Hey everyone! So I wanted to give you a bigger update on my progress in May so far rather than several smaller updates and you will see why. As always this is a fluid process so I like to keep you updated with my current decisions but I love to hear what you think so it can be changed for the better.
Tiles
So I have been in debate for a while regarding the tiles, what types I should have and how they should look. Before I was leaning towards a land retaken by nature so everything was green and thick with foliage but I thought that may not be the most pleasing to look at from an isometric view, especially trying to find differences in the tile types. So for now I have decided a more barren scorched earth landscape (think Fallout or Borderlands). The current four tile types are (Ground, Forest, Hills/Mountains/ Marshes) The Marshes in my opinion arent super identifiable from a distance so I may be changing the models on there in the near future. Each tile type has a different movement cost depending on the Unit. By default:
Ground = 1
Forest = 2
Mountain = 3
Marshes = 2
As its dependent on the Unit, I will be throwing in some abilities and perks that allow those numbers to change. Maybe a certain perk will allow that Unit to travel through Forests at half the cost for example. Whats everyone's take on the environment so far?
Abilities
There have been some changes and additions to the Abilities system aswell. Faction Bases have the ability to Spawn Units (whether thats new units or units that have retreated to heal). World Units will have the ability to Search settlements they come across (Villages, Towns or Cities). Ultimately I decided this worked better as an ability rather than an effect that happens when you move onto the tile because that would mean you would have to leave it and come back to search it again, which is no fun. I am making some improvements and changes to the combat between the systems but I will be showing that off in a later update.
UI
This is the current World UI. Im trying to keep it as minimal as possible to not take anything away from the screen. On that screenshot you can also see the new Spawn ability in action along with a ghost unit that lets you know where you can (blue) and cant (red) spawn. Something you may also notice is how the different the UI on the Bases look, thats something I am still debating back and forth about but I am keeping Banners on the Units themselves I just thought the Bases needed more info.
Trello
If you are interested in keeping track of my day to day progress Im frequently using a Trello page to log issues and track tasks aswell as consider new ideas or requests. Fall of Civilization: Early Access Development Roadmap
Well thats all for now, theres a bunch of other little things but all in good time. Hope everyone is keeping well. Until next time.
Fall of Civilization - Faction Banners
One of the new improvements Im making to the game is the interaction between the UI and the world. So instead of making decals on the floor under your units I decided to make a symbol that can be easily seen and identified over them instead.
Hey all, apologies for not posting last week but i assure you I was busy getting some of the systems working for future updates!
So all units, bases and structures will have a banner looming over them to identify their faction color and their faction symbol. I will possibly/probably be looking to change the symbols I have so far in the near future for something cleaner and more consistent. Aswell as this you may also noticed two other key details of the update, the survivor unit changes clothing color based on their faction and they are standing on some labelled terrain tiles. These tiles are not finalized versions yet but a step in the right direction away from placeholders. They look quite bland now understandably but will look more lifelike once props are added such as (Trees, rocks, lakes, buildings and more)
As always I would love to hear from you and see what you think, what you like and what you don't.
So feel free to reply, post a discussion or reach me and other members of the community on the Discord.
Fall of Civilization - Creating your Faction #1
This week I have been working on the start of the game and faction creation, since its been nearly a month since the first post about it as a feature discussion. It still has some work to go but I am posting the screenshots of the three stages of faction creation / starting the game and will update them more as time goes on. (Hopefully there will be a GIF or short video tomorrow)
So the first image shows what will be the main screen for playing with your settings and the basics of your faction. This is and will be something that determines what you start with. By spending actions in a point buy system. This is something as you can see still very much in progress. An Ideal is a new concept to the game which doesn't constraint how you play or want to play but gives you an appropriate bonus to a certain playstyle of your choice. (To be determined)
As always I would love to hear from you and see what you think, what you like and what you don't.
So feel free to reply, post a discussion or reach me and other members of the community on the Discord.
Fall of Civilization - GIF - Unit Inventory #2
Just another quick update for this weekend, some progress on the Inventories system! Now that the majority of the functionality is done, it will making things like interacting with units in the Base and the Trading system, easier to sort out!
As always I would love to hear from you and see what you think, what you like and what you don't. So feel free to reply, post a discussion or reach me and other members of the community on the Discord.
Fall of Civilization - Screenshot - Trade #1
While Covid-19 hangs heavy over alot of us right now, I hope everyone is well. This week I will be showing the changes to Trading so far.
The last two weeks have been hectic, this past one having me move from my work home to another location where I'm now all set up riding out the quarantine. With that being said, Im healthy and hope to stay that way, so Im going to carry on working on this. Right now I have some of the functionality done but the artwork is not final, just for the prototyping.
New (In Progress) Old
I wanted trading to have more options and impact on your gameplay, so instead of just trading items and resources, I will also be adding resources per turn and structures. Maybe you want to offer resources in small installments or give up a watchtower that you can't maintain?
As always I would love to hear from you and see what you think, what you like and what you don't.
So feel free to reply, post a discussion or reach me and other members of the community on the Discord.
Fall of Civilization - Screenshot - Fog Of War #1
Hey all, sorry the update is a little late and less this week but I always want to push out something where possible. Unfortunately earlier today my latest development build was corrupted and until Monday I have no way to attempt to fix it, so for now im reverting back to an older build and will be starting work on a new feature to hopefully bridge the gap in work.
But what I wanted to show for now was Fog Of War! Something I wanted to do in the first builds of the game but ruled it out as time consuming and performance heavy, happy to say I have looked into it again and going to try and make it work. Only the players units will show up in the fog and after moving through a space it will leave some visibility in the places you have traveled. Enemies will not be visible in the fog unless your close to them. I have an idea of making watchtower structures to increase your visibility, that makes sense right?
Keep an eye out on my channels tomorrow as I will be posting something for ScreenshotSaturday.
As always I would love to hear from you and see what you think, what you like and what you don't. So feel free to reply, post a discussion or reach me and other members of the community on the Discord.
Fall of Civilization - Screenshot - Unit Inventory #1
Hey all, sorry the update is a little late and less this week but I always want to push out something where possible. The reason for it being a busy week is because I have been in some talks to get some additional funding for Fall of Civilization which im happy to confirm has begun. I am doing some part time work for Koryu Studios on Shotgun Samurai, an upcoming retro FPS set in the cyberpunk genre. This means my time on Fall of Civilization may be less in the coming weeks but I will still put out updates where I can and I just want you to know, even if it doesn't look like I am doing much, I'm doing it for the game. So, this is the first iteration screenshot for the new Inventory system and UI. Placing in the corner of the screen instead of appearing in your face as before. I am also adding a new drag and drop system for the items that I hope I will be able to show you soon.
Keep an eye out on my channels tomorrow as I will be posting something for ScreenshotSaturday.
As always I would love to hear from you and see what you think, what you like and what you don't. So feel free to reply, post a discussion or reach me and other members of the community on the Discord.
Fall of Civilization - Feature Discussion - Creating your Faction
Hey all, so this weekend I am opening the floor to another feature discussion, Creating your Faction at the start of the game. I will pitch the idea I currently have and would love to hear any input or opinions YOU have.
The old system for the player creating their faction at the start of the game was mainly made up with dropdowns and button choices, which was fine for testing and prototypes but I feel like it needs be made into something more interactive and visually pleasing before the full release.
What would you do if you only had a day, a week, a month to prepare for the end of the world? This is something I considered when coming up with this new idea and thought it was quite open-ended as many players will choose and think differently, leaning to their playstyle. Some people would hoard as much resources as possible, some would stock up weapons and others may try and gather as many people under their roof as they can.
I have two ideas in mind at the moment, each similar in code design but with a different gameplay feel.
The first idea takes some inspiration from The Last Stand 2. You are in your home at the start of the apocalypse. You only have a set amount of time (Day, Week, Month) to prepare as best you can. Searching and interacting with nearby houses or selecting other options like reinforcing your home. Each option you do takes time and you can't choose them all, so what do you choose? The second idea is more visual. Not dissimilar in mechanics from the previous idea. You have a home base and only a certain amount of time to act before the start of the game, with the goal being search as many nearby buildings for resources and take them back to your base. If you manage to recruit people along the way, you can use them to search for resources too.
As always I would love to hear from you and see what you think, what you like and what you don't. So feel free to reply, post a discussion or reach me and other members of the community on the Discord.
Fall of Civilization - Video - The World Map #1
Hey all, this is the video update showcasing The World Map #1, featuring World Generation. The World Map won the polls collectively on Facebook and Twitter so I will be focusing on Unit Inventories next week unless I get some requests for something else before then.
This feature has been made with procedural generation and replayability in mind, so down the line the World Map can be unique to your playthrough and random. The updates are marked as #1 due to the feature still being in development and I will post about it again later to show progress and any additions I may have added (like roads).
The first video shows an overview of the procedural generation as a whole. Randomizing tile percentages between the types (Grass, Forest, Mountain, Water) as well as Building generation and variation (cities, towns and villages).
https://youtu.be/W2rx_yJEJy0
The second video is more on the development side of things with me explaining the settings behind the world generation as they currently are, although more is planned in the near future including roads which i'm currently trying to sort out. Terrain Percentages determines how much % of the grid is comprised of each terrain types. Building Generation determines how many of each building is built and the distance or greater between each of them.
https://youtu.be/FGUoQRRUNcE
As always I would love to hear from you and see what you think, what you like and what you don't. So feel free to reply, post a discussion or reach me and other members of the community on the Discord.
Fall of Civilization - GIF - The World Map #1
Hey all, this is the GIF update showcasing The World Map #1, featuring World Generation. The World Map won the polls collectively on Facebook and Twitter so I will be focusing on Unit Inventories next week unless I get some requests for something else before then.
This feature has been made with procedural generation and replayability in mind, so down the line the World Map can be unique to your playthrough and random.
This GIF showcases the current amount of variety in terrain aswell as percentages of terrain and types of buildings too. (Villages, Towns and Cities)
The Terrain currently has 4 types (Grass, Forest, Mountain and Water). During generation I choose how much % of the map is made of each type, easily changed in the settings for some randomization. I then decide how many villages in the map I want and how many tiles apart from each other, I do the same thing for Towns and Cities, this is also quite easy for me to change on the go. The current result is what you see before you, I will be adding two videos on Friday. One will showcase the feature start to finish (as it currently stands) and the other will show more of the back-end system and the settings involved. I am currently still working on the roads and determining movement costs for different terrain types.
So what is the World Map? The World Map is a new feature I will be introducing in the latest version of the game. This is where: Faction bases are located and interacted with, Units interact with missions and pickups, etc. The map is comprised of different terrain types to offer the player a range of choice and challenge in how they move around and interact with the world. So with this new system, most of gameplay takes place on the World except when your units are engaged in combat on a series of different locational maps.
As always I would love to hear from you and see what you think, what you like and what you don't. So feel free to reply, post a discussion or reach me and other members of the community on the Discord.
