zoc-dev

[zoc-dev]

Home Straight (at least to stable build ><)

So, I figured I'd write out a post here to give update on when I think I can get this game to a "stable" build. (a build I'm happy with as a playable game) I'm now thinking in terms of the game loop - what players are actualyl doing and why they do it. Essentially the loop is Progress, progress, progress, attain power, excercise power and repeat >< So that means Make money, rank up (through activies/missions/operations etc.), get social (a form of power in this game - its basically social status - more friends u have the more power u have to eliminate your enemies). buy bullets (attaining power) and excercising that power (shooting them). This means that when stable build is finished, i'll have an idea of how to teach the game to new players - essentially with a video+images showing how to play on login page orwhatever. So. I have a list of 18 things I need to do (+bug search/fixes which *should* hopefully not create an entire new list). once these 18 things are done, the game pretty much done as far as the design and mechanics are concerned. I'll of course continue to improve design to make user interface more seemless and fun but ultimately the design will be structured how I want it and mechanics will basically be in place. So anything after that will just be alterations to what already exists.

Some of these items are fairly big and others very small. Like one job is just to remove some navigation links, another is just to align the forums. Buit others are to create the entire mission system or to revery the main forum back to the simple 1 list of threads with thread view (as appose to categories). I honestly think I could get this all done in about a week or maybe 2. I am taking a slight break with it all becuase I've been working on this a lot lately. but I'll probably do more when I go to bed (in like 15 minutes) so I'll still work on some parts.

I feel like once this list is done iwth the problems will just be bug fixes, maybe some small redesigns (like colours and stuff). But what's important is that once this list is done, the game should FEEL like it's a whole package. Rather than just a bunc of random parts. Every element of the game will work together. so it means even if I need to fix a big bug - it's not a huge deal becuase at least the core mechanic or feature itself still fits into the game. While I'm here i'll mention something I've learnt from this process of design, redesign: It's better to plan and design an entire game before making it. Plan and design every nook and cranny "get granular" I read somewhere on reddit. It's a good idea to spend a large chunk of time on planning the development even prior to design. The design ought be in the plan.

Another cool thing is that I've found my playerbase - or kind of players I'll try to introduce tothe game when it's stable. I wont say where or what but I now know there is likely an audience who really will appreciate this game if I can get it to a decent point. Also, another thing I want to say on future plans beyond ZoC for myself --- My next project will be a small FPS SWAT game. I am in the midst of planning it (as I mentioned, planning is importnat). and my goal is to make it relaxed, calm and managable. Much of the feedback I receive on ZoC on its face vlaue is it comes across as complex, intense and uh, i forget what other words. But I want to try and make a simple/relaxed and calm game with the FPS Swat game. So it means anyone can jump in and play it rather than just a small niche audience. And so the other game I am planning but I will simply plan it whilst finishing ZoC. Hopefulyl if I make the plan then maybe in the summer I can have a stable version of ZoC which I can try to builda small community around and then at the same time (As I make iteraive imporvments to ZoC Design + mechanics) I can develop the FPS SWAT game. So here's my Game Dev Goals moving into April and how I'm gonna do them: 1. Get ZoC to a stable version by following my list I wrote out. 2. Have a FPS Swat plan written up using Gantt charts. So by the end of April I should have ZoC stable and playable and then also have a plan for FPS Swat. (sorry Ik im going over and over same thing here. just let me do my thing ><) With ZoC stable I can try to find community around it whilst making patch updates (If game is REALLY stable I wont even call it alpha or beta - ill just release it as it is, essentially and then make version patch updates). With my plans for FPS Swat I can either start gathering designs and ideas OR even find others to collab with. By having a project GANTT ready, it means I can find individuals who want to contribute specific parts of the game! But then again, I'd like to do it all myself cos it's just for fun for me but collabing can be fun . So yeah - If you read this, thanks for reading my craszy ramblings ><thanks and have a wonderful time! :D

[zoc-dev]

Continuing work on OUTPOST

Wow... So I've managed to work more on ZoCAlert so you can actually pass through functions which will run on callback (not sure if I mentioned this before..) And I spent WAY too long trying to figure out why when I created an alert that It wouldn't then remove then event handler but in the end I decided that I just can't create an alert on the master page (index.php), instead i must call it once page is fully loaded (or wait few seconds) and run it from the pages I load into the master using CSS .load or .html or whatever... long story short, i wasted like 3 hours on a problem I eventually decide doesn't actually require solving.. I think the issue is just down to how Jquery works or something like that... So, I've finished implemented ZocModules onto outpost. so it's like this now...

so yeah. as you can see the ZocModules need a lot of work to be prettier and I really need to get to work on tidying up the individual APIs (espeically airport) which is cool. So really the next jobs are: 1) Make ZocModules Pretty 2) Implement API/modules onto Encounters + Wasteland 3) Tidy up individual APIs (like airport etc.) 4) Make more missions (i feel this is important before I can start properly playtesting - even using myself as a playtetser) 5) I need to fix Mash/Arena cos currently if eneter it breaks site (but this will be eaiser using my recently make CheckUser() global function) 6) Need some sort of way of updating modules dynamicly (so if u do activity it automatically updates ur rankbar) SOO let me take a second to explain difference between OUTPOST, ENCOUNTERS and WASTELAND... Essentially best way to think of it is Outpost is your "single player" stuff. It's just stuff u can do as single player... activities, inventory, airport etc.. However the ENCOUNTERs are things u do with 1 other player (kill and banking to send cash (and probably evnetually vehicles and stuff) Then WASTELANd is things u do with entire server so like Squad, Market and stuff. I think of it like "single space, 1 to 1 space and 1 to many space" cos i like thinking in terms of databases. so in theory, i could skip encounters/wasteland for now and just focus on getting outpost finished inclding missions os i can at least do my play testing just by myself... and given outpost is bulk of game for new players i feel its important for playtesters - so I may skip enconuters/wasteland for now? so yeah. I wanted to keep the Dev Blog updated. Now I take break, I'll probably play with it on my laptop in bed but tomorrow I can basically get through that list :D

[zoc-dev]

API Dev, new Functions and New Approach to pages :)

I've been working very hard at the following: 1) Developing "API" system so I can acceess each feature with more ease from PHP and Javascript 2) adding new functions that are used globlaly (reducing code!) 3) Creating the OUTPOST page So... It's saturday and I'll soon be going off to a whetherspoons for "breakfast" (its 3pm >< I was up until aroud 8am) and will continue wokring on ZoC... Ive been hard at work at developing clever API features so i can simply include PHP files and Javascript files into the outpost page. I've developed a "ZoCModule" system i can just place my APIs into the outpost page. :D it's a work in progress. but you can get an idea of what it looks like below

If you've been following developig you might also notice the layout looks slgihtly different. I've removed the transofmr/scaling stuff I had before (where I'd work in pixels then just scale the page to the size of the window) so now everything is done by EM, % and lots of flex :D So now I can do this:

So yeah, I'm pretty happy with that :D I will stress this is in development and so the colours are just for testing purposes :D Ill probably at some point try to develop some cool graphics and stuff to go with it. __________________ You'll also notice the little window box over the top. I'm creating a ZocAlert so that you can get feedback from the game as well as hit a "yes/No" button etc. :D much like everything else in my current DeV I am using global functions. ::) Today I'm going to continue workign on this alert and getting the outpost page complete as much as possible. Which basically means turning the garage/Inventory/Airport/rankbar/missionHQ and Mash/Arena into modules for the Outpost page :D I'll get the ZoCAlert implemented and then also try my best to tidy it up so it looks good and maybe start designing some graphics for the ZoCModules and ZoCSections. Evnetually i'd quiet like to do this for all the pages... This entire redesign is part of me trying to basically make the game more fun. Once redesign is there I'll get to work on probabgly adding more missions :)

[zoc-dev]

Working on the backend... A LOT

So, I've been working on tidying up the programming code and the file structure. I had pretty much every file just inside of a "BODY" folder before but now i've tidied it up entirely so the game actually has an /assets folder with images, sounds and other stuff like that in there. I've created a /global folder for stuff used all over and even adding an /include folder... The /images folder is totally reorganised, ive deleted a lot of old stuff from when the game was still "soldiers warfare". SO MUCH tidying up has been done. I don't have pictures right now, but I'll try to remember to post some before and after to show the difference. Ive also created a /pages folder with each page in its own folder and then within those an /ajax folder for the Ajax code. I've done a lot of work organising and then re-writing the locations from each file so everything works again after re-organising. it's been a fun day >< I'm very happy with where it's got to. on top of that, I've written some functions in PHP to help tidy the code. I now have a global executeQuery function which will tidy up a lot of the coding, it's a clever function which I can basically use for ANY query I need (SELECT, UPDATE, INSERT, DELETE ) and so it's gonna help a lot. i have a picture to show the difference at the top of the blog. I also have added other functions which i can include globally such as a checkUser and a updateStats functions - these will just help me with page-checks (for if a player is dead/alive or if they're in MASH or not) which will help tidy up the code further. and the Stats function was just because i'd like to start building more functions for the game. Once I implement just these three functions throughout the backend, it's gonna make coding MUCH eaiser and much quicker.

My plan next is to implement the checkUser across the pages, implement executeQuery across the game, implement the updateStats function.... after that I'm gonna go back to work finishing up the squads system and then adding some features to the operations page (some buttons aren't implemented - simple ones like LEave Operation) and tidy up the Garage (like you cant repair vehicles yet) At that point.... I think I'll probably either continue to make functions and do all I can to tidy up the backend. After that, I really want to see what I can do about tidying up Javascript - maybe start building functions (or modules?) in javascript to see if I can tidy that code up. I also want to see about improving the casino ... ive heard of using Websockets or maybe server-sent Events. both of which i've not used before... so yeah, I want to see about what I can do with those. I'm spending my free time reading books on Javascript, Node.JS so that's given me a lot of inspiration to improve the coding side. I would like to discover what it means to write an API - but i dont think i can do that in php? I'm not sure yet. I need a book on PHP too. i should try to find one... But ultimately I think the game itself is pretty much at its "playable" stage on the front end... I am hoping once squads is complete, the game is pretty much ready for alpha testing.. and amybe i can launch it by end of may? Then beyond that, I'd like to try and build a small community around the game, meanwhile I'll work on the backend and coding side so hopefully I can collaborate with other programmers - I'd love to learn from others and improve the game as much as possible. But before collaboration happens, i feel its important to get the code up to some decent standards becuase it currently is not readable >< one of the things that worrys me right now with game is i'm pretty sure the casino is hackable becuase i do logic in the wheel and racetrack in javascript - so yeah, that'll probably need addressing prior to launch. AT least by Beta.

[zoc-dev]

So many Changes...

So since I last wrote a post, the game has gone through many changes. Forums updated, Profiles added, Airport added and completed. I have just continued to extend the features and improve every day... The design for the game has drastically changed. We have gone from soldiers warfare to Men of Chaos then to Zombies Of Chaos. Zombies of Chaos is probably the final name for the game and what It will be for good now... I've totally redesigned the game and I've redesigned the layout a few times... This image is of the bounty page and it shows basically what the game is going to look like:

I am insanely happy with where it's gotten to at this point. I had some help from Flubber on Discord who gave me some feedback. I'm incredibly happy as well with the login page:

Take note of the Mute button - music has been added, as recommended by Flubber >< --- I've also updated the ranking and XP/rewards and stuff from jobs. I've documented it too so when game is released i can post those somewhere so players cna read that in more detail and it'll make things easier to balance Next thing to do for the game is to extend this new layout to every page... add some sound effects for clicking buttons/typing etc. (oh and maybe for the casino).. Oh ive also redesigned the casino :D

Also the racetrack is redesigned

A bunch of other stuff too which I haven't mentioned just due to time (i need to be up in 4.5 hours ugh) then once ive extended the design from the bounty page and I've added some clicking sound effects and just tidyed up other parts of design (like designign the mute/volume control on front page) ... ill get to basically fixing up all the pages I haven't yet redesigned since a month or so ago Kills page, Hitlist, MIA... I want to get it all looking very nice. Then I also need to fix the kills page (many bugs) and fix hits (u dont get reward) and lots of other stuff once designs are all in place, im hoping development will speed up massively... for example i still need to put in admin commands (i want to leave that till last cos it might be a real pain in butt) Oh and another thing - I am probably going to have to migrate my code over from AJAX or whatevr im using over to server side Javascript with NodeJS and websockets. I've started readinga book on websockets to get me ready. If I can finish the game in its current state by end of march or sometime during april, then I'm hoping I can either release game as alpha/beta whilst at the same time migrating over to websockets.... The main reason will be to keep game secure (RN it can be easily hacked I think but im not 100% sure - ive done my best where i can to keep it proceted) and also just because it'll be heavy on server to keep using HTTP for everything (websockets is designed for this kind of project).. I will miss my 2006 web technologies, but i must adapt >< I am expecting to get this game up and running sometime in May or June by the latest. I have totally forgotten to blog but I'll try to do so at end of every day... oh and also take note of the navigation how it's seperated out into OUTPOST/Encounter/Wasteland... To understand what I've done here, think of it as the outpost is ur solo stuff (doing jobs, your inventory, arena, mash), encounter is anything were u interact with 1 other player (kills/overseas banking) and wasteland is anything where groups of players interact (squads, operations etc)... also Settings/community is seperate. so it's easier for players to see how to connect with the community etc. This seperation I done after flubber suggested that my old way was not the best. Thanks again Flubber and to everyone helping ZoC by giving feedback and play testing :)

[zoc-dev]

The Foundations are laid!

The foundations for Soldiers Warfare have been laid. I have finished: (.) Airport (.) Admin Tools page (not fully operational but implemented with basic commands laid out) (.) Squad Forums I will be heading to a gaming convention over the weekend so development will now be on hold until early next week. What happens now is I go back through each and every page. Re-assess the design and mechanics of each page and I begin to build a fully consistent design throughout the entire game (so this means making sure things like FORMS are consistently designed and give user feedback in similar ways (alert? Text on page? ) etc.). This will require not only redesigning the layouts, but also some of the backend code to ensure consistent mechanics throughout the game. After that, I will be going through the newly designed game and assess the gameplay algorithms on a deeper level - ensuring a balanced, fair and fun game. Next to go: 1) Asses and re-design mechanics and interface throughout Soldiers Warfare to achieve consistency. 2) Asses and balance Algorithms throughout game to achieve balance and fairness. This "roadmap" is not permanemnet. It's more of a rough guide for myself. For example - I still have many Admin Commands to implement but many of those are not as important right now as getting the game looking good/feeling good and working good. etc. Thanks for reading and leave a comment if you look forward to the release of Soldiers Warfare!

[zoc-dev]

Lots more finihsed...

So manged to finish:

-Arena -Hiscores page -Overseas Banking and I made a start on Airport but got stuck on the algorithm for working out cost - not sure how to do it cos i suck at algorithms but i'll probably just use base value for the destination and then work out extra costs with condition of your aircraft + fuel costs depending on how good ur vehicle is (better vehicles are cheaper to fly)... and thne i also need to figure out damage to vehicle but i might just not bother doing it complex - might ust do like 5-50% damage risk no matter what so its totally random. Also not sure whether to make flying instant or take time. ill probably just make it instant for now cos i CBA with working out complex algorithm for distancing. Tomorrows List: -Finish airport fly algorithm so u can fly around and ur vehicle quality and condition determin price (and destination -Add some admin tools (just basic ones like kick/mute etc. for community managment so mods can keep community good) -gonna implement squad forum using the new Forum design (IN PIC) and i'll probably implement that design into main forum too. once all this is implemented. its just a matter of re-designing / tidying up the interfaces and fixign the algorithms and mechanics so its fun and challenges to play. then comes Alpha Testing to get gameplay itself to a stable place. Alpha will be short-term then after BETA will come which will last longer. and when game is fully released, i'll find other people to help run it. thx

[zoc-dev]

I've set up this blog to update players with where I'm at with soldiers warfare development and so I can get feedback on designs and mechanics. I'll just use this post to give a run down of where I'm at or at least what is coming next... So Operations have been completed (to a basic level).... Next job, in order to get game to a stable(ish) position ready for alpha testing is to complete the following pages, in this order: 1) Airport 2) Overseas Banking 3) Hiscores page 4) Arena 5) Admin Tools 6) Squad Forums

I'll share updates as much as I can remember. Hopefully I'll update at the end of every dev session. I'll also post designs here and hopefully I can get feedback either from those who wanna play the game or just anyone from Tumblr. I chose Tumblr because I like the vibe and the platform is easy/casual and fun to use. Plus my feed is basically just cat/dog and wildlife pictures and cool drawings and art from people who I've followed which feels good lol