May Coding Update
over 7 years ago
– Sun, May 07, 2017 at 09:47:48 PM
We've got a whole bunch of bugs fixed and new features added in.
We've also updated the landing page at http://services.adastragames.com/avid/
Calc Version:
Added in the 3D viewer. This shows a render of a box mini in tilt blocks (and on stacking tiles) that accurately reflects the orientation of the chosen ship.
We fixed a glitch in the firing arcs display; it wouldn't show both windows when the in-game mechanics would give the firing player a choice; now it does.
Legacy Version:
The URL has changed for this, and it's no longer being actively developed.
SS Version:
This is the public beta of the Squadron Strike variant. The Squadron Strike variant has a lot of additional features over the Calc version. It uses an internet connection to go to a very primitive database for data swapping, and as such, it expects you to do some data entry before the game begins.
You'll start by entering a game name and clicking the "Game ID" button. A 10 digit game ID will be generated. Everyone at the table has to use the same Game ID and Game Name.
You'll want to click the "Lock" and "Full Screen" buttons on your phone to make the setup more usable. In addition to keeping you from changing the game name and game ID button, "Lock" also filters out the ships that aren't yours from the top selection bar, and filters out your own ships from the bottom selection bar. The "Page" button regulates how swipes left and swipes right are managed on touch screens, and the "Rotate" versus "Fixed" button changes how the orientation symbols are shown on the AVID.
The upper left bottom button defaults to "Normal" - which means that every player has to manually sync their data to the database. Once everyone's entered the Game Name and Game ID and pressed the "Lock" button, we recommend that the player in charge of calling the steps of the Sequence of Play set that button to "Leader" and everyone else in the game be set to "Follow."
Next, you'll add ships. Enter your ship's name, class name and hull ID number - for example, the Enterprise would be a Constitution-class and would use the number on the Box Mini for the hull ID number. Or the number on the EoT Tent.
You'll also enter the ship's maximum movement, pivot and roll, and then its position as an offset from a defined hex on the hex map. and its initial speed. If you're adding multiple ships with the same maneuverability stats, click the button that says "Clone Ships."
Once you've entered the ships, click on the "Ships" button and set their initial orientation on the AVID. You can also change the facing of the AVID by hitting the "rotate hexagon" icon on the lower right. (Having the bottom button with the triangle highlighted lets you pivot, having the button with the star highlighted lets you roll.)
When setting your ship's orientation like this, you can also update the ship's position relative to your hex map reference point, and update the speed.
The "List" button shows all ships in the game; ones controlled by you are highlighted. Clicking on the ship will show you a rendered 3D view of the ship; your ship's orientation is shown in the notation used in the rulebook: Nose direction (Top position). A ship with an orientation of A/B(+++) is has its nose facing in A/B and its Top pointed straight up.
The "About" button shows the current version, and cycles through all of the Kickstarter Backer's names at about one per second or so.
Now click on the light blue "menu" button - you'll see four new buttons arrive at the top of the screen.
The tool has full support for the Squadron Strike Sequence of Play, and will walk you through the steps. The Plotting view allows you to enter movement plots via your device, including pivots and rolls, increasing or decreasing thrust, defining your vertical shift, and defining your horizontal shift. Hopefully, the iconography on the buttons will make this easier to read.
If you're using your phone during the Plotting phase, you may not see the entire Plotting window at once - use the button with the right pointing triangle to see the vertical and horizontal plotting tools.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The app expects you to pivot and select thrust, THEN plot vertical shift, then plot horizontal shift. If you go back and adjust your thrust or your horizontal shift, your later steps will be re-set to zero. We're working on a suitable notification for this; for some reason using the app causes players to forget to do this in the order in the rulebook!
When playing the game, you'll spend most of your time in the AVID view (the "AVID" button) or the Arcs view (the "Arcs) button. In both views, there's a green area and a pink area.
The green area has your currently selected ship in the middle. You can cycle through your ships by pressing the "<" and ">" buttons. The pink area has your targets, and you can cycle through them the same way. One special option when cycling through targets is "Freestyle Target" - this is entered as an offset from your ship, and it shoots a bearing. Use this to figure out what weapons can fire at missiles and torpedoes by entering offsets.
If you're still in the Plotting Phase of the Sequence of Play, there will be a purple crosshair icon on the AVID (or a purple window on the Arcs view). This is a predictive bearing, shot from your EoT tent to the target's EoT tent. Use this to figure out where to plot your movements to get your guns in arc.
If you're in the Movement Phase or Combat Phase, you'll see two crosshairs. One crosshair is red; that's the bearing from your ship to their ship. The other crosshair is blue; that's the bearing from your ship to the target's EoT tent, useful for launching torpedoes or missiles. The corresponding windows will be highlighted on the Arcs view.
A more detailed writeup of the features of the program can be found in the feature documentation.
If you have feedback, suggestions, or find a glitch, please email your reports to: [email protected]
April Coding Update
over 7 years ago
– Wed, Apr 19, 2017 at 10:54:58 PM
Mike here with another Kickstarter update
Last month's update was eaten by the email ghods, so a double length update this month
As always, you can find the current beta here:
http://services.adastragames.com/avid/beta
-- Calculator Version Status
This version is now stable and the next version (2.0.5) will be replacing AVID Assistant 1.
-- Squadron Strike Version Status
This version is about ready to enter the open-beta phase. Support for Movement Mode 0, 1, and 2 ships is complete. The remainder of the work mostly revolves around streamlining some of the interfaces and making the plotting page "responsive" to fit different screen sizes.
-- Both versions
The data syncronization code had a massive overhaul in order to make it more robust. Also, various bits of the UI were cleaned up a bit.
-- Mobile App Status
No additional progress to report.
-- 3D Rendering progress
Jon had Real Life hit him with a 2x4, so I took over the 3D rendering of tilt blocks and it is about 90% complete. It will be finished in about a week or two and will be part of the 2.0.5 release.
Issues discussed at the monthly developer meetings.
As we are covering 2 months worth of meetings, I've indicated which month an issue was brought up.
1) Auto Sync mode (March).
In Auto-Sync mode, AA2 sends out a HTTP request to the server every 10 seconds to see if any data has changed. An issue arises when running AA2 on a device that goes "to sleep" during the game. (As games can take hours, it is not unusual to turn off devices when not in active use.) When the device awakens, AA2 doesn't wait for the device to re-establish internet connectivity before sending out the HTTP request. If the device isn't fast enough in re-establishing internet connectivity, the request will fail and AA2 will revert back to Normal-Sync mode.
AA2 was updated to take into account the time needed to reconnect to the internet.
2) Add in list of backers (March)
One of the minor rewards in the Kickstarter was being listed in the app. Ken has sent me the list of names and they now cycle through on the About Page (well, in the next release)
3) Tutorials (March)
It is very obvious from looking at the youtube video stats that most folks are not watching the tutorial videos. Personally, I don't blame folks for not wanting to listen me drone on for several minutes. If anyone feels the urge to help out with tutorials, please contact Ken.
4) Small Screen Support (April)
Several layout issues have been identified that impact people using small smartphones. While AA2 was originally pitched for tablets, we are trying to support as many "smart" devices as possible. However, we are not going to do smart-watches.
5) Predictive bearings. (April)
This is a new feature for the Squadron Strike version. While in plotting mode, the target bearings on the AVID and Arcs pages will be shot from the user's EOT instead of their current location, and shown in purple.
6) Reserve Units (April)
This is a new feature for the Squadron Strike version. Ships can be marked as "In Reserve". Ships in Reserve are off the map and will not be visible on the AVID, Arcs, Plotting and Turn pages.
7) Sync Button Updates (April)
The data sync button will be getting an overhaul. The button will be "inactive" until a valid Game Name and Game ID combination is entered. Once active, the button will be Blue in normal mode and Green in Auto Mode. It will continue to turn Yellow when a sync is in progress. It will turn Red if a sync fails.
Feedback
The more feedback we get, the better the software will become. You can email [email protected] or post to the Ad Astra Games Fans Facebook group.
February Coding Update
over 7 years ago
– Tue, Feb 21, 2017 at 10:58:40 PM
Mike here again with an update from our monthly developer meeting.
Status
Since deploying the Calc version of AA2, there has been 1 minor update to fix a bug.
The Mobile app version is moving slowly ahead. At this stage, for design reasons, the Mobile App versions will come out after the Squadron Strike Beta (web version) is released. We want to spend some time designing the interface for selecting which variant you wish to use. Meanwhile, we are testing out all of the 3rd-party libraries that we are using to ensure that they will work in the the mobile app version.
The Squadron Strike version is moving forward.
The computer model for plotting is complete and can handle any very large values for speed/thrust. I've tested it out with a movement of 1000 hexes/turn, so it can easily handle any value that comes up in a real game.
The prototype interface for SS is almost complete. I plan to have it completed by next week to try out in a real game.
Jon is working on the 3d renderings of Tilt Blocks. He is optimistic that they will be in the next release of AA2.
Issues Review
There were 5 upcoming changes that were discussed.
1) Squad name function. Right now, for the sync function to work, users must enter a Squadron Name and have that name match the Squadron name that they assign to their ships. This is error-prone, so it will be removed and a "Claim Ship" button will be used instead. There will be an updated video explaining this function once it is released.
2) Ranges on AVID and Fishbowl. Of the right-hand side of the AVID and Fishbowl is the list of ranges for the current target. In the next release, if the target is below the plane, the range will be circled.
3) The wing symbols on the Fishbowl will be changed to match the AVID.
4) On the Position Entry Calculator, the names of the Buttons "Pos", "Mid", and "Future" will be changed to "Box", "Mid", and "EOT".
5) The list of backers for this Kickstarter will be added to the About Page. Backers names will randomly be displayed for 5 seconds.
Avid Assistant 1
AA1 will be retired with the next release of AA2. AA1 will move to a new URL and AA2 will move to /avid.
Feedback
The more feedback we get, the better the software will become. You can email
[email protected] or post to the Facebook group.
'Til next month,
Mike
