Hello everybody! Quick dev update here.
So in the past week Liam has been sinking his teeth into the code. He has been exploring ant positioning and calculating ways to spread the ants out often to hilarious outcome. He assures me he has improved it since, but below is one of his early formation algorithms. Joy!
Matt has been pressing hard on with his map editor. Some erm…. Interesting bugs have arisen and also many things have changed in the game files to accommodate the editor but it is looking swish. It should be available to the rest of us on Monday so long as things don’t get any more interesting. The level editor will allow us to set levels up quickly and visually which is great for game design. We can test scenarios out and make sure we deliver to you the very best in game experience. Additionally the architectural change with the level editor has led to the implementation of save and load functions. Great for the player obviously but also even better for the devs! We will be able to set up scenarios, save it, play it, tweak stats then play it again. This is great news for unit balance. Speaking of units, John has been at it again. Though the driver ant model is not in place yet, its abilities are coming along nicely. Below is a short sneak peek using place holder models of one of the driver ants abilities. Pretty soon the model will be in place and you can see it in its full glory!
So what on earth is left to do you ask?
- There are 2 more units to put in the game (2 of 9) then after that, all the units need a revisit to implement there upgrades.
- The specialist chambers need to be implemented, these are exciting chambers but for now I will leave it to your imagination.
- Several aspects have been discussed and changed, however the changes are yet to be implemented. This includes the territory fence system and the surface food gathering along with a few other smaller systems.
- The biggie – the campaign needs implementing. We have it all planned out and with the level editor it should be easier than ever, however it is not done yet.
- Another big one – escort missions need to be built. This game mode has its own set of rules so it is not going to be a walk in the park to get it in.
- Sounds need implementing. The system is in place for sounds, however the sounds themselves are not yet in the game. Liam has been working on some music for the game but it is not yet ready to go in.
- Game menus need implementing, including the world map level select and options.
- Skirmish mode needs implementing. Although this is essentially just a story-less level it needs its own set of options a player can set and a system to set the level up as such.
That is all I can think of off the top of my head. Still some way to go before we can claim to be finished, but we will keep at it and keep chipping away.
