Possible Bionic Dues Expansion

[Dominus Arbitrationis]

I have recently been granted the go-ahead to look into making a Bionic Dues expansion, and my current idea is the following: A new building with powerful, but buggy, weapons that you can use. In the building, my plan would be to have it be a kind of Super Lion's Den, so there would be a massive amount of enemies, but killing them wouldn't change the final battle.

So how does that sound to everyone here? Also, feel free to post your bugs so I can take a look at those at the same time.

EDIT: Let me just stress that THIS DOES NOT MEAN A BIONIC DUES EXPANSION WILL HAPPEN, only that we are looking into making one. There are quite a lot of factors that would stop the expansion from coming out, first and foremost being a bad money-to-fun ratio, and second it just not being fun in some way.

[x4000]

Well, provisional go-ahead.  Anyhow, that would be one piece of the larger expansion if we complete one.  As usual, we'll make sure to have a good value-to-money proposition for you guys, or else we won't greenlight the project.

[Pumpkin]

Well, things aren't simple.

If a BD expansion would just pop out of nowhere, sure, I'll be happy. However, from where would it come? Who would make it? How many time would it take? Would SBR and AI War would be delayed for it?

Financially, would it sold well (considering how poorly BD sold, IIRC)? I don't want to sound selfish, but wouldn't an AI War expansion be more profitable, in these times of scarcity for Arcen?

With just one blurry idea, I'm afraid I can't provide my unconditional support to that project.

[nas1m]

Well, you would have this buyer, for sure .
If you are still looking for stuff to do, you could look at multi-tile enemies and additional city maps, both of which were discussed the last time we did a beta round on BD iirc.

Kudos for the (potential) effort!
I would love to look into adding something to BD and the map generator myself, but I won't be able to take on any side projects until fall next year :/.

[Logorouge]

I would love revisiting Bionic Dues with an expansion, especially if it includes new styles of city maps. 

[crazyroosterman]

I would for this to go ahead but id rather it happen when you your other projects are complete( rr that untitled survival game ai war 2 and of course poor old stars) I would be interested in testing it provided you wanted me of course.

[Dominus Arbitrationis]

Just to clarify, I would be the one making it, so no time would be taken away from any of Arcen's other projects, and there would be no risk for Arcen financially.

[mrhanman]

Well, Bionic Dues is one of my favorite Arcen games. You'd have at least my purchase, and beta testing capabilities, assuming they are desired.

[Pumpkin]

Just to clarify, I would be the one making it, so no time would be taken away from any of Arcen's other projects, and there would be no risk for Arcen financially.

Ok. Thanks for the answer.
Good luck with that.  I hope BD's code is less crazy than, say, AI War, for instance.

[x4000]

Just to clarify, I would be the one making it, so no time would be taken away from any of Arcen's other projects, and there would be no risk for Arcen financially.

Ok. Thanks for the answer.
Good luck with that.  I hope BD's code is less crazy than, say, AI War, for instance.

TI-86 calculator compared to the apollo space program.

Both complicated and somewhat arcane, in other words, but there's still no comparison.

[Dominus Arbitrationis]

Good luck with that.  I hope BD's code is less crazy than, say, AI War, for instance.

Having seen the code for some of the other games, it is most definitely a lot easier to work with, but still a PITA in some parts.

I'm trying to keep the art costs low for this, so a completely new city map is very unlikely (Though fun!), so what ideas are there to help fill out this expansion while still keeping the art cost low? Things like multi-tile enemies I can look into, and a new(ish) interior map generation style are both possible, though the latter only to a certain extent.

[nas1m]

The City map would not necessarily need new art I guess, simply using a different graph could go a long way I guess (see AIWar map styles). As far as art is concerned a simple palette swap or hue shift (maybe combined with a simple particle effect like fog or rain) of the existing background image could be a start (similar to what I did for the floor maps linked in my signature). That or gleaning something from the other Arcen games. I could imagine that there are s couple of suitable background images around that would be suitable...

Besides that feel free to refer to my suggestions on Mantis for potential things to add (Endgame-tweaks, DiggleBots, lairing WyvernBots and adjusted scoring, just to name a few) .

[nas1m]

Another big thing could be the alternate customization/progression mechanic that Keith was toying around with the last time he worked on BD (this was planned to be the next big thing the next time he would get around to doing something for BD - which he unfortunately never got around to).

Do you have a chance to ask him? Otherwise I could rummage around the old forum threads and see what I can dig out...

Gotcha: http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,16192.msg179094.html#msg179094

[Pumpkin]

I'm sure AIW's graph generation algorithm can be used for city graph generation.
Or these. Or I can come up with some new algo if you need something more specific. Just tell me, I'll be glad to help.

Side Note:
I'm jealous. I have so many ideas for AIW expansions and/or MF.
 

[ptarth]

Inconsistency in weapons is really counter intuitive I think in this game. You are given all of the tools to make a decision, having some of your tools be inconsistent would drive me batty or I just wouldn't use them. I don't think that would be sufficient to be the main focus of an expansion. For an expansion, you'd probably want a new mech, a new pilot, some new enemy types, and then something to clean up the UI experience.

I've been giving it a few minutes here and there trying to identify all the reasons I rage quit.

• I'd like to know the number of unopened loot containers on the level, so I can exit early without losing loot.
• I'd like to know how much damage a shot is going to do. The shotgun makes me very sad because I don't have a good idea of how much damage it will do.
• Different color and larger life bars. It's hard to seem them.
• Text and UI scaling
• Better auto-saving so I can "undo"
• Is overload ever useful?