P-DEX Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 VJim's post got me thinking... On the crashed UFO maps, do you guys plan to incorporate different levels of smoke? By this I mean traveling to a freshly shot down UFO would cause more smoke to be displayed in and around the craft as opposed to, say, waiting a day or two then there being little smoke or damage? I remember the old XCOM days when I would waste a scout ship and send in the troops, land, then there being nothing but dead Sectoids (save one or two), a totally wrecked alien ship (where I was lucky if I got a few scraps of 'alien alloys'), and a whole lotta smoke around the crashed UFO, which could cause some tense moments when you can't see through it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted February 29, 2012 Author Share Posted February 29, 2012 Regarding smoke, we'll have to see. It'd be nice to add it, but I think we'd need a less thick smoke animation than what we currently have...it'd fall into a general effort to add animated tiles to the game, which we'd only do after the normal tiles are added first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellstormer Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 The crashed UFO looks really amazing - things are shaping up very well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P-DEX Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 Regarding smoke, we'll have to see. It'd be nice to add it, but I think we'd need a less thick smoke animation than what we currently have...it'd fall into a general effort to add animated tiles to the game, which we'd only do after the normal tiles are added first. Thanks for the response and explanation, Chris! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost1082 Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 Hey all!! The new build looks awesome!! Love the crashed ufo, great touch. And the rest of the mechanics are really coming along! Havent been too active on the forums lately due to a lot of new projects / crunch times... but still check in every now and then Cant wait to see the final release! Keep up the good fight Chris... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeraan Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 About the crashed ufo, will it be always on the grass tiles? No damaged buildings/roads that it passed through while crashing? I realize that it might make things a bit more complicated, but I think it'd be possible. Have the map be pre-populated, then plot a "collision" course through the map, and apply "destroyed" state to the tiles that intersect with the collision course. Then blend the "rubble" tile around the ufo with the tiles underneath, so it's not restricted to just grass tiles. It'd be pretty cool to see a warehouse with a gaping hole from the crashed ufo. Or an ufo partially inside a building. In any case, the art is fantastic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorlom Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 I'm guessing that you have to create the submaps in the "crash path" to have partially destroyed buildings from the start, and that you cant alter the maps after generateing them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anotherdevil Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 About the crashed ufo, will it be always on the grass tiles? No damaged buildings/roads that it passed through while crashing? Would have to. Apart from the farm tiles and maybe the city (in a park) all other maps would use something different. grass tiles would make no sense in the desert, or snow, etc. Personally I would be happy with the UFO crashed on the road, but some of the bigger would have to go through a building IMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeraan Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 Would have to. Apart from the farm tiles and maybe the city (in a park) all other maps would use something different. grass tiles would make no sense in the desert, or snow, etc. Personally I would be happy with the UFO crashed on the road, but some of the bigger would have to go through a building IMO What I mean is that instead of having both ground and ufo art composed together, they'd be split so the game can use different terrain with the same "crashed ufo" art. So if it's snow, then just use snow tile under the crashed art. But it can make it look funny in some cases, might be just better off creating different art combinations by hand to make it look nice. As for destroyed buildings, the code is already there for tile destruction by weapons. The game could plot a collision vector, the size of ufo, then apply the "destroyed" state to tiles that intersect with the vector, and "damaged" state to surrounding tiles. The problem will be adding the collision vector, but I don't think it'd be too much of a problem. Anyway, I apologize about getting off-topic, this isn't the suggestions forum Back to the awesomeness of the new art! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorlom Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 Zeeran you have to remember that this game is essentially 2D. I am not sure you can plot a vector in it the way you want to =S. As far as I know the "target" or UFO is a submap of it's own. That would mean that the UFO isnt placed on other tiles unless you could place 2 submaps ontop of each other... which I dont see the point of except for the target and entry (chinook) submaps. I'm assuming that Chris simply does a version for every tileset. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeraan Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 Zeeran you have to remember that this game is essentially 2D. I am not sure you can plot a vector in it the way you want to =S.As far as I know the "target" or UFO is a submap of it's own. That would mean that the UFO isnt placed on other tiles unless you could place 2 submaps ontop of each other... which I dont see the point of except for the target and entry (chinook) submaps. I'm assuming that Chris simply does a version for every tileset. I know the game's 2D. What I meant is that you can take a line drawing algorithm that plots a line to pixels, and use it to plot the course of destruction in the map. You set a start point, and a end point, for each of the UFO's front tiles (i.e. if it's 8 tiles wide, do 8 lines), and apply the destroyed state to tiles that intersect this line. Then add a line to either side and apply damaged state to tiles that intersect. You can convert it to use three dimensions (x, y, height), since the map isn't just 1 tile tall, then it'll be possible to have the ufo scratch the top of a building while crashing. It was just an suggestion, one that I don't think will be too difficult to implement. However I'm a developer myself, so I can understand how a simple thing may be actually very complex to implement under the hood, so if this don't work due to how things are done internally, no problem. I thought it'd add a nice touch, seeing the destruction that the ufo wrought on its crash, not just on the ground, but on the nearby buildings as well. Yeah, it'd be more practical and aesthetic to just have a version for each tileset. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted March 4, 2012 Author Share Posted March 4, 2012 Yup, doing it in a code manner is actually quite a lot harder than just getting the artist to do a different variant for each of the tilesets, so we'll be doing that for simplicity's sake. We might have some maps where the UFO has hit a building, but they have to be pre-designed in advance otherwise the damage to the building won't look realistic (as custom damaged tiles would be required for realism purposes). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorlom Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 btw Chris. the current scout is in a northwest faceing direction while the new crashed scout seems to be in south west faceing direction... How many directions will the scout (and the rest of the UFOs) be able to face? all 8? or undamaged face one direction and damaged face one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted March 6, 2012 Author Share Posted March 6, 2012 All UFOs will face either SW or SE as the doors are on the front. Undamaged ones can face in either direction, but crashed ones will only ever face in one direction per tileset (although they'll face in different directions on different tilesets). It's not possible to do it any other way without massive duplication of art assets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeraan Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 All UFOs will face either SW or SE as the doors are on the front. Undamaged ones can face in either direction, but crashed ones will only ever face in one direction per tileset (although they'll face in different directions on different tilesets). It's not possible to do it any other way without massive duplication of art assets. Isn't it possible to flip the tile art in-game so it'll face the other direction? SW could be flipped to face SE? Add a boolean value to each tile indicating whether or not that tile art is flipped, and have the code handle that value, then I think you're set. Unless there's problems with this method? Edit: I just realized, if it's due to lighting/shadows that's pre-drawn, then flipping it would look funny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spencer Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 Looks sick as hell. Awesome! I can't wait for the new update. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RavenX Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 Does fawning over the crashed UFO art and pretty much ignoring the rest of the update mean we're superficial? Yes....yes it does..LoL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peren Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Hey Chris, I don't know where to put this, but my browser is detecting malware on your site again. It only happens when I click on the large pictures on the front screen. (The ones that change) Just thought you should know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gauddlike Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Avast is doing the same thing, just checked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheTuninator Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Yup, I get one too when I click on the "Protect Humanity" art. Really sucks that people seem intent on messing up your site, I hope that you can get this resolved soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slippery Jim Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 Yup, I get one too when I click on the "Protect Humanity" art. Really sucks that people seem intent on messing up your site, I hope that you can get this resolved soon! Odd, Avast isn't complaining for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gauddlike Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 Mine is also no longer coming up with the warning on any of the pages that I have tried. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted March 16, 2012 Author Share Posted March 16, 2012 Hmmm. Keep me posted if you see any more error messages. Only thing I've done recently is asked Google to rescan my site for malicious code, as they seemed to have out of date records for their warnings. Maybe that was what was triggering Avast? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheTuninator Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 Warnings aren't triggering for me anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kilrathi Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Any update on a potential Kickstarter campaign? Seems like videogame Kickstarters are getting a lot of buzz these days, with Double Fine and now Wasteland 2 (and smaller projects like FTL and the Banner Saga) doing well. Might be a good time to jump on the bandwagon while Kickstarter is still getting a lot of buzz in the gaming community - I'd think a lot of old school gamers who are keeping on eye on Kickstarter due to Wasteland 2 or Double Fine would be drawn in by the X-Com links, too. I'd be happy to lend a hand with the campaign is there's anything I can do! -Kilrathi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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