People had suggested that to me a million times, but I always thought it would be too messy of a change. It ended up working out pretty easily, though.

I added p12 crystals, a banner, and separated drones on the same property if there are only two. Not tested with 3 or more yet.. it's supposed to do nothing And that finishes off the cosmetics list for me! I'll test some more today and very likely send it to DevliN this evening. This most recent version has hopefully fixed a chance bug and bidding into debt message bug, as well. I might just add a display message on mortgaging virginia explaining that the health of it won't be set to 50%.


EDIT: I was going to do 2 runs to make sure they ran without bugs before I sent it, and surprise surprise, the second one had a few very small bugs. I believe I fixed them, and 3 drones on one property was tested as well. That final chance card still needs to be tested, and I still want a couple more bugless runs before I hand it over.. it's being sent tomorrow either way, I suppose, since I'm leaving for vacation early Friday morning. I would definitely say that this map has reached a quality worthy of release, but I definitely want to make sure it's perfect first.

Post has been edited 3 time(s), last time on Jun 4 2009, 8:40 pm by fritfrat.

The broodling died again. Honestly i think he needs to be replaced. Correct me if i'm wrong but i think the ultra is unused and he would be a good replacement because u could adjust his hp and he wouldn't die. Plus he kinda fits the groups you having going since hes melee

heres the replay it happens after teal leaves its near the begining

Attachments:

spidermine in trade box caused the civ to stay white when teal ended his turn.

heres the replay.

Attachments:

Hey all,
I'm off on vacation now; I've handed the map off to DevliN. Killer and I have spent hours and hours testing this this week, so hopefully we've been able to crank out most of the bugs. Whatever ones you still can spot, just post them here.
Attached is the most recent version. Meh for this thread becoming a bit of a back and forth between me and killer, but at least me leaving will fix that

EDIT: removed.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Jun 12 2009, 7:05 am by fritfrat.

Good job fritfrat! I also have played this yesterday with friends about 5 times. Haven't noticed much bugs.
Only this one:
when players left the game!

DevliN, do you work on this?
I have a suggestion. These units which identify properties... I can't get what attack/defence of these units supposed to show, but make attack and it's single upgrade to display (property cost) + (house cost).

attack and def show rent for landing with house and hotels if i remember correctly. it may just be attack is one house rent and attack upgrades is with hotel. That sounds right but i'd need to check game to be positive.

house cost isn't to hard its basically per street each street is 50 aboove last. Home row with reading is 50. Pennsylvania rail street is 100. B&O street is 150. Shortline Street Is $200. Also on very edge of a map you can see where each property is. It is a bit rough with out looking to tell where each property is if u haven't memorized the bored. The colors give a general idea though. The close colors like reds all properties have colors in their names.

Yeah, I'm working on it now (theoretically). My original idea for property cost (aside from the minimap display) was a mineral field on the property itself. I may still attempt to include this (supposing it is aesthetically pleasing) or I'll just put the cost in the unit name (supposing it fits).

In the opening tutorial, it will explain all the subtleties like the Attack and Defense amounts, as well.

Did you know SEN works on a blackberry? I won't have it for the rest of the week, but very cool.
The main goal of all cosmetics would be so everything is either intutive or the information is provided in an intuitive spot, making the host not have to explain almost anything. Right now, the game works great, but I have to tell people how to do things all the time; like, for example, how to trade cash and use the money trader.
So, what to do: play the game a few times. Observe where people don't get it right away, edit it, and then see if they do. The only improvement on this type of game is speed of play and ease of use, once everything works. Just edit it to hopefully add much more ease of use (and directions incase no one has ever played it before) with giving up minimal speed.
I'm sure you'll do great, devlin. I think the mineral idea is a bad idea, since people only want to know the list price when auctioning and (sometimes) trading, so a mineral far away really won't help people.

Hopefully this post makes sense.. this box is tiny on my phone and I really can't review what I wrote . Also, devlin, I'd take suggestions from killer, too; he's played a lot and knows what people catch onto and what they don't

See you all when I get back!

I like the idea with minerals very much! I support this:
Probably even better than displaying info via units attack/defence, because you can write on mineral patches: property cost, house cost, hotel cost and everything is self-explanatory. If you display info via units properties one can forget what they mean (if you say this only at start for example) and looking for help somewhere requires additional actions. If you make only text display it can disappear faster that one read it.

I suggest adding different ways of achieving the result. For example a player can look prices via text and via mineral fields. Then one can choose the variant which fits best for him.

Also, a BUG REPORT:
Yesterday we were playing an epic MONOPOLY game with people from SEN. We had a long 2-hours game and at the end neither I nor my last opponent was able to declare bankruptcy

EDIT:
I've noticed that while playing this game the dialog in the chat is very intensive. The displayed text goes out of screen very fast. If you are doing text display probably you'll make it hold on screen for a while. The suggestion there is either to hold such text for all players or to inform others when Player X starts reading the text that he can't see what other type and when Player X stops reading that he is available.

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on May 24 2009, 6:33 am by Wormer.

And in my opinion, I believe that text for the options isn't sufficient about 80% of the time. We always have to tell people what the options are, can't you have some off the wall unit there to tell them where to go? Have you considered using the mineral chunks/gas bits for the main 4 options?

The on-screen text is all being redone. You'll see property info each time you land on a property, and originally there was an option to view info using your controlled units in each player's area.

I have considered using units for the main control area, and I'll definitely see what I can do.

agreed even typing your own text doesn't work for some people. Some people just wont read what you type until they ask a question which imo is stupid as shit. there are those people out there where i need to tell them like 5 times what each option does lol. It gets a bit old.

Also frit i'm not sure why ur against the minerals. they are very useful to display. I agree in part that yea its kinda pointless to put on edge of map when its mainly needed for auctioning, but at the same time why did you lable all the properties with the unit? Because plainly and simply It Helps. I would say just to help even more put a gosh darn mineral patch right next to the auction and whatever unit appears modify the minerals accordingly.

I also agree with worm it needs 4 units telling what each option for the civ does. Would save tremendous time. There are those that read typing text and there are those that like to click. My first time playing i completely missed the text actions for my civ and it made it extremely difficult that first game.

The more ways you can get the information out the better. Personally I would put onscreen messages, messages on units, and a tutorial somewhere where you can direct the person who isn't familiar with the map. You can also fill mission objectives with certain things although this isn't as useful for certain maps.

Maybe the brief can contain unit information like attack and also in mission objectives because most people frown on briefs. My opinion of briefing is it sux. I'd rather tell a new person in game how to play then let then decide if they are reading because they are new or if they are afk. Briefings should be short(15-20secs) and include only basic information. The major info needs to fit in that little box that is always displayed.


*****Edit*****
May have found bug will edit again after i check monopoly rules to see if i'm mistaken or not.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on May 25 2009, 9:14 pm by killer_sss.

Do you have an ETA on this map? It seems to be getting close.

I've (coincidentally) been really busy the past few days and haven't gotten much work done on my end. As far as I know, it's really just the cosmetic stuff that's missing thusfar, plus whatever bugs may be found.

I'm back! Yay!

Anyways, I do think the minerals would be a great idea. They could be placed around the map as well as created near the auction block as a quick reference.placing units for the 4 directions would also make the most sense, replacing the unit for jail payment/auction depending.

Anyways, I guess devlin should probably just send it back to me so I can work on it if he's going to be really busy, since I can probably crank out something "good enough" to release in a day or two. The game is basically done, and adding those changes and tutorials won't take long at all, and any better cosmetic changes I wouldn't be able to think of were hopefully added over the last week or so.

Oh, and that bug about declaring bankruptcy.. there was one like that fixed in some recent versions, so I probably won't address that unless you confirm it was with the most recent upload. Thanks a lot for testing and playing, as always.

Waaaa! fritfrat is back! I'm looking froward to when it is finished!
It was version BETA 3.9.

frit, I'm still here to test if ever we meet online

About that bug, I guess I post it there.
Well, what I remember it was a very long game with lots trades and other things. During the game several people left. The whole board was bought except one thing: Railroad (Right). And it was in the end when I (P1) got all properties and my opponent was in debt and wanted to declare bankruptcy. He couldn't do this and just for fun I sold all my property to him for nothing, and when I got in debt I couldn't declare bankruptcy too. There were not any messages or something... just nothing happened when I approached crysalis. I'm sure there were not units in trade.

Also, I've noticed one thing... do you have a system which automatically counts all costs of your properties and determines bankruptcy automatically when you cant pay? Hmmm.... Or something like that... because I think there was a moment in the game when I bankrupted some guy and it automatically gave me all his properties... or probably I just was not very attentive about when he moved his ghost.

I guess this is everything I remember.

One thing to add in future versions is to forbid selling properties for lesser than their cost when a player is bankrupt to another player, because otherwise he can cheat the player who made him bankrupt by selling all his properties for nothing.

EDIT:
Also, how about changing the trade system with this new minerals display idea. There is a mineral which displays amount of cash you pay. The system adds or subtracts certain amount of cash depending on the powerup the player mind controlled. You can have +1 +5 +20 +100 and -1 -5 -20 -100 options for example, or you can have +1 +5 +10 +50 +100 -10 -100 and Clear options...

You can use the same idea to raise rates in auction.

EDIT2:
Also I wanted to know what will happen if noone makes a stake during the acution?

EDIT3:
Also for future versions, why not to give those units which are on the edge of the map to players instead of having their duplicates in separate area? At least it would be easier to find the property you want. When one wants to make some operation, he moves the unit and only then it appears in the separate area where you choose what to do with the selected property. After operation is done the unit moves back to the edge. (Or it's duplicate is created in the separate area in which case it just removed when done.)

Post has been edited 8 time(s), last time on Jun 4 2009, 8:59 pm by Wormer.

The problem with this is this is where some opponents can get deals say he sells all 4 mortgaged rails for 400 so he can keep some properties of a set he would have lost and possibly unmortgage them. Obviously if the bankrupter lets this go by that cheap he risks screwin himself dependsing on what the trade was and how much cash his opponenet has. This i where you get into little squabbles and sometimes a bankruptcy can actually cost you money because you have to buy property in order to keep you opponent from buying it.

I do agree that its bad manners to just give away property because you can't stand that you were bankrupted and u don't want your bankrupter to win. This why you almost need to play with friends or other friendly people.

the system he has now works quite well for giving cash its just frustrating to some as to why he doesn't just make it simple for me to calculate. it is very nice because it saves units and allows people to get every amount up to like 2500 cash or somethign near that.

this idea i totally dislike because its not very convient. everyone has to search for there property and move it before they can preform an option. This becomes very incovient when trying to multi-buy/mortgage/trade. Yes its nice that they know exactly where a property is before they do something with it but this can be done by creating a ping beacon that will tell you where any porperty put on beacon is. Combined with pings when a property is landed on and up for sale and auction this will make it much better.