KaM Remake -> Multiplayer Demo out!

[krisdw]

Really happy to see you guys make such progress, it's looking great!

[Krom]

Thanks krisdw

I'm working on savegame manager, so that there no more slots. There will be list of savegames similar to Maps list.

Lewin has just added fan-made Spanish translation to KaM Remake.

We hope to release new demo in several weeks.

[I'm a guest :)]

Great job you guys did there! Been a while since I read upon the remake, was at the early dev stage. I've tried out the game and map-editor and it's really KaM!

However, I kinda miss the AI. I've tried out the demo mission from TPR number 7. I edited some stuff on the map and the Pink player on the top left and the green player on the bottom don't attack with their troops that are staged to do so. I Also have noticed that the AI doesn't properly send food to their troops, the units that spawned on map creation got fed but the new ones did not.

The Serfs are not bugged, but I think they should put priority on building materials for houses that you build. I've had a couple of buildings that were left without (enough) materials for too long imo.


AI related, what will be added/changed about the AI player when I want to do a match against them? I've been playing TPR for quite some time and put all the hack patches on it.

I always like to observe what the AI does but it's not really smart. In TPR he builds buildings according to a certain pattern and roads are placed with retarded connections. I have also noticed he never builds more then 1 bakery/butcher/wine farm and causes hunger.

Will there be a "smart" AI for solo missions?

[Lewin]

We plan to improve the AI eventually, but it's a huge task and none of us developers have experience in this area. Our long term goal is to make the AI much smarter than KaM but that might not happen for a little while yet.
So yes eventually there will be a smart AI for solo missions. Thanks for your feedback.

Features that have been implemented recently:
- Proper support for warrior voices (next demo will include voices for all languages that have them)
- New warriors from TPR are now supported (mercenaries)
- Melee fighting has sound effects (clash of weapons)

Features that will be worked on soon:
- File transfer for multiplayer (saves, maps)
- Auto reconnect for multiplayer (should fix the random disconnects that happen every hour or so when playing over the internet)
- Master server stats which can be embedded into our website (e.g. "There are currently 16 servers running with 10 players online")

[GreatWhiteBear]

I and my brother have been playing KaM for 9 years now.
We are really enjoying the multiplayer mode.
The map editor is nice but I miss the copy and paste and the auto decorate that other versions had.
Also my brother came with an idea for a building which I thought was brilliant.
It is a food camp, for big maps. You build a food camp like a warehouse but with only food. You don't need to build a road to it to build and supply it.
It would be a fairly simple building so only wood would be required. It also is destroyed very easy.

Thank you for your great work!

[GreatWhiteBear]

How about the fact that archers now shoot own units very easy?
Also towers are too smart, knights cannot out run the stones.

[The Dark Lord]

I came up with an idea: what about a shared score screen, so that when the game ends, you can see what everyone has built/destroyed, and not just your own? I myself am always very curious how other people did. :p
And just when I wrote this, I thought of the downside: people can cheat by just quitting the game to see what everyone has and then ask to reload the game because they 'crashed' or something like that.
Maybe you should only be able to see it if you are dead or have won, and if you just quit without fullfilling a winning or losing condition, you will only see your own score. What about that?

(Just an idea for the future of course, I understand there are more important things right now... Like a kick-button haha!)

[Lewin]

@GreatWhiteBear:
I've added the food camp to our ideas document for features we could add after we have everything from KaM done.
And towers/archer accuracy has been tweaked since r2087 meaning they hit less often. When the new demo comes out, please test it and let me know how well balanced it is.

@The Dark Lord:
I think a shared score screen would be a great idea, I've added it to our features list. At the moment there are simpler ways to cheat, e.g. while playing, start anyone copy of the Remake, load an autosave with all other people AI players and all on the same team, then you can see exactly what everyone is doing. (or copy the save to single player and load it there) But anyone who does that is not worth playing with. We might think of ways to prevent that in the future, for now we just have to trust that people aren't losers and bad sports.
It looks like people really want a kick button so I might implement it for the upcoming demo. Later on we plan to add proper commands typed in chat like "/kick Lewin", "/ban The Dark Lord" or something but I could add a temporary kick feature.

Another thing on our features list that should make a few people happy, is an option to force peace for the first 30/40/XX minutes of the game. That could either mean no troop training or at least no attacking, not sure yet.
Lewin.

EDIT: Kick button added

[The Dark Lord]

Hm but I think the game should be more stable first before a shared score screen is added. When someone crashes or loses connection, everyone has to leave and then they would see it anyway. But I'm glad you like the idea.

[Krom]

Score screen does not interferes with other parts of the game, it uses only statistics class and takes all data from it. So it won't be a big deal to make it look similar to e.g. StarCraft scores I pretty much like the idea

To make it work we need to decide on required values (atm KaM shows too may useless stats) and maybe do something with backgroung picture - cos it will be heavily covered with text and bevel areas.

[Lewin]

To make it work we need to decide on required values (atm KaM shows too may useless stats)

I disagree, I like all of the current stats that KaM shows and I'd like to consider showing more if possible. Ideas from my head and other RTS games:
- % of map explored (interesting in multiplayer to see which team member did the most)
- Number of mouse clicks
- Raw materials produced (meaning stone, tree trunks, corn, wine, iron ore, gold ore, coal)
- Longest continuous road
- Graphs of population/army size over time?
(most of those ideas come from Empire Earth, except longest road. I always like the statistics screen in that game, it makes for good discussions afterwards)

I think there could be 1 screen whole per player, as fitting 8 (and more when we allowed it) players on one screen might not work. Of course that makes it harder to compare, so if we can fit them all on one screen it would be good. The current layout is not very efficient at all. Maybe we could fit 8 players on the screen and when we support more we can add a scroll bar if it doesn't all fit.

We should also have a way to support exporting the statistics to either a text document or something else.
Lewin.

[The Dark Lord]

I have a question about the woodcutter. Look at this picture:



Imagine the black line is a mountain. The red square is a woodcutter's hut and the red circle is the radius in which the woodcutter will cut and plant trees.
As you see, the radius also covers a part of the area on the other side of the mountain. Will the woodcutter leave his radius and go to the other side of the mountain (to plant a tree at the blue square for example) no matter how far it is, or will he just stay on the 'right' side?

This is quite important to know for one of the maps I'm working on.

Edit: I also like kill/death ratio for the score screen. Graphs are a great idea too! And not just population/army, but maybe also servants and labourers.

Edit 2: Hehe as I saw in our game I think the Longest Continuous Road Award goes to Lewin.

Edit 3: You could also make a screen with two tabs, one for individual scores and one for team scores.

Ok enough edits now.

[Lewin]

Unfortunately the woodcutter will plant and chop trees at the red square. Same goes for other units like farmers, fisherman, stonemasons etc. I'd like to fix this so I'll add it to the bugs list, but I can't think of an efficient way to check it off the top of my head.

The team tab is a nice idea! Also it should place a little star next to the player who "won" each "award".

[Krom]

More stats.. hm.. this needs a good layout to fit all of them and graphs as well. Maybe a graph area and a radioGroup beside it with all available options?

Perhaps Woodcutters situation could be solved by checking route length a little bit earlier.

[xzaz]

You can divide the stats like Age Of Empires does, they divide the stats in economic military.. etc.