These are some great updates! Tiled is a really good map editor and I use it for my projects - I like that I can export data from Tiled in JSON and then convert this data to whatever format I need.

It's been a while since I last tried PhaserJS but I remember it being really good for sprite-based games. Might be worth giving it a try.

Can't wait to see more updates!

just released the version seen in the youtube video to itch.io 

I have integrated my maps from Tiled into my gaming engine, and setup a youtube chanel for the game where I will post video updates

Youtube video available here https://youtu.be/mrj7StZxyDQ

Release coming to itch very soon, just want to iron out a few niggles first

I'm at the point know where I need better maps in order to progress the game. So I have decided to work on this before I go any further with the AI. I feel having maps which will represent a more realistic scenario will lead to a better designed AI.

I found this absolutely fantastic piece of software called Tiled, Which lets you draw a tilemap, create templates for objects and then replicate those objects. You can than export the data for your map in XML, JSON and as images.

I have created templates for some monsters which has allowed me to place monsters over the map, you can even assign a class to your template, so I have created a class for my monsters with what stats they should have.

The next stage will be to adapt my game to be able to read in the format of json that tiled creates. I plan to export most of the map as a single image which will then be rendered on my game, The monsters won't be included, but the data for where they are positioned will be in the json file, so my game can read that in to position them itself. But its very useful to see visually where they are going to go when creating the map.

Here are a few screen shots of my first map in action, you might recognise the layout from shining force 1. I think its one of the first battles with zombies in where you go to that town where the townsfolk all act strange and then start closing in on you and turn into undead monsters. I think I first played this battle when I was 7 or 8 and it used to creep the hell out of me!

No updates for a while, but I assure I have been busy,

I am currently working on the AI for the enemy during the battles.

I imagine the code could get complex very quickly if I'm not careful, so my current plan is to use the chain of responsibility design pattern, to pass a context through a series of handlers which will do all the decision making, and then we will have the option to exit early if a handler decides there's no reason to call the next one, as the enemy knows what they're doing, then it can stop further decision making.

I'm going to start off by looking a proximity to the other team, as that will be used in decision making,
I.E. if the current player is tank with full HP they are likely to want to charge in, but if they are a  support unit with 10% HP remaining, they're going to want to run away and heal!

I look forward to having a new release out in the next few weeks, but it also makes sense to have configurable monster positions per map included in the next release, as in testing the AI works properly, it would make sense the monsters are in some different positions, rather than 2 lines of people charging right at each other!









 

Thanks Tyler!

Feel very privileged to have my game on your home page 

I'm going to work on enemy AI now, I expect that to take a some time, so I'm going to do it incrementally in stages. I'm sure it can get very complicated very quickly as I tried to think about the algorithm of how an experienced human might play and there are lots of considerations

I also might try to make the player movement a bit less janky - I believe at the moment if you push an arrow key before you lift up the previous arrow key there's a bit of a delay in movement (or perhaps this is all in my head :/) Or maybe I might polish things like this up later! Decisions, decisions.

Another thing I might do at some point is use the PhaserJS framework, rather than no framework - at the moment I have written my own code to do everything including the animations from sprite sheets which seems a little nuts considering there are libraries that do that, When I require more complex features from my animations, I may have wished I used a library - but perhaps I'm too far into it now

I have some changes in my local copy of the game which Ill publish soon, this includes some small bug fixes like the menu not opening when you're ontop of somebody and attacking when there are no targets crashing the game.

News story is now on the homepage - sorry it took so long!

Thanks Ty!

Hopefully I can keep the pace of development up at this speed!


Wow that would be awesome if you could post about it on the homepage!

Nice screenshots - this looks like it's coming along well and it definitely has a Shining Force feel to it!

Am I okay to post about this project on the homepage?

version 0.1.1 - I've decided to  start versioning!

Implemented different attack ranges

sword like : can attack above, below and to the side
arrow like : can attack 2 spaces ahead, but no directly adjacent
spear like : can attack with a range of 1 or 2 spaces
I've also implemented a cursor to select multiple targets akin to aura or blaze 2 from Shining force

I've implemented a target eligibility criteria, so for instance a weapon, item or magic spell may be used on 'own team', 'other team' or 'any'

I have also implemented a rudimentary error message for if you try and use a weapon,item or spell and there's no eligible targets in range