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Post by Gravedust on Sept 13, 2010 15:10:19 GMT -8
So I have a new project. I'm still working on Steampunk game, but I'm also messing around a little with this as a sideline. Won't say too much about it just yet, but was inspired a lot by a game I've been playing recently called Mount & Blade, as well as some other things I've been reading. But the gyst of it is, it's a roleplaying/strategy game. But instead of playing a lone adventurer.. What if you happened to be a lord or a general? Someone with enough clout to have a personal army. Someone powerful enough to shape the course of history, rather than off killing kobolds in caves? I think a lot of interesting stories could be told that way. So at it's core it's a large-scale combat simulator, with a few tweaks to allow for powerful commander units (whch'd be the Player(s). Some further resource management rules and setup will go in to make 'campaigns' possible. RP isn't really part of the core rules set, but finding a way to integrate it should be easy. For the background that I've come up with so far, it's a fantasy world, but I've tried to stay away from the usual human/elf/dwarf setup and tried for a more original setting and population. We'll have to see how it turns out. For now I'm working on the core combat rules, which so far are encouragingly simple, but complex enough to necessitate actual strategy. (Only a few elements of combat are left up to the dice, and most rolls involve special actions on the part of the Commanders.) I actually did some combat testing last sunday (12 units, 564 troops total) and there were no showstoppers. Tonight I plan on finishing up and making my first revisions, mostly to unit stats. ANYWAY. So far I'm pretty enthused. Not quite sure what to do with it yet, but so far it's a fun side-project. ....Plus I may finally be able to make some use of some older pre-existing sketches and other art. :3 Because I'm shameless like that.
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Post by brendur on Sept 13, 2010 15:12:50 GMT -8
Just curious man, have you ever worked with the Exalted system from White Wolf?
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Post by Gravedust on Sept 13, 2010 15:24:34 GMT -8
Hehe.. Nupe, but I fiddled around on the site of one of the guys who did some of the art for it a good while back.
Why, has this been done before?
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Post by brendur on Sept 13, 2010 15:35:47 GMT -8
;D No no, just some of the art work here is very reminiscent of the game. Exalted does have a "Battlefield" aspect now in it's second edition, but that hardly the encompassing theme of the game.
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Post by Gravedust on Sept 13, 2010 15:52:05 GMT -8
Hehe.. yeah Kima's look was sort of an offshoot of that.
I wouldn't have put it together with the other two.. the inked one I did a while back and the sketchy was just done today. I'm a still developing ye storyline and lore, but that style is what I'm going to use for the Calleians. One of the older races out there, a few hundred thousand years ago they basically killed their god for being a tyrant. Other than that they're pretty reasonable, though. They used to be more or less unassailably strong, until their race was split by a schism and the wound up fighting themselves to the point where the playing field is a bit more level for the other races and factions out there, if/when they choose to take advantage. The Calleian heroes are mostly those born with an affinity to the metal Aurichalum, which with the right training and technique can channel astral power.
Right at the moment their three hero classes are: Physcia: (The sketchy up top) essentially a healer, though they can use astral magic offensively as well. Magic bypasses troop defense so it's a good way to whittle down units with large numbers of troops or high defense.
Warder: Massively defensive character, can protect large bodies of troops and dispel certain kinds of harmful magic. Has mild healing abilities. Good attacker as well but suffers from a lack of mana. Last night one them (and his 20 man squad) held off 60 mounted troops for a good 3-4 round with no casualties, till a Pyscia blew him up, finally. ..So they need to be toned down a bit. >.>
Vanquisher: (The inked sketch at the bottom) Still working for abilities, but see that big 'ol sword? His job is to carve your units into tiny pieces with it. Has some skills that grant extra movement and a bonus to attack in the charge. There'll be more, I'm still working on it...
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Post by Gravedust on Sept 19, 2010 23:21:09 GMT -8
So I bought myself a new toy today. Here's what I did with it: And yep those're Calleians. That there in white is their basic model foot soldier. Though it's only mostly white, really, I didn't get around to coloring it yet. Note that I didn't actually make the sketch with the tablet, but I did color it. Previously I've been having to make concessions to only really being able to color with a mouse, but not so much anymore. So huzzah! I'm still learning, definitely, but I'm pleased with the results so far. As far as the actual game goes. Finished my first playtest and did some readjusting. Upped the resilience of all units in order to lower overall casualties because units were being decimated inside of 3 combat rounds in most cases. It's spectacular and bloody, but I want the strategy to depend less on who gets the jump on who first. In other news there are several new armies/factions under development. The one I'm working on now is the Gilbereug, which are bog slow, and really tough. They have a fairly primitive combat order. (Different armies get different combinations of possible moves, actions, attacks, etc. For example, Callieans are Action, Move, Attack, Action, and Gilbereug are simply Move, Action, Attack. But holy shit do you not want to stand in front of them, because their Actions are usually going to do something horrible. Or so I intend them to be, anyway. The Gilbereug are very much the 'we're going to walk from this end of the battle map to the other and smash the hell out of everything in between. It's going to take a long goddamn time, but just try to #$%^&* stop us.") ...Plus they look pretty neat. I'll try to show the concepts I did earlier.. they're ...different. Other armies in the cookpot are the Remn, which is meant to be the jack-of-all-trades arms (every game gotta have one!) and having a balanced force should help with testing. Right at the moment I'm mulling their backstory. I have something that's halfway workable but it needs a bit more zazz. Remn is short for Remnant, though, and they're essentially a mercenary civilization made up of hundreds of factions that got kicked to the curb over the millennia. Anyway. Must sleep. I do love my new toy, though.
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Post by brendur on Sept 20, 2010 5:47:50 GMT -8
Wow man that looks great!
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Post by jazzs3quence on Sept 20, 2010 6:47:08 GMT -8
I'm sorta surprised it took you this long to get a Wacom. We're already trying to justify the cost of getting our second (those bluetooth ones look effing saweeet...)
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Post by Gravedust on Sept 20, 2010 8:57:41 GMT -8
Well I had one a looonnngg while back but it got sort of old and lame so I stopped using it. It didn't have a lot off ye fancy stuff this one has either. So what do you use yours for? I got this one specifically so I could try more paint-y stuff. Part of the reason It took me so long to get one was because a lot of the coloring I used to do you don't actually _need_ a pad for. It's all just gradients: i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg297/AK9779/atomc.jpgBut I wanted to start getting into less cartoony stuff, so. Also I wanted to at least try to do some sketching in ye computer, since a lot of people have a lot of good thigns to say about it. I did give it a shot briefly and while it is great, (it's crazy how much it turns out just like paper drawings) it's only about 80% of the way there for me. Mostly I think it's just control issues. I have a bad habit where when I need to make certain horizontal lines I just turn the pad sideways and do it vertically instead. My horizontal draw is pretty crap as a result and since I can't turn the artpad like you can with paper.. yeah. so it gets a little frustrating at parts. So it's one of the things I'm going to have to hammer down if I intend to do actual sketching on ye pad. I was looking at the ones where you draw right on the screen. That would be powerful awesome and would probably instantly solve and problem I had. However the price is HA HA HA no. Looking back at the stuff I did last night I'm not really satisfied (this is what usually happens,) so it's clear I need to spend more time training and experimenting. After all I did this with just a mouse (and a looooot of time) i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg297/AK9779/valnopaint.jpgand I'm going to use that as my benchmark. But previously it was several bitches to have to color faces because of all the subtleties involved, and I think I did a passable job of that. Though it's more washed out than I remember, and of course those aren't real skintones, so much. >.>
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Post by jazzs3quence on Sept 20, 2010 9:53:25 GMT -8
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Post by jazzs3quence on Sept 20, 2010 9:53:54 GMT -8
oh also: our scanner died. so that was another incentive...
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Post by Gravedust on Sept 20, 2010 10:02:53 GMT -8
Well that's rad. :3
I think I'm going to try to learn how to draw on the tablet, but for everything else I've always pencilled and scanned. I haven't inked anything recently actually since I started just coloring under my pencils. Actually I think the lineart I put earlier in this thread was the last thing I inked. I got a real steady hand but I'm not really flexible. : / It does work along with my style in some ways, though.
But yeah, drawing or painting with the mouse is balls. The warlock piccie was done by making thousands upon thousands of selections and either using the gradient or the brush tool inside those. It took a l o n g d a m n t i m e.
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Post by Gravedust on Sept 22, 2010 14:13:38 GMT -8
Rawr.. well just three minutes ago I finished something the last of my first batch of compartment art pieces for the pirate game. While I'll still have to revisit them and add more from time to time, at least I can I can FIIIINNNALLLYY move on to doing something different! Which, namely will most probably be making a whole mess of ships.
On other news: in the wake of me getting my tablet I decided to try something a little different to enhance my workflow. Basically I redownloaded a voice recognition program I used when I played flight sims and developed a profile for use with photoshop! I automated most of the keyboard commands I use most often, so now instead of having to reach for my keyboard I just say the right command and presto.
I bound:
Brush tool Lasso tool Switch lassoo tool (toggles between poly lassoo and freehand) Hide/Show Selection Deselect Gradient tool Fill Tool Switch Fill (Toggles between paint fill and gradient) Sample (Eyedropper) Hand tool Zoom in Zoom Out 25% zoom 50% Zoom Full Size Fit to Screen Undo Multiple undo (History)
..and maybe 1 or more I don't remember off the top of my head. (Oohhh! I could macro switching to the alpha channel!!)
But anyway I spent so much time yesterday evening getting everything set up I didn't have time to do any actual work with it to see if it's helpful or not. -_- But hopefully I can play with it tonight.
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Post by jazzs3quence on Sept 22, 2010 15:57:40 GMT -8
I imagine that would help a lot. That's one thing that's obnoxious with the Wacom is that it's really annoying to try to select tools using the pen, and switching between a pen and a mouse is not optimal. Ours has various buttons but to date we've done nothing with them. Presumably it could be possible to create hotkeys for specific functions in those spots, but that would pretty much waste a day configuring them (as evidenced by your voice commands) and therefore we just only get annoyed when the cats do SOMETHING HORRIBLE to the Wacom that causes the computer to think someone is scrolling up and down incessantly (seriously. the only fix I've found is rebooting. I think it must be a short or something, maybe static electricity from their fur? anyway, it's horrible.). this has the added bonus of causing web pages to ZOOOOOOM IN and ZOOOOOOM OUT!!! if you try to scroll as if you held down CTRL + scroll. it's awesome. and by awesome I mean it makes us want to throw the cats in a blender. but in a nice way.
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Post by Gravedust on Sept 22, 2010 20:06:00 GMT -8
Actually I forgot one crucial component for my voice commands: ENHANCE!
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Post by Gravedust on Feb 16, 2011 23:56:35 GMT -8
In regards to my current behind the scenes project: Pretty soon, yep.
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Post by brendur on Feb 17, 2011 9:47:03 GMT -8
...does it have a tickle function?
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Post by Gravedust on Feb 17, 2011 10:25:35 GMT -8
Well let's see.... Hmmnn.. Nothing about tickling, but it does have bucket seats and a CD player...
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Post by brendur on Feb 17, 2011 10:46:56 GMT -8
so cute, so deadly bet it's fun to drive.
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Post by Gravedust on Feb 17, 2011 12:53:12 GMT -8
Okay one more thing, then: Here's an example of the battle map. This isn't actual combat, but it's a test of the decals I'll be using to portray all the diff. effects. The large and very large explosions are from Indirect Fire, which is basically artillery. (The mech with the "Launch" circle is shooting some) They're big and powerful (and expensive and heavy) but the trick to them is they impact the round AFTER you launch them, so the explosions you see here were shot in a previous round, and the one that's being launched won't land till later. The other weapons you can see are blue laster beams, (one of which is partially but not fully absorbed by shields, see the indicators for shield and armor damage, and also the shield in use.) Cannon shots, and a hack attempt. All the mechs are Balthezars.. Bals are my swiss army mech, they do a little of everything (except jump… and shoot indirect) When the other models are done I'll have placers for them too. Speaking of the other mech models I have a few others to fill in the combat niches: ACHILLES:: MEELE-CENTRIC Melee works almost exactly like it does in SP/SA! two opposed rolls, and the difference between the two is the damage that is dealt. The thing that makes melee really deadly is that it bypasses shields completely, and since there's no soak roll, you can do I think a maximum of 274 damage on a best case scenario attack, which is enough to 1-shot all the mechs in the current lineup except 1. On the flipside you have to live long enough to get into melee range, which is they the have more robust shields. Wish I could have given them better regen… They also have a hacking system to help them debilitate their enemies before moving in for the kill. ARCLITE:: FIRE SUPPORT My Indirect and Missile carrier. Indirect and missile weapons are all about ruining somebody's whole day from across the whole map. Indirect has these huge AOE explosions, and is meant to be used to prevent mechs from camping, basically. Also, slow mechs will have a hard time getting out of the blast radius of larger explosions, even if they know where they're going to land. Missiles have a long range, hit hard, and partially bypass shields (50% damage impacts shields, the rest goes against the Armor) They're undogeable, but they CAN miss. Missiles home in on a mech's Signature. Mechs generate signature by firing weapons, using jumpjets, ect. Signature bleeds off at a constant rate, but generally you'll generate more than you can get rid of. Essentially the higher your signature, the better the chances that a missile attack will hit you. And getting hit by a missile sucks. So the downside to carrying around all this firepower is the Arclite is huge, easy to hit, and has virtually no defensive capabilities. If you leave it alone of course it'll rain havoc and devastation all over the battlefield, first with Indirect and then with Missiles once mechs start heating up. A good idea would be to kill it ASAP. Of course Missiles and Indirect don't require LOS to use, so you can park your Arclite behind full cover somewhere and make them come to you. -- DANMAKU - SNIPER A fragile little thing with a GREAT BIG DAY-RUINING GUN. Basically it's job it to take pot-shots at vulnerable units out on the field. It's fast so it can get into position (and retreat) quickly, and features jets for extra mobility. It doesn't' have shields, but it's pretty small which is a benefit. (ranged attacks use a slightly simpler version of the SA/SP! rules) Basically keep them out of harm's way until it's opportune to pop out and shoot another mech where it hurts. They also have a defensive hacking deck (because I had some extra space) to find off hacking attacks. ---- DESTRIER - I AM THE TANK RAWRRR!!!!! Well.. Basically this mech is literally just cannons and armor. No shields or anything fancy, it's job is to just wade out there and fight in the center and just sort of hope it's the last thing standing when the dust clears. While we're on the subject, a word about cannons. Unlike others weapons that are limited to 1 shot per round, cannons fire in bursts of 1-5 shots at once. The more rounds you fire at once, however, the more likely the entire busts will miss (the Recoil stat degrades your accuracy). However at close range when shots are easy to make, cannon bursts can do a loooooooot of damage. And like missiles they do 50% shield damage and 50% armor damage. ---- GARGOYLE - HACKER The Gargoyle is my hacker. Hackers are basically debuffers. Hacking attacks can temporality shut down weapons, screw up targeting, immobilize, and a host of other nasty effects. Gargoyles don't do much killing themselves, but they soften up enemy mechs so their friends can kill them. Another Shieldless Wonder, but fortunately it's hacking range means it can stay far away from combat and behind full cover like the Arclite. It doesn't have to see it's target to try and hack it. Since it's job is basically to hide and screw with people, it's also got some jets that enable it to get to places that mechs that want to kill it will have a hard time reaching. And yep. There you go, those are my initial mechs. Their stats are generated, using a simple process.. Basically you just pick what components you want and add them on. The components themselves are generated by slightly more complex formulas, and if you want a really really customized mech you can build all your components from scratch too. Compared to SA, it takes me about the same time to do 1 airship as it did all of my starter mechs. it's a LOT simpler.
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Post by Gravedust on Feb 22, 2011 23:02:48 GMT -8
Achilles wants to love you but doesn't know how.... Hehe.. Ehh. I goes the color is a little disingenuous.. I didn't design either of them purple, (actual colors are brown for Bal and red for Achilles) but I can change them to be whatever color I want.. I do sort of like the purkle tho. More cute. I am sort of narrowing down on the coloring style I like, this one is a little shinier and detailed (hence I can show it closer than the last one)
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Post by Gravedust on Mar 9, 2011 15:56:50 GMT -8
Arclite says hello. (It's a Minecraft joke)
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