Cooper DevBlog

      Networking for the game has been tested, and it is a bag of mixed news. Here is how this post will go, I will first go over networking-based updates, then game updates, and then future updates. Here It goes.     Networking Updates:     1) Lobby System: Firstly, this aspect of the game works well. Players can create a lobby then receive a code they can use to invite other people to their lobby. Once there the clients are created and in the same game together. They get the same map when playing, and things like placing buildings (Building data not shared, and prefabs, not displayed) work (tech tree allows research for cards, cards place, and tiles update values globally for all players to see).     2) Client Side Code: The client-side code works for the most part. The years don't seem to update visually for the client but do for the server, but almost everything else works. The tech tree, card placements, building placements, etc. All wor...

      I kinda don't like networking and having to deal with it. It is a really big pain. Here are some of the realizations that hit me when working on this, and how I dealt (I think) with them.     1) Networking Object Instantiation: I realized late last night (~2 am) that when a player was creating a building, the data was not being shared with other clients. All buildings were being created locally which is not good for an RTS multiplayer game. I then had to figure out how to create network objects, and how to pass that information/creation event to other clients and the server. This involved some RPCs and some code reworks, but I think it works. Tomorrow, I will be doing the first-ever multiplayer test, so I hope the gods are smiling down on me.     2) Networking Data Creation and Management: Next up is how to pass/update information when it is created or needs to be changed. I needed this for the terrain management system. The creation of the tiles...

    More progress has been made, and I feel like a million bucks because of this game.     1) Tech Tree Restructuring: I have switched my 1D list to a 2D list so that I can store all of the data about the branches and their different techs in each era. I have made it so that you can smart scroll through eras and through each tech category. Once researching the first tech, settlement, you can then get access to all other tech categories (Military, religious, education, industrial, etc), and each tech in that tree for each era. At the bottom, you can press a button to increase or decrease the era that you want to view. However, you can only increase up to a certain point, either the max of era 3 or the furthest era that branch goes to. This makes the tech tree feel a lot more advanced and less crowded.     2) Auction House: I have now got the viewing system working for all of the cards in the auction house, as well as the system to reassign who it is that is ...

    More things have been accomplished today, and I am feeling really good about it. Here it goes:     1) Mine V1: I modeled a little tiny gold mine in Blender (as best as I could, art will get better with time), and added it to the game. I then added the functionality for its production, cost, placement conditions, and more. Making it fully functional and expanding the game's current playable state.      2) Card Effect Manager: I have added more advanced control features for the game that allow me to enable more accurate and in-depth controls for each effect a card can have. For example, there is now a global check box, that will apply the effect to every city. A new check box on the effect to discern if it needs a settlement, and a list area for you to list tiles the card should have effects on. All have been added to the game, and now it is just a matter of going through and adding in each card and custom effect.     4) New Cards and Techs...

      A couple of things have been worked on today, and here they all are:     1) Auction House: I have started the process of creating the auction house, this will be a bit more difficult as I have to do it in multiplayer, dealing with everything every other player has discarded too. You can discard, and then scroll through pages of discarded cards, and filter by category or by player. This might be useful if you're looking for something in particular or have trade deals/sanctions with someone. I want to also add a way to search for cards by name, but that is going to come later once the system works.     2) Multiplayer Integration: I have now added some code to make it so that cards now remember who originally dealt them this way it can be used for the auction house. Additionally, I also added the system for syncing the cards in the auction house across all clients and reworked some of the map gen. I hope to beta this weekend on another computer, but...

      More progress has been made today! Here is the news:     1) Artwork (3D Modeling): I created my first 3D model in Blender, it is pretty bad, but should do the trick while I learn and get better at 3D modeling. Below is a picture of the house that I made. I will gradually add in more models (buildings, tiles, units, etc) as I progress in the game development. But this is a good start, and the first step in this learning process          2) Build System: I have now created the system that will place the buildings directly on top of the tiles, and not halfway through them. This might not sound like such an important thing, but it is the first time I have directly dealt with ray casts in Unity.     3) Settlement System: They are now equipped to handle upgrades, tile collection/claiming, and more. This is useful so if cards are buildings that need a settlement to be placed or have an effect, this now allows it to happen. ...

      An incredible amount of progress has been made today, I have never been this excited to tell you guys about it!     1) Building Placement System: I have now got a functioning system where the player can click a card, and if it creates a building, it will open up the build bar, and allow the player to place the buildings. I have added the systems to see if the building requires a settlement and if so it will check to see if the tile is owned by that player, and if not that can build on it/ I also added in the acceptable tile locations based on the building and its data. I then have it adding that building to that settlement and to the players' empire, and then being saved for effects later on and at that moment.      2) Card Placement System:  The visuals are all synced up and functioned wonderfully. Of course, the UI is all primitive, but we are making progress. I have made it so that the cards require certain tiles to be played they wi...

      A lot of cool and important updates to go over today, so strap in and listen up.     1) Card Selection and Placement System: I have now created a system that will allow the player to select cards and play them on the board. It is connected to the notification system and provides visual feedback. The visual side is as follows: Click a card to select and it gets 15% bigger, click again to deselect and it goes back to being the same size, click another card while a card is already selected and the previous goes back to normal and the new one gets bigger. I also linked it to the notification system so it will tell the player when they placed a card correctly, and will tell them what is wrong if they play it in the wrong spot.     2) Build Placement System: Similar to the cards but for buildings. Grabs the data from the card and creates a building panel with a list of slots populated with the building data from that card. Then the same sizing and sele...

      I have created a couple of new things and refined some other things, so here it goes.     1) Notification System: A way for notifications to pop up and show the user what is going on in the game, making it clear how to play, and what they are doing wrong or right. It creates a notification object, that is stored in a list, that is displayed when the list has something in it. It is a simple system that enables the user to see everything. I added a little display counter to show how many notifications there are, and where the player is in the notifications (ex. 4/10). I also created a way to delete the objects, and scroll left and right through them.     2) Card Selecting System: A way for the users to select the card, and then have the data passed through to the player and used in the game. I want to add indicators for where the card will be player (outlining the tile), and a scaling factor for the card that has been selected.     3) Rel...