Development Diary #5 - 30th of September 2009

Hello everybody, and welcome to our fifth development diary for ‘For the Glory’ (FTG).

Since this is my first diary, I thought I'd begin by introducing myself. My name is Michael Myers and I am the co-lead developer on the project. I have been playing EU2 off and on (mostly on) since early 2003. When Paradox offered the licensing deal, I immediately jumped at the chance, but then realized that I didn't really have enough time to improve the game dramatically by myself. So when YodaMaster suggested we join forces shortly thereafter, I was happy to accept.

I have focused mainly on three areas: the script engine, small interface enhancements (improving things that annoyed me about EU2), and bugfixing. Today I'll introduce some of the changes to the script engine, but not triggers and commands; there will be time enough for those later.

One oft-requested feature for events is to have the AI chance be coded in the event. This is a simple enough change; simply put

Code:

ai_chance = <number>

into all active actions, and the AI will make a choice based on the numbers. For example, if there are two actions, one with ai_chance = 150 and the other with ai_chance = 50, there is a 75% chance that the AI will choose the first one.

If at least one active action has no ai_chance defined, then the standard probabilities (which the player can change in the scenario options as shown in dev diary #3) will be used.

But let's back up a little. I keep saying “active” actions; what does that mean? Simply that each action can have its own trigger. If the trigger's conditions are not met, the action will not be displayed. This makes it no longer necessary to have multiple versions of the same event for different conditions (like for instance the Burgundian inheritance, which should behave differently if either France or Austria doesn't exist).

To facilitate this further, events are no longer restricted to four actions. They are only limited by the size of the screen; I've made test events with as many as 13 actions.

And did I mention that commands can have their own triggers also?

Finally, so as to make this diary at least a little visually interesting, here is the last new event feature. See if you can spot it:



Yes, you guessed it: your current domestic policies are now shown in the tooltip!

...Oh, yes, there's also that picture thing too.

And there are also a few other interesting things in the screenshot; can you spot them?

 

New Naval sprites and a notifier for naval attrition (plus a slider reminder thingy?) ?


By the way really interesting new features!
The event picture is classy.

 

Dissapointing diary. Too short and too uninformative.

Mostly because it deals with modding business, not playing business.

 

A development diary is never too short, nor is it too long. It is exactly as long as it means to!

 

True, but perhaps you'll appreciate the new features more when you're actually playing with them.

 

Do you ever do anything but whining?

 

All ships can carry troops but transports carry two each? (or has this been mentioned before?)

 

That was always the case in EU2, actually.

 

Awesome! I've been thinking about independently triggered event options and commands for a while now. Great to see someone else thought of the same idea.

This looks excellent!

 

This looks really beautiful. I can't wait to play it.

 

Shields above cities - good idea because it is more readable now (in the fog).
New gfx for ships looks more real at last
Pictures in msg window - probably best idea ever
Good job!

 

WOW!

Triggers for actions and commands? AI chance? Event pictures, more than four allowed actions? Showing your sliders in the event command? New naval sprites? Shields above cities?

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

(I wish the dev diary was really long, can't wait. )

*walks off to sacrifice a goat*




PS: is there a "make HRE" command? o

 

Ignoring the fanboys that probably picked up EU2 in 2005 on some 1$ deal

Well, the problem with EU2 is that it's old. Apart from your modified AGCEEP, no new mods will appear (at that scale). Now, a guy like me that owned EU2 since 2002 will probably put to good use the claim mechanics, the political-unit map mode, the religious aspect... but I won't touch the files in order to modify it. The event system sounds sweet but frankly I won't tinker with it. As many old players, I want this game more because of its "tradition" and stories behind it. I shall play it for a while, but I'm certain it will feel as the old EU2. And I rarely play EU2 these days, even though it's still on my harddrive.

Why do I say these things? Well, there is a good reason. Most of us know what to expect from EU2, even in this new package. 90% of the old game is here. Development diaries are usually employed to tease the future buyer about the wonders of a new game, something which isn't necessary for FtG. I know what I'm getting. I would have enjoyed more consistent DDs simply because they maintain my interest for this piece of software. Which is hard to do, to tell you the truth. After 7 years of playing, I don't care that I can't use the political map, I don't care about the red border near Murmansk and I never cried because of the lack of an alert system.

 

I have also owned this game since 2002.

I am just astonished at all the things I had trouble with modifying, like event commands that didn't make sense in some situation. Now I can finally change that.

 

I don't remember anymore when I got EU2. Probably at the time of the First Punic War.

Pre-FTG I didn't play it for a long time, but this project brought me back to the EU2 world.

 

Oooh! Ooooh! I have a question!

Will AGCEEP be modified to make full use of new stuff like this being introduced in FtG? Or will it use "obsolete" triggers etc?

 

Oh no, you're so much better because you've been playing this for a year-or-so longer than I did. I beg your forgiveness, master.

I too have reservations towards FTG, and I have voiced them a number of times. If you searched for them, you'd notice that they're similar to yours. But I am overall positive towards the project, because I believe in - and see - how much new life it brings to EU2. It's your negative attitude that I find disturbing, irritating, and misplaced. Don't like it? Don't buy it. I will.

 

I like the look of the ships and the alert system and the changes in the pre-game setup (shown in previous diaries), but I do agree with alot with what Alexandru H. says.

Having said that, its still early days, and there maybe lots more goodies to be revealed yet...and from what I understand, alot of things will now become easily moddable with the release of FTG, then the game may grow in leaps and bounds...I hope anyway.


Personally Id really like to see some solid AI changes with FTG, mainly regarding with the way it fights wars...but I digress...

FTG is getting me alittle excited, not sold yet, but time will tell , EU1/2 has been a long love/hate relationship, this maybe just what I need to see that extended for a period

 

Yes, I'm probably better. And unlike you, I've been playing this game (including multi) for all this time. I did not drop it as a rotten apple the second EU3 appeared, I do not wish for it to become EU3. All I wanted was a longer DD.

Please go and argue with someone else. You should try Johan, since he already admitted EU2 is his least favourite Paradox game. Use your fanboy powers to convert him.