EPTFree DL or play-in-browser: https://filmstars.itch.io/hypercoven
Floating units
Some sprites I was working with did not look quite like fliers, but looked like they should be able to move over water, etc.
This gave me the idea of adding "floating" units in the middle between ground and air units.
Floating units can usually attack (and be attacked by) both ground and air units. This, in turn, gives air units which can’t attack ground a more interesting role, as they can at least fight floating units.
Floaters can move down cliffs, but not up. So their movement is not as free as proper air units.
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/uMsHu0W.gif)
Wreckage and Forests added as decoration and gameplay element (destructible)
Random spread, amount can be configured (or completely disabled) in Multiplayer.
![[image loading]](https://imgur.com/BYyIDv6.gif)
Sound Effects
Added background music, announcer voice, and sound effects for all attacks.
WebM with sound: https://imgur.com/sGquGlV
The browser version doesn’t (yet?) have sound, as it’s a pain to set up in that enviroment.
Ground Effects
Added a system for modifying the state of terrain. So far there is flames and fog, with the fog blocking vision: ground units inside the foggy area can only see adjacent tiles, while air units can look "over" the fog, but not see enemy ground units inside.
Only one effect can be active on a piece of ground at once, so there is interesting interaction of clearing undesired ground effects with your own. Anyways all effects are completely symmetric, flames will hurt anyone standing on them, no matter who created the flames, etc.
![[image loading]](https://imgur.com/JnxZhAC.gif)
Unit modification
There is now a system for different kinds of stacking (de)buffs/duration; anyways the goal for the game is to keep all buffs very straightforward and easy to understand.
E.g. there is the "Magnets Dealer" which increases the Magnetism stat of friendly units for a short time. Magnetism mostly increases ranged attack damage or spell damage, depending on the unit. Melee units do not benefit from it.
The maximum in a stat is 15, but a Magnets Dealer will only give +3 with a single action. E.g. a unit can be supplied thrice to get +9, and then each of these +3 will fall off on its own timer.
Contrasting this, the "Ultra Violence Potion" of the Alchemist: It always gives maximum Violence, which mostly enhances melee damage. The buff duration is very short, but it is applied repeatedly while the flask contents are evaporation in the ground. The buff will apply to friend and foe alike if they are hit.
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/tue9jU5.gif)
Technology enhancements
Got the game to run in browser with emscripten. This works surprisingly well!
Later I drew up an alternate version with custom renderer (instead of the one from SDL2), in order to add some shaders and improve performance/visuals of a few things.
Unfortunately it cannot run in emscripten, because WebGL doesn’t support compute shaders. So there is an alternate browser version that directly runs on wasm+WebGPU. Interestingly, it has more issues than the emscripten version.
These builds are available at https://filmstars.itch.io/frontiercoven
Multiplayer and Replays
Multiplayer is available, with a public lobby server that requires no registration.
There is a half dozen maps shipped with the game. Some are made in the "tiled" map editor, but the layout is yet a bit arcane.
Replays are saved by the server (without chat) and available after the match.
It’s possible to watch replays together! In the same vein, it is possible to join a match as observer/spectator.
