Well Well Ladies & Gentlemen.....

Amazingly, my last update to this developer log was over 29 days ago. Sorry about that guys!

A lot was accomplished since then though. The multiplayer conversion gets closer and closer to a testing point everyday. I'd like to announce my plans for that. As of right now, I've only been testing the game locally and only with 2 people. Before releasing a testing version, I'd like to be able to support a 2-player duel with X number of spectators. Spectators will have the same perspective as the current player playing, but won't be able to see cards played until they're face up on the field. Other than that, they will be represented with a virtual avatar around the board. 

I have successfully tested this configuration with 2 players + 1 spectator, and it seems to be working pretty well. 

Syncing Card Effects Across Clients

Another concern was server-side card effects. That was really only a concern before Mirror started to really click. I finally understood the pattern that Mirror uses (tightly integrated client and server code) and it's made it possible to execute an effect through a "server" entity and then sync effects on all connected clients. The game then waits for all clients to complete the animation before continuing.

One potential concern with that is that another player could hang for a long time. I may restrict the number of players that can hold back execution of the next part of the duel.  Animations are not perfect, but the important ones like battling are currently syncing well across clients, behaving essentially just as they did in the public beta. 

Please Help Me Pick a New Font!

The font needs desperately to be changed, so if anyone has suggestions for a good font (preferably CC/royalty free or cheap licensing) I am willing to test them out in game. 

Beware...

If you're found to be cheating, or there's a connection problem you will be booted back to the main menu with an explanation of what happened.

Design Changes Due To The Chat Log!

Due to the introduction of the chat/event log, I'm going to be making some changes to the UI. The control hint panel will disappear in favor of control remapping. Card selection information is pushed to be closer to the right side of the screen. I would also like to make the lifepoint boxes smaller and more streamlined, integrating them also with the turn count. I have tested some of these design changes, but not all of them. 

Cards @ First Net Test....

I plan to support the first 140 cards in the Duelists of the Roses original card list by the time the first public net test is live. These cards will have been tested and include their effects, and at least partial animations for them. You will need to port forward 7777 in order to let your friend connect to you. If you are joining someone else's game, you don't need to worry about port forwarding but you may consider it to host games later. This will depend on your router of course.

You will still be able to play 2 player local play with a separate controller just as you can in public beta. macOS Catalina, Windows, and Linux are all supported also. 

Campaign??????

Once the original card roster is in, I want to create an expanded campaign featuring more characters from the anime. I will also need to develop an "AI" for the game that has varying difficulties. We'll see what I can come up with...