Wargame development help

[[JiF]Gib]

Hey guys,

I know theres probably more than a few developers here so I was wondering if anyone wanted to help (for free and fun of it - the 1.0 game will be free if It gets done, if it goes anywhere we could talk more on splitting revenue) code the rest of my wargame with me? It's a turn based(IGOUGO) WW2 based wargame (of course!) and will be somewhat of a combination of Panzer General feel with old school chit/hex gamming(where you simultaneously attack a single defender with more than 1 unit). I can explain more but It will involve Combined Arms(example: like in AA, infantry being supported by artillery recieve a bonus).

I am doing it in Corona SDK from Ansca Mobile in the free version right now. The platform works for IOS/Android OS's (phones and pads). I had started this thing a year ago in C#/XNA but thought this would be a better platform to reach the mobile market. Corona is LUA based(Im learning it from scratch) but attatched(after download rename and remove the .txt extension) is that I have coded so far(images of course you'll have to substitute or I can upload the terrain texture files and my basic programmer art for the Russian Infantry and German Infantry).

Alot of the code in the UnitTap function at the very top is copy and pasted C#/XNA code that needs converted. Talk to me on TS or PM me for my cell phone if you are interested. I've been having fun doing it little by little but would like a push to get a 1.0 version working in some fashion that at least seems like a real wargame. I don't think I have to mention that the code is in a shambles and VERY pre Alpha

Gib

[[JiF]Uncle Stinky]

I know nothing about coding but am a die-hard wargamer (aka grognard). So if you want some help playtesting on an Android platform, let me know.

[[JiF]Gib]

Thanks Stinky! I thought you might

Ever since I got Unity of Command, I've been motivated to get this thing done. I like how UoC does the breakthroughs and ZOCs and Supply and want that in mine. If you ever played the Axis & Allies boardgame clone, they invented a great way to do combined arms(sum of the whole greater than the sum of the individual parts). IE: tanks roll 2 dice, all others 1 but each face on the die shows the unit icon(infantry, artillery, tanks, plane, plane, miss). Roll your total dice for your units and any that roll a match(if you have that unit present) = 1 hit(up to the number of that unit type you have participating). Its a little too deadly with a d6 so I'd going to be simulating a d12 I think, maybe a d10. That way if you attack with 1 tank, 1 inf, 1 arty, 1 plane, your chance to hit(sorta) is going to be 1+1+1+2= 5/10 or 50% for each roll if say a d10 used. Units will be full strength or reduced strength(like the old chit and hex wargames of old where you flipped units to their 1/2 str side). Each hit is 50% a hit to reduce strength or 50% of a retreat result on the defending unit). Attacker may advance a number of vacated sqares as they wish up to the number of retreats they caused the defender. So in the above example, 6 dice(tanks=2dice) at 50% hit rate will typically result in a 50% reduciton in the unit with 1 retreat or 50% of a kill(2 hits to kill a unit). Well theres other possibilities like all hits or all retreats etc.

That's the gist of it. Always hated how just about every turn based wargame out there doesnt do combat right - like all the Panzer General clones where each unit attacks the defender individually and the same defender somehow gets to shoot against each attacker! bah! Unity does that which is the only thing I dont like about it.

Gib

[[JiF]Uncle Stinky]

What I don't like about most PC wargames is that they don't model command and control. Every turn you can move every unit.

Many years ago a company called Interactive Magic produced a game called Semper Fi! that did a great job of this. Not surprisingly, it was designed by one of the best board wargame designers out there, Joe Balkoski. Worth picking up if you can find it, either used or from a site like the The Underdogs.

[[JiF]zougathefist]

Ok,

Si I can't pretend to know anything about these type of games. The one and only time I ever played one I D/L to my PC and got pwnd by the comp about 5 times in a row on easy so i quit and deleted it.
However the discussion here reminded me of a book review I read in THE (Times Higher Education) at work by an academic we have funded called Philip Sabin.

This guy is a world renowned expert on all things wargaming and he has written a book about wargaming startegy called (unsurprisingly) Simulating War which is a follow up to a book called Lost Battles which models 35 famous battles from the ancient world - this also allows you to re-fight them on you PC or on a board

he also has tons of useful stuff on his personal website including maps and templates that you can download to accompany his book(s) - these allow you to fight the battles from his books as they happened or you can choose to change different parameters or tactics to see if they make a difference. Sabin teaches a course at the Dept. of War Studies in KCL that requires students to design and model a wargame as part of their studies. There is a lot of extra stuff to D/L on the sites below
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/w ... onsim.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/w ... ttles.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/w ... imwar.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I would think that this should be all you need to design a game, I am actually tempted to get this myself - its my B'day soon so I might ask Santa to bring it to me

[[JiF]Gib]

Oh, thanks for those linke Z, that will be some great info!

[[JiF]Uncle Stinky]

Thanks for that Zouga. I'm very familiar with Dr. Sabin. He worked with a UK game company called Fifth Column to put out a game last year called Lost Battles (based on the book) which allows you to simulate a whole bunch of ancient battles. His writing is very readable and very fascinating.

Fifth Column also did a great solitaure game ont he Falklands War (Where There Is Discord) and is working on a solitaire tactical game on a hypothetical Nazi invasion of England called Codeword Cromwell. Where There Is Discord is a beautiful, tense and brilliant game, but sadly now out of print so a copy will cost you quite a bit.

http://www.fifthcolumngames.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[[JiF]Gib]

Project update:

Got unit selection, movement and terrain movement cost done. I got my little programmer art of "classic" infantry chit icons moving around the game board now

I so used to C#/VB/Java Lua is very unstructured so I am trying to keep some form of OOP in it.

Been fun though. Next is getting attackers and defenders added to a "combat stack". Since the game is divided into phases (sub turns, players alternate phases), and since combined arms is a feature, battles are first declared by the attacker by clicking a unit then clicking an enemy unit in range. When all of the attacks are done being declared by the attacker then the defender may respond by clicking on their defending units being enganged and click on other friendly units to participate in that battle.

Or so goes my initial idea for how I want to do battles and simulate combined arms. The combat mechanics will be something like this:

Picture a d6(redular 6-sided die for the rpg challenged), each face on the die has an icon. Theres one picutre of each of the 4 types of units except planes which has 2. One of the sides is blank. All units roll 1 die, except tanks, they roll 2. Now picture that I have 2 infantry, 1 tank, 1 arty, 1 air attacking 1 inf. The COMBINED arms EFFECT is that EACH die I roll that MATCHES a unit I have participating in the battle scores a hit. Example: Say I roll my 6 dice for my side and get 4 inftanty, 1 tank, 1 plane. I can match up only 2 of the inf hits since I only have 2 inf, match 1 tank to my 1 tank, same for the plane. So i score 4 hits.

Effect of a "Hit": Each hit has a 50/50 chance of being a casualty point or a retreat flag. Each retreat flag pushes the main target defender back 1 square(hexagons eventually) towards their rear line. All units can take 2 hits before being destroyed. There is no effects on the units combat performance at 1/2 strength.

If a d6 proves too deadly then I'd move it up to a d12 but same otherwise.

Guess I should get a blog but if noone minds, ill just kind-of use this post for my progress.

I am suprised nobody responed, am I the only one interested in coding a basic wargame?

-- Tue May 15, 2012 12:41 pm --

Here's screenshot of this early alpha. This is the Corona simulator. When i buy the real license Ill be able to compile for Android os's or Iphone os's.