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[skrjablin]

I think "Battle in a box" is a more memorable name.  Although googling "Battle in a box" does come up with a result for some random Transformers toy.

Anyway, it looks like a cool concept for a turn based game.  Are you planning on getting better art for it?

Yes, it's the Transformers toy that I'm worried about. But google (for me, at least) turns up this thread as the first search result, so maybe it's not that bad.

Well, I'm aware of the need for better art, but I won't be able to do that much improvements personally, but will need the help of someone more knowledgeable in artistry.

Maybe a problem for finding a willing artist is that the game engine has kind of locked the UI perspective, and that the units should be combinable independently with armours and means of transportations, unless someone wants to create a huge number of tiles. Which kind of limits artistical freedom.
 
The only graphics improvements that are planned so far (to be done by myself before version 1.0) are getting a better forest surface, and making the guys sit on the horses instead of standing balancing on them (even my old father complained about this).

[skrjablin]

I changed the "forest" pattern. It looks less hallucinogenic now.

[skrjablin]

Today I've written a detailed instructions document (in HTML format) for the game. Which reads like legalese rather than fun. And I've started to work on the movement function.

[skrjablin]

Still working on the movement function.

[skrjablin]

Still working on the combined attack and move function. This will take a little bit longer than I thought.

[skrjablin]

Working on the counter attack function. Changed the circles to wheels:

[Udderdude]

Still working on the combined attack and move function. This will take a little bit longer than I thought.

This screenshot is so visually cluttered, it's really hard to have any idea of what's happening.  There's lines, units, ground types and colors scattered everywhere and it's difficult to distinguish anything.

I think you really need to go back to the drawing board on the visuals for this game.  Come up with something simpler that works and looks better.

Yes this is tough criticism but I don't think anyone would play it with visuals like that.

[skrjablin]

This screenshot is so visually cluttered, it's really hard to have any idea of what's happening.  There's lines, units, ground types and colors scattered everywhere and it's difficult to distinguish anything.

I think you really need to go back to the drawing board on the visuals for this game.  Come up with something simpler that works and looks better.

Yes this is tough criticism but I don't think anyone would play it with visuals like that.

I think part of the clutter comes from it being a randomized board which I'm using to test things out. I hope so, anyway. Still, there might be news on the graphics front, but I guess that's not official yet. I will come back to you about this.

[skrjablin]

OK, things are coming together, I believe. Will finish the move/attack/counterattack function tomorrow.

Here is a screenshot of selecting the cannon for movement/attack, this time in an environment which I believe is a bit more typical of what would be the typical board, maybe a bit too simplistic even.



The problem is that since the cannon and a few other units destruct the terrain, it is useful with them to be able to attack squares that have no enemy units on them but are empty, and this also means that you can both move to and attack some squares, which makes it a bit cluttered. But I grayed out the attack crosshairs on those empty squares.

[skrjablin]

Slow progress on the movement/attack/counterattack function.

Planning to make the territory borders look like this, in order to show more clearly what is the inside and what is the outside:

[skrjablin]

The move/attack/counterattack function is finished and basically works. And I've completed the End Turn function, except for some details.

So I'm very near the point where I would release a simple demo in which both teams play on a single computer (i.e. no networking).

Does anybody have any tips about good and cheap web hosting for this javascript game?

[skrjablin]

So I write this post to declare that FlyingBeerman is now helping me with the graphics for the game. He has started with doing the logo and a new title screen and some work with the menus.

Here is his new title screen:



A warm welcome to FlyingBeerman!