Oddly enough, I'm planning on using a time travel spell in the map I'm making, too. In your map, say you casted a trap spell. The trap spell disappears then you cast Rewind. Is the trap spell still there? Or are only the heros moved back in time?

Sounds pretty cool, so good luck with it. I've always liked original spells.

Its already been completely mapped out and placed.

I've used every trick in the book for location usage minimization and after all this I am at 246 locations.

That gives me enough freedom for miscalculation, a couple features if needed or another lite spell.

Lucky you.

Any info on the terrain though, Twilight doesn't exactly fill up a pondering mind.

Thanks, I hope I can tackle this.
Anyway, yes, if it was set off or timed out at least 12 seconds ago, it will be recreated and returned to the state it was 8 seconds ago and subsequently resumes from that state.

I.E. You make a trap and it times out, and 7 seconds later someone uses Time Reverse. It will simulate backwards, so -7 seconds later, it will be recreated. A second after time resumes normally, it will time out again.

Or say that you you exhaust a lot of energy in casting meltdown but your target, whom has the flag, escapes last second. Well now its in cooldown and you don't have energy enough for anything else. Time Reverse and you get a second try at using meltdown at that sucker. That or learn from your mistakes and use warp charge instead with the energy you got back.

Good luck with your spell then.

Well, truthfully there isn't a lot you can do with Twilight as far as extended terraining goes. You don't have the freedom you do with, say, Jungle. The reason for Twilight is that it best fits the theme and style that I'm going for with my map. It matches my intended aesthetic.

I guess if you're curious you can look at the minimap in the screenshot. There are 6 bases around the outside that become accessible with certain gametypes/teams. I'm also thinking about limiting the playing field bases on player attendance, as I'm a little worried that I've got it a bit too big right now. Of course, it may seem like that because I'm in there myself.

Well, it sounds awesome, but the thing I'm confused about is how you can store all of that information. You'd need a deathcounter for every object/stat on the playing field for every trigger frame. Assuming you're using hyper triggers, that's 12 frames per second. For five seconds, that's 60 deathcounters per object/stat. To top all of that off, you need an output system (logically a grid) to replace everything instantly.

That or you are using a simpler system with locations or burrowed units to keep track of placements and deathcounters to keep track of stats.

Its really not storing each frame and location of every object at every loop. What it is doing is storing only enough to simulate it. So no there is no coordinate output system, as that would require tons of units and actions per loop. I'm trying to keep lag at a bare minimum. I'm using dozens death counters to keep track of all the states (but not positions) and stats of spells and heroes. I've also got a physical storage system to hold stats of specific things, or rather changes in them. This is mostly for things that could be manipulated based on physical things, which with possible recurrence couldn't plausibly be stored using death counters.

All in all, 144 loops.

So how do you replace everything with things from the past? Heck, how do you relocate the heros?

I'm not entirely sure what you mean.

It records the hero's position for 12 seconds every second. Then he moves to those locations backwards.

Edit: To clarify, he order moves backwards.

Interesting. But the question is... are there any glitches in this system?

That's a pretty ridiculous question, as I couldn't possibly know yet.

So far, glitches? No. Imperfect movement memory simulation? Yes. But this is something I cannot change and knew would be the case even before I had drawn out my plans. No system could ever make this completely perfect. I'm just doing the best I can with the limitations I have.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Aug 1 2008, 5:34 am by Kaias.

Then let the BETA testing prove crack your system!
... when it is possibly released that is...
*Raises a sign that reads "K, MAEK ME TESTR" ridiculously high in front of Kaias' face*

Just to press further on what Lethal was getting at, I'm assuming that you have 12 locations per player that you use to track the movement (a different one centered each second)? Also, are you using a coordinate grid for anything? That would free up a lot of locations and would get you exact detection/placement of where your unit was in the last 12 seconds since you could store the coordinates for your unit with death counts and then be able to output them with the grid.

For the time warp: Is the unit teleported to the spot or is the unit ordered there? I thought it was implied that it would be teleported but in another post you said it was ordered which seems to make time warp pointless.

For Time Reversal, the unit is ordered to move to its previous location, which simulates the backwards movement of time. No gameplay actually happens during that time (I'm assuming), it's just a cool effect.

Also, as for the system seeming impossible, you have to remember he's using VHP, and a virtual casting system, which means it's a lot easier to keep track of every spell cast.

Think of it like this- Everything in the game is played in rewind for 8 seconds. You get another chance at fixing whatever went wrong last time. That or your opponent is the one who did it and you need to beat whatever he decides to do different based on what happened previously.

Revoke doesn't count as a rewind, it is individual, doesn't change movement memory and will be undone in time reverse as well.

Correct.
Yes the rewinding is purely aesthetic, but the actual state revert is the primary game mechanic.

I'll release in a closed amount of people, then I'll make a public beta.
And of course I'll make changes according to feedback suggestions and bugs found (which there are bound to be.

As for the post on a coordinate grid, I've seriously considered my options and decided against it. If I can't get the current system to work properly, then I'll try it. So far though, it seems to be going well.

The idea for this game is really unique, and if executed well seems like it would be a really fun game cant wait to play it

Me... Want... To... Play...

How did you come up with this? 'Cause it seems pretty uber. Keep it up!

I was making a concept map and I wanted a good way to retreat out of a battle. So I made the revoke spell.
And that lead to bigger grander ideas.