intro + artillery game

[Circuit]

Oh if that's all it is I can do some very simple art, or even make it extra small so you can scale it up and it looks pixelated on purpose. All retro like. Just two or three colors.

Oh and I immediately fired a bomb of the left edge by accident and got an "array out of bounds" error.
EDIT: It does fire shots, looks good to me...

I'm not sure about the color palette.  But I definitely think that the sprites need to be big, not small, so that they can be scalable.  Maps will differ in scale, and it will be possible (eventually) to zoom in and out.
Regarding the array OOB... don't worry, it will work when I make the actual game.  I just made the Test Artillery card to demonstrate my idea for the control scheme.

Maybe something simple like this, tinted to match the team color (I think it's TINTSPRITE?).
Or even just an empty colored outline of a unit, which also can be colored with TINTSPRITE. If it's white it matches exactly the values you enter.
And you draw a line to show the gun's angle.

And you should totally have explosions launch units based on the angle and the weight of the target(s).

I like those.  I took a screenshot of a map, and then copy-pasted the first tank sprite onto it.  It's a better combination than I expected.  The all-color map with black-outlined sprites is kind of reminiscent of old-school Looney Tunes.  Which is a good thing.  Now I'm thinking that maybe an exaggerated, cartoony art style would be perfect for this game.  Dark humor, deception, the dawn of the atomic age... so many ideas brewing in my head right now!
I'm not quite ready to put tanks in the game.  My plan is to start with artillery, then add tanks, and finally infantry.  Would you be able to draw an artillery gun?

BTW, I'm not sure what you mean about the explosions and angle and weight.

EDIT: I almost forgot to post the picture:
http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd504/Circuit11/Screenshot2011-12-31at30310PM.png

[Circuit]

yea maybe theres a way to use FILLOVAL as an explosion like in the old missile command games

That's a good idea, and I think I know how to do it.  The main problem is that animations have multiple frames, and the Paint event can only render one frame at a time.  The solution would involve a counting variable in a SELECT CASE structure.  The value of the variable would determine which frame to render, i.e. the size of the explosion circle.  I just need to decide where to increment the variable (in Paint, or in a method), and how to coordinate the animation with the explode() method, which is what actually deforms the terrain.  But that can be worked out.

[Connors]

Probably call two methods when a bomb hits the ground right? Oh and I just meant it would be fun to have explosions push things away from their center like in Worms.
Sorry for awkward choice of words.
I originally thought this would be a bit more like just having two players each with one tank but I'll be interested to see where it goes!

[Circuit]

Probably call two methods when a bomb hits the ground right?

Yeah.  The deformation needs to occur in the middle of the animation, when the circle is at its widest diameter.  So those things will need to be synchronized somehow.

Oh and I just meant it would be fun to have explosions push things away from their center like in Worms.
Sorry for awkward choice of words.

That's OK.     I understand now.  What kinds of objects do you want to see on the battlefield?  I'm open to suggestions.

I originally thought this would be a bit more like just having two players each with one tank but I'll be interested to see where it goes!

I'll start with two tanks, and then add more.  Eventually, I want the game to involve 3 or more players, with each player controlling several units of various types.  Success will require careful strategy as well as skillful shooting.  Thanks for being interested.   

[Connors]

It's a pretty small battlefield, and could become crowded. I think you'll need a wider space if it gets to be three teams... Have you tried this? Or is your program hard-coded for the screen size?
And there is a reason Worms usually has two teams. The one in the middle would get pulverized before the outside teams reach each other.  You'd find it hard to make these fights balanced.

                                           
Red---->        <--Blue-->        <----Green

[Circuit]

It's a pretty small battlefield, and could become crowded. I think you'll need a wider space if it gets to be three teams... Have you tried this? Or is your program hard-coded for the screen size?

The length of the ground array is 540, one Y value for each X pixel on the screen.  That's hard-coded.  BUT, the pixels can represent any distance.  The scale of a map will be determined by the mapmaker.

And there is a reason Worms usually has two teams. The one in the middle would get pulverized before the outside teams reach each other.  You'd find it hard to make these fights balanced.

                                           
Red---->        <--Blue-->        <----Green

Hmm... I hadn't thought about that.  That would probably be even worse with artillery.  Darn!

[EqwanoX]

not if the team in the middle is ai. i like pulverizing ai

you could also use ROTATESPRITE to rotate the tank to line up with the angling terrain, however you cant recreate sprites that have been rotated, so maybe hold off on that. looking forward to the next update

[Connors]

not if the team in the middle is ai. i like pulverizing ai

I LOVE it! Both players have to fight the AI in the middle while still planning how they will finish off the player on the opposite side.

[EqwanoX]

except, whoever the ai attacks is at a disadvantage cause one ai can only attack one ai

[Connors]

You could balance it to attack both players, that's what AI is for. And the length of the battle would depend partially on how strong you make AI units.

[Circuit]

Like the Chinese proverb, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."  This would be especially interesting with tanks and infantry running around.  You would be trying to maneuver your temporary friend's units into vulnerable positions, so that you could kill them after you kill your mutual enemy.  Or, that might not even be your true objective.  You might actually want the AI to kill him first, then you finish off the AI.  I like it!

[Gan]

Haha yeah true. I like lots AIs. I suppose the middle could be 2x harder to compensate. Create a work-together effect.

[Circuit]

Small but significant update:
You can now change the RGB colors of the earth, surface, and sky of a map.  You can also give it a name, put your name on it, and write a brief description.  All of this data is saved in the map file.  My maps (included in the download) are now colorized, and have descriptions that explain how they were made.

Will you guys design some maps for my game?  I'll give you full credit of course.  I can't pay you, but I won't be making any money off of it either, so... yeah.   

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?2aoj50jiyeu26nw

[Connors]

Did you consider adding a feature to choose the map size? It would allow for some interesting battles.

[Circuit]

Yes.  The map size will be variable.  It will always be 540x291 pixels, but those pixels can represent 200 feet, or 200 yards, or whatever.  I'm still figuring out how that will work, TBH.