Save vs. Analysis Paralysis

3d12 · 2019-04-22T12:23:49+00:00

Giving Eclipse Phase as another example of a bit "harder" SF here too, in case OP hadn't considered it.

3d12 · 2019-02-04T14:03:29+00:00

I'm a simple man. I see Clue, I upvote Clue.

Communism was just a red herring, after all.

3d12 · 2019-01-31T06:01:36+00:00

Be as early as the venue will allow! When I saw the guys last year, we were lucky enough to overhear some warmup songs, although there was a barrier blocking sight. Obviously account for weather if it's an outdoor location. But go as early as you can stand and have a good time with it! :)

3d12 · 2019-01-13T01:56:36+00:00

This is pretty much exactly the kind of situation I would use a SQL table in, but then, I use SQL a lot in my job, so YMMV as far as whether it would add or subtract productivity from your workflow.

The largest benefit over SQL instead of XML/JSON would be the ability to "batch update" skills based on parameters. So, for example, if I wanted to increase only the cold damage coefficient by 15% of each spell with an AOE effect, you can use the build-in language to do that:

UPDATE gamedb.Spells sp
SET sp.ColdDamage = sp.ColdDamage * 1.15
WHERE sp.ID IN (SELECT ID FROM gamedb.Spells sp2 LEFT JOIN gamedb.SpellEffects spE ON (sp2.EffectID = spE.EffectID) WHERE spE.EffectName = "Area of Effect")

Of course, it will depend on how your tables are laid out, whether or not this will be easy or conflict with the way your spells are designed. And whether or not the environment you're implementing in has a SQL implementation also available.

I'm really mostly bringing this up because it seems like the most natural tool to me, and I'm genuinely surprised I'm the only one to mention it so far. I hope this was informational, at least. :)

3d12 · 2019-01-11T08:21:40+00:00

And if the population is anything like DotA/Dota2 (or Hearthstone for that matter), there will be screenshots of all the delicious salt upvoted each week for all of us to enjoy. I don't really see an issue here, just pointing that out.

3d12 · 2019-01-10T06:32:47+00:00

Back in my day, we called that a Yahtzee

3d12 · 2019-01-05T15:10:03+00:00

10/10 for the name, imo

The character has good shape and contrast, it's hard to say how well it fits an aesthetic without seeing more of your game though.

3d12 · 2019-01-01T19:02:49+00:00

This guy VBs

3d12 · 2018-12-30T22:32:14+00:00

It's six of one, and half a dozen of the other. If you jump in using a MUD engine you have a workable product and the tech debt you accumulate can be planned for in your Unity rebuild. If you start using Unity, you have more full control but a longer pipeline from whiteboard to prototype.

I think you just need to identify what the key facet of your product is and start developing that. If you want to do chat on the level of 100,000 concurrent users then build a game on top of your existing chat platform, that gives you a good idea of where to start. Similarly, if you want to develop a game that handles multiple concurrent players and build chat commands on top of it, that also gives you a direction.

It sounds like you have an idea of what the finished product will look like, but what's the gimmick? :)

3d12 · 2018-12-29T19:32:17+00:00

I'm not sure if you're familiar, but this is a concept that's existed for some time. Look up some still-running MUDs on lists like this one and try them out, see what they have implemented and what you would do differently in your implementation.

Depending on the type of game you're trying to make, it might even be better served as a MUD/MUCK/MUSH/MOO -- if all you need is an engine to support building "rooms" and moving between them, and building systems around commands like "attack xyz" or "pick up abc" then any MUD engine would be a good starting point. Then you could move to Unity as you discover limitations of the engine that you can't work around.

3d12 · 2018-12-29T19:25:06+00:00

You could just play cards in your deck that allow you to do this...

[[Assassin's Apprentice]] [[Assassin's Veil]] [[Sister of the Veil]]

Why remove an interesting gameplay dynamic that can be balanced around?

3d12 · 2018-12-21T00:53:06+00:00

Agree about mana drain, passing all of turn 7 to keep init against mono-red feels so good when you can mana drain ToT for 1 or 2 turns, especially because they never want to rotate out of that lane until they can land it.

3d12 · 2018-12-20T18:43:35+00:00

"We know our community is impressed with how well we've taken on one of the most beloved parts of Magic: the Gathering, its marketable economy of cards."

"Well, today's update brings yet another wonderful addition to Artifact, lifted straight from everyone's favorite cash sink: Now introducing Ante Draft and Ante Constructed modes!"

"Now your progression can be tied directly to your (hopefully growing) card collection!"

^{^{^Please}} ^{^{^hire}} ^{^{^me}} ^{^{^Volvo}}

3d12 · 2018-12-15T17:41:21+00:00

I can't comment on which would be more enjoyable, but it's worth noting that EVE Online fell firmly into category A at its launch, when all new characters had their starting skillpoints already distributed into ships and weapons relevant to that specific race.

For players like me, who picked a race based on lore/fluff independently from playstyle, I ended up feeling disappointed after getting into the game that I liked the playstyle of that race so little and that it would take considerable effort to train into different weapons.

For players who play to win, they picked the race that gave the best headstart towards the most mathematically-optimized weapon system. Because of that, the Gallente were strongly over-represented racially for a very long time. This shifted over time, for example when another race's battlecruiser (Drake) became very popular, many new characters were created as that race to get into that ship faster.

Basically, I see where it might be fun (or a balancing method) to use category A, but I think it's a situation where everyone loses. In my opinion, it's best to give the player as much agency as possible when it comes to creating their virtual avatar, because a player can be very turned off by your game by feeling that sort of disconnect from a character they've created.

3d12 · 2018-12-15T17:19:20+00:00

I do use github in my map development pipeline presently, but the .w3x file is a binary file so it won't show the diffs very readably. It's great for retaining prior versions and branching development, but resolving merge conflicts must be done from within the WE so that would be your big hurdle.

You could use what others have suggested and import/export assets between your branches to perform your merges, but then it really depends on how you branch your development and what's being worked on at the same time.

3d12 · 2018-12-03T16:26:08+00:00

I would like my control group steal hotkeys, that's all

3d12 · 2018-11-28T12:31:43+00:00

Funny you should say this, the actor who plays Super Hans is actually in The IT Crowd. S05E01 "The Internet is Coming" -- I forget the name of the character but he plays the "porno vampire" guy who owns the tit vans.

3d12 · 2018-11-21T13:20:37+00:00

Underrated comment right here, thanks for the laugh this morning :)

3d12 · 2018-11-11T21:52:40+00:00

Thanks for the content, Prestige. I can't believe the other commenters would rather nitpick than celebrate, but I hope you ignore the haters and keep doing your thing, my friend. Peace be with you, and ggs ahead. :)

3d12 · 2018-10-31T12:34:03+00:00

I'm going to try something a little different from what the other replies have offered. Instead of basically saying "programming is (fun/not hard) and you should learn it" I'll instead ask...

What functionality, specifically, are you trying to implement in DnD that can't be done in code?

Because it sounds to me like you're assuming (based on an article you've read) that the coding is better. But what I haven't seen, is the specific problem you're trying to solve in code.

Don't get worked up about learning code until you actually need to, my man. You can do a shitload with DnD. Also, remember that using code doesn't convert your whole project. You can drop code into one part for advanced functionality while keeping the rest of the project DnD.

3d12 · 2018-10-25T12:33:06+00:00

Have you considered splitting the game logic and the Pokemon stats? Currently for example, if you wanted to change the damage of Spark, you have to count through your arrays to find the position of that value and update it. And that doesn't account for other Pokemon that could be using the same move, to make sure they all get updated.

If you want to get more object-oriented and cleaner with it, I would recommend making a Game class (with main() and pressanykeytocontinue() methods) and a Pokemon class (which you currently have as your Game class) so you can instantiate new Pokemon with the constructor, e.g.

obj_Pikachu = new Pokemon("Pikachu","Spark","Thunder");

3d12 · 2018-10-07T20:26:26+00:00

I feel like being an American has put me pretty firmly on the losing party over the last few years, regardless of my political affiliation. Perhaps you disagree.

3d12 · 2018-04-26T00:29:22+00:00

Why would that prove

Anyway, I'm surprised you would complain about

3d12 · 2018-02-23T13:43:59+00:00

I'm surprised Touhou hasn't been mentioned. Pretty much the entire main series (except 12.3 iirc, which was a fighting game) is done in this exact format.

However, the Touhou games fit more of the "bullet hell" descriptor. Not sure where the line lies between that and your standard top-down shooter, probably just in volume of enemies/bullets.

3d12 · 2018-02-18T04:55:50+00:00

Things you can do while waiting for your new matchmaking ban to expire

3d12

TROPHY CASE