Future plans?

Talk about everything related to CoCoNet or Colonial Conquest!

Moderator: Kroah

Future plans?

Postby cr1x » 14 Jul 2010, 12:43

Hello and a big thank you for creating a remake of my all time favourite game. The enhancements you have made have improved the game no end. It is hard to believe that the original is over 20 years old!

What are your future plans for the game? Adding optional rules/improvements to the custom AI?

Ideas

Having a different price and attack/defence factor for each army/navy has always been a big part of the original game but I have always wondered what it would be like to play with a level playing field (price and attack/defence factors all the same). Is this something you have considered, perhaps as an optional rule change?

One additional element for the game could be research. Implemented in the same way as with the WW2 game Strategic Command. Purchasing research points gives you a 1 in 6 chance of improving the attack and defence values for your army/navy. (The more points you buy the greater the chance of success). I can explain in more detail if this is something you might consider implementing.

Another option would be the implementation of air power. Probably goes against the current model and period of history but could be very interesting.

Thanks for all your effort and apologies if I am getting carried away.

Chris
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Re: Future plans?

Postby Kroah » 12 Oct 2010, 15:24

Hi cr1x,

cr1x wrote:Hello and a big thank you for creating a remake of my all time favourite game. The enhancements you have made have improved the game no end. It is hard to believe that the original is over 20 years old!

Thank you. I made this remake because, like you, i am a fan of Colonial Conquest, even 20 years later :).

cr1x wrote:What are your future plans for the game? Adding optional rules/improvements to the custom AI?

I have many ideas, like adding more nations, custom maps & rules, easiest making of custom AI (debugging, logs...).
But a bigger community is needed. Motivation doesn't come alone, even if some people here have done a great job testing & debugging CoCoNet.

cr1x wrote:Having a different price and attack/defence factor for each army/navy has always been a big part of the original game but I have always wondered what it would be like to play with a level playing field (price and attack/defence factors all the same). Is this something you have considered, perhaps as an optional rule change?

Yes, it makes part of the possibility to change nations properties (name, starting countries, capitals, color, factors, price...).

cr1x wrote:One additional element for the game could be research. Implemented in the same way as with the WW2 game Strategic Command. Purchasing research points gives you a 1 in 6 chance of improving the attack and defence values for your army/navy. (The more points you buy the greater the chance of success). I can explain in more detail if this is something you might consider implementing.
Another option would be the implementation of air power. Probably goes against the current model and period of history but could be very interesting.

I'm not fond to give a way to improve army/navy factors or add whole new features. I like the simple rules Colonial Conquest use.
I think more diversity (maps, nations, custom AI) could already add a lot to the existing game.

Thank you for your remarks. More people should give their opinions on your ideas.
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Re: Future plans?

Postby Monty » 13 Oct 2010, 00:13

hey all!

the possibility of being able to set up the nation properties at the start of a game is one of my biggest wishes and i wrote about it in my initial post in 2007 ;)
we've come a long way since then and pascal did a fantastic job, of which i couldn't have dreamt better, but i say: it's-not-over-now... :D

like pascal, i don't need new gameplay features like planes and research. i would be happy with those custom settings (including same value of the starting countries belonging to each major, which is currently determined randomly) and maybe a "fair for all" custom map (but up to now i haven't thought about how this map has to look to be honest. symmetry comes into mind but maybe that would be boring? and do there have to be several of those maps depending on how many players take part?).

and pascal, i lost track over the months: which is the current battle system that is implemented in the latest CoCoNet release? is it the one from the ST, from the XL or the custom ("hybrid") one, which was in development by us?

cheers monty
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Re: Future plans?

Postby Kroah » 21 Oct 2010, 15:24

Hello Monty :),
Monty wrote:the possibility of being able to set up the nation properties at the start of a game is one of my biggest wishes and i wrote about it in my initial post in 2007 ;)
we've come a long way since then and pascal did a fantastic job, of which i couldn't have dreamt better, but i say: it's-not-over-now... :D

I agree with you: "it's-not-over-now".

I'm actually implementing a new network code to make the multi-threading parts of CoCoNet easier. If this works, changes will be easier and i will add new configuration options (nation properties) with the possibility to load custom maps (background, nations, colors...).

Monty wrote:[...]symmetry comes into mind but maybe that would be boring?

I think perfect symmetric maps are boring. But *almost* symmetric ones are still fun (see the -big game hunter- map in Starcraft).

Monty wrote:and do there have to be several of those maps depending on how many players take part?

Why not. Some kinds of "4 players FFA" maps, and even "3v3" or "2v4" could be fun. Diversity is good for maps.

Monty wrote:which is the current battle system that is implemented in the latest CoCoNet release? is it the one from the ST, from the XL or the custom ("hybrid") one, which was in development by us?

I think you talk about the retreat behavior.
I use the vanilla XL battle system.
But I still don't know if we should change something or not. Is the "retreat too soon" behavior a consequence of a bad army factor? If we change it, won't the Russian army become way too powerful (because retreating less often). I prefer to stick with it until more opinions are given.

Cheers,
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Re: Future plans?

Postby Monty » 22 Oct 2010, 13:47

ahh, sorry, i was stupid. what i really wanted to know was:
i always thought, that the "custom ai", which can be chosen for the computer players, is about how the battle is executed. mainly concerning the retreat behaviour, yeah. if i'm right with this assumption: is the "custom ai" the one that i suggested in the "CoCoNet battle system development"-thread (april 2008) called "custom4" or is it some (enhanced) custom ai that you developed yourself?
i'm asking that because back then you wrote me a pm (may 2008) where you announced a "mysterious" new ai-version :wink: :
Kroah wrote:I'm almost ready to release a new version including Economic Aid and my first try of 'ST way' combats (I don't want to tell you what i've updated before you've tried it)


or am i mixing up something here?
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Re: Future plans?

Postby Matthieu » 29 Nov 2010, 12:30

Hello,
Thanks for your amazing job, it's a pleasure to play this excellent game again, without these few bugs that made me crazy, twenty years ago...
And I have to say I got shivers when I read that you think about adding some nations or changing maps. It will be so great to manage Austria-Hungary or Italy, or have more areas in each country, let say 7-8 areas in France, same in Germany, new countries like Netherlands, Serbia, Montenegro, Denmark, etc.
I hope that some day you can improve the game that way, and I will be one of your regular readers in the following weeks !
Greetings
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Re: Future plans?

Postby Kroah » 29 Nov 2010, 13:38

Matthieu wrote:Hello,
Thanks for your amazing job, it's a pleasure to play this excellent game again, without these few bugs that made me crazy, twenty years ago...
And I have to say I got shivers when I read that you think about adding some nations or changing maps. It will be so great to manage Austria-Hungary or Italy, or have more areas in each country, let say 7-8 areas in France, same in Germany, new countries like Netherlands, Serbia, Montenegro, Denmark, etc.
I hope that some day you can improve the game that way, and I will be one of your regular readers in the following weeks !
Greetings

Hello Matthieu!

Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed the remake.

I'm still actively working on CoCoNet. Yesterday I've finished rewriting the multi-threaded and network parts of the game.
Even if nothing has changed visually, everything is now easier to extend for incoming features.
I will release it ASAP to let people test it.

Now I'm writing down the needed features for custom maps (what will be customizable & what won't) and how to implement them.
Custom maps will be easily edited and downloaded automatically when connecting to the server.
The idea is to first create the picture of the world map (with any picture editor), then write the XML data linked to it (with a text editor, maybe a visual editor).
The rules won't be editable (besides majors) and I don't think adding any kind of script for the map initialization either.
There will be a random major & random starting location (among fixed starting location) features too.

Let me know if you have any additional ideas.
Cheers
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Re: Future plans?

Postby Matthieu » 29 Nov 2010, 14:01

Unfortunately, I'm not able to offer you some help in programming, but I think you're doing something I expected for years and years.
It will be great to edit maps or forces, and, as I said, add new countries, neutral or majors.
Maybe a map limited to Europe, but with more areas, will be fun to play. I enjoyed playing games like Victoria, and one of the strengths of this game is that you can control a minor country, like Bulgaria or Denmark, and make it an empire. And It will be so great if there's a way to do the same in Colonial Conquest. Do you think you could in the future make more countries playable, or is it a thing to hard to program ?
And again, bravo for your work !
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Re: Future plans?

Postby Kroah » 29 Nov 2010, 16:54

Matthieu wrote:Unfortunately, I'm not able to offer you some help in programming, but I think you're doing something I expected for years and years.
It will be great to edit maps or forces, and, as I said, add new countries, neutral or majors.
Maybe a map limited to Europe, but with more areas, will be fun to play. I enjoyed playing games like Victoria, and one of the strengths of this game is that you can control a minor country, like Bulgaria or Denmark, and make it an empire. And It will be so great if there's a way to do the same in Colonial Conquest. Do you think you could in the future make more countries playable, or is it a thing to hard to program ?
And again, bravo for your work !

In fact, Europe is one of the first custom map i will add. I don't know Victoria, but i played the game board "Empires in arms".

The first custom map is the vanilla Colonial Conquest map. Why? Because it could be used as a base to create variations of the world map (more countries, equal factors...).

Countries will be defined in the map XML file. So you will be free to put anything you want (name, flag, color, ...).
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Re: Future plans?

Postby Matthieu » 29 Nov 2010, 17:11

It sounds really great !
And do you plan to re-drawn the different maps, or will you use the actual Colonial Conquest map ?
Now, I just have to wait to see the result !
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Re: Future plans?

Postby Kroah » 29 Nov 2010, 18:02

Matthieu wrote:It sounds really great !
And do you plan to re-drawn the different maps, or will you use the actual Colonial Conquest map ?
Now, I just have to wait to see the result !

The custom map version of the world map will use the actual Colonial Conquest map.
The Europe map will be a new one based on the visual style of the world map.

Matthieu wrote:Unfortunately, I'm not able to offer you some help in programming, but I think you're doing something I expected for years and years.

I don't need programming help, but you can help by testing the future releases of CoCoNet.
Posting bugs in this forum is the most needed thing ever. Thank you.
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Re: Future plans?

Postby Matthieu » 29 Nov 2010, 18:17

I'll be glad to test, of course !
And I can't wait to see these new features...
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Re: Future plans?

Postby Kroah » 03 Jan 2011, 11:15

Some news for CoCoNet & happy new year everyone :D.

The new version of CoCoNet is on the right track.
I'm making good progress and the custom maps include almost all the features we talked about previously.

FYI, custom maps are a set of files: XML for the map data, PNG for the world picture & sprites.
Custom maps are automatically downloaded by the client if needed (about 90k per map). Actually no visual editor is planned, but could be done in the future if people are interested.
Vanilla Colonial Conquest maps are included as examples. I will try to add another custom map based on Europe.
I enhanced the lobby too. All users are now able to change their own settings (before only the host could do that).

I'll give you more information soon, stay tuned !
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Re: Future plans?

Postby Monty » 03 Jan 2011, 14:40

Great!
And a happy new year for you too, Kroah!
Go, CoCoNet, go! :D
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Re: Future plans?

Postby dizt3mp3r » 15 Nov 2011, 12:18

The only thing that is really required is the Move ALL button for armies/navies.

Kroah, as you aren't going to be making any more changes for coconet are you thinking about making the code available to everyone so we can possibly make the changes ourselves? If you could make the code available and then document the build tools required then it might not be beyond some our skills to make some simple changes as per the above. It would also widen the scope of the game, pulling in more users. I see the game list is quite healthy.

I love Coconet! A refreshing blast from the past and still as good as ever.
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