AI War 2 v0.504 Released! "Big Ship Graphics Batch + Test And Revise Pass #3"

[x4000]

Release notes here!

I'm now back from traveling, and so is Keith, so that's nice to be back to normal on that front.  This new build includes a ton of backlog work that Blue and Cinth have done over the last couple of months that I'm only now getting integrated into the game proper -- namely, visuals for 34 classes of ship in the game!  That's a pretty hefty chunk on top of what was already done, and there's a lot more in the short-term pipeline on that stuff, too.

Beyond that, Keith has continued his testing-and-revising work, and that's led to a number of quality of life improvements.  Community member BadgerBadger has also made improvements to his Nanocaust faction, and those have been integrated.

Keith has also done another quartet of videos for this new version:

Keith writes: And now for something moderately different: some playtesting to help identify the main things in the way of the play experience. Ends predictably.

Keith writes: The day Galaxy Map Display Modes were unleashed on an unsuspecting universe:(probably not very unsuspecting, considering that AIWC had such modes, but they weren't moddable!)

I'm not sure how many of you find 1h45m videos of coding "enjoyable", but if so: enjoy :) If not, an example of how to mod in a new display mode starts around 59:27.

Aside from Chris: I also just have realized, after working with Keith for literally 7 years now, that I've been pronouncing his last name wrong this entire time.  In countless videos and interviews and podcasts and who knows what.

So, let's review:

• Keith's name is spelled LaMothe, but pronounced lah-mont instead of lah-mow-th, which is what I'd been saying.


• For anyone wondering, it is indeed Ar-ken games and not Arson or Arsen games. ;)

Moving on...

Keith writes: A quick change to mapgen to seed some nearby strategic objectives and make the early-early game decision of "which way do I expand?" more interesting.

At less than 20 minutes, this is a lightweight ;)

I've got another one that's like an hour and 40 going through processing now, though, in case you have an excess of time to burn.

Keith writes: The Build Menu has an encounter with a chipper-shredder: You can see the current state of the menu around 1:30:05, if you'd like to cut to the chase. But there's a lot about how to work with the UI system leading up to that. Iirc, 100% of the actual changes were in external code and xml, so stuff that's possible for a modder.

Okay... anyhow, so that's the news for now! :)

Cheers!

Chris

[keith.lamothe]

but pronounced lah-mont instead of lah-mow-th

It's actually lah-mott, no "n"'s anywhere to be found

[Draco18s]

but pronounced lah-mont instead of lah-mow-th

It's actually lah-mott, no "n"'s anywhere to be found

[x4000]

I think maybe this qualifies me as legally deaf now, too?

[BadgerBadger]

I'm also curious how Keith never seems to have listened to any of the podcasts/interviews/videos to notice that Chris was butchering his name so dreadfully. Or perhaps this was all the Long Con to get to make fun of Chris now!

[keith.lamothe]

I'm also curious how Keith never seems to have listened to any of the podcasts/interviews/videos to notice that Chris was butchering his name so dreadfully.

It's one of those names that is almost always mispronounced, because there's so many ways to mispronounce it, so I don't bring it up.

Actually, the amusing thing is that this is like the 5th time I've heard Chris say "wow, I've been mispronouncing your name all these years"

[BadgerBadger]

Every time I think this story can't get more amusing to me, it does :-)

[x4000]

Actually, the amusing thing is that this is like the 5th time I've heard Chris say "wow, I've been mispronouncing your name all these years"

I have no memory of any of these times, which is probably a good sign it's exactly like you remember.  I always thought my memory was good until I got 3-4 years into Arcen and suddenly had gaping holes in what I remembered that were either blatantly obvious (players talking about game mechanics that I know I designed but don't even remember in a cursory fashion), or well-documented in old emails or other documents.

I guess I've made my peace with it, heh.  Each project is complex enough that I have to unload loads of memories about older projects from my own mental RAM in order to make room for the new project.  That's what I tell myself, anyway.

Then again, whenever anyone tries to teach me words in a new language it's comical to the point of unbelievability if I saw it on TV.  I'm basically this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqwzvtjeYBQ  I always thought that segment was super exaggerated, but it's actually not too far off for me and German.

[Cinth]

Note that most of these will have five unique stages of graphics for each of the five marks, but for many of them they only use the mark 1 graphics at the moment for all 5 marks. In those instances, the graphics for all 5 marks are done already, but we haven't finished processing the higher-mark models into the engine yet.

I'm working on it, I swear!! 

Not many folks know it, but at the beginning of July, I went homeless.  I'm not really feeling like sharing much more of what I've been dealing with though.  I finally decided to allow myself to be placed in a home for homeless veterans and I finally got internet running here (the house manager was kind enough to bend some rules to help me out here).  I swear this year has been one hurdle after another, but I'm still dedicated to doing my best for all involved here.

I feel like I owe everyone an apology.  I don't feel like I've been able to meet my level of expectation as far as the stuff I'm responsible for.  I dunno...

Anyway, I just felt like sharing... I'm going back to work now 

[x4000]

I haven't wanted to share things where it wasn't my place to share, but Cinth you've been doing an amazing job overcoming a ton of long odds.

For the record, he is employed, makes (far) more than minimum wage, and so on.  But it's not that easy when things are stacked against you to begin with and you're pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, so to speak.  He's doing a fantastic job in a really tough situation.

Just before the "how is a guy that works for Chris homeless?" question inevitably comes up.  I'd certainly wonder that.  It's a tricky situation and it's not my place to share, but I'm doing my best to help.  But it's not the best situation, either way. :/

[Cinth]

I'm doing my best to help

Lot's of things get understated, but this one takes the cake.    I can't express what you've done for me for a long time now.  Words just can't do it justice.

Just before the "how is a guy that works for Chris homeless?" question inevitably comes up.  I'd certainly wonder that.  It's a tricky situation and it's not my place to share

Yeah...  it's not the easiest thing to talk about either.  Most know or will remember I had been hospitalized back in March.  I ended up moving in with my dad after that and I knew it wasn't going to be a good situation.  It's not something I wish I was ever right about.  Let's just say that things devolved pretty quickly and I ended up not being able to live there anymore.  Honestly I did have some other options open, but I felt it wouldn't actually improve my situation or the situation of those I'd be leaning on. 

What I ended up doing was hotel hopping.  I did that until the money I had run out.  At that point I turned to the VA for further help, and they sent me to where I am now.  I've been in the home for about 2 full weeks and I just got internet working here (the house manager is bending some rules to help me out).  I'm dealing with my own issues and doing my best to help out my fellow vets here in the house (10 of us in total).  On top of all that, trying to keep up with the stream of work that Chris and Blue keep sending my way. 

One day at a time 

If I can pull one major life lesson from all this that I've been through this year so far (and further back really),  it's don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it.  My Arcen family (this includes the community) has been really great, and I remember the outpouring of support I received when I out out of the hospital.  I couldn't ask for a better bunch of people to be associated with.

I'm not doing any of this for any other reason than to get some stuff off my chest.  I just wanted to share (even though it's pretty hard to do).

[x4000]

I'm just glad that things are at least moving in the right direction after a good while of spiraling down for you.   It's hard not being able to do more, but I'm glad I've been able to help where I could, and it's been really wonderful to also see not just what other people were able to do to help, but what you did for yourself.