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Ship Designer

#21
(09-08-2017, 09:27 PM)Karelian Suomi Wrote: Good God, I get mired in work and academic development, then damn near break my leg, and I come back to a cabal of fans beavering away at something that looks downright exciting... Gawd, I can't leave you kids alone for five minutes, can I?! Dodgy Big Grin

Well, don't count your chickens before they hatch!  I have a long way to go yet ;-)
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#22
So, I'm messing around with the Damage Track (DT) over the last week and compiling all the things that affect the layout.  I was wondering if someone could help me with the ordering of the items.  

I'm attempting to bring all items under one roof.  Better to have it there and then pick out the pieces that don't belong than to not have them in the first place.  Here's the way I see them being placed.

Kill Boxes (X)
Drive (#)
Damage Reduction (Diamond)
Armaments (w/W)
Torpedoes (t/T)
Critical/Point Defense (*)
Crew (Stick figure/ filled in head)
Cargo (c/C)
Jump Pods (j/J)
Drones (d/D)

I have also categorized the Damage Tracks into 5 groups (may slim it down to 4):  Fighter/Freighter, Gunboats, Escorts, Outposts, and Satellites (may combine with Fighters).  

    1
6      2
5      3
    4

Using the above layout, Fighters have the DT at the 4 position; Gunboats at 1,2,4,6; Escorts at 6,2,5,3; Outposts at 1-6; and Satellites at 4.  This plays into my data structure and will allow me to keep tabs on the individual DTs.

Since I don't have an update to the Ship Designer, I'll leave you with a sneak peak that kicked off this project.

Sneak Peak.  Click the "Rotate" and "Move" buttons at the top.  The ship has a Drive of 20.

I'd also like to thank Stogie and hooverbw for their offers of assistance.  I may ask for some further clarifications or possibly graphical assistance in the future, but we'll see where this takes me!

Thanks in advance!

Todd

Edit:  Missed torps, added.
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#23
Graphics have been sent. I also have ship display sheet masters that we can convert if needed. I created all this data with the intent of future books in mind.
Stogie
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#24
(09-10-2017, 08:01 PM)Stogie Wrote: Graphics have been sent. I also have ship display sheet masters that we can convert if needed. I created all this data with the intent of future books in mind.

Much appreciated!  I'll need to get some more progress on the data structure and layout before tackling any new datasets.  

It's surprising how complex the game is when you try to convert it. ;-)

Thanks!

Todd
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#25
(09-11-2017, 12:18 AM)tdewitt274 Wrote: It's surprising how complex the game is when you try to convert it. ;-)

Thanks!

Todd

Try ground up design. I was part of the Quad-S team. You have to deal with game mechanics, balance of play, and writing of background, rules and examples. Luckily, Jim handled most of the writing. I contributed on the mechanics, play and history of the Husanna. Now put this into the same context: each race has different tech and mechanics.
Stogie
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#26
Hello Everyone!

Just wanted to give a little update.  I haven't worked on the project for a bit because of time commitments elsewhere.  However, made some nice progress today!

Silent Death Ship Designer

I'm actually looking for some thoughts on a change that I uploaded to the website.  I'm making modifications to the Armament section and thought I'd shake things up a little. 
 
First, I changed the layout from a longer text string to a more "Display Friendly" layout.  Weapons will populate like the Ship Display weapon box.  This is a pretty compact format and, I feel, gets the point across in a quick and efficient way.

Second, I tweaked said box based on some of the code that hooverbw[url][/url] provided (THANKS!).  There was a nice diagram for the Firing Arcs, so I took the idea and implemented it into a nice display and UI interface.  It still needs a little tweaking for full implementation, but you can click on the appropriate arcs to specify if you want to buy up the cost.  Clicking on the 360 will remove all the others and (eventually) update the cost.

The box still needs some modifications.  I'll likely need to modify it for Warhounds to specify which hex the weapon will reside, and to update to the appropriate arcs as well as lock out the arcs that are not acceptable.

Hope everyone finds this helpful!  Also, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the Combat Simulator I threw out there in my last post.

Thanks in advance!

Todd
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#27
And a little early morning code cleanup to start off the day!

Updated the interface to populate based on previous choices.  This will stop code errors that are caused by needing prior fields chosen.

Added the 1/2 Hex selector (does not have any functionality yet).

Layout changes to make it more compact and have the page flow better.

Thanks!

Todd
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#28
(10-01-2017, 02:25 AM)tdewitt274 Wrote: I'm actually looking for some thoughts on a change that I uploaded to the website.

First, I changed the layout from a longer text string to a more "Display Friendly" layout.  Weapons will populate like the Ship Display weapon box.  This is a pretty compact format and, I feel, gets the point across in a quick and efficient way.

Agreed- familiarity with the ship display weapon box makes it easy to see what you just added. Too bad they can't fill along the horizontal axis and then downward like text for even more compact goodness. I'm assuming the option to specify which crewman the mount is used by is still awaiting implementation.

(10-01-2017, 02:25 AM)tdewitt274 Wrote: ...diagram for the Firing Arcs, so I took the idea and implemented it into a nice display and UI interface.  It still needs a little tweaking for full implementation...

It can be a little tricky finding the active zone for selecting arcs, but I got used to it after a few tries. Perhaps embiggening it by 20% would help a bit. Arcs that are not available should be greyed out to keep grognard mashing of the mouse repeatedly wondering "why no clicky?" at a minimum. Big Grin
You already mentioned that was on the radar, so nothing to more to add.

(10-01-2017, 02:25 AM)tdewitt274 Wrote: Also, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the Combat Simulator I threw out there in my last post.

Forgive me if I am being obtuse, but I don't understand how to manipulate it. I can get the ship to go forward a few hexes, but turning à la Rotate causes a wide displacement. Eventually (after much of the aforementioned grognard mashing of Move & Rotate), I start getting errors as if the ships allocated movement variable has been reduced to negative integers. Is it a rough proof of concept proposal at this stage? Here is an example of about all I can do with it at the moment:
[Image: uPYnut0.png]

All in all, great progress.
"Make the spaceships rounder but more square!"

I can't change this sig. until I paint a longboat & post pics.
Mission Accomplished: 1/3/23

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#29
(10-01-2017, 04:32 PM)Karpav1 Wrote: Agreed- familiarity with the ship display weapon box makes it easy to see what you just added. Too bad they can't fill along the horizontal axis and then downward like text for even more compact goodness. I'm assuming the option to specify which crewman the mount is used by is still awaiting implementation.
Hmm, this should be wrapping depending upon the width of your screen.
Ex:
Code:
+----------+
|1   2   3 |
|4   5     |
+----------+

What browser and version are you using?  I've only really used Chrome for testing purposes at this point.  

(10-01-2017, 04:32 PM)Karpav1 Wrote: It can be a little tricky finding the active zone for selecting arcs, but I got used to it after a few tries. Perhaps embiggening it by 20% would help a bit. Arcs that are not available should be greyed out to keep grognard mashing of the mouse repeatedly wondering "why no clicky?" at a minimum. Big Grin
You already mentioned that was on the radar, so nothing to more to add.
The issue that you were running into was that you were most likely clicking on the text.  I'm still deciding what to do about that piece.  I'd like to keep it as compact on the code front as possible.  But, in the mean time, I can add an onClick event to the text to avoid the issue.

(10-01-2017, 04:32 PM)Karpav1 Wrote: Forgive me if I am being obtuse, but I don't understand how to manipulate it. I can get the ship to go forward a few hexes, but turning à la Rotate causes a wide displacement. Eventually (after much of the aforementioned grognard mashing of Move & Rotate), I start getting errors as if the ships allocated movement variable has been reduced to negative integers. Is it a rough proof of concept proposal at this stage? Here is an example of about all I can do with it at the moment:
[Image: uPYnut0.png]
You are correct, mostly a proof of concept.  You are experiencing some odd behavior though.  When the "Rotate" button is pushed, it should be rotating 60 degrees to the right within the hex.  Also, when you press the "Move" button, it should be moving into the next adjacent hex in the direction it is pointing.  

The page will throw a "Insufficient Drive allocation" message when the ship has moved a total of 30 points (1 for move, 3 for rotate, no Tight Turn cost).

Could you tell me your browser of choice and version number?  This will help in troubleshooting!  I pulled the pages up in Edge and can tell you that the Combat Simulator is not working there, but the Ship Builder does work (just a bit different layout).

Thanks!

Todd
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#30
(10-01-2017, 07:41 PM)tdewitt274 Wrote: Hmm, this, should be wrapping depending upon the width of your screen.
Ex:
Code:
+----------+
|1   2   3 |
|4   5     |
+----------+

What browser and version are you using?  I've only really used Chrome for testing purposes at this point.

Sure: Firefox v. 55.0.3 (32-bit). I was in full screen on a 1920x1080, but it wants to just stack them vertically down the page only.

(10-01-2017, 07:41 PM)tdewitt274 Wrote: The issue that you were running into was that you were most likely clicking on the text.  I'm still deciding what to do about that piece.  I'd like to keep it as compact on the code front as possible.

Yep, that's why I only suggested a 20% increment- just a bit more space to find some free pixels.

(10-01-2017, 07:41 PM)tdewitt274 Wrote: You are correct, mostly a proof of concept.  You are experiencing some odd behavior though.  When the "Rotate" button is pushed, it should be rotating 60 degrees to the right within the hex.  Also, when you press the "Move" button, it should be moving into the next adjacent hex in the direction it is pointing.

As a proof of concept, it's nice. I found an old silent death module for Vassal that does the same and overhauled the graphics and it really makes it nice to play a game on the virtual table. I use it to screencap turn-by-turn diagrams, and if we don't have time to go to the FLGS since there isn't enough table space here to play. It's nice also in that it will record all dice rolls and such in a log, and we can save a game and return to it the next day. Our FLGS hours here make it so that games have to be short and sweet to give us enough time to tear-down and get out by 5 p.m.

See if you can figure out how Vassal manipulates its chit stacks- it's the highlight of the program. I can have double-sided icons for drones to show them in inactive torpor in the movement phase they are laid, and then flip them to become active. It also allows togglable overlay transparencies to show the threat radius of drones, mines, or dispersed ink. Keep an eye on the playtest area for examples. All that is done inside Vassal.

As far as the behavior of the sim, yeah, those screenshots are laid directly on top of one another and blended in layers so you could see exactly what was happening. In Firefox, one Rotate execution is causing the wide sweeping arc. The Move input is working as it should.  I had a similar problem with two-hex escorts turning funny, so I just split them in half and move them independently
[Image: MX9Ng7q.png][Image: SjXscIb.png]



(10-01-2017, 07:41 PM)tdewitt274 Wrote: Thanks!

Todd

Thank you, these tools are helpful for a variety of reasons.
"Make the spaceships rounder but more square!"

I can't change this sig. until I paint a longboat & post pics.
Mission Accomplished: 1/3/23

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