Zu
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Post by Zu on Jul 3, 2014 21:06:16 GMT -8
I noticed that there are no Custom Battlez in the High Rollerz set, so I made one. |
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GooRoo
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Post by GooRoo on Jul 4, 2014 10:07:35 GMT -8
Battlez Custom levelz are not distributed via the "Gruntz Fanz" e-mailz, since so few people have responded to have an interest in Battlez, hence no "Battlez only" address list. But this one is available for download for those who enjoy Battlez!
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Post by Blaze The Movie Fan on Jul 4, 2014 14:24:53 GMT -8
Battlez Custom levelz are not distributed via the "Gruntz Fanz" e-mailz, since so few people have responded to have an interest in Battlez, hence no "Battlez only" address list. But this one is available for download for those who enjoy Battlez! I have no interest in battle levels anyway since the NPCs are a joke. Even the ones in Difficult are too easy to beat. |
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Zu
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Post by Zu on Jul 6, 2014 3:28:25 GMT -8
Since the level is technically released, I think this thread can be moved now? (Please?)  |
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MMM
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Post by MMM on Apr 3, 2018 12:20:48 GMT -8
 This game took deceptively long to finish despite the map size, although I feel like this would have been much quicker if I had gotten gauntletz or timebombz on my resourcez sooner. I think the map is nicely laid out and it was fun to play as well but it has at least three issues: - AI can't conquer forts because the spotlights along with the balls toggling red switches will mess them up - Cooldowns on tools and powerups are too short - The southern forts (requiring shovelz, then gauntletz) are far easier to take over with wings than the northern forts (requiring gauntletz, shovelz, and then gauntletz again) Cooldowns are an easy fix, and as for the forts, I think it should be fine if they were all change to be like the northern versions, but without the spotlightz and the red pyramidz. They might be easier to take over with wingz that way but at least there's a spawn right next to the fort to mitigate that and defenders can pick up their own wings fairly easily. And without the red pyramidz and/or spotlight it will become possible for AIs to take over forts. |
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Zu
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Post by Zu on Apr 3, 2018 18:59:56 GMT -8
Okay, so I prepared an updated version: www.dropbox.com/s/n9ouhvqss10mfmv/QuickCasinoRoundV2.WWD?dl=0The changes: - Removed the spotlights and the red pyramidz from the fortress areas. - Made the southern forts match the northern ones. - Changed the tools to respawn every 2 minutes, as opposed to every 10 seconds. - Changed the powerups to respawn every minute (since I still want them to make for some chaotic gameplay). - Replaced the red switch with a timebomb that respawns every 5 minutes (which I think should be fair). - Removed the grunt creation pads that are right next to the fortresses, because AIs, big dummies that they are, would have the first grunt that spawns there try to break their way out of the fort, leaving the way wide open, and then would never use the pad again, even if there were attackers right next to the fort. |
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GooRoo
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Post by GooRoo on Apr 3, 2018 20:21:15 GMT -8
Using the Gruntz Level Editor to create an image BMP (no objects, 100% size) and converting it to a JPG left holes ... the location of Trap Doors ... which I was able to fill in from my image collection (GIF to JPG of 'closed' frame). But no Grunt Creation Pad or other objects visible during game play. Even so, I am tempted to make it the "View the map" for this Battle. At least, there are no little boxes with T, W, S, etc. hiding the Switchez and Pyramidz ... or yellow faces where objects are, at times. Battlez maps are very difficult, due to the AIs dropping in and immediately moving somewhere. Setting values to just 1 enemy Grunt on each computer team helps a little, but they tend to roam from one screen shot area into another, so there appear to be multiple enemy Grunts even though only one really exists.
It would really make the game slow, but using a single GCP per team, surrounded by Pyramids of some kind in the 4 cardinal directions would allow taking screen snapshots ... until the GruntzMachine ground out a Bomb so the Grunt could run out of the trap on the diagonal. (Would AIs even know to do that?) A toy (non-spawning, of course) to stop the kamikaze run on each diagonal to ensure the survival of the escapee would be a must.
Strictly for the purpose of enabling screen grabs, the GCPs similarly closed could be easily removed and replaced with ordinary ground tiles with a program such as Paint.net.
In this map, with 4 GCPs per team (16 in all), the map could stymie movement with 32 impassable tiles  replacing the ordinary  tiles. That even has the benefit of appearing exactly like the actual map for game play, but with all Gruntz 'stuck' on the GruntCreationPadz.
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Post by swietymiki on Apr 4, 2018 9:25:59 GMT -8
During our game today the AIs often didn't want to go out of their creation padz. I checked the editor and noticed that this map completely lacks Waypointz! Maybe it happened during the update, because we didn't notice that behaviour before. I can also see that some Guardpointz are missing in certain fortz.
About the fortz themselves, there are 2 places that in my opinion should have some obstaclez on them. The first one is a golden tile, in the very corner of each fort. I didn't expect it to be a walkable tile, but one of the enemy Gruntz got randomly teleported there (fortunately it was his own fort)! The second tile that I'd like to mention is that one where a Grunt Creation Pad was before. It really gives an impression that it shouldn't be a clear tile. One can use this to make the conquest of a fort easier, by not having to swap toolz an additional time and making the use of shovelz completely unnecessary. Using it before was much more dangerous, as the enemy could spawn any moment, but now it's missing the point.
Generally with the removal of StopLightz the fortz seem a bit empty, they could use some more (avoidable) holes or slots.
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Zu
Retired Staff
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Post by Zu on Apr 4, 2018 9:58:36 GMT -8
I am confused by this report, because on my side all of the forts have guard points placed in the exact same spots (aside from one golden tile that I missed). Also, I tested the level earlier today where I stood back and observed the behaviour of the AIs on their highest difficulty setting, and while it took them a while to eventually conquer the forts and finish the match (for reasons I described here), they definitely didn't have any problems with leaving their grunt creation pads. Have you set the AIs to some lower difficulty settings by any chance? As for the golden tile, that's actually intentional. The idea was that the likelihood of a grunt teleporting there is extremely tiny, meaning that if someone manages to get there by sheer dumb luck, then for them it would be akin to winning in a lottery - which is fitting, given the tileset's theme.  As for the other things, I will definitely try to fix that when I'm done testing the AI's competence in the clouds level. |
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Post by swietymiki on Jun 30, 2018 14:15:11 GMT -8
Okay, we finally got to test the latest version of this map (I suspect that it's not even updated on the web host - named V3) and I think most issues we experienced previously were fixed. AIs now get out of their forts correctly BUT they often don't make it to fight the enemy, unfortunately. While playing with MMM we saw the Blue AI send a Grunt 10 times in a row, just to be killed by the SpotLights every single time! Maybe it would be better if their speed was reduced, so that anyone would actually have time to take the powerup and go out of their path, before having to sing! Because of low cooldowns, AI gets lured almost every time, and only sometimes gets out alive.  There is also one additional thing that I'd like to bring up - there are no GuardPointz between the first and second line of brickz, so AI will not react to an enemy who partially got into their own fort, while it should. Apart from that, the battle is fast and chaotic, quite enjoyable to play. Changes to forts also helped to make the gameplay better and a bit easier for the computer opponents. |
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Zu
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Post by Zu on Jul 1, 2018 4:48:01 GMT -8
Thank you very much for feedback!  Okay, so I slowed down the spotlights and added the guard points next to the first line of brickz: www.dropbox.com/s/rd8tkuup7blup8q/QuickCasinoRoundV4.WWD?dl=0I think that as it is right now, there isn't much room left for improvement. I tested the game where the highest difficulty AIs are free to roam the level as they please (I wasn't fighting back) and from what I could tell, the biggest problem AIs had was being distracted by each other, as they tend to prioritize fighting enemies in the vicinity over trying to conquer forts. Also, a nigh-unavoidable obstacle occurs for them if two golden brickz appear right next to each other; they can literally be stuck there for tens of minutes with no progress being made (I used an external program to speed up the game to see this). The fun part is that I tried to add openings into the pools, so that gruntz with wingz, toobz and springz could potentially bypass most of the brickz and holes, and found out that the AIs completely ignored their existence and continued trying to break their way through brickz instead. Also, there was one moment where two gruntz with shovels tried to dig in the same hole simultaneously, and kept repeatedly undoing each other's work. Eventually, one of them ended up stepping into the hole just as the other dug it back out. I had a hearty laugh out of that. |
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GooRoo
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Post by GooRoo on Jul 2, 2018 9:30:39 GMT -8
I have SAVEd version4 and will upload it to the Forum's web host later.
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Post by swietymiki on Nov 11, 2018 8:34:25 GMT -8
I have SAVEd version4 and will upload it to the Forum's web host later. The web host still has the oldest version of the map. |
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GooRoo
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I luv Gruntz!
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Display Name: GooRoo
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Post by GooRoo on Nov 11, 2018 11:49:48 GMT -8
I have SAVEd version4 and will upload it to the Forum's web host later. The web host still has the oldest version of the map.
It was already on the web host, so the problem is that the download link does not have V4 in it. Easily fixable. |
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