An Update

Hey, finally an update! I've been working on a lot of things, one of which was a 2D platformer engine. Weeeee! After it became obvious that I was writing an engine AGAIN I sat down and thought about it and decided that I want to make a game; not an engine. This led me to look at a few game creation tools and existing engines and I settled on Unity3D. I've played around with it now quite a bit and have come to grips with most of the concepts. This led to me focussing my thoughts more on game design then engine design which was a breath of fresh air. :) But being a programmer I found myself writing some auxiliary content generation tools for the the game idea I'm sitting with. This idea for my new game will be explored in another post for now I'll just share some shots of the tools.


Continued below...

Model format, animation and jumping.

We are reaching the end of our RL project and my contract will be up end of August so there is a good chance that I'm going to get VERY busy and my dev. time will drop to zero... but until then:

Jumping has been added and it looks cute, you have minimal control while jumping over your character which will allow for some challenging platforming. ;) A jump animation will be added.

Updated the export of models and now you can define more complex 'skins' for meshes plus animations now can support multiple bone influences on a single vertex. This will allow properly skinned animations and I'll be creating a more complex character model to show this of in-game.

The basic framework for terrain has been added; it will have a small disk print but a lot a variety and still keep the retro look. Terrain will be usable indoors or out. This has been put on hold at the moment so that I can focus on networking.

Busy with a simple client/server architecture that will allow 4 people to play over any network type. (Hopefully) I will have a little test app of this running in the coming weeks.

PS. I would advise anyone to get a good quality SSD (solid state drive) when doing a lot of compiles it REALY makes a lot a difference. But note: only good quality SSDs, the market is full of cheap kaka that promises lots and really fails to deliver. Intel, Toshiba (good but hard to find), Supertalent Gseries and Corsair in that order. Read reviews!

New Release

Here it is after almost a month of delays with actual work and new features eating up the time. So what is in this release, glad you asked:

• FX System redone, scriptable and managed. (Particles and Animated textures)
• Trigger system added, when triggered a script function is called.
• Items are fully scripted.
• Some actor properties are scriptable.
• Blocking is working and now comes with animation.
• New map with new tiles.
• New weapons and health pickups.
• A lot of bug fixes and optimizations.

Little screen:


Download
Download (mirror)

=Instructions=
-Left click to attack when in-range of a bad guy.
-Right click to block if you picked up a shield. NOTE: You can not attack and block. Only attacks from the front are blocked.
-To pick up stuff just run over them.
-The game will end when you die, pressing ESC will quite the game also.

PLEASE help me debugging not only the game but the new tile set, if you see any jaggies or weird lines please take a screenshot and send it to me. Thanks.

=What’s coming in the next release=

• Multiplayer (already started)
• Outdoor/Indoor terrain (already started)
• Sound!!!
• Upgrade to animation system and model format.

PS. If anyone knows a low-poly modeller who wants work please contact me.

Delayed

Delayed due to weather... well not really, my last two weekends I was supposed to be working on this but was very unfocussed due to rugby, water cuts, birthdays and awesome games.
I can tell you that I'm working on:

• Better scripted items
• Fx system scripting
• Fx attachment and management
• Item attachment to animated actor
• Extra animations

Also I fixed the flickering shadows, which was a simple change. Blocking of attacks as well as item pickup is in and working.

All that needs to be done is testing on fx attachment and extra graphics for nicer looking levels.

Loot in the boot

... ok not completely, item pickup and proper weapons will be in the next release this coming Monday. (24 May) There will also be a bunch of other small tweaks and additions like more detail in the levels, a new level, shadows will also move along with the player as if there was a big light above his head, fewer tile seams... yes I saw them. ;) Plus whatever I can add and test before Monday. A full list will be posted with the download link as with the previous post.

Update to Tech Demo

The tech demo has been updated with a few fixes and improvements under the hood:

- Fixes

• Death animation now displays properly.
• Pause did not work on the whole system only on bot updates.
  

- Improvements

• Bots are now destroyed and removed properly.
• Attack does proper area damage according to type. (You can now hit more then one target at once)
• Slight optimization in physics checks for attacks.
• Slight optimization when instancing a bot.

- Additions

• There is now a performance ticker on the right hand side. (This is not frame-rate and is very sensitive to computer environment)

- Changes

• The way the game plays has been sped up.
• The player now does a whole lot more damage and the bots less.
• A max of 30 bots can be spawned. (Over 200 at one has been tested but it gets a bit crazy)
  

Download
Download (Mirror)

Back in action.

EDIT: Updated demo with correct relative path to the resource file, thanks to Nerosis for picking this up. ;)

Wow it's been a long time since I posted anything on this blog... a lot has happened, as it normally does, and I'm in the process of releasing my first tech. demo. Currently its being tested on a friend's computers (and a virtual machine) for compatibility but as soon as that's done I'll post the download link here.

The dev. logs I've been posting will be updated and new ones posted, probably in a txt file that can be downloaded with a summation of the important points in the post.

Download link
Download link (mirror)















PS. Mediafire really works for small projects like this. :)

EDIT: Please note that it might not work on all computers as some compatibility issues might still exist.

Screenshots

It a long weekend so I'm going to try and get some art assets done and post some shot of my little builder in action... :)

Update

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-= 07 Aug. 2009 =-
Epiphany time kids, I was struggling to find an art/design direction for the tiling used in the game. I realized that because all 'rooms' are exactly the same size on a chunk level you make the floors the needed size to fill a room chunk. This will simplify collision geoms as well, AND allow rotation on the floor tiles! Statics should be marked as floor, wall or misc. tiles in export script or builder.
Doing it in the builder would be faster than updating the script.
Orientation on bones in 3dM needs to be investigated as they are aligned on the +x axis and I need -z. Check if a static or animated model in script and then rather use world coords. on export on static models and parent coords. on animated models. Would help with bone orientation fixing to -z not being needed as much.
Converting the builder to the new 'mode' based pattern is almost done, it just needs refining.
New numbering method in logs ;)

Ideas:
* 001-. Add a gravity geom that will allow holes in 'solid' floors.
* 002-. An extra pixel length lip on tiles will give a very nice feel... or... adding an alpha map to textures so that they pixelate out of existence like with corridor' sides.
* 002a. A wall should include one corner when modeling. (left one)

Next goals:
* 005b. Create a very basic UI with hot spots and RtT.
* 006-. Create new test models using new exporter. (need more)
* 006a. Create new models using room chunck sized floors.
* 007a. Investigate collision geom offset.
* 007b. Fix AABB offset.
* 008-. Investigate bone orientation in 3dM
* 009-. Do check in export script for static or animated meshes and use
world coord. sys. for static and parent coord. sys. for animated.

Update

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-= 01 Aug. 2009 =-

I've started revamping the builder, creating a easier way of adding extra functionality via builder window and builder mode base classes that can be used to extend and add stuff to the builder. This is mostly done but will be tweaked as needed. The actor, item and map builder still needs conversions and there are still some bugs left to fix.
Also thinking of adding a better curser then a pixel as well as a very pixel like basic UI using hotspots and render-to-texture. O yes and goal 002b needs to be done on the builder.

Next goals:

* 002c. Builder support for 'facing'. (done)
* 004-. Convert all builders to new method. (done)
* 005a. Complete render-to-texture (RtT) testing. (done)
* 005b. Create a very basic UI with hot spots and RtT.
* 006-. Create new test models using new exporter. (done: need more)
* 007a. Investigate collision geom offset.
* 007b. Fix AABB offset.

Update

As on-one is reading these I think I'll be dumping my private 'Captains log' on my blog... so lets start with this months newest stuff:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-= 01 Aug. 2009 =-
I'm back ffs! Sometimes finding oneself is only half the battle... These logs helped me a lot to orientate my thoughts, and now I need them again.
Maps, massive grid, graph for low detail offscreen movement and planning (skeleton).
LUA integrated, ODE integrated.
Map/entity builder in alpha.
Model animation and rendering pipe GO!
AI and weapon/ sensory/inventory/targeting systems in!
Script level mechanics need some flesh, basic UI also.
Resource saving/loading/deleting is good.
Animation selection via animation map must be implemented.
Particle system need a mount point/root transform. Benchmark: point or quad?
A lot of little things needs testing, fixing and adding plus my asset creation chain need to be work for animated models as well as geoms with an offset from the models centre. Aaaaaah! Where to start?!

Next goals:
* 001-. Animation mapping with behaviour & item sensitivity. (done IpF)
* 002a. Hiding of away-facing statics. (done)
* 002b. Camera support for 'facing'. (done)
* 002c. Builder support for 'facing'. (done)
* 003-. Use phBuilderObject in Builder and replace it with phInstanceTemplate in current build. (replaced)

Not dead yet!

I'm back after a very turbulent and crazy few months. Been busy fighting the recession and securing income :D so that I can continue my indie project, which is going slowly but surly.

I've been working on the level editor so that I can rapidly test other aspects of the game and not worry about editing text files. I'll post some screenshots when its close to alpha state.
The game itself is also in a refactored and working state, the player can pick up items and attack NPCs, just need some animations for the actors... I'm tired of using mushrooms...

I would really, really, really-really like to have a beta (or better) build ready for IGF's 12th Annual Compo. so I'm going to draft to have somthing before that that is totally play-testable.

Anyway, as first posts go this was not to bad, I'll be posting more updates as I have some intresting shots to show... thanks for reading. :)

First Release

Yes, after an absolutely ghastly struggle to find a steering/movement model that I like and would work for what I want I have done it. Using a combination of grid navigation using A* searches and a flexible steering model, plus quite a few interesting meta data tweaks to do grid queries, the actors run around without problem and can swarm the player.
There are a few tweaks left to make so that you get proper piling of attackers and smoothing out cross room movement but they are all in the box basically thanks to my current ground work. :)

Also work on the scripting, AI, attack system and particle system is at a level that allows me to... TADA release my first pre-alpha tech./gameplay RTP (release-to-public) test. It will be on the Download post shortly.

If you want any more details about the technical side of things please drop me a mail and I'll be more then glad to answer them.

PS. Ignore the date on this post, it was in my draft box for a long time while I sorted out a lot of other little things.

Pathing is a bitch!

I've been having pathing woes, damn bots keep bumping into walls and each other when following the path! This has to do with the grid search and path optimization technique used. The grid layout in respects to the environment was causing the bots to clip corners. This was also the problem with LOS as I was also clipping corners when using the grid. Both problems was solved by using the line algorithm supplied by James McNeill on his blog PlayTechs and shifting the environment so that it originates from the center of the grid blocks.

The main reason I picked up these issues was due to the fact that when I had multiple bots running arround it looked crap. So with these refinements hopefully I can continue towards a prototype...

So close... to proto!

I think its high time for an update. Development on AlphaHack's prototype is going strong. I've finished, for prototype level, the sensory and attack system that the zombies are going to use as well as created the goals needed to automate them. They also now have a 'hunger' stat and will wander around until they need to feed! >:) I've been working also on optimizing graph pathing and goal allocation and that is running smooth as well.

In the works is grid pathing for wandering and fine-grained seeking behavior from AI. Almost done and tested.

Player, left, is standing around while AI, right, is wandering.

AI, right, has become hungry and spotted the Player, run P run!

Player, left, is trying to hide but thanks to sensory memory the AI has an idea where he is...

As you can see the prototype is in a very 'low level debug' state, this allows me to tweak and play arround with concepts and test changes to the engine. Also the LUA integration is paying off a lot for tweaking and flexibility.

My next objective is going to be the scripting of more game mechanics like random Zombie placement and game states. This is going to be handled by a Commander.

Only forward...

State of 'AlphaHack'

I was friendlily requested to do a little presentation about my current hobby project. Thx Grimmy :) Most of these will appear on GGE... as soon as they figure out how they want to implement the blogging.
So 'AlphaHack' is my first prototype and tech. demo of the engine I'm developing. Its basically just going to be a zombie survival game set within a very basic town. Zombie AI is easy. :P
The engine, which is called PixelHorizon, is very simple and is geared towards diverse gameplay rather then next gen. graphics. And seeing as I'm not an artist this suits me just fine. :)
Ok so whats in the engine:

• LUA scripted deep integration.
• ODE driven physics.
• Goal driven AI system for 'actors'.
• Commander level AI for grouped 'actors'.
• A* Pathing using both graph and grid.
• Complex environments through simple 'room' concepts but dynamic interaction.
• Neuron based messaging system.
• Entity/Map construction, AI management and Event handling via scripts.
  

And that's the basics, its actually a lot more complex but everything normally is. :) I'm currently busy with:

• AI Sensory memory.
• Attack/Targeting module.
• ... and then ...
• Create more goals for the AI and Commanders
• ... and then ...
• Damage module.

Currently my development method is 'get it done!'. I've been working on 'game engines' for far.. far... FAR too long and need to show something for all that time spent. So the prototype is more of a goal, I dream if you will, to reach, to pull something solid out of my typing.

But like I said I want to post more details on Great Games Experiment as well as a running development log but they don't have the facilities to do it blog-style... yet...

A lot of concepts and ideas where 'procured' from Mat Buckland's book Programming Game AI by Example. It shows you how to create a game. Not just concepts and tech. gibber-gabber but an actual working game. Learned so much. Thank Mat where ever you are.

Please feel free to leave a comment.

GGE

Created a profile on Great Games Experiment, the link is on the right. I'll be posting my current project 'AlphaHack' on it as soon as I have 3 screenshots which is a requirement. :P