Mantis: 30 Days in the Hole...

30 Days...

So after submitting my 7DFPS Game Jam entry a month ago, I continued to work on it, thinking I might release a '30 Day' version.
Work and an impending holiday have kept me from releasing it on the 30th day, but I may yet still put out a 'holdiay' version...

Anyway, I fixed a number of bugged/broken/incomplete features, and then integrated AFX. My process for doing this involved first building what I've dubbed 'afxHybrid' as it is a Full Template, modded with the RTS Tutorial, and then with the selection functionality and a limited amount of assets from AFX, as well as a number of my own new stuff. I hope to release my development template as an AFX resource early in the new year - I'm bogged down with some Client/Server issues, as soon as they're resolved I'll be adding a chain of resources. My afx mods to the stock T3D weapons went in seamlessly and now I had random bombardments of Great Balls of Fire and other nasty elements to procedurally add to the levels...

...in the Hole...

I have on one of my drives a folder bulging with animated models and test projects I have assembled over the years. I've dubbed this folder I use to spawn,test and torture AI code/scripts/assets 'the Isle of Gibby Moreau'. It's become quite populous over the last few years as I've fallen into the habit of spending the long hours I spend travelling and waiting for others in my audio career by rigging models I found on the 'net or purchased from places like TurboSquid. I needed a proper hive guard for the dark, dank and comfy spawn hives in Mantis, so I brought out one of my 'nasties':

The Energy Leech




These little nasties spawn with thier own UAISK 'leech' behaviour. They attack anything with an organic nervous system or computer-control, including vehicles. They drain the energy off of anything they attack and as they do they grow. Eventually they reach full size and begin to glow with radaitve intensity. Being the gannets they are, these nasty leeches will overeat, and when they do, they explode in a gooey, bio-radiative mess. The Mantis have domesticated these creatures as hive guards but like any other pet there are feral strays out in the wild... Aside from being hive guards, they are quite useful to send forward toward an advancing line of 'driods'. As they harrow the attackers, they not only slow down the advance but gain energy. A wise Mantis will target them as they mature, taking large chunks of the enemy line with them...

I also added a set of 'base prefabs' that included a shape, waypoints, afxEffectrons and other goodies. I place about eight or more of these in the level, create marker objects with matching position/rotation and then add the markers to a simgroup. I then added a little script that would randomly add a server/level-defined number of objectives to the level, thuse generating procedural bases to capture. I fixed up the base scripts so they can be captured/held/defended/locked using hacked up versions of the old T2/'Legends' scripts. I setup my limited AFX casting to be tied to the objectives - the more you control, the more 'powers' you get. A base's icon and forcefield change depending on status/ownership so you can see in your HUD where the battle is going:

Bases




Here's a view of a leech defending an objective, while 'droids' struggle to capture it amidst an orbital strike.These bots have a new 'seige' behavior for UAISK, and I've added a basic GOAP to keep the game balanced and fair... BTW note the custom 'snail trails' for the leech:




In the past few weeks I've added enough new forest brushes to effectively double the amount I had before for Mantis. My next task is to redo all the forests in each level, and fix the cave interiors of the assault level. Admittedly, I spent very little on the actual design of my levels - I wanted to feature my proceduralism with them. Now that I have working game mechanics, I can go back and make them balanced yet more challenging, as well as better looking. With 'keeper' objects in place, I can then update the navmeshes and add in my vehicle/beast ai, which are ready to go pending the level construction... After that I have to grit my teeth and start making real GUIs. For now, I have a fun little game that has already made me lose many valuable hours playing...

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