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DBlac
October 8th, 2018, 13:16
Hey everyone, apologies for being kindof quiet here, it's really been a bit hectic, but we figured we should let you know we have a longass update on the recent goings on of LoN's development!

You can read more about it here: https://lordsofnether.com/ever-forward-state-of-the-game-08-10-2018/

DBlac
October 8th, 2018, 13:17
Aaaand i made a typo in the thread name... tsk, I've been writing too much. Can anyone get that for me? Much appreciated!

YourMaster
October 8th, 2018, 16:37
Increased unit limit based on research seems a bit boring to me. Wouldn't it make more sense if certain dungeon properties - like the size or kinds of rooms - determine this? Or perhaps points taken on the map, 'supply depots' build or how powerful your army is.

DBlac
October 8th, 2018, 17:13
Increased unit limit based on research seems a bit boring to me. Wouldn't it make more sense if certain dungeon properties - like the size or kinds of rooms - determine this? Or perhaps points taken on the map, 'supply depots' build or how powerful your army is.

It's just a working idea for now, but eventually there may be other ways to handle it. Size of your dungeon however is a dangerous idea because its governed mainly by the player, which could potentially mean a number of units that your machine does not agree with. Either way, it's a bit too early to consider this too deeply, but we will see what can be done later on. I've thought about the idea of controlling something on the map that gives you increased population cap, though that would have to work with the lore somehow, but if we decide to go that way it wouldnt be much of an issue.

Research would primarily be an option if external alternatives prove to be too bothersome what with everything else going on. It may however be an interesting option to make it a research that requires you to actually find something in the level, like, for lack of a better term but not what it would eventually be, a portal gem that you'd have to research in the library to use in upgrading your capacity or something. Plenty of ideas, but they have to be evaluated and tested with everything else in mind.

YourMaster
October 8th, 2018, 17:47
How strange that determining the size of your army is not a core concept. How many units you end up usually is a central mechanic.

And no, size of dungeon is not a dangerous idea at all. Whatever mechanic you end up with to determine how many units you can get, it will inevitably be governed by the player, and the final limit is determined by you.
Plus I don't think it's a good idea that people with fast computers can get more units than people with older devices.

DBlac
October 8th, 2018, 19:03
"How many", not "how". We have already figured out how many.

Fundamental misunderstandings in what you say there too, but i dont really want to get into that, other than noone suggested that the rig would determine the number, it would just mean that unless you scale your settings back your system is gonna start chugging at certain numbers no matter how much optimisation is done. It's how graphics work.

YourMaster
October 8th, 2018, 22:03
Mmmm, ok. I got that from your update, that you don't know yet how the player can increase the creature limit, but it might be research.

You argued that if instead of though research when the creature limit can be increased by the player through dungeon size that that might lead to a situation where your PC can't handle the numbers. I simply countered that it does not matter how the creature limit is determined, and that the maximum limit is always set by you in such a way that the PC with the minimum required specs can handle it(on the lowest graphics settings).

But, I'm not looking to argue, I'll simply wait and see.

DBlac
October 8th, 2018, 23:09
I understand what you're trying to say, but that's the thing, how do you communicate it to the player that there is a set maximum and yet they have to work up to it? It's a bit of a complex issue and it's best refined once some gameplay is already possible, so that different scenarios can be tested. Either way, we will find an appropriate way to do it.

YourMaster
October 9th, 2018, 01:01
Perhaps in the top left of the screen, add a little box that says that for example you have 5 out of a maximum 32 units? And if you can get more units, that '32' turns into a '40' or something.
Kinda like this:
https://lordsofnether.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/News-Screenie-3-1280x721.png

Metal Gear Rex
October 9th, 2018, 05:59
Aaaand i made a typo in the thread name... tsk, I've been writing too much. Can anyone get that for me? Much appreciated!

Fixed it.

DBlac
October 9th, 2018, 08:59
Fixed it.

Thanks a bunch!


Perhaps in the top left of the screen, add a little box that says that for example you have 5 out of a maximum 32 units? And if you can get more units, that '32' turns into a '40' or something.
Kinda like this:
https://lordsofnether.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/News-Screenie-3-1280x721.png

That's not really what i mean, that is already the case as you can see because the picture you present is an unedited screenshot from our current build. I mean, how do you communicate to the player that this number can go up, but only to a certain point, if the method of it going up is technically unlimited (only limited by space available), that being the size of your dungeon. It's not intuitive. If it's a research, then you know, oh okay, it goes up to this much and when the research is all spent, you know thats the end and no more. If it'sa point on the map or soemthing you control you're like, okay thats tangible, there may be more, there may not be, but there's a visible and understandable end to it. If it's the size of your dungeon its like, okay so i can keep building and it's all up to me. Oh but there's an actual cap? Where did that come from, i thought it was based on what/how i built. Not to mention that if this is the case, people will immediately jsut try to dig out as much space as possible, without regarding actual defensive building or any dungeon design.

YourMaster
October 9th, 2018, 15:12
I understand, it's nice to have an in-game explanation for the hard unit cap, and make it clear for people how to raise the soft cap. But even without it, people tend to understand just fine, games have had hard caps since forever and gamers are used to it. If you can't implement a pretty solution just yet, simply changing to color of the unit cap will communicate to people that they've reached the hard cap just fine.

And I understand there are lots of possibilities here, and you want some playtesting to see which you like the most. That's why I assumed it would be high on the list to test as a central mechanic, but you apparently focus on other mechanics more than this.