June 20, 2011

Grand Rogue Auto 0.4.5 Released


Here is the 0.4.5 release of Grand Rogue Auto featuring the new city map generator. Sectors are connected by a road network, buildings have randomized shapes and sizes, roads have different layouts, and there's much more content in each sector. All in all, the cities should much more interesting to visit than before. I won't explain the details of the new generator again, as the previous posts have been quite clear on that matter. It's still a bit experimental and causes some minor problems with the AI system, however the game is still playable and you probably won't notice much of the issues. A way more complete release should be available in a week or so. Also, thanks to Deon, a nice and dark new skin is included in this release.

As explained in the last post,  most of the bugs reported in the previous version are still here, they will be fixed in time, that is way I am done with the city generator. Next version will feature subway stations, probably more decorative stuff on the pavements (garbage dumps, mailboxes, ..), and hopefully buildings with several floors.

Enjoy!

8 comments:

  1. Checking this out now. Glad to see an update.

    Btw How do you decide on the version numbers?

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  2. Wow this is finally playable. I see A LOT of unique potential in this. Give it some time and GRA will turn into a game of its own.

    Also, I can't quite figure out how to close and barricade doors so you can hold up in places while you wait for your wanted level to go down. Is this possible or is this still to be implemented in a future version? Also, have you considered adding a "wait" button? Because bouncing back and forth around a room to pass turns while you wait for your wanted level to go down can be quite tedious. Especially since its pretty hard to not accidentally bounce to the OUTSIDE of the building while you wait. Also, is it going to be possible to steal from gangs and kill enemy gang leaders? Perhaps start a gang of your own? Have gang members follow you and fight for you? Will there be such things as bank, gang-stockhouse, warehouse and museum heists (accompanied by fellow gang members)? Unique characters? Will you be able to buy business's (ex: Strip club) which generate income?

    I've got tons of other suggestions but i don't want to flood/bother you with an arse-load of too much talk.

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  3. @Aaron:

    I try to keep the version number coherent, 0.5 = 50% toward final version. I set a main goal for each 0.1, here the 0.5 is supposed to have a (more or less) finalized map generator. The 0.0x increment is how far I am from this specific goal.

    However, it's an approximate. And according to my habits in previous software it's going to drag a bit when we'll reach 0.7 or 0.8 (last minute additions and changes).

    @Anonymous:

    Thx, if you have long/complex ideas or questions, i would suggest you to use the forum, it's easier for me as I can quote and answer in details there, 2 things i can't really do here.

    About door, you can close a door by moving next to it and right click / use. Or by selecting the door (e'X'amine key) and press U, or move over the door and press U directly. You can't barricade a door, nor lock it at the moment. You will be able to lock a door at a later stage, though.

    Wait button : press "5" on your numeric keyboard ;) alternatively if your character is tired you can sleep in a bed. (or you can buy and use a Fake ID)

    gangs:

    Stealing, joining, recruiting members from gangs: yes, yes and yes. Parts of the next major update.

    Creating a gang from scratch: Not really but you can still use modding tools to create any kind of gang you want and then join it.

    musem/bank/whatever heist: Also part of the next major development arc (when done with map generator).

    Unique Characters: I don't know yet. I may use a pool of unique character with specific AI that will spawn (or not) in a city and build some missions around them, like "catch jack the ripper" or "prevent the mad scientist from releasing his zombie virus". Depends, can't really tell until large parts of the mission system are written.

    buy business, houses, cars ...: yes. After the mission stuff.

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  4. Thanks for taking my sprites :).

    Aww man, I want to finish my diploma sooner to play and mod it now :). I will comment and leave feedback (and some helpful stuff) later!

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  5. Picking the male gender seems to give you female names, and vise versa.

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  6. Another bug: I've sold my leather vest, but it's still equipped.

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  7. Good luck with your diploma. Oh by the way, I just noticed that you made sprites for Prospector RL, good job!

    About male/female gender, I probably mixed the output when changing the component used for selection.

    About armors, yeah I have been notified of this one, it will be part of the next batch of bug fixes.

    Also,

    A more annoying bug, when modding, is that playing around with the zone editor values (density of zones) may cause the game the go into an infinite loop when generating a new map. It usually happens when the housing density is too low compared to other building types. But this kind of issue should be fixed in next version too. The current zone editor is a temporary solution until the proper building editor is introduced.

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  8. @Serial Kicked: DOH. How embarrassing. I thought all movement was controlled by the mouse xD

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