PIC-Guam Game Development Status 6/5/10

This is my first blog post using Windows Live Writer.  It may take me a while to get the formatting right…

I’m continuing to make progress on the prototype for PIC-Guam.  In May I spent over 26 hours working on the game.  I have better momentum now that I’ve had since the last Origins trip for PC Eylau in 2005.

My post last October was quite optimistic in a couple of areas.  I underestimated the amount of work to be done to produce a viable prototype, and I overestimated the amount of time I would have over the 2009 holiday season to work on the game.

I only really got a clue when I finally created a coordinating task for the prototype that listed everything I wanted to accomplish.  Here’s the text from my notes:

a    perform task PG-100515=1:
        Guam Prototype Coordinating Task

        this sets the agenda for completing the Guam prototype

        notes 5/15/10: 0810..0842
            planning
done            figure out what is missing
done            mark as P3I tasks not part of the prototype
done            add P3I's to P3I list
done            derive or locate a task for each missing item

        plan
            what is missing from the prototype (Orote scenario)
PG-100515=2     movement (UI, DB, game system)
PG-100528=1:    turn sequence
PG-100515=3     fire combat 
                     defensive (UI, DB, game system)
                     offensive (UI, DB, game system)
PG-100515=4     assault (UI, DB, game system)
                     P3I: movement after assault
PG-100515=5     complete the Orote data
PG-100515=6     head to head play mode
PG-100515=7     AI play mode 
                     P3I: AI plays both sides
PG-100515=8     UI hex window
PG-100515=9     UI unit window
PG-100515=10    UI fire attack window
PG-100515=11    UI assault attack window
PG-100528=2     Game Status window
PG-100515=12    UI game messages window
PG-100515=13    victory conditions - no NME units left
PG-100515=14    present the prototype to Chris
PG-100515=16    release the game as a CTP to the Beta group
PG-100515=17    make a Guam Release Coordinating Task 
                    

So far I have completed most of movement and enough of the turn sequence to move forward.  I documented my progress in the recent demonstration video posts.  I’ll continue to do so as I complete new features.  The tasks above fall into 4 categories: game system, AI, UI, and coordinate (with Chris and the Beta group).  I plan to do them in roughly that order.  I estimate this will take 100-200 hours to complete, or 4-8 months of notional calendar time.  Assuming my estimate is not too far off (yeah, right!), I think the prototype may be complete by Christmas and available to the Beta group in early 2011.

Game Dev Status 4/25/09

I'm making good progress on the "One Div" version of the AI for PC Eylau. I have put in just over 12 hours of work so far this month. The CreateAttackOrdersFromAssignment() code looks like


This is pretty simple. If the enemy cannot contact us this turn, move to a phase line along the axis of advance towards the current goal (a victory hex location). If the enemy can contact us this turn, define a FEBA based on a phase line along the axis of advance conforming to the enemy locations, and move to this FEBA to place units so they can deliver attacks with maximized estimated results. If the enemy is in contact already, adjust units' locations to improve estimated attack results.

The code fans out from there and becomes somewhat more complex in the realization of these aims. I'm still working on CreateMovementToContactOrders() at this time. Once I have something to show, I'll see about putting together a video.

Grognard Simulations Site

My friend Chris has re-established the Grognard Simulations web site. The site is quite new and is still waiting on some additional work, but it does have links to Eylau (pricing information is a place holder, I think) and to the new Pacific Islands Campaign - Guam boardgame.

Game Development Status 11/21/07

I put in some work on the game for the first time in two months today. The game just hasn't been a high priority for me lately.

I updated the installer and tested it on a couple of laptops. I need to activate a copy of Vista before I can resolve Chris' issues with the installer.

While exploring the setup project, I found the View User Interface option in the context menu from the setup project node in the Solutions Explorer window. This provides a tree view of the installer dialogs, and allows for adding additional dialogs such as a EULA dialog, a Splash dialog, and a Read Me. Each dialog exposes a property allowing for configuration of the logo art displayed at runtime. This was exactly what I had been looking for over the course of many online and MSDN searches...funny how I had never found it before.

In any event, I should be able to activate Vista next week and hope to have a fix for the installer under Vista available for Chris presently. It may be a Merry Christmas indeed for the Beta group.