criver

Check in see also at the bottom of the page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_graphics I believe this one is free: http://inkscape.org/en/ I usually do all transformations in code, and not with an editor so I can't say which is best, but counting pixels seems pretty crazy. You can always make your hexagons in a vector graphcis editing software then convert to a raster image too.

Still don't get why you work in pixels... Won't it be better if you work with vector graphics (you can have "limitless" precision)?

Nice hexagons btw. What do you mean by done right?

I suggested a video game, because you seem to have an awful lot of calculations for a board game (it could be just me though, I don't play many board games, but I still think too many calculations kill the fun of it) - and computers are good at doing calculations behind the scene. TBS are not bad thb, I still remember when I used to play Warlords 3. Good luck with the game!

Why don't you try to make a video game out of it (I am sure a lot more people will be interested)? There are plenty of user friendly tools around even if you are not into low level programming with C++. You seem to be doing the whole job that a game designer would be doing (with bonuses) and you seem to be fairly knowledgeable in this area and you seem to be progressing at a steady pace. I like your concepts so I'd normally be all in for helping you, but I need to find some time in between all the math we do in uni. I mean if I finish writing my engine (which wouldn't be anytime soon judging by the amount of math/programming assignments I get, and my laziness) we could even do a test project with some people from the community if you like the idea - I can do the whole C++/graphics rendering/pathfinding algorithms etc. part - the biggest problem is that it won't be anytime soon. I mean you seem to have most of the concepts down and it would be a wast imo if they just stay this way. P.S. I am still alive even if I don't come online much ( if you can call proving theorems/solving math problems, most of you time being alive xD ). How's AQIB doing btw?

Try this: http://camstudio.org/

I got the point - hence my previous reply. Still it was not pirated software - hence why I didn't realize I broke the rule when I was writing my post. Thanks for the articles - I know what abandonware is, it was my bad - I didn't think much into it before posting (I mean things aren't really clear concerning abandonware - I'm sure I read somewhere abandonware is "legal" in Russia - not sure if it's true though). Though I realize I shouldn't have posted this link - so I'll refrain from doing so in the future. P.S. A good idea would be to add this explicitly in the rules cause I think abandoware differs from pirated software - but it could be just me - so never mind if it is like that.

I'm sorry if I broke any rule - but to my knowledge this is abandonware and not pirated software. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abandonwarehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abandonware However I do realize that abandonware is regarded differently in different countries (you can check Russia) - so I'm really sorry - my bad.

Well u didn't have really infinite leveling in JWAR but you could level your units quite a bit (though I think it would have been more fun with even more choices for leveling and longer leveling). There was also another problem - classes. You had a clear distinction between mage class and soldier - so you could have a soldier upgrade his MP but he could never get any spells - which is silly in my opinion. I mean it would be great if you had more freedom deciding what your units could do (your mages couldn't carry weapons and shields too, but they could have items) - it could have been done so that you need a lot more MP for a soldier to learn spells but at least he should be able to learn some with the xp he uses on MP. My point is that making your units unique can be great. Here's Jurassic War if u want to try and check it (the AI is bad though xD): [link removed] You can skip to almost the last level so u don't have to play the 1st ones - here are the cheats: http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/974914-jurassic-war/cheats Still the main problem for an infinite leveling system will be the same as for most strategies - snowballing (the favorite thing for all LOL players). While snowballing may be fun, it can turn a match boring very quickly (you can basically know who will win the game after the first 5 minutes). I don't mean to say that snowballing is not fun in itself - but a game where you can turn the tables around even against an opponent that is "winning" is more fun I think. For example: if you level a unit so much that nobody can beat it - the game can turn boring. What I think makes a game fun is for the game to be challenging even later in game (I mean the game shouldn't turn boring by the 20th minute because u stacked to many armies). Most games nowadays are clones of Warcraft, Starcraft etc. I don't mean that all of them lack originality - but I think that RTS had more variety in the previous century. If the game can keep you on edge during the whole match I think that's a good game (but that's IMHO ). I kinda digressed here from the main topic - but I think that this problem is one of the main problems in RTS - so no matter if u change the leveling system it can still be a change for the bad if this major problem is not "fixed". Various mechanisms could be put into use to avoid this issue - a developer should try to increase the "skill" and "strategic thinking" required from the game. What see nowadays in games is: You have better knowledge of the game = you win. I don't think that the "knowledge of the game" should be the only and most decisive factor in winning. I don't mean that you shouldn't know your units strength and weaknesses at all - but fights should be decided more on strategy rather than number and quality of units. So back to topic - I think that an "infinite" leveling system is great if it can be devised well (cause it can cause a big problem if it is not thought out better - it can easily turn your units OP or UP if it is not devised well). A great idea would be for this system - rather than making your units only strong - to give them some abilities too - which abilities could provide more options for variations in the strategy used. My point is to emphasize skill and creative thinking rather than game knowledge. I don't really know about this being implemented in a board game - cause it can become quite tedious with all these calculations and stats - which are usually handled behind the scenes when it comes down to a PC game. I realize I kinda digressed a lot with this answer but I wanted to make it clear that such a leveling system is relative - it can make a game beyond horrid but it can turn a game into a masterpiece too.

For me it's more fun to have a unit that can "update" its stats. A really good example is Jurassic War (I know the game is old - but I still really like it). In JWAR u got a collection of different attributes for each unit - like HP,DP,AP,SP,MP etc. The great thing is that after a battle your unit gains experience which is then distributed between these different attributes (you can choose which attr to upgrade - you can upgrade all or some of them). Also on mages classes u could get different spells/abilities when gaining enough experience. The great thing about this type of game is that all of your units got this "hero" feel - I mean each of them can be a RPG main character. You can actually "build" something while playing (like minecraft xD) - you don't just stack armies in terms of numbers. Here's an example: Usually the AI trains a lot of units equally (they train either by fighting opposing tribes or wild animals ) - I know the AI is not the best but whatever. And this particular game I trained one unit till it reached godlike level - I was assassinating the units of the tribe next to me with it( I mean I ninjaed them while they were hunting). Finally most of the units of that tribe started chasing my godlike unit (it could probably win 1v5 but not 1v30) - they passed through my "army" and destroyed it beautifully. But I could lead that unit without dying to other tribes and created skirmishes with other tribes (obviously my unit was pretty much unscathed but the units of the tribe following my unit got in large scale fights with the other tribes) - with this I destroyed the main forces of most of the tribes - and it was possible only because of the fact that I had this unit updated to this lvl - and not 100 units with average stats. Well whatever I mean I got a lot of fun out of this game especially because I could update my units (you could update an infantry so much that it could beat a tyrannosaurus bare-handed - of course u had to give that unit most of the hunting grounds so u couldn't have a lot of units like it unless u played for a long time). There were even legendary artifacts in the game. Another game I should mention is Magic & Mayhem (it's not really a typical RTS) - the interesting thing there was that if u level up your unit to the max - it could convert other units of the same type to your own. As for emperor it had a really nice "units leveling" system - u got good things when ur units leveled up - like stealth for sniper and regen for kinjal. I'd guess that the leveling system depends on the speed of the game - by this I mean the actual speed of things - most games nowadays can be decided in the first 5 minutes of the game with rushes etc. A complex leveling system requires time for managing your units - if you need that time to build a big army and do a rush then it's useless having such a complex system.

I don't meant for u to remove it - I said that 3d models will be a lot more interesting(unless u draw like a god).

Let me make it clear - dune 2000 for pc is not 3d - u can't just get some models and integrate them in the game - u simply can't. PC Dune is not PS Dune - these are two different games with different code and resources. It's like saying give me th models of doom3 and I'll integrate them in doom1 - u just can't - lest u remake doom 1.

Also about the concept art - I'd advise u making the 3d models and then posting screenshots of them - that will be a lot more interesting.

Well - it's up to you - if it can't run - it just can't - so u rally don't have a choice - meaning "need animation... makes it more interesting..." doesn't make sense if u can't present the thing at all. U can use html for a presentation - u can have all kind of shit on a web page - animation, text, scripts etc. Another thing u can do is make the presentation for flash player. I really don't know though where you will present this thing and I don't know what it's about - so it would be helpful if u explained a bit more. What I understood is: "My pc is bad and can't run power point but I want to do a presentation. What do I do?" So I replied that u can use some other application, but still I don't know what this is about. Is it a presentation for school? Do they have some requirements - like the presentation being on ppt? And why do u have to do the presentation on your laptop - if they asked for a presentation I'd presume they have a PC there and a projector? And I really don't think a presentation is about the animations in it - I mean a presentation is made to present something (usually without too much text - just for getting acquainted with the matter) I don't remember animations being mandatory... u should try to make the presentation entertaining but that doesn't mean it needs to have animations - images are more way provocative some time - a good idea would be to include some kind of humor, a lot of images and all kinds of things that would make it easier for understanding (still if ur presentation is on solar evolution, quantum physics, analytical geometry etc - of course it can't be too easy - but still it can be made entertaining).

What do u mean u can change the ui? What does the ui have to do with anything related to the models?

"About the game it will be most probably in 30fps or so.... its in the game making properties...." - I really don't know how game maker manages its main loop so I can't say much about the way it can control fps - but I know that a game doesn't run "most probably" on some fixed fps - fps changes (unless your PC is really fast and u cap them at 60 - which I don't even know if it's possible in game maker). FPS - fames per seconds - how many frames does the graphics engine render per second - usually (if u don't control fps etc.) the game can run at whatever fps depending on your PC. Here's an example: //pseudo-codeint mil=millisecs();int fps=0;int frames=0;//Main loopWhile(1){ frames=frames+1; if(millisecs()>mil+1000) { fps=frames; frames=0; } UpdateWorld(); RenderWorld(); Flip();}So u can have as many fps as loops per second ur PC can handle - but usually people don't want the game running at different speeds on different PCs - they want to have a constant or adjustable speed - so rather than depending on fps they make the game speed to depend on time. Hence when having a PC that runs the game at 300fps ur unit should move x/300 meters per frame and if u have a pc running at 60 fps u need to move ur unit by x/60 meters per frame - this way your unit will move with a constant speed on all PCs - x meters per second. U can also cap fps at 60 (but still you need to take into account that ur game may run at 20 fps so u need to adjust everything to that). "Screen might get distorted while changing resolution but i need some way to fix tht......" - I don't understand what u mean by "screen might get distorted". "Room page is where you create screens like the one you see when you play....." - u mean a window? U mean u can't change the resolution inside the game - let's say from a menu called settings. Here's what I found - http://gmc.yoyogames.com/index.php?showtopic=429221 - now I think I get what u mean by distortion - I think that game maker doesn't actually change the resolution of d3d but rather of the window which causes a distortion rather than really adding more pixel precision - which is really messed up - but that's game maker for u :P . I read something on game maker - so here's about fps: http://gmc.yoyogames.com/index.php?showtopic=521747 apparently game maker's fps control is messed up big time... In conclusion - game maker sux :P Maybe there are some ways to work around these issues - but that's the biggest flaw of all these "game making software" - it restricts u on every step and makes ur game a lot slower - basically u trade the difficulty of a programming language for these restrictions, lack of freedom when trying to make something and the slowness factor. P.S. Maybe if there's a command to edit the room properties during runtime u can manage - or even something like deleting the room and the creating it again with different properties during runtime.

"Well my PC is fast for tht to happen" - that's exactly the problem - fps control is to make the game playable even on fast systems - cause u don't want everyhting x5 speed (imagine your game was written for 60fps and u get 300fps...) - that;s why u should regulate the speed of everything not by frames but by milliseconds. "I still dont know how to code without distorting the screen..." - didn't get that - what does coding have to do with screen distortion? " In game maker you set the resolution in the room page hence different rooms can have different resolutions...." - what's this "room page"?

Try running it even if it requries more resources - see if it can barely work - if it doesn't u can convert your ppt to pdf.

As for balancing - he can balance them (even if u have them in multiplayer) considering the feedback of testers - that's how champions are balanced in LOL - usually people point out what faction is OP and why. About resolution - it won't be a problem if it is 4:3 or 16:9 or 16:10 as long as u give an option to the player to choose between them - meaning your code should check all the available resolutions to the vga( some of these reolutions may be with an aspect ratio 4:3, 16:9 and 16:10) and give the chance for the user to use whatever res he wants. Also - a problem with 2d rts games and resolution would be this: usually when u have a higher resolution in 2d rts u see more than with a smaller res - basically u'll see a lot more with 1920x1080 than with 800x600 - which isn't right - because your resolution shouldn't really be a factor of how much u see (zoom shold be this factor) - and that's one of the privileges with 3d rts - no matter the resolution u see the same area (everything in the camera frustrum). So if ur game is gonna be 2d u shoudl find a way to work around this. Another problem would be FPS control - your game shouldn't be faster just because your pc is faster - it should have a fixed speed (for example emperor:battle for dune dosn't have a fixed speed in multiplayer which can make the game speed uncontrolable). Here's an example: u want ur unit to move by x meters for 1s - meaning that if ur game runs at 60fps ur unit should move by x/60 meters per frame or if ur game runs at 30 fps ur unit should move by x/30 meters per frame - that way the game speed won't depend on your PC speed (unless th PC is slow - which make cause it to run really laggy).

It has some kind of graphic card obviously - integrated or whatever - but it has some - otherwise you would see nothing on screen :P . But I don't get what's ur problem with running your presentation on it? I mean u didn't mention ur problem... I presume your presentation is in ppt? What's ur problem with it? And finally if it can't work no matter what - u can get a usb flash drive and copy ur presentation on it and use some other pc (I don't know where this presenttion will take place and what they have there so it's up to u to chekc it).

It's not up to us to tell u what resolution u should use - that would be retarded. Your game should check the resolutions available to the vga and screen and present them as options. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_resolution http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphic_display_resolutions http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/108386-25-what-resolution-gam Basically ur game needs to get all the possible resolutions and depth for the system and present them as available options in settings. It's up to the player to choose hat resolution he'll use - it's not that it is impossible to make a game with a fixed resolution but it's really bad practice.

Ok I got the difference. As for why "The ballista (Latin, from Greek βαλλίστρα - ballistra[1] and that from - βάλλω ballō, "throw"),[2] plural ballistae, was an ancient missile weapon which launched a large projectile at a distant target." - it is because "In a modern military, a missile is a self-propelled guided weapon system." - check the "in a modern military" part - before that missiles seems to have had the same meaning as rocket (as well as other meanings - ) "An ordinary English-language usage predating guided weapons is simply any thrown object, such as items thrown at players by rowdy spectators at a sporting event." So I guess this is the reason there's some kind of misunderstanding (even in dicitonaries- http://www.thefreedictionary.com/missile) - I mean obvioulsy missile still retains some of its old meaning: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoulder-launched_missile_weapon - "A shoulder-fired missile, shoulder-launched missile or man-portable missile is a projectile fired at a target, small enough to be carried by a single person, and fired while held on one's shoulder. The word missile in this context is used in its original broad sense which encompasses all guided missiles and unguided rockets.". So I think this is the reason the missile tank from dune2 misses - u can talk about guided and unguided missiles using missile, while rocket seems to be used only for unguided (or for the "transportation" mean - rocket - which ironically is better guided than any guided missile lol ). A lot of confusion with these terms - reminds u of something?

Got the difference I think. But what fo u mean by this: "Missiles have more steps of travelling, energy etc. While the rocket just comes in." P.S. Your main point is that rockets are unguided while missile are (at elast contemporary missiles) right? - just asking to be sure there's no misunderstanding. Can u give some example: like in battle for dune the mongoose missiles are guided - so they are considered missiles right? So what's considered a rocket there - the super weapon of the Harkonnen?

Nope it's not a joke - in English rocket may mean missile - though the term rocket is broader than missile (check it in any dictionary you want - there are plenty of dictionaries online). So this: "If in terms of damage. From anti Infantry to anti tank: Rifle, Grenade, Missile, Rocket, Cannon" doesn't really make sense unless u define the difference u find between missile in rocket - otherwise people will assume rocket=missile - which doesn't make sense in this statement.

What's the difference between a missile and a rocket? - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket : "A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle that obtains thrust from a rocket engine." - a rocket is a missile...