New Large project Sneak Peak

[Verdun]

Behold:

Working title - 'Short Legs'.

Inspired by 'Advance Wars'.

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Even though it's been a year, 'Bugface' is still very much a thing.

Bugface was originally supposed to be a short project as I work on a bigger project.
This? this is an even "shorter" project as I work on Bugface .
Seriously though, this is something I actually hope to finish in less than a few months, something simple, compact, but fun.

To do this, I will replace the original units of the factions so that the basic AI can still play with them- though I hope to make something like 12+ nations through customization options.
Then it's a basic campaign and a few melee/multiplayer capable maps.

 

[prestonanonymous]

Looks interesting to me. Good luck with development.

 

[Verdun]

To prove I actually advance on this at a... pace, here's all finished buidlings so far, which also allows for a first faction comparison:

The main structure of the game is that your faction represents an "army" extracting financial resources from nearby towns ("goldmines") while lumber is replaced by "industrial production" extracted from nearby industries, though the exact mechanic fro that is still pending.

 

[Verdun]

So anyway I AM making progress, but holy F***, do I ever take time to do things

 

[Verdun]

More Progress, with faction comparisons: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

 

[Verdun]

"Ranger Hutts"/Outposts will replace the Saw mills.

 

[Verdun]

 

[Verdun]

Trees are for decoration /destructible scenery now.

Your basic resources are wealth gathered from towns (or brutally extracted, depending on the faction) and Industrial supplies/hardware harvested from Industrial zones. Industrial supplies regenerate as long as the industrial zones are intact, but you can destroy the industry of your enemy to get them in trouble.

Towns are not too different - you can do a couple of things to make sure your town regenerates its wealth faster than you can harvest it, but if you mess up the balance, the town will collapse into ruins and spawn rebels that will attack you.

 

[Verdun]

Field Hospital and Field Laboratory, producing Medics and unscrupulous Researchers respectively

 

[Achille]

I absolutely adore this concept, and I am loving the general aesthetic of the buildings and their visual relation to the units. I am curious about this "basic campaign" you mentioned, can we get a minor teaser as to its narrative concept? I suppose i'm just dying to know more about what these little guys are all fighting over!

Overall this looks excellent!

 

[Raining Outside]

Love the style you have going here, the little soldiers are great. Tons of character!

 

[Verdun]

I absolutely adore this concept, and I am loving the general aesthetic of the buildings and their visual relation to the units. I am curious about this "basic campaign" you mentioned, can we get a minor teaser as to its narrative concept? I suppose i'm just dying to know more about what these little guys are all fighting over!

Overall this looks excellent!

I try to keep it as simple as possible - I have a very rough story line and any complexity comes as I elaborate. One problem with all my projects so far is that I wanted to do so many things and got lost. This time I try to start minimalistic and see whatever I can add.

The focus will not so much be on individual characters as the nations themselves and their relationships to one another.

The rough outline is, you have a set of continents in crisis after the breakdown of international order, with the various nations competing for resources or trying to reclaim lost territories. Their motivations will be informed by their past history:

Dungeon -type nations originate from the southern hemisphere; they believe they are the center of civilization. In the first age of colonization, they conquered almost the entirety of the northern continents before weakening as the second age began. Now, in the third age (Present Day, where the campaign is set), some greedy Dungeon nations spread out to conquer and purge once again.

Rampart -type nations are all that is left of the original native populations on the northern continents of the first age. In the second age, they were pushed back into harsh territories in the tundras, mountains, jungles and deserts while the newly founded Bastion -type nations controlled most the good or strategic land. Now, in the third age, many Rampart nations try to benefit from the chaos to go on raids and maybe rebuild their old countries.

Bastion -type nations are former Dungeon colonies on the Northern continents that gained their independence and became powerful states in the second age. In the third age, they both defend themselves from Dungeon attempts to take them back as colonies and from Rampart-type nations that try to reclaim their native lands.

All very much work in progress of course. This is just a starting point, first draft stuff.

 

[Tryce09]

Upon a closer observation i see that the infantry are no five units, but actually a squad! Nice!

This time I try to start minimalistic and see whatever I can add.

Sound reasonable, good luck with this project.

 

[Verdun]

Upon a closer observation i see that the infantry are no five units, but actually a squad! Nice!

yeah I reall wanted something mostly squad-based so that was one of the main ideas behind the project

 

[Verdun]

I might be spamming the previews, but I always say, if I get hit by a bus tomorrow, at least there will be visual proof of what I have "accomplished"

Anyway, each faction will have access to naval "hero" units. They have powerful extra long-range artillery attacks, but as you have probably guessed, the trade off is that they can only move on water. To summon your fleet in the first place, you need to capture one of the neutral "port" structures on the map.

 

[Verdun]

So anyway, got all the heroes now for the three main factions (the naval hero unit above will be used by every faction):

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[Verdun]

And here we go - all faction structures I can be bothered to make for the forseeable future. A couple of Neutrals might still be needed...
The units are also done to a point that melee games are now possible. Gonna prepare a few demo maps now.

 

[Verdun]

A couple of air units and most importandly for playability, the airfiled which replaces the Goblin Laboratory.

 

[Verdun]

quick question, thought purely cosmetic:

which one of these two color shemes should be the "standard" one, which one reserved for, say special campaign units? Got any opinion on that?

The way this goes is, I will now seriously prepare the demo, as I have kinda all basic units done now, but I keep wanting to redesign stuff

 

[Tryce09]

The one of the left looks more standard/generic, the right one looks more "special" like a expensive metal.

 

[Sire Denathrius]

quick question, thought purely cosmetic:

which one of these two color shemes should be the "standard" one, which one reserved for, say special campaign units? Got any opinion on that?

The way this goes is, I will now seriousl prepare the demo, as I have kinda all basic units done now, but I keep wanting to redesign stuff

View attachment 384714

One generic or common unit, smaller.

One on the right could be boss-type or commander ship-type leading the lesser ones.

 

[Verdun]

FINALLY. With the bomber unit for the last of the three main factions finished, I will now start making polished demo maps.

 

[Sire Denathrius]

Best mod I see.

 

[Verdun]

So... this is probably the last post of mine on this thread... because I am almost done with the demo!

A new thread with the 3 demo maps should go up by tomorrow, or maybe by the end of the week.

And yeah, probably gonna stick with the title.