Guardian: Heroes Edition

[HeroesGraveDev]

I got a patcher with a GUI working.

I'll put it up tomorrow for the people who are testing.

Anyone else who wants to test, PM me. The more testers the better (with a limit of course)

[SHC]

Game Maker 8( i think thats the 5th time i said it here xD). It allows you to easily add black transparency, and exports to strips.

This functionality is present from 6.1C Version (You can load the strips)

[HeroesGraveDev]

I have always thought ninjas to be quite lame, and wasn't planning on adding them in to Guardian II.

But, then I realised: I can make ninjas Awesome!
(and I needed a stealth class with a real melee weapon)

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/99583484/Project%2016x/Animations/Ninja.gif

Also:

Reinforcements

No more random spawning of your team. You start off with a certain set of units. To get any more, you need to call in reinforcements. Currently reinforcements cost nothing.
But they do take a while, and strategy is involved.

- Reinforcements move at the speed as the slowest unit.*
- The more units, the longer it takes.*
- Reinforcement time varies from map to map (depending on the settings for that map)*
- Reinforcements have a random chance to be attacked (depending on the danger value of the map).
- The more units in the group, the less likely someone is to die from the attack.

* Formula for calculating time is

constant delay + (unit count * per unit delay) + (distance / slowest units speed)

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[HeroesGraveDev]

 

[HeroesGraveDev]

I've been working hard on a making in-game tutorials.

- Basic Combat
- Reinforcements
- Creating/Managing Squads
- Creating Tasks
- Task Priorities

I'll release a new test build after I make some more levels.

Any more people interested in testing? 3 spots available.

[HeroesGraveDev]

Okay, new version is out.

For Testers:

If you have the patcher, it should detect the new version. If it doesn't, delete version.txt and tell me.
Btw, it says build 007. It's actually build 006. I made an error with the version.txt making the patcher think build 005 was build 006.

Features tutorials and a Ninja Bonus Level.*

(*Max 10 ninjas versus 200 Goblins with enemy automatic reinforcements)

[HeroesGraveDev]

Build 008

Added Tutorial 0
Added new Help info.
Made all levels (with enemies) easier.
Fixed misplaced boundaries that made blocks seem unjumpable.
Made it more obvious that you can pause and use commands.

Testers can get the update via the patcher. It should automatically detect the new version.

Any people wanting to test, PM me. (For people not registered on this site, you can also PM me on the tigsource forums. My username there is HeroesGrave)

3 testing spaces left. (I had 9 testers, but 2 people haven't responded. Another 2 have/may have old graphics cards that don't support OpenGL 2.1, but I'm keeping them until they confirm they can't run it)

[Connor]

Wow this looks pretty awesome!

[xsvenson]

I can't believe I haven't yet told You how much I love the art.
It's gorgeous. I very much enjoy looking at the gifs.

Game looks nice too, keep it up

[HeroesGraveDev]

Okay, got back to work on this.

I'll be brief, as I'm working quite hard.

Paladin:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/99583484/Project%2016x/Animations/Paladin.gif

More info on what's going on.

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[HeroesGraveDev]

Example level chain.


Squares are levels.
Blue represents the level to go when won.
Red represents the level to go to when lost.
A circle represents the target level.
Yellow means if you lose you go to a new chain.
Green means if you win you go to a new chain.
A dot with no line means if you win/lose then you have to redo that level.

[HeroesGraveDev]

Test Build 009

Fixed "user.dir" bug.

Now it should run fine on Linux, and if you for some reason want to launch the jar from the wrong directory.

Testers will have to redownload the launcher. I recommend waiting until version 010 is done, as there is nothing new that the player will notice.

[HeroesGraveDev]

Okay, campaign levels are delayed a little bit due to reformatting the levels.

Before everything was done by images with team data etc. in text files.

Now specific nodes can be placed in the level through the text files to help the flow, define gameplay etc.

So far there are only spawn and reinforcement nodes. Not much, but at least now you spawn and get reinforcements in different places if neccessary.

Maybe it'll even be possible to change where reinforcements arrive etc.

I'll do a bit more work on different nodes (for recon levels, capturing castles etc.) and then get to work on the first part of the campaign.

Also, recently: Removed invisible walls and instead made the camera stop at the level boundaries.

[TheThirdOne]

Could you possibly make this game open source?

[Jimmt]

I'm pretty sure he mentioned that it wasn't worth the time in another thread.

[HeroesGraveDev]

Could you possibly make this game open source?

Not yet, at least. Maybe in the future, when it's finished.

However, Guardian is now open-source. (should probably post this in the right thread)

I'm pretty sure he mentioned that it wasn't worth the time in another thread.

It took me ~an hour to get Guardian open-source, with getting the license in all the files, creating the readme, deciding whether or not to put the art in the package etc.
It will be a while before I distribute a working project for people to tinker with.

[HeroesGraveDev]

It's been a long time...
I've been playing a lot of games recently, and only just got back to development.

I'm (still) working on tutorial levels.
I adjusted the level win/lose mechanics to allow multiple ways to end a battle, and to allow 'neutral' ends to a battle (neither a win nor a loss).

I made a better resolution font while I was at it: (click for full size)

(the large text needs adjusting due to the more detailed font)

I'm working on a sort-of "Main Menu" where you can select different saves, create a new save etc. I can't quite explain what I'm going for, but it's not your standard GUI main menu.

It's good to be back to work.

[HeroesGraveDev]

Main Menu of Guardian II:



I need to actually design a proper level for it, but you get the idea (I hope).

You can create, delete, and view all the "Heroes" (representing the different save slots).

I'm considering putting an option to summon your hero into a battle. (with the penalty of if you hero dies, you lose the battle instantly). It should make for some interesting gameplay.

Another idea I'm thinking of is different campaigns for the different characters instead of combining all the characters together in one big campaign.

Any feedback on those two ideas would be appreciated (not referring to medals, unless it's really good).

Oh, and I made peasants:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/99583484/Project%2016x/Animations/Peasant.gif

A new Test Build will be out soon. An alpha should be out by the end of Winter/Summer depending on which hemisphere you live in.
But for now, I eat lunch.

[mrdeathjockey]

Wow, this looks pretty amazing. Love those graphics
Where can you download it? I didn't happen to find a download link (and I tried using the Gardian 1 launcher but it wouldn't work on Java 1.7). Looks like a multiplayer fighting style game, keep it up!

Perhaps add some more visual interface on screen? Like, replace HP 100/100 with an actual red health bar, it's easier to see and more straight-forward to tell.

[HeroesGraveDev]

Where can you download it? I didn't happen to find a download link (and I tried using the Guardian 1 launcher but it wouldn't work on Java 1.7). Looks like a multiplayer fighting style game, keep it up!

Private testing at the moment.
I'll PM you with the link for the launcher when Build 010 is ready.

It's not multiplayer, but it's definitely fighting.
Although... multiplayer might be quite fun. I'll put that idea aside for post-release or a possible Guardian III.

Perhaps add some more visual interface on screen? Like, replace HP 100/100 with an actual red health bar, it's easier to see and more straight-forward to tell.

Yeah, that's on my TODO List.
I have a long TODO list, and proper UI is pretty far down on that list for now.

[HeroesGraveDev]

I got around to implementing multiple attack types:


So far the only example is the Archer with short and long range attacks. But I'll be working on more classes soon.
All the arrows in the above image were fired from the same place. You can see 2 different zones where they fall (on the top of the ground, and on the ledge), representing the two attacks.

In other news, I added AND level-conditions. Where you have to complete multiple objectives to finish a level. For example: Killing all enemies and returning to the castle.

4 Warrior Campaign levels done so far (mostly tutorials, with a bit of storyline mixed into them).
A few more and then I'll release Build 010 for the testers.

[mrdeathjockey]

I really loved your style of art. They're... very original
Please tell me this runs under JRE 1.7, because I can't wait to play!

[HeroesGraveDev]

Well, I've been working on this in "secret" (I showed a few people on IRC/Reddit) for a little while now, and I thought now may be a good time to show.

This is a complete rewrite of the engine. In fact, this may as well be a different project to what this thread originally was, but I don't want to make another thread.

First of all, I cut the scope down a lot. The real-time-tactics part has been cut completely, and the unit management is very simplistic.
Also, instead of having level after level, each campaign is one long level, but you can only move around within the current 'scene'.

Since I haven't actually got something available for download yet, I'll quit talking about gameplay and just dump screenshots.






Full resolution available here

And it's on IndieDB.

(It was a lot higher when I was actively updating it near the start)

[HeroesGraveDev]

Here's a look at the first real level: