| Archive for Rebels A Star Wars Roleplaying Community |
| Rive Caedo |
Battlesystem Development Thread: Dissenters WelcomeStarting the thread early, before the back-end is in place, just to get things rolling again.Aaaand. I want to take ideas for a new name besides "The Battlesystem" - which people keep thinking is going to be a mandatory system because it sounds so final, instead of a fun little minigame to the side of things. I'm thinking... MaelstrΩm: Rebels Turn-Based Dueling Game All logos would, of course, be based around the silly little omega (Ω) symbol 
Other suggestions? |
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| Dakoth |
"I don't want to imply anything final, so lets use Omega!"
See what I did there? 
I'll sleep on names. |
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| Scion |
I support it, no good at names though...
Afterthought, does your program support items and the such (Equipable things and such, then we could technically form our own lightsabers.) |
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| Rive Caedo |
Ha! The name was deliberately "overly-epic", but I actually hadn't considered the irony of using omega specifically. It's a shame that "Alpha" is just a plain old A instead of a cool symbol like Omega.
Well. Items like - I don't know, a one-time use bacta spray to heal a few HP without using any force points? Those wouldn't be hard. It'd basically be nearly identical to the code I used to implement Force Powers. They'd just need to be in a seperate database from the Force Powers/specials. Equipable items... Hm... yes. I think that wouldn't be too hard either. It'd basically be the same code (which I haven't done yet) as the bit that tells the program what Force powers an individual character has. So again, not much extra work. The neat thing about that is that we could hold little tournaments and have the winner earn a little necklace-type item that permanently gave them +1 to lightsaber damage or something. |
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| Dakoth |
Hrm..
Blade Requiem |
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| Rive Caedo |
Hrum...
Maelstrom and Requiem are both fairly epic sounding words. Although Requiem seems to imply the fight is already over. It'd almost need to be... pre-requiem 
But the "Blade" does give me an idea. Once I get all the underlying systems working fairly well, we could put it up under the name "Requiem: Alpha" or "Maelstrom: Alpha" Then each major update would be named after it's biggest feature. Sort of like an "expansion pack" "Requiem: Blades" - Support for other lightsaber types/styles "Maelstrom: Energy" - Force powers expanded greatly "Requiem: Supply Drop" - Support for items added "Maelstrom: Allies" - Support for 2v2 matches "Requiem: Rebels" - Support for non-Jedi/Sith players You know, things like that. Of course, "Allies" would only work if I learn how to put it online and allow players to connect to it - which I don't know how to do, currently. In its current incarnation, it'll only be a fancy calculator/character builder - and offline support for human-vs-human. |
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| Dakoth |
The online.. man that would just make this thing. but as for the update expansions, I think thats definitely a better idea than trying to release everything at once. its going to probably need to be playtested step by step either way, so its a better approach all around. | ||||
| Rive Caedo |
Most basic testing: Does this run in Windows? I've only been testing on the Mac side
http://gallery.myff.org/gallery/249739/BattleSystemAlpha.jar And if it does run - post a screenshot. Since it's going to look completely different in Windows than the Mac side. |
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| Xander Vos |
Doesn't seem to work. | ||||
| Rive Caedo |
*grumbles*
I did throw together a little logo though. Two versions. 
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| Rive Caedo |
*stops grumbling*
Worked fine on my Windows Vista side. First run. Here it is side by side with the same program running on my Mac side. I need to fix the Main Points Line - it's not displaying right on the windows side, but everything else looks fine. Would someone else mind trying it - maybe on Windows XP? Hopefully it's just Xander having a problem...  
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| Xander Vos |
Maybe you can talk me through using it, I might have opened the wrong thing. | ||||
| Rui Jormar |
Tried it on XP, it didn't work 
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| Rive Caedo |
Hrum.
Okay. Let's try this. Makes sure you have the latest version of Java installed - THEN try running it again. http://java.com/en/download/ |
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| Rui Jormar |
Still doesn't work...
It shows up like that for about 5 seconds then closes |
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| Dakoth |
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| Rive Caedo |
*sighs*
I wonder what else it could... Ah. I *think* I know what went wrong. Okay, give this one a spin. If THIS doesn't work - then I'm going to bang my head against the wall and start looking up manuals
http://gallery.myff.org/gallery/250195/BattleSystemAlpha2.jar |
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| Rui Jormar |
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| Dakoth |
Ok, I might be retarded, I got it all unzipped and whatnot, but I can't open any of the files | ||||
| Xander Vos |
Yeah... there's a bunch of files and I'm not sure which one to open. | ||||
| Rive Caedo |
Oh dear - you're both doing the wrong thing. I'm not sure about Rui.
I'll switch over to windows and make a quick screenshot tutorial on how to run it. |
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| Rive Caedo |
Hrum... screenshots aren't working out. So here's a step-by-step tutorial.
1. Right click the file (BattleSystemAlpha.jar) 2. Select "Open With" 3. A window should pop up - if it didn't, select "Choose Default Program" 4. In the new window click "Browse" 5. Navigate to your program files, then the "Java" folder. 6. In the Java folder, open the folder with the highest version number (probably "jre1.6.0_05") 7. Open the "bin" folder. 8. And, finally, choose "javaw" Open it with JavaW! There, 8 simple steps to making .jar files open with Java instead of unzipping it. |
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| Xander Vos |
What?  Where's the file BattleSystemAlpha.jar?
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| Rive Caedo |
It was the first file I uploaded.
http://gallery.myff.org/gallery/249739/BattleSystemAlpha.jar |
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| Dakoth |
Its not in the zip folder, it IS the zip folder, Xander 
Could not find the main class- program will exit. lolwut
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| Rive Caedo |
Well... progress at least.
Are you sure you opened it with javaw - not java? I get that error if I try to open it with java. javaw runs the program correctly. |
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| Xander Vos |
I can't right click the folder... I click the link and it automatically tells me the folder has been unzipped, and would I like to open it or save it. | ||||
| Xander Vos |
Yup, got it to work, have it open now.
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| Rive Caedo |
Someone got it working?!
Huzzahs and hallelujahs! My computerized witchcraft is not in vain! EDIT: The window is resizeable, by the way. So expand it a tiny bit vertically if you want to be able to see those central numbers that are getting cut off in the windows version. |
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| Xander Vos |
Haha yep, worked, though the problem I've found, first up, is that it's hard to understand - I'm sure that's just because I haven't paid much attention in the past to the rules - so a set of rules either on this site or in the program would be nice; and secondly I can't seem to start a new battle despite having the option.
Now I just need to find a way to save it somewhere where I can have easy access...
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| Io Lee |
I'll post my opinion:
I don't really care what we do but it sounds cool. |
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| Rive Caedo |
When you hit "New Battle" after freshly opening the program - it doesn't say "Round 1"? Well that's odd. I'm not sure what would be causing that one.
There's a bug currently that if you hit "Saber Attack/End Round" (the button on the bottom) before hitting "New Battle" - it will start a bugged version of the game (There will be a Round 0 of combat). Yes, I should make a revised version of the Game Rules - and it would be added to a "Help" button on the menu bar. |
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| Dakoth |
I tried Javaaw and Javaaws and neither likes me much. | ||||
| Xander Vos |
Oh do you have to reopen it? That's probably the problem then. But then why have a "New Battle" option if you can't use it? | ||||
| Rive Caedo |
Welcome to Alpha Testing Xander
It will and should start a new battle - but I just needed to test lightsaber hits, force powers, and point calculation. So I half-programmed the button to only start a battle from the default values - not reset values back to their defaults. So, for now, that's all it does - start a battle after the program is freshly started. Sorry, I should have mentioned that. Here are issues I know about: "Force Blind" has a description and will use up 10 force points if you use it, but it doesn't actually do anything yet (although how could you know - since your opponent never attacks you? Heheh) "Saber Block Reaction" of course, does nothing. Since lightsaber rules aren't in place yet - so no saber locks. I think that's the only other issues besides "New Battle" not working fully. |
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| Xander Vos |
Heh, I knew that. 
Also, how do you get Force points? You can bank points to then use in a more powerful attack, but I can't seem to have them translate into Force points. Or do you get them each round? |
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| Rive Caedo |
Correct. You get 2 Force Points per round. There will probably be certain ways to modify this. I could imagine a "Focus" special ability that would dedicate you to not using any Force powers for 3 rounds - but you'd be gaining 3 points instead of 2 during that "lock down"
Bank points are gained by converting 2 of the active points you get per round into 1 bank point. That's the primary tactical factor of the game - saving up bank points to unleash powerful attacks and using them to defend against your opponent's special attacks. Of course, since the real lightsaber rules aren't in place yet - or any special abilities besides Force Choke and Push - it's hard to imagine how this system will work out. |
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| Rui Jormar |
Okay, i got it working Except mine didn't open with JavaW (showed the cannot find main class error). Had to open it with Java
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| Rive Caedo |
Here's v0.4 (the first publicly released file was marked v0.2, but it should have been v0.3)
http://gallery.myff.org/gallery/250556/BattleSystemAlpha03.jar Lots of internal changes, but here are the ones you'll be able to notice... 1. "New Battle" *should* be resetting to a new game now. Without needing to reload the whole program. 2. You're not forced to play as "Rive" - you'll be prompted to enter the name you want to play as after you hit "New Battle". It's simple, but important. It's the first step towards being able to create custom characters. For now, I'm still making you beat up my poor blue Rodian, "Skod"
3. The bug that caused hitting the "Saber Attack/End Round" button before hitting "New Battle" starting a bugged version of the game with a Round 0 is fixed, I think. 4. I may have fixed the problems of the GUI cropping that center line in Windows. Screenshots of the Windows XP version, please? Also, here's the beginnings of a manual. Spoiler tagged due to long length.
Really? That's so strange. It's doing the opposite for me. Very quirky. I'm sure it's my fault and I'll need to fix it later. I've never created .jar files before. But, I'm glad it's working for some people
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| Rive Caedo |
I'm not quite ready to publicly release it, but here's a preview of Version 0.5.
It'll probably be uploaded in another hour or two. Major update allowing for the second player to play. Also, obviously, has the two new panels on the sides displaying player status. I'm rather proud of the fact that it has a health bar now. On the back end - the database changes I started in 0.4 are almost finished now. You can't see it of course, but it's a lot more complex than what was in 0.1-0.3 and will allow for custom character creation and such. 
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| Dakoth |
ooh, Impressive, Most Impressive. | ||||
| Xander Vos |
I guess the next step is to making it online.
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| Dakoth |
it could use a reskin first, something to match the forum. yay lets heap werk upon rive! | ||||
| Rive Caedo |
Now that's an interesting idea. I hadn't considered that - matching the forum. I was trying to put the Maelstrom logo I made across the top of the text box and to add a stary background to the button button panel. I got the logo to work, but I haven't figured out how to place things in the background of components yet - I'm just getting errors any time I try what makes logical sense to me.
But, changes like that (especially the possibility of online) can come AFTER it's actually working as a full-fledged digital version of the game. I still need to finish the last bit of the database changes (everything is done except for getting Force Powers in their own database that character's will be able to draw on). I still need to add in the defense/saber lock phase. And I still need to add in the saber stance system. I think that's all that's left for the core of the game. Once those 3 features are in - we'll switch the version number to 1.0 and start arguing about what powers should be added and balancing changes and such
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| Dakoth |
Sounds like fun, I can't wait for the glory to begin
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| Rive Caedo |
So here she is. Likely the second-to-last release before v1.0
Maelstrom: Alpha Version 0.5 I haven't tested it in Windows yet - so here's to hoping that it still works. And I don't have a Windows XP machine to test it on here at all, just Vista - so please post screenshots if it does run on XP, folks
Notes: Player 2 (Armia)'s force powers are currently broken in several ways. I don't think it spends points properly and - as I recall - when she uses them it attacks you AND herself. Oh, and her cooldowns are linked to Player 1's cooldowns. So, if either player uses Force Choke, neither will be able to use it again for 3 rounds. So I'd just avoid using Force Powers with Armia altogether - I know it's broken. I added the profile menu and some test windows for "New Profile" - but they're unfinished. Use it once if want, but you won't get far. Lastly, Player 1 is currently always male - so even if name yourself "Princess Girly Girl Ponylover", you'll be referred to as "he" - and I don't think the name would fit on the screen
Oh, and unless you deliberately make Armia bank all her points without using them - she'll always beat you 
EDIT: Well what do you know? It expands to make the name fit. 
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| Xander Vos |
Yep, works, and it seems I can select gender? Or is that what you meant, and it still says male? | ||||
| Rive Caedo |
Correct - the "New Profile" feature currently reads data you provide to the windows and hands it off to a data object, but it doesn't do anything with those objects yet, because I haven't told it to.
Basically, it's almost ready to create custom profiles - but I can't finish the "Choose your Force powers" screen until I've finished reformatting the Force Power database. And actually, I'd like the entire character creation process to be on a single screen - which is going to be a bit more difficult than the current setup. So that'll probably be a post 1.0 feature. The only thing that's actually providing customizable data right now, that actually gets read into the character database, is the "Choose your name" when you start a new battle. But it has no way to change the gender away from the default "male" right now. EDIT: And post a screenshot of the main screen after the first round of combat (so only player 2 has taken damage) if you're able, so I can compare the look to Mac and Vista. |
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| Rive Caedo |
*replies to self*
Now there's an interesting quirk that's going to be... interesting to find out how to fix. If you name yourself Armia (so that your name is the same as Player 2's name) - Player 1 is always declared to be the victor - even if Player 2 mopped the digital floor with him/her 
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| Rive Caedo |
It's not worth a release, since it's only a back end change. But the Force database redo is complete.
Now I just need to patch the main game engine back together using the new database and then do the hard part - figure out how to code the defense round of combat.... which is probably going to require coding 2 more databases -_- |
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| Dakoth |
I feel so helpless over here >.> | ||||
| Rive Caedo |
Maybe I spoke too soon. Luckily I made a backup of the working version, but I basically just kept digging myself deeper and deeper into a hole, breaking it more and more, when I tried to implement the new Force Power database.
Which means I either made the database wrong - or I implemented it wrong. I'm not sure which to place bets on
Well there's a wasted hour *sigh* |
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