Matrix Games Forums

I've gathered together some improvements for the next patch (1.2) list so far.

- Fixing various little glitches reported in the Support forum, about 5 of them or so

- Adding a feature where the first 12 out of the 18 pilots are randomly selected for you

- Adding an Exit Mission feature when either A) all of your pilots are in the Pre-approach area or B) When the main target is destroyed

- Adding an exit button to the Combat screen, as per many requests [:D]

- Still working on the resolution issue; if a solution is found, it will be in there

- Speeding up the Combat display/updating a little bit using various methods

- Add slightly higher chance for bandits to move, and sharpen their AI a little as well

- Adding an altitude indicator on the individual pilots for the main combat screen

- Moved to DirectX for various game functions, increasing overall game speed 5-10%

Wish :
- possibility to choose random generated pilot.
- More than 1 level for pilot (double exp to reach each new lvl ?). For example, Dino need 4 xp to gain a level, so to the next 8 xp, then 16 xp and so on.
Each lvl, random effect : +1 x 2 (so 1 to Ata + 1 At or +2 Ata or +2 AtG) or Slow to Fast.

Still disapointed that screen res issue is such a low priority. Having purchased a game that is halfplayable at best is not a good thing, Particularly for such a long period of time. Surely some of the forum suggestions such as windowed options are not that hard to implement. At present I would be even happy to have a half baked solution to the problem like moving the buttons up into the playable screen area or hotkeys. The amount of screen lost from the bottom on a 1440 lap top is not that much and is almost playable. I see other posts about developers listenening. This may be so but why are they not acting. [&:]

Yep, a Window mode will be great !!!!

fishhead: The reason for this is quite technical in nature, but certainly the screen res thing isn't a low priority at all, and i've been looking for a solution to implement. I have a possible plan, but it's proven to be a real pain. Part of it is the programming language used to create the game itself is proving to be a bit of a barrier in and of itself.

Derek,
 
What language are you using for Hornet?

Those who are bored by nerdy talk can ignore this post: [:D]
Mostly Visual Basic 6, fully patched. It's fast, flexible and great for most development, but it also has its limitations and I ran into a few of those here. I actually bit the bullet and plan on converting most of my future development with Stormcloud (and probably Matrix too) to VB .NET/2005 (and 2008 when it isn't a buggy mess). Better Vista support, faster compiler, better flexibility and in-built support for resolution changes and all of that, and by now most people have the framework needed installed.

Re the exit when target destroyed I assume that would only be when in the pre approch otherwise exiting when over targey would seem wrong.
 
Not having a clue about these things but is it worth talking to others about the screen resolution problem.  IIRC GofA has it and it works but its probably a different code or whatever.  I think if that were solved sales would soar as its idea to play on a lap top when time is tight.
 
Mike

Derek,

I've played a little with VB6 for some things at work (day job). Rob and I are using Borland/Code Gear/whoevertheyaretoday Delphi 2007 with a number of 3rd party tools to cover the work we are doing on the Flashpoint games. Rob is wiz with that software and I've been using it for a number a things for years. It has a very fast and good compiler for standalone exes and a ton of good third party tools. It might be worth looking into down the road if you are looking to change code base.

Thanks for the info.

Please add altitude indicator on hornet icons in the tactical display to the list! I need that

I like the random pilot picks.. care to add any more detail on how that'll work?

Also.. I agree with Wasp's altitude indicator of some sort in the main play area.  I know you mentioned that you want to put that in?  Maybe you forgot to include it in the list?[:)]

Random pilot picks: Basically they'll be a button you can click, and it will randomly select the proper amount of pilots from each skill level for you. Along with the random campaign selection, it will throw a bit of a change-up at the player to deal with.
 
Yes...I suppose an altitude indicator may have to be added in. It's on the list now.

Work on the 1.2 patch has started, and should be done in a week or so. Thanks for everyone who contributed ideas!

ORIGINAL: StormcloudCreations

Work on the 1.2 patch has started, and should be done in a week or so. Thanks for everyone who contributed ideas!

Will we be able to apply it to the demo?

Too bad "Make the game responsive" isn't on the list.
 
 For me, the lag in response to mouse clicks is ruining an otherwise good game.
 
It should not take 20-30 seconds to respond to a supress/evade order... (for example)
 
  This on a 2.6 GHz machine with a gig of ram...
 
 Randy

rlnonay: I actually plan on testing some ideas to make the game a bit more responsive. That amount of delay seems very system dependent though; on my 3.2 Ghz system with a gig of ram with a pretty basic Dell 128MB video card, there's very little delay, almost none. None of our testers reported that kind of delay. If you're running a lot of other apps at once that access the hard drive, that could cause some small delays. But then, some testers were running a lot of other stuff at once too.

hi
i'am one french player ...
Is it possible to rename Pilot ???
and what about a scenario and campain editor ???
thks

Pilots can't be renamed right now, and scenario/campaign editor is something we may consider later on.

Derek
 
Couple things, I can`t seem to get the " surpress" function to work all the time in the Demo, even though  I follow the instructions in the in-game help.
What is the correct sequence  for this function ?
 
The other issue is that I find the missions, even at the lowest level, very tough to complete due to the extensive ground SAM`s and the endless number of bandits that appear. Since the Hornets, unlike the real birds, have a very limited number of weapon hardpoints in the Game ( which I realize is an abstraction for Game reasons ) and you usually need 40-50 % AtA loadout to deal with the Bandits, you usually run out of AtG weapons or the ability to use them after a pilot get to high " stress " from evasion. It really seems the Game Pilots are much too prone to high stress from " evasions", and therefore become useless in the mission, and that is very unrealistic, if you use the real world of Naval Avation as some baseline for the Game.
 
 If you get a  hostile " event" while inbound, it get worse. It would seem from looking at the AAR`s above, from people envolved in developing the Game System, that I`m not alone....While it may be me, I`d respectfully suggest that the Game Balance be looked at again and perhaps receive more play testing.  All this is not a "Slam" on the Game, I think there is a real gem lurking in there, but it`s not quite here yet.
 
Thanks
 

Richard,

I think some of those balance concerns may also be just a matter of practice. We've had requests from experienced gamers to make the game harder as well, I encourage everyone to give the difficulty settings a try. I initially found HL to be quite tough too, but at this point I can complete the demo campaign without breaking much of a sweat.

Regards,

- Erik