Heroes of Might and Magic Community
visiting hero! Register | Today's Posts | Games | Search! | FAQ/Rules | AvatarList | MemberList | Profile


Age of Heroes Headlines:  
5 Oct 2016: Heroes VII development comes to an end.. - read more
6 Aug 2016: Troubled Heroes VII Expansion Release - read more
26 Apr 2016: Heroes VII XPack - Trial by Fire - Coming out in June! - read more
17 Apr 2016: Global Alternative Creatures MOD for H7 after 1.8 Patch! - read more
7 Mar 2016: Romero launches a Piano Sonata Album Kickstarter! - read more
19 Feb 2016: Heroes 5.5 RC6, Heroes VII patch 1.7 are out! - read more
13 Jan 2016: Horn of the Abyss 1.4 Available for Download! - read more
17 Dec 2015: Heroes 5.5 update, 1.6 out for H7 - read more
23 Nov 2015: H7 1.4 & 1.5 patches Released - read more
31 Oct 2015: First H7 patches are out, End of DoC development - read more
5 Oct 2016: Heroes VII development comes to an end.. - read more
[X] Remove Ads
LOGIN:     Username:     Password:         [ Register ]
HOMM1: info forum | HOMM2: info forum | HOMM3: info mods forum | HOMM4: info CTG forum | HOMM5: info mods forum | MMH6: wiki forum | MMH7: wiki forum
Heroes Community > Heroes 5 - Modders Workshop > Thread: Heroes 5.5 - Eternal Essence - Design
Thread: Heroes 5.5 - Eternal Essence - Design This thread is 9 pages long: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 · «PREV / NEXT»
Quantomas
Quantomas


Responsible
Famous Hero
AI Wizard
posted April 15, 2011 11:52 PM

Quote:
I am not "avoiding" testing, Honestly, I am not equipped to handle that work these days. Mapmaking is a safehaven for me.

Don't you worry. I told you I am not in the business of judging people. But one day you have to see how the animations you have added are now running properly during the AI turn processing. It's really not much stress, just load the map, sit back and press the turn button.

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
markkur
markkur


Honorable
Legendary Hero
Once upon a time
posted April 16, 2011 06:21 AM
Edited by markkur at 18:12, 18 Apr 2011.

Quote:
...one day you have to see how the animations you have added are now running properly during the AI turn processing.


I have every intention. I've been nearly completely focused on map-making, except for one "impossible" test. Your work is going to make my efforts in perfecting my craft...much more worthwhile.


Edit=

Just came here from your new "Developer's Diary" section at the Eternal Essence site;

Great work Q! Thank you for the time you spend there at the site in an effort to inform all. Add this effort to your work with "E.E."and you deserve more than my thanks.

Anyway, just a note of thanks for the excellent overview and the explanations behind this project.

I encourage all to take a "read".

http://www.bonddisc.com/ref/h5/diary.htm

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
Quantomas
Quantomas


Responsible
Famous Hero
AI Wizard
posted April 20, 2011 03:44 PM

Cheers, Markkur.  It's always work, work, work. I hope people realize that when they ask for a feature that it has to go into this long list. The list is currently merely what is scheduled to be included in the 3.2. release, so it's just a small part of the mountain.

I hope you have noted that the upgrade of the map editor with an import function is scheduled. This will then allow you to go on with the rev. 3 maps, i.e. the bigger remote versions of Icy Defense etc.

I am pretty sure that your skill will be in high demand. Once we reach the stage that we have the AI assisting the map maker and can go on to create truly strategically interesting campaign scenarios, there will be tons of work that one map maker can hardly handle alone. As said before, it's content that drives games, the AI is just a prerequisite that determines how far the content designers can go.

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
sokkur
sokkur


Hired Hero
posted April 20, 2011 09:23 PM

Nice ideas, especially looking forward to the magical essence system.
Keep up the good work and best of luck.

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
markkur
markkur


Honorable
Legendary Hero
Once upon a time
posted April 22, 2011 04:35 PM
Edited by markkur at 16:36, 22 Apr 2011.

Quote:
I hope you have noted that the upgrade of the map editor with an import function is scheduled. This will then allow you to go on with the rev. 3 maps, i.e. the bigger remote versions of Icy Defense etc.


Yes. Noted with a good belly-laugh. Don't forget to advise the user to; clear the underground first unless they are of the Dwarven race and enjoy large "mining" operations.

Will the program have a "skew correction per size diff." built in? I've thought of different approaches to this and came up with this additonal idea; what if a "Town location cell" could be a "main transfer object" or centering cell and have all objects in the faction region linked to that cell, in a fixed location pattern? It would make it possible to; after pasting the copied map (centered)to go in and then "center" the old faction/region lay-out. Probably too much work. Worse yet, nothing remotely within my powers. But I've had a few leaks while trying to not think about possible Editor changes. I've not wanted to overwhelm with what (when the time is right) will be a barrage of ideas to improve map-making.

Quote:
I am pretty sure that your skill will be in high demand. Once we reach the stage that we have the AI assisting the map maker and can go on to create truly strategically interesting campaign scenarios, there will be tons of work that one map maker can hardly handle alone.


I've anticipated this some, enough to have given a couple of other mappers a "heads-up" for the future. In both responses, I found excitement in the air.

Quote:
As said before, it's content that drives games, the AI is just a prerequisite that determines how far the content designers can go.


I will be a very happy man when my design-shackles are removed. I doubt that I could closely guess the number of other map-makers that will surface once creativity not code-skill rules the participation of the average fan.

Cheers Q

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
markkur
markkur


Honorable
Legendary Hero
Once upon a time
posted April 23, 2011 05:41 PM

Thinking big

IMO...this is an awesome approach to the world and how it can impact in all actions of the Hero and/or his/her army. Adding the battlefield tiles "fully" and not just having the occasional "Result-of" i.e. Lava Dragon attack leaving molten cells, is great news.


{From the website}
Quote:
"The currently implemented terrain will equate to the following magic compounds":

Plain grass
earth + life + material
Dirt
earth + death + material
Lava
earth + fire + material
Sand
earth + air + material
Snow
earth + air + water + material
Underground
earth + material
Dwarven underground
earth + refined + material
Taiga
earth + water + life + material
Road
earth + air + refined + material
Water
water + material

The resulting terrain is implicitly derived from the compound, i.e. an infinite array of terrain properties becomes possible. This opens the door to dynamically changing terrain, to creatures that have an affinity to certain terrain elements, to hero skills that adapt based on the terrain and to spells that are altered by the terrain or alter the terrain.


Finally, we will see that Griffins cannot fly in small underground tunnels (skin for no-fly = no air? no fly!) and as a matter a fact cannot even use battle-dive because they cannot get high-enough!mappers could have a skin, so that if they made a "tunnel" (no-fly) and a huge cavern (no-fly not used) To take this a step further, seems there should be some limitations to flying in regards to heavily-treed lands

There is so much to consider! One aspect of the world that has never been near-realized is the sea/ocean experience. Ideas that I've had or 'read from others' are numerous in enhancing water-adventuring. Water cells like; shallows (slowed-sailing), deep-water(full-sails), treacherous-waters (very-slow movement and possibly, random ship-damage and loss of movement) <plus> impacts from weather (week-of-storms)? <plus> impacts from more than just one artifact <plus> the pitifully undeveloped "navigational skill".
If I've made an Ocean-map, how nice to place a "Naval academy" free and near a starting town for a player to teach their heroes to sail" Cabin-boy to Captain to Admiral and maybe even a Fleet-Admiral for some real fun. I've heard that very rare elite rank can add attack and defense even to every ally in the water.

Quote:
This has wide ranging impacts from the overland map and skill system to the combat arena. For example, combat tiles can have their own terrain type and a creature that has affinity to fire, e.g. a Fire Dragon on a lava tile can have doubled strength. Spells can alter terrain types in combat and new types of obstacles become a real possibility.


'Overheard' in recent battle;

"No Way! Sinitar's nasty red dragons should not have been able to fry my little sprite friends! They were hiding in between several of those {map object} = 'big-tree' "




 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
Quantomas
Quantomas


Responsible
Famous Hero
AI Wizard
posted April 24, 2011 01:40 PM
Edited by Quantomas at 13:43, 24 Apr 2011.

Quote:
IMO...this is an awesome approach to the world and how it can impact in all actions of the Hero and/or his/her army.

The beauty of the approach is its universality. Except for the people with a math background or abstract thinking programmers, I doubt hardly anybody has noticed what is truly to come.

Imagine a fantasy world where magic seeps from the land and all inhabitants somehow are affected by it. In a game that gives you the opportunity to interact with this magic, you can expect to be able to modify a myriad of things, you gain control how the land reacts to whatever you do, what creatures and heroes can do and what structures emerge on the land and how towns evolve. Your interactions become magic in their nature. Your interactions and the magic of the land will seamlessly integrate.

What I am saying is that modders and to some extent players themselves can control the way the game works. While you are used to game designers defining the rules what you can do, we will have a game in which every rule is part of a universal magic framework and the interactions within the game as well as all predefined rules and map objects live and interact naturally with each other. There will be barriers what a player can do, or what an individual hero or creature can do. But the designers (think modders) are empowered in their capabilities to change whatever they see fit. Don't think of this as a vast conglomerate of in-game rules, instead it is mathematical in its nature, as universal and powerful as algebra and geometry and analysis, but here in its magic equivalent it is a universal model for everything that lives in the game.

Don't you worry about Heroes V. Will Eternal Essence be a different game? The answer is yes and no.

The first thing we will do, once we have the magic framework to rework everything, is to translate what we have in Heroes V so that it will work in the magic framework just as it had in Heroes V. But there is more. Heroes V has all the game rules implemented hard-coded and rather as special cases handled by special code in the proper places. From this we have inherited tons of bugs and all kinds of limitations. Things like the wrongly predicted damage in combat or that creature perks sometimes do not work, spell effects are not applied correctly etc. All these bugs, whether we know of them or not, will be gone because on the next level we don't have to handle specific cases anymore.

But more importantly we will be free of hard-coded limits. We will be able to add and modify hero skills and perks, what creatures can do, how the town buildings work and what they cost, how spells work and research new ones.

All these modifications will be optional. If a player wishes to play a vanilla Heroes V game, he or she can just do that. But then there will be options to add additional skills, interesting sets of new creatures, new town types and alterations to the magic spell system, or if desired a totally weired and mind-blowing combat mechanic. Not to forget modified and dynamically changing terrain, powerful overland spells and castles that have their regions develop with characteristic features determined by the magic resources nearby.

Developers and the big publishers behind them have not yet implemented a universal in-game system like that. It's not that they couldn't see the benefits that such an approach can have. Instead they see that this has a very huge price tag, particularly if you have to build an AI on top of it, and going to design the in-game rules the traditional way is definitely more economic. But then the game industry is stuck in its way to produce games with ever more mass appeal. Only it has turned out that simplifying a game and that their idea of what creates mass appeal, is not exactly increasing the audience, it rather produces more lookalikes and feelalikes in a market that gets more saturated. It is interesting to note that the big PC games that pushed the boundary with innovations and big success, for example Dragon Age I and The Witcher, paid huge attention to how intricate game rules can work together seamlessly to empower the player and enhance the playing experience.

We need to break out of existing habits if we truly want to break new ground. This is where the value of Eternal Essence and all its empowering features lies for me, as a developer to advance the state of the art in strategy games and AI, and as a gamer to see more innovative and interesting games.

I have my reservations that H6 will break new ground in this direction. It is more of an effort to rebalance the formula to find the sweet spot. If it could, even move a bit in this direction, it would be great, but considering that it is a strategy game that needs a competent AI to be truly interesting, I have my doubts. It will be fun to play the campaigns and to check out the content, I love the fact that they included a map this time and focus on story, and while exploring the game we always hope for more surprises and that the game will offer true replay value.

A short look back at the release of Heroes V

As it was with Heroes V, I had the same hopes and reservations. As a veteran strategy player a competent AI is absolutely essential for the fun, and setting out to play the campaign my hope was still intact after seeing that the AI was at least doing a basic job. If you have played the campaign, you will have come across a scenario in which you basically had to traverse an Inferno territory without a town base. You recruited creatures from dwellings, high level ones as well to give you angels and arch angels after having visited a hill fort, and sort of had to build a decent force to pass by their castles. These castles had very strong garrisons that were intended to make them unassailable after you had defeated their strong wandering heroes, but as a veteran player and having arch angels with you it was entirely possible to build an ever increasing force. While aware that capturing their castles was no mission goal, I was still curious and captured a castle. It was destroyed of course and useless as a base, but I got a message saying "that's impossible, you must have cheated". Big dash for my hope, that statement clearly said they don't understand what a veteran strategy player can do.

Well, I said to myself, maybe it was just the designer of the map, let's go on. After I had witnessed that they actually spawned heroes and armies on the border of the map, so that you had to make a mad rush to defend your castle, which indeed was challenging but not in a strategic sense, my hope took another big dash. There was no subtle strategic gameplay to be had, and many more scenarios later, it was clear to me, that this game will only get to its true height if the AI was to be improved significantly.

Where we are now

This is an important lesson learned. Again I hope that they get it right this time with H6. But it's just that, hope and reservations, and to look forward to play the game and explore what is possible in this installment. But regarding the sweet spot, something that could make the game the biggest strategy game around, my personal opinion is that this cannot be done without at least a competent AI. Workarounds like the one mentioned above in Heroes V go only so far. Still, this is not a problem for me, now that we can go on to improve the AI in Heroes 5.5 - Eternal Essence. We can always go back and hope that the devs take note and improve the game in the next expansion.

So this is where we are. We improve Heroes V in the hope to make real gains for the franchise and hope the same for H6.

In many ways the universal framework of Eternal Essence will allow us to have it work like a sand box for new in-game rules because of its universal adaptability. We can try things out, and can move in this direction or that to find the sweet spot, the formula that is most fun to play Heroes.

On top of that I am building the most advanced AI, so that the game can be subtle or a rush, whatever you desire but in any case a blast and an experience worthy of reliving. A strategy game of this type can indeed have an unlimited replay value and make it to an all-time classic.

@Markkur
No, they actually shouldn't be fried by Sinitar's red dragons. We make it so that the earth and life magic of the big trees will protect them.

The map importer will simply have an offset (x,y). The current map tiles and adventure map objects will be cleaned on the affected territory and replaced with the imported ones.

Of course, for the magic essence to work, we will need a more advanced map editor. Indeed that will make it possible for the map creator to give the land additional properties that determine whether flyers can fly, but it will not be a simple value like air, but rather a combination of terrain elements that determines it.


 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
markkur
markkur


Honorable
Legendary Hero
Once upon a time
posted April 24, 2011 10:50 PM

[quote Except for the people with a math background or abstract thinking programmers, I doubt hardly anybody has noticed what is truly to come.


You've nailed it. I know that is true with me. A very slow awakening but even then I know I still have a limited view. Too much Editor focus to see the entire picture.

Quote:
Don't you worry about Heroes V. Will Eternal Essence be a different game? The answer is yes and no.


I am beginning to understand more. Sort of like walking in a familar neighborhood but new buidlings and activity abound.

Quote:
From this we have inherited tons of bugs and all kinds of limitations. Things like the wrongly predicted damage in combat or that creature perks sometimes do not work, spell effects are not applied correctly etc. All these bugs, whether we know of them or not, will be gone because on the next level we don't have to handle specific cases anymore.


That's a lot better than trying to make a list of the bugs that need corrective action

Quote:
We need to break out of existing habits if we truly want to break new ground. This is where the value of Eternal Essence and all its empowering features lies for me, as a developer to advance the state of the art in strategy games and AI, and as a gamer to see more innovative and interesting games.


Within your described vision in your entire post there is a lot to "see". Hopefully good discussions will result from modders and mappers.

Quote:
...now that we can go on to improve the AI in Heroes 5.5 - Eternal Essence. We can always go back and hope that the devs take note and improve the game in the next expansion.

So this is where we are. We improve Heroes V in the hope to make real gains for the franchise and hope the same for H6.


Well, you sure as heck don't need me to voice this; but as correct as I think your overall assessment is, it is the fact that you are trying to do something about it, that deserves the biggest Cheers!.

Thank you again Q for both your vision and time.  

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
proxeeus
proxeeus


Hired Hero
posted April 24, 2011 11:28 PM

These are exciting times...I can't wait to test more!

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
TheBaron
TheBaron


Promising
Known Hero
dreamer of dreams
posted April 25, 2011 10:18 AM

This is my first post, having just registered after a couple of weeks reading through various threads around Heroes Community.

I was a pretty avid h3 player and jumped onto the WoG wagon a couple of years back, now that I've just acquired h5 and completed it, I'm ready for the next thing.

Being a relatively retro gamer, I'm all about the focus on game content, story, development and improvement (from a lay perspective) and have been so excited by the h5.5 project that I even signed up to this forum! (something I am generally loathe to do...)

I think Q's design philosophy is the most interesting and inspiring I've heard in regards to gaming, and that more people should start believing in these kinds of projects across the gaming world.
Unfortunately, I can't contribute much while I'm abroad, except for my old laptop, some vigourous play time and a few half-baked ideas.

I'm afraid most of the frameworks and concepts surrounding AI are way beyond me, and so any suggestions I have will probably be those concerning gameplay mods and integration, but hopefully I can give posit something of value.

I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the WoG experience simply because it was so easy to play around with the different features, even if they became a bit convoluted with later bits-and-bobs. One thing that really stuck out (even if it was sometimes a bit broken), was the commander mod. An h5 version of this could be interesting, although I had a hybrid idea that stemmed from the commander unit and the h4 multiple same-side hero battles:

* Could the battle structure be modified to incorporate more than one hero for each opposing force (e.g 2 heroes a side) whereby the heroes' functions would remain the same, but their bonuses and turns would be added together, providing some pretty epic battles, and a different strategic element when chaining heroes together in defense and offense.
-> Perhaps the adventure map modification for this would be an option to link 2 heroes together during movement, whereby 1 follows the other a square behind and their movement points are an average of both?
-> Heroes linking may suffer from bonus/stat reductions or improvements based on abilities and/or race? Perhaps new set items could work only in tandem (either 1 set spread over 2 heroes or a set each) or when used in single hero battles?

-> One very simple idea for map balancing could be to include much higher armies of monsters/neutrals, versus smaller hero armies of multiple bonus creatures under 2 or more heroes. I imagine that this is not a huge conceptual deviation from the current h5 gameplay, but it might be quite a significant one from a programming standpoint, so it may not be feasible.

I hope this isn't way off track, but having only just downloaded and not yet played 5.5 I could be talking absolute rubbish. I just hope that the suggestion keeps stimulating more mind juices!

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
Quantomas
Quantomas


Responsible
Famous Hero
AI Wizard
posted April 25, 2011 11:21 AM
Edited by Quantomas at 11:28, 25 Apr 2011.

Having one hero as the commander of the battle is a core concept that has been proven through the entire franchise to be right.

But there is something that we can do that comes close to have multiple heroes. The enhanced creature design mechanics - not yet implemented yet, mind you, that comes after the 3.2 release - allow for creatures that can have skills, perks and bonus boosts similar to a hero.

They can form a roster of second in command units (only subordinate to the hero) and participate in the battles. Same thing goes for the adventure map. There is nothing that says we cannot add a roster of officers that accompany a hero.

My line of thought regarding stronger neutral creatures on the map is to have them somehow tied to the overall progress of the game. As a measure we can take the strength of the strongest hero armies (of all players) on the map, and adjust the neutral stacks strength dynamically as the game progresses. This can be done each game day, so if you are lagging behind other factions who build up their armies, you will encounter stronger neutral opponents.

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
TheBaron
TheBaron


Promising
Known Hero
dreamer of dreams
posted April 25, 2011 02:06 PM

Well then, as soon as 3.2 comes out I'll be sure to test the bejesus out of it!

How about modifiable hero and creature modelling? As far as I could see this was not addressed on your page, though I might have overlooked it. One thing that many of us enjoy about RPGesque games is the way that a character may change through class, equipment or upgrade. One of the most gratifying expressions of this is the dynamic change in a character's visuals. H5 currently does this with race, creature upgrades and NCF alterations, but surely this could be taken further? I would love my hero models to look more powerful as they gains levels or when he grabs good gear.
The heroes themselves are supposedly the vehicle and focus of the Heroes series. So watching your piddly little imp-herd rise to be a terrifying lord of Sheogh shouldn't be reflected solely in stats and skills filling up, but in the frightening visage of your mighty conqueror!

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
Quantomas
Quantomas


Responsible
Famous Hero
AI Wizard
posted April 25, 2011 02:35 PM

Thanks for your constructive ideas, TheBaron. I didn't register properly in my morning rush that this was your first post. So let me properly say welcome to this forum!

Sometimes, with your head full of ideas and tasks to implement, it's easy to forget that social manners also matter. Markkur and Proxeeus, thanks for your support.

Regarding modelling and animations, that is where I hope the modders can do something. I can implement the proper framework that empowers them, but the real mind-blowing work on animations is beyond what I can handle. So yes, I hope that this can be done and I will support it, but it really depends on many more talented people to join our effort.

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
markkur
markkur


Honorable
Legendary Hero
Once upon a time
posted April 25, 2011 03:54 PM

Quote:
I'm afraid most of the frameworks and concepts surrounding AI are way beyond me, and so any suggestions I have will probably be those concerning gameplay mods and integration, but hopefully I can give posit something of value.


Welcome to the Forum.

You're not alone with the lack of a programmer-background.  Q's been very patient with "my ignorant questions" that I have dared to share. We are in a difficult spot; passion and ideas but not able to assist in a big way. I too am hoping all contributions add-up and I think we all know they do

Make a great day and welcome again, Markkur

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
Lichking012
Lichking012


Known Hero
posted April 25, 2011 07:13 PM

I have to say, I am in love with this project, it is an inspiration. I have a rather unusual request, an 8th creature slot. I think it would allow for a lot more variation. For instance I wouldn't have to choose between 2 good potential creature upgrades, and it makes having neutrals in your army much more feasible on a normal map. I always find it a tragedy when a stack of neutrals wants to join me, especially a good stack, but my army is too big to justify replacing a stack that will continue to grow.

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
Quantomas
Quantomas


Responsible
Famous Hero
AI Wizard
posted April 25, 2011 11:36 PM
Edited by Quantomas at 23:41, 25 Apr 2011.

Quote:
I have to say, I am in love with this project, it is an inspiration. I have a rather unusual request, an 8th creature slot. I think it would allow for a lot more variation. For instance I wouldn't have to choose between 2 good potential creature upgrades, and it makes having neutrals in your army much more feasible on a normal map. I always find it a tragedy when a stack of neutrals wants to join me, especially a good stack, but my army is too big to justify replacing a stack that will continue to grow.


Cheers. The games industry could be so much more, if more companies would focus on innovations. Sure it's often not easy to predict how features turn out, that's where you need the brightest heads to make the best design decisions.

Regarding Eternal Essence, work on the interfaces is for now the hardest part, until we have figured out how to modify the UI as we see fit. In comparison, it is fairly easy to adjust the strength of neutral stacks that spawn at the beginning of a week.

My workaround today is to have only six powerful stacks with my main hero. This normally works fine, because in most games sooner or later you loose a good part of one native stack in a battle.

Certainly, we can take note that an eigth creature slot is desired. I remember this feature fondly from King's Bounty. It really made things more smooth. In general there is a limit of how many stacks the player should carry around for a good reason, that the micromanagement required from the player does not get out of hand.

What also would be an option is something along the line mentioned earlier today with a corps of officers who accompany the hero. One idea would be to give the player an option, if a neutral stack offers to join the hero's army, to make its leader an officer in the corps, the stronger the stack, the stronger the officer.

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
TheBaron
TheBaron


Promising
Known Hero
dreamer of dreams
posted April 26, 2011 09:01 AM
Edited by TheBaron at 09:06, 26 Apr 2011.

Q
Are you saying that if modellers/modders were to design models for say ... 4x2 [inferno] heroes: lvl 1-10, 10-20, 20-30, 30+; male and female ... that you would design a framework that would integrate these models for their desired purposes? Or are those the kind of modders you need to fully realise this project (ie. implementation as well as design)? It would surprise me if people didn't emerge from the woodwork when you called out to them for particular things. I would personally like to start a thread calling on modders for specific tasks, however I guess this thread is to decide what those tasks are... (not to mention your page and its tasks section)
In addition, I think my comprehension of the project is far too limited to be requesting peoples help for things, though I do enjoy managing

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
Quantomas
Quantomas


Responsible
Famous Hero
AI Wizard
posted April 26, 2011 11:17 AM

Yes, if we have found a way to import the models cleanly, what I believe is possible, it's fairly straightforward to have heroes evolve visually as you indicated every ten levels.

But I still have to get around to look into how the various game data sources are imported at runtime. But once this is done, I will set up dedicated EE folders in the install location for all these advanced modifications.

I am pretty sure that help from all corners will be needed as the project grows and I am also sure that management will have a role to play. So I am sure, that your skills have value for the project.

Right now, we are sort of just past the beginning stage, where things start to take shape. Once I am further along the roadmap and get to implement the real improvements, I guess things will gather momentum on a larger scale. Once people will be able to see what this game truly can be and what we can do. It's rare in the industry that a major effort is put into actually improving an existing game, instead of just moving to the next iteration which typcally entails a different focus. But two things really speak in favour of this: that graphics sort of matured in PC games at the time when Heroes V got out, and that the rule base for the Heroes games is already fairly evolved. It's sort of an effort to look for the sweet spot in terms of gameplay. With the flexibility that is going to be build into Eternal Essence we have good chances to make good progress in this direction.

In the end it's really a question how game designers create the gameplay and in-game rules and how flexible they are, what allows for more innovations. The traditional production model of video games rather does not support it. Today it's rather specs and design first, implementation second. That naturally raises barriers, the game designers are not all technically minded, whereas a programmer can fully grasp the potential of a concept codewise. The initial brain storming sessions produce some results, but this is much less than a bright person who understands the full potential of the technology and has a vision for game design can come up with.

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
TheBaron
TheBaron


Promising
Known Hero
dreamer of dreams
posted April 26, 2011 02:53 PM
Edited by TheBaron at 14:54, 26 Apr 2011.

Hey Markkur, I don't want to take away from your Hall of Decision idea (because I think it has amazing potential), but I thought an appropriate name for it could be Right of Conquest. I believe it sums up the aim of the experience as well as having a nice and easy acronym which people can do to each other. Where I come from you couldn't have a casual chat about Wake of the Gods in shorthand because it's derogatory slang.

Hopefully no-one tries to market the Nights in Golden Atlantis mod anytime soon...


 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
markkur
markkur


Honorable
Legendary Hero
Once upon a time
posted April 26, 2011 04:11 PM

Quote:
Hey Markkur, I don't want to take away from your Hall of Decision idea (because I think it has amazing potential), but I thought an appropriate name for it could be Right of Conquest. I believe it sums up the aim of the experience as well as having a nice and easy acronym which people can do to each other. Where I come from you couldn't have a casual chat about Wake of the Gods in shorthand because it's derogatory slang.


Truthfully I was more supporting the "idea" and it was/is Q's. Those names popped out in a second. I did not think about the <imo> very vaild point you make.

RoC is very applicable to the world of HoMM. Thinking out loud here; Can you come up with others, say one from H5?

Anyway, Q will decide. RoC-on with the ideas.


____________
"Do your own research"

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
Jump To: « Prev Thread . . . Next Thread » This thread is 9 pages long: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 · «PREV / NEXT»
Post New Poll    Post New Topic    Post New Reply

Page compiled in 0.0914 seconds