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[kverkagambo]

Comrades and Barons
Cards of Bloody 1919
(Biedri un Baroni)

A card battle game.

Table of contents

Game updates:
Update 1. Red and blue rectangles
Update 2. First card designs
Update 3. Menus and timelines
Update 4. Resource system and languages
Update 5. Deck selection screen
Update 6. Unit's defence
Update 7. Card log and first images
Update 8. Headquarters or "the face".
Update 9. Frontline and game ending conditions
Update 10. Preparing for multiplayer
Update 11. Multiplayer
Update 12. Painted background
Update 13. Different movement for unit types
Update 14. Deck selection screen
Update 15. Savable decks
Update 16. Deck selection in two screens
Update 17. Element dynamics in user inferface
Update 18. Various code cleanup and surfaces
Update 19. Text input, chat
Update 20. Movement markers and new card look
Update 21. Action cards and card abilities
Update 22. Node.js server
Update 24. One frontline and expanded action card pool
Update 25. Improved game AI

Final message of this thread.


Historical overview:
1. Europe and the Baltics after the Great war
2. German army in Baltics, year 1919
3. Latvian army and the War for Latvian Independence
4. Red Army and the plan to set Europe on fire
5. Estonia and the Northern frontier of Europe
6. Forces of the Frontier States
7. West Russian Volunteer Army

[kverkagambo]

Basic info

The year is 1919, right after the World War One. The place is Baltic cost, land where people of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania intend to create their own independent states for the first time in history. German army wants to salvage last glory of the lost war; Soviet Russia wants to turn these territories and beyond to communism; White Russians want to save their homeland from the scourge of the Reds.
Many of these political groups and armies collided in a narrow stretch of space and time. The central point of these events happened to be Latvia, and therefore were part of Latvian War of Independence.
This card game is based on the bloody fights that occured in the year 1919 near the Baltic sea. The gameplay is inspired by Hearthstone.


Very different forces clashed in territory of Latvia, and that will be represented in the game.

All cards belong to one of six decks or armies, that represent different fighting forces - Germans, Latvians, Reds, Estonians, Frontier Armies, West-Russian army. The Frontier armies are various smaller forces with minor influence on War of Independence - Lithuanians, Polish, Yudenich's Northwestern army. These armies can be pictured on a circle as in this image:

The player creates their deck of two adjacent armies. That means that player's deck can consist of Germans and Latvians or Germans and West-Russian army, but not Germans and Reds or others. From a historic viewpoint it depicts different coalitions that formed and broke up during the year of 1919.

The game is being developed in GameMaker: Studio. There is also a thread about Comrades and Barons (Biedri un Baroni) in Latvian gamedev forums here: http://forums.gamedev.lv/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=357.

[kverkagambo]

Second update is here!
Here is a screenshot, slightly scaled down:


Texts and numbers on the cards are selected randomly.
Application starts with a players turn, in which the player may put one or more cards on the table. First click takes a card, second one puts it on the table. After that the player in the same way may hit any opponent's card, if there is one. When there is nothing else to do, after a click on the button "done" turn goes to the opponent. Opponent will put a random card on the table and then it will hit a random player's card, and then the turn will go back to the player. This can go on infinitely.

Downloads
Project files:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ch9gu5gtmuq95e4/CaB.0.2.gmx.zip?dl=0
Application files:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fb4ygyld66pj320/CaB.0.2.zip?dl=0

I really need to know if the card movement - from the hand to the table - works correctly on other systems - GML documentation says that after instance_change any access to the objects variables will end with an error, but that doesn't happen for me.

[kverkagambo]

Last update was very long ago, but I didn't have time to finish what was planned.
This time spaces were filled - every game needs menus and a system that allows to move from a screen to a screen. Now there is a menu with empty buttons, a button that leads to the game and one that exits the program.
Not much has changed in the game on the surface, but there are many code changes. Errors are fixed. Opponents moves now are managed by GameMaker's timelines. For users comfort - now there is a shadow that shows where a card would be put among other cards on the table.
Also some time was spent on tinkering with the rules and card types, but that will be a topic of a different update.
This scaled down screenshot shows the "shadow":

Downloads
Project files:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/59hmsfnjsl6zu31/CaB.0.3.gmx.rar?dl=0
Application files:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ajr172v538iz1t7/CaB.0.3.zip?dl=0

[kverkagambo]

Another swift update before the New Year.
I added a simple resource system - one resource point is added every move (card price is in the lower corner). Card power is subtracted according the rules. Cards that can be played have a green aura now. Some new sounds are added although I don't fully like them.
I added a language menu under Options (Uzstādījumi) - choice is saved between runs in a default folder for GameMaker (Local Settings/Application Data...).
GameMaker timelines are replaced with self-made class, because they are broken.
I have to add an important point: my goal is filling the gaps in a game and I don't view any of the current art or design as something finished.


Downloads
Project files:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/yop3hidngv7xwjl/CaB.04.gmx.rar?dl=0
Application files:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/71hrt6bju5hve7w/CaB.04.zip?dl=0

[kverkagambo]

The fifth update is here. Several important things are done.
It is possible to change window size from 4:3 to 16:9 in options menu. It doesn't have much pratical impact, but it will be useful in the future.
Finally card data is not completely random numbers. Clicking on "Play" will lead to the deck selection screen, where you can choose a deck from two armies. Twenty cards are selected randomly.
I have written a small project on PHP to add and edit the cards. Currently every army has five infantry units and two cavalry and artillery units. Cavalry and artillery unit names will need some rework.
There are no other significant changes in the game screen - the player can run out of cards and that's it.

Current deck selection screen:


Downloads
Project: https://www.dropbox.com/s/p3j2ek6aniamrge/BuB05.gmx.rar?dl=0
Application: https://www.dropbox.com/s/gylde4z1b671o5y/BuB05.zip?dl=0

[johnhackworth]

mm, I'll follow this, looks a lot like my kind of game

[kverkagambo]

Thank you for liking it! More will come.

[kverkagambo]

Europe and Baltic after the Great war

After the four years of war in the end of 1918 peace set in in Europe. People were tired of war and had lost trust to their governments. New radical political movements were getting stronger, and a new threat hovered over Germany and Europe - communism. Under the inner and outer pressure Germany couldn't continue the war and in the november 1918 armistice was signed.

Germany had lost the war in the west, but in the east it still saw itself the victor. Since the Russian revolution warfare here has stopped, and Germany had occupied huge areas of Russian empire. In these regions Germany acted as a complete owner and kept its occupational forces even after the armistice.

Russian empire didn't exist any more. Instead now there was Soviet Russia, and a civil war raged on its huge lands. In the middle of Russia there was Red army, but around it in the frontier of the former empire - white armies. Near the end of 1918 major threats against the red authority were averted, and it started to plan expanding over Russian borders. The main goal was Germany, situated in the middle of Europe. Communist leaders expected, that after ignition of Germany the rest of war tired Europe would fall to communism. Nearest road to Germany went over Baltics.

Nations near the western border of Russia used opportunity of post war confusion to create their independent countries. These countries were called frontier states - Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland. In every case they had to face resistance from both local communists and red Russian army. These countries didn't have many allies - Germany viewed their territories as their trophies from the Great war, white Russian armies predicted only the restoration of the former Russian empire.

Great war in Europe had ended, but in Baltics new wars started. These wars didn't have trenches and massive concentrations of troops, the fighting armies were comparatively small. It is the historical base of the game Comrades and Barons.

[kverkagambo]

Sixth update of Comrades and Barons.
According to games rules unit's power depends on who has a turn at any moment. Player, who is not attacking, has extra defence for their units, that is equal to morale. Attacking player has to concentrate forces to defeat opponent.
The way the cards are drawn is changed.
Something has happened to the fonts, and they are not showing up in a straight line. I'll have to ask in the GameMaker forums, what is going on with that.
This seems like a moment when the game screen and cards should get real designs.

From now on I am writing short historical overviews about events that the game is based on. The second post of this thread will contain table of contents that will lead to these posts.

Downloads
Project files:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/h6m1oc2ex8oe26f/BuB06.gmx.rar?dl=0

Application files:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/szlxa4n50yydfac/BuB06.zip?dl=0

[kverkagambo]

German army in Baltics, year 1919


It all started during the Great War of 1914-1919. Germany easily conquered Baltic provinces of the Russian empire and considered these lands as its property - especially Latvian and Estonian lands, where small but influential community of local Germans resided. Baltic Germans had a more privileged position in the society, they owned the land and had aristocratic heritage - they are the barons from the game's title.

After the revolution in Germany begun, strength of the German army declined. It affected German occupational army in Baltics. When the Red army started its offensive, German soldiers evaded the battle and retreated, often with an agreement with the enemy. Only a small part of soldiers showed will to fight against the red invaders.

The only ally that Germany had was the government of Latvia, state that was only couple of months old. Latvia threatened Germany's position as the only master of the region, but in these conditions Germany needed every ally they could find. In the eyes of ordinary German soldier all Latvians and Estonians were communists, and had to be removed from the scene as soon as possible.

In january after retreating all the way nearly to the German border remaining German forces were united under a new leadership. Conditions in Germany after the armistice, inner political shock and difficulties were tough. Many soldiers, after finding out that they have an opportunity to continue their service, voluntarily set themselves to Baltics. Officers and privates created their own units - Freikorps. Many of them were attracted by promises to acquire land in Baltics, others - by opportunity to loot in foreign land. Larger part of freikorps were united in Eiserne Division (Iron Division), that carried the main burden of the combat.

The counter-offensive started in march, and in may the Latvian capital Rīga was freed. Red forces, although several times larger in numbers, were not ready to oppose the offensive. German participants of these events later took pride in the fact that in 1919 they saved Germany and Europe from communism.

New states - Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania - only hindered German efforts to retake their rule over Baltics. After capturing Rīga Germans turned north and clashed with Estonian army. This conflict ended with Estonian victory and German defeat. Germans retreated south.

In these new conditions they found an unexpected ally. It was white West-Russian Army, that organizing behind the German lines and preparing for the fight for Russia. In the autumn Germans together with their new allies tried to destroy the new states again, starting with Latvia. In a new offensive German army tried to take Rīga for second time. It was defeated by Latvian army and pushed out of Latvian borders back to Germany.

Table of contents

[kverkagambo]

Seventh update.
A card log was added to the game. There are two types of entries in the left side of the screen - which cards are played and which card has attacked another card.
Also the first card illustrations have appeared. It is a temporary thing, of course, but at least it is easier to figure out, how it all should look at the end. There are three pictures for infantry, artillery, cavalry.
The way the cards are drawn has changed, and I have not fixed the awful jumping letter problem.



Download
Project: https://www.dropbox.com/s/chey5zypwfbtwxt/ComradesAndBarons07.gmx.rar?dl=0
Application: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5qe2pnfzg3kby4n/ComradesAndBarons07.zip?dl=0

[kverkagambo]

Latvian army and the War for Latvian Independence


Latvian state was founded in november 1918 during the German occupation. Majority of Latvians at this time expressed huge support for communist ideas and not a lot for the new government. Germany's support was insignificant, because it wanted to be the only ruler of occupied territories. Latvian government with its small armed forces retreated with the Germans, till it formally ruled only over a small piece of land near the sea. The rest of Latvia was under the red power.

Although in the first months of 1919 the situation seemed hopeless, during this time several events happened that were beneficial to Latvia. Firstly, Estonia had managed to push the Red army out of their land and crossed Latvian northern border. Here, together with Estonians, fought North-Latvian brigade. Secondly, after couple of months of red government Latvian people changed their mind about communits. Previous favourable attitude was replaced by hostility and Soviet Latvia soon lost absolute majority of its supporters.

Anti-bolshevik forces started a counter-offensive and soon recaptured big part of Latvian territory. Expansion of Latvian army was hindered by Germans, who still regarded all Latvians for communists. They more willingly supported Landeswehr - local German armed militia. In april Landeswehr overthrough Latvian government, a move that was secretly favoured by Germans.

In june, soon after capture of Rīga, German forces went north against Estonian army and North-Latvian brigade and were beaten. Landeswehr and German army took part in this conflict, but main part of Latvian army, that continued to fight against bolsheviks all this time, didn't. After the German defeat and retreat to the South both parts of Latvian army united. Landeswehr after a reorganization joined Latvian army and was sent to the front in east against communists.

After a serious preparation in october Germans and West-Russian army attacked Rīga in what was a second attack for the German army. With that they declared an open war against Latvia. Latvian army was holding two fronts - one in the east against the Red forces and another in south-west against the Germans, former allies, and Russian imperialists. After heavy fighting the German and Russian forces were pushed out of Latvian territory.

When the western front was dealt with, Latvian army could turn to the enemy in the east. The war against the Red army continued in the winter. During the february 1920 Latvian army in a joint offensive with Polish army freed eastern part of Latvia and signed an armistice with the Soviet Russia. With that the War for Latvian Independence ended.

Back to the table of contents

[kverkagambo]

Eighth update.
There is a progression towards creation of the conditions of defeat. Every player has a "face" - area on the game's screen that can be attacked by the opponent just like a card. In our case it is called "the headquarter" according the game's theme. The headquarter has both army symbols depicted, so it is not necessary to guess what armies build up the opponents or own deck. There is no meaning to attack the headquarter, that will be the topic of the next update.
Artificial opponent will attack the headquarter with the same probability as it attacks the cards.

Downloads
Project: https://www.dropbox.com/s/884ndznnmzoizy8/ComradesAndBarons08.gmx.rar?dl=0
Application: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fk4se5jmzqpuw0q/ComradesAndBarons08.zip?dl=0

[kverkagambo]

Red Army and the plan to set Europe on fire.


At the end of 1918 Russia was almost completeley fallen to he Red rule. Their next step - according to the communist teachings - was the World Revolution. The view was held that the workers of Europe are so angry about their governments that one sparkle would be enough - and the Old World would burn in the flames of communism. The detonator would be Germany from which the flames of the revolution would spread to the borders of Europe.

Latvian left were the most trusted allies of Russian communists. Both geographically and politically the shortest route to Germany lead through Latvia. To prove that European people are joining soviet regime, communists of different countries were allowed to form their states, including Latvians - they formed Soviet Latvia. It had its own Army of Soviet Latvia, although it acted as a part of the Army of Soviet Russia. In the same way Red state and army was created in Estonia.

During the winter of 1918 soviet forces pushed the weak German occupational army and yet unready Latvian forces to the west, not reaching only the last piece of Latvian land in the west. In the north red army similarly took almost all of Estonia. Local people met the Red authority with huge enthusiasm.

The progress soon stoped. Afer experiencing the soviet rule in real life, people stopped to support communists. The enemy armies successfully performed offensives and pushed the Red army back both form Northern side in Estonia and from the West in Latvia. In May, when Germans and local anti-soviet forces took Rīga, Red power was completely destroyed and retreated in disarray to the east of Latvia.

In june Soviet Latvia ceased to exist. Defeated Army of Soviet Latvia now officially was attached to the forces of Soviet Russia as the XV Army. Red army was saved form complete annihilation only because their enemies decided to clash among themselves. Operations in other anti-soviet fronts intensified during this time and in Latvian front the red army didn't show any activity.

In the beggining of February 1920 Latvian Army started an offensive together with Polish Army in south. Remains of the red state were driven out from Latvia together with last Latvian communists.

[kverkagambo]

Ninth update.
Today I finished what I started in previous time. Instead of generic "lives" the score will be a front line. During the attack the player pushed the frontline forwards. So, if a unit with morale of 3 attacks, the difference in score changes by 6. When the frontline is pushed to the end, the game ends.
Card journal is moved to the right side of the screen.


Downloads
Project: https://www.dropbox.com/s/vj9qp1tox35ecbn/ComradesAndBarons09.gmx.rar?dl=0
Application: https://www.dropbox.com/s/g1t1vs96uw82s4e/ComradesAndBarons09.zip?dl=0

[kverkagambo]

The tenth update.
There will be no much visible changes in this update. Artificial opponents intelligence now follows orders recorded in a list - previous system was created quickly and messily and had to be changed before starting the next big step. Other than that - there are tooltips in some areas of the screen and there is a timer that shows how much time is left to the end of the players turn.



Downloads
Project: https://www.dropbox.com/s/puraei3jy8gzf0k/ComradesAndBarons10.gmx.rar?dl=0
Application: https://www.dropbox.com/s/cgstdjvok7krykz/ComradesAndBarons10.zip?dl=0

The long time after the last update was spent working on other projects that didn't give a spare moment to get to the game, and also in preparation to the next big step - the multiplayer. It can not be delayed and updating small details won't push the project further. So, the next update will tell about the topic of internet play.

[kverkagambo]

Estonia and the Northern frontier of Europe


Finland, located deep in northern Europe, achieved its independence from Russia during the year 1918. That didn't happen by Finnish effort alone - Finns were helped by German expeditionary force. With German help Finns defeated local communists who were supported by Russia.

In the north of Baltics a nation kindred to Finns - Estonians - followed their example and declared independence. Estonia at that moment stayed under German occupation. They enjoyed their independence only a short time - in the turn of the years 1918 and 1919 a Red offensive started that left Estonians with only a small land in the north of their country. In this moment Finland came to help and with the assistance of Finnish soldiers Red forces were pushed out of Estonia before the month of May.

There was another armed force that formed in the territory of Estonia - Russian North-Western Army. Its goal was to attack Petrograd (Saint Petersburg) and defeat communist rule in Russia. With the Estonian help it succeded to conquer wide areas of northern Russia. Second phase of the offensive that started in autumn was less successful and ended in White Russian defeat.

In the south Estonian army crossed the border and entered Latvian territory. One of the units that fought in their ranks was North-Latvian Brigade that had been formed without German influence. In June Estonian and German forces clashed in Latvia. Ambitions of local Germans caused a new conflict - between armies that used to be on the same side of the frontline. Estonian forces and Latvians won and later Estonians celebrated this victory as the most important victory of their independence war.

[kverkagambo]

Eleventh update - multiplayer!

Finally a huge gap in Comrades and Barons is closed - now the game has a multiplayer. The game constantly connects to the server and receives data from it. After choosing your armies it will try to find an opponent for a while, and if that won't happen it will start a game versus AI. Otherwise a card game with an internet opponent will start.

Why is the server built on PHP? The answer is simple - I have no experience with network programming and I had to use the knowledge that I had. There will be time when server side will use safer technologies, but at least client side will already exist.

Nothing is changed in the game itself - only simplest card moves are available and it's unlikely that a player will experience anything exciting. But the multiplayer is available for testing! (There will be bugs.) Next development steps will be dedicated to gameplay and graphic design.



Download:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/h3kmtv663qa6jsi/ComradesAndBarons11.zip?dl=0

[kverkagambo]

Forces of the Frontier States

The new national states, that emerged from the rubble of fallen empires, at that time were called Frontier States or Border Sates. In the east they formed a buffer between Europe and Soviet Russia. Diverse anti-communist Russian forces were organizing here, in the former Russian Empire's frontier. Although Polish and Lithuanian armies and white Russians forces didn't play the main part in the events represented in Comrades and Barons, their actions had impact.

In the end of 1918, in areas not yet occupied by red forces, a Russian West Army started to form under the German leadership. Its goal was a fight against the Reds. Offensive of the Red Army surprized this force unprepared, and it retreated to the Latvian and Estonian territory. West Army divided in two parts – one of them later became the basis of Bermondt's Russian Volunteer West Army. Other one, general Yudenich lead Russian Northwestern Army in Estonia, in the end of 1919 tried to retake Russian northern provinces and occupy Petrograd.

Another one of the Baltic states – Lithuania – recreated its independence in the beginning of 1918. It formed its idea of independence on Polish-Lithuanian state that ceased to exist several centuries ago. That naturally started a conflict with Poland, a country that based itself on the same national idea. Lithuanian soldiers had to fight communist forces in Lithuania, but in 1919 they took a small part in a war against Russian Volunteer West Army and Germans.

Poland was the biggest of the new European countries. It had the stronges army that had to clash both against Germans in Silesia and Soviet Russia. The grand Polish offensive in the beggining of the year 1920 helped Latvian armies last fights for their homeland.