Currently the editor can create maps. Terrain, climate, and provinces (borders and names) can be edited. If province names are not entered by the user, the game will auto-generate names when starting the game. The same design will be used for cultures, sites, playable factions, etc. as these get added to the editor. E.g. you can create a world with a predefined map, cultures, races and deities, but have the world generator handle secret societies, dungeons and ancient evils.
In other news, I have begun the process of commissioning the work of professional artists, which is the beginning of a much more visually appealing and atmospheric game. I look forward to sharing the work of these talented individuals.
On the programming front, the work on the new battle engine is proceeding. It’s slightly slower going than anticipated, but I am very excited about the design, and as mentioned more than once, I look forward to sharing it in action.
I’ve added an FAQ and a bit of additional documentation to the forums, as part of the preparation for beta. Looking forward to sharing more of the game with you! Until next time.
Just a brief update for those who are not following my progress thread. This is progress since my last post:
Editor:
It is now possible to create, load and save custom maps, choosing terrain and defining province borders+names. These can then be used when starting a game. All other aspects of the world will be randomly generated. Future additions to the editor will allow (the optional) specification of cultures, races, units, factions, deities, dungeons, ancient evils, etc. I will make a video showing the editor in action very soon ™.
UI Improvement:
Tool tips for wizard selection (traits and starting research).
Army window now shows status effects (incl. duration) on units.
Army window unit list has larger font and a unit-specific icon, making the list much more readable and units faster to identify.
Recruitment window unit list has larger font and a unit-specific icon, making the list much more readable and units faster to identify.
Game Mechanics:
Dark Sacrifice spell implemented. It gives mana and (sometimes) research progress, at the cost of unrest and tyranny.
World spells can have a cooldown, where after being cast, a certain number of turns must pass until it can be recast. This cooldown can be shared among spells (ie casting one spell triggers the cooldown for all of them).
Scouting attribute added for unit types. This is used by the new battle engine.
When training new units, a trainer can be selected. A trainer with the Train Troops skill allows full-speed recruitment. A martial character can train troops without this skill but at half speed. Recruitment without a trainer is at quarter speed.
Misc. & Bug Fixes:
Movement cost when using roads was 2 for minor roads (1 for major roads). This is now 1 for minor roads on base cost 2 terrain, 3 for minor roads on base cost 6+ terrain, and 2 for minor roads on 3-5 cost terrain.
Unpaid upkeep for regiments now causes desertion and/or attrition. Summoned/bound regiments are always lost if upkeep is not paid.
Tool tip flicker and alignment issues fixed.
Stat bonuses are now included on the army window.
“No Upkeep” regiment status effect now properly applied in all cases.
Army General regiment buff now lasts until General is unassigned (previously only effective on turn of assignment).
Further improvements to the unit naming engine
In Progress:
New battle engine.
Research mechanics rework to make research more interesting and less opaque (especially in the early game)
A living piece of gaming history, Dwarf Fortress is a monument of engineering and creativity. 10 years since the first release, and Toady is still working on this wondrous creation. Here’s a toast to a great source of inspiration and fun!
If you don’t know about Dwarf Fortress, go check it out at http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/. It’s a very special game and a true classic. It’s funded by donations, so if you enjoy it, I encourage you help fund the continued development.
There’s a new August progress post on the forums, which is continually updated. Since last time I’ve added some new features & content, fixed some bugs, and upgraded to Unity 5.4 (which gave a nice little performance boost).
The highlights are:
Quick Start: You can now skip the detailed game setup (world size, race/culture variety, event frequency, wilderness danger, rarity of magic, etc.) and just pick the number and difficulty of opponents.
Organization Leaders & Notables: Cults and orders now have leaders and notable members generated. These are fully fledged characters, just like the player followers and city notables. Titles are also generated. You generally can’t see cult members in the encyclopedia, since they work behind the scenes in various sites all over the world.
Custom Sigil Background Colors: I’ve implemented a color picker, so that you can choose a custom color for the sigil background. So now your enemies can cower at the sight of pink, magenta or salmon banner, or you can pick a slightly darker blue if you want to. Actual banner/crest/pennant graphics and patterns are also coming, so that you can customize this even further. The AI wizards and warlords also get a distinct sigil, so you can more easily read the map.
Roads: Improved road graphics, no longer an ugly brown monochromatic line. It’s now a proper mesh with a texture. The graphics are still not final (texture will be improved, the mesh will ‘snake’ a bit more, etc.), but it’s much more pleasant to look at. I can reuse a lot of this code for the rivers, which are still block blue things with only a passing semblance to a river. The generation of road networks has also been improved – gone are the disconnected settlements sitting right off the road. Ancient ruins are now also considered when generating the network.
(seems like this world has a fantasy equivalent of Wales, looking at the names of these Centaur settlements – the world generator will sometimes use toponymic-based name generation and sometimes more random generation, depending on the situation)
There’s also a new game play video, with a Crusader wizards (starts with additional followers and a slightly bigger army, but is not the strongest in actual magic). To be honest, the video turned out a bit more peaceful and dreary than I’d have liked. I just explore a bit and send out some emissaries (primarily because my crummy followers fail to locate any dungeons). A proper Crusader would greet small villages with conquest and not diplomacy. I’ll try and get some more action in the next one – and highlight more of the cool procedural stuff.
Finally, my goal is still to release an Early Access version before the end of August. The final major milestone is the new battle system, and I hope to be able to unveil it really soon.
About
Wizards and Warlords is an indie turn-based strategy game, where you play in a randomly generated fantasy world, contending with rival wizards, warlords, roaming marauders and hidden ancient evils. Create a customized sovereign or choose from one of many predefined templates.