Well, you are going to be in luck with game 3. In cw1 and cw2 I focused on unique game play and compelling strategy. But the story elements and the mission system are pretty "normal" . For game 3 I have a more open and immersive system in mind.This makes me happy. Bosses tend to be my favorite part of games... provided that they're fun. I like to be incredibly overmatched by a seemingly invincible enemy, it's just so much fun. :D This is one of my favorite boss fights to date: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_nRutTXNNQ
I still plan to tell a story, but it won't be a linear set of missions or levels. As such, there won't really be a final boss. That said, the enemies you encounter will get more and more intense as your journey progresses.
Much of this is still in the planning and very early dev stages, but my intent is to move a giant leap in this direction.
Any comment on how it performs on the larger maps?
yeah however it turns out, i'm buying it lol
I hope there's an evermore for cw2 too
Everyday I live to play that 10 min of cw1 evermore but the excitement is too short
This is probably the most exciting thing I've heard all week!
Some initial questions:
1. Will the drones from CW2 make an appearance in this game?
2. Will ore still be needed be needed for anti-creeper production? Will anti-Creeper emitters show up?
3. Will there be repulsor-like units in this game? What about shields?
4. Will there be a hotkey system for selecting user-defined groups of units? Like how most RTS games use Ctrl-# to define a group and # to select that group again?
5. What are those purple-spikey units by what looks like an Odin City equivalent? What about those units with the blue centers and red feet?
More questions to come as I think of them!
Good luck, Virgil. I'm eagerly awaiting any and all news on how development.
4. Will there be a hotkey system for selecting user-defined groups of units? Like how most RTS games use Ctrl-# to define a group and # to select that group again?
5:Those are Reactors and Collectors in the screen shots. These were two things that worked out really well in CW1, so my plan is to bring them back. You don't see network lines between structures in the screen shots since I've not implemented those parts yet.
Will it be "just" the networks or will it be some sort of a combination? Something along the lines of beacons that allow wireless paths to an extent but cost a bit more than network paths to maintain?
I just want to say that CW3 looks fantastic and I'm really excited to play it when it comes out. Honestly, I'd be happy with just CW1 on a larger scale, but it looks like there will be so much more to the game too.It's probably an insta-win developement button. :P
You can even see shadows under the flying units! How cool is that?
What's the Kaboom button for?
2: My plans right now are to eliminate 'ore' and move straight to producing AntiCreeper (or other variants...) directly from the Rigs. This will stream line the process and eliminate the middle man. It does mean that you have to handle the AntiCreeper as it is produced and conduct it to storage tanks via pipelines. But, I think this will be cooler and more interesting. This is one of the potential additions to the game that I'm really excited to play with.
4: Yes. Along with drag selection, double click selection, and shift-click to add/remove units from groups.
Creeper world 3 sounds amazing :D .
Will there be more multiplayer items,
Yeah, the multiplayer concepts I am most interested in providing are asynchronous in nature. Things that allow interaction... possibly even working together, but don't require being online at the same time.Glad I held my breath *ahhhhh*, since that's still awesome :D
well the network path cost nothing in CW1 but the becons required a steady stream of energy I supose both could be used.I would like to see this - in fact, I would like to see maintanence used for all units, perhaps in the form of a resource that is consumed in order to effect repairs, as well as maintain function as in CW2.
I am considering allowing people to store their save games (optionally) online. If so, then having a web based version of the full game could be convenient since you could more easily play it on some other system. In this case there would be online accounts. All of this would be optional, though.Awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome. I will love you forever for this, due to my current circumstances.
Yeah, the multiplayer concepts I am most interested in providing are asynchronous in nature. Things that allow interaction... possibly even working together, but don't require being online at the same time.You implied on the blog the the concept that a loss might take several rounds to complete . . . and now asynchronous MP? Combined with the idea of cloud-based saves?
some kind of flying battlestation. You can put some units on it, mabe you can even upgrade the unit per techonology for more units being able to put on it. Then you can fly it around and the units are able to fire to ANY layer
what is the max level size that the game will support? something like 16x256x256?
If I may make a suggestion... is some sort of "tainted land" a possibility. That being land you can't build on, but creeper can flow through?
Maps can be bigger... there really isn't a technical limit. It all depends on the total surface area and the performance. A map could be 400x50 or 200x100 and produce roughly the same performance results.
Virgil i like all that this is comming to be, By the way TP I love your new avatar
Virgil i like all that this is comming to be, By the way TP I love your new avatar
thanks, lich
There will of course be _some_ limit on the map sizes since entering very large values will eat all of the memory on any existing machine. Now, by 'large values' I mean value that would produce maps with surface areas in the hundreds of thousands or millions.
The primary reason to limit map sizes (in general for any game) is to encourage an ecosystem populated with games that will run happily on average hardware. A year from now there will be thousands of worlds made for game 3 and an average player with an average machine is going to want to be able to play the majority of missions. If even 20% of missions require hardware that's in the top 5%... that becomes a frustration for players and ultimately reflects poorly on the game (not the map makers).
So that's the general philosophy on putting boundaries in place... it isn't so much about limited choice as it is about ensuring accessibility
All that said, maps with 7 or 8 times the surface area of a CW1 map are really large. Pick your 8 favorite CW1 maps and stack them together 4 wide by 2 tall and play them all at once. Throw in new weapons, technology, enemies, cross mission objectives.... and you have an idea of what a large map experience would be like.
No over powered kill all weapons! No! Just no!
Hmm....I wonder if this unit is the Nullifier. It's not a Terrap, since there's one right next to it in the second picture from this week's blog, and since it has an ammo bar, it's most likely a weapon. Since it's not visible in any other picture, it seems most likely that it's the nullifier.
(http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/8274/nullifier.jpg)
If Creeper does become human controlled, here's an idea to make it simple:We've been able to control creeper ever since creeper world 2. It would be hard to change how it works now...
Have the creeper work as the human network works (i.e. Odin City are the emmitters, collectors are space covered by Creeper) and you can only lay down collector-like structures, temporary gravity generators, and pushes the Creeper in that direction.
If Creeper does become human controlled, here's an idea to make it simple:We've been able to control creeper ever since creeper world 2. It would be hard to change how it works now...
Have the creeper work as the human network works (i.e. Odin City are the emmitters, collectors are space covered by Creeper) and you can only lay down collector-like structures, temporary gravity generators, and pushes the Creeper in that direction.
Creeper goes to the point that is both lowest and least dense. Beyond that, it passively responds to fields.If Creeper does become human controlled, here's an idea to make it simple:We've been able to control creeper ever since creeper world 2. It would be hard to change how it works now...
Have the creeper work as the human network works (i.e. Odin City are the emmitters, collectors are space covered by Creeper) and you can only lay down collector-like structures, temporary gravity generators, and pushes the Creeper in that direction.
I meant that a player could be the enemy creeper, and in this way could decide how and where the Creeper goes.
I would like to see an emitter stealer, like you have to get real close, build something right beside it, and it will cap it off and convert creeper into anti-creeper.
As far as I know there won't be any kill-all weapons (like the thor in CW1) in CW3 or a weapon that instantly kills all creeper on a part of the map. There will be some titan weapons (like the bertha) that do huge damage (limited) but also at a huge cost.Well, it's early to say. The game has already undergone some revolutions in the single month that alpha videos have been released. (guppies being the most visible example.) I can say that there are likely to be plenty of people who agree with this thought - I also don't like "I win" buttons.
I don't in general like to take people's money till the game is ready (or certainly very, very, very close). I might change my mind in the future given the way people raise money on kickstarter. But for game three the plan is to get it ready, then release it. Just hang in there for a few more months...From seeing the alpha videos, i'm pretty much prepared to preorder the game right now. Just tell us when you're happy to 'take our money' for it.
I don't in general like to take people's money till the game is ready (or certainly very, very, very close). I might change my mind in the future given the way people raise money on kickstarter. But for game three the plan is to get it ready, then release it. Just hang in there for a few more months...From seeing the alpha videos, i'm pretty much prepared to preorder the game right now. Just tell us when you're happy to 'take our money' for it.
I see why you don't want to do it just yet though, as the game's not even finished yet. :)
Also a series of maps at the end of the story line that are harder to pass than level19 and 20 in CW2. Those levels were great fun, but not really hard to pass.
Also a series of maps at the end of the story line that are harder to pass than level19 and 20 in CW2. Those levels were great fun, but not really hard to pass.
You should not really expect super-hard levels in the game itself. It is too frustrating for most game players. Look to custom maps to provide you and other hard-core players with the needed challenges. The in-game levels are meant to be completable and winnable by the majority of purchasers.
Personally I found Shields to be just a little over powered. It just feels like it's portrayed as a little too powerful. In the Marshlands mission I saw that 1 shield in the power zone was able to withstand 3 emitters baring down on it with no support. I understand Power zones are supposed to greatly amplify a Unit strength but It just felt a little too powerful to me. Maybe if the creeper would slowly crawl towards the emitter more after the initial blast. I understand Virgil is using these alpha maps for testing stuff but I just want to make sure especially in later missions that we get a hell of a ride.
I hope virgil takes his time. The longer it takes the more refined it is, the more epic features it has. After realese no real new game features will be added, so it should maximise epicness before that.
Also 4xC use the 'edit post' button please ;)
As to how powerful a shield can be, how powerful did you think the repulsors in CW2 were? They could hold back a good deal of creeper so why shouldn't the CW3 shield? After all, the shields of CW3 are NOTHING like the CW2 shields. At least now we can build and produce within the shield's protective influence instead of behind it.
You made a double post at the top of this page 4xc, is what I meant ;) . I wonder if virgil will allow modding, since it is a singleplayer game?I think the lack of modding was not a design choice in the other CW games, but more of a practical limitation. Any aspect in which you permit modding is something that will require dev support to implement, and I think that's a bigger consideration than anything else in whether modding's permitted.
As long as there's some sort of drain on shields that increases with the amount of "pressure" they're receiving from creeper, they ought to scale well. A single shield on it's own at a chokepoint should be overwhelmed eventually, unless you're able to keep it aggressively supplied with energy.This is the case now - too much creeper will overwhelm a shield. Not through energy use, though. It will overwhelm the shield by pushing through the field.
I'm imagining "shield tunneling" now; a three building wide "tunnel" of structures, with the center being alternating relays and shields, and the sides of these tunnels being lined with blasters or alternating blasters/mortars, terps hopping along the front of the line to make sure it stays paved, and creeper piled hundreds of meters high on either side of the shields. The pressure from the creeper is massive, but since there's another shield every six cells, none of them has too much weight on it. Not exactly energy efficient, but it's kind of an epic image for me.
Even with 6 cells inbetween, that still sounds like a lot of energy consumption and by extension, starvation/deficit/debt/whatever-the-term-is-for-CW3. And even though the numbers have yet to be finalized as I uderstand it, what I don't get is why the shield is so much more substantially expensive compared to everything else than the repulsors were compared to everything else there.
I'm imagining "shield tunneling" now; a three building wide "tunnel" of structures, with the center being alternating relays and shields, and the sides of these tunnels being lined with blasters or alternating blasters/mortars, terps hopping along the front of the line to make sure it stays paved, and creeper piled hundreds of meters high on either side of the shields. The pressure from the creeper is massive, but since there's another shield every six cells, none of them has too much weight on it. Not exactly energy efficient, but it's kind of an epic image for me.Okay, done.
Because if the force each shield exerts is proportional to the amount of Creeper impinging on it, the presence of a second shield nearby would allow the shields to distribute the load between each other. The net result is only a slightly increased use in energy due to the increased area they are protecting (since you can't one shield on top of another.
Man, I hadn't even thought of "reinforcing" the tunnel with terps. Slowly start swapping out those shields for mortars with a 10-high wall on either side, sounds brutal :)Better to use the shields to clear creeper so you can build a platform for them to rest on top of.
Problem with shields activating when fully charged: repulsors of CW2 always activated when the first packet touches them. And repulsors would have creeper coming in on them at higher densities and still use the same amount of power to hold of what they could. Regardless of how uncomparable the factors are said to be between 2 and 3, it seems there's more of it than anticipated.It is different than units in past games, true.
What secret units? (Pun not intended.) I don't think there should be any units that aren't attainable to all players, with a little work.I have the impression that 4xC is talking about units that V hasn't disclosed yet, rather than units which are hidden as easter eggs in-game.
I have the impression that 4xC is talking about units that V hasn't disclosed yet, rather than units which are hidden as easter eggs in-game.
I'm pretty sure advice about the game's development progress and balance, using information that isn't yet public, is what the alpha and beta groups are for.
Argh it's so nerve-wracking to not know these most likely epic units.
I wonder when V will announce some units Alpha or Beta players know about but the public doesn't
Yea I guess that Repulsor was pretty powerful but I always felt it was a more cheaper unit that didn't cost as much and use as much energy as the blaster and mortar. Also it kinda felt like the CW2 equivalent of the Drone bomber in the way it causes a small pushback against the creeper. I really just wanna make sure two shields can repel 4 creepers at a small fairly wide choke-point.
That was me from awhile ago.
V Addressed this on the blog post - apparently he'd already experimented with it, from the sound of things. It's too difficult to show flow of creeper above units, and clearly convey that these units aren't actually in danger.Yea I guess that Repulsor was pretty powerful but I always felt it was a more cheaper unit that didn't cost as much and use as much energy as the blaster and mortar. Also it kinda felt like the CW2 equivalent of the Drone bomber in the way it causes a small pushback against the creeper. I really just wanna make sure two shields can repel 4 creepers at a small fairly wide choke-point.
I doubt this will be possible, but shouldn't creeper be able to flow above shields? I mean, if the surrounding creeper becomes high enough so it overflows like with a wall. But I think shield hight is treated as being unlimited for now.
EDIT: restored quotation