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Velociryx
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of Candle'Bre
Apr 1999
time: 05:19
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Hey guys....just taking another "Save Vel's Eyeballs" break...had some Photoshop ideas I was 'sperimenting with...fun stuff!
Anyway, Stoo's right on the money re: his comments about the differences between the free and commercial versions of the game. I just figured since I had a minute, I'd hop into the discussion and do some posting, cos...well, I'm addicted to it...LOL
On the question of time spent discussing the Commercial version vs. the Freebie:
Yes and no. On the one hand, as others beat me to saying, a lot of what we want to see in the free version is already pretty much decided on...'s just a matter of implementation. On the other, much of what will GO into the free version is a scaled down version of what'll be in the commercial release (example, only one "church" and religious influence in the free release, vs. a fleshed out magic system based around an entire pantheon in the commercial release, three tech trees with ten levels of research in each in the free version, a much bigger tech tree in the commercial release (exact size to be determined as we get closer), 3 provincial builds per province in the demo, 10 in the commercial release, 250 Fate Events (or thereabouts) in the demo, 500+ in the commercial release...so, in large part, the mechanics that make the game tick won't change all that much, they will simply be vastly expanded upon.
However, having said that, there ARE some things (tactical combat resolution, to use but one example) that were discussed here for the commercial release, but which REALLY add something to the game. If possible, that's something I'd like to see added into the free release, at least in some form, and I'll approach the code and art groups to see what all that will entail (shouldn't be tooooo bad, and the original combat resolution we discussed WAS tactical in its nature, and later changed to strategic, but given it's popularity, I'm pretty solidly sold on switching back to our original vision...)...so, all that to say that having now taken the game out of the environment where it was just a smallish group kicking ideas around and putting it under the close scrutinty of a much larger group has led to discussions and ideas and branches that we hadn't thought of...some of those branches might find their way into the free release, and if even ONE of them does, then our discussions about what would be cool to see in a game like this (even if we're couching that thinking in terms of a commercial release) will have yielded a good crop, IMO.
As to the question re: coding....hopefully a respectable amount. We designed the game with scalability in mind from day one, cos we knew we were shooting for a simplified version of the game initially, to be fleshed out later (as we gained experience). The hope is that what we design now will bear the weight of that fleshing out when we're ready to proceed in that direction, and I'm thinking it will. So essentially, the game mechanics will all be the same, tech implementation will be the same, just expanded, religious effects will be handled in more or less the same way, there'll just be more options....so yeah, I have high hopes that we'll find a goodish sum of the code base re-usable....don't know tho...as a non-programmer, that may be wishful thinking on my part.
As to how good the demo has to be....depends on what part of the equation you're looking at. If you compare the CB project to similar Sourceforge projects, if we get our game running AT ALL, in any form, and if the graphics are on par with, say, "Pac-Man," we'll be right up there with a lot of peer projects on Source Forge. What we're trying to do is simply beyond the scope of anything else currently out there (or at least of the 485 similar projects I researched).
For me personally, the goal is to create a free version with enough depth and quality to do two things:
1) To wow the folks at Slashdot, Sourceforge, and Apolyton by creating an MP game that proves to be addicting in that "just one more turn" kinna way
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2) To demonstrate the concept of Candle'Bre adequately, showcase our design, artistic, and programming talents, and give some indication of where we're heading for the commercial release.
Those two things being said, the free version is going to have at least a few coats of spit and polish on it. Not AAA (to borrow the rating system from one of the excellent articles GP pointed out), but heads and shoulders above what most folks have come to expect from Indie groups in general.
-=Vel=-
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29-05-2002 10:53
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