As you may have noticed, I haven't had much time to work on Global Triumph lately. There are a few relatively minor bugs that I need to fix when I find time, but it's been running pretty smoothly for quite a while.
Once I iron out the last bugs, I believe I'll be done with Beta and launch the game as it plays now. It will be the actual 1.0. I don't expect to charge for upgraded accounts that get additional capabilities at that time, but I'll likely have a small fee for an upgraded account that can play on more than one world.
I have a fairly long list of improvements I'd like to make, but it borders on rewriting the entire game! So, when I do find time, I'll likely start on GT2. Some things I'd like to incorporate into GT2 (if I can make them work well with a browser):
- Wrapping (non-flat) worlds. - Multiple zoom levels, including infinite dragging. - Different terrains. - Air unit develop within air attacks. - Roaming units that target blank land (may require an account upgrade). - Click and drag selection for all keyboard shortcuts (instead of just clone attacks). For example, if you're holding the "create unit" key and highlight a square around a land base, you could create an entire tank ball with one click. - A "vacation" setting. - "Resigning" a country will be replaced by "abandoning" a country.
There's a lot more, but those are the highlights. A few notes:
- I'm not sure yet if I'm going to address the timing issue, as I'm hesitant to implement a change that would slow the gameplay too much. Adding a build delay may also make it impossible to make a successful landing via sea attack. I may instead make different worlds process at different times, so a user who can stay up until 3:59am won't have an advantage on every world.
- I'll likely abandon keeping the game universal across most browsers and OSes, instead focusing on the most common, fastest, and standards-compliant browsers (i.e. Firefox and Chrome). IE is horrifically slow, so I have no plans to even test within it. I can't depend on Mac users having a right-click, so I avoided it in the current user interface (UI). I think the UI could be much improved with it, though, so those users may lose some ease-of-use that other users will have. A very large majority of the current users use Firefox or Chrome on Windows anyway, so it shouldn't have much of an impact.
And finally, please note that I don't have a timeframe at this point. I'm just sharing my plans.
Thank you very much for the information/plans update. It is much appreciated (as is the game in general, as noted elsewhere).
I might suggest that a cylindrical or toroidal world map would be significantly easier to implement than a spherical one. I would, however, be keenly interested in any ideas you have on how you could go about making a spherical map.
I might suggest that a cylindrical or toroidal world map would be significantly easier to implement than a spherical one.
Sorry, I meant spherical in concept, meaning that the world would wrap (instead of being "flat" like the current version). Poor wording choice on my part!
I just want to say that I think worlds like Fulgur are pretty awesome and would like to see more maps based on our world. Like perhaps one of Hawaii or Great Brittain, or if you ever do another Cerato sized, perhaps the entire world.
4096x2048 sounds good, I am thinking selectable spawning would be good for a real world map since I'm sure most people already have a favorite corner they want to play in.
May I throw in a small suggesetion: Put material values on the sectors that correspond with the real world. For example: Sectors in the Antartic would only have a materials value of 100 while sectors in the eastern US would have a materials value of 1000.
May I throw in a small suggesetion: Put material values on the sectors that correspond with the real world. For example: Sectors in the Antartic would only have a materials value of 100 while sectors in the eastern US would have a materials value of 1000.
I don't really have access to any sort of data source that would provide me with that type of information. And different areas of the world have different types of resources, so I'd need quite an extensive set of data!
Also, if I'm allowing people to select a starting location, everyone would just cluster around the highest resources. I think I'd have to keep resources fairly neutral in order to keep the same level of relative balance in the game.
Also, if I'm allowing people to select a starting location, everyone would just cluster around the highest resources. I think I'd have to keep resources fairly neutral in order to keep the same level of relative balance in the game.
Then they can just kill each other off while the isolated, low-resource country expands and mop up the remainder. :)
What about message board improvements? Any chance they'll make the GT2 cut?
I'm guessing I like others are used to robust message boards that enable organized thread management: things like board/topic subs, moving and deleting. And I know it's been mentioned before, but polling would be very useful to coordination among alliances.
What about message board improvements? Any chance they'll make the GT2 cut?
I'm guessing I like others are used to robust message boards that enable organized thread management: things like board/topic subs, moving and deleting. And I know it's been mentioned before, but polling would be very useful to coordination among alliances.
I think it might be neat to have some sort of "Hall of Fame" list. Perhaps listing the largest single nation on each map after it ends? Also, maybe set time limits on each map. It might give some interesting progression throughout the game.
I think it might be neat to have some sort of "Hall of Fame" list. Perhaps listing the largest single nation on each map after it ends? Also, maybe set time limits on each map. It might give some interesting progression throughout the game.
I don't really have access to any sort of data source that would provide me with that type of information. And different areas of the world have different types of resources, so I'd need quite an extensive set of data!
Also, if I'm allowing people to select a starting location, everyone would just cluster around the highest resources. I think I'd have to keep resources fairly neutral in order to keep the same level of relative balance in the game.
You could use population density for the resource value in each square. Ranking by income rather than sector count would make more sense in this kind of map though.
I also, more or less, agree with Manaco regarding how players would naturally distribute themselves. To make sure the low resource countries have enough space, you could make the distance requirement for placing dependent on the average resource value in an area.
What about message board improvements? Any chance they'll make the GT2 cut?
I'm guessing I like others are used to robust message boards that enable organized thread management: things like board/topic subs, moving and deleting. And I know it's been mentioned before, but polling would be very useful to coordination among alliances.
Improvements to the board and chat are things I'd like to get to one day, but my priority is the game itself. I've already been having a hard enough time keeping up with that lately!
I'd love to see that US map with the actual countries already established and a bidding/auction system for each country. Everyone gets 50,000 and bids on the counties they would like to have. Players could have multiple countries at the start. The starting money is that 50k, minus what was spent on countries.
Improvements to the board and chat are things I'd like to get to one day, but my priority is the game itself. I've already been having a hard enough time keeping up with that lately!
I can only imagine. You've done a great job though man.
With all the suggestions and ideas coming, have you ever considered outside help? I'm sure you're not ready to hire anyone to work on a free game (lol), but what about volunteer designers, coders, coordinators, moderators etc? If you had interest and put it out there, I'm sure people would step up.