Build 0.93a
Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 3:28 pm
Hello All!
Finally we made the new beta build. Took us a lot of time for various reasons, sorry for keeping you waiting. As always, we are willing to hear your feedback!
The biggest change in 0.93a is online multiplayer. It still lacks a few features, in particular exchange of messages between the players and replay of the opponent's previous turn. But we wanted to share what we have with you already, because network stuff usually requires a lot of time to stabilize. Everyone has a different connection type, firewall configuration, connection speed and a bunch of other things which can effect the game. If you experience any technical problems with online games, please let us know. Another important question is about multiplayer logic and flow. Are there scenarios where the game goes into plain wrong state, or which can be abused to get an advantage over the opponent? If yes, we are want to hear about this and fix them! And finally, I'm wondering if the new multiplayer is clear and intuitive enough. Of course, if you have experience with some other Slitherine games which use the same approach, everything should be pretty obvious. But if any of you guys are new to Slitherine's server-assisted PBEM++ multiplayer, I'm willing to hear about your experience. Was it immediately clear how to use multiplayer? If not, what specific aspects posed difficulty? What messages and other hints can we add to make it easier and more user friendly?
As usual, new build includes some more new scenarios. Good news is that you can now play the campaign all the way up to Berlin and try full german equipment list in action. Probably it is the right time to start discussing scenarios in more depth. Which scenarios are your favorites, which you don't like to play and why? Which scenario are best candidates to try against a human in multiplayer?
We have also made a lot of graphics improvements, and while many of them did not change usability of the UI in any way, some aspects are interesting enough to discuss here. In particular, I wonder what you guys think about the combat estimation. Is it clear what the numbers mean? Does it look well visually? Please share your thoughts on this. Another question is about the strategic map and the minimap. These should be pretty close to their final state (adding better city/airport indication to the minimap is on my todo list), but I'm open to suggestions how to make them even more useful - we still have time to implement that. Some people here complained that our movement indication was too white. So, in the new build we tried to make the overlays more transparent. But I'm afraid that now the icons (dots, trucks etc.) look more disjoined. What is your impression? Is it an improvement or a step back? Finally, it would be interesting to hear more feedback on the icons we use to indicate various unit stats. Which icons you like? Which you don't? What would be better to use instead?
New build includes all music that will be included with the final release. There is one main menu theme and three ingame themes, picked randomly. You can find all files in game's /Audio/Music folder. It would be interesting to know what you guys think about these themes.
We made a number of changes in the overall unit class balance. In particular, we attempted to make units more persistent, although in some cases (like infantry vs. infantry in a city) the combat can still be bloody. Artillery and ships now cause lasting suppression; AA units are used more as a means to suppress enemy bombers, not kill the all on the spot. Unit class balance work is still work in progress, we'll do much more during the next couple of weeks, but still, any feedback on specific balance problems is very much welcome to make sure we don't miss anything important!
Sounds and animations you see in this build hint at the direction we'll take but are still pretty much temporary. We are preparing a surprise for the next build, stay tuned!
Finally we made the new beta build. Took us a lot of time for various reasons, sorry for keeping you waiting. As always, we are willing to hear your feedback!
The biggest change in 0.93a is online multiplayer. It still lacks a few features, in particular exchange of messages between the players and replay of the opponent's previous turn. But we wanted to share what we have with you already, because network stuff usually requires a lot of time to stabilize. Everyone has a different connection type, firewall configuration, connection speed and a bunch of other things which can effect the game. If you experience any technical problems with online games, please let us know. Another important question is about multiplayer logic and flow. Are there scenarios where the game goes into plain wrong state, or which can be abused to get an advantage over the opponent? If yes, we are want to hear about this and fix them! And finally, I'm wondering if the new multiplayer is clear and intuitive enough. Of course, if you have experience with some other Slitherine games which use the same approach, everything should be pretty obvious. But if any of you guys are new to Slitherine's server-assisted PBEM++ multiplayer, I'm willing to hear about your experience. Was it immediately clear how to use multiplayer? If not, what specific aspects posed difficulty? What messages and other hints can we add to make it easier and more user friendly?
As usual, new build includes some more new scenarios. Good news is that you can now play the campaign all the way up to Berlin and try full german equipment list in action. Probably it is the right time to start discussing scenarios in more depth. Which scenarios are your favorites, which you don't like to play and why? Which scenario are best candidates to try against a human in multiplayer?
We have also made a lot of graphics improvements, and while many of them did not change usability of the UI in any way, some aspects are interesting enough to discuss here. In particular, I wonder what you guys think about the combat estimation. Is it clear what the numbers mean? Does it look well visually? Please share your thoughts on this. Another question is about the strategic map and the minimap. These should be pretty close to their final state (adding better city/airport indication to the minimap is on my todo list), but I'm open to suggestions how to make them even more useful - we still have time to implement that. Some people here complained that our movement indication was too white. So, in the new build we tried to make the overlays more transparent. But I'm afraid that now the icons (dots, trucks etc.) look more disjoined. What is your impression? Is it an improvement or a step back? Finally, it would be interesting to hear more feedback on the icons we use to indicate various unit stats. Which icons you like? Which you don't? What would be better to use instead?
New build includes all music that will be included with the final release. There is one main menu theme and three ingame themes, picked randomly. You can find all files in game's /Audio/Music folder. It would be interesting to know what you guys think about these themes.
We made a number of changes in the overall unit class balance. In particular, we attempted to make units more persistent, although in some cases (like infantry vs. infantry in a city) the combat can still be bloody. Artillery and ships now cause lasting suppression; AA units are used more as a means to suppress enemy bombers, not kill the all on the spot. Unit class balance work is still work in progress, we'll do much more during the next couple of weeks, but still, any feedback on specific balance problems is very much welcome to make sure we don't miss anything important!
Sounds and animations you see in this build hint at the direction we'll take but are still pretty much temporary. We are preparing a surprise for the next build, stay tuned!
