Sprint 6 Review

RB Whitaker 25 Mar 2013 4 Comments

Here’s the end-of-sprint release for your entertainment pleasure: http://rbwhitaker.wikidot.com/local–files/sprint-review/100XP-24March2013.ccgame

If you haven’t been downloading any of the daily builds, this one I think will be pretty different than what you last saw. Heck, even if you have been looking at the daily builds, this one is pretty different.

So… the game isn’t “complete” per se, but this release represents something much more cohesive than the individual prototypes in days past.

Some features that you’ll notice are new or working differently (hopefully better):

• You can create ships in the Fleet Command screen.
• You can edit these ships in the Shipyard, which incidentally, is now longer accessible from the main menu.
• After editing a ship, you can go back to the Fleet Command screen, and see your new ship.
• From the menu, you can go to the Combat prototype, which no longer contains any enemies. Basically, you get to shoot your own ships. I didn’t have time to get to the AI yet.
• The way the camera works in the Combat prototype is significantly different than it was.
• The controls to select ships and tell them to attack and move have been revamped, and should be more intuitive, but check the message at the top of the combat screen if you get stuck.
• Ships do not blow up. Even though they used to. Your fleet should now be persistent, in that you can quit the game and come back later, and keep working with the same fleet as before.
• The ship part designs/templates have been made modular and externalized, so you could theoretically build your own types of ship parts. At the moment, I have no details on how to make this happen, but you may be able to dig around and figure it out yourself. If there are people out there who are interested in building your own ship parts for the fun of it, let me know, and I’ll put together some instructions. It isn’t terribly complicated.

Here’s what I’d love to get some feedback on:

• What one specific thing do you like the most in the newest version?
• What one specific thing do you like least in the newest version?
• What feature would you consider to be the most important next step to include?
• Anything that you find unnatural in terms of how to actually use the game. (Mouse buttons or keyboard buttons misbehaving, etc.) It’s evolving, and I think it’s better than before, but I also think there’s lots of room for improvement still.
• Any sort of bugs that you run across. Even if you’re unsure of whether something is a bug or not, let me know.
• Am I going in the right direction? (This is kind of a persistent question, isn’t it?)
• Are the daily builds meaningful to you? Have you downloaded any? I’m trying to get a feel for if it’s worth the effort. (Though I’m considering just automating the daily build process.)
• Changing directions a little bit, looking at the blog itself, what would you like to see more of? Less of?

Categories

• Sprint Review