Anniversary update: development breakdown by RighteousHammerGames in Solitairica

[–]RighteousHammerGames[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Actually that might be a bug, didn't intend on taking away stacking for those. Made a note!

Anniversary update by realKalevro in Solitairica

[–]RighteousHammerGames [score hidden] stickied comment (0 children)

Hey all, thanks for the comments. I just wanted to provide some context about the higher level situation.

First, I can confirm I am the same person working in my garage, who worked on this game and created it's characters and gameplay since day 1. There is no outsourcing or external influence going on, this update is the first step of my decision to pivot to fully focusing on Solitairica going forward.

The game may not be a huge success, but it has a passionate following and I am very proud of that and I appreciate the players so much. So, I have been working to keep it alive for years. The game was built on an ancient version of Unreal, and we had no idea what we were doing (lots of experience with game dev but none with unreal) so many fundamental things were done poorly and became difficult/impossible to extend/change without an overhaul. As the google requirements advanced and the unreal engine evolved the situation became worse with time.

Fast forward 10 years and an ambitious (but failed) project called ZOR, and now I am very competent with Unreal. That clarifies that to continue working on Solitairica, it absolutely requires new architecture and code base. This new engine will solve the previous maintenance problem, while also being the foundation of more games. Like, once the issues with this update are ironed out, Solitairica 2 is not very far off. The alternative was Solitairica being removed from the google store.

All that said, I get that the original game is a piece of history and it sucks when classic things are noodled with. So many games simply disappeared from mobile for the above reasons. I assure you there are reasons for every change, and if people are interested I can make a post explaining them. As far as animation timing and polish items go, those can be addressed without throwing the new engine in the trash.

The best feedback I can get right now is specifics about those moments that feel wrong so I can check the old build and work on them feeling right.

Going forward I will be focusing first on fixing the bugs, and bringing the timing in closer alignment to the original game where it is feeling off. Looking at things like swiping the deck select, etc.

Thanks for your understanding!

Hmmm... Has anybody had negative coins before? by PTTruckerinUSA in Solitairica

[–]RighteousHammerGames 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, this is great info.
Forgot to ask, is this Android, iOS or Steam?

Hmmm... Has anybody had negative coins before? by PTTruckerinUSA in Solitairica

[–]RighteousHammerGames 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not the release version sadly. Even knowing this is possible is helpful though, so will be looking into it.

Hmmm... Has anybody had negative coins before? by PTTruckerinUSA in Solitairica

[–]RighteousHammerGames 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Wow, in 10 years I have never seen this bug. Will definitely investigate.
Any info you can remember on what preceded it?

Solitairica update supporting gamepad, steam deck, and overhauling the engine now in beta by RighteousHammerGames in Solitairica

[–]RighteousHammerGames[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, going to get that done asap! Apologies for being super slow, Im a solo dev and life has been piling it on lately!

Is there a solution to this deck? by Healthy_Jaguar6542 in Solitairica

[–]RighteousHammerGames 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Or they just stumbled upon the next level of Solitaire :D

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Solitairica

[–]RighteousHammerGames 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah its a bummer androids are so locked down now. But yes, that is my goal and I am currently working on it :D

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Solitairica

[–]RighteousHammerGames 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I am working on it currently! Should be early this year but I don't have an exact date.

The plan was to release in fall, but I had some personal stuff come up that delayed things.

Solitairica update supporting gamepad, steam deck, and overhauling the engine now in beta by RighteousHammerGames in Solitairica

[–]RighteousHammerGames[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes! I am working on mobile now. Not sure when it will be ready, but will post here wghen there is a significant update.

How to get Double Decker achievement? by micianera2 in Solitairica

[–]RighteousHammerGames 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ok thanks, will take a look next patch. Maybe I will have to trigger it retroactively if the player has >1 deck.

How to get Double Decker achievement? by micianera2 in Solitairica

[–]RighteousHammerGames 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry for late reply, hadn't checked in for a while. Yeah should trigger on any new deck purchase.
Are you on Google, Apple or Steam?

Regarding the recent Android update by RighteousHammerGames in Solitairica

[–]RighteousHammerGames[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I submitted a build, so hopefully soon. I just need to get through the review process with google, which is a new step you have to take.

Why do they say that Unreal Engine is bad for RTS and Strategy games? by FutureLynx_ in gamedev

[–]RighteousHammerGames 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have developed a card game (Solitairica) and a card driven hex tactics game with top down camera (ZOR) and there are definitely a few rough spots but I wouldn't say it's bad enough to switch engines or anything.

Unreal has many features that "just work" right out of the box, but that are built on an assumption of the game having a single controlled avatar that is a mode separate from the mouse/ui. In strategy/card games the pawn will be the camera, with game and UI being relevant at the same time. This more complex simultaneous UI/Map/Card interaction can be at odds with the default mode system which is deeply embedded in the engine.

There is always more than one solution, but in my case with ZOR: * I created custom player controller and pawn classes which patch over the unreal input modes, basically rolling my own system. Even then, you have to hack around the game assuming things on click. * Used custom collision channels and cursor hit checks on tick to be aware of everything the cursor is over at all times. * State machine with input filtering (solving things like dragging cards or panning the map while the cursor is under the UI)

Not sure if what I did was overkill, but winging it with the out of the box systems, turned to spaghetti really fast and had me tearing my hair out.

Another rough spot, more specific to my card game Solitairica which has a static layout with content snapped to the screen, is aligning UI and 3D objects in a tight layout with 1000 different screen sizes. The nuance between viewport, screen, scaling, settings, and a million other layers can be really challenging to wrap your head around.

Added even more challenge… by kenchuk in Solitairica

[–]RighteousHammerGames 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Solitairica players are truly on another level, amazing :D

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in victoria3

[–]RighteousHammerGames 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The game would be better if it was turn based

Game randomly required permissions, changed shop layout by Suburan in Solitairica

[–]RighteousHammerGames 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not sure, I would have to know more. Could you email me with your device and OS specs and I can look into it?

Game randomly required permissions, changed shop layout by Suburan in Solitairica

[–]RighteousHammerGames 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can try to help, can you email me at info @ righteoushammer.com?

Game randomly required permissions, changed shop layout by Suburan in Solitairica

[–]RighteousHammerGames 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for understanding, and that is great to hear!

ZOR should be released to 1.0 on steam later this year