Jake
Administrator 
Playtesting the latest build of the game
Posts: 385
Home Planet: Jondd
Played SUNDOG on what OS?: Atari ST
What year did you first play SUNDOG?: 1988
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Post by Jake on Mar 29, 2015 19:14:28 GMT
I just got the latest build of the game from Wai, and I'm bug checking it now, along with some other project tasks.
Here are a few of the improvements in this build:
- improved auto-navigation for pod and pedestrian movement (double click to move to the designated location)
- stock descriptions have been added to an INFO button in the stock exchange
- ship combat has been tweaked
- numerous bugs have been squashed into digital oblivion
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Post by timothy on Mar 29, 2015 21:38:11 GMT
Great news! Thanks to all, and keep up the good work!
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McBern
Beta Tester 
Posts: 27 
Home Planet: Snowball
Played SUNDOG on what OS?: Atari ST
What year did you first play SUNDOG?: 1985
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Post by McBern on Mar 30, 2015 11:23:06 GMT
Nice to get some more updates on the progress!
By the way, one question:
The original game had some nice features which, unfortunatly, did´t have very much importance. For example, you did´t have to use Hotels or the city to city transportation or use the pod to travel on the planet surface to reach other cities as soon as you had the ground scanner installed, which you could buy right after you started the game (only one flight to Woremed).
Likewise, you never had to use shields or worry about ship damage as soon as you installed the cloaker before you transported any cargo.
Or beer, peptabs, dexboosts, charmers, stingers, scatterguns, rapidheals etc. - you didn´t need any of these items to finish the game.
Do you change some game parameters to increase the necessity of these things in the new game?
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banville
Beta Tester
Posts: 68
Home Planet: W'orrad
Played SUNDOG on what OS?: Atari ST
What year did you first play SUNDOG?: 1986
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Post by banville on Mar 31, 2015 13:38:53 GMT
Interesting observation. I usually play without using the cloaker, because I enjoy the pirate fights; I keep it for emergencies. So for me, dextboosts and shields stay relevant. Likewise, I occasionally patrol Worrad with some extra change to encourage muggings, so I kept scatterguns and rapidheals in rotation. I think I like that there are multiple ways to play. I certainly agree about the hotels and the tube, though; I had to force myself to use them so I could pretend they were useful!
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McBern
Beta Tester
Posts: 27
Home Planet: Snowball
Played SUNDOG on what OS?: Atari ST
What year did you first play SUNDOG?: 1985
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Post by McBern on Mar 31, 2015 15:00:41 GMT
As long as you play Sundog just for fun, I agree with you. But when you try to reach a top final score, it doesn't make sense to waste time by struggling with pirates or muggers...
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Jake
Administrator
Playtesting the latest build of the game
Posts: 385
Home Planet: Jondd
Played SUNDOG on what OS?: Atari ST
What year did you first play SUNDOG?: 1988
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Post by Jake on Mar 31, 2015 21:20:45 GMT
Good observations indeed! The hotels ARE inherently of less use than other buildings, even in this version, where they serve the same purpose. They might be handy in a pinch if you are dangerously close to falling asleep but otherwise they are the same. After the initial version is released, we can always update the game and add features - perhaps we can find some way to make hotels more useful.
As for the other items, they do have uses and can be part of a strategy to get ahead in the game. You don't HAVE to use them, but they are there if you want them. Also, this version has MANY more special items to play with, such as nanohives, venturi injectors, field stabilizers, etc.
In addition to the special items, there is FOOD! Lots of it. Some items really don't matter what you eat - burgers satisfy you like salad, though the salad won't fill you up as much as a burger or lasagna. (They also have different shelf lives too - don't let them sit out too long or else you'll have bad food!) Where things get interesting is with the alien foods. What does a huskberry or a radium flower do for you? And what the crap is a W'orrad swamp squid? You'll have to examine how they affect your stats...
And let's not forget the drinks! Grab a beer... or an energy drink, wine, or some more exotic drinks like Xandial cordial or sorgtrex ale. Again, these alien drinks will have an effect on your stats, more so than the "human" drinks. And... whatever you do... (and keep this between us) beware of the interstellar gurgle smasher! Fans of Douglas Adam's books might recognize the veiled reference and know what might happen...
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McBern
Beta Tester
Posts: 27
Home Planet: Snowball
Played SUNDOG on what OS?: Atari ST
What year did you first play SUNDOG?: 1985
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Post by McBern on Apr 1, 2015 9:01:16 GMT
Perhaps you should change the availability of the ground scanner and the cloaker. For example, you could shorten the maximum jump range of the sundog so that Woremed is not reachable in the first few phases. The jump range could be extended in two steps, maybe after phase 4 to reach Woremed and after phase 7 to reach Enlie or something tike that. Therefore, you couldn´t get in the advantage of the ground scanner and the cloaker right from the beginning of the game. That would force you to travel to cities without starports with your pod and fight pirates like a man! A couple of items would play a more important role that way...
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McBern
Beta Tester
Posts: 27
Home Planet: Snowball
Played SUNDOG on what OS?: Atari ST
What year did you first play SUNDOG?: 1985
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Post by McBern on Apr 1, 2015 9:08:16 GMT
...or you just increase the price of the ground scanner and the cloaker to maybe 100.000 credits or even more. Trading with those item must then be limited by customs or maybe forbidden to avoid large gains.
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Jake
Administrator
Playtesting the latest build of the game
Posts: 385
Home Planet: Jondd
Played SUNDOG on what OS?: Atari ST
What year did you first play SUNDOG?: 1988
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Post by Jake on Apr 3, 2015 0:49:31 GMT
That's not a bad idea. As handy as the ground scanner is it does take away some of the adventure and exploration. It would be sad to have people never see the artwork and mapping of all the planets!  Some people even played the original game and never knew there were deserts and jungles on planets, since they never ventured outside the cities. One idea that I liked a lot which was batted around in the early planning stages is to have randomly deposited special objects on a planet surface, such as a crashed pod, shipwreck, etc, that will give the player some loot (credits, cargo, personal items, etc) if they find it. This is not currently part of this game, but future versions can add more "fun" things once the nuts and bolts of the game are in place. Finding bonuses like this would be a good additional source of exploration and financial income. |
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McBern
Beta Tester
Posts: 27
Home Planet: Snowball
Played SUNDOG on what OS?: Atari ST
What year did you first play SUNDOG?: 1985
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Post by McBern on Apr 5, 2015 9:02:26 GMT
That way it wood even make sense to explore worlds like Snowball! In fact, I was searching Snowball's surface in the original game because I couldn't believe that so much extra artwork was done for just one planet with no cities except the starport. I thought something must have been hidden there...
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Jake
Administrator
Playtesting the latest build of the game
Posts: 385
Home Planet: Jondd
Played SUNDOG on what OS?: Atari ST
What year did you first play SUNDOG?: 1988
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Post by Jake on Apr 6, 2015 0:22:08 GMT
lol yeah it would make sense to find stuff out there. It's high on my list of bonus features to add once we get a stable version released. With a game like this, there are a million additions and cool features to add, but at some point you need to draw the line and just get the darn game done. :-)
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jd
Beta Tester
Posts: 41
Played SUNDOG on what OS?: Apple ][E
What year did you first play SUNDOG?: 1989
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Post by jd on Apr 6, 2015 17:17:45 GMT
Is the game written in java, python, c, or some other language? I recall an initial python version of sundog around a few years back.
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Jake
Administrator
Playtesting the latest build of the game
Posts: 385
Home Planet: Jondd
Played SUNDOG on what OS?: Atari ST
What year did you first play SUNDOG?: 1988
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Post by Jake on Apr 8, 2015 0:28:05 GMT
Good memory! Yes, there was a Python language version a number of years back that started up when the original Java version fizzled. The Python version got much further than the Java version and developed some workable code, but unfortunately due to work and family commitments, the Python project fizzled over time.
This current version is written in Java and was started from scratch by our programmer Wai Hong Ho. Even though it has been a loooong process, we have stuck with it and can finally deliver a game. Hong has put in a tremendous amount of time programming the project, and it's about to pay off as we get set to release a beta. Stay tuned!
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jd
Beta Tester
Posts: 41
Played SUNDOG on what OS?: Apple ][E
What year did you first play SUNDOG?: 1989
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Post by jd on Apr 8, 2015 15:50:05 GMT
I will either be sick from work or being up very late when it gets released  |
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Jake
Administrator
Playtesting the latest build of the game
Posts: 385
Home Planet: Jondd
Played SUNDOG on what OS?: Atari ST
What year did you first play SUNDOG?: 1988
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Post by Jake on Apr 11, 2015 12:37:38 GMT
lol just give a copy of the game to your boss. Instant excused absence. |
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Some people even played the original game and never knew there were deserts and jungles on planets, since they never ventured outside the cities. 
