It was one of the first RTS-games (if not THE first) , and that's in 1989, waaayy before Dune II.
Anyway, there were a number of things that stopped me from completing it. Group-AI and pathfinding for example.
Now that I finally started to understand A* pathfinding, it doesn't seem to be that difficult anymore.
My first thoughts were to finish Herzog Zwei alongside Dark Resurrection.
(Trust me , when you work too long on -a part of- a game, you're beginning to lose focus on what you're doing)
That is why I switch from programming to studying character-animation , and from character-modelling to texturing & skinning.
Ahem..., to cut a long story short ..., it could be fun to alter Herzog Zwei into a Shining Force RTS.
It could even be more fun if this was a group effort.
Someone could focus on writing the story and another one could design the campaign.
Maybe there could be an option to play the good guys as well as the bad guys ?
And who wants to do the balancing, in order to finetune the units and/or buildings ?
I could write the program in Blitz3D. It can be either 2D or 3D.
My code-library is literally overflowing with specific functions.
Code that can already be used:
1 - Unit selection by drawing a rectangle with the mouse.
2 - assigning unit to function keys (CTRL + F1,F2,F3 etc etc).
3 - double-clicking a specific unit will select all units on screen.
4 - left-click a unit will select/de-select a unit.
5 - right-click a selected unit will move that unit to the clicked position.
6 - build-timers to represent the -length of the- construction of a unit.
7 - saving & loading of data of units if you decide to quit during play.
For units , we could take a number of characters with specific abilities and/or specific weapons
Here are some ideas:
Code:
Player-Units:
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5 of 6 player-units each with his/her own profiency.
Possible capabilities:
1 - extra defense
2 - healing capabilities
3 - extra movement-speed
4 - better skilled in short range weapons
5 - better skilled in mid range weapons
6 - better skilled in long range weapons
Groups will consist of up to 9 units.
Each unit-type will have his own movement-speed, but when a group has mixed units,
its combined movement will drop to the speed of the slowest-unit within that group.
It is possible to have a group with mixed units (for example 2 archers , 1 priest , 3 knights & 3 dwarfs )
When you attach a player-unit to a group, then a number of statistics (if not all) will be affected.
Let's say that I have a group with 4 archers , 1 priest and 4 dwarfs.
I'll attach a player-unit that is proficient with a bow.
This will affect all archers in this group.
Or you can attach a player-unit with healing capabilities that affects all units within that group.
Normal Units:
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1 - Priests with offensive spells
2 - Wizard with defensive spells
3 - Archers with long range weapons (arrows)
4 - Knights with mid range weapons (javelins or spears ,.... no..... not britney spears.. :) )
5 - Dwarfs with short range weapons (axes and/or swords )
6 - Sniper (very long range, very expensive ;) )
Mechanized units:
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1 - Big Arrow-Launchers
2 - Laser Eyes
3 - Mecha dragon
4 - Cyborgs
A super unit for each side:
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1 - Volcanon
2 - Zeon (or Lucifer or Dark Dragon)
Buildings - overview:
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1 Castle - your main building
2 Weaponsmith - forge mithril- weapons and\or armor
3 Church - bring back the fallen player-units
4 Mine - ...erm ... mine the mithril
5 Barracks - training the "short range" weapon users
6 Keep - training the "mid range" weapon users
7 Archery - training the "long range" weapon users
8 Mill - process wood for building ...errr.. buildings
9 Forest Hut - chop wood
10 Shrine - summon your super-unit
11 Masonry - process stone for buildings
12 Spell Tower - research new spell-levels , spell-efficiency , extend spell-range
13 Laboratory - research new ways for being more efficient with resources. (do more with less)
14 Shop - buy extra personal defense-items
Building-Tech-Tree:
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Castle Lv1 - 1 barracks
- 2 weaponsmith
- 3 masonry
- 4 forest hut
- 5 mine
- 6 mill
If you have all of these buildings then you are eligible to construct:
Castle Lv2 - 7 church
- 8 keep
- 9 shop
If you have all of these buildings then you are eligible to construct:
Castle Lv3 - 10 archery
- 11 spell-tower
- 12 shrine
- 13 laboratory
All buildings have their own efficiency level.
If a building has a high efficiency-level then it will cost less to produce units from it.
Lv 1 : 10% less construction costs
Lv 2 : 20% less construction costs
Lv 3 : 30% less construction costs
Shop:
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Bracelets
Rings
Shields
Player can buy these items for their player-units.
Items can affect:
1 - movement-speed
2 - rate of HP-point regeneration
3 - rate of Spell-point regeneration
4 - increase sphere of command
5 - ????
Spells:
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1 - Fire
2 - Ice
3 - Lightning ( Bolt ?)
4 - Earth
5 - Holy
6 - Dark
7 - ????
Spell-points are automatically regenerating.
New spell-levels are researched in the Spell-Tower.
Player can find rare spell-books in missions.
Resources:
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Gold - mine gold to buy units & construct buildings
Mithril - mine mithril for the best armor
Wood - chop wood for constructing buildings
Iron - mine iron for making normal armor
Stone - cut stone for constructing buildings
Mission-Types:
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1 - reconnaissance
2 - basic "expand base & defeat enemy"
3 - convoy
4 - take defensive position
5 - search & destroy
6 - search & rescue
7 - stealth mission
8 - a combination of one or more of the above :D
Pff. now that's a long post.
Again, these are just ideas., so everything can be changed.
So, when you're up for it, just let me know ok ?
Cheers,
Peter