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Messages - Psyclone

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1
Announcements / Re: Should we try again?
« on: May 04, 2021, 12:19:43 AM »
I have a little bit of experience with coding and databases.  I'd love to help in any way I can.

2
Announcements / Re: Official updates and teasers
« on: June 19, 2016, 07:23:58 PM »
Yep, I remember you well :)

Yes, multiplayer maps(>2 players) would be larger and I am tossing around at least three different modes for maps...
1)  Classic Mode 
This is an homage to the original SW.  Playing in this mode will randomly choose one of the classic maps made by Randy. You would be able to gain and lose spirits and there would be fog of war.

2) Procedurally generated maps
This is the default mode. This mode creates random maps procedurally at run time.  You would be able to gain and lose spirits and there would be fog of war.

3) Player created maps.  I have reviewed Randy's old map editor and I think it would be cool for players to make their own maps as well. Players could invite other players to play on their maps however there would be no spirit gain or loss and no fog of war in this mode.  This mode could also include the ability for players to snap their maps together to create larger maps.

I have a very basic example of the procedural map generation without any rules and more tile types than the original had if you want to look at it...
http://rivstyx.com/spiritwars/sw.zip

Download the zip file to a pc and extract the contents to a folder. Then navigate to the folder and launch sw.exe.
You will be presented with the classic SW splash screen :)  Upon clicking it or hitting a key you will be presented with a map.
You can use the arrow keys to move around the map and the mouse wheel to zoom in and out.
pressing "R" will generate a new map randomly. There are no rules in place so the tiles are completely random at this time.
pressing escape will exit the application.

Let me know what you think and I will occasionally be adding more to it as we go.

Thanks,
Chris
Sweet.  I know it's not much, but the functionality looks good.

Thanks for the updates.

3
Announcements / Re: Official updates and teasers
« on: June 14, 2016, 04:25:49 PM »
This is a very good representation of the types of games we are up against.  On our part we will be modernizing SW and redesigning many of the aspects without hopefully taking away from the feel of the original. It will not be the exact same game you played in 1999 and may offer features the original never had such as procedurally generated maps and multiplayer(2+) game  modes.  We are trying to stay way from pay to win as well. 

Thanks,
Chris(rivstyx)
Hey rivstyx.  Not sure if you remember me, my SW name was "Kevin".  We've definitely played a lot of games together.

Out of curiosity, are you considering procedurally generated maps of different sizes and shapes?

The original SW maps are 86 tiles and always the same shape.  If you're considering adding multiplayer game modes, which sounds awesome, having different sizes and shapes of maps would probably be something to consider (if you haven't already).

4
Announcements / Re: Official updates and teasers
« on: June 14, 2016, 12:23:59 PM »
I've played a few games similar to SpiritWars over the years and am currently playing one (a little bit) that is similar to SpiritWars in some ways.  It's a CCG with a Hexagonal Map in which your attempting to destroy your opponents Castle (or orb in this case).

The game is called Faeria and it's currently in Early Release on Steam.  The game has some great graphics and animations that are really nice that I think are worth looking at.

Unfortunately, I'm not a big fan of the game play at all for numerous reasons and think SpiritWars is superior in just about every way, but there are some nice elements to the game, particularly the graphics and animations.  I just wanted to share this with you, the developers, as it might give you some direction or ideas.  They use a similar camera angle to the teaser you posted above (maybe a little more overhead, but similar).

Here's some links to YouTube videos of Faeria...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THpoiHciAw8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaZBcXsIYuY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGcmdPVsPiU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoiW7aBbNEk

5
Announcements / Re: Cautious optimism
« on: May 31, 2016, 12:59:36 PM »
Lyn and Light,

I'd be glad to help out in my free time if I can.  Is there anything that any of us can help with or contribute?

My undergrad was in Aerospace Engineering and I know some programming and have a little experience with databases and website design, but not sure if any of it would be enough to be helpful.

Please let me know if I can help in any way!

6
I remember you Light!  :)  My in-game name was Kevin, not to be confused with kevincscott.  I was relatively quiet and typically played late at night, so a lot people don't usually remember me, but I played A LOT.  I had either the 2nd or 3rd most games played behind The_Alchemist.  I started playing in 1999(?) and was playing back in the days of trade, although I preferred the no-trade version more.

I've played dozens of online CCGBG's (CCG + Board Game) since SpiritWars, but none of them are/were anywhere near as good.

1a)  What did you enjoy most about the game?

I thought the whole concept of the game was great... a CCGBG with castles (base), the Fog of War (vision), and just the overall game play.

1b) What do you want to see remain the same as it was, no matter what?

I might be in the minority on this one, but I really loved the way populations were handled/distributed compared to other CCG's, ie - you didn't permanently keep your collection and couldn't acquire every card.  I didn't mind losing my best cards because it created a lot of variety in mine and my opponents' decks.

I know it was oftentimes frustrating losing your best and favorite cards, but everyone had completely different populations and you saw a great deal of variety from deck-to-deck/game-to-game.  Too many other CCGBG's resulted in everyone running similar decks because after everyone played enough games, spent enough money, etc, they had access to just about every card in the game. 

In SpiritWars, it was rare to run into Baldur, Unicorn, Tower of Babel, etc, because eventually they would lose them.

2a) What did you dislike about the game?

The 2nd move advantage.  It was always the #1 complaint I heard and I think most people agreed.  It was too great of an advantage for the majority of players, especially if you knew ahead of time that you would be playing 2nd, which was oftentimes the case because you knew who your opponent was (and their rating) before challenging/accepting.

My only other criticism of SpiritWars (and almost all CCG's, particularly CCGBG's) is the speed of play.  Some players were extremely slow and there wasn't a timer.  I think this is something that has to be added.  Some games took 45+ minutes and not because it was an intense game, but because the opposing player was multitasking, or playing at work, or just AFK a lot.

2b) How can that be improved, so that it's more enjoyable to you in this version?

I'm not sure what would be the best way without any testing, but some suggestions/options are...

2nd MOVE ADVANTAGE
  • COMPLETELY RANDOMIZE SILVER/GOLD PLAYER - I don't think this fixes the problem much, but it will help reduce it and also help to reduce sandbagging (intentionally playing crappy decks to tank rating and using powerful decks when the player is almost guaranteed they'll go 2nd). It just seemed too easy for a player to stack their deck accordingly when they knew which player they were ahead of time, such as Gold (player 2) stacking their deck with archers.
  • SLIGHTLY NERF ARCHERS SOMEHOW - I think archers are the #1 issue/advantage to playing 2nd.  I'm not sure the best way to nerf them as I have only put about 10 minutes of thought into it, but maybe something like... OPTION 1 - Don't allow archers to move and attack on the same turn.  OPTION 2 - Archers don't get terrain bonus(es).
  • GET RID OF ALTERNATING PHASES - Switch to each player doing all 5 phases on their turn.  For example, P1 Activation → P1 Movement → P1 Combat → P1 Healing → P1 Maintenance → P2 Activation → P2 Movement → P2 Combat → P2 Healing → P2 Maintenance → P1 Activation → etc.  I think this would have the added bonus of speeding up the game play quite a bit, but I'm guessing it will probably be too drastic of a change and require quite a bit of balancing, which is something I'm not pushing for at all.  I love the game the way it is for the most part, but I think 2nd move really is just too much of an advantage.

SLOW PLAY
  • ADD A TIMER - Add a timer for each turn or phase.  I think there are several variations of Chess/Go/Byo-yomi/etc timers you could use, such as a flat time, time increments (delays), etc.  Maybe assess a penalty of 1 damage to a player's castle for time penalties with possibly increasing penalties for further infractions.
  • GET RID OF ALTERNATING PHASES - See above.

3a) How important to you were the Tournaments and League? Did you ever participate in either or both of them?  If so, which ones and how often?  If not, why not?

My schedule didn't allow me to commit to playing League.  I believe I subbed a few times or played as an alternate, but that's about it.

I loved playing tournaments and played them every chance I got, which wasn't very often unfortunately.

3b) How can they be improved?

Many CCG's have different tournament types, such as...

  • CONSTRUCTED - Players bring their regular decks (dungeons) from their own collection (population), sometimes with limitations.
  • FIXED - Every player uses the same pre-determined deck or creates a deck from the same pre-determined collection.
  • SEALED - Every player is randomly given a completely different collection (population) and creates a deck from it.
  • DRAFT - Each player is shown a different group (pack) of cards (spirits) with the same quality/rarity.  Players pick one card at a time.  After picking a card, they will get a new group of cards to make their next pick from.  I've seen DRAFT's handled with many different rulesets in other CCG's, so I won't go into much more detail.

I know SpiritWars ran both CONSTRUCTED and FIXED tournaments, but SEALED and DRAFT are much more fun in my opinion and seem to be the most popular in other CCG's as well.

3c) What were the most and least enjoyable aspects of these features?

In SpiritWars, the most enjoyable aspect was tournaments in which we used a different collection (population) and getting to play cards I didn't own or ever get to play.  In other CCG's, I actually enjoyed DRAFT & SEALED tournaments a lot.  I always played every one I could because it was fun getting a new and completely random collection and building a deck from it.  Building the decks was just as much fun as playing the games.

The least enjoyable aspect was the wait time between rounds.  Many CCG's/CCGBG's overcome this with a timer.

4a) If you were a member, how did you feel about migrations and events?

I loved the events.  Even the ones that purged my favorite spirits.

I thought the Victory/Loss Migrations were great as well, but have mixed emotions about the Positive and Negative migrations, which I'll explain in further detail below.

4b) Did they happen too often or not enough?

I understand the need for the Negative Migrations to keep people from owning 1000+ spirits.  I think the Negative Migrations were fine, but many of the Positive Migrations weren't necessary, which I'll also explain below.

4c) Considering that they're an integral part of the game design, how can they be improved?

Most of the Positive Migrations occurred with new populations, which only started with 200 spirits for some reason and made it really hard to make a competitive deck at the start.  The Positive Migrations occurred quite frequently early on (until you got 300-350 spirits) and seemed a little pointless to me instead of just starting the player with 300 spirits and allowing them to make a more competitive deck.  I think you could boost the starting populations up to 300 and it would eliminate a lot of the unnecessary (imo) Positive Migrations.

5a) On what devices would you play SW?  Would you play on a a mobile device, or would you only play on a computer/laptop?

I never play games on my mobile phone and doubt I ever will, at least not in the foreseeable future. As of right now, I would probably only play on my computer and laptop but could definitely see myself playing on a tablet/iPad in the future.

5b) Is there any aspect of the game that can be changed to make you more likely to play on a mobile device?

No. 

5c) Do you think the mobile version of the game should be run separately from the PC version?

I'm indifferent as long as it doesn't lead to my opponent playing slowly.  It just doesn't seem like a very viable way to play the game due to the amount of screen real estate required, namely the map.

6) Keeping in mind that the game will never be pay to win, what kind of features would make you consider signing up for a membership?

I'm sure I'll be a lifetime member as long as there's players to play against.

7) ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Sorry I didn't reply sooner but I haven't been checking this site much recently since it's been so quiet for so long, but I always try to pop my head back in every once in a while just in case.  I suspect most other people are the same.

I'm willing to help out in any way I can.  I've done some programming (adequate at many, expert and none of them) and know a little bit about databases (Access and MySQL).  I'm great with Excel, but I doubt that will be very useful.

7
SpiritWars Discussion / Re: Progress
« on: July 23, 2014, 12:07:12 AM »
I'm going to be out of town from July 24 - August 3 and unable to help out until I get back, but will gladly help.  I have Photoshop CS 6 and use it quite a bit.  Let me know in a couple weeks where you're at and what you need and I'll be glad to help.

8
SpiritWars Discussion / Re: What you would like to see in a new SW
« on: July 18, 2014, 01:31:55 PM »
cbrooks... i messaged you with the dump file.  Just paste it into notepad and you should be able to access it.  If it didn't work, just send me your email address and i will send you the MySQL dump file, it's only 182 KB.

9
SpiritWars Discussion / Re: What you would like to see in a new SW
« on: July 13, 2014, 06:10:11 PM »
hey chris.. good luck with the re-code. i have all the maps and spirit data in noth spreadsheets and a mysql database.

i would vote for keeping the game the same for the most part.

Here are some of my opinions/suggestions...

• Make unique map icons for each spirit (except spells of course which arent placed on the map) along with the spirits stats

• I always liked the idea of randomly generated maps.  I played A LOT of SpiritWars and after a while I knew some of the maps and where the enemy castle or certain homelands were from the start of the game and I thought it was a huge and unfair advantage.

• Develop an AI so players can play against the CPU. This will also open up other possibilities such as multi-player raiding, campaigns, etc.

Good Luck Chris!

10
General Development Notes / Re: Merry Christmas!
« on: December 19, 2013, 02:42:37 PM »
Merry Christmas, Bret!

I know Randy had some issues with Vista and Mac OS back in the day.  It sounds like you might be running into some of the same issues.

Out of curiosity, which programming language is the game written in?  And have you considered a cross-platform language like Java?

I'm not an expert or trying to tell you what you should do... I'm just curious as I have done a little programming myself, but just as a hobby and nothing as complex as an internet game.

Hope you didn't take that the wrong way.  Like I said, I'm just curious and appreciate that you are trying to get it back up and running and am confident you will figure everything out after the new year. :) 

Until then, Happy Holidays!

11
News / Re: BIG BIG BIG NEWS!!!
« on: December 10, 2013, 06:17:05 PM »
SpiritWars launched on WON.net (World Opponent Network) on December 20, 1998.  :)

12
SpiritWars Discussion / New Spirit Gallery
« on: December 03, 2013, 12:22:54 PM »
Back in 2001 I made a massive spreadsheet with all the spirits and filters.  I shared it with Randy and a few other players, but never posted it online anywhere since it wasn't as easy to do back then.  About a year ago I posted it on Google docs or something like that and had a link to it somewhere in this forum. 

With the new beta coming and after visiting ShaoLin's Spirit Gallery again a couple weeks ago, I figured that it would be nice to get some kind of Spirit Gallery online so I created a new Spirit Gallery.  It was a free domain, but there doesn't seem to be any annoying advertisements other than the small bar at the bottom which is hardly noticeable.

I basically uploaded several images of the spreadsheet.  You can view the spirits by Homeland and Type (energy, combat, defender, spell).  I used photoshop to update the resolution of almost all of the icons. Hope that is ok Lyn.

I had trouble reducing the spreadsheet in size as there's a lot of columns of information.  I was able to get it down to 1366 pixels wide though which should be viewable without a horizontal scrollbar on most laptops and desktops.  It probably won't look as good on tablets or cell phones since it will be too wide.  Anyways, here's the link...

http://psyclone625.wix.com/spiritgallery

Just a heads up, since I was restricted to using their web builder software instead of my own, I was limited to only being able to use basic buttons and images.  Therefore, when you press a button to search by type or homeland it loads a new page.  It loads pretty fast, but sometimes you have to wait a second or two before pressing another button.  It's really only noticeable at the start when you choose a spirit type and homeland and not really that big of a deal.

Unfortunately, I couldn't do much else as I would have liked to have had more filtering options, but it still gets the job done.

Please let me know if you find any errors, issues, mistakes, etc.

13
SpiritWars Discussion / Re: Vampira, do you remember this link?
« on: December 02, 2013, 02:35:44 AM »
I remember that page :)

I never had my name (Kevin) added to it though for some reason, but it's amazing how many of the names on that list I remember from the game.

14
SpiritWars Discussion / Re: Favorites
« on: December 02, 2013, 02:32:58 AM »
My favorite was...

- Tower of Babel
- Venal Governor
- Charax Sorceres
- Graft and Corruption

15
SpiritWars Discussion / Shao Lin's SpiritWars Temple
« on: November 21, 2013, 12:21:50 AM »
Not sure if any of you remember this website or not but believe it or not it has been continuously up for at least 14 years now.  I've had it bookmarked forever and checked it every couple years.  The site says it was last updated 2-14-00.

http://www.angelfire.com/yt/shaolin/

 :)

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