Archipelago - Scoring

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Introduction

Now that the majority of the game functionality has been added one of the final gameplay steps is to add a scoring mechanism and a scoreboard to see who is winning!

Players receive points for game actions. Discovering resources, building ships and fulfilling trade contracts all result in points added with bonus points if your team completes that action first.

A score board slides down each time an addition is made to the scores and a small commentary explains the points and the bonuses being added. Scores are ordered, colour-coded with overall totals for each team.

In addition to the scoring mechanism, two new resource pieces were added and are covered in this contribution (clay/pottery and flax/cloth) and a host of gameplay changes were made.

In summary, the new features in this contribution are:

• Scoring mechanism and scoreboard
• New resource pieces (clay/pottery and flax/cloth)
• Gameplay improvements
  
  

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Phases 2 (Resources, Goods, Building, and Trade Contracts) and 3 (Conflicts) of Archipelago development are almost finished!

For a full view of the current state of the game development see my github-hosted page.
https://miniature-tiger.github.io/archipelago/

Please note that the game is not yet complete - you can see current progress and test functionality but you will have to wait a little longer to play!

Background details of the project can be found at the end of this contribution post.

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Repository

The repository for Archipelago can be found here:
https://github.com/miniature-tiger/archipelago

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New Features covered by this Contribution

Scoring mechanism and scoreboard

The scoring mechanism currently rewards the following actions. This will be subject to change with gameplay testing:

Exploring

• 1 point for every resource piece discovered (and claimed)
• 5 bonus points for the first team to discover that resource piece
• 5 and 10 bonus points for being the first team to discover three resource pieces and for completing the set of all six

Building

• 2 points for each ship built
• 10 bonus points for being the first team to build each type of ship (warship and cargo ship)

Trading

• Points added for each contract based on the length of the trade route
• 5 bonus points for being the first team to trade with a particular island

The score board has been added to the header at the top of the screen and slides down each time an addition is made to the scores. A small commentary explains the points and the bonuses being added. An illustration is included below:

_{scoreboard and commentary}

The code changes for the above new feature can be found here:
https://github.com/miniature-tiger/archipelago/pull/74/files

The majority of the changes are included in a new object in the new js file scoring.js. This includes:

• An array to hold a full detailed breakdown of the scores.
• A method to translate game actions into scores and commentary.
• A method to summarise the full score array into a format for the score board.
• A method to draw the scoreboard.

The update also included:

• Adding calls to the scoring update from appropriate points in the game logic.
• Adding the CSS styling for the header.

New resource pieces (clay/pottery and flax/cloth)

Two new resource pieces were added to the game:

• Clay resource (kiln design) which produces Pottery goods.
• Flax resource which produces Cloth goods (sail design).

Illustrations are below:

_{Orange team Flax (flower and buds) and Clay (kiln) pieces}

_{Cloth goods (Sail design)}

_{Pottery goods (it's a pot)}

The code changes for the above new feature can be found here:
https://github.com/miniature-tiger/archipelago/pull/73/files
and here:
https://github.com/miniature-tiger/archipelago/pull/71/files

The designs are all coded using SVG.

Gameplay improvements

Various gameplay improvements were made based on some initial testing:

• Ship types now have different battle strengths when fighting pirates:
  The catamaran wins only 1 in 10 battles but is faster than pirates ships so typically can escape. The warship wins 1 in 2 battles and moves at the same speed as pirate ships. The cargo ship wins 1 in 4 battles and is a tile slower than pirate ships. Those big shipments may need some protection.

• Increase in islands to make Resource discovery more challenging:
  There is now an inner circle of islands as well as additional outer islands. There are more desert tiles making exploring more challenging.

• Reduction in initial contract delivery to 3-7 goods over first moon
  Since the catamaran only have 5 spaces in the cargo hold smaller contracts are required in the early game. This should help to create more variety in the early game.

_{Starting game board with new island layout}

The code changes for the above new features can be found here:
https://github.com/miniature-tiger/archipelago/pull/72/files

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Proof of Work Carried Out

This is the full url to my github account:
https://github.com/miniature-tiger

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That is all for this update. If you have any queries please drop them in the comments or contact me on discord.

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Details of the Archipelago Project

What is the Project About?

Archipelago is a new project that I have been working on. The aim is to develop a seafaring and trading turn-based strategy game. Players will guide their ships around the islands, searching for goods to aid construction of ships and their bases, trading with the Kingdom settlements and avoiding hazards like pirates and whirlpools.

Technology Stack

The project is a browser based game:

• Mechanics: Javascript
• Visuals: HTML and CSS initially but now moved across to Canvas and SVG.

Roadmap

Phase 1 - the first main goal of getting ships on the board and moving at different speeds under the influence of the compass is complete.

The graphics overhaul is also now complete.

Work is now ongoing on Phase 2 which is resource discovery, goods production, building and the trade contracts that underlie the game.

Work has also begun on adding pirates and conflicts.

Phase 1 - Board and ship movement: COMPLETE

• Board set up - COMPLETE
• Basic ship creation: functionality and graphics - COMPLETE
• Manual ship movement and board updating - COMPLETE
• Basic compass creation: functionality and graphics - COMPLETE
• Turn based activity of ship movement - COMPLETE
• Logic of length of longer moves around obstacles - COMPLETE
• Chaining together transitions to allow graphics of longer moves - COMPLETE
• Separation of board layers (Canvas base layer, Canvas activation layer overlay, SVG piece overlays) - COMPLETE

Phase 2 - Resources, Goods, Building and Trade Contracts

Resources

• Add Resource tiles (forest, ironworks, flax, gold etc) - COMPLETE
• Discovery of resource tiles - COMPLETE
• Claiming of resource tiles - COMPLETE
• Dashboard of player pieces - COMPLETE

Goods

• Creation of new goods each turn - COMPLETE
• Loading, unloading and transportation of goods - COMPLETE
• Dashboard of goods pieces - COMPLETE
• Goods icons - COMPLETE
• Variable quantity of goods to be loaded / unloaded - COMPLETE

Contracts for delivery:

• Semi-random (equitable) generation of trade delivery contracts - COMPLETE
• Creation of trade settlements - COMPLETE
• Dashboard for contracts - COMPLETE
• Mechanics for contract sign-up - COMPLETE
• Mechanics for contract delivery - COMPLETE
• Island naming: for describing location of trading settlements - COMPLETE
• Graphics of trade routes - COMPLETE
• Continuance of contracts over time - COMPLETE
• Breaking of contracts due to interference - COMPLETE
• Re-work resource and contract surrounds to prevent overrun
• Only allow one contract to be made with each island

Building (On hold - decide if necessary once contracts implemented)

• New ship designs - Catamaran, warship, cargo ship - COMPLETE
• Definition of goods requirements to build each ship and ship ability specifications - COMPLETE
• Ability to construct new ships - COMPLETE

Scoring:

• Work out scoring mechanism (linked to contracts) - COMPLETE
• Add score dashboard - COMPLETE
• Game ending - reduction in players as time passes and how to end the game (contracts to all islands or eight moons of time)

Phase 3 - Conflicts

Pirates

• Add pirate ships - COMPLETE
• Automate pirate ship movements (basic movement with wind and search for cargo ships) - COMPLETE
• Search - telescope range of 5 tiles for stronger search for ships - COMPLETE
• Separate ship types for teams and whether all ships can defend themselves - COMPLETE

Forts

• Add fort icons - COMPLETE
• Create safe harbour from pirate ships - COMPLETE

Conflicts

• Attack - Develop conflict method between ships - COMPLETE
• Stealing of cargo - COMPLETE
• Limping back to harbour - COMPLETE
• Ship repair - COMPLETE

Phase 4 - Game Management and Settings

Settings

• Settings pop up box created - COMPLETE
• Options added - In progress - game speed added, developer tools added
• Local options (player name etc)
• Game saving and replay

Phase 5 - Central trading centre

• Develop central market allowing players without resources to trade and fulfill contracts

Phase 6 - One player version development

Artificial Intelligence levels for computer players

Phase 7 - Rules, roll-out, documentation, testing etc

Contact / Contribute

You can get in touch with me on discord if you would like to contribute.

You can find the current state of the game here:
https://miniature-tiger.github.io/archipelago/

The repository for the project is here:
https://github.com/miniature-tiger/archipelago

Have fun!