Gday all, finally had time to come back to the project for a bit. I've started uni this year so my free time is naturally approaching zero.
Regarding controls I agree they're awful, if I'll be honest I haven't really focused on player control and UI just yet since I'm still building the 'core' of the game, the combat mechanics and whatnot. Weapon grouping has been on my mind but I still need a way to allow the AI to deal with groups. Most likely there'll be pre-defined groupings for each mech, and custom groupings will come later.
I actually did have beams initially, but that was when I was using instant TT weapons calculations which didn't really suit a real time game like this. Bolts are an easy solution for now so I might try looking at ways to bring back beams later on.
I did a small update with some of the feedback here, it's mostly just cleaning up. I redid the torso rotation calculation so it actually works now, and so that mouse control is a thing. You can now entirely aim both arms and the torso with the mouse instead of separate keys. I also cleaned up the targeting controls so you have to click near a mech to target it, and clicking away from mechs will clear target. Weapon selection also cycles now when you fire. Needs more work of course but just a small addition for now. Plus a bunch of UI fixes, destroyed arms are no longer visible, increased the performance of particle effects etc.
Playable here, but the original link is updated as well. I should mention the "how to play" graphic is no longer accurate.
CapperDeluxe, on 02 February 2017 - 11:24 AM, said:
I'd recommend focusing on the combat first, the grand plans for the campaign can always come after you have got it nailed down!
I like the idea of how the mechs are controlled, though I could only ever figure out how to fire a single laser from my Battlemaster, no idea how to fire all the rest of its weapons.
Finally, as a web browser game it is critical that it be able to adjust to whatever resolution (within reason) that the browser is currently at. I had mine at 1400x900 but still the weapons list and the bottom part of the main viewscreen were scrolled off the view.
From one game designer to another, I say good luck and have fun making it!
P.S. I love that you are using the MegaMek sprites, like I did for RogueMek
Sorry, I should have mentioned that the game is locked currently at a roughly 1920x1080 resolution. Most of the UI does scale but for the sake of speedy dev I disabled scaling and will reapproach it down the track once I have most of the UI elements in.
I've followed RougeMek a lot as well, projects such as your own were one of the inspirations behind myself deciding to try something.
Edited by Dingo Red, 25 March 2017 - 03:57 PM.