Getting back into development.

[Joseph Hewitt]

So I finally have some free time to get back into GearHead development. The first order of business will be to get the plot/quest system back up and running. After that, whatever changes will be made to the game system.

In thinking about the maneuverability/armor system*, I've come up with some potential changes to mecha design. I think these changes would give some interesting options to Mecha Engineering.

Design starts with a mecha's engine, which has a certain number of points. Most components added to the mecha require power from the engine- modules, movement systems, and so on. Unused engine points would give the mecha's base energy reserve. Unlike now, it will be possible to change a mecha's engine.

The mass fudge factor will be removed in favor of an expanded materials list. Some materials are lighter than others. Alternatively, a quality rating could be used.

Maneuverability would be calculated based on the ratio of engine size to weight. Armor would be heavy. Balancing this part right would be tricky; an alternate, though less satisfying, route would be to say that an engine of class X provides Y defense points and whatever you expend on armor gets taken away from maneuverability.

Instead of being a quality of certain gear types, armor would become an installable quantity (like a movement system). With Mecha Engineering you'd be able to install and remove armor. The number of slots per module would be increased to compensate for this new demand.

In addition to providing defense, armor increases the number of damage points in a location. As long as there are some armor HP remaining, no subcomponents will take damage. Note that without this, armor wouldn't be as valuable as Maneuverability, since a heavily armored mecha can still be affected by special effects like overload and haywire weapons. Again, balance will be tricky.

Please fill me in on anything that's happened since I've been gone (i.e., employed). Also, I should probably start incorporating patches into the main branch. Is there currently a definitive version of GHAR?


*See the thread for more details. Basically, mecha would have two protective stats- Maneuverability and Armor. In order to cause damage the attacker's to-hit roll (modified by Accuracy and Penetration) would have to defeat both.

[Daemonward]

Design starts with a mecha's engine, which has a certain number of points. Most components added to the mecha require power from the engine- modules, movement systems, and so on. Unused engine points would give the mecha's base energy reserve. Unlike now, it will be possible to change a mecha's engine.

I like this a lot. Of course there should be size/slot limits as well (you can't squeeze an Ovaknight's engine into a Trailblazer).

The mass fudge factor will be removed in favor of an expanded materials list. Some materials are lighter than others. Alternatively, a quality rating could be used.

Would the materials have their own properties/attributes or just different mass?

Maneuverability would be calculated based on the ratio of engine size to weight. Armor would be heavy. Balancing this part right would be tricky; an alternate, though less satisfying, route would be to say that an engine of class X provides Y defense points and whatever you expend on armor gets taken away from maneuverability.

Maneuverability could be calculated as a ratio of available power reserves to weight, with larger engines generating more power per turn and having larger capacitors. If power gets drained away faster than it can be replenished (by weapon use, flight, ECM, etc.) the mech will become slower, more sluggish, and less maneuverable. Rather than allowing the accumulation of unlimited MV/TR penalties, there should be a power threshold beyond which the mech is immobilized/non-functional.

Instead of being a quality of certain gear types, armor would become an installable quantity (like a movement system). With Mecha Engineering you'd be able to install and remove armor. The number of slots per module would be increased to compensate for this new demand.

 This is a good idea, as long as armor can still be equipped by mecha.

In addition to providing defense, armor increases the number of damage points in a location. As long as there are some armor HP remaining, no subcomponents will take damage. Note that without this, armor wouldn't be as valuable as Maneuverability, since a heavily armored mecha can still be affected by special effects like overload and haywire weapons. Again, balance will be tricky.

 Would armor increase the mech's resistance to special effects?

Please fill me in on anything that's happened since I've been gone (i.e., employed). Also, I should probably start incorporating patches into the main branch. Is there currently a definitive version of GHAR?

It hasn't been updated for a few months and I'm not sure that it could be called definitive, but Peridot's "unofficial master" GHAR git repository (https://github.com/aarchiba/Gearhead-2) is probably worth checking out (if you'll excuse the git-pun).

[PlaintextMan]

So I finally have some free time to get back into GearHead development. The first order of business will be to get the plot/quest system back up and running. After that, whatever changes will be made to the game system.
...
Please fill me in on anything that's happened since I've been gone (i.e., employed). Also, I should probably start incorporating patches into the main branch. Is there currently a definitive version of GHAR?

Welcome back, in that case. Hope you have been enjoying your new job so far, by the way.

Not much has happened AFAIK, besides forum activity and non-activity (the mysterious disappearance of Peridot being a highlight to some of us )

Yes, what Deamonward said. I myself got around to cloning Peridot's repository and beginning to make my own contributions, mostly content and an attempt at a GHAR/Lua stdlib, but I stopped soon after for various reasons not excluding 'lack idea of what exactly is needed', and 'lazyness'.

Besides a working plot system, I for one think what GHAR needs most is clear vision and direction. Not in the fluffy business-talk sense; let me elaborate: there are a number of good souls around here who like the idea of contributing code-wise to GH, but often really don't know where to start or go from there. Sometimes not so, yes; some take initiative better than others. But anyway, clear designs and ideas are needed. You seem to be a busy guy, JH, and we'd like to help out a bit. But we are in disarray (code/design-wise). At least that's how I feel. Hopefully it's not just my Stupid™ and lack of sleep currently speaking.

For example, you wish to improve the damage/armor/mecha engineering systems, which I think is a great idea. Please lead a design discussion on this, and let's work out some details. Or you just work out details on your own and others comment as you go along. Or someone ingeniously develops the bulk of the ideas as you approve and disprove parts of it. Or anything in between. In every case, it would be good to have some place to get a reliable, final record of "how this shit should be done", whether I/whoever is trying to actually do "that shit" in Pascal/Lua/arena/Gimp (hah), or just updating the wiki on a new system (the wiki is known for its crimes against information accuracy).

Point is, we generally need you in order to contribute. Need you to keep things clear and decide what would and should generally work for GH and what not. Because 'us guys' can keep on and on ranting and brainstorming so many good, bad and ugly ideas and even get some prototypical experiments (or patches) up and running, but we would still be unsure whether they are good ideas or bad, whether to refine them further any time soon, or how to go about them etc. And without you to dictate on the matter, some of us will forever keep on wondering how exactly to interpret the concept of beam shields. And stuff like that.

So yeah, mainly just asking for more of your feedback and decisions on some of the ideas/conundrums that float around the forum. And if you can, structure design discussions from which others can begin working to add, change or improve parts of GHAR. And if you can't lead design, whether for lack of any clue about what should be done or for lack of time or for any other reason, let us know. Of course, I'm not asking you to scrutinize every suggestion that someone makes, but at least have a peek and share your thoughts more often. And of course, I'm not saying that we should get a formal development cycle running (we're all GH hobbyists, no?), just that a hint of development leadership might do a whole lot of good.

[Joseph Hewitt]

Besides a working plot system, I for one think what GHAR needs most is clear vision and direction. Not in the fluffy business-talk sense; let me elaborate: there are a number of good souls around here who like the idea of contributing code-wise to GH, but often really don't know where to start or go from there.

In other words, a proper design doc. I'll start work on that tomorrow.

[Joseph Hewitt]

This weekend I'm heading to Seoul for a comic convention. I'll get back to everyone on Monday.

[Anticheese]

Hey Joseph,

Its been a while since I've posted here. Heck, its been a few days since anyone else posted here, but I still check the Gearhead website and its sourceforge pages every few days to see if anything is happening. I know this thread has been cold for months, but where are you at with Gearhead and its continued development?

[Joseph Hewitt]

Working intermittently on a design doc, hoping to get more people involved in development. I want to get things back on track but no longer have time to do as much as I used to.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dOmdtn0t9Et5emZxqSVC3sYMyTjq-C4NUfpXWE4ENd8/edit?pli=1#

[DudeGuyMan]

Random stuff:

* When an essential shop's shopkeeper is killed, they're replaced with a new shopkeeper within 24-48 hours. What shops are non-essential, and do cops/citizens/etc stay gone forever?

* Do Speed and Reflexes need to be separate stats? It seems one could reasonably smush them together into a generic Agility stat, the same way we have Body instead of separate Strength and Constitution scores.