BattleGlest Alpha v. 0003-008 ( 31 May 2012)

[MuwuM]

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[img]http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/ds4/titel.php?t=BattleGlest%20v.%200003%20-%20008[/img]

Newest Alpha release! With AutoUpdater! Download now! Linux-users need their own SVN head builds!

BattleGlest

BattleGlest is mod for Megaglest transporting RTS Arena to Glest. It is designed as a scenario and scripted in Lua. It uses many models from other Glest - mods but it adds a totally different gameplay.

About RTS ARENA

Real-time strategy Arena (RTS Arena )is a sub-genre of the real-time strategy (RTS) genre, in which two teams of players, each controlling a single character through an RTS-style interface, compete with each other in discrete rounds. It differs from traditional RTS games in that there is no unit construction and players control their singular characters. In this sense, it is a fusion of action games and real-time strategy games. The genre emphasizes cooperative team-play; players select and control one "hero", a powerful unit with various abilities and advantages to form a team's overall strategy. The objective is to destroy the opponents' main structure with the assistance of periodically spawned computer-controlled units that march towards the enemy's main structure via paths referred to as "lanes". (based on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_real-time_strategy)

License

BattleGlest is released under Creative Commons:  Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) .

Heroes

In BattleGlest you can play various heroes. Here is a overview of the heroes that are already implemented. (click see full-size)

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[url=http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/heros/arbol_alma.jpg][img]http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/heros/small/arbol_alma.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/heros/bai_zaa.jpg][img]http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/heros/small/bai_zaa.jpg[/img][/url]  [url=http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/heros/golden_knight.jpg][img]http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/heros/small/golden_knight.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/heros/met_the_beekeeper.jpg][img]http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/heros/small/met_the_beekeeper.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/heros/saurian.jpg][img]http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/heros/small/saurian.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/heros/xatum.jpg][img]http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/heros/small/xatum.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/heros/shadow_monk.jpg][img]http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/heros/small/shadow_monk.jpg[/img][/url]

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[img]http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/icons/icons.png[/img]

Health

Armor

Attack

Magic

Speed

Features

• Special AI/CPU
• New Menu
• Special Hud
• 8 states of destruction for towers
• ...

Download

The Alpha is out for testing. it could be that some heroes aren't finished and most of them aren't balanced.
Download v.0003-008 Alpha (windows-binaries included)
7-zip Package crossplattform (require SVN HEAD of megaglest / windows build included)

Additional Information

Here are some older screenshots: http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/


Feedback and ideas (especially for the heroes) and models for heroes are always welcomed.

[Mr War]

Looks interesting but different, are the screenshots of playing in a glest engine or some other game engine?

[Omega]

Looks interesting but different, are the screenshots of playing in a glest engine or some other game engine?

Oh, that's definitely Glest; the UI and map style are very recognizable, just the maps are rather empty-ish.

[MuwuM]

Looks interesting but different, are the screenshots of playing in a glest engine or some other game engine?

It's a scenario in the megaglest engine using Lua for generation of the map (buildings), rules of the map (when units spawn, when who gets which amount of gold) and AI (which bot is acting which way).

just the maps are rather empty-ish.

Yes, I build always small parts and make them nicer, when they run.

(click to show/hide)

• textile(soft): Basic armor type of clothing without special armor.
• fur(soft): Basic armor type of animals and composite race of creatures without special armor.
• leather(medium): Basic armor type for archer and fast warrior (without heavy armor).
• wood(medium): Basic armor type for trees, plants, wooden machines and warrior with wood armor. 
• bronze(hard):  Basic armor type for machines and warrior with bronze armor. 
• iron(hard): Basic armor type for advanced machines and warrior with iron armor. 
• stone(hard): Basic armor type for golem and other stone creatures (and buildings).
• blessing(magic): Basic armor type for priests without special armor.
• runes(magic): Magic armor type for mages and magic creatures. 
• holy_runes( magic): Magic armor type for "good" mages and "good" magic creatures. 
• dark_runes(magic): Magic armor type for "bad" mages and "bad" magic creatures.

(click to show/hide)

Lane / Strategy	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J
1	1	0	0	1	1	2	2	3	0	0
2	1	1	2	0	2	0	1	0	3	0
3	1	2	1	2	0	1	0	0	0	3
	basic	tackle	tackle	tackle	tackle	tackle	tackle	spike	spike	spike

Is there any Spanish native speaker who could tell if "Arbol Alma" would be acceptable as hero-name or if it would be to disturbing because they are two Spanish words?

[MuwuM]

Sorry for double-posting, but I had many changes in the post before and now added a poll to get information, how i should release this scenario.

I think there will be some more polls.

[Omega]

I think I will explain my reasoning in more depth, for no particular reason. I chose just the final, as to my understanding, this will be basically a large scenario. Past experience with playing scenarios (or any type of gameplay where a crash could lose a lot of progress) has found that it is incredibly frustrating to play a large period of time, only for a part near the end to not function correctly (and since you generally have to play all the way to the end of the scenario to test those parts, they often end up the least tested).

In other words, I think that you should fully ensure that there are no bugs to your knowledge before releasing, essentially being a "final" (version 1.0?), but be prepared to release an update shall other users find anything you missed. Though, I don't think it would be very useful to release something that knowingly has "minor bugfixes left", simply because of the way scenarios operate.

[Ishmaru]

As for me I'm good with a beta as long as the bugs are rare occurrences. Beside its hard to catch every bug on your own.

[MuwuM]

I'm afraid, I caused some misunderstandings:

this will be basically a large scenario. Past experience with playing scenarios (or any type of gameplay where a crash could lose a lot of progress) has found that it is incredibly frustrating to play a large period of time, only for a part near the end to not function correctly (and since you generally have to play all the way to the end of the scenario to test those parts, they often end up the least tested).

This won't be a usual skripted staight scenario. It will be more like a new gamemode. A RTS-Arena game is a game where you control one hero in a special arena. The aim of this mode is to kill the enemies base. That arena usually consists of 2 bases (one per team) and 3 "lanes". A lane is a way between the two bases which is followed by small cpu-controlled units called "creeps". Creeps are very weak compared to the heroes and respawn each period of time at the bases. On each lane are also 3-5 towers (per team) defending the bases. Towers are very strong (a hero usually dies 3 times when killing one tower alone) so it's not possible to rush enemies base.

The scenario will have it's own AI which desides how cpu-controlled heroes react/play. You won't have a lineary gameplay, so it's impossible to test all situations before a release ... e.g. there are 9 different ways how heroes of one team can split, wich provides 81 possibilities of lane-splits in general. Each combination will force other reactions. ...

For testing there will be an extremly powerful test-unit to play a whole game in about 5 minutes (normal game will be 30 minutes to 1 hour 30). So even end-of-game-things can be tested easily.

As for me I'm good with a beta as long as the bugs are rare occurrences. Beside its hard to catch every bug on your own.

I think I have to define the release types more detailed:

• Final (final; end-user release):
  different test-cycles done; compatibility checks (works with Linux and Windows?...) are done; all featured heroes are implemented, balanced and tested; translations for most language are done and verified; playable with latest (on date of release) MG-version (release, not svn)
  
• Beta (tested; some minor bugfixes left):
  most test-cycles done; primary for compatibility checks and advanced balancing stuff
• Alpha (not well-tested; may contain bugs, but is playable):
  bigger new features were implemented, but only few test-cycles done (tested in about 6 or 7 games / 3 or 4 hours); this release is primary for further test-cycles and balancing stuff
  
  following don't need to be playable wich means they would be released before compleated AI and world-rules
  
  
• Pre-Alpha (barely tested; primary for testing new stuff, don't need to be playable):
  new features (e.g. new hero) added and only first test-cycles (played one game successfull) done
• Daily/Nightly Build/SVN (not tested; newest, but neigther finished nor need to be playable):
  will be released for each (even small) new feature (e.g. changed way how cpu react a bit) for this release-types only the new feature is tested, no overall tests like a full game

[treba]

for me, this sounds like a scenario that should be played in mp.
i hope the devs will try some time to port over the lua stuff to mp so more different game modes like this can be created from modders.

@topic: beta sounds best to me, as on a first release, more people are interested in it than the fifth one. so it should be somehow be ready, playable and fun. with the feedback you get then, you will be able to finalise it.

[MuwuM]

for me, this sounds like a scenario that should be played in mp.
i hope the devs will try some time to port over the lua stuff to mp so more different game modes like this can be created from modders.

After doing singleplayer I plan to expand it to multiplayer (which is this gamemode known for) but I think multiplayer scenarios will be on 3.7 or later. MP scenarios could cause much out-of-sync-errors so it needs much debugging and testing.

@ Releases:
I will release Alpha, when engine is done, so others can help creating heroes. (I thought of 25-50 heroes, wich is much stuff (maybe too much; but at least 20 heroes), so I might not be able to do them all on my own)

Then I will release Beta when I have enougth heroes and done some balancing (Beta will still include owerpowered Test-hero(es), wich will be removed in final)

Then there should be a release playable with the next MG release.

Then I'll try to create/help creating multi-player-scenario and port it to multiplayer. (would also need slots for about 13 factions per map ...2 teams creeps + 1 neutral faction + 2 * 5 player)

[MuwuM]

I' ve done the basic lane scripting (towers and creeps). The creeps will follow their lane of towers automaticly.



you may watch code at: http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/?p=&l=0001-002

Pre Alpha was uploaded for performance improving:

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[url=http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/0001-003.7z]http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/0001-003.7z[/url]

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[img]http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/0001-003/fear.jpg[/img]
NEW Screenshots

[MuwuM]

Development is going quite well. Maybe the multiplayer will be out before singleplayer.

I made a webbased HeroSelecter:

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[url=http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/generate.php]http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/generate.php[/url] It creates the correct xml-file for the scenario.
It will be improved, too. Maybe some ranking-stuff will be added, too.

[MuwuM]

New Screenshots of Pre-Alpha

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[url=http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/0001-003/screen75.jpg][img]http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/0001-003/small/screen75.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/0001-003/screen76.jpg][img]http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/0001-003/small/screen76.jpg[/img][/url]

[Ishmaru]

So how does this work we use online character selector which generates the scenario xml? There isn't a way to do it in the scenario its-self?

Also really random idea, but since this is called "Battle Glest" it may be cool to do a sort of crossover project with select units from popular mods. A sort of Dissidia for Glest. Just a random thought 

[MuwuM]

So how does this work we use online character selector which generates the scenario xml? There isn't a way to do it in the scenario its-self?

I'm thinking about building a special hero-selector (extra program or even as game mode for MG), but it is still a long way up to then.

Also really random idea, but since this is called "Battle Glest" it may be cool to do a sort of crossover project with select units from popular mods. A sort of Dissidia for Glest. Just a random thought 

I can promise you that I use units from popular projects, but most units are not unique characters and much weaker than my heros. So I have to select some units and invent some unique representatives.

Maybe I will build an overview of heros in the next days.

[wciow]

This looks like an interesting project, screenshots look nice 

[MuwuM]

Out of game / redered stat-screens for heroes:

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[url=http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/heros/arbol_alma.jpg][img]http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/heros/small/arbol_alma.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/heros/bai_zaa.jpg][img]http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/heros/small/bai_zaa.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/heros/bellerophon.jpg][img]http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/heros/small/bellerophon.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/heros/saurian.jpg][img]http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/heros/small/saurian.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/heros/shpirti_zjarr.jpg][img]http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/heros/small/shpirti_zjarr.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/heros/golden_knight.jpg][img]http://www.muwum-lexicons.de/bg/fotos/heros/small/golden_knight.jpg[/img][/url]
Description:

Bars show percentage of average values. One bar equals 100%.
Formula: percent = valueOfUnit / (averageValue * 2)

The speed of Arbol Alma is only that high because it's a test unit, wich will not appear in releases (or much weaker).

[treba]

just an idea for hero selecting: like in many warcraft scenarios you could have a selection area with all the heros and a circle in front of each of them. you would have one selection unit which has to be moved into one of the circles, disappearing in that moment.

also, you could show an infobox about the hero when clicking on it (or, if that's not possible yet, if the selection unit get close to the circle infront of the hero)

@topic: nice work so far

although i don't really get this:

Bars show percentage of average values. One bar equals 100%.

what is the average? as i understand it, all heros hitpoints are under average so far 

[MuwuM]

just an idea for hero selecting: like in many warcraft scenarios you could have a selection area with all the heros and a circle in front of each of them. you would have one selection unit which has to be moved into one of the circles, disappearing in that moment.

I would do that, but it's impossible to get the selected unit at the moment (Feature request is out).

although i don't really get this:

Bars show percentage of average values. One bar equals 100%.

what is the average? as i understand it, all heros hitpoints are under average so far 

The average is 50% of a bar. So one bar is average * 2.

[Mr War]

Really interesting stuff man. Like the hero screens artwork

[MuwuM]

Many,many hours of Lua coding, texturing, testing and a great amount of support by titi_son are done and I assume to release the Alpha version in near future.

So here is a new video preview:

[wciow]

I never played DOTA but this looks great! I'll happily test the multiplayer when its out 

p.s Let me know if you want any custom models for this mod. All my stuff is released CC0.

[Ishmaru]

Looks awesome! How does leveling work? Is it still by kills?  And the music is great!

[treba]

that really looks nice already. although the chat confused me a bit in the beginning^^
i really really looking forward to see this run in mp

[ultifd]

Wow, good job. Now I'm hooked with moba games...