Milestone III is done, waiting for response from Slitherine to start beta testing.
However that doesn't mean we have to sit idle doing nothing, instead, I can make progress on the stuff I was planning to add during the beta.
List updated, removed the already implemented or postponed features.
3. AI should learn to cast Nature's Cures.
This one is very questionable - the AI casts first and moves afterwards, so they'll need to have a full turn pass before they can even consider casting the spell. In addition, if the AI does a lot of battles, it might end up using most of their overland skill on this instead of summoning more monsters etc.
8. AI combat, when the AI is chasing after a unit with a large army, maybe the AI should spread their units out to corner the target more effectively? Not sure if necessary or how to do it though.
9. When AI decides on accepting/rejecting a hero, consider the AI's realms?
For example, Life or death wizards reject melee heroes without thrown or flight because they can't enable them to hit flying units without finding the correct artifact by chance.
11. Main Menu background should be improved.
Original game has the "Master of Magic" text animated, I have no idea how to do that for Caster of Magic.
No need for scrolling credits here either because I'm the only developer.
12. Spellbook page turning animation
This looks cool but it's difficult to implement, probably quite time consuming, and doesn't add to gameplay.
What's worse, slower animation slows down gameplay.
So not sure we want this?
Very low priority.
13. Detailed message about fleeing units.
"While fleeing you lost 7 units" vs "While fleeing you lost 3 Slingers, 2 Swordsmen, Witch, Draconian, Bard."
I'm worried this might potentially result in too much text though because the broken building list can already get very long. How did all of it actually fit the window in the original I wonder.
14. The generated button textures could have creases added to it, as the original game had some on their buttons.
Very low priority obviously.
16. Intro
Obviously I can't make a new one so we'll have to use the old one if we want any. Or maybe Slitherine wants to make one for us?
17. Allow spell charges in random generated item? If yes, which spells?
This basically applies to lair treasure containing items like
"Sword of Fireball x2" or "Wand of Entangle".
We probably want to avoid the higher tier spells in this feature, if added.
18. Autoselection order of units during battle?
http://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/showt...?tid=10299
19. Possible addition of new item powers
Optional.
This can be milestone V but it's reasonably simple compared to new races or heroes so if we have good ideas, it can be done now.
21. Are we happy with the current Pandora's Box summoning budget and summon timing/chance?
23. Orc Horde might make more sense with 9 figures.
I originally wanted to do that but it wasn't possible in CoM I. If we increase figures, we need to tweak the other stats somehow.
24. Game option that makes the AI take their Diplomacy Phase before their turn instead of after for additional score.
This basically makes it so that the AI can attack you the same turn they declare war instead of the next turn.
Not sure why we would want this tho it was a player suggestion, it feels largely unnecessary. If you have no treaties the AI can attack you without a war declaration already. If you have treaties, they won't be attacking you directly after breaking the treaty most of the time, as they will need additional turns to declare war and it's very unlikely they'll roll "hostile" in the few turns in-between. So while it does have a little influence on gameplay, it's not relevant enough to be worth adding.
26. Create a manual
32. "City screen - work manager"
38. AI should issue stalling order to Phoenix in combat if there are enough normal units to fight. Probably should only use the Phoenix to engage when there are fewer normal units left than Phoenixes and using Raise Dead is not possible.
39. Cartographer screen layers (City names, Nodes, Lairs, etc.)
43. Test Chaos early game. It might be still too weak without Fire Storm? We might want to improve some of the common spells like Warp Wood or Disrupt?
44. Monthly report used an animated scroll image in the original game.
Like spell paging, this too is nice but not particularly necessary and absolutely the lowest priority.
45. How to handle Mud?
What movement types are unaffected? (Currently noncorporeal only. Original game also allowed pathfinding+noncorporeal)
What tile types are unaffected? (Large mountains! But what about small mountains, rivers, forests, etc?)
51. I want to add consumable hero boosting items into treasure as some of the rares possible things to find.
For example "Vial of Agility" would add the "Agility" ability to one hero of your choice permanently, or upgrade it to super if they already had it. Probably should be roughly half as many of these than spell picks.
However that doesn't mean we have to sit idle doing nothing, instead, I can make progress on the stuff I was planning to add during the beta.
List updated, removed the already implemented or postponed features.
3. AI should learn to cast Nature's Cures.
This one is very questionable - the AI casts first and moves afterwards, so they'll need to have a full turn pass before they can even consider casting the spell. In addition, if the AI does a lot of battles, it might end up using most of their overland skill on this instead of summoning more monsters etc.
8. AI combat, when the AI is chasing after a unit with a large army, maybe the AI should spread their units out to corner the target more effectively? Not sure if necessary or how to do it though.
9. When AI decides on accepting/rejecting a hero, consider the AI's realms?
For example, Life or death wizards reject melee heroes without thrown or flight because they can't enable them to hit flying units without finding the correct artifact by chance.
11. Main Menu background should be improved.
Original game has the "Master of Magic" text animated, I have no idea how to do that for Caster of Magic.
No need for scrolling credits here either because I'm the only developer.
12. Spellbook page turning animation
This looks cool but it's difficult to implement, probably quite time consuming, and doesn't add to gameplay.
What's worse, slower animation slows down gameplay.
So not sure we want this?
Very low priority.
13. Detailed message about fleeing units.
"While fleeing you lost 7 units" vs "While fleeing you lost 3 Slingers, 2 Swordsmen, Witch, Draconian, Bard."
I'm worried this might potentially result in too much text though because the broken building list can already get very long. How did all of it actually fit the window in the original I wonder.
14. The generated button textures could have creases added to it, as the original game had some on their buttons.
Very low priority obviously.
16. Intro
Obviously I can't make a new one so we'll have to use the old one if we want any. Or maybe Slitherine wants to make one for us?
17. Allow spell charges in random generated item? If yes, which spells?
This basically applies to lair treasure containing items like
"Sword of Fireball x2" or "Wand of Entangle".
We probably want to avoid the higher tier spells in this feature, if added.
18. Autoselection order of units during battle?
http://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/showt...?tid=10299
19. Possible addition of new item powers
Optional.
This can be milestone V but it's reasonably simple compared to new races or heroes so if we have good ideas, it can be done now.
21. Are we happy with the current Pandora's Box summoning budget and summon timing/chance?
23. Orc Horde might make more sense with 9 figures.
I originally wanted to do that but it wasn't possible in CoM I. If we increase figures, we need to tweak the other stats somehow.
24. Game option that makes the AI take their Diplomacy Phase before their turn instead of after for additional score.
This basically makes it so that the AI can attack you the same turn they declare war instead of the next turn.
Not sure why we would want this tho it was a player suggestion, it feels largely unnecessary. If you have no treaties the AI can attack you without a war declaration already. If you have treaties, they won't be attacking you directly after breaking the treaty most of the time, as they will need additional turns to declare war and it's very unlikely they'll roll "hostile" in the few turns in-between. So while it does have a little influence on gameplay, it's not relevant enough to be worth adding.
26. Create a manual
32. "City screen - work manager"
38. AI should issue stalling order to Phoenix in combat if there are enough normal units to fight. Probably should only use the Phoenix to engage when there are fewer normal units left than Phoenixes and using Raise Dead is not possible.
39. Cartographer screen layers (City names, Nodes, Lairs, etc.)
43. Test Chaos early game. It might be still too weak without Fire Storm? We might want to improve some of the common spells like Warp Wood or Disrupt?
44. Monthly report used an animated scroll image in the original game.
Like spell paging, this too is nice but not particularly necessary and absolutely the lowest priority.
45. How to handle Mud?
What movement types are unaffected? (Currently noncorporeal only. Original game also allowed pathfinding+noncorporeal)
What tile types are unaffected? (Large mountains! But what about small mountains, rivers, forests, etc?)
51. I want to add consumable hero boosting items into treasure as some of the rares possible things to find.
For example "Vial of Agility" would add the "Agility" ability to one hero of your choice permanently, or upgrade it to super if they already had it. Probably should be roughly half as many of these than spell picks.
