Official updates and teasers

[Light]

Welcome to the official update and teaser thread.  My purpose for this thread to create a single place to provide all updates (along with some teasers!).  I'm excited to share our progress with the community and welcome any feedback anyone has on the direction we're currently going in. 

[Light]

Teaser #1:

Here's a screen shot of a very early rough draft of the new map. The graphics are simply placeholders, and will be changed in the future.  The purpose of this picture is to display the different camera angle and depth aspect. 

Most map tiles are "flat", while highlands are high and lowlands are low.  While this changes the entire look and feel of the SW map, it brings things more in line with the graphics of today. 

Comments, ideas, adn other other feedback is both welcomed and appreciated!

[TwistedMe]

Awesome... I'm not going to let myself get excited... but I can't think of anything I would rather do than play some SpiritWars... too late, I'm excited again... 

[LDZ]

Me too. I really hope this game comes back. I really used to enjoy it. I will happily pay to play it again.

[Forgestone]

  Looks nice. Can't wait to see (and play) more.

[liquidies]

This is wonderful news. Been waiting for news like this for at least 15 years. Lol
To make this whole thing successful i do recommend if not already in the works is to make this an app. Good luck with all the hard work......can't wait 

[Lotar]

Nice!!

Good vibes your way...

[Imprimis]

This is the most unexpected email I have gotten in a loooong time. So stoked for this game to come back!!!

[Psyclone]

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

[cbrooks]

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

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)

[Psyclone]

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).

[cbrooks]

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

[Psyclone]

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.

[Light]

Some technological issues, and summer, got in the way for a little bit, but we are still making progress.

Chris has been hard at work on the map and unit interaction aspects of the game.  I think his words explain it best, so I'm going to quote him:

"There is a button which changes the players turns.  There are four player in this example.  Red, Yellow and Blue all own 2 horses of their color. The green player owns a yellow tank.  green is yellow because I don't have a green tank

From this example you can see movement among multiple player turns and that the spirits can see and navigate around each other. "

You can download the .exe here: http://rivstyx.com/spiritwars/sw.zip
Download and extract the file, run sw.exe.  Hit escape to exit. 

Enjoy.

[Fozzy]

I have been waiting for this game to be resurrected for decades! Please bring it back. It was fun, it was amazing, it was beautiful, and it was such a blast! Please please please bring it back.