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[Craig Stern]

Thanks, guys!

so you are still doing this all in flash?

Correct.

[Craig Stern]

A very small update for today:

I was preparing to update the screenshots of Telepath Tactics that appear on the game's main page, when I realized that I'd missed a few colors in the palette-swapping code. Apparently, the thighs on the Photokineticists used a hue somewhat lighter than in all of the other units, thereby preventing the game from swapping the colors. This, in turn, made it look like every Photokineticist other than the ones on team Violet had bloody thighs. Kinda weird. But now fixed!

Likewise, it seems the Spirits all had their own unique colorations to denote team affiliation, which meant that every team's Spirits looked like they were on team Violet. No more of that! The Spirit colorations have been added to the palette-swapping tables, and now all is well in the Kingdom of Paletteswapia.

[Craig Stern]

Another, even smaller update: I fixed an obscure bug where the ImportXML class was typing certain data wrong, effectively cutting off characters' attack lists after their fifth attack.

Oh, also: I updated the screenshots in the first post of this thread.

[Craig Stern]

You can now customize the music that plays on a map-by-map basis in a single player campaign. (I've left the ability to force background music out of Multiplayer, since I want that to be entirely player-controlled.)

[Craig Stern]

I've now made it so "Create" attacks have their effects defined entirely in .xml (prior to this, they were hard-coded). In the process, I've expanded the flexibility of "Create" attacks beyond building inert destructible objects and bridges; it is now also possible to mod in summoning attacks that actually create player-controlled units!

[Craig Stern]

Sadly, I haven't had time to work on the game for the past few days--I've been consumed with finishing up this article, which sets forth a universal definition of "indie game." Hopefully it succeeds in bringing some clarity to the unmitigated clusterf*ck that has been the "what is indie" debate.

Anyway--now that I've gotten that out of my system, it's back to working on Telepath Tactics! I think it'll be easier to test multiplayer using a synchronous server connection than it would with asynchronous email play, so I'm going to proceed with coding synchronous multiplayer first. I've decided that Player.IO is my best bet for synchronous multiplayer; to that end, I'm going to devote this weekend to going through their tutorials and learning the ropes. Wish me luck!

[Craig Stern]

I'm wading slowly into the tutorials. I've never coded multiplayer before (and I've never used C# either), so this might take a little while to wrap my head around. In the meantime, why not look at this awesome walk cycle Inane made for the Bronze Golem?

[Franklin's Ghost]

That looks nice

[Craig Stern]

Thanks! Here's another one--the Lizardman:

[Craig Stern]

A small update: I've fixed a few minor bugs in the game's multiplayer match code:

--surrendering in a Capture the Flag game now gets rid of your flag as well.
--the Generals in a game of Generals now have names.
--when the game randomizes player spawn points on maps with asymmetrical spawn locations, it makes sure to spawn flags and generals only on the spot designated for flag/general spawning.

Work on online multiplayer continues!

[Craig Stern]

I've split the multiplayer match select screen into two parts: one where you select the map and map options, then a second where you name and configure the players and armies. This will give me more room to add stuff to the level select menu (e.g. map previews, options for free-for-all / 2 vs. 2 / 3 vs. 3, and so on). As a sort of bonus, this is also something I was going to have to do sooner or later in anticipation of porting Telepath Tactics to mobile, so this'll help when it comes time for that.

Speaking of map previews: you can now hit ctrl + F12 during a match to have the game automatically take a clean, properly resized screenshot of the map to use as a preview. The game also now auto-detects any previews that exist for the currently selected map, then loads them on the level select screen. Like so:

[Craig Stern]

Another small update: I've made the "Force Quit when only CPU players remain" thing an official feature, and not just a hack for me to use when I need to stop running the game in attract mode at a con. Whenever the game detects that only CPU players remain, it changes the right-click menu so that it is always available, and contains a force quit option to immediately kick you back to the main menu.

[Craig Stern]

You can now write "persistent dialog" (that is, character dialog that can be triggered during any battle in the game) for single player campaigns. As with everything else, it is stored in an easy-to-edit external .xml file.

For now, I am using the persistent dialog feature exclusively for short monologues triggered whenever one of your characters dies, a la Fire Emblem. However, this could also conceivably be used in the future for things like support conversations.

Oh, also, that reminds me: your characters now have little death speeches in the single player campaign.

[Craig Stern]

Updates!

First: Items can now increase a character's counterattack limit.

Second: I rewrote big chunks of code so temporary stat boosts from items and attacks granted by using items do not carry over between battles during a single player campaign.

Third: Bug fixes. (Of course.)

[Craig Stern]

Got a new shipment of walk animations from Inane today: we should be no more than 3 weeks away from having complete walk cycles in all 4 directions for all 22 character classes!

[Craig Stern]

Bug fixes! I implemented some.

Also, quick plug: Telepath RPG: Servants of God is now in IndieFort Bundle 3, where you can pick it up at a ludicrous discount (we're talking at least 84% off). Check it out!

[Craig Stern]

More work on the story for the single player campaign; I'm working on transitioning out of the introduction and into the campaign proper.

[Craig Stern]

More bug fixes! (Annoyingly, some of them are just me fixing things I broke earlier for no good reason.)

Also, I've settled on a rather shocking device to drive character conflict and propel the plot after the first large battle of the game. I've got the scene mostly finished. We'll see how it works...

[Craig Stern]

The map editor now supports saving and loading of custom character/object inventories, so you can go back and edit maps where you've stuck items in barrels and such without overwriting that aspect of the map.

Also, exciting news that is slightly unrelated to the development of the game, and yet at the same time, sort of related: Telepath Tactics has been nominated for an Indie Dev Grant!

The amount of the grant is variable, and I don't expect it to be enough to fund the rest of the game's development, buuuut it would sure help. Voting starts tomorrow; my fingers are crossed!

[Craig Stern]

All right! Today's the day that voting for the Indie Dev Grant begins. If you decide to plunk down some coin for the Bundle in a Box, please make sure to vote for Telepath Tactics afterwards!

I have a Really Big Wish List of Things that I could spend the grant money on. For example!

• I could commission someone to produce some really nice title screen art while Inane keeps plugging away at the character animations
• I could commission more music from Nick Perrin
• I could commission professional sound effects for the game
• I could hire someone to help me design more levels
• I could get a booth at PAX and actually market this game properly, maybe even get on Destructoid for a change (marketing is probably kind of important, given that this is going to be primarily a multiplayer game--you do want other people you can play against online, yes?)

So, to reiterate: if you decide to plunk down some coin for the Bundle in a Box, please make sure to vote for Telepath Tactics afterwards! I would really, really appreciate it.