Whats new

Any info on what new features are going to be in AB2.

Zebuleon


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One fine day in the middle of the night, zebuleon@peoplepc.com got up to
write:

>Any info on what new features are going to be in AB2.

The major 'noticeable' one is screen resizing. 1280x1024 resolution, mmm


Other cool things are custom validation messages and special stat sets
for units (e.g., a Space Marine Dreadnought will just have WS, BS, S, I,
A and Armor stats).

Most of the rest help you write datafiles, but don't really show any
different. I believe there'll be some new art as well.

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[rob]

At 06:58 PM 5/19/00 +0000, you wrote:
>Any info on what new features are going to be in AB2.

The main focus within V2.0 has been major improvements to the underlying
engine that drives everything. Unfortunately, the results of these
enhancements will not be readily apparent to a lot of end users. :-( What
these extensions actually provide is the means for data file writers to
create files for game systems that AB simply couldn't support in the past
(e.g. Battletech, Shockforce, and others). In addition, support for many of
the game systems already supported will be significantly improved. For
example, users of the existing Clan War files will find that the new files
are much more comprehensive and intuitive in what they handle and how they
do it. These improvements are made possible by the enhancements to the
underlying engine.

New features that will be immediately apparent to users include:

1. Resizing of the screen. This was clearly the #1 most requested feature,
and it's finally here.

2. Custom validation messages. In V1.x, validation errors would result in
messages that were sometimes not immediately apparent, because they were
being generated by the software and not a human. With V2.0, validation
messages can now be custom-written by data file writers. This means that
the error messages you see will be able to tell you - quite clearly -
exactly what is wrong with the roster and/or how to correct the problem.

3. Custom stat lines now allow data file writers to present the stats for
one type of unit differently from normal units. For example, war machines
in fantasy games and vehicle in sci-fi games often have completely
different stats from normal troops. V1.x requires that those different
stats get "crowbarred" into the stats for troops. With V2.0, a completely
separate stat line can be displayed for these troops, making the rosters
much more readable.

4. Many game systems (especially sci-fi systems) allow the user to select
weapons and then tailor those weapons individually. This is not possible
within V1.x, but V2.0 provides complete support for it. Game systems like
Shockforce, Battletech, Silent Death, Full Thrust, and others will now be
fully supported by Army Builder.

5. Gamers who play Orks or Imperial Guard in the 40K game system will be
happy to know that AB now supports highly complex units with lots of
children and items. It is now easy to control the visibility of sub-units
and items, making it possible to readily edit your entire unit without any
awkwardness or frustration.

6. It is now as easy to switch game systems within AB as it is rosters.
This was another major request item that is included in V2.

7. Items can now be re-sequenced by the user, plus there is support for
selecting multiples of the same item without duplicating it in the item
list. This means that AB will now be great for creating spellbooks within
Disk Wars, Tactical Decks within Clan War, and a host of other uses.

8. Custom unit notes can be entered for each unit, just like you can
currently specify custom notes for the entire roster. This works great for
campaigns, where you can annotate anything that happens to a given
unit/character directly with that unit.

9. Users can now save their rosters to a publicly defined XML format, and
all the tools to use those files are provided. One advantage of this is
that users can now write custom roster viewers for handheld computers like
the Palm Pilot and Windows CE machines. Another advantage is that custom
programs can be written to printout specialized roster sheets. For example,
it is now possible for someone design a mech for Battletech within AB, save
the roster to XML, and then run a separate program that reads in that file
and generates a custom Mech sheet with all the proper graphics and details
for that custom mech. A number of game companies are excitied about this
prospect, and I'm hoping that custom tools like this will begin appearing
as early as this Summer.

Those are the major enhancements from the external view, which I think will
be enough to get most users motivated to upgrade. However, I personally
believe that all of the internal changes will be the biggest motivator,
simply because the quality of data files that can be created with V2.0 will
be vastly superior over those created with V1.x. There are just too many
powerful new capabilities available that data file writers can leverage and
that end-users will see a significant qualitative improvement from. Gamers
are a demanding crowd, and I think they are going to want to take advantage
of all the new stuff that the updated data files will provide. :-)

I'm sure that I've forgotten a few things, but that ought to give you a
good idea of what's being added. There are two additional user-oriented
items that I still want to add, but I'm not certain they'll make it into
V2.0, so I won't mention them here. However, I do suggest keeping your
fingers crossed, since they really will be quite powerful for a large
number of users. :-)

Hope this helps,
Rob

P.S. V2.0 will be able to read all data files that are usable by V1.4d.
This means that users who upgrade will experience ZERO down-time if updated
files for their favorite game aren't released immediately when V2.0 comes out.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rob Bowes (rob@wolflair.com) (650) 726-9689
Lone Wolf Development www.wolflair.com

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