Demo- SHORTLEGS: An Advance-Wars type Mod

[Verdun]

SO.

Here it is.

I finally got 3 playable maps for you now.

Now when I say "Advance Wars", I mean a general art style and aesthetic, also to be found in things like 'Battalion Wars' and that tabletop game 'Rivet Wars'. Mechanics-wise, it maps almost completely onto the Warcraft 3 base, so you need no new AI to run this even against computer players.

Some development stuff can be found here.

All 3 main factions are playable, there is also a bonus faction that can be played but isn't really developped.
Each faction is supposed to come with at least 3 alternate "cultures" (randomly generated at the beginning of each game), though so far I only got that working for the first faction.
I'd say just set your race to "random" and let yourself be surprised!

I originally planned to just let you go in more or less blind to discover the various features for yourself, but it's probably best if I introduce at least SOME things that are different from regular Warcraft 3.

Resources

Trees don't do anything- you need "Industrial Production" that is found near Industrial Zones.
Production destructibles regenerate in regular intervals as long as the industries are intact.

Wealth does not come from Goldmines, but Cities, but it's otherwise the same principle. Except...

City Districts

Each City allows you to buy "Districts" - neutral structures that will spawn on empty "City Tiles".
You can thus upgrade your base with hospitals, more industries, and taxpayers that will make your city live longer.

Naval Units

Each standard faction has one hero unit that spawns as a battleship. It can obviously only move on water, but each map has enough naval passages to make this a useful feature.

To summon a battleship hero, you need to first explore the map's coastlines for a "Port" structure, which is usually neutral hostile (or already taken by another player) and must first be conquered so you can use it. Use too much artillery, and the port is just destroyed. This of course can also be a valid option if you just want to deny this feature to your enemies.

With that being said

Please give it a try and tell me what you think!

I tested this literally hundreds of times, but there is always the possibility that you find a glitch (though there might be things that LOOK like glitches to you and are really work-arounds that were simply the closest way I found to get this to do what I want).

Even if you find everything running smoothly, there might be features and tech tree decisions that don't really do it for you.

Either way, if you find anything to say, please feel free to share!

Where it goes from here

Depending on what feedback I get, I will continue working on the mod and ideally make a whole campaign.
It took me from Febuary to September this year to get this far, however, working on this basically non-stop, and now I need to take care of ~ my family and my day job ~ again. So let's see what can be done here.

 

[A]mun]

Interesting artstyle +1
Gonna try some time later, wondering how the ai handles it.

edit:

• The city tile upgrades are interesting +1, but if all tiles are occupied already you still get charged and the cooldown resets.
• Bomber plane seems very imbalanced - the bombardment ability also destroys supplies!
• Some units' selection circles are too big (rifleman e.g.) - can probably fix in magos editor.
• More uniqueness would've been appreciated. It's mostly a reskin of wc3.

Also did you make those models yourself?

 

[Verdun]

Interesting artstyle +1
Gonna try some time later, wondering how the ai handles it.

edit:

• The city tile upgrades are interesting +1, but if all tiles are occupied already you still get charged and the cooldown resets.
• Bomber plane seems very imbalanced - the bombardment ability also destroys supplies!
• Some units' selection circles are too big (rifleman e.g.) - can probably fix in magos editor.
• More uniqueness would've been appreciated. It's mostly a reskin of wc3.

Also did you make those models yourself?

That was quick!

City tiles - Okay, so I meant for you to "get your money back" if there are no more tiles, if that's not working I must have somehow disabled that part. EDIT: One thing I definitely have not yet added was to properly manage the timer, even if you recover the resources I can see how that's a bit of a bummer.

Bombers- The Bombardment was meant to be a bit of an "artistic choice" to show that "carpet bombing is bad because it destroys everything" but also I thought destroying supplies would also make for a valid mechanic, to really ruin your opponent's economy so they cannot even harvest anymore (it's not all lost because in theory if the supplies and industries are destroyed, you could build more industries spawning more supplies). Gameplay-wise, though, I was indeed wondering if that's going too far .

Selection circles - The whole thing with selection circles, collision shape and calculating extends is something else I still kinda need to figure out. I get the impression if you have like a background plane for the portrait and calculate extends, that is still considered in-game as part of the model you can "grab", which makes it so some units are hard to grab or separate from other units. I got it to a point where it is no longer driving me insane, but obviously there might be more to do.

Reskin - Yeah I hear you, for more uniqueness in gameplay I would probably need to edit AI, which is something I'd have to learn from scratch, so that would be opening a bigger can. That, or come up with more interesting extra mechanics.

Model assets - And yes, every critique for how I went about the models should be directed at me, because I didn't use anything except Blizzard assets or my own stuff.


Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated!!

 

[General Frank]

That was quick!

City tiles - Okay, so I meant for you to "get your money back" if there are no more tiles, if that's not working I must have somehow disabled that part. EDIT: One thing I definitely have not yet added was to properly manage the timer, even if you recover the resources I can see how that's a bit of a bummer.

Bombers- The Bombardment was meant to be a bit of an "artistic choice" to show that "carpet bombing is bad because it destroys everything" but also I thought destroying supplies would also make for a valid mechanic, to really ruin your opponent's economy so they cannot even harvest anymore (it's not all lost because in theory if the supplies and industries are destroyed, you could build more industries spawning more supplies). Gameplay-wise, though, I was indeed wondering if that's going too far .

Selection circles - The whole thing with selection circles, collision shape and calculating extends is something else I still kinda need to figure out. I get the impression if you have like a background plane for the portrait and calculate extends, that is still considered in-game as part of the model you can "grab", which makes it so some units are hard to grab or separate from other units. I got it to a point where it is no longer driving me insane, but obviously there might be more to do.

Reskin - Yeah I hear you, for more uniqueness in gameplay I would probably need to edit AI, which is something I'd have to learn from scratch, so that would be opening a bigger can. That, or come up with more interesting extra mechanics.

Model assets - And yes, every critique for how I went about the models should be directed at me, because I didn't use anything except Blizzard assets or my own stuff.


Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated!!

I can help you with the background plane/selection issues thing

 

[Verdun]

I can help you with the background plane/selection issues thing

Well that would be really great! (of course if it's just something really basic I should be able to find out by googling a bit more I don't want to waste your time)

 

[General Frank]

Well that would be really great! (of course if it's just something really basic I should be able to find out by googling a bit more I don't want to waste your time)

Nah, it's fine. Those things are very fiddly and such.
Write me a PM later or add me on Discord.

 

[Verdun]

Okay, so this is probably an AI-related question... does anyone else find it noticeable that computer players will play it infuriatingly "safe" here? What I mean is, best case scenario, they build a really big base with all the units money can buy, but they never really try to attack you?

You think this is related to them somehow not recognizing the techtree anymore, or is it because they don't know how to "read" my custom maps so they don't explore?

 

[Fleck]

Yeah, they are kinda passive like you said, it seems their units like to hang around harbors. If you are not using custom ai only standard ai then yeah the ai probably don't recognize the custom techtree.

The ai human and orc factions do expand and build new bases but undead do not, I have to subsidize them by buying building residential areas in their main base. It seems all ai will stop attacking at some point. I can goad ai allies into action by being attacked. The ai nightelf will only build few units and usually get repelled by creeps.

Also it seems the Nightelf can't develop city tiles unless they unentangled the goldmine. And the hospital have lots of hp that I can't destroy it.

 

[Verdun]

If you are not using custom ai only standard ai then yeah the ai probably don't recognize the custom techtree.

Thanks for the feedback!

I theory, it is all just a reskin, I didn't really use any custom units, but... perhaps modifying the base units is enough to confuse the AI.

Regarding the undead, I suppose it could have something to do with how I did away with blighted areas. Maybe it doesn't know how to build a base without expanding blight (even though the buildings no longer require it for placement).

 

[Verdun]

Okay so here is the very latest version on an original blizzard map, but I believe with all the mechanics and units already in place... and the AI seems to work perfectly, at least in the normal test run (where undead is the default opponent).

It all stopped working when I made custom maps.

So now I will import all latest object data and triggers to check if I added something problematic in the later maps...

EDIT: Actually no, I updated the last blizzard map with the newest data (that's the file I attached now), and it keeps working.

Something must have gone wrong with the demo maps.

EDIT: See the updated updated map further down.

 

[Verdun]

Update: all factions expand properly, but AI players do not seem to really attack other players in standard melee.

In test mode, however, they do. What makes test AI different from standard AI?

Update of the update: Test AI seems to work sortof ok, though the waiting time between different attack waves tends to be very, very long. But at least they use all the units.

Normal melee AI does seem to expand, but it is incredibly timid. I launched a game with 3 AI players. When I left my base alone for about 40 minutes and nothing but workers, I got exactly one attack wave, shooting at some of my buildings without much conviction and then turning back around as if they had something better to do. When I looked again 30 minutes later at least someone had destroyed my base, but had left the haunted gold mine and acolyte units undisturbed.

 

[Fleck]

Nice, I do notice the ai more aggressive than before though every once in a while they turtle in their base and not creep or expand.

Alien ancients of lore and wind doesn't have models unlike the previous demo maps.
The alien moonwells doesn't regenerate mana even with upgrades.
The Public Park aura name still says Endurance Aura.
The power plant have lots of hp. Perhaps if it is destroyed, it deals aoe damage?
Bought airfields are invulnerable.
Bought buildings provides vision unlike the previous demo maps.

 

[Verdun]

So I think I implemented most of the suggestions.
Here is the new demo map with sortof-working AI, I have deleted the one in the previous post.