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[Vactor]

I cleaned up the interface code enough for another release:

http://rapidshare.com/files/172465636/Airlands.01.02.rar

**note** if you have .01.01 installed you will need to uninstall it from your control panel

-Zoom while changing elevations has been fixed
-You can now change altitude destinations while moving without getting stuck between strata
-Added ability to focus on different airlands, and set each one into motion individually.  Each airland also tracks its own camera position.
-Basic Hud implemented
-Window will automatically size itself to fit the resolution your monitor is set at when loaded.
-Added Alt-Enter fullscreen.
-Added Escape as an exit key.

Controls:

Q = zoom in
A = zoom out

Z = move focused airland down one strata
X = move focused airland up one strata

W = focus airland 1
E = focus airland 2
R = focus airland 3

ESC = exit
ALT-ENTER = fullscreen toggle

Again let me know if you run into any bugs.

The next thing i'll be working on is making the HUD interactive, and adding a mouse cursor.

[Yanlin]

Instead of using rapidshare, use mediafire. It's better. You can make a folder to store all of the releases. All in one convenient link.

[The Doctor]

When are you going to implement basic building? Or basic troops and stuff?

Also, for these Alphas, are they going to be single player? Or are you gonna work on the multiplayer portion early on?

[Vactor]

When are you going to implement basic building? Or basic troops and stuff?

Also, for these Alphas, are they going to be single player? Or are you gonna work on the multiplayer portion early on?

Building and all of the systems that will be at work running your empire will be coming up after I have a basic interface done.  Basic Militaries will be after that (although elements of this will be tied into the building and systems aspect)

At first I'm going to be working on the single player aspects (what you do by yourself) but would like to add in some sort of multiplayer functionality shortly after I have a single player portion that works.

[The Doctor]

Ah....

Speaking of singleplayer, will there be a single player version of the final product?

[Vactor]

Added an animated cursor and clickable buttons that you can highlight when the mouse is hovering over them.  Right now the button positions are hardcoded, which i can't really see any reason right now for them not to be. They should place themselves correctly based on your resolution.  The animated cursor should be easily editable, and expanded to include animations for clicking.

Other than an atrocious color scheme it is working perfectly.

Screenshot from button test:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Animated Mouse cursor sourcefile:


Button sourcefile:


Right now clicking the buttons doesn't actually do anything as they aren't hooked up, but this should be easy to do now.

Now that i've got the basics of an interface built which can easily accept new art and can be expanded as needed, my next goal is to get the mouse interacting with the 3d environment. 

Ah....

Speaking of singleplayer, will there be a single player version of the final product?

I hadn't considered this, but I don't see why there couldn't be. 

[Hawkfrost]

Oh wow, this is advancing fast.

I'm glad that you're carrying through and actually making this.

[Yanlin]

Those buttons MUST change. If you want, I could design some quick buttons.

[DJ]

[q]Right now the button positions are hardcoded, which i can't really see any reason right now for them not to be. [/q]
Modable interface. That, and reusability of code.

[Kagus]

I'd suggest not having the island terrain be too detailed in its ways...  Not only would you have to deal with the obvious ingame supply issues of living on a floating piece of rock, but you'd also have to deal with processing the damn things.  I say, keep it simple.  Don't mind the occasional infinite resource, like a perpetual waterfall dribbling off the edge (which could be kept relatively processor-friendly by simply enhancing the rainfall/"firefall" of the tiles beneath it.  A small "outlet" could simply give a pleasant boost to the island beneath it, potentially helping out someone in need of some extra food.  A big torrent could cause nasty floods) or mines that dig into...  Well, nothing.

Hell, why focus on digging metal out from the ground?  Make up some special materials that can be harvested right out of the sky.  Magic already features rather heavily (oh, look, a floating island), and the air around your island is arguably more important than the dirt clod itself.

You could even center the materials around the various elements.  Wind nets harvest the gusty power of air itself, while water basins distill the finest essence of rain.  Fire could be either linked to lightning, or you could split the two up (electricity is cool enough to deserve its own element, frankly) and have fire draw its power from the sun.

You could find some way of making earth into sort of a "newbie" element, since it would naturally be easier to access while closer to the ground.

[Hawkfrost]

Kagus, how about..

Water Basins = Water
Wind Nets = Air
Sun Mirrors = Fire
Earth Obelisks = Earth
Thunder Rods = Electricity

..Hmm, now I feel like playing Okami...

[Neonivek]

Alright I guess I can come up with a bit of brainstorming... Please don’t take this as things I think you should do... rather it is a collection of ideas in which you can draw inspiration or ideas from according to your needs.
Elemental Sources and contradiction!

-Elemental Source: A source is events, creatures, or meteological phenomena that change your tiles to that element. You can of course manually attempt to receive land that way.
--Note: Elements tend to leak their element into surrounding squares.
-Contradiction: These are elements that cannot stand eachother. Not only do they resist each other’s growth but creatures of these lands tend to dislike the other. Land that contradict each other may come with their own sets of problems but they also come with other benefits (which Ill brainstorm on fully later). For example if you want a large volcanic wasteland on your otherwise serene countryside you may need some lakes if you don’t want the fire-element spreading.

Note on Teraforming Creatures: Some creatures are so powerfully aligned with their element that they are able to keep their lands within their stable element or even cause others to conform to their element
-Note: Creatures don’t have to have maximum element as what they will transform lands into. A Fire Nymph probably wouldn’t want a land of pure fire.
--Note 2: An alternative is that in order to get a land to have a stable elemental rating is to attract/create/transform creatures of that elemental rating.

Meteo and Land?: Meteo is a nickname I’ve given masses moving through the air, these are usually moving weather events that can change a land’s element. Land is generally a fixed locations on the earth that affect your element as you pass over them. Meteos are not random as they tend to be in locations that make sense, but have much greater range and can appear in non-standard locations.

The Prime Elements:

Fire: The Element of heat and fury. Creates Lavalands, Lavapools, and Volcanoes
Sources:
-Events: Forest fire caused by civil strife or lightning strikes. (Not reliable source of fire)
-Meteo:  Firestorms
-Land: Volcanos
Contradicts: Ice, Water

Ice:
Sources:
-Events: Ice Age?
-Meteo: Hailstorms, Snow

Stone:
Sources: -Stone has no elemental source so to speak but is rather a base. A Land drained of all elemental alignment becomes Stone. Powerfully Stone aligned locations become Barren Wastelands.
-Alternative source: Sand
Contradicts: Wind

Wind: An oddity, lands with powerful wind alignment tend to be empty pockets of air or broken ground
Sources:
-Meteo: Tornados, Hurricanes, Jet stream
-Land: Thermal Locations
Contradicts: Earth

Uhhh This is taking a bit too long and is too huge... Ill speed it up

The Complementary Forces:
Radiance: Eternal Sunlight, Jeweled lands
Darkness: Eternal Shadow

Misery: Black and Grey rainbow. Can be caused by unhappy populations (Risky)
Joy: Rainbow, Whimsical locations. Can be caused by overwhelmingly happy populations

Uhhh that is all Ill do... I think I messed up for some reason...

Holy and Evil seem odd to me... like something you would have to try to get...

Perhaps lands could have two elemental bars...
1) Land Elements: Fire, Water, Wind, Growth, Decay
2) Alignment Elements (Affect creatures and aura): Holy, Joy, Misery, Radiance

Edit addition: Actually calling it Physical Element and Spiritual Element... Or Soul Element...

Or possibly 3... Ill stop... Tell me if you see something interesting XD

I somehow seriously lost my track of thought while writing this up... I don't know what happened

[Vactor]

A lot of great ideas,  I really like the expanded elemental resource harvesting idea, as well as a lot of neonivek's ideas in regards to the functionality of elements and how they exist in the world.

I think I'll probably go with the split elements table, splitting physical and surreal into separate spectrum wheels which can overlay one another.  I also really liked the Meteo idea, and some of the implications of a frost oriented airland getting caught in a firestorm.  I will of course not make the gameworld's environment destructive enough to destroy a players work, rather it would merely put a player at a mild disadvantage for the duration, and give them a bit to tidy up after.

As to the waterfall/lavafall discussion, the intent of the game is to have players fielding armies towards each other, and as such don't expect lavafalls and waterfalls to be able to be used as weapons.  My plan is to have one calculation for water, routing a path from its source to destination, and the capacity of its flow. If a river is overused for irrigation you can expect it to dry up downstream.  If the river finds its way to the edge it will be represented with a waterfall disappearing into mist (or for lava it would run down the edge of the tile, cooling into rock with drops of lava dripping off)  There may be a small effect if your waterfall/lavafall is directly over another player, but it will likely be minimal and just for fun.

Mouse interactivity with the 3d aspects of the game will take a bit longer than 2d, as I'll be adding code to make sure that everything that exists in the game world will know to who or what it belongs, and what to do if it has been clicked on.

Those buttons MUST change. If you want, I could design some quick buttons.

Yes they are quite an eyesore, If you want to you're more than welcome, just use the format of the source pic, all of the ui elements i've added so far should be able to adapt themselves to the size and proportions of any art that follows the format i've shown.  Just as a warning those buttons are going to be getting gutted as I determine what the UI will actually be being used for.

[PTTG??]

I emergre from my workshop briefly to show you what I have discovered.
using subtiles, there are actually six edges that can each have one of 127 combinations on it, for a total of 4,195,872,914,689 possible tiles to create. Without textures.
My new system uses 49 transitions. Although it can't make things like the tile-border valleys, players will have to have mountain passes in order to create workable terrains. My idea is to use multiple full-hexes for the transition tiles and let the game engine divide them into the sub hexes.

Allow me to illustrate:
Here, each tile is a different color


Here, each core tile is red, and the transition tiles are green. You could cut them in half from corner to corner to form large, tessellating hexes that transition between each other.

[Tahin]

That looks really nice, but it could get a bit complicated. Hm.