Necromunda PC game project - input appreciated

[NightFall]

Just a quick update to show early version of the gangsheet. Everything is using listboxes at the moment but it works, at least. The functionality is there. From a gang saved to file.

I know the interface needs a lot of work.

Any comments?
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Necromunda homebrew videogame project. Comments appreciated.

[SharkForce]

CHFAJPUL?

anyways, i don't see this as needing that much work. i'm guessing the two empty boxes below the ganger information are where injuries and skills would go, right? (and the exp and cost boxes would need headings too, and presumably an overall ganger rating and a gang rating box at some point, but one step at a time i suppose )

also, i'm assuming that damage and cost are not the only stats that the weapons have (or at least, that the weapons will have eventually?)

other than that, if you were to just make it a bit more dark, it would probably actually look just about right. certainly good enough to release the game with, imo (if you wanted to patch the game later to look more awesome, that wouldn't be bad, i just don't see it being incredibly necessary).

definitely looking forward to this are you planning to support multiplayer and single player modes, or just one or the other (i don't know whether multiplayer would be easier because you wouldn't have to program AI, or if singleplayer would be easier because you don't have to deal with networking stuff)

[NightFall]

[Bongo_clive]

Yep, this has to be one of my all time wishes!

X-Com is my favourite game, and if it could work for Necromunda, I would have a wet dream.

Is there any scope for using the code form X-Com? Modding that?

[screamingabdab]

oh yeah a Necromunda game using the X-Com/UFO basis would be super fine
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All we are is all we've ever done.

[kestersmith]

Have you considered releasing just the gang sheet/gang creation as a separate 'game'. I dont ever use paper gang sheets anymore, I have it all in excel but a full database that calculated everything and displayed all my information would be even better.

So yeah, even before you finish your full game, having access to a fully comprehensive gang roster program would be awesome.

[NightFall]

[kestersmith]

Sweet.

[Gen.Steiner]

[NightFall]

[NightFall]

OK so I procrastimated rather and messed around with the gangsheet interface rather than have to think about hard code things.

More space, more labels, 'better' colours, more weapon details displayed. Also a slightly higher res pic so the text is more readable:


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Necromunda homebrew videogame project. Comments appreciated.

[Ciabs]

I'm really really interested in this project, wheter it'll end being a full blown necromunda videogame, or even just an eletronic gang roster on steroids;

we're in 2010, and I must say this game never got the software attention it deserved (be it a online-playable version, or some database stuff or else), and finally Nightfall is trying to rectify these wrongs...

keep up the good work, I really look forward to see your project finished..!

[NightFall]

Hi all,

Since I've not updated in a month, I thought I'd just make a post to say that work has continued on the project, albeit more slowly. Also a lot of the work has been behind-the-scenes type stuff (consolidation, removal of duplicate code etc.) that's not really going to be evident to the user. I have done some work around the post-battle sequence, though- collecting income from territories etc.

Anything to avoid the horror of 3D line of sight calculation. Not entirely sure how I'm going to handle that
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Necromunda homebrew videogame project. Comments appreciated.

[SharkForce]

there is math wherein if you have 2 points, you can determine the formula of the line that goes between those 2 points, is there not?

just pick an arbitrary 3 spots on each model i would say (say, feet or just above, center of mass, and head) and if you're feeling really ambitious you could put a couple to either side (if you want to go really crazy, you could put one at each and every joint, form an outline, so to speak) and then just draw a line from the attacking model's gun to each point you wanted to test against on the defending model.

i suppose the trickier part is checking if it goes through anything, right? you should be able to use similar math to test whether your lines intersect various objects... such as planes (mathematical planes, that is). like the ones that combine to form objects people might take cover from.

alternately, you could try a simpler 'hack'; barriers provide 1 extra level of cover per level below, or 1 less level of cover per level above. then just tell the program what terrain pieces provide what cover, and you only have to use 2-dimensional math. since the areas are what provide cover, just draw the line, and check if it passes through any 'square' that provides cover. it won't be quite as accurate (you're almost guaranteed to wind up with some weird situations where someone has more or less cover than they should) but i think it should be less of a challenge to design. obviously you'd have to also make floors and ceilings provide cover from shots on different levels only though.

you could also include a button that allows the players to agree on a proper level of cover for a given shot (for multiplayer mode, both would have to agree) that overrides the algorithm-derived level of cover, and let human judgement deal with the worst of the errors (after all, human judgement is how it would be handled in actual games anyways)

[NightFall]

The way it's going to work is:

1. The entire game environment is divided up into a number of cells. Like a giant rubix cube.
2. Each of these cells can contain an ID that refers to a terrain item, character etc.
3. Each terrain item includes a field that stipulates how much cover it provides.
4. If character A shoots at character B, I need to trace a line between their respective cells, note which cells it passes through, check if they contain terrain items and, if so, adjust the chance to hit accordingly.

It's doable, just tricky having to constantly translate screen x,y co-ords to tile index to environment x,y,z co-ords. Basically, it's the only bit of the project that's really maths heavy, and maths isn't my thing.
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Necromunda homebrew videogame project. Comments appreciated.