BattleBoard - Top Down, Turn Based 1v1 Battle
An updated build may be found here:
https://isyx.itch.io/battleboard
A very early look at a project I am playing with. Just got the path-finding all sorted out and thought I'd give it a show.
You can find a short video demo here:
https://isyx.itch.io/battleboard
A very early look at a project I am playing with. Just got the path-finding all sorted out and thought I'd give it a show.
You can find a short video demo here:
Devlog#1.png
1920 x 1080 - 3M
Thanked by 1konman
Comments
Also I see no fighting happening, is that right? For a "battle sim" I think some battling would be a great thing to start modeling sooner than later?
Based on the vids... I'm curious to feel how it plays, so keen to play a build once you've got something to share.
Depots for storing and distributing ammo and parts.
Repair stations for damaged vehicles.
TOW launchers for heavy anti-armour.
Mortars for long-range engagements.
Am currently working on getting the supply chain mechanics in place, and figuring out a good way to execute how reinforcements are used.
A short-ish video of the current state of the game.
Next I want to get all the command buttons functioning. The command options are split into two categories; Tactical (Bombing run, missile strike, artillery, surveillance drone and a supply drop)
and Reinforcement ships. Once that's up and running I should have something somewhat playable to post as well.
Also, this is my first real attempt at programming AI and am wondering if anybody here knows of some good books/videos that I should look at to help get me started. I'm actually quite excited to get into it, seems like one hell of a challenge to get it right. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
I'm looking forward to giving this game a try for myself!
Thank you for showing interest in the game! As soon as I've got this AI working a bit better I'll post a build.
https://isyx.itch.io/battleboard
[-]The UI is overwhelming, everything is huge, everything has huge amounts of padding to the point of being uncomfortable.
[-]Making the game turn based and then giving the player a turn timer is counter-intuitive.
[-]I see no reason for the player to wait for the AI to make a turn for the same amount of time the player gets.
[-]Game mixes real time and turn based concepts, for instance, units have travel time during the turn.
[-]Controls are somewhat awkward, it takes 3 clicks to make a move, a simple right click would do the trick.
[-]Scale feels off, everything from UI to default zoom level is huge, feels like it could be a mobile game.
[-]You should decide if you want this to be a turn based game or a real time one and stick to the conventions of the genre.
My high-level thoughts are that this feels like the sort of game I might enjoy. It feels strategic already and I imagine it would be really satisfying to out think & maneuver your opponent by using a few turns to position and then unleashing a hell storm. It's not there yet (for me) and there's a lot of friction which made me resist trying to play more rounds.
Notes I jotted down while playing:
- I got really excited to see that I deploy my units on land from the boats.
- Moving out of the ships was intuitive with the right click and green indicators for where I could unload .... however moving the units was way more complicated and I had to jump out of the game to see how to do it. Even after playing for 20mins, moving still isn't intuitive. I see you mentioned a move hotkey but there's already so much else going on that I didn't feel I had mental space to start learning hotkeys.
- I wish the enemy turns could be sped up, especially when I cant see any enemies. Waiting for 30 seconds while nothing happens was dull.
- Firing from units was really unintuitive for me. Seeing "HE x 0" made me think that my unit had x0 ammo... so I spent a while trying to use trucks to refill or load ammo in my tanks. Eventually I saw on your itch page that you can mouse scroll up to increase that number but there's no way to figure that out.
- I felt quite overwhelmed white playing. There's a lot of units with different abilities, there's no indication of how many / far enemies there are, different weapon types per unit, abilities during your opponents turn, lots of UI on the screen with different buttons and indicators. All of that added up and just made me feel generally overwhelmed. Perhaps adding a few smaller maps and introducing 1-2 units on each map would help this?
- The UI seems to get hidden by the fog, which was really frustrating. I used a spy plane to see behind fog, lined up a really good bombing line and just as I tried to click confirm the fog returned and I wasn't able to see / click confirm on my bombs. Made me sad.
- I agree with critic that taking 3 clicks to make a move feels way too heavy. I wondered if left-click to select, right-click on map tile would work? If player right-clicks on an empty tile ... move there. If right-click on a house/enemy attack.
I sense that a lot of thought and love has gone into the systems for this game, which made me want to play more.
I've started working towards fixing a lot of the issues/problems with the game in its current state. I am hoping to find an artist next year to help me replace my shitty attempts at game art and UI design.
I am also finishing up a hint system for the game that displays dialog boxes with descriptions of the different buttons and icons in the game and also some general game-play hints. This will definitely be in the next update.
The controls for manipulating units are being tweaked and the ability to customize your keys/controls is being added. For now "X" and "C" are the main keys for controlling your units. Moving units is as simple as tapping "X" twice - now I just have to get that information to the player or set it up to be more intuitive. Hopefully giving the player control of their inputs will help me get this working much more smoothly.
Also, the player is able to end turns at almost any time. Hovering over the timer with the mouse will display an arrow icon, clicking that will end the turn. During your turn you can do this at any time, during the opponent turn a green indicator on the timer signals that the turn can be ended. There is no need to wait (bored) for the time to run down. That being said, if you are engaged in combat then the AI may take longer to complete all of its actions and this option won't become available. Out of combat , the AI should take about 15-20 seconds to complete its move, then its up to you if you want to switch to the next turn. Again tho, I need to find a good way to get that information to the player while in the game.
Another feature I'm testing in the game is enemy spotting. Enemy units that are revealed by flares or drones etc. will have a last known position indicator shown thru the fog. I was hoping to have this working a long time ago but got a little sidetracked. I think scouting the board and identifying enemy positions as a pretty vital mechanic and I should have that in the game within a couple weeks. This should be helpful when planning your moves instead of just guessing as to enemy strength/location.
Thank you again for actually playing the game! Hopefully it wasn't too frustrating and you'll give it another go sometime in the future.
Here's a bit of gameplay from the current build.
A quick overview of the changes made:
Reworked the turn system into a squad based one. The player is now able to form squads with the units of their choosing before the match begins.
Removed movement points. All unit actions now only require action points.
Command cards may now be dropped into the turn list via insertion points at any point during the match.
Reinforcements are now assigned to a squad before being deployed.
There is now an option to set UI scale.
Moved the project from GM:S 1.4 into GMS 2.
Updated the particle controller to handle all explosions. Still a bit buggy as some effects may fail to appear as expected.
Reworked unit stats display and alerts.
Set new baselines for units (damage, movement speed, action costs, view range, action range, damage received, movement range, etc).
Increased base tick rate of actions.
Increased base movement speed of all units.
There is still millions of work to be done before I think it will be in a state that I am happy with, but this is a step closer.
A very short video of the current state of the game:
And the Itch.io link if you'd like to give it a go:
https://isyx.itch.io/battleboard
Hi @Isyx01, this reminds me so much of games like CC: Gateway to Caen which I have enjoyed a lot in the past and there certainly is a niche, I think.
I do find I am bouncing off the extreme grid like map a little bit TBH. Have you ever considered using more natural terrain with a grid overlay perhaps?
Awhile ago I experimented with a prototype using satelite maps etc from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) website. Information there resides in the public domain and may be used without restriction.
Not sure if you'd be interested in that style for your game, but I thought I'd mention it as an alternative. Hope I don't offend as it is completely subjective.
Excellent work so far. It looks super cool!
I really like the way the terrain looks in Hangar 18, it also reminds me of Close Combat. I hope I can achieve a similar result. Hangar 18 was a blast too! The map looks great and it's a pretty good size, I flew around quite a bit wishing for more. I did chuckle that an Airman Basic was the pilot, they never let me fly a Warthog when I was an Airman Basic!
Anyways, thanks again for taking the time to give feedback. It is much appreciated, and I'll try and put it to good use.