HEXWAR Update #1

ID:100571
 
Aug 18 2010, 9:27 pm
Keywords: hex, map, rts, strategy, war
I've started going after a fairly old project idea after learning more about pixel movements. With all that prototyping, I now understand how to make the hex war concept work.

I've got a couple ideas. One is just skirmish mode with humans and/or ai. The other which I call Domination mode is a fairly involved persistent RTS hybrid.

Here's a shot an early prototype map. Artwork is just place holder. Maps can be of any size but really large ones like 100x100 perform rather poorly when scrolling around. I'll have to play around with that some more. You can also see the water merging algorithm at work which was harder than it looks.



I'm doing a lot of brainstorming right now and trying to sort out how Skirmish and Domination modes will work together. At the same time, I'm working on basic unit movements.

A lot of the features are seemingly easy but there are a lot of them so I'm already a little concerned.

I really want this game though... Many of my other games are just whims and "I wonder if I could" games but this one is different. I really want to play this one.

The last concern is the announcement coming out on Saturday. Supposedly a whopper and I'm not sure how that will impact my direction.

ts
Aug 19 2010, 2:44 pm
Looks awesome, I always wanted to try a Hex grid but never had the chance. My chess game will probably force me to eventually take a shot at it, but I'm gladly deferring it over to a later time :p
Aug 19 2010, 3:17 pm
Cool. If this ever comes out do we have to use your little "O.o" icon?
Aug 19 2010, 3:35 pm
Kaimana wrote:
Cool. If this ever comes out do we have to use your little "O.o" icon?

heh, no. Just experimenting with what a player could be represented as in the Domination mode. I'm looking into using the BYOND member profile image if your a member. I had some trouble using a http:// resource with icons though.

Anyways, not a part of V1.

ts

Aug 19 2010, 3:45 pm
Acebloke wrote:
Looks awesome, I always wanted to try a Hex grid but never had the chance. My chess game will probably force me to eventually take a shot at it, but I'm gladly deferring it over to a later time :p

Thanks! :) Chris Gayle actually created the initial hex layout as part of a paid job. It's pretty simple once you get right down to it. Simply placing turf/hex at the appropriate pixel_x/pixel_y with appropriate offset every other column.

ts

Aug 19 2010, 4:09 pm
You should use the isometric maps for your hex grid; it would be a bit easier to manage (you shouldn't have to manipulate anything to make it work) and it would look pretty cool.
Aug 19 2010, 11:47 pm
Jeff8500 wrote:
You should use the isometric maps for your hex grid; it would be a bit easier to manage (you shouldn't have to manipulate anything to make it work) and it would look pretty cool.

There's still a bit of hacky stuff you need to do in order to get that to work right.

[EDIT]:
tsfreaks, if you're using my hex library, there's actually quite a few things I need to do to it to bring it up to date. Let me know if you're using it and if you want me to put out a quick update for it.
Aug 20 2010, 6:31 am
D4RK3 54B3R wrote:
Jeff8500 wrote:
You should use the isometric maps for your hex grid; it would be a bit easier to manage (you shouldn't have to manipulate anything to make it work) and it would look pretty cool.

There's still a bit of hacky stuff you need to do in order to get that to work right.

[EDIT]:
tsfreaks, if you're using my hex library, there's actually quite a few things I need to do to it to bring it up to date. Let me know if you're using it and if you want me to put out a quick update for it.

I'm not using it. The functionality I'm using for the hex layout is a single function with two simple loops and some pixel offset logic. Trivial really. I'll have to check out your library and see what else you have going on.
Aug 20 2010, 9:30 am
Tsfreaks wrote:
I'm not using it. The functionality I'm using for the hex layout is a single function with two simple loops and some pixel offset logic. Trivial really. I'll have to check out your library and see what else you have going on.

Ah mmk. My library was for before the functionality for big icons. It provides a lot of helpful methods and functionality for hex-based environments (and I also had hex pathfinding implemented at one point but I don't think I released that)
Aug 20 2010, 9:37 am
D4RK3 54B3R wrote:
Tsfreaks wrote:
I'm not using it. The functionality I'm using for the hex layout is a single function with two simple loops and some pixel offset logic. Trivial really. I'll have to check out your library and see what else you have going on.

Ah mmk. My library was for before the functionality for big icons. It provides a lot of helpful methods and functionality for hex-based environments (and I also had hex pathfinding implemented at one point but I don't think I released that)

Ahh... that would be the difference. Large icon support is how things are getting done in this project.

I've opted to avoid movement via pathfinding because of two things.

1. It seemed like a significant challenge. If you've got something working, wow.
2. Player can move across different terrain (swamp, plains, water, etc) and I would have to guess at which route they would tactically prefer.

Instead, I'll be letting the player choose and move one hex at a time.
Aug 20 2010, 10:54 am
D4RK3 54B3R wrote:
Jeff8500 wrote:
You should use the isometric maps for your hex grid; it would be a bit easier to manage (you shouldn't have to manipulate anything to make it work) and it would look pretty cool.

There's still a bit of hacky stuff you need to do in order to get that to work right.

What do you mean? I believe Tom or someone told me that it should work without any hacky stuff.
Aug 20 2010, 4:22 pm
Jeff8500 wrote:
What do you mean? I believe Tom or someone told me that it should work without any hacky stuff.

It does work.