http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/69341191/xenonauts
The more I see of the new XCom the more it looks like it will be nothing like the old XCom. Ideally I'd really like to just get a 100% faithful remake of the original with upgraded technology like destructible environment. Art style was amazing on that game too, and on the new one it just kind of leaves me cold, not that it's bad but few games reach that level of greatness so why not just remake the same game in 3D as every fan has been crying out for for about 20 years now?!
Since that's not going to happen, Xenonauts might be the best replacement we can hope for. All my own money plus a starting amount of Chase Manhattan's is tied up in my own game so I won't be giving to anyone's kickstarter any time soon, but I still wish them the best of luck. Both in collecting funds and in making the game good.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Linux support for C4
http://www.terathon.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11816
Not that I get many questions but the most frequently asked is IS THIS GOING TO BE ON LINUX? any time I mention I'm making a game on a message board.
Previously my answer was "Blame ATI and NVidia, they won't support their drivers, so I can't get my engine maker to upgrade!". Now, I can say yes. I was beginning to think this was the end for Linux gaming. Glad to see it's not.
EDIT: from announcement to release in a week or two. Not bad!
Not that I get many questions but the most frequently asked is IS THIS GOING TO BE ON LINUX? any time I mention I'm making a game on a message board.
Previously my answer was "Blame ATI and NVidia, they won't support their drivers, so I can't get my engine maker to upgrade!". Now, I can say yes. I was beginning to think this was the end for Linux gaming. Glad to see it's not.
EDIT: from announcement to release in a week or two. Not bad!
Monday, April 30, 2012
Scope Creep
I've talked a bit about how much the project has changed since I first started. In the initial few months it was a completely different, yet fully planned out RPG in a made up setting. Then the help I had for a few short months parted ways and it changed to a whole new setting that was easier to deal with, sort of a "fight the power!" far future RPG set in a world similar to the 1984 universe taken to its logical conclusion.
Not a wasteland but a place where low level warfare and internal purges for countless centuries had greatly depopulated the earth, and technology had first stagnated then reversed even as resources depleted, until the oppressive world governments could barely control their own citizens any more let alone conquer the world. You started the game as a sort of text quest, going through occupations in a similar manner to Megatraveler character creation, but with more detail, little text quests with various situations that establish the world, let you build your skills and stats according to choices, and ultimately all end with you in Purgatory, a gigantic prison.
Years go by, and you escape with a band of other prisoners. You have nothing to lose, no hope of returning to your old lives and nothing to live for but revenge.
Not a bad idea, so far as I am concerned. The only problem is, while I generally get complimentary feedback on my writing it hasn't been tested against a really big audience and it turned out to be really, really time consuming to do all that writing. Too time consuming to make it worth the risk it wouldn't be received well. I also realized there's no way to tell if anyone would really like it. It seems like a sort of polarizing setting, too - some people would love something like that even if it was quite amateurish, while others wouldn't like it even if it was written by one of the great authors of old.
So I moved on yet again, this time I decided to make more of a tactical/strategic game. I love JA 2, XCom, Silent Storm and similar games, but making a clone doesn't appeal to me much. The tactical combat and game system is what's important for such games, anyway, not the setting (which will always be weaker if copied anyway). So instead you will attack and board enemy ships, and explore the galaxy.
But, wait! There's more. Initially I envisioned this as a sort of sandbox type game, something with all the features of an RPG but much lighter on the content, with very simple ship to ship combat. Basically it would be about boarding and leveling up your characters more than anything else, maybe with a bit of trade as well.
So that's what I did, and while I am happy with how the boarding is going, the rest I have not been so happy with. It just felt too empty and limited outside of combat, so now there will be more. Visiting planets, quests, exploration, and an all new and improved system for ship to ship combat. It won't have as much text as Planescape Torment, which is how the 1984 RPG seemed to be going, but it will now be more like a full RPG once again. Just set in space, and focused largely on piracy. And, of course, vengeance, one of my favorite game themes.
And after lots and lots of thinking, I have come up with just how I want ship to ship combat to work. I guess I shouldn't be surprised how much time I end up just trying to think of how things should work, since that's all a lot of guys do for a living, but it takes a lot of time. Then you can distill it down to a disturbingly small list of items, but if it's the right features then you know it (or think you do) and that's how I feel now. I'll post screenshots when it's actually working. But at any rate here's the notes I've made for what I'm working on now:
OVERVIEW
A 2D cockpit fullscreen window mode with a 3D scene. Enemy weapon fire will come towards the player, Player fire can hit the ship and will cause explosions or other signs of damage if they do. Enemy ships will look more and more damaged as they take hits.
Sensor display in the lower middle of the screen will show the health status of the enemy ship. If the bridge controls or engines are destroyed then you can board the ship. Critical systems of the enemy will have indicator lights near the sensor screen. The player's ship will have indicators at the bottom middle of the screen.
If hull reaches zero, ship is destroyed
INDICATORS
Weapons
Engines
Power
Hull
Comm.
Bridge
INDICATOR STATUSES
green - perfect condition
yellow - damaged
red - damaged over 50%
black - disabled
WEAPONS
C-Beams - I don't know what they are, I just know the sizzling sound they make when they kill. This is
a beam weapon, obviously. They are expensive and consume a lot of power for each shot. Generally only found on advanced warships.
Plasma Accelerator - shoots lots of little plasma balls that look kind of like photon torpedos from star trek. Low damage but high rate of fire. Medium power consumption. Excellent at shooting down incoming torpedoes. Common transport defense weapons.
Torpedoes - Like big guided missiles. Move slow and can be shot down because they take a round to accelerate after launch but cause massive damage. Don't consume power but are very expensive, very heavy and can be intercepted (but not dodged). Common on warships.
Rail Guns - Accelerate physical objects towards the target. Cheap and do a lot of damage but easy to dodge. Low power consumption. Silvery, reflective balls that launch towards the target. Work well on slow moving targets and torpedoes but not warships with good pilots. Common staple of most ship fleets.
WEAPON CHARACTERISTICS
Tonnage - how much space it takes up. You have limited space for weaponry on your ship.
Power - there's also limited power available, so you can't install more weapons than your power converters can generate per turn.
Power converters - nod to star wars. The more power converters your ship has installed, the more weapons you can install.
Evasion type - Undodgeable (beams), normally dodgeable(plasma), Easily dodgeable(rail guns), interceptable (Torpedoes). Interceptable weapons are slow moving guided weapons that can't be dodged.
One weapon per crew - it takes the full attention of a crew member to operate a weapon for one round. So it's pointless to add more weapons than you are going to be able to man. And remember, the pilot can't fire anything, and anyone taking another action can't operate a weapon.
ACTIONS
Each round everyone should be able to participate in combat somehow.
Pilot - the pilot only maneuvers the ship. Piloting skill, along with ship characteristics, determines how often
incoming attacks are dodged. Piloting skill, along with speed, also determines how quickly you can close with or flee from the enemy.
Jam Communications - each round of combat with each ship adds more heat to your profile. More reason to be suspicious of you and your crew. Successfully jamming communications keeps heat from generating for that round. Heat doesn't accumulate when fighting other pirates.
Jury Rig - systems that are damaged during combat can be temporarily repaired during combat by characters with appropriate repair skills.
Medic - injured and unconscious crew members can be treated by those skilled in combat medicine.
Intercept torpedo - use a weapon to try and shoot down incoming torpedos. Only works on torpedoes, can't use torpedoes to intercept other torpedoes.
Attack - use one of the ship weapons to attack the enemy. Can target communications, weapons, bridge, engines or weapons.
Damage control - put out any ship fires, attempt to repair damage levels to functional equipment and patch the hull if there is a minor hull breach.
Not a wasteland but a place where low level warfare and internal purges for countless centuries had greatly depopulated the earth, and technology had first stagnated then reversed even as resources depleted, until the oppressive world governments could barely control their own citizens any more let alone conquer the world. You started the game as a sort of text quest, going through occupations in a similar manner to Megatraveler character creation, but with more detail, little text quests with various situations that establish the world, let you build your skills and stats according to choices, and ultimately all end with you in Purgatory, a gigantic prison.
Years go by, and you escape with a band of other prisoners. You have nothing to lose, no hope of returning to your old lives and nothing to live for but revenge.
Not a bad idea, so far as I am concerned. The only problem is, while I generally get complimentary feedback on my writing it hasn't been tested against a really big audience and it turned out to be really, really time consuming to do all that writing. Too time consuming to make it worth the risk it wouldn't be received well. I also realized there's no way to tell if anyone would really like it. It seems like a sort of polarizing setting, too - some people would love something like that even if it was quite amateurish, while others wouldn't like it even if it was written by one of the great authors of old.
So I moved on yet again, this time I decided to make more of a tactical/strategic game. I love JA 2, XCom, Silent Storm and similar games, but making a clone doesn't appeal to me much. The tactical combat and game system is what's important for such games, anyway, not the setting (which will always be weaker if copied anyway). So instead you will attack and board enemy ships, and explore the galaxy.
But, wait! There's more. Initially I envisioned this as a sort of sandbox type game, something with all the features of an RPG but much lighter on the content, with very simple ship to ship combat. Basically it would be about boarding and leveling up your characters more than anything else, maybe with a bit of trade as well.
So that's what I did, and while I am happy with how the boarding is going, the rest I have not been so happy with. It just felt too empty and limited outside of combat, so now there will be more. Visiting planets, quests, exploration, and an all new and improved system for ship to ship combat. It won't have as much text as Planescape Torment, which is how the 1984 RPG seemed to be going, but it will now be more like a full RPG once again. Just set in space, and focused largely on piracy. And, of course, vengeance, one of my favorite game themes.
And after lots and lots of thinking, I have come up with just how I want ship to ship combat to work. I guess I shouldn't be surprised how much time I end up just trying to think of how things should work, since that's all a lot of guys do for a living, but it takes a lot of time. Then you can distill it down to a disturbingly small list of items, but if it's the right features then you know it (or think you do) and that's how I feel now. I'll post screenshots when it's actually working. But at any rate here's the notes I've made for what I'm working on now:
OVERVIEW
A 2D cockpit fullscreen window mode with a 3D scene. Enemy weapon fire will come towards the player, Player fire can hit the ship and will cause explosions or other signs of damage if they do. Enemy ships will look more and more damaged as they take hits.
Sensor display in the lower middle of the screen will show the health status of the enemy ship. If the bridge controls or engines are destroyed then you can board the ship. Critical systems of the enemy will have indicator lights near the sensor screen. The player's ship will have indicators at the bottom middle of the screen.
If hull reaches zero, ship is destroyed
INDICATORS
Weapons
Engines
Power
Hull
Comm.
Bridge
INDICATOR STATUSES
green - perfect condition
yellow - damaged
red - damaged over 50%
black - disabled
WEAPONS
C-Beams - I don't know what they are, I just know the sizzling sound they make when they kill. This is
a beam weapon, obviously. They are expensive and consume a lot of power for each shot. Generally only found on advanced warships.
Plasma Accelerator - shoots lots of little plasma balls that look kind of like photon torpedos from star trek. Low damage but high rate of fire. Medium power consumption. Excellent at shooting down incoming torpedoes. Common transport defense weapons.
Torpedoes - Like big guided missiles. Move slow and can be shot down because they take a round to accelerate after launch but cause massive damage. Don't consume power but are very expensive, very heavy and can be intercepted (but not dodged). Common on warships.
Rail Guns - Accelerate physical objects towards the target. Cheap and do a lot of damage but easy to dodge. Low power consumption. Silvery, reflective balls that launch towards the target. Work well on slow moving targets and torpedoes but not warships with good pilots. Common staple of most ship fleets.
WEAPON CHARACTERISTICS
Tonnage - how much space it takes up. You have limited space for weaponry on your ship.
Power - there's also limited power available, so you can't install more weapons than your power converters can generate per turn.
Power converters - nod to star wars. The more power converters your ship has installed, the more weapons you can install.
Evasion type - Undodgeable (beams), normally dodgeable(plasma), Easily dodgeable(rail guns), interceptable (Torpedoes). Interceptable weapons are slow moving guided weapons that can't be dodged.
One weapon per crew - it takes the full attention of a crew member to operate a weapon for one round. So it's pointless to add more weapons than you are going to be able to man. And remember, the pilot can't fire anything, and anyone taking another action can't operate a weapon.
ACTIONS
Each round everyone should be able to participate in combat somehow.
Pilot - the pilot only maneuvers the ship. Piloting skill, along with ship characteristics, determines how often
incoming attacks are dodged. Piloting skill, along with speed, also determines how quickly you can close with or flee from the enemy.
Jam Communications - each round of combat with each ship adds more heat to your profile. More reason to be suspicious of you and your crew. Successfully jamming communications keeps heat from generating for that round. Heat doesn't accumulate when fighting other pirates.
Jury Rig - systems that are damaged during combat can be temporarily repaired during combat by characters with appropriate repair skills.
Medic - injured and unconscious crew members can be treated by those skilled in combat medicine.
Intercept torpedo - use a weapon to try and shoot down incoming torpedos. Only works on torpedoes, can't use torpedoes to intercept other torpedoes.
Attack - use one of the ship weapons to attack the enemy. Can target communications, weapons, bridge, engines or weapons.
Damage control - put out any ship fires, attempt to repair damage levels to functional equipment and patch the hull if there is a minor hull breach.
Friday, April 27, 2012
One more little step forward
Everything still a work in progress but I thought I'd post a bit of what the encounter menu looks like. From there you go to the ship combat screen or the ship dialog screen. Both of which are being revised because I didn't like how they were working. Planets have shadows and orbit the system's star now, and you will be able to land on them (or attempt to) for purposes of trading, buying and selling personal or ship equipment, and for quest reasons. Icons on the right are terrible and will be replaced.
If I remember right they are Ship Weapons, Manufacturing, Cybernetic Enhancement, Trade Goods, Medical, and Finance. Generally I don't show anything if it's not done or at least largely working but those ship screens are just mockups so far. But don't worry, I tend to work on the hardest stuff first, that stuff shouldn't be too hard to implement.
I originally planned to make the demo just a couple of set shipt to ship combats followed by boarding operations, but after consideration I think it's more important to show off all the basics of the game. Since I don't plan to release it til the end of the year anyway, I should have time to get all of the ship and exploration stuff working how I want now that I have finally (and this time I mean it!) pinned down just how I want it to work.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Probably more excited by this than I should be
I'll show more of the system level of play as time goes by, and maybe galactic travel between systems. The system level travel and exploration has been the most neglected part because I didn't like how the original concept played out and I knew the tactical stuff would be a real bear. I've been redoing this whole part, what there was to redo. I thought I had a better design but now I am adjusting things again to bring a little more to the game besides the boarding combat.
They are 2D for now. I have pondered making this part 2.5D but I am not sure it's worth the effort. I'd have to put the backdrops on a billboard or something silly like that instead of drawing directly on the screen if I wanted 3D objects on top of that. Probably not a big deal but I don't know if the results would be better or worse.
3D would make lighting the planets easier, but then it might look better to have a 2D shadow mask (not applied here) to simulate lighting anyway. Backdrop is still terrible but I'm not sure how much I want to do with that, not every solar system has to have the Crab Nebula right behind it. Maybe some meteors or space dust whipping by from time to time would spice things up.
Friday, April 6, 2012
New and improved goals
I've hemmed and hawed a bit about kickstarter, but now that I have more info about it I am very excited. As a gamer I'm more excited than as a game maker, as illogical as that is. It's good to see that my hobby has the potential to go from replaying old games and very occasionally kind of liking a new one to having good games get made again that aren't approved by a committee of the handsomest marketing team the game's publisher can afford.
So my new goal has gone from "release a demo this year and start taking preorders" to "release a demo and then do a kickstarter this year". Not too different from what I was going to do but there's a vital difference, and that's the end part. Because then it goes from "hope I can someday scrape enough money to hire a good artist and composer" to "finish the game completely by the end of next year" if it gets funded.
It sort of goes against the point of kickstarter to *finish* a project with it, but when it comes to software that makes much more sense. If someone has never made a game before and hasn't even started it's a joke to think that giving them a few hundred thousand dollars will let them do so. Even millions of dollars may not be enough. Even big studios staffed by respected programmers have failed to deliver a working game with budgets that were rather obscene.
The point is it's not easy, and people seem to be very good at spotting delusional projects. Everyone but the people making them, that is (I know, I know, I'm setting myself up for ridicule here). But when I cut a demo people will see hey this is a real game, not some idiot making mockups in photoshop. My hope is they can understand that the demo will receive polish from there, especially in the artistic department and balancing.
Even before I cut a demo I can't conceive of not polishing the art more and making "real" levels, but coding tasks are the priority for now. No matter how good something looks if it doesn't work it's useless.
I won't go into details of the rewards but I have some ideas I like, and I know a jeweler who makes custom stuff who'd be happy to bring these ideas to life. Of course I won't give ear rings or anything inappropriate - a jeweler can make about anything and style it any way you want. And instead of cheap junk you can make items of real value that would generally cost a great deal of money to obtain.
If I can get funded I'll hire a good 2D/3D artist who can hand draw an interface, icons, and other 2D art and help with detailing 3D artwork. That's the part I just can't do as well as a really good (ie quick) artist. I have gotten decent at 2D art but it's too slow for me to do it myself with good quality. It will also let me continue working full time on the project a while longer instead of having to let it become a side project again. Then I should be able to release the final project next year (maybe even this year but I doubt it).
That's what 50k in funding will achieve, plus a few other things I'll list out:
Mac support.
Modding support - you get what I get, and the tools are beyond anything done in any game to date in some ways, allowing you to edit the way the game system itself works.
A great game where you board and capture enemy ships, gain power and fame, and do much more.
At 100k it means I can get high quality music composed for the game. I'll be able to add a lot more races you can fight against, ship types, weapons, and items. This is the level of funding I'm hoping I can achieve when I have a demo to show people.
At 200k it means I can do much more. I can put in way more artwork, pretty much have every bit of the 3D stuff extensively reworked. Though I have turned out to be good at animation, I can also add in much more here. I'll also be able to afford some changes to the game engine that will save me some work, since with C4 you are able to buy feature requests on a per item basis for a relatively cheap amount. This would be great!
300k+ would vastly exceed my expectations. At this point I might try to find a famous game writer/designer to help me, and in general everything would be able to receive much more care. I'd also be able to support Linux! C4 does not currently support it but this would allow me to purchase the support. And don't worry, Terathon's code is ALWAYS rock solid so by the time of release the Linux support would be SUPERB. This would also mean C4 itself would support Linux, which currently doesn't have many really high quality modern engines that support it.
Even more? Well, the sky's the limit, then. I'd be more than happy to hire designers and writers and level designers to increase the scope and length of the game, even more coders if I really get a windfall. Since they will be coming to an already working game and toolset they should be able to accomplish a great deal in a relatively short time compared to being with a project from pre-production on (not the coders so much if they come on board, software doesn't work the way content does). Instead of a game that emphasizes tactical combat and building your ship and crew up, and exploration, it could become a more full-fledged RPG as well.
And what if kickstarter fails? The world won't end. I'll get the game out some day even if I can't afford any help with artwork, but it will take a lot longer and won't be as good looking or sounding. I'll also have to get a "real" job again, as much as it pains me, and won't be able to quit it unless I become a millionaire off this thing, since employers don't like hiring guys who quit their jobs all the time. Which realistically means never, if I can't even get a successful kickstarter, but if the game comes out well I'll still be happy I did it.
But first, of course, comes the demo. Time to go to Costco to stock up on caffeine.
So my new goal has gone from "release a demo this year and start taking preorders" to "release a demo and then do a kickstarter this year". Not too different from what I was going to do but there's a vital difference, and that's the end part. Because then it goes from "hope I can someday scrape enough money to hire a good artist and composer" to "finish the game completely by the end of next year" if it gets funded.
It sort of goes against the point of kickstarter to *finish* a project with it, but when it comes to software that makes much more sense. If someone has never made a game before and hasn't even started it's a joke to think that giving them a few hundred thousand dollars will let them do so. Even millions of dollars may not be enough. Even big studios staffed by respected programmers have failed to deliver a working game with budgets that were rather obscene.
The point is it's not easy, and people seem to be very good at spotting delusional projects. Everyone but the people making them, that is (I know, I know, I'm setting myself up for ridicule here). But when I cut a demo people will see hey this is a real game, not some idiot making mockups in photoshop. My hope is they can understand that the demo will receive polish from there, especially in the artistic department and balancing.
Even before I cut a demo I can't conceive of not polishing the art more and making "real" levels, but coding tasks are the priority for now. No matter how good something looks if it doesn't work it's useless.
I won't go into details of the rewards but I have some ideas I like, and I know a jeweler who makes custom stuff who'd be happy to bring these ideas to life. Of course I won't give ear rings or anything inappropriate - a jeweler can make about anything and style it any way you want. And instead of cheap junk you can make items of real value that would generally cost a great deal of money to obtain.
If I can get funded I'll hire a good 2D/3D artist who can hand draw an interface, icons, and other 2D art and help with detailing 3D artwork. That's the part I just can't do as well as a really good (ie quick) artist. I have gotten decent at 2D art but it's too slow for me to do it myself with good quality. It will also let me continue working full time on the project a while longer instead of having to let it become a side project again. Then I should be able to release the final project next year (maybe even this year but I doubt it).
That's what 50k in funding will achieve, plus a few other things I'll list out:
Mac support.
Modding support - you get what I get, and the tools are beyond anything done in any game to date in some ways, allowing you to edit the way the game system itself works.
A great game where you board and capture enemy ships, gain power and fame, and do much more.
At 100k it means I can get high quality music composed for the game. I'll be able to add a lot more races you can fight against, ship types, weapons, and items. This is the level of funding I'm hoping I can achieve when I have a demo to show people.
At 200k it means I can do much more. I can put in way more artwork, pretty much have every bit of the 3D stuff extensively reworked. Though I have turned out to be good at animation, I can also add in much more here. I'll also be able to afford some changes to the game engine that will save me some work, since with C4 you are able to buy feature requests on a per item basis for a relatively cheap amount. This would be great!
300k+ would vastly exceed my expectations. At this point I might try to find a famous game writer/designer to help me, and in general everything would be able to receive much more care. I'd also be able to support Linux! C4 does not currently support it but this would allow me to purchase the support. And don't worry, Terathon's code is ALWAYS rock solid so by the time of release the Linux support would be SUPERB. This would also mean C4 itself would support Linux, which currently doesn't have many really high quality modern engines that support it.
Even more? Well, the sky's the limit, then. I'd be more than happy to hire designers and writers and level designers to increase the scope and length of the game, even more coders if I really get a windfall. Since they will be coming to an already working game and toolset they should be able to accomplish a great deal in a relatively short time compared to being with a project from pre-production on (not the coders so much if they come on board, software doesn't work the way content does). Instead of a game that emphasizes tactical combat and building your ship and crew up, and exploration, it could become a more full-fledged RPG as well.
And what if kickstarter fails? The world won't end. I'll get the game out some day even if I can't afford any help with artwork, but it will take a lot longer and won't be as good looking or sounding. I'll also have to get a "real" job again, as much as it pains me, and won't be able to quit it unless I become a millionaire off this thing, since employers don't like hiring guys who quit their jobs all the time. Which realistically means never, if I can't even get a successful kickstarter, but if the game comes out well I'll still be happy I did it.
But first, of course, comes the demo. Time to go to Costco to stock up on caffeine.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Combat Shooting - a nod to Wasteland and a great reclaimed design idea
Been very sick with food poisoning, thought I would die. However it did give me plenty of time to simply stop and think, which was what was in order at this point. I also found my old notes just on how to calculate when something hits and when it doesn't and I have to say it's brilliant!
Wasteland had a skill called Combat Shooting. I never knew what it did exactly, but it seemed like a great idea to have a general shooting skill in addition or maybe instead of weapon-type specific skills that are more typical. After all, there's a big difference between shooting on the range and shooting moving targets who are trying to shoot you back. So my idea was, after all calculations are made then IF it was a hit you have an additional check. This is to determine if your shot is distracted from its goal or not.
Now think about this. The biggest issue I dislike in games is that you tend to be able to hit very easily at closer ranges, even though logically it's going to be hard to keep a bead on someone in the heat of combat. Now, no matter how accurate you are you have a big chance to miss if you don't have good combat shooting skills, and even with the best skills you are still going to miss the easiest shot a decent amount of the time.
In addition I look at the weapon's min and max ranges. If it's completely out of these ranges all to hit chances are halved. There is also an ideal range, at which the maximum accuracy occurs, which fades off as it moves towards the min and max ranges. There's also an absolute max after which no chance to hit exists at all. The standard weapon skills work by widening the ideal range from a single point to a range, which will also has the side effect of making it a bit easier to help over the whole range curve.
Basic accuracy is determined by stats. It's assumed your men practice on the range to maximum effect, but only so much can be learned, much is inherent. For each Awareness point you get 3 accuracy, and 1 accuracy for each Willpower point to reflect better efficiency in training and doggedness and care in going after your targets. you also lose accuracy based on injuries to health or specific critical wound effects which can subtract from accuracy directly.
And there's more, but I think it's all useful complexity. Most importantly it seems to address all the issues I have, and I thought of it long ago! Years ago, but it was not at a stage it was possible to implement that yet so I am only now plugging it all in.
Wasteland had a skill called Combat Shooting. I never knew what it did exactly, but it seemed like a great idea to have a general shooting skill in addition or maybe instead of weapon-type specific skills that are more typical. After all, there's a big difference between shooting on the range and shooting moving targets who are trying to shoot you back. So my idea was, after all calculations are made then IF it was a hit you have an additional check. This is to determine if your shot is distracted from its goal or not.
Now think about this. The biggest issue I dislike in games is that you tend to be able to hit very easily at closer ranges, even though logically it's going to be hard to keep a bead on someone in the heat of combat. Now, no matter how accurate you are you have a big chance to miss if you don't have good combat shooting skills, and even with the best skills you are still going to miss the easiest shot a decent amount of the time.
In addition I look at the weapon's min and max ranges. If it's completely out of these ranges all to hit chances are halved. There is also an ideal range, at which the maximum accuracy occurs, which fades off as it moves towards the min and max ranges. There's also an absolute max after which no chance to hit exists at all. The standard weapon skills work by widening the ideal range from a single point to a range, which will also has the side effect of making it a bit easier to help over the whole range curve.
Basic accuracy is determined by stats. It's assumed your men practice on the range to maximum effect, but only so much can be learned, much is inherent. For each Awareness point you get 3 accuracy, and 1 accuracy for each Willpower point to reflect better efficiency in training and doggedness and care in going after your targets. you also lose accuracy based on injuries to health or specific critical wound effects which can subtract from accuracy directly.
And there's more, but I think it's all useful complexity. Most importantly it seems to address all the issues I have, and I thought of it long ago! Years ago, but it was not at a stage it was possible to implement that yet so I am only now plugging it all in.
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