Alright guys, glad we have some volunteers. So here is an idea for how this can work out effectively, feel free to add suggestions:
TIMES
I will appoint at least two nights in a week to actual development/bug squashing/playing, these days will be posted on here and on the forums (once I rebuild them) so you can try and be online at the same time.
EXPECTATIONS
Just play the game, and make suggestions. Be as precise as possible if you run into problems, it makes debugging so much easier if you know exact details of what you were doing.. it's even better if you can regularly recreate it and just supply me with the workflow.
WANNA HELP MORE??
Obviously there is a ton of work to do, so if you have any skill in a programming or design field (or perhaps know somebody who does and would be interested in helping) let me know. Most of the backend code is solid but not always optimized. As well, interfaces need to be overhauled to make it more player friendly and we have a ton of art assets to come up with (images for units, buildings, structures, events, quest areas, etc).
We also could use people, once familiarized with the game, to build and maintain the wiki so it's actually useful for newbies and pro's alike.
FIRST STEPS
First things first, I need to get a forums up and running. I'll be doing that tonight. I also need to get re-acquainted with my code base =p It's been a while since I delved in there haha.
After that, here is how I see the top priorities:
1) Forums (required for group collaboration)
2) Audit and rebuild UI's judged to be 'awkward' or hard to work with. For example, when ordering anything it doesn't show you potential changes to your income at all, so it is easy to bankrupt yourself. I don't really like the whole click to show/hide extra details, I'm thinking of coding in a popup.
3) Reduce complexity of units (primarily damage types need to be pulled back for now). We can grow complex but should start simple and well balanced, focusing on fun things. This will require rebalancing both human and undead.
4) Focus on 'flow' of the game, and try to find a balance where players get eased into the complexity of the game rather than dropped into it. This will probably require some custom 'tutorial' coding as well.
5) Fill in missing implementations for spells and missions
6) Start populating quest storylines and really build out the quest portion of gameplay to be as awesome as I imagine it can be.
After this point re-assessment is necessary, obviously bug fixes will be taking place as well throughout the above priorities.
Well, those are my thoughts... now it's your turn to post some feedback!
