Okay, I remade the maps thread. I think the Dummies should be a kind of 'WE HAVE MORE UNITS BUT THEY DON'T HAVE GOOD GUNS, BUT DON'T TAKE FALL DAMAGE AND FLY AROUND LIKE FAST FLYING THINGSSS' faction, and the binbots should be a bit of an 'ARGHHH, YOU POUND US WITH CRAPPY BULLETS BUT WE TAKE YOU OUT WITH TWO OR THREE SHOTS, BWAHAAHAH, WAIT NOW YOU'RE IN THE AIR, CRAP.' faction. Skillful use of dummy jetting can lead to moon physics.

Also, could there be a download-able .exe, for gaming on the go? Specifically for flash drives hooked into computers without internet connections?

And should I re-make the highscores thread?

I'll be putting a high-score board in at some point during Stage Two, but if you want to share scores go for it. I'm yet to hear or someone getting an S-rank score, though you got pretty close with that K/D 8 round. I'm not sure if it's really possible at this stage but it'd be nice to see people pushing the boundaries.

@Contrary: Cheers for clarifying, I just didn't want to make an in-depth reply to the wrong point. The intended end-point for this is a game that you can play at the current break-neck speed in deathmatch or CTF mode against real people (or cause I'm all about not relying on people, bots too), as well as a game you can play at a (slightly) slower pace in "conquest" (or whatever it ends up being called) mode, placing sentries and buying big units with RP from holding points on the map or getting kills or simply surviving for half a minute or so (because mining for gold is unsatisfying in an action game and if you want to go digging you can play prelude).
I'm aware that people don't like relying on bots and that's fine, I'm going to design some game modes revolving around the player as a one man army (sniper unit in wave attack mode, for example). I definitely don't want the game to go in the direction of "be good at the game so you get points that let you be even better at the game" because of how frustrating that makes an early loss. Noone likes being the scapegoat for ten minutes.
However, I definitely want to play with the whole squad tactics thing. One of the AI modes I'm planning on implementing early is "follow", so you can create a squad by setting a bunch of units to follow the "captain" unit. When the unit they're following dies, they'll switch back to their default mode, which will be able to be set by the player somewhere but will likely default to a defensive role (hold current position). I'm not sure what to do about controls there, whether to change s to "open pie menu for gesture control" on the player unit or what, because I don't want any more keys.

Regardless, I'd sort of like to see the growth of player-designed game-modes. I'd love to build a scripting system but it could very easily eat a lot of development time. If it does happen it'll be simple things like "upon this sensor on the map reading true, spawn unit at xy", or "if this unit is dead, you win" or whatever.

I'll create a projected version of this at some point so you can play it on-the-go, yes, but likely not for Stage One unless you're really really keen for it


NOTE TO EVERYONE: I'm not going to be working on RvR or Prelude as my development focus for a little while, though I might get leaderboards up for Prelude in the gap between now and a few weeks from now. I want some headspace and possibly to make a smaller game (that I can get to v1.0 within say, a week) to sell for some coin, and I need some time to develop the ideas before I go anywhere further with them. Don't expect my usual breakneck pace for the next while, as I've got a lot on my mind and other things to do. I do want to get various issues ironed out (forums goddamn, various bugs, AI in both games) as well as leaderboards and maybe some more content for Prelude done before I go away for the Christmas break anyway, but I don't want to get tied developing one thing for any length of time, it's not how I enjoy working.

If I'm going to have to wait three + weeks for V.2, I'm keen to it. I'd like to play this during computer class as much as possible, especially now that I know about that S RANK. Plus, I like documenting game development, sort of. Aaaaaand for my final point...

Pretty please?

Only if it won't take time out of your busy schedule, though.

So with all the hubub moving domain, I didn't get around to the mapmaking walkthrough
However, Things have been going pretty smoothly with the switch If you notice anything ♥♥♥♥ up, give me a bell on the support board or wherever.

I'm actually kind of glad you're not just going to work until you eventually burn out. Breaks are just as necessary has pathfinding.

My oh my. The site now works.
<3 you Geti.
<3 you Pete too.


Anyways, review time!

-Shotgun, as said before, has insane range. Pretty balanced up close, though.

-Dummy MG has quite a long reload time. You shoot for two seconds and have to wait at least four for until you can shoot again.

-The whole thing felt a wee bit too fast and confusing, but you've already said you're going to make conquest mode, so that's ok.

-Separate buttons for jumping and jetpacking? Son, I am disappoint.

-It is possible to cheat by clicking off-screen to pause the game, then placing the mouse over a nearby enemy and clicking. You'll never miss (works better with a shotgun).

Other than that, everything was top notch. I am a huge fan of the dummy jetpack and ceiling grabbing.

Glad the server change fixed your crazy issues.

Dummy MG has .2 second more reload than the shotgun, says the code.

Looks like I might have to get keybinding in so you crazy people who like jumping and jetting at the same time can (as well as those on azerty and dvorak and all those other crazy keyboard layouts). The reason they need to be separate is that it gives you a lot more control when it comes to the scrapbot jumppack, but for someone who plays as dummies only I can see the attraction of one less key.

Cheers for the criticism.
Hahah, too true. Though knowing me I'll take a break by starting and completing a small side project at the same time as partying it up after exams or something. I'm a design/execution addict, methinks.

That clears things up. I really admire the clarity of your vision, Geti.

I've been keeping an eye on 1bar design for a while now(cos I'm really insterested in your work).

The RvR game is definitely too fast. I've played Soldat, and RvR is even faster and more chaotic. It is hard to keep track on what's going on, let alone switching robots. Though I really hope to see this gets finished. It will be fun I believe.

Also, I want to see grappling hooks. Dunno why. Maybe it could be a separate game mode, no jets.

That's nice to hear contrary, thanks

Small update - shotguns a lot less viable over distance.
The balance is still off, but I'd love comments on exactly how you guys feel it could use tweaking.

@TDS: yeah, as stated the AI currently makes the game very short and horribly fast-paced, I'm hoping it'll become more like soldat where there are a higher occurrence of 1v1 or 2v2 encounters than 4v5 or higher once the AI does a liiiittle less meth and spends a liiiittle more time aiming and planning.

Grappling hooks might be the jetpack of a scrapbot unit later down the line, here's hoping.

Kinda like, kinda not. The Dummy still seems underpowered, but eh. Good job anyways, Geti. I'm gonna have a 5-day weekend, so I'll probably churn out a map or two. How's that map guide coming?

Well, it's the weakest dummy weapon, so it shouldn't feel too strong as is, but it's probably a valid point. Map guide is coming slowly, but I'll get some work done on it now.

I really love your game geti. Really.
A perfect mix between soldat and CC, you've done your job.
But I was playing and I found a bug. I think I was a dummy and I got hit by a shotgun shot, then my dummy started to fly backward. I was unable to stop him and he came INTO the wall.

Geti:
Where the BinBots start, it's possible for them to jump of the screen, where they don't die and instead fall forever...

However, amazing work.

It'll get fixed once brains are in.