16: BattleTechst

[Gazza_N]

Yes, I know, I said I wouldn't enter. I'm a hypocrite, and Dis is pure evil for coming up with such awesome comp concepts. That said, I may not finish this game, but I'm going to try my utmost to because IT ARE COOLZ. Thanks to GLDM for the inspiration.

BattleTechst (a name for which I'll be sued to oblivion) is a turn-based mech game based on an oldskool command line interface. It consists of an overhead view displaying obstacles and enemy mechs, and all the rest is conveyed and controlled through a command line at the bottom of the screen. I only have a very vague idea of how I'm going to write a text parser, but it's a good coding exercise.

Game Mechanics so far may be as follows:

The player can only perform a single action per turn. Actions available to the user are MOVE (to move North, South, East or West), SCAN (to obtain info on targets), LOCK (to lock onto a target) and FIRE (to select a weapon and fire at a locked target). If a target moves after a lock has been placed on it, the lock is broken. I'm aiming to have a small selection on weapons to outfit your mech with. Whether you hit a target will be determined by a dice roll. Once all enemy targets have been destroyed, you win. Unless you blow up first.

As mentioned, don't expect much, but keep an eye out on this thread for possible developments. The text-only limitation that I thought had stymied me may become my saviour...


EDIT: Itsa done! See (currently) final post for link.

[ShellShok]

But wouldn't this game require proper graphics?

[Gazza_N]

Um... No. :p All you need is a rough overhead view like I described.

[CiNiMoDZA]

Lol BattleTechst! Sounds interesting, looking forward to some kinda release!!!

[DrDeth]

Whether you hit a target will be determined by a dice roll.

Are these Mechs, or retarded bunnies?! Mechs have UBER-KILLER TARGETING SYSTEMS! They dont miss. ;)

So, what I'm trying to say is that I reckon if the opposing mech hasnt moved once you've locked on, it should get a beating. :)

Thinking about scans... if it works like a radar or sonar, you should make enemy mechs show up when they do a scan, or the turn afterwards to simulate 'ping'.

[Gazza_N]

Nice idea. A new command: PING, which displays all mechs in visual range. I'll see how that works, if I get around to it.

[Chippit]

Gazza, once again you have proved that there is art in the name.

I hereby propose that, in the future, games are judged not only by their content, but also by their name. :P

[CiNiMoDZA]

Are these Mechs, or retarded bunnies?! Mechs have UBER-KILLER TARGETING SYSTEMS! They dont miss. ;)

Not these, they're American mechs!!!

[Gazza_N]

Not these, they're American mechs!!!

An unwise statement to make, given that we've got some awesome Americans in this forum.

Anyway, no further debating here please? Mechs > * ;)

[Cyberninja]

Gazza's mech games are always made of win. This sounds awesome. I eagerly await the demo. ^_^

[UntouchableOne]

Glad you decided to enter the comp. Sounds like a sweet idea. I see that you have a thing for mechs :)

[Gazza_N]

[sings Megas XLR theme]
I dig giant robots
You dig giant robots
We dig giant robots
Chicks dig giant robots
[/singing]

And I may not finish, remember? ;)

@Cyber: Thanks muchly, but note that none of my mech games are actually finished yet...

[Thaumaturge]

Aah, excellent! I'm very glad to hear that you decided to enter in the end!

If you do indeed finish then I very much look forward to playing the final product - it sounds liek a lot of fun! ^_^

*grins* And you will finish. You will finish and you will like it... >: )

[Evil_Toaster]

Damn, like, when Retrotoast eventually has lots of money, I'm going to have to contract you to come up with the game names. ;)

[Fengol]

You gotta have at least 3 buttons that are marked "Destroy the World"!

[Gazza_N]

*grins* And you will finish. You will finish and you will like it... >: )

*Gulp* Yes sir! But waaaaait a minute - you're down in Cape Town! What could you possibly do to me from down there?

Damn, like, when Retrotoast eventually has lots of money, I'm going to have to contract you to come up with the game names. ;)

Lately I've been on a naming lucky streak, it seems, but just wait til I get Namer's Block... You'll cry when you see the state of the wastepaper basket (or undo buffer, whichever comes first).

You gotta have at least 3 buttons that are marked "Destroy the World"!

And one marked "Save the world" that doesn't work. Or dispenses coffee instead, cos, like, coffee is a life saver sometimes.

And now, a quick update:

Some may be glad to know that work has in fact started on BattleTechst (Yay!), and that I've nailed the command line quite nicely thanks to GM's varied and robust string manipulation functions that I didn't know existed until now. Now, while I appreciate that the idea is simply to substitute normal graphics with text in whatever game you like, I've decided to try and recreate an old-style DOS game as closely as possible, just for the stylistic flair of it. This means that the game is all text, all command-line, just like Ye Gaymes of Olde. Unlike Ye Gaymes of Olde, though, you won't have to guess which commands to use. ;)

*Takes to the skies* Expect a demo sooooooooooon! (<----- Sorry, the new Ask a Ninja stipulates that I do random stuff like that to avoid getting killed)

[dislekcia]

Gazza, if you colour text as it's being input to show that it's a valid command (or part of a valid command), that would be too awesome!

... AUTO-COMPLETE!

-D

[Thaumaturge]

Now, while I appreciate that the idea is simply to substitute normal graphics with text in whatever game you like, I've decided to try and recreate an old-style DOS game as closely as possible, just for the stylistic flair of it. This means that the game is all text, all command-line, just like Ye Gaymes of Olde. Unlike Ye Gaymes of Olde, though, you won't have to guess which commands to use.

Ooh, excellent! This game is sounding better and better! ^___^

Demos! I demand demos! :P

Will you still be representing a form of map in ASCII, as I understood your original plan, or will the positions of enemy mechs be described in text instead?

[edit] I very much second the inclusion of command highlighting and auto-completion!

*Gulp* Yes sir! But waaaaait a minute - you're down in Cape Town! What could you possibly do to me from down there?

*grins again* Have you forgotten already?

I have but one word with which to remind you:

"Meteor".

(Which, of course, is technically a misnomer, but it rolls off of the tongue rather better than "meteorite", I feel.)

[UntouchableOne]

I too want a demo Gazza! Your game sounds very interesting to say the least. Demo or we riot! :)

[Gazza_N]

Urk... Time to move to the meteor shelter again... *sigh*

To clarify: The overhead map will still be there, but everything is represented by single digits, and this view will only represent relative positions and obstacles. All other detail (such as enemies firing weapons, your taking damage, etc) will be conveyed by descriptive text.

@Dis: Autocomplete does sound awesome, and I have a good idea of how I might do it. I'll look at tacking it on once everything is working properly. ;) And not everything is working properly yet. :(