Back to back play tests

Greetings every one!

For the past few days I - Matthew - have had a few play test sessions at my place. The first one pitted my friend Niko and our new 2D artist Chris against each other. The second had my wife Jenn and our friend Evan duke it out. Then lastly we had a friend Greg vs. Chris, our 2D artist.

This was a great series of play tests and I actually live tweeted all of them at @HalfHeartGames. I've decided to live tweet the matches so people could follow along, as questions in real time and generally see what goes on.

Haddy and I have made a bunch of changes to the cards, decks and the overall game. Some of the big changes include warping, Rank ability and Generation ability. Let me explain those a bit.

It used to be that if you warp you could move 1 flotilla anywhere on the map, but that would end your turn. It was and is the second thing you can do in your turn, the first being draw until you have 7 cards in hand. Now we changed it so that you can only warp a max of 3 spaces away from your original location. It still ends your turn and it still is the second thing you can do in your turn. We found that warping anywhere could result in a lot of  issues, making it impossible to capture that flotilla and games would last much longer.

Rank up is an ability for Humans that would allow that vessel to increase in power, defense and/or movement. It used to be that you'd pay X amount of resources to Rank up, but that didn't feel natural or keep with the theme of the game. So haddy had the great idea to make it experience based. In other words the X wouldn't be the amount of resources you pay, but rather how many turns the vessel needed to be in combat. The longer it was in combat the stronger it would get.

Generations is a new ability for the Machines that Haddy also came up with. This ability is similar to Rank up, but more machine themed. How it works is if a card has generation (X) on it then that means that vessel needs to be destroyed X amount of times. If you do destroy that vessel the required amount of times then it turns into the next iteration. So for example a card called Mark 1 needs to be destroyed 3 times. Once it does then it is replaced with Mark 2, which is stronger overall. It also has generations so it can turn into Mark 3, which is even stronger.

 The first play test with Nikos and Chris didn't last too long as Nikos was stuck at work longer than he expected. Some things you just can't avoid and getting paid is higher on the priority list than playing games.
But either way he did arrive and I taught Nikos and Chris the game and changes that were made. They never got to use the Rank up or Generation ability, but they did use the new warp mechanic and it worked very well. There were other changes that Haddy and I made that helped make the game move smoother and overall were more enjoyable. This includes while in combat you draw until you have 7 cards in hand, which was previously changed so that you only draw 1. However drawing 1 card felt too weird to people.
Overall Nikos and Chris had a good time, even if they didn't get to play a full game. Since then Nikos has been raving about the game and constantly pitches ideas to me. One in particular is pretty interesting in which a cache drop would appear on the map, which could make the players eager to fight over whats inside. However, I'm still trying to figure out what would be inside the cache. I'm thinking maybe some resources that would be added to your resource pool next turn.

In the end the two didn't get to play much and thus I got limited feedback. Some times this happens, but some play is better than no play. I also have another play tester eager to come back for more.

Yesterday October 17th I had two game sessions running. The first was with Evan who has played the game before, but several months ago. He faced off against my wife Jennifer who has been watching Fleet Calamity grow since the beginning, but doesn't get to play much. Following them was a match between Greg who has played the game multiple times but has severe ADHD and getting him to concentrate is difficult to say the least. He faced Chris who is becoming ever more active with Fleet Calamity and Half Hart Games as a whole.

Overall we got a lot of feed back and learned a bunch about the game. I'll just touch on a few points as this post is getting long.
To begin with Generations is too hard to achieve. It needs to be easier and that's something I'll be focusing on for next time.
There were a few OP cards that have since been nerfed with the help and suggestions of the testers.
Rank wasn't used much primarily because not many of the cards in the human deck used rank.
Overall the human deck had a bunch of issues and was viewed as generally being weak in comparison to the machine deck.
Same issue with the Squad ability as with the Rank ability. Not enough of it for it to really matter.

I could go into more detail, but this gives a pretty good overall tone of the tests. The testers all very much enjoyed the game overall and thought the mechanics and structure was solid. Their complaints were mostly about deck and card balances, which is to be very much expected with a card game.

Moving forward we will be really looking at the cards and how they are used, if they aren't used and which are used more than others as well as why.

In addition to the testing I have also been working more on GUI for the main game. I've been adding a few panels for upgrades and traps so the player can view what is on the field, flotilla or vessels at any time. More on this to come!


Take care and don't forget to follow us on twitter @HalfHeartGames or like us on facebook https://www.facebook.com/FleetCalamity?view_public_for=245019235659967

DevBlog - Update to UI, continuing to move forward

Well hello again!

Hope you guys are having a great October, things are flying by on my end, so many different things going on... so little time! Been quite busy ironing out issues with pieces of UI components that I've had a hard time finding documentation on. Although I was unable to find the documentation, I was able to figure out how to use the outline component on Unity3d, which allows me to give colored tints to alpha'd graphics that I'm importing. This is a great thing, as it will allow us to modify current graphics, verses, having to bring in additional assets if we just want to do a light tint for selection or modification effect.

Beyond this, Matthew and I have had some further discussion on dynamics of upgrade cards, and I've also implemented a new log menu that slides in and out. This menu will give further option for the user to interact with the other player while the game is being played, allow a user to follow up on actions that are being done real-time, and could even include a chat feature at some point.

I will be moving the turn system into a more global system that will allow the user to interact with the cards in different ways with the mouse for selection, open, and deletion, verses move slowly through different phases of the turn. I am also going to be updating the in-hand cards ultimately to be more on a carousel verses just a vertical pane, that will loop as the player interacts, and center the current card selected. Beyond this, I need to get head-deep into starting to develop all the interactions of the cards, as that is a big obstacle to get done for this game to be playable.

Take care!

-Haddy

Devblog - A focus on refining the GUI

Hello Calamitors!

Well, hope you guys are having a great week. This last week I've been down sick (thanks random person at the store coming to share your sickness with the world), so my update last week didn't happen, because my work didn't happen!

As Matthew and I work together, we gain focus and clarity on what needs to change and improve for the game... we've worked on some new styling and have come up with some better visuals for the game. As always, with any rework, means more rework on the development side!  I have started implementing a new home menu screen, utilizing some of the new designs Matthew and I worked together on. Here's a screenshot of the home screen as it stands... still working getting all the other elements imported and implemented (not a high priority right now):

On the bottom, you can see update text, this will scroll as the game has new announcements available from the development team. Other interfaces  will be implemented here for navigating the decks, entering games, etc.

In other news, we've revised a bunch of the GUI for in-game, it looks a ton better, but takes time to revise as some of the sizing and positioning changed a bit. As you can see below, a lot has changed, but a lot has improved as well:

There are still things that need to be accomplished to finish the update to the interface, but a lot of the tedious stuff is out of the way! There's also the addition of the battle log area that will be utilized for text based logging, tutorials and actionable battle items to allow further clarity and information displayed to the user. With this update, the Flotilla GUI actually has been broken apart, so now I can implement custom GUI's for each ship, verses just a generic one across all Flotilla.

The next thing I will be focusing on is the rest of the players turn as the interface responds to his/her actions, then it will be on to getting cards performing actions during the turn (placing traps, etc). Got a lot to accomplish if we want to have a playable version next month!

-Haddy

Menu and GUI designs!

Hello, Hello!

Once again I'm happy to share with you all the awesome work we have done since our last post!

As of late Haddy and I took a good look at our GUI and thought of ways to improve it, make it more unique and visually pleasing. So away with the glows! Instead we added more textures to our designs and gave things more of an implied shape. But why simply tell when I can show?

 As you can see we added in the new card design, showing both an open and closed version of it. The cards would cycle as if on a wheel and the one you have open would adjust itself to the center and allow you to view it. Of course we'd allow the card to shift to the center of the screen and enlarge to allow you to easily see the card and read its description.

We also altered the flotilla HUD. Here we added those textures and gave it a more implied form, but the overall design was left untouched.

As for when in combat, there are two flotilla HUDs at the bottom of the screen. Currently they are represented by the Civilian ship and Resource ship, but in the game they would be whatever flotilla isn't currently in combat.
In addition, we added a vessel HUD. This small piece shows the vessels attack, defense and movement values. Any player can check out these values while in combat for any vessel, so you know what you are up against and thus can plan your strategy.

Finally we have another new addition, the "Battle log" and "Reaction button". These are newly designed to allow a player to react to any play in real time. If I set a trap and you wanted to react to it - to, lets say, nulify the effect- you'd hit the react button. It would then slide out the battle log and you'd select the instance in which you'd like to react to. A prompt would appear and ask what would you like to do. You'd play a card as normal while the other player is paused.

While reacting you'd have a set amount of time to make your move. This is to make sure a player doesn't pause your turn then leave for hours while you sit around. Instead they will have 30 seconds to react after selecting the instance they wish to react to.

Lets continue onto another part of the menu system. Let me introduce you to the Main Menu. The start up screen and what you'll be introduced to when beginning Fleet Calamity.

At the top right you once again have your options menu for sound, exiting the game and the like.

Next to the options menu is your 'Binder'. This will show you all the cards you have collected from all factions. It will also have empty spots for all the cards you haven't collected to show how many you still have to go to for those completionists out there.

Below these buttons is the "Begin battle" window. Here you can either find a match or host a match.
Finding a match will pop up the right side window labeled "Find a match". Here you'll be able to choose which opponent to battle. At the top there are several categories to base your decision on. First we have "Faction" which just shows what faction the player is using for their cards. Second is the "Win/Lose" section. This shows how many battles the player has won or lost, obviously. Next is the "Rating". This shows how well the player is liked by the community. This is a section we are still planning out, but basically the idea is that after a match you can either "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" a players. After so many thumbs in either direction their rating would go up or down. If a player is a good sport, plays by the rules, doesn't harass you or anything like that then maybe you'll give them a thumbs up to show appreciation. If they collect so many their rating will turn to "Positive" from "Neutral". If the player harasses you by constantly reacting to everything you do, but doesn't play anything, or cheats in some manner, or otherwise treats you poorly then you can give a thumbs down and eventually their rating would turn to "Negative". However, you don't have to rate people if you don't wish to. It's all optional.
And finally, of course, there is ping.

Next we have the Host a match section of "Begin battle". This will allow you to host a private match with your friend or a public match to allow you to wait for some one to join you in a game.

Then we have the "Deck editor" window. This allows you to build a new deck from scratch, open a deck you have saved or delete a deck you have saved.  Opening or creating a new deck will bring you to the Deck Editor, while deleting will keep you at the Main Menu.

Lastly at the very bottom of the screen there is a news feed which will inform the player of any updates, bug fixes, additions, or whatever the case may be. To the left of the news feed the current date will be displayed.

That should sum up the majority of what we've been working on. We've also had a few meetings discussing card and making sure they fit the games ideas, moods and direction the best they can while also being interesting, easy to understand and make the game even more fun. And of course we've been on the look out for more 2D artists to help with the card art. If you know any one who might be interested in helping us make card art, please send em our way.

Don't forget to follow us on twitter @HalfHeartGames or like us on facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/FleetCalamity
We'd be happy to hear from you!

DevBlog - New Home Interface & GUI updates

Hello all,

I hope you guys have been enjoying your September, I can't believe October is almost upon us! I've been quite busy, doing many different things, but one of those is working on our game! Some of the things I've been working on are hard to show (behind the scenes programming stuff), but some of it is apparent in the interface. I have made a video overviewing the changes below.

If you prefer to read about it (highly unlikely), I'll overview some of what's been going on here and there. One of the main things I've been focusing on is reusable elements within the interface, as well as improving our user interfaces. Matthew and I have been going back and forth, sharing ideas and going through iterations of UI elements, to bring you guys a nice looking user interface. We have created the confirmation window that I think goes a long way to showing you where our user interface is going... I'm very happy with it!

 

I used the confirmation dialog menu to make up the design for our new main menu as well:



Behind this, I developed the functionality behind discarding, working with a players deck, confirming a players choice to continue, and a lot of other things related to ensuring that proper cards are selected, discarded, and not used until the deck is reshuffled.

We've also gone over some changes to the UI interface for various areas of the project, to make things easier, more readable and more professional looking. We will be incorporating these changes to the interface in weeks to come.

Lots of small tedious things to do some simple things on the interface, but really a lot of stuff that just has to get written to go to the next phase.

I also have been discussing different game dynamics with Matthew and we're making a ton of progress on making decisions and moving forward with the game as a whole. We have some more discussions planned for looking at Trap and Upgrade cards this next week. I plan on continuing the menu system process, getting things coded so that we have a working menu, transition to the game, and start planning out the next phase of the player's turn. After that I will be delving into getting all the cards playable within the game.

Thanks for tuning in, I hope you enjoyed this update. I am hoping to update here (as long as there's enough content) every Wednesday.

Take care!