Mindemia Development Blog

New mission Forest Base and deployment explanation

2011-05-27T04:19:00.000-07:00

Forest Base is a new mission that will be launched soon. It's themed as a small military complex in a dense forest area, with small paths crossing the terrain. It's laid out across 2x2 sectors, with a total of 6 Victory Zones.


The overview. Blue and red indicates where teams enter the mission

This mission will be used as a test bed for the public missions, as it is a bit larger then Crossroads, which easily gets cramped with a few players in it.

Here are a few screenshots from the mission:

So, how does troop deployment work in the game?
In Solo Missions, troop deployment is automatic, so not much to mention there.

First of all you deploy troops to a specific mission. This is done through the web interface.
Once the troops arrive at the area (instant), you launch the mission, and go down to Sector level. Any undeployed squads will have a darker button than the deployed ones. Click it to be able to see deployable tiles. These are marked with a green ring on the terrain.
Currently, any owned Victory Zone will have its adjacent tiles deployable. In addition, each team has an edge along one of the sectors as deployable, in case they don't control any VZ's.
Click a deployable tile to place your squad there!

To move your troops out of a mission, there are two ways. Either using a med-evac, which works from anywhere in the sector, or by standing next to a controlled VZ. The option to "Undeploy" will now appear in the action menu.

Weekly progress

2011-05-15T03:15:00.000-07:00

Time to report what's been going on this week, and it's quite exciting! The whole week has been devoted to the multiplayer experience, and there's been some major refactoring in regards to how multiplayer games are handled. Now it's possible for players to instance maps and thus challenge other players for a quick fix, in addition to the regular campaign. Together with the solo missions, this ensures there is always a way to play the game.
This new system needs testing, and thus we will be opening the test to external testers, hopefully the coming week.
Stay tuned to our newsletter, twitter or facebook page to find out how!

Here's a list of the tasks that were done this week:

Done:
Create instanced MP mission
Open MP games show up in lobby
Can join other MP games
Can set turn length on MP games
Account creation page

Started:
Basic client chat system

Bugs fixed:
Fixed where recruit button would show up for deployed squads

Friday Progress Update.

2011-05-06T08:51:00.000-07:00

Hey. Here's a brief update on the feature progress that's been made this week, as well as a few recent screenshots. Full size images will appear on the home page soon.
If you want to discuss anything, feel free to head over to the forums and post a question there.


Skirmish over a small (very empty) building.


The remaining soldiers were caught in a deadly cross fire.

Done:
Throwing Grenades
Building: Storage Room
Building: Logistics Center
Discarding unwanted equipment and weapons
Dismiss soldier
Deployment of Heavy weapons
Added "Glory" for Companies

Progress:
Ragdoll
Refactored some methods in server layer
Made big old ugly chunk of code in server layer redundant

Started:
Deployment of Heavy weapons
Building: Storage Room
Building: Logistics Center

Bugs fixed:
Fixed not calculating all directions properly on the server
Fixed bug where changing stance and turning broke due to recent updates
Grenades and mortar shells arc properly
Fixed color selection in store not working

Hostile Sector Design Doc Excerpts: #1 - The Basics

2011-05-01T09:30:00.000-07:00

Hi all.

This is a first test to give future players a bit of insight into the mechanics of Hostile Sector, and the reasoning behind them. Hopefully this will spawn some discussions around the subject in which case there will be more.

If you feel like discussing it, head over to our newly established forums.

Each section contains "How it works now", which is either how it's currently implemented, or will be implemented, and a "How it might be in the future" paragraph, which is a list of things that will be considered once the basics are thoroughly tested.

Please note that this may not be a definite, or complete list, and that things might change after this has been posted.

Cheers,

Rickard

Basic concept:

How it works now:

Each player controls a number of soldiers, organized in squads(fire teams).

Each squad can contain up to four soldiers.

Each soldier is individually customizable with equipment, clothes and weapons.

Squads are deployed onto tactical battlefields, called Missions.

Each Mission consists of a number of Sectors, arranged in a grid.

A player can deploy their squads either along a line of one of the Sectors (depending on access), or at a Victory Zone the players' team controls.

Each Sector contains one or more Victory Zones.

Each Sector consists of 30x30, 4m Tiles.

When a team controls all Victory Zones in a Sector, they control the Sector.

When a team controls all Sectors on a Mission, they control the Mission.

Actions on Missions are turn-based. The turn will change either when a certain (real) time has passed, or when all active players on a team are finished moving.

Time may vary between Missions, from 5 minutes, to several hours.

How it might work in the future:

More instanced ”game modes”. Capture-the-flag, Combat Patrol etc.

Multiplayer missions can be instantiated by players, who can invite others to play with them in a non-persistent manner.

Better leadership might allow more soldiers in a squad.

Campaign:

How it works now (in development):

The campaign is multiplayer only, and consists of a number of connected areas (Missions) on a campaign map.

Controlling an Mission in the campaign controls access routes to other nearby Missions. If a team doesn't have an access route, they can't deploy troops in that area.

Depending on the area the Mission is located in, a controller might get additional bonuses, such as increased recruitment rate from an urban area. Or med-evacs if the area contains an air field.

How it might work in the future:

Access routes also define supply (such as ammo). If units are cut off, they will not be able to get any new supplies (such as ammo).

Single Player:

How it works now:

Players can instantiate SP missions. These range from simple search-and-destroy missions, to more scripted missions.

SP Missions are a good way to give the new soldiers some experience, and find new gear.

How it might work in the future:

Players can cooperate on SP missions.

Movement and Action Points:

How it works now:

All movement and actions in the game require Action Points.

Each turn, a unit receives a number of Action Points based on their Dexterity and Constitution.

Movement Cost is dependent on what kind of terrain the unit is moving through. Example: Dirt and Grass is fairly easy to move through, and their cost is less. Rocky and Forest environments are more difficult, with uneven terrain, or vegetation hindering movement, and thus cost more to move through.

Sloping terrain costs 50% extra AP to move through (both up and down, and side-ways).

How much a weapon costs to fire and reload is an abstracted value of how cumbersome the weapon is to operate, the amount of preparation required and some game balancing value. Example: Small arms, like Assault Rifles and SMG's are easy to fire, as they're usually held in a ready position during movement. They cost less to fire. It's also easy to change clips, and thus reloading is fairly cheap too.

Machine Guns and RPG's are more cumbersome to use than regular rifles and assault rifles due to weight and size.They also require more steps when reloading, so they become more expensive to operate in general.

How it might work in the future:

Heavier weapons (such as heavy mg's, mortars, and heavy sniper rifles) need to be ”set up” before being fired. Once ”set up”, these weapons can only fire in that direction until ordered to move again.

Sight and Concealment:

How it works now:

Each unit(soldier) has their own field of view covering a 160 degree forward arc.

Units use their Perception value when deciding what and how far, they can see.

Each tile has a ”Sight Decay” value, which is estimated based on how easy it is to see through it. Example: Water tiles have nothing blocking view, so their decay value is very low, as are roads. Forests have a high decay value due to the trees and undergrowth that you find there.

Walls, building and large objects block view completely.

The chance of spotting a unit is based on the Perception value of the viewer, the Concealment skill of the target, distance and concealment value of the target tile.

Night or or day time affects how far a unit can see.

How it might work in the future:

There is equipment to improve sight range, both during night, and day.

There is equipment to improve concealment. Possibly terrain specific.

About customization

2011-04-11T11:55:00.001-07:00

[Archived from old blog: 2011-02-11]

One of Hostile Sector's goals is that each player should be able to customize their soldiers and give them a unique look. If you have ever played collectible games like Warhammer 40k you probably know that half (or even more?) of the fun is in giving your units some character.
Hostile Sector recently got the basics for the customization framework in, and in the pictures you can see the soldiers happily posing with some head gear, weapons and custom uniform colors. For launch there will along with this also be various uniform types to further distinguish your soldiers.
Items like this will be available either by collecting them on missions, or you will also be able to buy them in the in game store.

The world is no longer flat. Benefits of high ground.

2011-04-11T11:54:00.000-07:00

[Archived from old blog: 2010-12-21]

Now, the world in Hostile Sector is not exactly round either, but at least it contains height features. And more importantly, it's not merely a cosmetic feature, but provides important gameplay as well, some features more obvious, and others less.

Higher features block sight. Naturally, you can't see through solid ground.

Steep slopes block movement. A very important feature for level designers, since it allows a basic way to channel gameplay throughout the scenarios.

These are the two basic features that you get "for free" with height differences. The following are less obvious, but provide additional depth for a turn based strategy game like Hostile Sector.

Slopes cost additional points to move in. On covert missions, movement in slopes has the advantage of flexibility. If you encounter an enemy below you can choose to take advantage of the higher ground and move up, or if an enemy is spotted above, you can move down and try to lose line of sight.
The disadvantage is that slopes are cumbersome to move in.

Higher ground means longer line of sight. High ground is good for lookouts and long range weaponry, as they have an increased chance of getting the drop on enemies.

So, as you can see, height creates interesting tactical opportunities, and is by default a good and balanced gameplay feature. The advantage of being positioned there, is balanced by the difficulty in getting there (and sometimes getting out of there).

Transition to 3d, first image.

2011-04-11T11:52:00.000-07:00

[Archived from old blog: 2010-12-01]

It's been little more than a month since the last development update, and with good reason. During that time, the Hostile Sector client went from being 2d only, to 3d, and i'm glad to present you the first development shot of the game.
The transition was done using the jMonkeyEngine framework, a state of the art community driven scenegraph.
So, while the game engine as a whole has been on the back burner for a bit, having a 3d client means almost endless opportunities, and a lot of features that would be hard or almost impossible to implement in 2d, all of a sudden becomes very easy.
That said, there are still a few things to weed out in the new client, before implementing any large features. Coming up is a new sight system, replacing the current linear fall off one, with a new one, better taking terrain, and current light conditions into consideration.
The image below depicts a few heroic soldiers approaching a crashed helicopter in one of the single player missions. Night time makes it hard to see very far, but they've still managed to spot a hostile patrolling the area.

Hostile Sector Unveiled

2011-04-11T11:48:00.000-07:00

[Archived from old blog: 2010-10-25]

To start off, i'm going to tell you a bit about the next big project from Mindemia. It's called "Hostile Sector" and is a persistent, team based and turn based tactical and strategic browser game. Simple, enough?
The tactical part is inspired by isometric tactical games of old, and anyone who's played games in that genre should feel right at home. The strategic part comes from the fact that there will be a multitude of territories to conquer, each benefiting the controlling team, and a hierarchial group system that will allow players to form command structures. Add to this a system where both soldiers and weapons are customizable, and you have "Hostile Sector" in a nut shell.
In addition to target anyone interested in playing strategic and tactical games together with other people, online, "Hostile Sector" is designed to allow a group of players that may not have several hours to spend each day, to still be able to feel that their actions contribute to their team's accomplishments.

The other good news is that alot of the framework is already in place, and the game is currently in closed testing with a limited number of people.

Stay tuned for more info, or "like" it on facebook to receive more news about "Hostile Sector" as it becomes available.