Cohack – Zesix

Articles Tagged with: Cohack

October 6, 2014

September 2014 Wrapup and Plans for October

Today, we released the newest closed alpha of Zems, which we labeled as version 0.2.9 (semantic versioning). It’s an exciting release since we’ve been working on it for several months following the last ludum dare.

In this post, I recap September’s tenlist and talk about my plans for October.

September 2014 Tenlist

1. Have hex templates designed for Zems. (Completed)

While I did get hex frames developed in time for the latest alpha, we ended up cutting off the commission with the artist due to style issues and switched to a different artist. I felt like the previous artist had in mind a more cartoony style in the vein of HearthStone, and I wanted something more serious-looking.

2. Have all white cards implemented and tested. (Mostly Complete)

Every card we have planned for the color white in Zems is implemented, but some of the cards have bugs or are not fully working.

3. Hire someone to convert Zems site PSDs to WordPress. (Incomplete, Moved)

In the end, I couldn’t find a company I trusted outside of the $5000+ quote I already received from a company I had worked with previously. Since we don’t need the site fully up and running right now, I’ve decided to table this item.

4. Produce a playable alpha build. (Incomplete, Not Moved)

While we did release an alpha build today, we failed to release it at the end of September like I had wanted. Deadlines are something I am still learning as far as the current team goes. Often when a deadline is set for X date, the reality is X + one week or more, and I’m still determining how best to publicly declare deadlines with my current team. It could just be that we need to release on time and patch later – after all, there’s a quote in business that says, “If you’re not embarrassed when you ship, then you shipped too late.”

5. Produce YouTube updates for Zems. (Incomplete, Removed)

I originally planned on starting up a Zems YouTube channel in September, but I’ve decided against the notion because it doesn’t fix the fundamental problem that current Zems marketing sucks. Instead, I’m talking to a marketing expert in the hopes that I can revamp the entire marketing strategy, which will likely include creating a YouTube channel in the near future.

6. Finalize Zems Kickstarter rewards and schedule. (Mostly Complete)

While April is statistically the best month to launch a Kickstarter, I don’t think going too many months deep into 2015 is a good idea for the project. I set the date for the first Monday of February 2015, reduced the Kickstarter scope to only cover art and sound assets (if we included other things like programming then the project goal would be $100,000+ and that’s not a good goal number for an unknown team), and finalized all but one reward for the project.

7. Add multiplayer to Cohack: Nightfall. (Completed)

Not much to say here other than it works.

8. Learn how to use Playmaker. (Partially Complete)

I watched a few video tutorials and played around a little bit, but ultimately I put Playmaker down. Since I work with some very good coders and have a pretty good understanding of how to modify existing scripts or create small scripts myself, I felt like Playmaker was too much work for setting up each individual state for everything and not every game needs to be run using state-based logic anyway.

9. Read Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore. (Completed)

This book was amazing. Possibly the slowest 200 page book I’ve ever read since I had to reread a lot of paragraphs to fully absorb what he was saying. I’ll have to reread it again in the future since some parts I will better understand a few years down the line.

10. Clean out my bookshelves. (Completed)

I also set down a mousetrap and caught/killed two mice along the way. I don’t know how they got into our house but modern-day mousetraps are actually quite innovative in their design.

Plans for October

I’m not making a list for this month. I started to, but then I realized there’s nothing “new” I want on my plate other than to continue the current things I’m doing and I didn’t want to put some more specific Zems deadlines on my personal list since separation of my life and the project is still important to me. I’m not really taking a break from any of my previous trends, though. The book I’ll be reading this month is Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (recommended by several friends). I’ve also started watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer since I recently finished Veronica Mars and they’re somewhat similar. I’m still playing Magic: The Gathering in my free time and States is coming up this weekend so I need to get ready for that. It’s time consuming to practice for States and work on projects at the same time, but I’ll manage.

I’m not sure when I’m going to write again. My recent post on competitive EDH was heavily inspired based on my observations and I might write something in-depth again in the near future if something rests heavily in my mind.

September 1, 2014

August 2014 Wrapup and September 2014 Tenlist

I completed most of the items on my August tenlist. In this post, I discuss what happened with each individual item and also share my September tenlist.

August 2014 Tenlist

1. Pass Sociology 140. [Completed?]

This one is kind of funny, since I’m pretty sure I passed the class but grades have still not been posted yet. Meanwhile, the next semester at Cal has started and if for some odd reason I didn’t pass the class, that means I’m going to miss weeks of instruction for any class I would have to take while going back. I’m pretty sure I passed the class though, which means I should be officially graduated.

2. Have a hex template designed for Zems. [Completed and Moved]

I’m doing something unique with this item that I haven’t done before with my lists – I’m marking it as complete and moving it to next month’s list. Essentially what happened is we got hex templates made, and then I decided I didn’t like the style of the artist I was working with so I cut off the commission early on. I’m going to be going with a more expensive artist to redo the job, but I’m sure it will be done to the standard I’m looking for this time.

3. Commission another illustration artist for Zems. [Completed]

The artist we added to our roster is Jackson Tjota (http://tjota.deviantart.com/). However, at this moment it is uncertain whether I will hire him again for a commission this following month. Let’s just say working together was not as smooth as I would have liked, although he did finish his job to my liking.

4. Have all white cards implemented and tested in Zems. [Partially Complete and Moved]

I list it as partially complete because the white-colored cards in Zems are implemented but not debugged. Most of the cards are working very well and without major bugs, but some of them have pretty clear issues that my team will address in the coming month.

5. Hire background artist for the game board. [Removed]

I made a listing on DreamUp, deviantArt’s new crowdSourcing site, but I didn’t like the styles of any of the artists who applied. I got in touch with a very good matte painter to create the background, and I’m waiting on an open slot in his schedule. I’m not sure when that will be, so I’m removing this item from all future lists.

6. Hire someone to convert Zems site PSDs to wordPress. [Moved]

I was able to get a quote from some companies, but some of the quotes were large and pricey. I’m still shopping around for options and if it turns out the pricey way is the only way to go, then I’ll remove this item from all future lists and just hire the best developer when I need the site up and running.

7. Acquire a xenForo license and convert the Zems forums to xenForo. [Completed]

The list item is done and I’m working with a developer to convert the forum skin to the forum itself. Overall, I’m a huge fan of xenForo over vBulletin. When the next playable alpha build is available, I plan on using these forums as the primary way for alpha testers to communicate with my team.

8. Talk to a lawyer and incorporate a company for the game. File appropriate trademarks as well. [Completed]

I ended up going with a pretty social lawyer who travels to games events like PAX. He should be able to cover everything I need.

9. Finish reading Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China. [Completed]

It was a good book and an interesting insight into recent Chinese society. My favorite quote is something along the lines of: “Americans think the Chinese are brainwashed and never consider themselves to be brainwashed, but that’s the irony. Chinese are constantly wondering if they’re being brainwashed by the government, and so they become more aware of what society tells them” (not exact quote, but pretty close). I think it’s pretty true.

10. Put together my Windows 8 desktop. [Completed]

Intel i7 (sandy bridge) and two 7970s in CrossFire. This machine is awesome and fast. I’m also very surprised by Windows 8.1 and I don’t see why everyone hates it. It took a couple days for me to adjust, but I really like it.

Other Things That Happened

Some big ones, actually. When I originally made the August 2014 list, I didn’t realize ludum dare 30 was also happening that month. For the unaware, ludum dare is the world’s largest game jam – an event where people get together for a weekend and make a game prototype. My team created a turn-based tactical game on a grid, which you can play here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-30/?action=preview&uid=21296

The other major thing that happened is the company website. I listed incorporation as an item in August, but I didn’t say anything about the website. It turns out I was able to get the website up and running quite quickly – check it out here: http://impulselimited.com/

Now for this month’s list.

September 2014 Tenlist

1. Have hex templates designed for Zems. (Carryover)

I’ve updated the list item since we actually need two hex templates: one for creatures and one for heroes.

2. Have all white cards implemented and tested in Zems. (Carryover)

This is partially completed.

3. Hire someone to convert Zems site PSDs to wordPress. (Carryover)

As mentioned in last month’s wrap-up, this may get removed if there’s no inexpensive but reliable option. I’m going to keep acquiring quotes this month.

4. Produce a playable alpha build.

We’re pretty close to one already. I mentioned on the Zems Facebook and Twitter we would have a playable build in the first week of this month. I hope I can stick by that claim. Three people have contacted me on the Facebook page expressing interest in being alpha testers, and I don’t want to disappoint them.

5. Produce YouTube updates for Zems.

Right now, the only social media outlet that the game isn’t on is YouTube. My team is going to start using version control for the project starting this month, which should make working together easier and will also allow me to create weekly update videos on YouTube.

6. Finalize Zems Kickstarter Rewards and Schedule.

While it’s still too early to tell how much the Kickstarter goal amount should be, I do need to finalize the rewards (I’ve been reading dozens of Kickstarter guides in my free time) and set up a schedule. Statistically, April is the best month for Kickstarters based on number of funded projects, but we may need to launch sooner and take our chances. I also want to start talking to a Kickstarter expert, but I want to finalize as much of the Kickstarter plan as I can so I will have something to share.

7. Add multiplayer to Cohack: Nightfall.

Cohack: Nightfall is the continuation of our ludum dare 30 entry into an eventual standalone game. Zems is my primary project, but it’s hard for me to not find the time to work on this one since a lot of people who commented on my blog have expressed interest in a Spybot remake. A quick Google search shows that every other attempt to revive the game has failed, leaving it up to me to bring back the greatness of an old Shockwave gem. I won’t be spending much time on this – I have another team member who isn’t on the Zems project that will be working on it. Follow the project on Facebook or Twitter if you’re interested.

The main difference between this project and Zems is: I need to build a community of gamers to rally around Zems, while people are already messaging me about Cohack.

8. Learn how to use Playmaker, a Unity Asset.

Playmaker is originally intended for non-coders to use, and anything that says ‘non-coding’ generally has the stigma of being low power and something for developers to avoid. However, I recently learned that the developers at Blizzardâ„¢ used Playmaker to develop Hearthstoneâ„¢ (source here: http://www.hutonggames.com/showcase.html). That’s the kicker for me – if AAA game companies are using something advertised for ‘non-coders’ to make production easier, then it would be arrogant for me to avoid using such a product simply because of its advertising. I’m going to check out Playmaker and see how it can make my life easier.

9. Read Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore.

This is one of the ten books recommended by Stanford alumni: http://stanfordbusiness.tumblr.com/post/70698144695/10-business-books-to-read-in-2014

10. Clean out my bookshelves.

Yes, that’s plural. I own too many books and I need to figure out how to get rid of them. For most people, this is something that can be done in one day. For me, this is going to take some time.

This is what I have planned for September. I’m sure there’s going to be more that’s not on the list (there always is), but life would be pretty boring if things always went according to plan.

August 26, 2014

Cohack Prototype – Ludum Dare 30 Postmortem

Ludum Dare 30 was a success. For those who are not game developers, ludum dare is an international event where developers make a working prototype of a game in a single weekend. It happens three times a year and is very popular among indie devs like myself.

The prototype we made, as specified in one of my previous posts, is a modern retake on Shockwave game Spybot: The Nightfall Incident.

PLAY IT HERE

The prototype was developed by four people, although sound effects were created by audio composer Rich Douglas from the previous 2D version of the project mentioned here: https://www.zesix.com/2013/08/cohack-a-reimagination-of-spybot-the-nightfall-incident/

Ultimately, the jam went very well. I’m going to keep this postmortem short and highlight the main points of what worked out for us.

Team Logistics

I believe the key to teams is having a manager. When the team is more than three people, having one person who is in charge of overseeing the project is important. This keeps people from sending a file to all team members or not knowing who to turn to when something is in question. This manager would also be in charge of logistics and balancing the work schedules of other team members. I was the team manager for this project, and here are the things I did to keep everyone together:

Brainstorming. Since I was working with two people I found on Reddit, it was important for me to find out what timezones the team worked in. For this LD, the team was scattered all over the world and I’m pretty sure I sacrificed the most sleep to keep things together. For me, it was important to know a.) timezones and b.) general ‘work hours’ since everyone was doing this on their free time.
Kickoff Solidarity. We knew that ‘Connected Worlds’ was the most-voted theme leading up to the event, so we started brainstorming ideas a few days before. When the theme turned out to be what we expected, we made a quick Skype call to share ideas and come up with what we considered ‘core’ and what is considered ‘extra’, this way everyone knew what we were working on first and what the bare minimum of our submission was intended to be.
Prioritizing. This is my third time participating in LD, and one of the things I’m personally good at is maintaining scope. The first LD I participated in was a heck of a mess in the first hour, with people putting down ideas without really solidifying what the ‘core game’ was going to be. For the last LD and this one, I made sure the team remained focused on agreeing upon a ‘core’ and then voting on what ‘extras’ were most important. For example, the minimap at the bottom right was the most agreed upon ‘extra’ in a big list of ideas, and because we had a list of priorities we were able to incorporate it and keep the project as a whole from ever getting sidetracked.
Wrap-Up. The final 12 hours of a jam can be very stressful. Team members who aren’t programmers are generally worried whether the project is going to be finished because they aren’t a part of the final building process (creating the executable or web-playable version). Again, this is where the manager comes in: I was able to tell team members ‘Ok here’s where we are, here’s what I expect by the time you wake up, which will be after the submission period’. I think everyone on my team who had to sign off before submission did so without any worry.

There’s not a lot that went wrong with this jam and I’m very confident that the December jam will be just as smooth. We plan to continue working on this game after the jam, renaming it Cohack: Nightfall in reference to Spybot: The Nightfall Incident. If you’re interested, feel free to follow us on social media:

Facebook: http://facebook.com/cohacknightfall

Twitter: http://twitter.com/cohacknightfall

We also have a working design document that anyone can comment on if they would like to give suggestions for the game: http://goo.gl/OWtsgb

Please check out our ludum dare entry and tell us what you think!

August 10, 2014

Cohack and Ludum Dare 30

During Ludum Dare 29, I created a basic prototype of my current major project, Zems Online Card Game, with another developer who is now going to be my co-founder. I’m hoping to incorporate with the name “Impulse Limited”, and I’ll provide more details on that later on. In this post, I want to talk about my plans for ludum dare 30, which is coming up in 10 days.

In my previous post, I talked about my initial abandonment of the Cohack project and brainstormed ideas for a spiritual successor with modern touches. In my spare time, I’ve made some decent progress in making a hexagonal grid with spawns and movement thanks to Song’s Turn-Based Toolkit, and this will translate quite well into a basic prototype for the game. I don’t want to commit myself to producing only prototypes of games I actually want to complete, but it’s hard for me to put my heart into something I know I’m not willing to go all the way with at some point. I understand side projects are great for preventing project burnout, but I’ve come to realize I possibly have too many ideas and only one life to try them.

Goals for the Jam

I’ll go ahead and outline what I intend to produce during the jam. It will be a basic prototype with lots of placeholder artwork, but the gameplay functionality should be enough to feature a battle reminiscent of Spybotics: The Nightfall Incident. I honestly am not too concerned with the theme, and plan on submitting my game as-is just to prove I was able to make this prototype of a game I want to finish someday.

Player spawning of programs at start of game, which will basically be a battle prototype.
3 programs:
- Hack: melee attack, deals 3 damage, moves 3, health 3
- Mod: Adds/removes grid hexes at a distance of 5
- Ranged: Deals damage at a distance of 4
Working enemy AI that uses a combination of Hack and Ranged (probably won’t get to Mod AI, but might be a possibility).
Victory/Defeat/Pause menu that allows the player to reset the level and play again

And that’s it. I think this is doable in 72 hours.

Non-LD Stuff

I plan on having the next Zems build ready by the end of August. This will be the first build showing the hexagonal grid and a lot more effects.

I’m also working on writing a game design document for Cohack, which I will share freely once I think it is ready. It is currently at 17 pages as of this post. Unlike Zems, I plan on being as transparent as possible for the Cohack project.

And that’s it for this post. I’ll probably post again when it’s closer to LD30 time, which will also be right after I officially graduate from Berkeley.

August 3, 2014

Reimagining a Successor To Spybotics: The Nightfall Incident in 3D

This post is mostly a self-reflection/conceptual one. At the moment, I am not actively working on Cohack, a project I started some time ago to remake popular Shockwave game Spybotics: The Nightfall Incident. I’m devoting the entirety of my time to my recent startup, an online card game with positional elements: Zems Online Card Game. The Cohack project was originally started using a 2D game engine that was great for prototyping but felt limited in terms of production quality. The engine I am talking about is Scirra’s Construct 2, which is an amazing 2D prototyping tool that isn’t hard forÂ to pick up, even for non-programmers. What I want to talk about in this post are conceptual thoughts for a 3D spiritual successor to The Nightfall Incident.

Spiritual Successors Are Not Remakes

A lot of people have expressed interest in a modern remake of The Nightfall Incident (hereafter referred to as ‘TNI’) and misinterpreted my progress on Cohack to be one. For legal reasons, a remake isn’t possible, and frankly I would rather make a new game that builds on TNI’s core concepts than recreate it anyway. I’ll go ahead and list the things I liked about TNI here:

Program ‘body’ parts filling the playing field spaces. Compared to other turn-based games, the concept of health = spaces filled is pretty unique to TNI because you can use program ‘body parts’ as meatshields to block off access to certain areas.Â Unfortunately, I don’t think TNI emphasized this aspect very much and it is something that could be improved upon.
Add/remove grid spaces. There are YouTube videos showingÂ the most efficient ways to beat certain levels is by using the little bug that can delete squares. I liked the fact that the grid in TNI was intentionally small and gave players room to add additional paths and remove existing paths. The problem, however, is the time needed to create new paths gave little incentive for players to use the bug program for anything other than deleting squares. If I was to expand upon the TNI concept, I would reduce the cost of creating new paths to help promote pathing creativity.

Other than those two innovations (and let’s keep the good-looking UI and fitting music out of this since it’s more user experience and not gameplay itself), TNI was more or less a turn-based tactics game.

Now for the aspects of TNI that I thought were weak:

Linear program progression. There were a lot of programs you could get later on that were more or less useless/inefficient for solving the level 4 and level 5 maps. In addition, new versions of programs were always superior to old ones, so the inventory would fill up with weaker programs we would never use later on anyway. In my opinion, instead of getting access to buying Hack 2.0 once we get to level 2, we should be able to buy an upgrade to the Hack program and convert our Hacks to Hack 2.0, while globally changing the Hack program offered in shops to all be Hack 2.0 from that point onward.
Weak story/lack of urgency. Disarray is about to shut down the entire system? Well he doesn’t actually shut it down until I can take him out anyway. The sense of urgency/conspiracy of the story felt really weak to me, allowing me plenty of time to grind optional levels and farm for better items. While some see this as a good thing in terms of gameplay, it really made the story seem artificial. Many modern-day RPG games have a concept of time, such as X time passing when the player finishes a certain quest or map. By creating a sense of time, the story can seem more impactful because nodes will actually go ‘offline’ due to the player spending time saving another node instead. If I was to create a spiritual successor, I would want some sort of consequence to be in place.

Does The Successor Really Need To Be In 3D?

This is the question I have been pondering ever since moving to a 3D game engine. When I think of modern turn-based 3D games, I think of games like X-Com: Enemy Unknown, where things like cover, action points, special abilities, and whatnot are all present. There’s even an RPG element in the fact that soldiers can be customized with certain perks and stats. If we create a spiritual successor to TNI, we would likelyÂ not include these aspects because part of why TNI was so successful was its simplistic rules and gameplay that appealed to the casual gamer. So then the question becomes, if we use 3D, would we use a top-down view, where the camera is overhead the playing field and looking down upon the 3D models? At that point, we could almost just make the game in 2D without much difference. However, I’m a fan of 3D so let’s brainstorm some concepts that could accompany a spiritual successor, some of which are probably better implemented in 3D than in 2D.

Bigger maps. Remember how when we infiltrated a node, we battled on a small grid and that was it? IÂ think theÂ concept could be more expansive: each node has different levels (like a building) and instead of a battle on a small grid, the battle itself would be like infiltrating the node physically and destroying its security defenses on every level. This would make the battles longer and there would be more of an exploration aspect since the overworld (where we select nodes, visit warez shops, etc.) completely lacked this aspect.
Fog of war. Basically the idea here would be we don’t see parts of the ‘net’ we don’t have access to, or parts that don’t have a friendly program nearby. This would improve the exploration aspect of the battles I discussed earlier. This is definitely a feature that, in my opinion,Â has more impact inÂ 3D than in 2D.
Rogue factions/AIs going rampant. I’ve always wanted to see AI units fight each other as well as the player, and if I was to create a spiritual successor, I would include such a dynamic in at least one battle.
Hex-based grid. The square-based approach works fine in TNI, but hexes are more exciting in modern-day practice from my point of view.
Turn-limited challenges. Important design decisions would have to accompany this, such as not putting power-ups or credits scattered on a level that has a turn timer so players don’t feel cheated for trying to explore and failing the mission. I do think that TNI got repetitive after awhile, and this is the main thing I am trying to address.
Environmental factors. One of the things I liked most about Divinity: Original Sin is that there would be oil barrels and water barrels scattered throughout a map and these could be utilized in combat. While a battle on an internet grid is less likely to have things akin to real-life environment objects, we can put destructible objects on maps likeÂ transistors which, if destroyed, disable all surrounding programs for some number of turns. It should also be possible for player programs to put such ‘destructible environment objects’ onto the grid as program abilities, allowing the player a degree of creativity to beating maps.

Ultimately, the challenge is to maintain the core mechanics that made the original game so popular while adding modern-day touches that expand on the gameplay. However, each of these are fine to add as long as they are delivered in small doses or not at all in the early levels. For example, we can start with a small map reminiscent of most TNI maps, with the only fog of war being on the far side of the map and no environmental factors. The second map can be slightly larger and have more cases of fog of war. The third map can be the same size except with environmental factors. The fourth map can introduce multiple floors. And so on. As long as the game doesn’t feel repetitive like TNI eventually become, I think it is possible to create a very fun spiritual successor one of the greatest shockwave gems I ever played.

August 24, 2013

Cohack – A Reimagination of Spybot: The Nightfall Incident

In my last post I discussed my experiences in LD26, gave a nudge to Walk Softly (a continuation of our Ludum Dare game), and introduced my latest project – creating a modern reimagination of the popular Shockwave game Spybot: The Nightfall Incident. In this post, I intend to expand on the last part, as well as provide some screenshots of the current progress so far.

This Is Not The First

The two main reasons why I decided to recreate Spybot: The Nightfall Incident (note, however, that this is not an exact recreation) are because of its popularity as a Shockwave game and because I liked playing it. In fact, it is one of the highest rated Shockwave games on Jayisgames, an online arcade portal and is still fun to play today. If you have never played it, I highly recommend downloading Shockwave and giving it a try.

Indie game developers get a lot of inspiration from older games they have played that they enjoyed. When searching for ideas on what to work on next (yes, ideas can be hard sometimes), we often look to the games we enjoyed, find a few flaws or aspects that could be improved, then start working on ‘reimagining’ the older game. These reimaginations are often called spiritual successors and include the general feel of the previous game but incorporate a different story/setting and add elements to make the game more modern. BioShock being a spiritual successor to System Shock 2, and Assassins Creed being a spiritual successor to Prince of Persia are two good examples of this in mainstream gaming.

The idea of a spiritual successor to Spybot: The Nightfall Incident is something I have toyed with in my mind for quite some time, and I’m not the first to try to do this. A quick YouTube search pulls up a work-in-progress of ApparentEtch’s port to iOS, which at this time of writing is over 2 years old, meaning it is likely vaporware (digitally nonexistent) by now. A Google search pulls up a port of the game to Java, with added mechanics and a different story. However, just like ApparentEtch’s port, the last update to the Java port is over 2 years ago, meaning the project is likely abandoned.

I am unaware of the reasons behind both projects being dead. It seems like ApparentEtch wanted to make an exact copy of the game and port to iOS, which brings up legal issues and requires approving from Lego. An exact copy is never something you can pull off nowadays, and if you’re going to put work into a project then you’re best off making a spiritual successor so your work actually becomes your game. Stravant (author of the Java port) seems to have just gotten tired of the project (game developers call this ‘burnout’), or had to quit for personal reasons. My goal is to succeed where they have failed, and see this project to the end.

The Prototype

Almost every indie game nowadays starts with a prototype of the gameplay. This is because the story and the media do not matter as much if the gameplay itself is uninteresting, so we work on getting this aspect solidified before adding in the polish. Many mainstream game developers still prefer a top-down approach, and for companies with great designers (believe me, game design is a hard job to do well), this approach can still work. Still, there are some very famous disasters, with the most recent one being Final Fantasy XIII, a game praised for graphics but criticized on almost every other aspect from poor level design to poor story development. By developing a prototype first, developers who are not very skilled in design (such as myself) can slowly craft a game that works out its kinks. For CoHack, my first goal is to create a working prototype of the battle system, and that is what I am going to showcase in this post.

Battles in Spybot: The Nightfall Incident

This is what battles look like in Spybot: The Nightfall Incident

This is what the player sees during a battle in Spybot: The Nightfall Incident. I’m including this image here for comparison.

The following pictures will showcase what my prototype looks like.

Start of The Battle

Right now, the prototype starts by creating 3 spawn points for the player and computer, then generated a random grid. My goal is to create a prototype that would offer a slightly different experience for the player each time, and if I ever add multiplayer to the game then random grid generation could be a useful feature.

The entire game right now is touch-operated, meaning everything is currently designed to work with iOS and Android devices. I personally test the prototype on my iPad to ensure it maintains a solid framerate. The game has mouse fallback, so if your device doesn’t have touch input (such as PC), you can use the mouse to ‘simulate’ a touch.

Player Spawning

The highlighting of the spawn point in the image is rather faint, but if you take a look at the full resolution image, you should be able to see which spawning point is currently selected.

With the UI in CoHack, I’ve decided to deviate from the placement the UI had in Spybot: The Nightfall Incident and move it to the bottom. I believe the UI in the Shockwave is awkwardly placed on the left, and that a bottom UI is more reminiscent of modern strategy games (Command & Conquer, Might and Magic, etc.). In addition, I’ve split the UI into three sections – a left section that shows the player information about the currently selected object, a middle section that gives the player options based on the selected object, and a right section for displaying crucial in-game information such as victory conditions and other special conditions such as showing the player how many turns they have left to win. This right section is not being used at this time of writing.

Computer Spawning

After the player has finished spawning, a notification appears and then the computer spawns its programs. The computer spawning happens quite quickly because my intention is to minimize the amount of time the computer spends on its turn while still making its actions recognizable and understandable to the player.

Player Turn

This is the aspect of the prototype I am currently working on. Player object movement is working but currently not to a polished state. I am working on cleaning up program movement before I go on to add other parts of the player turn, such as combat. For now, each player object only has the ‘No Action’ option after it has expired its maximum number of moves that turn.

Next Steps

After cleaning up the small (but noticeable) issues in player object movement, I will move on to add computer program movement and basic AI. Computer behavior is one of the most challenging parts of development, and this is why many games are often criticized for terrible AI. I will try my best to eventually create an AI that is smarter than the behaviors used in Spybot: The Nightfall Incident, but I cannot guarantee that the prototype will actually feature such improvements as my main goal is to create a working prototype for public display.

The very last thing I will likely do for the prototype is find a sci-fi/computer font to use. If you know of any good ones, please let me know!