Making your own world

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Elemental_1275167226

Getting ready for beta 2. It’ll either be this Thursday or the following Thursday. Last week I was visiting journalists on the west coast showing off Elemental so i didn’t get to work on the AI and some other pieces of the game that I think need to be a bit further along before beta 2 starts.

The modding tools won’t be part of beta 2 (they come with beta 4 which is expected to start sometime in July).

Now, the richness of the included modding tools is not because we’re anti-DLC.  There will be plenty of expansion packs for Elemental in the years ahead.  But we strongly believe that the community itself may find lots of interesting things to do with the world of Elemental (and beyond) if we provide consumer-level tools to do cool stuff.

If you think that screenshot above is neat, wait till you see the video since all of that is animated too.

98,026 views 54 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

Two questions:

Will you be doing expansions or microexpansions?

Is the same tile editor we've seen screenshots of for editing city-built tiles? I see you're able to drop in critters straight into the tile: can you set animations for them, can you give them waypoints? Are they actual units or just animated additions? Are they scriptable?

 

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

I'm hoping for expansions.  

 

This looks really cool though.

SoundPackager - Customize the Windows sound scheme
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top


There will be plenty of expansion packs for Elemental in the years ahead.
End of quote
:drool: :drool: :drool: :drool:

Hmm Beta 4 around July... that's quite near in time.

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting TCores, reply 1
Two questions:

Will you be doing expansions or microexpansions?

Is the same tile editor we've seen screenshots of for editing city-built tiles? I see you're able to drop in critters straight into the tile: can you set animations for them, can you give them waypoints? Are they actual units or just animated additions? Are they scriptable?

 
End of TCores's quote

1. No micro expansions this time.   Only full blown expansions.  We plan to release so much "stuff" along with the community that "micro expansions" would get lost  in the flood.  Only around 5% or so of the assets available will actually be seen in the game. The rest will make their way in via the community. So the game will keep getting richer over time and we'll keep producing more assets after release to give away.

2. The monsters and such are hooked up to the AI. It's not exposed yet (I will get around to doing that as I learn Python, I'm making the AI in C++ for now and then will port things to Python).

 

 

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Wintersong, reply 3

quoting post
There will be plenty of expansion packs for Elemental in the years ahead.


Hmm Beta 4 around July... that's quite near in time.
End of Wintersong's quote

Yea, it's largely a (ack) marketing things since the modding tools were the first thing actually finished (i.e. they're how we put content into the game and have been for the past two years).

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

twitch twitch ;P :S o_O

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting TatertotEatalot, reply 2
I'm hoping for expansions.  

 

This looks really cool though.
End of TatertotEatalot's quote

Yea, the expansions we would do for Elemental would be well beyond new "content".  There's a lot of directions we can take but we'll wait to see what customers want us to focus our time on before making any definite plans.

I don't want to overhype here but in my 15+ years of game development, I've never worked on anything remotely as cool as Elemental.

Wait till you guys play the campaign. It's not at all like your typical campaign.  The sandbox and the campaign will be completely different. The campaign will feel very RPG-ish while the sandbox is more MoM-ish.

Reply #8 from Elemental Forums Top

Awesome!!!!

Hoping for a WEGO, but man, this screenshot looks awesome. :drool:

This will really be THE GAME. (or games, if you take in account all the modability...)

AWESOME!!!

 

Reply #9 from Elemental Forums Top

John_Hughes sends Wintersong a large roll of paper-towel as this news will surely generate some more serious drool... :thumbsup:

Reply #10 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 4


1. No micro expansions this time.   Only full blown expansions.  We plan to release so much "stuff" along with the community that "micro expansions" would get lost  in the flood.  Only around 5% or so of the assets available will actually be seen in the game. The rest will make their way in via the community. So the game will keep getting richer over time and we'll keep producing more assets after release to give away.

2. The monsters and such are hooked up to the AI. It's not exposed yet (I will get around to doing that as I learn Python, I'm making the AI in C++ for now and then will port things to Python).

 

 
End of Frogboy's quote

So these things in the tile aren't just animations but are "real" monsters/units that can interact with things outside of their tile?

Reply #11 from Elemental Forums Top



Getting ready for beta 2. It’ll either be this Thursday or the following Thursday. Last week I was visiting journalists on the west coast showing off Elemental so i didn’t get to work on the AI and some other pieces of the game that I think need to be a bit further along before beta 2 starts.

The modding tools won’t be part of beta 2 (they come with beta 4 which is expected to start sometime in July).

Now, the richness of the included modding tools is not because we’re anti-DLC.  There will be plenty of expansion packs for Elemental in the years ahead.  But we strongly believe that the community itself may find lots of interesting things to do with the world of Elemental (and beyond) if we provide consumer-level tools to do cool stuff.

If you think that screenshot above is neat, wait till you see the video since all of that is animated too.
End of quote

HOLY  %$#^%& !!!! That Looks Awesome!!!!!

All Hail Frogboy, Master of Making His Customers Happy!!!

One request....BIGGER Picture Please (or that video you're talking about ;) )

Reply #12 from Elemental Forums Top

Have you considered a repository for all the fan made mods? It's great to have it collected with a reviewing system so you can access it all in relative safety :)

Reply #13 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting TCores, reply 10


So these things in the tile aren't just animations but are "real" monsters/units that can interact with things outside of their tile?
End of TCores's quote

The tile can be whatever you want it to be.  I can either use a pre-defined tile ("This is an ogre") or I can create my own custom tile (seen here) and then I use XML to describe what happens (is it a creature, what kind of creature is it, how strong it is).

I can also apply trigger tiles (on or around it) that can pop up an interactive conversation. So if I near the above dragon it could have a conversation with me (also described in XML).  That is, in essence, how we're doing the campaign. We tell the story through encounters and other triggers.  

In terms of general map design, you save the tile and associate it with a creature (one you design or a pre-defined one) and plop it on the map editor.

 

Reply #14 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Sherekhaan, reply 12
Have you considered a repository for all the fan made mods? It's great to have it collected with a reviewing system so you can access it all in relative safety
End of Sherekhaan's quote

They will be up-loadable and down-loadable through Stardock's servers through the game and/or Impulse :)

Reply #15 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 13

The tile can be whatever you want it to be.  I can either use a pre-defined tile ("This is an ogre") or I can create my own custom tile (seen here) and then I use XML to describe what happens (is it a creature, what kind of creature is it, how strong it is).

I can also apply trigger tiles (on or around it) that can pop up an interactive conversation. So if I near the above dragon it could have a conversation with me (also described in XML).  That is, in essence, how we're doing the campaign. We tell the story through encounters and other triggers.  

In terms of general map design, you save the tile and associate it with a creature (one you design or a pre-defined one) and plop it on the map editor.
End of Frogboy's quote

This just keeps getting better and better (and no I don't mean the pretty graphics)

P.S. Thanks for the Bigger Picture though ;)

Edit: Hey, where'd the bigger (second pic in your reply) go?

Reply #16 from Elemental Forums Top

I really love the idea that you will expand world of elemental in the years to come. I like to invest my time in games which has future, and are still updated and improved all the time, can not really wait, to see what will elemental become in coming years.


Also, I love how much customization you are going to give to the people and can not wait, for all the neat stuff from community.

 

Regarding animations, to myself I think animations are the most important stuff if we are talking about graphics, so I hope they will be really smooth and nice to look at :-)...

 

Now where is the video? :-P

Reply #18 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting TCores, reply 17
RavenX, I am fairly sure this is the same editor pictured here:

https://www.elementalgame.com/images/Screenshots/Elemental_TileEditor_ZoomedHarbor.png

Just set to "Resources" instead of "clumpy plant and rock decoration stuff."
End of TCores's quote

No, my friend. When Frogboy said the post I quote where he replied to you right here...

Quoting Frogboy, reply 13

The tile can be whatever you want it to be.  I can either use a pre-defined tile ("This is an ogre") or I can create my own custom tile (seen here) and then I use XML to describe what happens (is it a creature, what kind of creature is it, how strong it is).

I can also apply trigger tiles (on or around it) that can pop up an interactive conversation. So if I near the above dragon it could have a conversation with me (also described in XML).  That is, in essence, how we're doing the campaign. We tell the story through encounters and other triggers.  

In terms of general map design, you save the tile and associate it with a creature (one you design or a pre-defined one) and plop it on the map editor.
End of Frogboy's quote

There WAS a picture there as well. Another picture of the map. I didn't stay on it long enough to notice what other differences were in it aside from the one in the OP, but I did see Another pic. When I refreshed the page, the new pic was gone from Frogboy's response.

I know my doc's got me on some serious drugs, but I aint halucinating...lol.

Reply #19 from Elemental Forums Top

This post, and the followup comments from Brad have been excellent. The absolute highlight among highlights for me though?

No micro expansions this time.   Only full blown expansions.  We plan to release so much "stuff" along with the community that "micro expansions" would get lost  in the flood.  Only around 5% or so of the assets available will actually be seen in the game. The rest will make their way in via the community. So the game will keep getting richer over time and we'll keep producing more assets after release to give away.

End of quote

Best. Possible. Answer.

My main point of contention with DLC has nothing to do with it's perceived value for money to me, it's the fact that it seems to have all but killed off the notion of full blown expansion pack.

I <3 beyond belief that Elemental will be seeing full expansions after release. :)

Reply #20 from Elemental Forums Top

I am...painfully close to pre-ordering this. For the first time, ever, I am about to pre-order a game.

Will Beta 2 be MP only, or will I be able to play around in single player? I get...well, with a new game, I get distracted fairly easily, and I don't last long in MP games usually.

-N

Reply #21 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Nathikal, reply 20
I am...painfully close to pre-ordering this. For the first time, ever, I am about to pre-order a game.

Will Beta 2 be MP only, or will I be able to play around in single player? I get...well, with a new game, I get distracted fairly easily, and I don't last long in MP games usually.

-N
End of Nathikal's quote

Nathikal, do not wait. Period. Next Beta gets what we assumed to be 3 months away. You want in? Get in now!

Anyone that wishes to argue that point please speak up.

twitch twitch ;P :S o_O

 

Reply #22 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Nathikal, reply 20
I am...painfully close to pre-ordering this. For the first time, ever, I am about to pre-order a game.

Will Beta 2 be MP only, or will I be able to play around in single player? I get...well, with a new game, I get distracted fairly easily, and I don't last long in MP games usually.

-N
End of Nathikal's quote

As per the 'Good News' Dev Journal here: https://forums.elementalgame.com/382216

Beta 3 was rolled into Beta 2, meaning that while Beta 2 will have MP enabled, it won't be MP only. We'll be able to offer feedback on all aspects of the game. :)

Reply #23 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Naithin, reply 22



Quoting Nathikal,
reply 20
I am...painfully close to pre-ordering this. For the first time, ever, I am about to pre-order a game.

Will Beta 2 be MP only, or will I be able to play around in single player? I get...well, with a new game, I get distracted fairly easily, and I don't last long in MP games usually.

-N


As per the 'Good News' Dev Journal here: https://forums.elementalgame.com/382216

Beta 3 was rolled into Beta 2, meaning that while Beta 2 will have MP enabled, it won't be MP only. We'll be able to offer feedback on all aspects of the game.
End of Naithin's quote

Except "Tactical Combat". As last I understood. We won't get for another Beta or 2 down the road. Still, we'll have access to a lot more stuff. :)

Reply #24 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Raven, reply 18



There WAS a picture there as well. Another picture of the map. I didn't stay on it long enough to notice what other differences were in it aside from the one in the OP, but I did see Another pic. When I refreshed the page, the new pic was gone from Frogboy's response.

I know my doc's got me on some serious drugs, but I aint halucinating...lol.
End of Raven's quote

 

I believe you. I thought I saw a link as well, but never clicked it. My loss!

I'd been misunderstanding the tile editor earlier, I thought that was editing a tile prototype (like editting a city tile prototype in that image) and was curious to see what monsters were doing in the tile prototype! Apparently, it was an actual tile to be painted down.

Reply #25 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Raven, reply 23

Except "Tactical Combat". As last I understood. We won't get for another Beta or 2 down the road. Still, we'll have access to a lot more stuff.
End of Raven's quote

Yup. Although Tactical Combat has already had feedback sought on it, so it counts. :P But yeah, according to the updated schedule Tactical Battles will be enabled in Beta 3, so not such a long wait! :)

 

Edit: Boo for non working link tags, ah well, Schedule Page: https://forums.elementalgame.com/363845