I'm writing an Armada semi-clone and need graphic artists

My you guys have been busy...part of your THESIS!? Wow, wish I had got such an interesting thesis topic. Anyways I've been browsing the Python tutorials and sample code. Great stuff, but it's a little uphill due to the strageness of the language. I've taken a peek at the Armada sounds but they don't seem to be anything recognisable to me...yet. Priv used AIFF if I recall but sound is not my forte. As per the gfx, I want to use the PIL plug-in framework to be able to decode Armada IFF graphics. What GUI are you using TKinter or wxPython? Please bear with me...I'm still a C-head. =)
 
Actually, we're using Pygame for the GUI. All the buttons are sprites, all screens are groups, it works out quite well. So far, at least. :)
 
Okay, just for the record, I've just decided to change one thing about Armada gameplay. You can now demolish a facility whether the carrier is there or not, and the salvaged resources will stay on the planet like anything mined, for a transport or whatever to pick up. If there's a massive public outcry for exact faithfulness to the original's gameplay, I'll change it back. It wouldn't be hard, it just strikes me as rather silly that a facility has to have the carrier there to demolish it.

As an update, there's now a functional, if ugly, planet screen, as well as a build screen that allows construction of mines and shipyards. I've just this second finished implementing the mine screen, which allows for demolishing the mine and for changing the mining rate. The carrier screen is done, and docks fighters quite nicely. Next on my list is the shipyard screen to allow construction of different ships, then the fighters screen detailing what kinds of fighters are in a system. Shots of the horribly ugly current interface will be up shortly. :)

Edit: shots are now up.
 
Not much coding time the last couple days, unfortunately. Pretty girls are so distracting! Still got some good stuff done, though. Shipyard interface is done, works just fine, though I need information on what kind of resources building fighters takes from the planet before I can call it complete. The biggest thing is that the turn system is now functional. The testing universe now begins with two carriers, and alternates between the players taking and executing their orders in turn. The map now displays icons for all explored systems, plus all systems they have jump lanes to, but only brings up a planet detail screen for explored ones. Scanning takes place every turn for every ship, and gives the owner of a ship detailed knowledge of the state of the system the ship is currently in. It also informs said empire of any enemy ships in adjacent systems, though those ships aren't displayed on the map yet.

Now that this is in place, the next major steps will be combat formulae and network play. However, the interface code has gotten messier than I can handle, and the directory structure could use some work. Not to mention half the interface is still unimplemented. I still have no decent graphics and no sound, BTW. If nobody volunteers and supplies anything, this game will be very ugly and quiet. But then, maybe releasing it will give the concept a kick in the pants? :)
 
Things are now significantly cleaner, in that the entire interface is not stored in a single 1200 line file. Makes things much easier to find, imagine that. I'll also be going through the interface code and fixing a rather consistant stupid mistake at some point. For future reference, just because you CAN use nested functions in Python, doesn't mean you SHOULD. There are cleaner ways to do it, at least in my case. Visible progress includes a working fighter screen (which does little but tell you what kinds of fighters are present) and a working resource transfer screen (which does lots more). The game now crashes when you move a ship into a system containing the other guy's ship, because it's trying to initiate combat and the function to do so is not written. Defining the algorithm for that is on the to-do list. In fact, if anyone out there wants to do that, it'd be a really handy task that involves no coding or artwork. We just need an algorithm that takes into account the shields, hull strength, firepower and speed of each fighter, plus some random variable, and determines who wins battles. It needs to also take the presence of transports and carriers into account. The actual attributes of each fighter aren't set in stone yet, though, so if you need to make those up too to keep things interesting, feel free. :)

My current to do list in order of priority is as follows:
Show enemy ship icons on map
define move interface
system catalog
turn summary
network play
Combat victory algorithm (if nobody does it first)
Defining specific Kilrathi fighters
the possibility of buttons that look different when depressed
clean up nested functions, make into methods
move map icon definitions to sector screen module
define options, allow resolution setting
sound (if nobody beats me to it)
AI
better graphics (if nobody beats me to it)

If we can get py2exe working, I'm hoping to release a demo after the move dialog is done. Just a little longer and you can see what I've been yacking about all this time. :)
 
Again, little time to code, same excuse as before, but some stuff done nonetheless. Enemy ship icons now appear on your map, and the ship movement interface is done, meaning you can choose what ships get moved to whatever system you've chosen to move things to. You can also choose a system from a list of known systems now, instead of having to drag the icon. That could get annoying on large maps. I've discovered a bit of a bug in the scanning order, which is going to require some cogitation, but it's definitely fixable. EVERYTHING is fixable. Next big thing is to get a demo up and out the door. Nobody else has posted here in a bit, so I hope y'all are still interested. :)
 
I'm not completely sure about what you're talking about, but I do appreciate the fact you're doing it. I'll be quite eager to try out the beta soon (I hope).
 
Nice job. I whipped up some slightly-improved button and toolbar graphics in Paint Shop Pro (although I've just started using it) and uploaded it to the Wiki.

Also, I noticed that trying to move fighters causes crashes. You'll probably want to implemeent that soon, I'd like to be able to move my ships around :)
 
That's odd.... it DID work fine at one point, and I don't think i've changed anything that could have broken it. But I'll take a look ASAP, thanks! Your upload seems to be toasted, though. I'm not sure why, but it's registering as deleted. I didn't do it. :) I hope you still have local copies. Feel free to e-mail them to be at stephencollings AT cluemaildotcom, with the usual punctuation. Thanks!
 
Bob McDob said:
Nice job. I whipped up some slightly-improved button and toolbar graphics in Paint Shop Pro (although I've just started using it) and uploaded it to the Wiki.


Bob, just out of curiosity, why aren't you using a 3d program to make a 3d interface instead of Paint Shop Pro? I'm not complaining just curious...
 
Okay, that was just a dumb error on my part. I added the screen to allow you to pick a destination system when hitting the move button, and I forgot to tell the fighter screen that the move button pulls up that screen instead of the screen asking what you want to move. Basically, I need to add four characters to the code and recompile. Too bad I don't have access to the source right now or I'd go ahead and do it. I'll try to have that up by the end of the day. In the mean time, the carrier and transport move buttons pull up the correct screen, as does dragging the fighter icon, so it should still be mostly playable. Insofar as it was playable to begin with. :)

Edit: fix is up, should work fine now.
 
RE: problem w/ attachments in Wiki

Ok, the attachments did get uploaded, but since the page didn't exist 'til a few minutes ago, there was no way to get to them. I've found them in the wiki data files, though. (I'm new to running a wiki, still figuring out how it works and such.) Apparently you can upload files to a page that hasn't been created yet, but you can't get to them (normally) afterward. I'll see what I can do to make 'em available.

Thanks to Bob McDob for the new gfx!
 
Small update. The button graphics our scorpion friend supplied make things look MUCH nicer. Seeker's thanks are seconded. :) He's sitting next to me at the moment, working on the combat algorithm. Got some stuff done, found a couple more things that need doing, new list is as follows:

completion of combat engine
game storage in files, possibly XML
creation of an actual interesting map to play on
network play
turn summary
the possibility of buttons that look different when depressed
clean up nested functions, make into methods
move map icon definitions to sector screen module
define options, allow resolution setting
sound (if nobody beats me to it)
AI
better graphics (if nobody beats me to it)

After turn summary is done, we're declaring version .1 feature complete, and unless something changes will officially release the game and source.
 
Well, school's started, so updates will be less frequent than before. Free time is at a premium right now, as I'm sure a lot of you know! Still, some progress has been made. Updated demo is up! Changes are as follows.

Combat is now functional as far as I've tested it. Ship stats are implemented, straight out of the CIC database. The two sides take turns, each ship firing on a randomly selected non-carrier opponent. The shot has some chance of missing, probability being proportional to the speed of the target. If it hits, it does damage equivalent to the firepower of the firing ship. This iterates until one of the battle end conditions is reached: only one fleet is left in the system, a lone carrier is being attacked by bombers, or a lone carrier is being attacked by anything else. There are no bugs that I've noticed, but please try it out and see what you can see. Any stability or balance observations would be appreciated.

The turn summary is also partially implemented. Messages are added to the summary, but the summary screen doesn't actually display them yet, so you won't notice.

It looks like I never actually said anything, but the catalog screen is at least partially functional. I haven't tested enough to see if it displays the correct data at all times, and I'm pretty sure it won't work as desired if you have more systems than can be displayed on a single screen, but it at least does something now.

A few new things to get done have been identified, so the to-do list before release .1 is as follows:

restore damaged ships to full strength after combat ends
finish turn summary screen
implement fortresses
change turn structure to execute all moves for all players at once
network play
fix slight icon bug when dragging a fighter fleet
figure out and implement resource cost of building fighters
storage of a universe in a file, possibly XML
creation of an actual interesting map to play on
implement victory scenario

We're thinking Vega as the first map. And if anyone has a working copy of Armada and wants to tell me how much it costs per turn to have a shipyard building fighters, I'd greatly appreciate it. Also, it'd be nice to know if there's a downside to stripmining.
 
There is a downside to stripmining, taking verbatim from the Armada playguide it says
Stripmines produce twice as many resources per turn (for example, 10 per turn if the mine normally produces 5) but "use up" a planet's raw resources four times as fast.
the book gives a good example
Taking the same example, what if you click on the mine icon and specify a strip mine instead? The planet returns 8 resources per turn. However, 16 raw resources will be subtracted from the planet's total resources.
this is of course with a planet where normal mining yields 4 units in normal mode

for building ships, you take the total cost of the build and divide it by the number of turns it takes to complete the buildout


Ship Type #Turns Total cost
Arrow 1 10
Phantom 2 14
Wraith 2 18
Gladius 3 22
Banshee 3 26
Dralthi 1 9
Shok'lar 2 14
J'rathek 2 19
Kor'larh 3 24
Goran 3 29
Xport 2 6


Armada was my fav game to play when I was still in a size 9 pilot suit, been playing it again with an old Pent I 166 i had laying around.
 
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