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[puke]

you could put the shading on another layer(which won't be mirrored, but copied instead).

If you are going to add extra info to each ascii 'block' (character, color, shadow) you might as well use that info to apply height instead of shading.  Then you'd have bump-mapped ascii and could apply dynamic lighting.

and then, Pinky, we could RULE THE WORLD.

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

With some minor modifications it can turn into a battering ram.

The weird shading seems to be because the right part is mirroring the left part(probably). If I'm correct, and if you haven't thought of a workaround(and in case this is easily done), you could put the shading on another layer(which won't be mirrored, but copied instead).

Pretty cool.

Heh, correct, that is why, and that's just because I made that image in Paint! The shading is always the same direction when you actually view it in game, having since sorted that out.

you could put the shading on another layer(which won't be mirrored, but copied instead).

If you are going to add extra info to each ascii 'block' (character, color, shadow) you might as well use that info to apply height instead of shading.  Then you'd have bump-mapped ascii and could apply dynamic lighting.

and then, Pinky, we could RULE THE WORLD.

Ha! Well, as you say, that would be the first step to world domination, but not totally necessary; there are a few things later in the game that are going to need more data stored on them graphically, but they don't exist just yet...

(And when I say "a few", I mean less than a dozen objects)

[Simon]

I've known (and occasionally visited) these forums for a long time, but now I've made an account for the sole purpose of telling you, Mr. Ultima Ratio Regum, that I admire the amount of work and effort you have put into this project. It's amazing, man! Looks great!

Nowadays I don't play PC games as often as years ago, but I'll be sure to try this out.

I'm currently reading a book on Ancient Rome and your game sure radiates atmosphere similiar to experiencing civilizations first hand.

If I ever figure a way I could contribute at least a tiny bit, I'll do so.

Keep on the fantastic work. Hats off to you!

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

Well, thank you very much! This latest release has been delayed from illness, finishing my phd and a bunch of other excitement, but it's finally almost done now. I've always really enjoyed films/books/tv with a "clash of cultures" aspect, and that feelings of exploring totally alien cultures is something I want to recreate. I'm trying to add as many unique/unusual/differentiating aspects as possible between each civ, and I'm hoping that'll come through. Especially once we have NPCs in the mix next year, I want to add things like different greetings, different modes of speech, not to mention things like clothing styles, skin tones, hair styles, etc etc. Anyway, I'm very glad you like the project, and things are going to speed up again in the coming month or two once I start working on it full-time for a year from my own savings. There's a lot of cool stuff coming.

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

In the final week or two of PhD grind before submission, so little to show this week I'm afraid, though 0.6 hovers at only a few days' work from release. In the mean time, I give you (for those of you interested in high-level RTS play) a new game design/criticism blog post: The Kirov Metagame.

http://www.ultimaratioregum.co.uk/game/2014/11/22/the-kirov-metagame/

[gomez]

Just like in the game of Go, the player who has Sente most of the time is the player who is most likely to win.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Go_terms#Gote_and_Sente

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

Just like in the game of Go, the player who has Sente most of the time is the player who is most likely to win.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Go_terms#Gote_and_Sente

^ *very* interesting, and I agree, that's a similar concept; forcing your opponent to always be the one responding rather than being the respondee.

In other news, I gave myself a day off from work yesterday and did some 0.6 bugfixing. Purged at least 30 bugs if not more, and hacked the bug list down by nearly 50%. 0.6 is nearly there!

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

Most annoying - after seven months of dev I have perhaps three days of work left on 0.6 at the *most*, but in the next fortnight I'm submitting my PhD and moving house, I just don't have the days to spare . I'm only just managing to keep on top of this stuff by turning in late & waking up early every day. Bleh. The *moment* that thing is submitted and I've moved house, though, I'll just spend three days, blast the remaining bugs, and finally release these immense cities I've been sitting on for too long...

[Mephansteras]

It's cool, we understand.

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

It's cool, we understand.

And this is why you are all excellent .

This week's update:

This week I have been getting about six hours sleep a night (I’m an eight-hour person normally) and working like mad to both finish my doctorate, move house, and try to get 0.6 released. I’ve only been able to devote a single day to 0.6 whilst I was waiting for feedback on a chapter, but I managed to get a ton done. I don’t normally post long reports of bug fixes – though I will in future gameplay releases to denote balance changes and additions/removals and the like – but for this week’s entry I thought I’d put up a list of everything fixed this week. Some of these terms may be cryptic, but this is a direct copy-and-paste from my list. Obviously most days this blog is generally focused on what I’ve coded each week rather than how I’ve coded it, but I thought a little look into one of the URR text files that helps me keep track of everything might be amusing. Some are descriptions of the issue, some are descriptions of the solution, whilst others are just reminders to me, but here’s how I write the bugs that need fixing. In the mean time I’m aiming to release 0.6 on the 13th of December, assuming we actually have internet set up at the new place by then – if not, it’ll be a holiday present on the 19th!

Shops cannot spawn in one-religion exclusion places
 Lakes cannot end in cities
 Prechoose military stuff
 Force a gate next to a market if possible
 Redo markets
 Force a gate by a graveyard, IF they can path to a road
 Floodfill from graveyards, ensure you can access them!
 Place special combat NPCs, one per fortress no matter what
 Cannot exclude desert if desert, water if colonies? (religion!)
 When adding extra embassies, lines to other capitals, choose closest
 Tundra/ice plants are lighter
 Shops in towns are fixed beforehand, markets gen right
 Towns are not spaced well enough in world gen
 Lava on town doors
 CROSS + ROADS AND DOORS (+ road on map, doesn't align with gates)
 River markets
 River religious
 River centres
 *ONE DOOR* manor house, save 1
 Some weird shit with torches, walls...
 No infinite district knowledge, no 'S', no prints
 Dead family, not always ornate
 Stick can be placed on water... (no sticks)
 Some one-road towns are tiny
 Graveyards, gates, like road teats
 STILL the bloody shift bug when i press space bar
 Travel through cities is showing thre X
 Roads are slighlty going over city wall corners in farms
 Coast, delta ocean is too high!! IT's not going down the HILL!
 Lookups for catapults
 Flags of nomads double-size
 Some issue in military with a large parade ground???
 Tried to enter mil district, loading issue (because i'd S before?)
 Viewing gate bricks are on your level
 Darken ice
 Loading ontop of city causes loading failure
 Finding entrance door MUST be a gate, and height z level
 Sometimes wall blurs bottom/top, sometimes not
 Space & Tab whilst in city brings up wrong thing
 Those tiny edge fronds of road on city centers
 Saved next to city, moved, was able to break through wall?
 The blue from city roads doesn't vanish on the left when you travel
 Roof of uilding in town only 2 over highest terrain, walked up!
 Going south into centre failed to find an entrace
 Officer flags
 Double doors vary based on which SIDE of the building they are on (vert only)
 No door on barracks special?
 Snowtrees, plants in tundra/ice for cities... (centers only?)
 City, travel, tab, @ and X
 Right side of stable door on bottom,no doorpicture (hard to recreate...)
 Archery targets (should be like trees)
 Catapults (should be like trees)
 A corner wall when otuside a city and corners should be city tower (failed)
 Cannot move into docks/castles *on foot*
 Move into district via travel, then diag, then enter, places you corner
 Barley colour
 Rye colour/lookup don't really match
 HUNTER GATHERER SHRINES
 Graveyard, remove some ice near the core, add snow within walls + frozen soil?
 Upper class gates
 Moving diagonally into non-city tile will spawn you on wall edge
 Plants are "on top" of trees on farms, odd
 If a graveyard, limit up/down hills around graveyard on map grid
 WE ARE HISTORY (ignore for now?)
 Shrine issue
 Print_Districts, "you are currently in" vs "this is a"; foreigner detail
 Serious relig issue .png
 Roads in religious districts reset to the proper height going through walls
 Embassy gate
 Military gate
 Archery lookup
 All signs for courts/galleries/etc
 Correct door wood
 Single water edge, city, save 9
 Pgup On player lookuyp 1/4 goes to blank when 'l' at player
 Lookup message does not repeat
 Wheat doesn't show
 Block off docks
 This is not a courtroom, it only PRETENDS

I will attempt to access the internet on the 6th via mobile and have an entry already written, so hopefully we won’t go a week without a post, though it might be a very short one, or a non-URR one. We’ll have to see what I have the time to throw together. We’re so damned close to full-time development it’s agonizing, but thank you all for sticking with me through the past couple of months (I know I’ve been saying this a lot recently but I mean it, and my PhD has dragged on beyond all sanity) and the slow development pace I’ve been forced into. The places URR will go in 2015 will be amazing.

[teoleo]

how much is playable in this version?

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

how much is playable in this version?

Assuming you mean the version I'm working on now to be released in under a fortnight, you'll be able to walk around every city, fortress and hunter-gatherer settlement, with enough size to support populations of around ~300,000 NPCs per city, and are pretty damned large, varied, and detailed. If you want more info about the game, try here: http://www.ultimaratioregum.co.uk/game/info/

[Zireael]

released in under a fortnight,

Wheee!

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

released in under a fortnight,

Wheee!

I know! It'll be about damned time, too. My hope is 13th of December, but if I lack internet access at that point at my new place, it'll be December 20th. We'll have to see. By then, though, I'll pretty much be able to focus full-time on development, and making up for the last few lackluster months

[Simon]

Take your time. Other issues are more important, the audience can wait and it's a fine way to build up anticipation.

Anyway, it's looking great as always.