I wanted to start getting some testing in on a little project of mine.
Franchise is a tactics game that I've been kicking around for a while. It is set in a dismal future world in which nations have collapsed and four powerful fast food chains struggle for dominance in a world spanning war.
This latest build is the first to feature multiplayer modes, both single machine hotseat and local LAN play are supported. I'd like to get some testing in, so if people can bang away at them, especially the LAN play, it would be much appreciated.
The graphics are all placeholders right now, just imported from the map editor. My artist and I and about to get rocking on nice 3D models for all the units and terrain, and I'm going to redesign the look of the windows and GUI elements, so don't bitch about the graphics, they're temporary.
Here's a quick little screen shot:
For the impatient:This build features hotseat, LAN, and a small tutorial campaign.
Downloads:
Linux x86Mac OS X (Intel only)WindowsFor the more curious:The project was largely inspired by Shining Force and Master of Monsters, two very fine Sega Genesis games. I wanted to take the mixed-initiative combat system of Shining Force and mate it to the multiplayer style of Master of Monsters.
Each turn proceeds in phases, first are production and setup phases, in which you decide what units to build, what new units to deploy, and issue executive orders to your units (more on that in a bit). Then comes the personnel phase, in which all non-vehicle units get to move. After that, vehicles get their turns, and then any defensive turrets open fire on anything within range. Various executive order effects are interspersed in this chain, these will become more obvious when we have animations in place for them.
The lack of combat and other animations is jarring right now, the map will frequently scroll to events that aren't very clear. This will be solved once we have something to put in there.
Units:Units fall into two broad categories, personnel and vehicles. Aside from infantry, personnel are all non-combat units that fullfill various roles. The most interesting are the four pilot units, which can be loaded into vehicles to give them special abilities.
Vehicles are all either ground or air vehicles. They have a number of attributes and uses, and each of the four franchises has one unique vehicle that only it can produce. Enhancing your vehicles with pilots is a key aspect of the game and offers many interesting tactical possibilities.
Executive orders:Before each turn, (on maps in which you have a headquarters) you can issue an executive order to your forces. There are about 15 or so of these, and they have variety of effects, ranging from minor stat boosts, to healing, to nuclear destruction. Each franchise also has a unique executive order that only it can issue.
Maps and stuff:I've included a few maps with the game. Saving and loading games isn't implemented yet, so I didn't put any of the larger maps in there, since they would be rather impractical. If you want to make your own maps, I have an editor available here:
LinuxMac OS XWindows(Full source code is included with the editor)
Any maps you make should be placed in the following locations if you want the game to find them:
Linux: ~/.franchise/maps
Mac OS X: ~/Library/Application Support/Franchise/maps
Windows: %DOCUMENTS_FOLDER%\Franchise\maps
There are a number of game aspects I haven't covered here, many of them are explained in the tutorial. Some of them are little complex and hard to sum up, like the unit movement rules. If anyone wants more details on these, just ask.
Oh, there's also a small configuration program included that you can use to set windowed/fullscreen modes, framerate options, and select between 4x3 and 16x9 aspect ratios. I highly recommend the 16x9, it's quite pleasing.
For the future:There's still quite a bit of work left to be done on this project, but the major hurdles have been cleared. In the end, we'll have Internet play, four full single player campaigns, AI that actually does something, and many more multi-player maps. If anybody actually cares I'll post major updates here. I have one more test release planned, for which Internet play will be the centerpiece.
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