State of the game - 7th Sep 2015
As promised yesterday, this is the first of a series of weekly updates, letting you know how we are progressing on the upcoming release - there have been a lot of questions about how far along it is and what we're currently working on, and this allows us to address these issues without having to repeat the information in a dozen different posts.
As this is the first update, I'm going to start by explaining what the EA2 update will include and give an overview of where we are currently at.
EA2 will include a rebuilt game engine (based on OpenGL), which will be faster, smoother and less prone to crashing than the current one. It will also include updates to the UI, the AI, and the auto battle system.
New Engine
The OpenGL engine is faster than the old DirectX one, far more stable, and has been rebuilt to make a lot of the upcoming future additions to the game easier and faster for us to implement. This has led to some game systems having to be re-implemented - in particular scripted elemnts like the campaigns and the tutorial.
Of particular note is the loading time - the game now starts and loads almost instantly, and tactical battles also start almost instantly.
UI
Placeholder/missing artwork replaced, especially on the information panels
Improvements to lists and long text sections (auto scrollbars, more flexible lists)
Better looking text in general
Nicer dynamic realm names on the map
Minimap views now moved to the main map (political, diplomatic, etc)
Realm select map looks better, allows scroll and zoom
AI
Improving the campaign AI in particular, getting it to make less stupid decisions, and act in a more strategic manner. Also enhancing the personalities of AIs to make warmongers more warlike, etc.
Auto Battle
Improved the auto battle screen layout
Auto battles now have units in proper formations
Auto battle target selection now much more intelligent - targets will be selected based on ability to deal damage to them (especially in later combat rounds)
Current state
The auto battle, UI, and AI work is largely completed, we are working on getting the tutorial working again right now, and that will be followed by the other remaining campaigns. Then we have a series of known issues to target, and finally further testing and fixing of whatever bugs that should end up revealing.
If all goes to plan, the tutorial will be completed and working this week, we'll update you in the progress next monday.