Dear readers, I had the need to test new framework for Game Development, to improve the speed of development in Xhelos.

I have been thinking on ways to improve the code of the game in the backend and the way Im developing Xhelos in the front end. Libraries like Doctrine to handle the database, and frontend frameworks like Backbone to improve the interface of the game.

Well, three weels ago I decided to test an IDE for pure HTML5 games development called Construct2, that allow you to create easily and without writing any code, games in Javascript. It doesnt have server support by default but it help you connect to a data font using Sockets or Ajax.

So I will try to develop a simple platform game, to see what things can I do with the tool, specially the connection and extraction of data via Ajax.

Of course the game is going to be freely available via a subdomain of xhelos. If you want any info about the things I have done in Construct2, feel free to tell me about it!.

So far Construct2 seems like an easy tool, specially for making animations in Javascript, a thing that is hard to do in Javascript alone. The title of the game is going to be Invasion :D

As we have commented before, we are developing the part of Unit Transportation between planets and stars. It will be an interesting system that will allow players to control transit routes around the unirverse.

Before we start this part of the project, we needed to end a part of the game that I have been postpone for a long time, the Squadron Creation.

What are Squads

Our Units, the creatures we use to bring pandemonium to other players, can be grouped in Squads, a group of units of the same class. There's a limit of how many units a Squad can have. We can create teams of different squads..

_{A team of 3 Squadrons, one with 4 units and the other 2 with six units.}

Weights and Squads

To control the maximun limit of unit per squad,  we created a player property  called Maximun Weight per Squad.It start with 1000 Kg but can be expanded with researchs.

Now as we use biomes to create a unit, each biome comes with a weight and the sum of different biomes are going to give us a final weight for the unit. For example if a creature we have just created has a weight of 320Kg, you can create a Squad of  3 units, because  3 * 320 = 960 and you still have 40Kg to use (hope this quantity of math doesn't hurt someone). But if we create a unit with 340Kg (20 kilos more), you will only be able to create 2 units in that squad because with 3 units you are going to pass the limit of  1000Kg , 3 * 340 = 1020.

_{In the red box, we show the maximun quantity of units per squad., together with the weight of the unit.} 

Well Squad is a word that Im using to define this unit agrupation, but if someone has a better name, please dont be shy and tell me. Now we have to develop the transport between planets and stars!.

See ya.

Today we have finished the Effects applied to the units. This new improvement open a world of ideas on the game. Allow me to explain what is an army effect:

What is an Army Effect?

Imagine a powerup that add more attack to a unit and that each time the unit attack or respond an attack a numeric counter is reduced, so when the counter comes to zero, the powerup is removed, this is basically wbat an effect is, a powerup that improves or worsen the stats of a units with a numeric counter that is reduce when the unit do something or when in his turn.

The posibilities that this system brings to the game is astounding.

_{The first picture shows the detail of a unit with two effects. The second picture shows a unit with two effects on it.}

Our next step is the improvement of traveling to other planets or stars.

Well, I had a "work vacation" as I like to say about time overjob, but this months seems like I will have more free time so, its about time to continue the develop of Xhelos.

Actual State

We continue to battle the units effects and also we need to improve the AI, the last changes on the game has made the AI unusable but i will put it back on his track in no time.

I dont really like to redo the AI again but Its a job I gotta do.

In the near Future

After finishing the AI and the Effect System for units, I only need to see how the units are going to move between planets and stars, and also redo the register of new users and add some new content to the game.

This webpage will migrate to drupal78, hell, its a uber necesary change that can be done easily, I expect to dont take to much time in this migration.

I will bring some more news soon!.

Continuing with the development, I can say that we are advancing a lot in this year and we want to continue this way.

Where we are?

We are developing Avatars to the colonies in region. We want the primary and secondary colony to had a more protagonic role in battle, for example the capacity of release units inside the colony and a special attack that the colony has to protect herself. To balance this new power, the colonies can be attacked and be plundered, each time a colony is attacked, a certain quantity of resources are stealed for the colony owner. aun se esta calculando este dato. We are still calculating the rate of resources but we will have this.

¿Where are we going?

We are ending the Effect System, especially the battle effects units. After that we are going to improve the movement between regions, planets and stars and improve the AI in regions and planets. Our objetive is made the game fun even is no other player is in the region. When we end this we are going to launch the game to BETA!

We are working in a very important section of the game. The Effect Module. But, what is an effect in the game?

The Effects are the register of changes mades to a player, unit, terrain, planet that affect one or more of their stats and they can be reverted.

Lets make an example. We build a  biomatery refinery, a construction that improve the rate of biomatery generated per hour in a colony. Whe need a systematic way of controlling that rate when building, upgrading an downgrading  the construction, and more important, the user needs to know what effects are applied to the rate of biomatery production in the colony.

If we only improve the rate of biomatery, the user will only see the final effect but have no explicit way of knowing how. it was generated. So if we have a colony in a region that generates 10 biomatery per hour, and in that colony we have a biomateruy rfienry that add 1 biomatery per hour, the total will be 11 biomatery per hour, but the user will not know how that total was generated.

That's why we need a way to store those changes.  and the effect way really help alot in this sense.