Here it is, at long last: gameplay footage from Master of Fortresses 2. This clip shows the redesigned menu system, some of the sound and music already implemented, the new graphics, as well some new features which promise to deliver deeper and smoother gameplay.
There’s still a lot more about this game that I’d like to share with everyone, so stay tuned for more videos like this one in the near future.
It’s now been little more than five weeks after the release of Mecha Ace, and I’m proud to say that it appears to be doing really well. Despite a few pesky bugs on release, Mecha Ace has gotten overwhelmingly positive reviews on all three of its release platforms, and I’m almost certain that Choice of Games has recouped every single dollar of their investment into this interactive fiction of mine.
Updates are still ongoing, and I will continue to work on new bugfix patches for as long as new bugs are being reported. That being said, the bugfixing process is only taking up a miniscule fraction of my time.
So what’s next?
Before I’m able to direct my full attention to any other projects, I need to tie up the remaining loose ends I’ve accumulated over the years. First among these is Master of Fortresses 2. Development slowed down dramatically while I was writing Mecha Ace, but I’ve been able to put a great deal more time and effort into it since Mecha Ace’s release. So far, I’ve made exceptional progress, and over the past week or so, I’ve been opening up what I have right now to a small group of testers.
Hopefully, I’ll be able to put up some long-awaited gameplay footage from a thoroughly tested and balanced version of the first level, sometime this week.
It is the dawn of the fifth century of the Interstellar Era. Humanity, having long since escaped its home system, has spread throughout the galaxy.
Driven by the increasing tyranny of Old Earth, the outer colonies have launched a war of independence against the core worlds. It is a war to the knife; a desperate campaign of deep space battles, long sieges and planetary bombardments, a war fought with ‘combat armatures’; giant piloted humanoid machines, which clash in the battlefields and skies of the outer worlds.
It has been five years since the war started. The conflict between Earth and her rebellious colonies have consumed billions of lives.
There is no end in sight.
This is what I’ve been working on over the winter: Mecha Ace: Heroes of the Vedrian War, a new interactive fiction taking inspiration from both western science fiction and “real robot” mecha anime. In Mecha Ace, you will take the role of an ace combat armature pilot, fighting for the independence of the outer colonies from an increasingly tyrannical Earth government.
Launching from the CWS Caliburn, a top-of-the-line carrier, you will lead your unit of six mecha into a brutal campaign over the strategically vital star system of Vedria. Over the course of the story, you will be able to choose the machine you pilot and the weapons it carries. You will be able to find friends, enemies and even lovers among the Caliburn‘s crew and your fellow pilots. Ultimately, you will be able to decide the course of the war as the Vedrian campaign comes to a cataclysmic conclusion.
Mecha Ace will come out sometime in the next two months. I’ve put up a new page for it here.
It’s been a while, I know. I am still here, though I’m currently being pulled in a few directions by work and school. Here’s a quick update on what’s going on:
-I am currently putting the finishing touches to my new Interactive Fiction for ChoiceofGames, expect a proper announcement about that soon.
-Guns of Infinity is at the tail end of its planning phase. With luck, I’ll be able to start writing sometime in May.
-I’m also wrapping up my (hopefully) last semester at University. After I get my degree, I will (obviously) be able to devote a lot more time to work.
-I am still working on MoF2, but progress is understandably slow. However, I am hoping to finish it before I start actually writing Guns of Infinity.
Expect more detailed and specific announcements regarding each of these things to come soon. As for now, I still have one more term paper to finish, and one more exam to study for.
So, it looks like I’ve gotten a bit sidetracked.
About three weeks ago, I’ve managed to get a contract with ChoiceofGames to get one of my works published by them directly. While I’m still trying to make headway on Master of Fortresses 2, this new project is paying a substantial amount of money, so I have been balancing both projects over the past few weeks. Of course, I’m pretty sure my contract means that I should be careful about disclosing any details, so I’m going to avoid letting anything slip now
That being said, MoF2 is still progressing along. I’ve almost got a full level working properly, barring a few pathfinding and wave bugs. Hopefully when I finally get some video footage up, I can show it in action!
So, the iOS version of Sabres of Infinity patch 1.1.1 is out, after the customary 8-day delay which the AppStore uses to screen incoming updates. This patch (which has been out on the Chrome Web Store and Google Play for some time now) addresses the most salient complaints which the original release received.
Changelog:
-Checkpoint system added: Dying in game will now give you the option of reverting to the beginning of the current chapter. However, these saves are not permanent, and will be wiped if you exit the app.
-Copy-editing: I would say that the vast majority, if not all the grammatical errors and typos are now fixed.
-Final Battle Rebalance: The Battle of Blogia has been tweaked. While success/failure thresholds are still the same, the “critical failure” requirements which lead directly to death have been lowered dramatically.
If there’s one thing that I’ve been keeping quiet about over these past couple months, it is the enormous amount of progress that I’ve been doing solo on Master of Fortresses 2.
Now, this is basically the third iteration of the game, with the previous two having been shut down either by the team being pulled apart through various factors outside of my control or the ultimate realisation that the platform that I’ve spent the past couple years developing for (Flash) is not long for this world. Sometimes, I look back and remember that my original agreement with Armor Games involved delivery sometime around last September. We were on track to hit that goal until sometime around last June, when things started going haywire.
I’m pretty proud of how far I’ve gotten with the current version, as belated as it is. Last week, I finally passed our previous point of furthest advance: I am now closer to finishing the game myself (with help from my composer and vocal cast) than I’ve ever been before, which means I’m no longer futilely retreading old ground. I’m forging ahead into unknown territory now. It’s a bit daunting, but it feels good.
Here’s what’s been done so far:
-Map tiling and scrolling
-GUI display
-Building and unit construction placement
-Autotiling
-Collision detection
-Friendly unit AI
-Enemy pathfinding
-Enemy death
-Money and population caps
-Build zones
Here’s what I’m currently working on:
-Enemy combat AI
-Friendly unit/building death
When I finish those two items, I’ll put up the long-promised video update and show you what most of this stuff looks like in action. After that I’ll start working on some of the higher level features: unit experience, support units and advanced tactics like flanking and crossfires.
It’s gonna be fun.
I had rather hoped that my first real update would be something a bit more groundbreaking than this.
Some context: the 1.1.1 update for Sabres of Infinity (released on Chrome Web Store and Google Play, still being processed on AppStore) released five days ago with a checkpoint system. However, because I mis-labelled some of the variables in the saving system, the checkpoint wouldn’t revert your game to the beginning of the last checkpoint. Instead, it would send you to the beginning of the game, but revert your stats to the last time you saved (read: properly).
I sent in a hotfix for the issue on Monday night, and it seems to be uploaded and working on Android/Chrome versions now.
I’ll be going over the details of the 1.1.1 update when it comes out on iOS AppStore later this week.
-Paul
Paul Wang 