Early Access Update Fyrtionio (49)
build id: 5DB757C6
nornware AB is happy to announce a new update to Space Beast Terror Fright.
USER PLANS
I've implemented first pass support for user created plans (the data that generates a mission). The editor is completely integrated into the game and is available via the main menu, where you can build your levels / campaigns at your own pace and later bring them into your local or networked games in a simple fashion.
Creating user plans basically entails manually editing the same data that the legacy mission generation algorithm manipulates; a 33x33 grid of cells. Starting from a default template that is guaranteed to fulfill all gameplay constraints you can carve out open spaces (floors), put up additional walls, place elements like datacores, armories, sentries, etc, as well as choosing all relevant rules settings and the visual style of the mission. Once saved user plans are available for play via the mission setup interface.
This is deceptively simple, as manual editing of plans allows you to potentially create quite a broad range of experiences beyond what has been available in the game to date. There are quite a few constraints on what is legal in order for gameplay to function, but I've implemented a full suite of tests that run in real-time on the data, and the editor will show you exactly what is wrong with your creation with information about how to fix it. There is even a button that can fix a lot of the problems for you automatically. Note that you are not allowed to save a user plan when errors exist; this is indeed to make ensure that all plans that are available for play are possible to complete.
With that said I've decided to relax some of legacy constraints in user plans that the procedurally generated plans still abide by in order to give hand-made missions a bit more flexibility in combining various visual themes. Missions have always had a main wall/floor look as well as an "alternate" that has only shown up in rare cases (filled rooms), and also of course the "lab" look. User plans will allow these to exist side by side in ways that players will not have seen previously.
This incidentally touches on some work that I've been planning for a long time; namely re-visiting a lot of the level styles (geometry and texture themes) as well as including some new ones that I've already prototyped. In relaxing the constraints of what cell values are allowed to exist side by side I'm seeing a lot more holes in the level geometry than before, and that will definitely need to be tightened up. Beyond just the planned new graphical themes, I find the requirement of seamlessness motivates me even further to expand the visual diversity of SBTF.
Note that this update will only support loading and saving user-plans locally. This is because I have deemed the Steam Workshop integration (that I am still intending to do) as a sizeable chunk of work, and I think it's better to get the editor in the hands of the community as quickly as possible as issues will undoubtably crop up. I think there will always be value in the ability to work on your creations in isolation before deciding to share them with the world, so this isn't throwaway work.
The upside however is that user plans already work in networked games, so it is already possible to play your user-plans with other players if you host a party and select one of your creations to play. Don't see this as a stop-gap; it's an artifact of how the system works, and I don't expect this mechanism to change even moving forward as it is after all the party owner that decides all attributes of the plan to play (including this new feature of explicit user plans).
The benefits that potential Steam Workshop support brings is the ability to play ANY user-created plan that has been publicly shared by anyone, both locally and in networked games. I'm also thinking that it might be interesting to be able to create "user campaigns / playlists", meaning several user-created maps stringed together to cohesive units. I haven't looked into the technical details yet, but I'm assuming all of this will be possible to do within the scope of Steam Workshop.
While building the editor I also realized that bringing this kind of concentrated work to SBTF required some kind of "mood music", and so I'm currently experimenting with running the in-game themes at a low level of intensity. We'll see how that works out, it might need a dedicated volume slider...
POTENTIAL EDITOR GLITCHES
Breaches cannot be placed manually but are automatically created at the end of dead-end corridors (unless Random Breaches is enabled) up to a limit of 16 per mission, and such valid Breach locations are indicated in the editor by a purple square. Note that you are allowed to have more than 16 valid Breach positions in your plans, but Breaches will only spawn from 16 of them.
Similarly, Doors and Fences are automatically rotated to fit the context they are in (unless they are in an invalid position, indicated by the cell flashing red).
All of this is done via a special lookup table that I must set up manually, and as such there may be cases where valid Breach locations aren't flagged correctly as well as cases where Doors or Fences aren't in the expected orientation. If you see anything like this please take a screenshot of the plan you are building in the editor and send it to [email protected] and I will fix it.
MISSION SETUP SIMPLIFICATION
I have collapsed the Basic and Advanced mission setup screens into a single screen, with both team stats and mission outcomes available now as mouse-over overlays. This has the effect of making a whole bunch of information available very quickly without being overly obstructive, while simultaneously streamlining and simplifying the meta-game flow for those who just want to get into the action.
MISCELLANEOUS
- Reinforcements in Kit Mode now have the proper upgrades.
- Fixed player low ammo warning in the mission log for guns that fire lots of bullets.
- The game now attempts to detect and display the number of players in-game (single and multiplayer) at the top left of the screen. This information is from Steam internally, and is updated every ten seconds. While similar information was already available for players in multiplayer mode, I thought this might add a sense of community for all players without being overly intrusive.
As always, thank you for your support and patience.
/nornware AB c/o johno
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