With the Epic Generator coming in at #3 on the poll, I figure it's time to give the faithful an update on the progress.

When I first tackled this project, I was under the false impression that the difficulties would lay in the writing. Turns out I was wrong...very wrong.

In my last dev journal on the subject, I went though and determined what story events I thought were needed to develop an interesting and accurate story. You guys posted some comments on other events that should be logged as well, so I added those to the list. Then I journeyed (read: trudged and almost died) through the code (read: murky bog of unknown hieroglyphs and foreign knowledge) to store these events, along with the necessary information for each event.

Once the raw data "event log" was saving and loading correctly, it was time to turn that into the "story log", a English version of the event log that's easier on the eyes.

Event Log data on the left,  Story Log data on the right. I'll give you ONE guess as to which log I prefer to read.

Then it was time to play a game. I've played though about 5 small games at this point, each time finding a few issues that need to be fixed (data that's not being saved correctly, data that I need that isn't getting saved, ect), meaning next week I can officially start implementing all the text that's been written for the story generator.

Let me give you an example of how this will will work and how the data will be used.

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In my last game, there was a point where I attacked the Yor and COMPLETELY wiped them out. Then, while not at war, I designed a new brand of warship.
This event is interesting because:
    1. I'm not at war, so I may be getting ready for something
    2. I just got out of war, so perhaps my forces weren't strong enough

Now, I know lots of people design warships during times of peace, but note that this will be a low weighted event chain. Other events will probably happen during the story that take precedence, but I want to have something to talk about during lulls in the action as well.

Here are the event's that lead me to talk about the ship being designed....

<<<< 164 - Race Mini-Status >>>>
Race ID:0
Military Might: 226, Number of Warships: 33
Approval: 80%
Treasury: 31475 bc
Percentage of Galactic Control: 46%

<<<< 166 - War Declared >>>> Player 0 has declared war on player 5.

<<<< 177 - Planetary Invasion Suceeded >>>> Player 0 sucessfully invaded Iconia V, located at (36,22), a planet of player 5. Out of the 2508 defending troops, 0 remained after the battle. Out of the 1000 attacking troops, 732 remained after the battle.

<<<< 177 - Race Destroyed >>>> Player 5 was killed off, leaving 0 warships abandoned.

<<<< 179 - Warship Designed >>>> Player 0 has designed the 'Beam Wasp M 1', which is described as ''. It costs 165 military units to build, has a max speed of 1 pc/turn, sensor range of 2, travel range of 1, hull size of 1.
Attack (B: 8\M: 0\MD: 0)
Best Weapon: Plasma Cannon
Defense (B: 0\M: 5\MD: 0)
Best Defense: Point Defense
Times Design has been Upgraded: 0
Can Colonize: 0
Can Construct Strarbases: 0
Can Hold Troops: 0
Can Establish Trade Routes: 0

<<<< 180 - Race Mini-Status >>>>
Race ID:0
Military Might: 242, Number of Warships: 42
Approval: 85%
Treasury: 30364 bc
Percentage of Galactic Control: 51%

From those logged events, we can determine the following...

• Humans declared war on the Yor

• Humans only gained 9 net warships in the war

• Humans gained a bit of military might throughout the course of the war

• After the war was over, the humans designed a ship called "Beam Wasp M 1"

Now, using those facts (and some test from other data event logs), we'll work our magic and come up with the following "story snippet":

"
While the war against the evil Yor Collective had gone painlessly, ScottT wanted to ensure victory in any upcoming wars. Military generals and warship specialists gathered to combine the latest war-faring technologies to create a battle cruiser worthy of the emperors’ praise. After several weeks of toiling, the team had created their most powerful lightweight warship to date…the Beam Wasp M1!

Name: Cruiser class Beam Wasp M1
Length: 32.8 meters
Span: 26.5 meters
Mass: 59.4 Metric Tons
Max Crew Count: 13

Speed: 3 pc/week
Offense: 8 b / 0 md / 0 m
Defense: 0 s / 5 pd / 0 m

Observing the offensive capabilities of surrounding civilizations, the team was sure to build up the point-defense systems of the Beam Wasp M1, using Westinghouse 98-z Point Defense units to ‘get ‘r done’. The vessel was also outfitted with the cutting edge in weaponry, putting the new ACME C8-03 Plasma Cannon component to good use. The ship was a masterpiece in interstellar warfare….but its true tests were still to come.
"
And there you have a little blurb about the ship I designed. Form the data I know it was a small hull, so we ca talk about it being a "lightweight warship", and categorize it in a "Cruiser" class. We know the Yor are evil, and we can assume the war against them went well because our military might didn't falter coming out of the war.

Now, let's say the war didnt go so well, and that last "Race Mini-Status" event looked like....

<<<< 180 - Race Mini-Status >>>>
Race ID:0
Military Might: 23, Number of Warships: 5
Approval: 85%
Treasury: 30364 bc
Percentage of Galactic Control: 51%

Yeeeouch! The player won, just just barely! Now, let's make that story snippet reflect that....

"
The war against the Yor Collective had left the Terran fleet in shambles. Starting the war with 33 healthy war birds, the empire’s navy was down to a meager 5 ships. ScottT, fearing this lapse in military strength would lead to outside invasion, gathered the finest Terran war advisors to re-establish his vessels as the strongest in the galaxy. Following a grueling design process, the emperors’ crew felt they had invented a warship that would strike fear throughout space…the Beam Wasp M1!

Name: Cruiser class Beam Wasp M1
Length: 32.8 meters
Span: 26.5 meters
Mass: 59.4 Metric Tons
Max Crew Count: 13

Speed: 3 pc/week
Offense: 8 b / 0 md / 0 m
Defense: 0 s / 5 pd / 0 m

Various sources of intelligence were used to ensure the offense and defensive capabilities were up to par with neighboring empires. For instance, ships from the Torian Confederation and Altarian Republic were outfitted with strong Missile weaponry, but most showed serious weaknesses in Shielding technology. The Beam Wasp M1 was designed to capitalized on these. Westinghouse Plasma Cannons were fitted to the vessel, taking advantage of shielding inadequacies of neighboring fleets. To combat missile-fire, ACME Point Defense components were installed with defense in mind.

With the strength of their new warship, empires would once again fear the might of the Terran Empire.
"

The text further changes if you built a medium, large, or huge ship, or if you are at war with another race at the time.

And while the building of a ship may not be important at this point in the story, there will be times where a new ship could be a turning point for the player, which we can use the data to determine and heavilly weight the event so it shows up in the story (instead of talking about your 16th win in the senate).

Hopefully this whets your whistle and gives you an idea what we're shooting for with the generator.

We promise you won't regret voting for it as your 3rd favorite feature!

(Oh, and for anyone interested, I'm also spending some free time to make a Christmas Game to release at the end of the year. Check here for my latest journal!)