Switching to a message board wipes out all the comment threads, so here's a janky attempt to preserve them.
Sclavian
Found a bug i managed to replicate three times out of four, and i didn't see a report for it, it seems the Reactive code trait o the goblin softlocks the game. and I also want to say that i love the game it's everything i knew i wanted AND some things i didn't knew i wanted <3
Olive
Yep, reactive code is problematic. I should be putting out a new downloadable version with a fix in the next few days. Thanks for the report 👍
Bit Assembly
Managed to break the game. A witch decided to hack my goblin. I responded with an Eject Power Core and the game just hard locked. GG, OSIRIS decided to jam the game, does that mean I win?
Olive
Ha, hack so hard you break the game. Yeah, there's a bug in the web version where reactive code just always crashes the game. It should be fixed in the downloadable version — I can't make a new html5 build until the Godot 4 engine fixes some bugs.
Bit Assembly
ah, heck. Yeah. Downloaded the app, and its way smoother, lots of good lil upgrades. But the exact same scenario happened, I jammed them, and the game hard locked again.
Olive
Ah, thanks! I'll look into it.
Uthemartheold
Really enjoying this so far and I'm looking forward to future updates! As someone who hasn't been able to find a table to play at yet this a fun way to mess around with the combat some, and I might use it to help teach the combat basics to a friend (understanding that it's not necessarily 1-to-1 in the niche cases but that's fine for now). Great job! (^^)b Quick bug to report, during the recon portion of albatross the witch triggered reactive code on the goblin, which hard-locked the game. The reactive code reaction UI came up, but I wasn't able to use any of the goblin's tech attacks on the witch or choose not to use the reaction. I'm not familiar enough with the rules to be sure if I wasn't able to attack due to line-of-sight problems or range, but I definitely wasn't able to cancel the reaction. EDIT: Was playing some more and it's definitely a problem with reactive code. During the first half of albatross, a berserker tried to tech attack the goblin and the same thing happened. Less than two spaces away, no cover or line of sight issues, I wasn't able to select a tech attack or cancel the reaction to continue the turn order.
Olive
Thanks for the kind words and bug report! I think the reactive code bug should be fixed in the downloadable versions; I only learned that Godot 4.0 isn't quite ready to build for html5 after upgrading to it. >_<'
Uthemartheold
Oh I'm sorry for not specifying, but I was playing the downloadable version when this bug happened, not the web version. Sorry for the bad news if you thought the bug was squashed :/
Olive
Alas! Thank you, I'll investigate..
Vieruel
i super dig this not only as a neat game but also tbh its helped me understand lancers combat better (i always had trouble understanding it by just reading how it worked) so thanks for making this!
SuetyHercules
This is absolutely incredible, I can't wait to see this grow!!!
Olive
✨✨✨ thanks, there's some very exciting developments in the works!
xana0908
really fun but it seems to have some trouble when reactions are involved. my guess is that the AI decided on a set of actions but if a reaction prevents this from happening it kinda just stops working
Olive
I'm not surprised, the order of operations can get a little hairy. Can you be more specific about which reactions seem to be having problems under what conditions?
(also whether you're seeing those problems on the downloadable version or just the older in-browser version)
xana0908
for the older in browser version the first time I encountered the issue was when someone tried to invade my goblin. I tried to use eject power cores on it and the game froze up. the next time it happened I rammed a berserker and I guess that confused its aggression. the last time it was an issue was when I killed a berserker with an overwatch & turret drones as for the download version i have not played too much on that so I cant confirm if it still happens there or not edit: the prone thing still seems to break berserkers in the download version
Olive
Excellent, thank you for the bug report! :)
xXrebuXx
this is so cool I'm in a discord server that has a bunch of lancer players definitely going to tell them to check this out
Musselina
i cannot describe how cool this is!
Olive
thank you! I think so too ^^
ProphetZarquon
Hm, I keep getting Page Not Responding, 75% through loading the Tutorial. When I click Albatross, & select my squad, it goes Not Responding after I click Launch. Could be my old i3 laptop...
Olive
The html5 version has hit a way harder performance wall than I was expecting. It'd probably load eventually on an older laptop but won't be pretty. I'll try making desktop versions soon, they should run much smoother.
Thanks for the heads-up and your patience!
Olive
Desktop PC build is up. Let me know if you're still seeing performance problems when running it natively.
ProphetZarquon
I'll check it out, thanks! Most of the time I'd be able to play, is not at a PC of my own, though
Orionnoir
This is great! Sure it's rough, but still great start! Now I can get my Lancer fix between games! ;D
Olive
Thank you :))
SmallMight
Im curious id you think this may ever open up to/be able to run (sandbox mode) group lancer actual session play in?
Olive
Oh, that's an interesting idea. I've decided to not do remote multiplayer to keep the scope down, but local hotseat might be possible 🤔
Things that I'd need to figure out:
* it would probably need some larger modding/mapmaking tools, which won't be coming anytime soon (but someday!)
* how to handle hidden GM information like stats to scan for
* I don't plan on ever porting all mechanics and items from the ttrpg because it's just A Lot so not everything would be available.
Generally, I'd need to be convinced that making it a virtual tabletop would be worth it — what would a sandbox mode do that the virtual tabletops which already exist can't do?
Bluhman
Glad you're continuing work on this, and appreciate the executive decisions you're taking with how Action Economy works here.
now for the Pedantic Rule Stickler things as Guy Who Player Way Too Much Of This Game, i mean this all in a purely constructive manner:
* QUICK/FULL TECH: You can take the same option for a tech action multiple times within the same action (PG 71, FULL TECH, last sentence) - or in other words, you can use a Full Tech to do the same single Quick Tech option twice (i.e. you can Lock-On twice in the same turn without Overcharging. You can even Puppet Systems twice within a single turn.) This is also working under the same looseness of how this implementation of how Skirmish/Barrage don't strictly exist (which by the way I personally support. Though it might also introduce some questions as to how to implement talents such as Skirmisher that rely on this distinction...)
* FRIENDLY INVADE: You are allowed to use Invade options on friendly targets without either having to roll to hit, OR actually inflict Heat to your allies (Core Rulebook, PG 70). This gets particularly important if you choose Goblin and use Puppet Systems - yeah, it's not only an Overwatch activator on enemies, but it's an ally mobility-tool as well.
* LOCK-ON: Consuming lock-on is an option instead of automatic - a player can choose to not consume lock-on, which can be important if the weapon they use to attack is inherently accurate and would benefit less (since accuracy stacking doesn't help that much).
* ATTACK CLASSIFICATION: some actions classified as "attacks" in this demo, such as LOCK-ON, are not actual attacks. It's a silly distinction, I agree, but it somehow gets important when considering how what is and is not an "attack" interacts with frame traits such as Kobold's Mimic Carapace or systems like Swallowtail II Retractable Profile.
* SWALLOWTAIL: still lacks Integrated Cloak trait?
* STABILIZING: while I do appreciate the fact that just doing all the options at once is nice, it does mean that just turtling on the Holdout Point repeatedly becomes a much more viable tactic when you can just repeatedly full-heal and un-expose all at once.
* MANUAL BOOSTING: This is something weird that gets ESPECIALLY important when considering Nelson: doing a Boost action without using your basic movement, because Momentum is a thing. As it is right now, you have to move far enough to deplete your standard movement range to use the Boost quick action. Meanwhile using a Boost to immediately activate Nelson Momentum is a Strat. Also outside of Nelson stuff, it is the way to work around some of the more minute traits of how Engagement works with size (Page 62)
Especially considering how convoluted having to manually keep track of how the mechanics of some frames work (particularly: Duskwing, Zheng, and Hydra) I absolutely endorse and look forward to how this can streamline the process.
Olive
Ha, I feel for you, I also have the lancer rules brain affliction. Most of this stuff is either just not implemented yet or is waiting on me nailing down the underlying data structure & UI before I handle the edge cases.
I'm also still agnostic about how closely I'm going to cleave to the ttrpg rules (as you noted, there's already some action economy tweaks - but I'm still not happy with how overcharging can lead to weird situations with two half-actions in the tank). Eg I need to figure out how I'm going to handle the option to brace against EVERY incoming attack, which could easily be a UI and pacing nightmare — and however that pans out will probably affect things like the lockon consumption flow, so I'm waiting before tightening those screws.
Thanks for the endorsement :p I adore this system
Rattleboneses
This project is so awesome, lets me think in depth about the flow of Lancer play, and even just this little bit is super replayable! btw, I encountered a glitch: After using puppeteer systems with the Goblin on a Berserker, the Berserker passed their heat cap without being destroyed.
Olive
Oh cool, thanks for catching that! I'll cap their heat to their heat cap. The lack of them getting destroyed is intentional though — by the book, overheated npcs with 1 stress don't get destroyed, just exposed.
Rattleboneses
Sweet, thanks! This whole project is super rad and inspiring me to try learning game dev tools myself!
OverLordDante
Absolutely phenomenal. Exactly what I would want out of a Lancer game. I can't wait to see this develop further
Olive
Me tooooo, all I want to do these days is work on this.
Timpani
I am a Lancer GM and this gave me some useful insights as well as being fun to play. Compliments particularly on the intuitive HUD design.
Olive
Oh that's nice — one of my hopes has been that playing this helps people get a better handle on the tabletop game, so it's good that even this demo is doing that!
RedRook
Oh, definitely! I've linked it to my players in my online game; some of them were having trouble with the mechanics and it's really helping them out.
RedRook
This game is so cool! I'm one hundred percent in once crowdfunding starts.
Olive
Rad! That's quite motivating to hear :)
badatnamesbluhbluh
This is really, really cool! I don't wanna expect the world out of it, but even just cleaning up what's already here would be wonderful. One glitch that I someone else did experience, though, was that overwatching with the Blackbeard hardlocked the game.
Olive
:D Thank you! That's great to hear. Re: hardlock, so I understand: it shows this screen and then you're unable to click the nanocarbon sword?
badatnamesbluhbluh
Nope. I was able to click on the nanocarbon sword and swing, but past that I wasn't able to select any of my units nor end the turn.
Olive
Cool, thank you.
TommyDude
Holy moly this is like, the best.
Olive
Ah thank you! I try.
TommyDude
when this hits crowdfunding count me in :D
standard.deviant
how do I pay you to make this into a full game?
Olive
If the stars align, crowdfunding sometime next year(?)
I gotta flesh this demo out first though, which is a nights-and-weekends kind of situation.
Morphine482
This is great! Wonderful work!
Olive
Thank you! I thrive on this kind of external validation ^^
MizuBlackRiver
Really fun! <3
Olive
Thanks! I'm glad you think so!
turista1911
I love i
Crestfallen Remediless Schizophrene
This looks very nice, but need improve i thing :D
Nrftime
This is wonderful!
KriKit
Great first project!