What I am currently working on

Cool something new to stare at.

Oh yeah, I forgot to add in. I shortened the sleeping quarters by one tile to make the hallway next to it three tiles wide. I noticed that the hallway is too small when the sleeping quarters gets hit and a lot of people are scurrying back and forth.

While you are observing you will also see the things people said that are not repeated over the intercom. I also changed the "double hearing" thing where you say something and it is repeated over the intercom. Now it will simply be repeated over the intercom to save window space.

If you keep up with my update log, I tried to add fire and get water to move on stuff like tables and supply carts sometime in February, but it didn't work. I revisited the post on the BYOND Developer Forum, and managed to get it to work. I don't know what happened before, maybe I gave up. Anyway, now the "waterable" verb works... so water will be able to go through things such as the bars in the brig, etc. The water moves stupider now again, but I guess that's a price to pay.

So I was pretty happy I added that, and that system was holding me back from putting in fire, so got to add that too. Like the destroyed hull leaks water, broken batteries make fire. I added in fire extinguishers to the engine room, and a new foam icon. You fire the foam with the Center() command, which is 5 on the numpad with numlock off. You basically have to repair the batteries before you put out the fire, otherwise it'd be like pumping the water out of a room with a gaping hole in it. Obviously, fire burns you, so it adds in more use to doctors, I suppose. I did some more minor changes like when fire and water collide they produce steam(but I edited it so it's not the deadly radioactive steam), and I made water, fire and foam invisible to the mouse, so you can click on stuff under it easier.

It's funny, I remember looking at one of my old idea logs and I said that engine technician is a pretty pointless job unless I make it useful. It's basically still under the category of fixing the batteries when they blow(which they aren't supposed to), but it is more for them to do.

This post has been edited by Justin Knight on Jul 8 2006, 09:24 PM

The shrapnel system stopped working for what seemed to be no reason to me, so I revisited this as people started to show interest in DW again. I initially fixed the system after some minor work, but then while trying to pinpoint the problem I was messing around and made the table move as shrapnel moves over it.

This gave me an idea... if I originally allowed shrapnel to move over stuff people normally can't like tables, and other places where people can't and water can (like the bars for the brig), why not have the explosion from the hull being destroyed move some stuff around that people can move around? I tested some stuff out, and was almost late to work because there was a small problem I got fixated on and forgot about the time. After I got back from work I did some more testing and it worked perfectly.

Although, before I hosted it I rearranged the events and didn't test it. So objects that were directly next to the hull that the shrapnel hit were delayed and picked up by the cleanup process. I fixed this now and it works nicely, moving objects movable objects one tile when they are hit. Originally, I had it so that shrapnel hitting into each other would move past each other, but now I have ONE be deleted to reduce damage, and stuff was moving around very strangely as well. I also tried to fix the mine deletion problem, but I don't know if I was successful.

Before this I fixed a major bug that didn't allow hosting for long periods of time without rebooting, and hopefully reduced lag with this too. I don't know if I mentioned this earlier, but at some point between the last time I posted and now I silently added newbie control to taking down walls. You need to be an engineer or higher to actually take them down now. Otherwise, people are silently blocked.

This post has been edited by Justin Knight on Mar 13 2007, 07:16 PM

Is the shrapnel the thing you showed me where if we clicked the wall it launched it?

The shrapnel thing has been in the game since BEFORE last February, when I talked about adding in the surgery system. What I forgot to mention was surgery is to heal shrapnel wounds... which were added PRIOR, and this caused a lot of confusion. I distinctly remember one incident where someone died from shrapnel wounds, was revived and then given an IV, but we didn't have the surgery system in place so he couldn't be fully healed. He didn't see when I told him to get back to work because we can't heal him any further, and he RPed and tried to heal himself. There was a small bug on TOP OF THAT... his hp was increased, but the HUD wasn't updated to show the increase, so it looked like he was still nearly dead. I usually don't post small bug fixes like that, and sometimes forget to post about more major ones.

So clicking the wall to release shrapnel was something I did when I was first testing it, and did it again to figure out what I screwed up for it to stop working.

This post has been edited by Justin Knight on Apr 6 2007, 10:19 PM

Here's an actual update that I've been forgetting to post.

On a post exactly last year this day, I wrote that if a captain logs out one of the officers will get to be captain, along with the change job verb. However, I quickly took this system away (as I wrote in an edit of the post) because I would get runtime errors each time the server rebooted. Due to my recent efforts of hosting, but not really playing, I realized this system really needs to be in place. I worked quite a bit at it, and got it working perfectly. Now if the captain logs out or dies, his position is given to a random officer. If there are no officers to take his place, the round is over and the server reboots. I've seen a few rounds that fall apart after the captain dies (or logs out) either because there's no chain of command, or new people coming in get angry that they can't get a job, so this will be very useful.

The only bug I've seen with this system is that people are reported to enter twice sometimes. I don't know if it's a bug with this system, or a new BYOND system, though. I haven't seen it as much of a problem, though.

I was trying to address the fact that the med bay frequently gets hit. One issue that I can't really fix is that it takes up a lot of hull space, so there is a higher probability that one of the tiles around it will be picked to be hit. However, I addressed the fact that the ends of the sub have a very pointy shape, and I fixed the med bay to be more rounded like the engine room on the same floor is.

I added some noob control on the fire extinguishers. First, it tells you in OOC how to use it when you pick it up. Second, you can only use it if there is fire in your view().

I fixed a bug with the defibrillator that would freeze the person whose pulse you checked if they were in good health if you walked away afterwards. This was caused by when I fixed bugs that allowed you to defibrillate someone even if you walked away.

Another thing I forgot to post here, along the same vein of the captain logging out, was that I added a new system if you log out mid-game. Previously, your character would just stand there lifeless wherever you were, and if you logged back in you would see a brief flash of your character where you were in the sub, then you would get transferred to the lobby to re-enter the game.

Now for realism (because people really can't enter a moving submarine) logged-out characters are transferred to the sleeping quarters and put in a resting state. If you log back in, you can stand up right there and get back to whatever you wanted to do.

When you die you also log as well, because you get transferred to being an observer, so dead people are automatically transferred to the morgue. One issue I noticed is that if people are in the brig, some might figure out that they can magically teleport out of it by logging out and coming back, so I need to fix that. Are there any other situations where people wouldn't want to be moved from if they log out? I can't think of any more.

Now, for my most recent changes. I couldn't sleep one night so I was messing around with the map in DW.

Overall: I removed as many intercoms that are on the hull as I could because it doesn't make any sense how the hull can be breached but the intercom is fine. I moved the (invisible) alarms that trigger lock downs inside of all the areas, not sticking out on the hull, so only the room's actual area glows red. Zones 3 and 4 don't contain any doors in their areas to lock down, so I indicated that on the security consoles. I decreased the overall amount of nightsticks and cuffs in the game. I updated the horribly old security camera animation to a sleeker dark gray color.

Security office: I expanded the side bars in the brig, and placed an intercom going sideways on it. Instead of having a separate table with cuffs on it right near the brig entrance, I put the nightsticks and cuffs on the same table. I moved the door to the security booth out of being in a direct line from the brig entrance, moved the defibrillator inside the security booth and placed a couple more chairs there.

Reactor room: I expanded the reactor room's lead shielding to make it take up a larger, square area for realism. I also added a lining of wall inside the reactor room, so when you are inside of it, it really is a box. I expanded the reactor's battery to be two tiles long like the engine's batteries, and moved the tools in there on top of the table that no one uses to fit into the rectangular reactor space.

Engine room: I made a minor change to the engine room wiring to compensate for it being moved to the top level.

Supply room 2: I shortened supply room 2 to make it the same size as supply room 1.

Control room: I moved around the servers in the control room to mirror the old DW (v11) where the computers were parallel to each other, and thus moved the security consoles down for easier hull repair and more places for shrapnel to fly out.

EDIT: Screenshots or it didn't happen.





This post has been edited by Justin Knight on Apr 19 2007, 07:10 PM

It's not like I wasn't working on DW during the gap between these posts. There are actually a few reasons why I didn't post an update.

Firstly, the last post was being featured on the BYOND Strategy blog. As most of you already know, BYOND isn't really a center of strategy games, so news might come slowly. Deadly Waters was originally featured on an April 12 post as something just to fill the news, but it's really not anything to sneeze at. DW is #6 in BYOND Strategy. The April 12th post linked to a pretty strange topic, so ACWraith corrected it in the April 19th post. I had only commented on this two days earlier, and I didn't want to post new stuff so people would get linked to a different post (he linked to the newest post in the topic instead of the actual post). Unfortunately, being featured didn't give the forum any new members or posts, just some guests.

Secondly, I would say I've been busy, but that's not the real reason. This forum doesn't get ANY activity most of the time, so I feel that this log won't be read. Now the forum has been getting a bit more activity, so I feel I should start posting some more too.

I have added those fixes to the new logout system as described in the post above, but now dead people don't seem to be placed in the morgue anymore. I also added various checks to the logout system, comparable to the checks needed to rest in a bed. These checks are just to prevent any possible bugs because I originally made the system just to place alive people in the crew quarters and dead people in the morgue.

I've been adding more features to DW to make it more newbie friendly. I have added a new help file verb called Basic Done that pops up when people finish basic training, and is available until they get a skill point. It basically tells you how to go about acting in the game as a staff assistant, and gives in-depth details on how to do basic things like load supply carts and fix hull breaches. Obviously, people will ignore it, but there is help available to the people who want it. The game hasn't been getting harder, but newbies have just been using less of the help and get more and more oblivious as the days go on.

An interactive help system I have been thinking about implementing is a toggleable mini map. I already have an overall toggleable mini map in place, but it doesn't indicate where you are or where you have access. I intended for it to show you where you should be and where you could be, depending on your job.

Besides that, I have been tackling systems that I never used to touch before. Just as I altered the security console so that zones 3 and 4 can't lock down because they have no doors within them, I have been wanting to overhaul the pumping system. Only one vent in a room is used, even if there are multiple vents. This doesn't make much sense for large rooms, and I already altered small rooms and changed the pumping radius for them (DRR, ladderwell). I prepared the rooms to get a better system, but I haven't done any of the legwork yet.

I have edited my version so that mines and submarines still have the 1/3 chance being hit by a torpedo, but battleships and destroyers have a 1/2 chance due to the fact that they need multiple torpedo hits to sink, and a lot of torpedoes can be wasted on them.

EDIT: A couple things I forgot to add in. I fixed some bugs with the sonar system in normal mode (and all others, including budget cut). It was supposed to create enemies when there weren't any, but it wasn't working properly and I had to handle things differently. It was very strange to have the background story saying you're in enemy waters and never have an enemy appear. The game really comes alive when you're under attack. I moved the intercom in the control room to a more central location so your speech gets transferred to it ANYWHERE in the room. This moved down the overview console. I also moved the air regulator and security consoles away from the hull to give more room for people to move around. I shortened the armory section in the control room to accomplish this.

EDIT #2: Here's a screen shot of the newest control room layout. Compare it to the one in the post above. Note: Some people might notice the difference that sheet metal has been added to the room. This is not a new feature... sheet metal would be in all the important rooms (reactor room, engine room, control room, etc.) to repair a quick breach. However, I removed it more recently to encourage people to go outside to the supply room to get materials to repair. The engine rooom has always had enough sheet metal to repair all the batteries once, and the reactor room doesn't have any anymore because it can't be breached.



This post has been edited by Justin Knight on May 13 2007, 10:30 AM

Hm... let's see what I did this week. As I said before, I'm trying to make the game more user-friendly to newbies. I'm actually considering redoing the job section of basic training and keeping it focused just on the basics of the game. It was originally intended as an overview of the game to see if players would be interested in it before actually playing. Most people who actually get up to basic training go through it and into the game, though.

I updated some of the basic training messages because there is no area you can test out the item system in anymore. For some reason, after people discovered you can take things from that area, people would go into BT again and take supplies (like torpedoes) THEN enter the game. I also made the pop-up window telling you what to do in BT not able to be closed. Apparently, people close it without reading it or the corresponding text that comes up at the same time, skim the information and then ask what they have to do in BT.

The sad fact of the matter is that most fans don't frequent this forum, and many newbies do not even know it exists. It loads the news topic, but people have told me they "thought it was just a page that loads when you log in," even though it's actually a redirect of one topic in an entire forum. So I have the engine technician and bridge worker tutorial topics come up if someone gets that job when the game starts. Additionally, the basic done verb is brought up when gets staff assistant or medical assistant when the game starts. I hope this will get newbies aware that it's actually a forum, not just a single page, or at least help first-timers at a job.

I finally fixed the logout system... it works properly again. Nothing was really wrong, but it was just the order of events in two procs. I did update some stuff with it as I said before, but it wasn't working for dead people.

I changed most of the room to a new pumping system. Each individual pump only has a 3 tile radius that it can pump water from, and it can only pump water from the same room. Yes, the other pumping system allowed water to be pumped from different rooms if it was in the 10(!) tile radius. It also does not pump water from sea tiles either. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing yet, though. I liked the fact that ALL the water was erased in the old system... the water sits on the sea tile like a ninja waiting to suffocate you, and you have to wait until it moves to get it. However, this is much more realistic because it's not as if you're draining the ocean.

This post has been edited by Justin Knight on May 17 2007, 07:04 PM

On Monday I merged three topics that to me were about the same thing in the game. Although the topic starts didn't think they were about the same thing, from my point of view they are the same thing: expanding the medical system.

Today I moved that merged topic to approved because I have thought it over and I think that is just what Deadly Waters needs. I wanted to "update" the medical system further as far back as two years ago, and that topic got a new slew of replies after I added in the shrapnel system. I think these suggestions will make the game more interesting without being too difficult to implement.

I don't want to add a navigation system or do anything too crazy with basic training yet. I'd like to update Project Talon, some more, but not before I implement these new medical systems that I can use for PT as well. I was definitely thinking about removing the obsolete radiation HUD icon and replacing it with a "blood loss" icon or something equivalent like "health status." i.e. America's Army

Don't thank me too much, I just haven't gotten enough time to work on my games until now.

This post has been edited by Justin Knight on Jun 21 2007, 01:46 PM

Since a lot has happened in a year, I might as well post it here. Hey, I rhymed!

One of the biggest updates I was working on was an extension to basic training. This extension consisted of loading torpedoes and repairing hull breaches, normal things that assistants do.

I didn't really get much work done in the form of an updated medical system, because, quite frankly, the medical system isn't used a whole lot in a standard game round anyway.

As the people who frequent this forum know, I host on a somewhat sporadic schedule. However, when I do host I usually do it for a good number of hours and get a good mix of old and new players.

The only disturbing thing I've been seeing, is with my "updated" basic training system. Before, admins used to have NO way of knowing who was passing and who was failing the basic training test, or how many times people were doing it. Now, I fell back to an older system and slightly updated the testing system to run "two" tests at once... which people usually constantly fail until maybe their 5th to 7th time... and then I boot them. Well, at least we're weeding out SOME people.

There seemed to have been a recent influx in people that attained the rank of Chief Petty Officer in Deadly Waters. People attained this rank just by staying on the server for hours, which is not really any indication of skill. So, in turn, I added Non Commissioned Officer (warrant officer) ranks AFTER Chief Petty Officer... to distinguish older players from newer ones more easily. These effects will last until the training area is expanded to accommodate the commissioned officer ranks.

In addition, a simple and recent addition to the map: an officer's quarters in the southern end of zone 4.

Picture: http://www.byond.com/members/JustinKnight/...rs_quarters.PNG

That's it for this edition of Deadly Waters News... tune in next time when I actually happen to update this more often.

In my last post, I forgot to mention that I added a pretty superficial improvement... that being race, to the game. I figured it'd be better to represent all the different races instead of just male whites, as I previously was.

These overlays were mostly superficial, and nothing much, really. However, during budget cut mode they tended to look more like a white person was wearing tan or dark colored gloves and a mask ("black face") instead of a whole neutral skin tone.

So, I went through the process of adding on additional skin overlays for budget cut mode... so those who choose not to be white males, actually don't look like they were wearing gloves and a mask.

That's pretty much it... the noobs were especially getting to me yesterday, I might also mention.

I pwn nubs... No, seriously... I pwn nubs!

Okay... on a serious note, I re-added the two ladders that went lead to the top of the submarine. You can say it was by user request, or noob request, but you all know I don't listen to them anyway.

But if I just posted that as an update... all the nubs would get angry at me. They'd be like JUSTIN THAT WASN'T AN UPDATE THAT WAS PLACING TWO OBJECTS ONTO THE MAP. You got that right, bishes.

Back on track... I one upped that. I added functionality of the all important escape trunk. What the heck is an escape trunk, Justin?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Submari...scape_trunk.jpg

Well, if you look on Wikipedia it looks like this cramped contraption where guys get in and out of a submarine from. Ding ding ding! You just found yourselves a winner!

http://www.byond.com/members/JustinKnight/...scape_trunk.PNG

It's modeled, by scale, to a real submarine escape trunk. Three men can comfortably fit in it. Instead of just magically appearing on the deck of the sub.. you have to climb through this baby first!

This could quite possibly be a tool for new modes. I know, I know. New modes, Justin? Noobs don't know how to load torpedoes! Yeah, yeah. I'm trying to fix that, shaddup!

EDIT: Easy mode is now back by popular demand! The submarine starts with 300% power (batteries don't blow) and the generators on at full blast (22 watts)! What could be more amazing? I really don't know. Easy peasy lemon squeasy... I guess.

This will make a good addition to the list of game modes! Well, good ol' normal mode has been tried, worn and used... At least there isn't a "paranormal" mode!

EDIT # 2: As per suggestion, I made both the shrapnel and fire systems deadlier! Muwahaha!

... Wow. That reminds me of early AC Wraith's Techtree posts.

This post has been edited by Justin Knight on Jul 24 2008, 04:01 PM

With the advent of the escape trunk I've added something that's been in the suggestions box for a long, long time. Escaping! Abandoning ship! (Whichever you prefer) Yay!

When the sub sinks too deep (950 meters, to be exact) the captain can order the crew to evacuate through the escape trunk... not first without putting on a breathing apparatus, though.

Quite a few things have changed... I've added a new z-level with a beach and rafts to teleport to after you've escaped that dreaded sub!

EDIT: The experience can be as low as 10%... and as high as 50% from escaping successfully. Though, if you evacuate close to allied waters and you're still moving... it doesn't make much sense to escape, if when you stay you'll get full experience.

Here's the new zone 2... tons of closets.

http://www.byond.com/members/JustinKnight/files/zone_2.PNG

Here's the captain in his rescue gear... in the escape trunk!

http://www.byond.com/members/JustinKnight/...cape_trunk2.PNG

Here's the captain and COB on rafts in the ocean, near the beach!

http://www.byond.com/members/JustinKnight/files/beach.PNG

This post has been edited by Justin Knight on Jul 27 2008, 10:27 AM

I finally finished the "hands-on" portion of Basic Training that everyone's been waiting for! It's called "advanced" basic training now... and everyone has to do it before joining the game again! Not much to say otherwise... just torpedo loading and fixing hull breaches. Real newbie stuff. Now I expect a higher degree of intelligence from newbies! Mwhahaha!

Check out the two screen shots.

http://www.byond.com/members/JustinKnight/...orpedo_room.PNG

http://www.byond.com/members/JustinKnight/...s/hull_room.PNG

Even so...some dont even know how to move a torpedoe
If the image links worked im sure they would help in most cases.

Even so...some dont even know how to move a torpedoe
If the image links worked im sure they would help in most cases.

My BYOND membership expired I have to purchase another year's worth.