A super productive day today; lots added to the game that I wasn't even thinking of adding.
First, remember the post about odd things you might not be able to step on, like wire fences? Well I've fixed that problem by adding a 'can step on' bitflag to each tile. This seemed to be the easiest option, and actually it was very easy. The only hard bit was checking the initialisation of all of the objects and making sure that the right objects had it set (most things) but that other things like wire fences, and pot plants, and windows, couldn't be stepped on. Now it works much better and the silly problem of zombies walking on the fences in the shopping centre won't happen.
Here's a screenshot of my test obstacle course:
A mix of things that you shouldn't be able to step on, and some odd heights. Strange that I've rarely used the "lab table".
A huge pile of other changes today:
1. Added the ability to skip to next unit but only if they haven't moved. This was suggested by Andrew and it works very well. I might never use the plain prev/next icons anymore. 2. Changed the spider replication. This was a serious problem after I got swarmed by 80 spiders (and 8 new ones each turn!). Spiders multiply like bacteria and the problem with that is that the growth is always exponential: too easy at first but and too difficult later. I toyed with just adding, say, one or two new spiders each round, so the percentile growth would be greater with smaller numbers, but that didn't feel dynamic or realistic, and why 1? why 2? It seemed too arbitrary. I thought perhaps that each spider could, instead, simply breed once. Then the growth would never be exponential because the number of spiders that can breed will never exceed the number of spiders that begin on the level. Growth is now linear, not exponential. I've played it and it works brilliantly. I'm toying with the idea that spiders that bite become fertile again, so there can be hope for them. 3. I've added a count of targets on the mission objectives window. Another of Andrew's suggestions. This was useful to test spider reproduction rates! 4. Smoke bombs now weigh 4 instead of 5. A tiny change, but smoke bombs are not that useful so it seems silly to have them 'cost' as much as grenades. 5. Standardised lighting options (some 'day' missions had slightly odd settings), and a new 'daylight' lighting, so set all missions to that, if players want. 6. More new music, just a test for now. There is SO much music I could add, but need the time. 7. Added variable walk speed for species. I expect just about everyone will use the 'fast walk' option, but for the best looking game, zombies will now lumber a bit, and spiders will dart a bit. Until today, all units walked at the same, fairly slow, speed.
Big jobs still to come. I need to copy out all of the mission text and review it as a whole. It's not even been spell-checked and I'm bad at spotting spelling errors; the 1993 Taskforce game had at least two in the missions, and Hilt II had some famous ones (Robomorph is the brian of the sqaud - if I recall).
Typing this, I forgot to do the weekly N.H.S. clap and have missed it. The only music I've been listening to for the past two weeks has been Cover Plus, the second Hazel O'Connor album. It's very like Breaking Glass, and just as good. It's the sort of music I would produce. I've noticed that my old CD, The End and The Beginning is on eBay for £30 or so, this is a rare one. It was one of very few copies printed before Tor changed his name. It might be the only one in existence (I destroyed all of mine).
