Updated the website with the downloads, submitted the source package to the LPC. Hopefully it was accepted.

Now it is time for a shower and a nap. Good Luck everyone! ^^

So yesterday I made a windows installer and put it on the indiedb page for Dungeon tactics.

http://www.indiedb.com/games/dungeon-tactics

It is currently tracking at Rank 45 of 7,480, with 1,169 Visits.

To run the game you need to invoke xenos engine using a command line option with the name of the module, like "xenos.exe dungeontactics".

The installer should have created a shortcut link with the options in the install directory.

I have no clue what .deps is honestly. Xenos was developed on slackware 10.2 using Kdevelop 3, ported to Windows XP using Code::Blocks 10.05 shortly after, and I have not done much of anything with it since then. If I recall correctly slack10 uses kdev3, so you might need to import the project files instead of opening it directly.

As to your other questiom xenos does unfortunately require a huge number of dependencies to be compiled first, which are currently not intergrated in the most optimal manner. As it is right now is everything is compiled into the xenos executable, when ideally it should only be the core objects and each engine sub component should be a seperate lib - xaudio.so, xnet.so, etc...

The following diagram is not even a complete list; each open source lib has itself numerous sub dependencies; for example irrlicht relies on glut and zlib; I am pretty sure I included it all in my tarbell of doom, but I may have missed something. I dont know if that will work, maybe screencap the error make spits out and post it so I can see?

I am fairly sure that I am the only person on the face of the world who has managed to actually compile this engine, which is why I have not yet upgraded my linux machine since the xenos project was started way back in 2007. I am rooting for you to get it working tho, since as soon as someone does I will upgrade to that newfangled slackware 13 with Kde 4.

Sure thing! I just changed the text on the Dungeon Tactics indiedb page to have the same hyperlink configuration as the homepage.

:)

Yes, by stripping down the project to it's core mechanics it provided a very obtainable goal for the contest and a clear roadmap for future enhancements. The focus of the next version is the campaign system with support for multiple map types, story dialog, and a quest hub.

The new map types will be randombly generated like the current dungeons are. Quest hubs will allow users to select specific adventures in different themed locations. Hubs also will have ammenities including weapon, armor, and consumable stores, mercenary halls and animal breeders to provide mobs for hire, class trainers to promote your characters to the next tier. In hub campaigns you will return to the hub after you clear an entire dungeon, or if you move all of your characters to your start area. This will give players the opportunity to exit a dungeon and restock or equip different weapon and mob combinations.

The campaign system will also feature support for multiple campaigns. "Dungeon Tactics Classic" will play exactly the same as it is now, at least from a gameplay point of view. "Dungeon Tactics Advanced" will showcase all the new mechanics and classes.

A third campaign is in the works as well, tenetivily entitled "Cyber City SWAT". It will utilize scorpio's sci-fi sprite pack, and play as sort of a dystopian future battle between cybercops, mecha, and insane post apocalyptic street gangs...

The game has a steep learning curve, but it plateaus rapidly. If a player manages to finish the first level they will be able to clear the last, there is really nothing new to learn for the rest of the game. Aside from the level 5 skills that is. The mage's fireball is so ridiculously OP, and dangerous to everyone around. I don't know how many times my Mage accidently killed my Fighter but it was a lot!

Help tips would help, but I am not exactly convinced they are the way to go.

A tutorial level seems a but intrusive. I would rather flaten the curve by making the interface more intuitive.

I think signage above the start area would be great. I was thinking a big green "start" with an arrow pointing at the stairs. Also, it could only be displayed while no player mobs are deployed; once a user knows to click the stairs to deploy a mob it becomes redundant.

Action indicators are also a good idea. I have been playing around with a few options but nothing has really clicked so far... I will try a yellow arrow over selected unit, and make the targeting reticule change to out arrows on friendly mobs, in arrows on hostile, and the arrows themselves will be solid for ready and hollow for done. That might work...

New version of Dungeon Tactics is out. You can get it on the official site or the indiedb page. No new content, but tons of useability enhancements. Check it out, tell me what you think!

Just uploaded Dungeon Tactics version 1.2 to indiedb and the official website.

This release adds sound effects and music, fixes some bugs, tightens up some graphics and adds some new mechanics to streamline gameplay. Try it out, tell me what you think!

Dungeon Tactics version 1.4 is almost ready, but I've decided to delay the release an additional week to flesh out the story and dialog system a bit more. This new patch adds basically everything that anyone has ever asked to be in the game. A tutorial, a plot, town to sell stuff at, savegames, more maps, more classes, etc, etc. It is huge.

The plot I have come up with for Dungeon Tactics Episode 1 is very complex. It is a tragedy in the classical sense, and the story does start off extremly cliche. Then it rapidly subverts all it's tropes in the most darkest and brutal manner possible. Some of the themes I touch on are loyalty and betrayal, war, greed, racisim, religious intolerance, sacrifice, self sacrifice, human sacrifice, mythology v.s. religion, political manipulation, brainwashing, nature v.s. nuture, free will v.s destiny, love v.s lust, unrequited love, grief and loss.

Dispair, hopelessness, anguish. murder, genocide, suicide.

You know, the fun stuff.

^^

Dungeon Tactcis 1.4 is now available.

Version 1.4 Change Log

• In-game currency. Loot drops now have a chance to contain gold coins in addition to items.
• Quest Hub. (towns) Right now towns are purely menu driven, but maybe sometime in the future we will be able to walk around and talk to npcs.
• Save and Load features. When you exit your mobs are now saved, but maps are not. When you load you will be in town with all the mobs you had when you quit.
• Death. Now when mobs are defeated they are not auto-revived at the start of the next match. Instead they are dead, and stay dead.
• Mobs can be healed or revived at a quest hub in exchange for gold coins.
• A match will end if a player ends their turn with no mobs on the field. The player and all mobs will return to the quest hub.
• If a player quits the game during a match then all mobs flee without exp or loot, and the player will return to the quest hub on game load.
• Added support for variable height tiles
• Raised maximum party members from 4 to 6
• Lowered starting party members from 4 to 1
• Quest Selector ( Quest List. Select quests)
• Party Manager  ( Hire, Retire)
• Vendor   ( Buy / Sell items )
• Temple   ( Heal party / Raise dead )
• Forest map
• Tutorial
• Story / Plotline
• Dialog Menu
• Added 2 new classes : Knight and Necromancer.
• Quest rewards. Gold bonus as well as exp.
• adjusted score and endgame score screen.
• adjusted class balance
• fixed bug where weapons would sometimes no longer equip correctly
• fixed bug where units were sometimes allowed to deploy when not supposed to

Indiedb was having some issues. The link on the official website should work tho.

http://dungeon-tactics.com/downloads.html

Good feedback. Excellent observations; you are spot on everything but the inititative system. It uses a unique "phased activation sequence". It is complex, but the single most awesome feature of Dungeon Tactics.

...

A match is divided into turns.

During a single turn all units will activate once.

Each turn is divided into phases.

Each phase is divided into rounds which alternate between players.

During a player's phase they can activate a set number of units.

Units may activate in any order.

Each player gets the same number of phases each turn, but the number of activations per phase may differ depending on the number of units each player has.

The number of each activations is adjusted each phase to keep the number of phases eac hplayer has equal.

Example 1: if player A has 10 units and player B has 5 then there will be 5 phases, during which player A will activate 2 units, while player B will activate 1.

Example 2: Both players have 10 units. Both players have 10 phases, each with 1 activation

Example 3: Player A has 10 units, player B has 2 units. There are 2 phases. Player A activates 5 units per phase, while player B activates 1.

...

This system was designed for multiplayer PvP and circumvents the main issues that other turn based systems suffer from. In IGOUGO the victor is often decided on the first dice roll, as the side that wins the inititative roll can effectivly attack the opponent force unhindered, often reducing it to below effective combat status before the controling player has a chance to make a single move. In stat based inititave systems high stat value units are often favored to the exclusion of all else, as the importance of moving and attacking first is considerable.In random inititave roll systems, a series of bad rolls can doom a player to the same fate as loosing an inititave roll in IGOUGO systems.

Also, it bypasses the main flaw if the IGOUGO system; taking your turn then going for a snak break because your opponent takes so long moving his entire force one unit at a time, checking range and line of sight to each enemy unit for every one... Dungeon Tactics PvP is going to have a speed chess style turn clock.

...

Hotkeys, yes.

Action state icons, yes. could go above unit head's with HP/SP bars

Detailed class descriptions in character creation; support exists but no copy was written

Heal all button in temple was supposed to be in this patch but ran out of time. I was already a week late!

Auto-move/ attack option, might be a good idea, but. I am thinking of moving to an action point system, where units get 2 ap per activation, and actions cost 1. so units can attack twice or move twice, or attack then move, or move then attack.

Map / characters sizes is a good point. we can play around with the ratio of character to tile.

Menu size / positions, yeah i know they are bad. the menu button system is a total hack, dropdown would be way better, but i am not that good at design so i am shoehornining the LPC graphics into places it really wasn't ment to be.

Background art is important too, which is why I hacked together the tower background for the town now, before when it was just a black screen it was unbearable. But again, production constraints, I suck at art. I will keep an eye out for free stuff to use, but the whole reason teh LPC started was because there wasnt much.

Oh well, one day I will go on a crusade against the color black and purge it from the game. In the meantime I have a lot of stuff to occupy my time with... ^^

ok, editied. ^^

OK! That is done, done, done, done, done and done.

Well maybe not all done; going to hold off on the menu and backgrounds for a while, but everything else (and then some) is finished.

Here is the checklist for 1.6 so far :

// 1.6
X) Action system revamp; units now have more options what they can do during their activations; they can now move and attack, attack and move, attack twice, or move twice.
X) Action state icons for Ready/Active/Done. Could be better but it works for now. Oh, and i should make a hotkey to toggle them on and off (they are useful but i hate screen clutter.)
X) Adjusted character graphics - character sprites are now 20% bigger
X) Added heal all button in temple.
X) Added keyboard shortcuts ( M for move, A to attack, W to wait, E to end turn, S for special, H for home base, space for rotate camera )
X) Detailed class descriptions in character creation. (could be better, w/ list of skills... but I want to make sure all skills work correctly first.)
X) Info box displays stats for mobs you hover over
X) Changed unit list so that just clicking on a reserve unit will deploy it

Going to spend the next two weeks revamping the skill system so that baddies can use their skillz, and if I have time I will add summons and status effect skills.

Aye, it does look a lot better. And it palys better too, the action system revamp literally made the game play twice as fast. Double move means you can get into combat earlier, as well as position your mobs better. And double attacks mean that once the battle starts, it end twice as fast...

Aye! I have been testing the system in pvp IRL, with dice.

The core ruleset was developed over years of playing tabletop games like Warhammer /40k, Starwars Miniatures Battles, Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures, Battletech, Space Crusade, etc, etc. The things that I think most inspired it is the way the 'reaction' system in Starship Troopers Miniatures played, and the wierd turn track they had in Starfleet Battles.

When I coded the action system revamp, I also cleaned up everything for multiplayer. Once I get everything in-game working I will add the Arena.

^^

Version 1.6 is out.... tell me what you think.

http://dungeon-tactics.com/

oo, again with the mistakes uploading.

it is fixed now.

So I have almost finished the new streamlined user interface fo rDungeon Tactics. A huge amount of research went into the design and it has been a huge development effort to implement, but it was totally worth it from a gameplay perspective. Everything is much easier to navigate, and the options available to the user are presented in a much more straightforward manner.

The revamped mob info panel now shows allied unit icons along the left hand side of the screen and opponent unit icons on the right side. This change combines home base and unit list functionality with the info panel. In addition the support menu functions have been combined with the turn indicator. So, that is five discrete interface elements that have been combined into two.

The other major interface change is the removal of the Disgaea style stat block in favor of a Tekken inspired opposing health bar system. This pushes a lot of the game's numerical complexity out of sight, and while the statistical data is still available it is not nearly as overwhelmingly prevalent in the design.

The interface overhaul is only one of 4 major features in the new version. In addition there is also the attribute overhaul to increase mob and item variation, the Character development overhaul which flattens the vertical model to allow for more horizontal progression, and the revampped loot system which gives the user more control over the rewards receaved.

I'll post more when I have it...

^^

I just updated the game's indiedb page with info about some more changes in the next version.

Check it out, tell me what you think!

It is a bit like the original Diablo; characters do not level automatically anymore. Instead, once you have enough exp to level a character up a button will appear on their character sheet that when clicked will allow you to spend exp and level up that character. The main difference is when your characters do stuff to earn exp, the points are put into a shared exp pool, and can then be spent on any character in your party, not just the one specific character that earned it.

Everyone still earns exp, and everyone still levels, it is just they do not carry around their own exp, in the same way they do not carry around their own gold. If a character picks up a gold coin they throw it into the shared party gold coin pool and that gold can be spent on any character; now the same thing happens to exp. If a character earns exp the point is thrown into a shared exp pool and can be spent on any character.

Let's say for example you have a veteren fighter and a novice mage in your party. Your fighter could run around beating stuff up for exp, while your mage hangs back and throws the occasional fireball; the fighter is going to earn more exp then the mage. In the old system where everyone earned exp for themselves and leveled automatically that would mean the fighter would level up a lot faster then the mage. In the new system all of the exp earned by any of your characters goes into a single exp pool, and is shared between all members of a party. Characters do not level automatically in the new system, instead the player controlls when characters level by spending party exp. You could spend your party exp to level up your fighter to elite, or level your mage to veteren, or you could use your exp to unlock a new class, such as Knight or Witch.

This way, the new system does not force a player to use a class they do not want to use. If you do not want to level a witch, but really want a tier 3 mystic class in your party, you can use a different class like fighter, to earn exp for the unlock. If you have enough exp you can unlock a new class, recruit a new party member of said class, and then level that character to max without ever using him in combat once.

Using the old system if you wanted a necromancer you would have had to level a mage to level cap to unlock the witch class, then leveled a witch to cap in order to unlock necromancer class.