Some ideas

Started by Yarood, August 13, 2009, 09:20:55 AM

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Yarood

First of i'd like to say that CW is one greate game especially done by one man. That's  some 20$ well spent on my side i give you that.

I have some questions to ask:
1. How exactly do you chose where to send energy blobs? Because a problem arises when you have a lot of power (both in storage and generated) few shooters and you try to build something it will still take a while like its not using storage. I suppose that there might be some good explanation to this one.
2 Wold it be possible to save settings on exit like screen size, sound, music i have to adjust this every game.
3 I think this game could really use some speed control. Like you cold speed up the time when you want to build stuff or play for fun.

Again amazing stuff kup up the good work.

knucracker

Quote from: Yarood on August 13, 2009, 09:20:55 AM
First of i'd like to say that CW is one greate game especially done by one man. That's  some 20$ well spent on my side i give you that.
Thanks.  CW was some serious work and I'm very glad that it is being received well.



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I have some questions to ask:
1. How exactly do you chose where to send energy blobs? Because a problem arises when you have a lot of power (both in storage and generated) few shooters and you try to build something it will still take a while like its not using storage. I suppose that there might be some good explanation to this one.

Packets (both build and ammunition packets) are delivered in a round robin fashion.  When you drop down something to build, that structure will start requesting build packets at a fixed rate (about once a second).  So say you build something and the cost of that structure is "10".  These 10 packets will be requested over time.  Now if there is sufficient energy (in storage or being produced), Odin city will produce each packet as it is requested and dispatch it to the target. 

If you ever over build (have more things requesting packets that you have the energy to produce as they are being requested), then you end up with a backlog of requests.  As Odin City produces packets, it will delivery them round robin.  So if you have say 5 things, each of the 5 will get a packet in turn one right after the other.

In the early game it can be beneficial to build one or two storage units.  This is so that you can "bank" some of you early extra energy that you will definitely be using 5 minutes into a level.  Anytime your energy is maxed out, you are losing potential energy that could be used to build something.  If you don't want to be building or it is unwise, then build a storage unit to catch that extra energy and buffer it for later use.

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2 Wold it be possible to save settings on exit like screen size, sound, music i have to adjust this every game.

The in game mute is not saved, but the volume level should be.  You can turn the music all the way down and this setting should be saved.  Go into the option page during a game and adjust the music volume and this will be saved.
The screen size isn't saved, though.  A bunch of people will either play the game at it's default resolution (which is the most efficient for rendering) or just click the maximize button to make it go full screen.


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3 I think this game could really use some speed control. Like you cold speed up the time when you want to build stuff or play for fun.

I experimented with this....  I implemented a nice time acceleration solution and thought it would be great.  I gotta say, though, that it just ruins the game.  When you can accelerate time you end up playing in a totally different way.  For a little while it is sort of fun, but the fun wears out quickly and interest is lost quicker in the overall game.  I spent about a week playing with time acceleration and it just seemed to lessen the game more than it added.

But, adding this ability as one of the extra rewards you get for finishing the game would not have been a bad idea...  Btw, if you do finish the whole game you get another 'fun' mode that doesn't so much speed up time, but it does speed up the action quite a bit.

Lastly, if you are playing for a high score it is actually best to pause the game.  Pause the game to start with, 'build' some things, think about your strategy then let it run.  Pause again in a few minutes when you make your first assault and queue up your unit movements and such.  In fact, pausing and issuing orders can be a great way to launch a "hill taking assault" with multiple units.


Yarood

Thanks for those answers. As for time compression and lesser enjoyment i know where its comming from but i play Supreme Commander for like 3 years now and you can speed the game up there and it doesnt brake the game in any way.

goob

Quote from: virgilw on August 13, 2009, 12:46:33 PM
If you ever over build (have more things requesting packets that you have the energy to produce as they are being requested), then you end up with a backlog of requests.  As Odin City produces packets, it will delivery them round robin.  So if you have say 5 things, each of the 5 will get a packet in turn one right after the other.

In the early game it can be beneficial to build one or two storage units.  This is so that you can "bank" some of you early extra energy that you will definitely be using 5 minutes into a level.  Anytime your energy is maxed out, you are losing potential energy that could be used to build something.  If you don't want to be building or it is unwise, then build a storage unit to catch that extra energy and buffer it for later use.

I would just add that if you're going for a faster time, you should try to avoid stocking up on too much energy since that means you're not using it to expand quickly enough.  Your priorities at the beginning of the game should be to constantly use all your energy building collectors (though not so many that your building stalls out) and to grab nearby upgrades.