Projekt “W” Phase 2 – New beta release 201 + linux x86_64 support

The current open beta of Projekt “W” - Phase 2 has been updated to revision 201. New for this release Added a linux x86_64 release. From now on all upcoming releases will also be available for linux x86_64. Fixed a bug that stopped ecology buildings from getting finished. Fixed wrong global project calculation for minimum required funds to progress. (Linux) The sound library (libbass.so) is now loaded dynamically. If there was a problem loading it you get a corresponding message instead of the game not starting. [Read More]

Going multi-platform, part 6 : Mac OSX

After hard weeks of work, february finally saw the release of a linux version for Projekt Weltherrscher - Phase. This marked the first step on my journey to go multi-platform, something to too easy for a game that was made on and for windows (with an IDE that actually only runs on windows). But those that are into multi-platform development know how close Mac OSX and linux are in terms of coding (OSX is based on Darwin which is based on unix), so after getting the game to run on linux the next (natural) step would have been porting it to Mac OSX. [Read More]

Projekt “W” Phase 2 – New beta release 190

Later than expected (partially due to a power supply failure on my PC) here’s the new beta release #190 of “Phase 2”. As usual it’s available for windows and linux. (Windows) Projekt “W” - Phase 2 - Open Beta rev. #190 (~83 MBytes) (Linux, i386) Projekt “W” - Phase 2 - Open Beta rev. #190 (~80 MBytes) Here are some highlights from this release, for a full list of changes take a look at the changelog : [Read More]

Projekt "W" finally get's it's own theme song

After all the years that Projekt “W” has been in development the game finally has it’s very own theme song! While adding in new sounds (and replacing old ones) I found the music of the current build to be kinda unfitting and decided to dig through the depths of the internet to find some (free) tracks that would be a better fit for the game’s mood (especially with the new space backdrops). [Read More]

The challenges of a game's sound design

Usually I’d add some nice screenshots to show off progress on “Phase 2”, but this time it’s an area of game development that’s pretty hard to show off in screenshots : Sound design. I find this is one of the hardest parts as far as game design goes, at least for me. I do all the parts of game development on my own (design, code, content, etc.) but when it comes down to sound design, the result is usually so bad or bland that (I guess) most people just turn it off. [Read More]

Introducing the AI builder

The next public release of “Phase 2” will include a new feature, the AI builder. Managing your regions (constructing and upgrading buildings) becomes more and more tedious the longer a game has been going on, and once you own dozens of regions later on in the game that you’ll have to manage, this task gets very repetitive and takes up a lot of your time. And since monotony can do a lot of damage to the gameplay I decided to add the option to let the AI do the construction and or upgrades for your regions. [Read More]

Projekt “W” Phase 2 - New beta release 170

It took much longer than initially expected, but here comes a new release of Phase 2, both for linux and windows. (Windows) Projekt “W” - Phase 2 - Open Beta rev. #170 (~74 MBytes) (Linux, i386) Projekt “W” - Phase 2 - Open Beta rev. #170 (~78 MBytes) Selection of screenshots : As hinted in my last postings this release includes the new space backdrops as well as the extensive ingame tutorial that’s aimed at both beginners, as well as experienced players that wan’t to know about the details. [Read More]

Implementing the ingame tutorial

Now that the open beta of “Phase 2” has been downloaded a few times (with a 10:1 ratio between Windows and Linux) it seems that people like it. But one thing I’ve heard several times now was the lack of a tutorial. Since the game is pretty complex, especially compared to the current games, many people are finding it hard to get into the gameplay and actually win a game (I guess it’s the same thing I felt when I played my first matches of “Panzer General” almost 20 years ago). [Read More]

Redoing backdrops and tuning globe shaders

The backdrops of the different nations have always annoyed me since I started to work on a 16:9 (and currently 16:10) widescreen display. When I created them way back for “Phase 1”, I made them with Corel’s Bryce (a pretty old version) and rendered them for 4:3 and 5:4 displays. And I always wanted to redo them since starting to work on “Phase 2”, which has been some time now, but never actually got around this and never had a clue what to do. [Read More]

Projekt "W" - Phase 2 - First linux release!

Believe it or not, but after a month of hard work (and only very little sleep), the first open beta release of “Phase 2” for linux (i386) is finally here! Only a few small issues had to be fixed since my last posting about going multi-platform. No big deal, only a few visual glitches, missing staff images and (very annoying) a missing flood fill algorithm. I use flood fill to generate the colored territorial maps on each turn, and lazarus doesn’t implement this for the linux widget sets, so I had to write one on my own that isn’t slow as hell. [Read More]