Ancient Warfare Game - Page 2

Ancient Warfare Game

Discuss game development here, from a distinct game project to an accessible third-party mutator, down to the interaction and design of individual units if you like.

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callmeandy
Posts: 14
Joined: 12 Mar 2012, 16:07

Re: Ancient Warfare Game

Post by callmeandy »

zwzsg wrote:Oh you wanna make a MMO? lol, good luck! :P

(Also, ZK did it! PW again!)
Oh yee of little vision!
Google_Frog
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Posts: 2464
Joined: 12 Oct 2007, 09:24

Re: Ancient Warfare Game

Post by Google_Frog »

I was going to comment on some things but I may as well go through the list.

1) This is almost done and there is active development work in this direction. Currently the heightmap, texturemap and typemap can be changed at any point in the game, do it at the start of the game for a procedural map. Heightmap is faily self-explainitory. The texturemap editing may currently have limitations but it is a recent development so it is likely to be worked on if interest is shown. The typemap allows you to slow or speed up units depending on the terrain.

2) A basic and reasonable implementation of unit groups is easy. Formations would be a bit harder but it is easily possible. The lua interface for command control is well fleshed out.

3) Anything can be placed anywhere at any time (including pregame). Planetwars is a current system that passes information from the web to spring. If you're developing a whole website for the rest of the game you should be able to handle the passing part.

4, 5, 6) Trivial

7) Planetwars has shown this is possible.

8 )Carrepairer has placable wall segments that units can walk on. Knorke has units that lose bits when they are damaged. It would take a bit of work but you could combine the two to create a fully destructible castle with ramparts.

Gatehouses that can be walked under and over at the same time would not work nicely and may even be impossible. There are pathfinding editing controls but noone has done much work with them. For all I know simple bridges over a pathable area below are possible.

Maps can be 'big enough'. The biggest I have seen is 40x40, each mapping block is 512x512 elmos so it is 20480 elmos a side. Units in ZK range in size from about 30 to 80 elmos across. The infantry in S44 are about 16 elmos across and they are at the lower limit for unit size. So, I think you can have big maps.
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zwzsg
Kernel Panic Co-Developer
Posts: 7052
Joined: 16 Nov 2004, 13:08

Re: Ancient Warfare Game

Post by zwzsg »

callmeandy wrote:Oh yee of little vision!
Achieving little is harder than dreaming large.
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KDR_11k
Game Developer
Posts: 8293
Joined: 25 Jun 2006, 08:44

Re: Ancient Warfare Game

Post by KDR_11k »

On the whole "elmo" subject, that's a term we use for the distance. Since distance is measured as a floating point number with no defined unit the term "elmo" basically points out how meaningless the actual number is. You will need to define the meaning for yourself, I've seen mods range from 32 elmos to the meter (a map sized 2048x2048 would be 256m x 256m) to 10 meters per elmo (the same map would be 20.5km x 20.5km). Granted, that last one is an absolutely tiny scale that would not be practical for any RTS (I used it for a flight-sim-style game with a behind the back camera), especially since ground occupancy is calculated in 16x16 squares.

However would a 10x10 kilometer map even make sense for medieval battles? Even siege engines have a range measured in the hundreds of meters, bows range like two hundred meters and crossbows even less. The actual battle would probably not need that much area in play.
callmeandy
Posts: 14
Joined: 12 Mar 2012, 16:07

Re: Ancient Warfare Game

Post by callmeandy »

KDR_11k wrote:On the whole "elmo" subject, that's a term we use for the distance. Since distance is measured as a floating point number with no defined unit the term "elmo" basically points out how meaningless the actual number is. You will need to define the meaning for yourself, I've seen mods range from 32 elmos to the meter (a map sized 2048x2048 would be 256m x 256m) to 10 meters per elmo (the same map would be 20.5km x 20.5km). Granted, that last one is an absolutely tiny scale that would not be practical for any RTS (I used it for a flight-sim-style game with a behind the back camera), especially since ground occupancy is calculated in 16x16 squares.

However would a 10x10 kilometer map even make sense for medieval battles? Even siege engines have a range measured in the hundreds of meters, bows range like two hundred meters and crossbows even less. The actual battle would probably not need that much area in play.
I see your point on the scaling. For the moment I am only thinking in terms of the representation, suitability will be determined in terms of whether that is relisable and at what compromise. I think I mentioned in a previous comment that for the moment the actual method is not so important. I just need to try and get a best guess at most attractive engine for my needs before I delve into specifics, and that more specific investigation becoming an investment in time that starts to push me into a particular choice.

As regards the battle requirements 10km might seem overkill, but battlefield tactics are not about the sudden rush and clash of two parellel lines of men, they are about manouvering into the best position to ensure a positive outcome. My focus is the ancient arena by the way but the logic would be the same. If you look at the Battle of Chaeronea for instance the actual disposition at the time just prior to engagement was spread across an area of about 4.5 km x 4 km. So 10km is not much space for manouvering. At the end of the day however my example is probably a bit irrelevent because the battles in the game will be representative of ancient warfare not based on actual battles. So the battlefield dimension is arbitrary but again I need to be sure that I have a tool that is capable.
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