Road to demo release

[jack1974]

Yes, the only thing I'm unsure is about some gameplay part, in particular the resources. I was chatting about this with Anima yesterday. The main issue is not when you are playing / can play just one card, since the game highlight the playable ones automatically (so you know which one you can play and which not).
The problem is when you have let's say: 5 credit 4 materials 3 energy 3 personal. Values like that, and you can summon "potentially" 3 cards, but of course each card you summon, costs resources. So maybe 1 of those 3 cards could use almost all resources, or you could play two other cards instead.
That part is hard. I mean, people should do math and it's much less intuitive than Hearthstone system.
Reducing the resources to 2 probably would be a good move, credits and a generic "resource". I could find other uses for the solar panel, mines, etc.
Anyway for now I'll wait feedback on tomorrow's "early demo" from people before making any drastic decision like reducing resources and redesigning all cards (is not hard but very time consuming task).

[jack1974]

Coded mission 5, which was a bit more tricky since based on a choice you get a different bonus. Just a minor bug left, and tonight probably will send it to Miakoda to check, and tomorrow if all goes well, I will put it live (remember it's only the first 5 missions).

[Miakoda]

I'll get right on changing the text. I know I look forward to testing it as well.

[jack1974]

I am at mission 06 right now. Currently, I'm trying to allow the player to create custom decks, within the restrictions of the mission.
I think for some players will be a bit confusing, so I'm adding a basic tutorial to the first time you see the deck builder beside the side missions (where you have no restrictions instead).
Because of this, I'm almost certain I won't make in time to release the beta tomorrow, though it shouldn't be too far away I think
The length of the changelog (the things changed vs previous demo) is insane, made a LOT of progress and bugfixes.

[jack1974]

Did mission 7, and I'm about to add the deck building tutorial. It has been a bit slow since now the various texts are all replaced by battle FX, so I had to make them, otherwise for example understanding what was going on with the sharpshooters was even more confusing than before

As you can see from the video, lots of stuff added. Lots of placeholders still of course. Also the AI could be smarter, it keeps using the Vanguard Cry when there's only one friendly unit (it raises attack of 2 friendly units).
Though in several cases is hard to say if the AI is right or not. Even when playing Hearthstone sometimes you need to use a skill even if the situation is not optimal, because otherwise enemy could kill your unit anyway.

[jack1974]

Finished mission 8, took longer because I managed to put some interesting stuff in it, like enemy units "infiltrating" into the player lineup...
But I think I'm done experimenting for now (I got a bit carried away!) and I'm now moving fast to finish the demo.
I'd say that it could be ready Wednesday, but in any case for sure for next weekend

[jack1974]

finished the demo! Of course even if you buy, the game still ends after the demo right now
I'm going to take a break, and see if Anima and I (well, mostly him!) can find out how to add a nice "card summon" animation. But since it's not essential, I might release the beta without it (as it is now).
Will upload it later today, which means in around 5-6h from now.

[Franka]

Ok, I'll go watch the new James Bond thingie, and when I get back home, I expect great things!

[jack1974]

Haha we spent several hours to have a smooth summon animation. It's fun how Ren'Py is super powerful for some stuff, and not so much for something apparently so easy like this
Anyway we're just doing polishing, the rest already works fine.