Custom Wars Tactics Project

This project is not mine, but it's definitely worth a look.
http://ctomni231.github.io/cwtactics/

Essentially another Custom Wars game, but with some solid polish thusfar.

Hey. JSRulz here.

Thanks for reincarnating the awbw forums. For what it is worth, I have put this place under my radar for suggestions and comments regarding the game design of Custom Wars Tactics. My goal here is to make sure you have a place to post where I can listen to AWBW players suggestions without outside influence.

So you all know, networking is the next "big thing" happening in Custom Wars Tactics. Sadly, I never got the opportunity to ask you fine people what features you would be looking for that should be included within our plans.

That changes today.

You can check out our current plans in the main blog, but long story short, people on other forums believe that a long drawn out AW battle makes the game boring to play. The main features they are asking for is timed games, shorter boot intervals, and better support for spectators. However, I know that these viewpoints are biased depending on the sites they are hosted on.

I highly suggest that any posters (and lurkers) get their thoughts posted here on what is important to you as awbw players so it may be considered for Custom Wars Tactics. In return for your effort to post, I promise that I will read and consider all that is posted.

Thank you to all who spent time reading this message. A special personal thanks to Mori for spreading the word and giving me the opportunity to involve all of you in the process. I am always open to your comments and concerns. Remember, I can't see into your minds. Make sure to let your voices be heard by typing it out here.

Best relations as we move forward...

JakeSamiRulz
CW Team Lead

As always, if you need a map designer, I am around, and have more experience in mapping for AW style games than...well, a lot of people. If not, best of luck regardless. The option for timed game, shorter boot intervals, and better support for spectators are all very solid things. I'm especially curious on the details on that last one.

You want to help us design maps for this game.

Sure Mori, I'll be glad to let you on board.

I think this will be a lot more important when we get a solid map editor (future) and finish up allowing people to play online games (near future). I definitely can use a fresh look when it comes to AWBW map design. Pretty much all the information I got through PM's on the previous forums went up in smoke. However, trust me, I will be contacting you via PM in the near future so we can further discuss it.

The spectator mode is fairly basic.

In short, people will be able to join up games as a spectator. Spectators will be able to start games for others to join (without having to join it themselves,) and also join up in chat. The feature was suggested to allow it to be easier to set up tournament style games while getting to watch the results.

As for maps...

We have a lot of map editors online including AWBW. It would be great if I was granted access to the AWBW database to gain access how they create maps. I could essentially take any map from AWBW and just integrate it into CWT. However, searching for maps in AWBW is a bit cumbersome and I'd rather get permission to get maps from the system. Anyway, that is a future thought.

Thanks for reading and always lurking,

JSRulz
CWT Team Lead

Looks like an interesting project. It would be cool to see good maps like in AWBW. Really that is why I, and probably others, are so into AWBW. Also dont forget to implement the counters for FTA.

I suppose spectator mode is kinda cool but doesn't seem nearly as important as the actual gameplay. I'd make that your primary focus.

I wrote:So what I'm going to do is start a CWT thread on specifically what would be smart to preserve from Global League, if that's alright. Ideally, all of the Global League maps will be saved, but there's definitely some maps that are more important than others for focusing on making a new and improved selection of testing maps. There's also non-global league maps like Masked Fury that are super smart, or maps styles like Color of Envy that are extremely important for analyzing High Funds in the future, but that's not really as important right now, just a sidenote.

What I could honestly use is some way to physically see the Global League maps, since it's a bit hard to see that on the AWBW site right now. Secondly, I'd like to know where I can start working on CWT maps, but that can be addressed in the second thread I'll be starting I guess. The sooner I can work on getting some basic (but balanced) test maps up, the sooner older AW players will be motivated to play CWT, the sooner we can get a solid playerbase on an AW game. Yay planning.

So.  Thinking over it, there's two easy maps to plunk into a testing category for an AW style game like CWT.  

1. All Roads Lead to Sol
   
2. Iconic
   

 
Both of them are very straightforward, offer no real room for early cheese, and are easy for beginners to figure out.  Additionally, they both have a 2 base standard FTA counter start with a natural base that's captured in two or more turns, if I remember correctly.  This means the sides are as balanced as an AW map will be with current mapping knowledge, and there's no threat of stuff like Recon rushing on the natural.

Secondary map for testing after those two would be Shangri-La, for being about as good as an AW map as I've ever seen.  It's secondary due to most beginners having no clue how to actually play properly on it, resulting in a somewhat poor testing map, despite being one of the best ladder maps AWBW has ever seen.  Blood on my Hands and Shadows chase you endlessly are in a similar category.  

There are plenty more, obviously, but those are the easiest for testing.  I would also very much like to design some new, even simpler maps for testing, but that's where my questions come in.  What's the current implementation for creating new CWT content for mass use?  Is it possible for me to start making CWT maps for such a purpose now, or is that something that will be possible later down the line?  Feel free to respond in a PM if you'd rather keep that kind of development stuff under wraps, but I figured I'd ask here for now.

Time is definitely not on our side here, but luckily you guys have my team worth of programmers on your side.

The AWBW Map Extractor

I don't know how many of you guys can run Java JAR programs, but I designed a program to extract all the map layouts from the database minus the units and properties. (You guys have over 17000 maps in the database when I last checked.) It is here...

AWBW Map Image Extractor
(It extracts automatically in the folder it is in when you open it, so make a folder and drop it in there before opening it up).

The Website

The website is heavily damaged due to server space running out completely, which means, the limit of the server space has been reached causing massive amount of errors. You can't access the forums, or get the property map positions anymore. This basically means that the server space will need to be increased, or the site needs to be purged...

Map Editor

I am going to be completely honest. At the current moment, we do not have an official map editor. The developer of MinuteWars (OzRamos) is in the middle of designing one for us. But currently, I have no idea how long it'll take for him to get it produced. We'll have to wait and see..

As for choices in terms of map editors, the only ones that are currently available...

Custom Wars Map Editor
Roma_Emu Map Editor

I am going to be able to convert any maps made in these formats into CWT maps, which means that you guys can still be able to create maps. I am hoping that Mori can come up with a temporary solution for storage of these maps. I am working on creating a database where we can host the maps.

Conclusion

I'm so sorry guys about this situation. Anyway, anything technical that you guys need to know, please ask. I will be sure to always give an honest answer of the situation. Currently, I'm attempting to get all the map layouts from the database using that extractor. We are also actively working on the network.

Best Regards,

JSRulz

Prioritizing which maps to save is not necessary. As long as I have my backup of the site, the vast majority will be salvageable no matter what. (I'd be able to guarantee all of them if people would quit trying to play the game while I'm downloading the site, but that's probably not going to happen.) I will be uploading it to a file-sharing network as I did with the DM once we have confirmation on whether or not we can acquire the site.

Although I certainly won't object to getting an early start on saving them.

So, is anything happening on this front?

I'm working on buying a new modem, if that helps.  I'm going to try to remember to get the time to make a forum account on your forums today.  Sorry I've been so absent lately.

Best Sakuya NA wrote:I'm working on buying a new modem, if that helps.  I'm going to try to remember to get the time to make a forum account on your forums today.  Sorry I've been so absent lately.

No problem, I was just curious.

Good news is I've fixed my internet. I was likely being DDoS'd but that's whatever. The bad news is that I became quite sick recently (as in coughing up blood and not breathing well and whatnot) and my cat had a stroke. Life just keeps on happening. I pick up my cat from the vet tomorrow, she likely won't last more than a week longer but I'm trying to make those days as enjoyable for her as possible. For my own sickness, I'm on a ton of prescription painkillers which seem to be helping.

This all means that I should maybe, maybe be healthy enough and have the free time to help the Custom Wars team by this weekend. I apologize for all of the delays so far, but I assure you they are not intentional delays.

I am so sorry to hear that Mori.

Take as much time as you need to feel better and don't worry too much about the project. The maps will always be there. Take care of your cat and take care of yourself. Whenever you feel good and ready, that is the best time for me.

JSRulz...  

Well, that sounds kind of terrible.  Get well soon!

Looks like Custom wars will have to be the AWBW replacement now.

I can't seem to get games against other humans to work.

Load time has seem to of improved since the last time I played it though.

Yeah, you'll have to be patient for that one. I really hoped that AWBW would stay up not forcing me to rush the network, the last thing I want is something that is... underdeveloped coming out.   

Would getting rid of music make it load faster? I don't think music is needed to be honest.

Seems to work well against the AI, done well so far.

I'll be sure to get some testing in today, I'll probably be busy for the next few hours though.

If you want someone that can draw the kind of shit you need, ask me anytime. I'm a full time illustrator now. Not joking.

Btw, I don't know whether you can ported CW to windows phone app lol, that will be awesome.

Yeah sure, I can definitely use some assistance in that regard. I'll probably send you a PM soon about that .

As for the Windows Phone, erm... possibly. I mean we are using JavaScript so I think that the moment we get past those bugs for IE we will be able to port the engine to anything, but only time will tell. I'll keep it as part of the to-do list, as I'm unaware of exactly how much I'd have to do in order for this to happen.

Thanks for the tip   

Visiting the site linked on first post
http://ctomni231.github.io/cwtactics/

starting a game
I only just discovered that to start a game one needs to click on the image !

..at least on my desktop.. it doesnt seem to work on ipad nor does reporting the problem work there. So i report it here, also for benefit of wider readership who may have comments.


counter-attack bug
Another curiosity.. I just attacked a megatank with an artillery and was amazed to see my arty go up in smoke. lol. I presume that was some kind of a counter-attack ..which of course shoudnt happen in that situation.

misile silo i fired a misile from a silo thing and it looked like it went off ok but suddenly got a fatal crash and a message that my system not compatible. Im running windows 7 or 8? (i ll check, theyre both new to me) on an HP touch screen desktop though i only used the mouse.

Maps
The spann island map is horrible map because its just got too many bases (4 factories preowned) and so you are just spamming millions of infantry, loads of boring clicking only to discover that the AI isnt putting up any sort of resistance anyway. Even against a human this map is horrible as it would be necesary to churn out a millions of infantry, my finger is just tired of clicking brainlessly. Solution ..reduce to 2 factories.

The 2nd map , name: "stand off .json" is a perfectly great map to play on but the AI is not strong .. even beginners may find it easy,
Solution: give the AI a big initial advantage . I could suggest more but i cant see in fog what he has initially. And i dont want to give spoilers.

of course the human v human mode is awaited eagerly. How is that coming along? Can we help?
I think a lot of us AWBW players could give plenty of suggestions on what might be good and nice.

There seems to be a lot of sophistication on the CWT site in some aspects but unfortunately still quite a few basic things awaiting.  Just wondering if prioritisation to get the minimum functionality first might be a good idea from point of view of getting and maintaining a user community.
AWBW lost so many players to basic issues .. like site down, .. bugs not fixed..

Prioritization debate may help here.

(ps. Those links to custom wars in the opening posts of this thread link to star wars figurines nothing related with any strategy game. I presume we just dont need worry about this, some kind of "in" joke?)

Hello Blanci,

      Thanks for giving it a go. Trust me, we are always looking for any help we can get. I will do my best to answer your concerns.

• Starting a game: By changing the website format we actually broke our own webpage making the Play button disappear, oops, I'll have to fix that. We actually test on PC, Android, and iPad before release, so probably they changed something in the browsers to make our old releases faulty. Try This Version..
  
• Counter-attack bug: We found out about that one and listed it here. We should fix it by next release TBA.
  
• Maps: Yeah, I am not expecting gold medals for the map selection here, as the closer we get to release the more we will need a full map committee to help us organize all the maps we have and make ones for competitive play. Trust me, this is something I can't do alone.
  

The AI is just... there to show that it can be done. We have the means of making it a lot better, but currently I'm focusing all my free time on making sure that CWT has the network that I think AW games need.

The Network is actually coming along rather well, but it is the fact that I don't want it to be garbage that is taking some time. There is a lot of infrastructure involved in making a very good network and it is literally all programming based sadly. The only way that people can assist is if they know Java, JavaScript, or Perl well enough to build on what we are building.

As for ideas for making the game better, I am always looking for them. I have been collecting people's ideas for the game since I've started this project. Check out the growing list of people who contributed. Regardless, I thank you for your words about the CWT site being sophisticated. We really tried to make it sort of easy to use (except that I lost the play button). Realistically, though, summer is a very busy time for us and our free time is really short during this period.

As the game stands now, we have AI, custom maps, and the game play working. The network is on highest priority so we can get the player to player experience we all (including myself) crave. I'm pushing full steam ahead in that direction. A compelling argument may change my course though.

Hopefully, I answered all your concerns. Please, feel free to discuss more as I enjoy answering them. It is quite difficult for me to give any dates about when this game will be released, but we are trying to wrap everything up before Fall. However, I can promise that we won't give up on this project. The moment I have any news about the game release, you'll be the first to know about it.

Feel free to discuss any ideas you have, I'm always listening. Best regards and luck holding the communities together.

JSRulz

I'm just here to let everyone be aware of a small update to the CWT Engine...

Custom Wars Tactics Version 0.35.1 - Bug Updates

It is a pretty small update that just fixed a bug which made the game stop working everywhere. I also talked a bit about Networking. More news to come later...

JSRulz

It's great that you're working on another site for an AW-like game. Hopefully this one will work better than the AWBW site, which seems to crash every few weeks.

I played a few test games on the available maps, and the AI seems to be... underwhelming. Anybody with a basic sense of strategy could win against the AI, which takes much of the challenge out of the game. Would be great if you could improve the difficulty or get the network games running sometime soon so that people can play against human opponents.

Other than that, it looks like a solid site that will only become better as more maps are added and the AI is improved. Great work!


P.S. When is version 0.4 being released?

Hey Everdan,

Thanks for the words of encouragement and taking the time to test out the program. The good news is that it is working, but the fact that the AI isn't good enough really only means that my team has to work even harder to make sure that it satisfies. However, you did have a question, so let me answer it...

Everdan wrote:When is version 0.4 being released?

"Version 0.4 is slated for release for the middle of this year (most likely June). The numbers for the releases might be changed however because we are adopting a timely release schedule (one release every three months), that we are testing to see if we can accomplish it this quarter (March - Version 0.38). If it works, the release for 0.4 will actually be 0.39 instead." - JSRulz

"Why the delay?"

Excuses excuses excuses. Yeah, that is the approach most take when they are behind time. If I were to nail the one reason why we are taking long is because we decided that the program we built (Version 0.35) isn't good enough to reach the expectations that is required by the AW community. It forced us to go back behind the curtain and just rebuild the entire system from the ground up, with all the problems that were plaguing Version 0.35 in the back of our mind. To remind those who haven't read the issues yet, here they all are in the links below...

List of Bugs - Mailing List
Custom Wars Tactics Feature Requests

Also, people have been so kind as to use our bug writing service to its fullest, and have been slowly pushing suggestions and bug fixes to us.

Bug Report Form

In a way, thanks to the extraordinary feedback from the AW community, I was able to conclude that the system we have in place, though excellent, is going to have to be a bit more robust, easier to use, and complete. So, even though it hurt, we had to slash and burn to build something that would be able to meet those expectations. Instead of giving the same system with a network tacked on, instead, we are going to have an entirely new base for the game including the network. What I'm hoping with this move is that overall, when it gets released, it will be noticeably better than the work we've done on Version 0.35.

Speaking of distractions...

Well, honestly, I've been doing a lot to try and keep a lot of the history we have for AW in general safe. Last year, the entire site for Black Hole Headquarters (BHHQ) went down, alongside all the content. The problem I have with these sites vanishing at this rate is that our hard work in terms of custom creations like campaigns, commanding officers, and map strategy goes down with it. As such, I have been splitting my time between development and trying to see how much I can save in terms of these pages. I know I can't get everything, but I at least want to host as much as possible so I don't have any regrets. I managed to save a lot of information from sites including...

Advance Wars Net (AWN) - still alive barely
Black Hole Headquarters (BHHQ) - dead
Advance Wars By Web (AWBW)
Advance Wars Experience
Custom Wars (CW) - Original

Just like time is against me for actually releasing this game, it also happens to be against me when it comes to grabbing this content before it all disappears. I realize that in terms of the latter, the stakes are a bit higher as that information can never come back once lost. With each chunk of that work gone goes a bit of the AW community culture with it. There is a lot of ideas and great content that came with the AW culture that I just don't want to see disappear into nothing. So, since I have the ability, I'm doing something about it, and hopefully, the AW community will see it and benefit in the future.

Conclusion

Sorry for the long post, but rest assured, we are still working on this project. The good news is that the team we have on it is very dedicated, which is very rare. We actually want this to succeed more than anyone would imagine. As with the nature of this project though, it is one denoted fully by the amount of free time, so everything is never set in stone in terms of dates. However, the project is free, so I guess the balance has to come in somewhere. I'll be sure to post major release updates here when we guarantee it, but for now, just keep watching the project to let us know you are still alive and listening.

I thank you all for your patience and support in waiting for this game release to come out,

JakeSamiRulz
CWT Team Lead