 2 is also too much manual labour (self d + manual build order for each), would it be possible to get an upgrade button on them when e.g. a tech center is built or for the constructor to automatically reclaim the old one and build a new one in place when it is set to guard a mex?

I find armor of too low range as well, it is worrying that the main battle tank's range is only half that of a marine's. This imo makes it quite cost-ineffective in the presence of those teleporting melee units.
User avatar
azaremoth
Cursed Developer
Posts: 549
Joined: 17 Feb 2005, 22:05

Re: Latest "The Cursed" available here

Post by azaremoth »

ThinkSome wrote:What are the conditions that have to be satisfied for heros to become available in the build list? I thought it only required the tech center, but it seems that is not the case. Are they limited to 1 unit? Additionally it is a bit hard to find oneself in the build list, would it be possible to somehow colour-code the entries?
The heroes are limited to one unit. There are no additial prerequisites, besides having a respective factory (Pyramid or Barracks) in place. What units do need to be more distinctively visible in the build lists?
ThinkSome wrote:Upgrading mexes to level 2 is also too much manual labour (self d + manual build order for each), would it be possible to get an upgrade button on them when e.g. a tech center is built or for the constructor to automatically reclaim the old one and build a new one in place when it is set to guard a mex?
I had an auto-upgrade widget included some versions ago. I will reintroduce it. You are right - it is quite unhandy.
ThinkSome wrote:I find armor of too low range as well, it is worrying that the main battle tank's range is only half that of a marine's. This imo makes it quite cost-ineffective in the presence of those teleporting melee units.
Thank you for the feedback on balance. Are there additional tier 2 units that need extended ranges in your opinion?
User avatar
ThinkSome
Posts: 387
Joined: 14 Jun 2015, 13:36

Re: Latest "The Cursed" available here

Post by ThinkSome »

It is not obvious which unit is which from a quick glance at the build pictures, that is I don't instantly know which to select to build e.g. mex or solar and so forth.

I'm not sure if there is actual need for balancing, my experience is limited to imperials only and only in scenarios vs. chickens.
User avatar
azaremoth
Cursed Developer
Posts: 549
Joined: 17 Feb 2005, 22:05

Re: Latest "The Cursed" available here

Post by azaremoth »

  • Major changes 1.436 => 1.437

    Balance
    - weapon's range of imperial battle tanks increased to 500 (+43%)
    - weapon's range of cursed Moloch increased to 500 (+11%) and reload time reduced by 6%
    - imperials do start with two builderoids now

    Polishing
    - smart unit behavior will not impact units that have the hold position state active to avoid having units running around that should stick to their position

    Features
    - implemented start boxed from ZeroK. This should avoid a lot of multiplayer games beeing screwed just because none did set the boxes upfront
    - control point victory will not be the standard game mode when spring.exe is started directly
... and the buildpics for mexes and energy producing buildings were adjusted a little to be more outstanding
Post Reply

Return to “The Cursed”