Topic: Graphics

[Zuul]

Hi. I like this game. Nice nostalgic Pirates Gold feeling.
Nice things in the new version. Stable game using a HTC Desire.
You should be in a bigger forum than your own small one. Where many other game devs are in same place.

I'm a sprite artist if you want some help. Like making icons to all buttons. Or something else you want.


One bug, the new Fleet event - frigates with 250 men giving up first round, but no plunder.


Edit:
A few improvement suggestions:

Plundered ships could have some news/info, especially the mail runner. About coming wars/allies/shortage and so on.

More game options, like double time (in addition to infinite time), double event time (rumors stay longer), double amount of active rumors.

Links in "About" does not work. Should open up a Internet browser.

[MicaByte]

Hi. I like this game. Nice nostalgic Pirates Gold feeling.
Nice things in the new version. Stable game using a HTC Desire.

Thanks. Glad you like it.

You should be in a bigger forum than your own small one. Where many other game devs are in same place.

There are not really any big game forums for Android yet (that I know of). I am active on a few forums, though, and should some big Android games forum become established, I'll definitely be there.

I'm a sprite artist if you want some help. Like making icons to all buttons. Or something else you want.

You are welcome to send me an e-mail if you find you have the time and energy. I hesitate to ask for free help, though, as I know that it takes a good deal of work to do good graphics.

One bug, the new Fleet event - frigates with 250 men giving up first round, but no plunder.

Sounds weird. Will look into it.

Plundered ships could have some news/info, especially the mail runner. About coming wars/allies/shortage and so on.

Nice idea. Implementing rumors from captured ships would be fairly easy - will certainly consider that. When I - eventually - implement port attacks, there will also be ways to gain an attack bonus by capturing ships for information.

More game options, like double time (in addition to infinite time), double event time (rumors stay longer), double amount of active rumors.

The problem with adding completely configurable game modes is that it becomes impossible to score the game consistently - which I need to be able to do, if the on-line leaderboard system that I plan to implement is to make sense. I'll consider it; I am not against allowing players to tune the game experience to their wishes.

Links in "About" does not work. Should open up a Internet browser.

That is deliberate, since the in-app browser works rather poorly with the forum. I need to take some time to figure out how to get it to launch an external browser properly or alternatively set up the forum with a theme that supports mobile browsing better.

[Zuul]

As long as the game is free, I'm happy to help out for free on projects I like. If you make a lot of money on the game, I eventually want some share of it, if my graphics is good enough that is :p.

I'm currently helping 2 other projects. A Tower Defence game for Symbian, and a Operator app for Android (but I'm a programmer too, will eventually start my own projects). Have made graphics to around 10-15 fan made games over the years. Like Liero, Zelda and so on.

So what graphics do you want to have? Should I begin with icons for every button? They should be easy to understand. Maybe also have text on them if needed. What style do you want it in? Painted oil maybe?

Other ideas:
*Able to take loans at friendly Governors. Cheaper interest, the higher promotion you have.

*Show ship captures per each nation in addition to the total.

*Maybe have a new page with stats, instead of having some in the pirate page.

Edit:
Average cargo cost at the merchants doesn't work at all.

Another cool thing to buy in the shipyard would be a Luxurious Captains Cabinet. Prolongs the age somehow.

Another bug: Sometimes only half of the bottom buttons are showing. Don't know how to replicate.


[Moderator Edit: Sorry - clicked modify when I wanted to reply. Post restored,]

[ConstantOdds]

*Show ship captures per each nation in addition to the total.

*Maybe have a new page with stats, instead of having some in the pirate page.

I think he had a cool idea with these.  Stats like how many cannonballs have hit your ships over time or what the total volume of different trade goods you've sold would be fun and interesting.  Zuul's example of ships sunk by nation is great, since I usually try to bully a specific nation when I play.

[Zuul]

Bugs:

*How is the stash calculated? Only check max crew and not current crew?

*Sometimes plunder shows a empty cargo (the ship probably had that type before it was damaged).

*Sometimes a city shows a surplus but having no item of that type (gems and mining expedition).


Features:

*Ships you meet should sometimes be damaged, and have different amount of crew.

*Have more types of ships, especially different by nation. Eg Fluyt, Carrack, Caravel , Manila Galleon, Ship of the line, Man-of-war.

*Make some ships become obsolete and new ones coming into play over time.

*Zoom in/out map by pinching.

[MicaByte]

Another bug: Sometimes only half of the bottom buttons are showing. Don't know how to replicate.

Is this on the main game map? I've seen a similar effect in other games (not my own); I suspect this may be a problem with the way the Android OS fullscreen mode works (it sometimes "forgets" that it does not have the status bar with battery life/messages/signal up top and shifts the whole screen down by some 20+ pixels). Not sure what can be done about it, though it seems to fix itself when the screen gets "redrawn" somehow.

[MicaByte]

*How is the stash calculated? Only check max crew and not current crew?

You always receive a fixed percentage of the total dependent on the level you are playing at. It is not related to crew size (to prevent exploits).

*Sometimes plunder shows a empty cargo (the ship probably had that type before it was damaged).

Yes - this can happen if you "damage" the opponents cargo before capturing them.

*Sometimes a city shows a surplus but having no item of that type (gems and mining expedition).

Hmm. Gems are of course the most rare good, but Surplus should always guarantee a supply. Will check the code.

Ships you meet should sometimes be damaged, and have different amount of crew.

More a flavor thing, but worth considering.

Have more types of ships, especially different by nation. Eg Fluyt, Carrack, Caravel , Manila Galleon, Ship of the line, Man-of-war.

There is already some national variation in ships (you won't find non-Spanish Galleons, for instance, or Spanish Frigates). Fluyts are also in there. I'll be putting up a list of the in-game ships and their stats on the web page sometime soon.

I plan on implementing improvements on the ships you encounter in the game soon, though, which will add a lot more variety to the opposition you encounter.

*Make some ships become obsolete and new ones coming into play over time.

Not sure that this would make sense within the game context of 1650-1700. If I were to do something like this, I think I would be more inclined to allow the player to gain "unique" ships by completing some quest or missions, instead.

*Zoom in/out map by pinching.

It's not a top priority right now, since most users are still on old Android OS version that do not support multi-touch. Once the demographics shift, I will definitely look more into this.

[Zuul]

More game options, like double time (in addition to infinite time), double event time (rumors stay longer), double amount of active rumors.

The problem with adding completely configurable game modes is that it becomes impossible to score the game consistently - which I need to be able to do, if the on-line leaderboard system that I plan to implement is to make sense. I'll consider it; I am not against allowing players to tune the game experience to their wishes.

Well you could have a modifier to the score for each option. Like in this game - Desktop TD Pro - sandbox mode.
http://www.handdrawngames.com/DesktopTD/Game.asp

Is this on the main game map?

I think it was only on the map yes.

Yes - this can happen if you "damage" the opponents cargo before capturing them.

Does this mean you wont "fix" this?

Not sure that this would make sense within the game context of 1650-1700. If I were to do something like this, I think I would be more inclined to allow the player to gain "unique" ships by completing some quest or missions, instead.

Yes nice with unique ships. I have thought in those lines too.
But maybe in future expand the time era. So you can set when you want to begin the game (eg 1625-1775).

*Zoom in/out map by pinching.

It's not a top priority right now, since most users are still on old Android OS version that do not support multi-touch. Once the demographics shift, I will definitely look more into this.

Well, as in the browser, use double tap for those that don't have multi-touch.


New Feture suggestions:

More events like:
*Storm - Damaging your ship, could move the ship in random way.
*Calm Winds - Delaying movement.
*Fire - Either in combat or by accident. Damages your ship.
*Explosion - Like fire event.
*Scurvy - Killing of some of your crew.
*Leak - Emergency repairs (delay), damages hull.
*Lost - Cloudy, delays your trip. Could move the ship in random way.
*Disband - Some of you crew sneaks off.

Be able to buy bronze cannons instead of iron/steel. At 3 times the pay, but making 50% more damage. Rare! (Have 2 variables for cannons.)

[ConstantOdds]

Just thought that I'd chime in on Zuul's suggestion for random events.  I think the game already has a good balance as it is between skill and luck, with the weight being over on the skill side, and more randomness would make the game worse in my opinion. 

I wouldn't like it as much if my ship was just randomly catching fire or sailing in random directions now and then when there's nothing I can do about it.

[Zuul]

Well they should not be common, and cunning and sailing would avoid some of them.

Like:
*There was a storm building up, but with your good sailing skill you avoided it.
*With your cunning you prevented a fire on the deck. Good call to have it soaked.

This will make the cunning skill more natural. Strange to almost never find a ship when you have cunning of 1.

[MicaByte]

Some quick responses.

Yes - this can happen if you "damage" the opponents cargo before capturing them.

Does this mean you wont "fix" this?

Probably not. The empty cargo does allows the player to see what goods the captured ship carried.

But maybe in future expand the time era. So you can set when you want to begin the game (eg 1625-1775).

Definitely a possibility for future extensions.

Well, as in the browser, use double tap for those that don't have multi-touch.

Could be an idea. I need to get myself access to a 2.1/2.2 phone first, though. Not easy to simulate multi-touch on an emulator with a mouse. Do you find the map too small or too large, though? Or both?


Extra events are definitely on the agenda, and stuff like storms, scurvy, etc. are obvious candidates. I am not a huge fan of random "random events" as a game mechanism though, so the way you will find stuff like this added to the game will be as a response to player actions/choices. E.g., a moving storm would be marked on the map and the player can choose whether they want to sail around it (possibly lengthening their journey) or near/through it (testing Sailing skill at the risk of damage). Scurvy would affect the crew if the player stays out to sea for too long without entering port. Crew might desert in a port if loyalty is too low. And so on.

[Zuul]

Do you find the map too small or too large, though? Or both?

Well coolest would be something like x4 times as large map (with 4 times the many squares to be in, with about double amount of colonies), where you play in weeks instead.

Add a new feature some smaller ships could use. Move to coast, where the bigger ships can't follow. Would be easier to use than making a distance to the other ship.

Would be cool to have older ship types like, Galley, Caravel and Carrack too. Where the first one can use oars.

Will compile my own list like your ship list.

[MicaByte]

The current map is already 1000x840 pixels (which makes it take up 2-3 Mb in memory during drawing operations). Medium-density phones (e.g., HTC Hero, Magic, and others) only have 16Mb of total heap space for the programs, so increasing the map size in that way is not really trivial. It is possible to do some interesting tricks with tiling to reduce memory usage (currently, I just do it in the simplest and most effective way), but in general it's difficult to increase map size much without significantly increasing risk of out of memory errors (= force closure) and poor scrolling performance.

It's something I will be looking into eventually (simply because I'd like to do mobile games with much larger maps), but probably not in the very near future.

[ConstantOdds]

What's the point of making the map larger?  I already ignore rumors if they're on the far side of the map from where I am, and circumnavigating the Caribbean basin at its current scale works great for me.  In fact, my pirates usually live and die without ever visiting every port each game already.

Speaking of maps, I wouldn't mind if you clicked on a distant territory and instead of "Move" being greyed out, it instead would auto-travel you there.  You know, your ship moves to the next square, checks for events, then moves to the next and checks for events, etc, until you either get where you're going or encounter another ship or a mutiny.  Especially if I try playing the Trader way,  that would be cool.