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[Sanojian]

Uncivil - an Alternate History of the US Civil War

Latest version -posted February 26, 2011

Latest version: Play Uncivil 0.0.3 (requires Google account)


Original Recipe - posted January 21, 2011

just a mockup

Its North vs South, but in this history Europe never gave up on colonizing the new world.  Hex map played real-timish (1 move every 5 seconds).  Game lasts 30 minutes.

Playable factions:

Union - "Can't we all just get along?"
objective: wipe out the confederacy

Confederacy - "Its about state's rights. Why what did you think?"
objective: hold six cities until 1870

Britain - "We need new harbors for our seamen."
objective: hold five port cities in 1870

France - "Oh, give us land, lots of land under starry skies above..."
objective: take eight cities by 1870

Spain - "Mama needs a new pair of everything."
objective: send $2000 back to Spain by 1870

Natives - "Umm, its been fun but shouldn't you all be leaving now?"
objective: don't let either North or South win

More than one faction can be a winner!  Play today!  Or, I mean after we write it.

Team
Programming:  Sanojian
Artwork:      dbb
Sound:        looking for volunteers (can you play the banjo?)

[ChevyRay]

Nice mockup! Looking good so far, whatcha programming it with?

[Sanojian]

Thanks!  I will be using:

Graphics: Raphael javascript vector graphics library
Server: Google App Engine
Networking: Google Channel API
Sound: SoundManager 2

[Sos]

Networking: Google Channel API

Wow, never heard of it. Is it free?
Also, mockup looks awesome! Will it involve Risk / North&South style land conquer?

[Daniel Eddeland]

Cool mockup and idea. Is (any of) the art in the mockup made by your team / dbb?

Judging by the many teams and goals, this looks like playing a game of this could be very complicated and interesting. From the looks of the descriptions, you (or whoever wrote it) seem to be a witty person and I'd love to see more of this humor in the game.

[dbb]

Is (any of) the art in the mockup made by your team / dbb?

The unit sprites and the portraits are by me. The terrain tiles aren't. I'll be doing more graphics just as soon as my new tablet arrives in the post. Old one died just as I was getting into it.

[Daniel Eddeland]

The unit sprites and the portraits are by me.

They're very nice! They really look like little miniature soldiers on a game board / table (kindof like Risk, but with more colors and detail). The neck on the foot soldiers seem just a little stiff though.

[Inanimate]

Alternate history RTSes... I've seen them, and they are always so ambitious! Best of luck here, mates!

[Sanojian]

Wow, never heard of it. Is it free?

It was just released in December.  Yes it is free but it requires you to use Google App Engine (also free) on the server (Java or Perl).

Google Channel API (Java)

Also, mockup looks awesome! Will it involve Risk / North&South style land conquer?

Thanks! Fighting will revolve around capturing cities.  Cities give money every X ticks for refilling/improving your army units.  I have never played North&South so can't comment on that.

[Sanojian]

Some progress

• hexmap displaying
• players can move units
• pathfinding implemented
• units stored on server
• channel API implemented
• players can talk to each other (bit buggily)

Probably won't be much progress again until next weekend.  

[Sanojian]

More progress

Accomplished:

• early prototype: Play Uncivil (not really a game yet)
• login (uses google account)
• game meeting room
• maps can now be added, first tiny map of USA
• first two teams, Union and Confederacy
• new luscious artwork by dbb
• added first town
• winning conditions (Union take Atlanta by 1866)
• simple combat

Still to do:

• bigger, scrollable map
• town capture
• railroads and rivers
• AI Players
• sound
• money from towns
• reinforcing units
• buying new units
• world events
• UI improvements

[rivon]

Looks very good.

[Starflier]

This is so beautiful. I love the way the different nation's objectives tie in with the tongue-in-cheek historical narrative.

[mikejkelley]

I like it very much!

[Sanojian]

Some more progress:

New version (0.0.2): Play Uncivil

Accomplished:

• added rivers
• new AI will play unclaimed teams. Braindead, cheatin' AI (patent pending)
• cities can be captured
• players earn money each month depending on owned cities
• fighting visual effects
• fighting sound effects
• reinforcing units
• cannons now have range
• some UI improvements

Still to do:

• bigger, scrollable map
• railroads
• better AI players
• world events
• the other 4 teams
• buying new units
• more cities (only 3 now)
• make terrain affect combat

As much as it hurts me to say it, I don't think I can finish this game by the deadline.  I will probably have to start cutting features pretty drastically to have something finished by sunday.  I wish I could get some time together to get everything in but real life is just not permitting it.

[Sanojian]

Latest progress (it is starting to resemble a game):

New version: Play Uncivil 0.0.3

Accomplished:

• Expanded map
• Added other 4 teams
• Added lots of new cities
• Fixed lots of network concurrency issues

Still to do:

• Make terrain affect combat
• Add railroads
• New simple winning conditions for each team
• Force AI to obey the rules of the game at least, cheating bastard
• Balance teams
• Create new soldiers
• Team alliances
• Allow players to join any available team

Not gonna happen for this compo:

• Complicated unique winning conditions for each team
• Giant, scrollable map of North America
• World events changing alliances
• Hyper-intelligent AI capable of conquering you while performing long division

[Sanojian]

Finished Version: Play Uncivil 0.0.4

Accomplished:

• Terrain now affects combat
• AI now follows the game rules
• Score now equals number of towns owned by 1866