Master Commander is an exercise in testing a new style of gameplay's viability on B.net (actually played by a large amount of people). MC is a 1v1 turn-based strategy game inspired by Final Fantasy Tactics (PS1), in which each player commands a group of rpg-archetype unit classes to out-strategize and eliminate his opponent. My purpose for releasing it now is to test whether it will sink into the dark, cold depths of B.net 2.0 or swim and be worthy of continued development.
GAMEPLAY
When the game begins, players choose a battlefield, a headquarters (Nexus or Hive), and desired turn duration limits. They then choose 5 or 6 units (depending on the selected battlefield) out of currently 14 different classes and battle it out, last-man-standing style.
The pace is governed by a turn system which picks a unit to be activated for a turn 1 by 1. During each turn, a unit can move on the battlefield according to its move stat and can perform 1-3 actions. Each class currently has at least 6 abilities to choose from (eventually each will have at least 8). When a player ends his turn, the system moves on to the next unit on the turn list, which is continuously updated on the top left of the screen.
Turn durations in a match currently range from 20-40 seconds. To incentivize faster turns, each player has Reserved Time that builds up whenever the player ends his/her turn early. If a turn is ended early enough, a fraction of the remaining time is saved into Reserved Time for later use when a player may need to put more thought into the moves he/she is about to make.
Throughout a battle, players will gain minerals at their headquarters. Minerals can be used for stronger than normal class abilities usually bound to the G hotkey or on abilities activated at the chosen headquarter, either Hive or Nexus. Some HQ abilities can be used at any time, while others can only be used when the player controls the active unit.
GENERAL QUALITIES
The goal with the map is for it to be a new type of game that can be nice and relaxed or intense and competitive. It has been designed with a good amount of depth to its gameplay (so I have been told) and is tailored to appeal to both casual and hardcore gamers alike. It focuses on intelligent tactical decision-making, with a quick thinking element introduced with faster turn durations. Although there is always more balance work to do, it is currently very well balanced.
Master Commander has been fully released on the North American server. If successful, uploads onto other regional servers will follow. It will be continuously updated for balancing, improved animations, improved terrain, new abilities, new classes (eventually 25+), new battlefields (eventually 6+), and other miscellaneous features.
The gameplay definetly looks like something my whole clan could get into (clan TTG), and I really can't wait to get some people playing it.
My only real complaint is the polish... It's just a little strange. The timers seem like they could be less, in the way, with a simple dialog board that could show other things like stats and stuff.
The End Turn button is ugly, imo, you could use a much nicer button frame and attach it to the dialog I was talking about.
The missing UI fits alot of maps, but, it seems to make things look even more cluttered. You could possibly take a look at using .xml files to move the UI frames around and make something very nice out of it.
But really, that's my only complaints of what I've seen so far. But, from what I gather, this map is still under heavy development, and gameplay should always come first, of course.
Once I can actually play it, I'll give a much better review over the game. All I can give now is what I can see. Good luck with it!
Yeah I haven't thought about the UI for a while... The video in this post was on the smallest resolution so it does look more cluttered in this one. But other than that, you're impressions are good.
I think I'm going to get rid of the Display Range button/function. It hasn't seemed to be of much use. I'm also going to get rid of the Hero Panel above the command card because it just sticks out there when it's not the player's turn and you get much more information just by holding Alt and looking at the field. The End Turn button is big because I wanted it to be easily pressable, but I think I will tidy up the top right of the screen somehow. I'll probably get rid of the title for the normal time.. and just have the countdown in a box right beside the End Turn button...
The 1.0 version was released about a week ago, but I am going to continuously be making improvements and updates new classes, battlefields, features, etc, so critical feedback is always appreciated. Thanks!
About your clan, Stealthsam. I'm not sure how wide of a population this game will appeal to, but it will definitely appeal to those looking for a good competitive and thoughtful game. So if you show it to your clan or anyone, that would be great.
I will be showing it to them, and I'm pretty sure that my friend MegaBlast will play this with me often :D. ( probably inbetween episodes of ridiculous amounts of magecraft testing..) lol.
This is interesting, not just because you can get turn based working well, but the idea of a Advance War is possible too!
Player turns can occur in a similar way, but add unit production and mathematics in combat...
So it ain't a turn based RPG, but a turn based WAR game.
The thing that sets them different, from a FFT style to a Adv War style, is that in Adv War, both units fight, but the attacker gets a early advantage...
Basically using percentage, a infantry going up against a infantry will take like 4050% of the other infantry, and having the power of the unit depend on it's status can be fun too.
Master Commander is an exercise in testing a new style of gameplay's viability on B.net (actually played by a large amount of people). MC is a 1v1 turn-based strategy game inspired by Final Fantasy Tactics (PS1), in which each player commands a group of rpg-archetype unit classes to out-strategize and eliminate his opponent. My purpose for releasing it now is to test whether it will sink into the dark, cold depths of B.net 2.0 or swim and be worthy of continued development.
GAMEPLAY
When the game begins, players choose a battlefield, a headquarters (Nexus or Hive), and desired turn duration limits. They then choose 5 or 6 units (depending on the selected battlefield) out of currently 14 different classes and battle it out, last-man-standing style.
The pace is governed by a turn system which picks a unit to be activated for a turn 1 by 1. During each turn, a unit can move on the battlefield according to its move stat and can perform 1-3 actions. Each class currently has at least 6 abilities to choose from (eventually each will have at least 8). When a player ends his turn, the system moves on to the next unit on the turn list, which is continuously updated on the top left of the screen.
Turn durations in a match currently range from 20-40 seconds. To incentivize faster turns, each player has Reserved Time that builds up whenever the player ends his/her turn early. If a turn is ended early enough, a fraction of the remaining time is saved into Reserved Time for later use when a player may need to put more thought into the moves he/she is about to make.
Throughout a battle, players will gain minerals at their headquarters. Minerals can be used for stronger than normal class abilities usually bound to the G hotkey or on abilities activated at the chosen headquarter, either Hive or Nexus. Some HQ abilities can be used at any time, while others can only be used when the player controls the active unit.
GENERAL QUALITIES
The goal with the map is for it to be a new type of game that can be nice and relaxed or intense and competitive. It has been designed with a good amount of depth to its gameplay (so I have been told) and is tailored to appeal to both casual and hardcore gamers alike. It focuses on intelligent tactical decision-making, with a quick thinking element introduced with faster turn durations. Although there is always more balance work to do, it is currently very well balanced.
Master Commander has been fully released on the North American server. If successful, uploads onto other regional servers will follow. It will be continuously updated for balancing, improved animations, improved terrain, new abilities, new classes (eventually 25+), new battlefields (eventually 6+), and other miscellaneous features.
Thanks!
Wow this map looks amazing! I can't wait to try it out. Great job!
Very good work I see so far.
The gameplay definetly looks like something my whole clan could get into (clan TTG), and I really can't wait to get some people playing it.
My only real complaint is the polish... It's just a little strange. The timers seem like they could be less, in the way, with a simple dialog board that could show other things like stats and stuff. The End Turn button is ugly, imo, you could use a much nicer button frame and attach it to the dialog I was talking about.
The missing UI fits alot of maps, but, it seems to make things look even more cluttered. You could possibly take a look at using .xml files to move the UI frames around and make something very nice out of it.
But really, that's my only complaints of what I've seen so far. But, from what I gather, this map is still under heavy development, and gameplay should always come first, of course.
Once I can actually play it, I'll give a much better review over the game. All I can give now is what I can see. Good luck with it!
@Stealthsam: Go
Yeah I haven't thought about the UI for a while... The video in this post was on the smallest resolution so it does look more cluttered in this one. But other than that, you're impressions are good.
I think I'm going to get rid of the Display Range button/function. It hasn't seemed to be of much use. I'm also going to get rid of the Hero Panel above the command card because it just sticks out there when it's not the player's turn and you get much more information just by holding Alt and looking at the field. The End Turn button is big because I wanted it to be easily pressable, but I think I will tidy up the top right of the screen somehow. I'll probably get rid of the title for the normal time.. and just have the countdown in a box right beside the End Turn button...
The 1.0 version was released about a week ago, but I am going to continuously be making improvements and updates new classes, battlefields, features, etc, so critical feedback is always appreciated. Thanks!
About your clan, Stealthsam. I'm not sure how wide of a population this game will appeal to, but it will definitely appeal to those looking for a good competitive and thoughtful game. So if you show it to your clan or anyone, that would be great.
I will be showing it to them, and I'm pretty sure that my friend MegaBlast will play this with me often :D. ( probably inbetween episodes of ridiculous amounts of magecraft testing..) lol.
This is interesting, not just because you can get turn based working well, but the idea of a Advance War is possible too!
Player turns can occur in a similar way, but add unit production and mathematics in combat...
So it ain't a turn based RPG, but a turn based WAR game.
The thing that sets them different, from a FFT style to a Adv War style, is that in Adv War, both units fight, but the attacker gets a early advantage...
Basically using percentage, a infantry going up against a infantry will take like 4050% of the other infantry, and having the power of the unit depend on it's status can be fun too.