Vanguard: Thanks :D The moment I started thinking about them, I knew that's what I wanted to do ^^ They also blink (not the same way) occasionally while idle, now.

Moldering: I'm quite comfortable with basic pathfinding, although I've honestly never even touched the A* algorithm.
The problem is I need to do a lot of different stuff because of gravity, interesting abilities (ranging from the simple act of 'jumping' to the complex acts of building ladders or throwing bombs carefully), possibly even intelligent avoidance of traps... I could probably do without that last one, but the first two are pretty much unavoidable, now.

edit: thanks, though. I should probably get looking into some better pathfinding algorithms than the stuff I've been using

edit 2: I'm not sure how to deal with getting trapped. You will definitely be able to destroy your own constructions, although once limited resources are introduced, there will be a penalty of 'you don't get as many (if any) of your resources back'.

Laremere, what in the world happened there? o_o

Vanguard, I'm honestly thinking along those lines quite a bit :D Perhaps not quite in a way that requires so much thoughtful teamwork on the part of your foes, but they'll definitely help each other out through various means (assuming I can manage it).

mokesmoe, that is definitely a big problem that I must attend to. Climbing enemies are a certainty, digging enemies are very likely (although they will probably be relatively rare, weak, or slow), and flying enemies are possible but undecided.


The one big thing I've tried to avoid for as long as possible is pathfinding... but it looks like I'm going to have to tackle it soon, one way or another.

Currently, although they are rather dumb, enemies provide a pretty good challenge. Although certain base setups can break them (especially very long elevator shafts, or simply anything that demands intelligent jumping), they're pretty scary.

Giving them any measure of interesting intelligence is not going to be easy.


Ashkin, your pet is still on hold for a while I'm sorry please forgive me ):

Moldering: In our hearts and minds. (check his signature :D // no ILU music there yet though)

Thank you, Laremere :3 I wasn't really expecting it to turn out this way to be honest, but I'm certainly not complaining! ^^ I really like what it's turning out to be.

Speaking of what it's turning out to be...


Basic enemy who runs around.
Turrets shoot bullets at enemies, and can endanger your life.
Spike floor traps that you can build, a danger to both you and your enemies.
A button to let you spawn hordes of enemies.
A night sky.

All these things are implement. My goal for the next release is to provide an actual challenge; compete for a high score, or something! And try to break the system as best you can so I can fix problems like that :D

Awesome. Thanks so much :3

JMickle,

... That is all :D

I am totally honoured
I was going to post on your music thread too. In fact, I think I will.

Quick update:

Elevator controls are different.
No more floor panels for the moment.
Little turret added: it shoots blanks.

Oh whoa there's a second page now? Already?

Ashkin, you are destined to live all alone. Heartless, immobile, and semi-intelligent structures will be your best companions, unless you have a penchant for being friends with things that are actively trying to kill you.
If there's something worth doing, you will be the one doing it, or at least the one setting up the devices in preparation for doing this thing that is worth doing.
(Probably. But it's not something I'm going to do first, if ever ^^)

That's a good point, mokesmoe. Probably I'll switch it on back.

Hangedman, can you take a picture or elaborate further?

JMickle, goddamn it you better make me some music <3

Mecha, welcome to the ship :] I hope it doesn't disappoint.

I'm sorry if I did not respond to you; be assured I have read your comment, I'm just trying to work on the game some more because churning out updates is good for the environment.
And me.
And you.

[Updated]

The digger exists to ensure that
1. You cannot dig at all times (at night it shuts down, and this is when enemies attack)
2. Corridors accept large, scary, bigger-than-1x1 enemies unless you make a wall/door to block them off!

Wow, this is amazing first reception o_o I am blown away.

And, um, the doors are wide because the tunnels are wide :3 I'm going to be making larger doors that the digger can go through... someday.

Ladders are probably coming (or something similar), and for the moment I have added elevators.

You can still build on top of the Digger >_>; be careful.

Updated with a menu (press CTRL to see it) and two new buildables (one is exciting, one is pretty dull)

Yay! Responses :D they are delicious and feed directly into my life force.

And hah. Yes. Digger does not flying :3
If the Digger ever loses contact with walls completely, I'll work something out so it doesn't just... float there. I have noticed this in the past.
Building a door on the Digger is also something I'm aware of and tweaking :D Structures are easing their way into the system, and it's all working surprisingly well.

I've never run into the jumping-into-ceiling-and-falling-through-world issue though o_o That sounds so weird. Oh. Unless this is when it's stuck in a door ;_;


& thanks for the positive stuffs :D positive reinforcement works.

[(very)]

"I Live Underground" <-- has a picture (did not want to post the picture here for fear of it taking up too much space ._.)

It's still sort of (very) in progress.

But you dig, build, and defend from stuff whilst mostly underground.

MATH BLASTER

THAT MADE ME THINK OF WORD MUNCHERS AMONGST OTHER THINGS

WORD MUNCHERS <3

[CLICK ME TO PLAY CURRENT BUILD IMMEDIATELY]

CLICK ME TO PLAY CURRENT BUILD IMMEDIATELY
UPDATED LAST ON: MARCH TWENTY-SIXTH OF THIS YEAR AT FOUR IN THE MORNING

AIM YOUR EYES DOWNWARDS TO VIEW INFORMATION EVEN MORE IMMEDIATELY

Welcome to the game in progress dubbed "I Live Underground" unless I can think of a better name! The details of this game are being worked out, and you fine TIG people might even be able to guide its development! There are a few things for sure, though, those being: you can dig, and you can build useful stuff. There are other things, too, which will hopefully differentiate it from other games that are sort of similar :D

Oh, yeah. And everything you build is pink and white. So there.


Quick Controls (important until I make the game user-friendly)

Arrows: Move yourself around.
Space: Drive/undrive the Digger.
Ctrl: Wear/unwear the build hat! (down arrow to cycle, space/ctrl to leave menu)
Space w/ Blueprint: Build something cool!

Q: SWITCH DAY/NIGHT. WHEN SWITCHING TO NIGHT, ENEMIES ARE SPAWNED. BE PREPARED.
please note that during the night, certain things are not possible. you have hearts, but cannot truly die. you are currently helpless. your spikes do get worn out over time. the enemies will eventually have death animations. there are a few things to discover.

LINK TO THE SAVE/LOAD VERSION, SANS ENEMIES
"Day/Edit" mode can be conjured by clicking on the bottom of the window with an empty text box. Pressing ESCAPE in this mode will push you back to the menu, where the textbox will be filled with your level code. WARNING: You will never be able to edit this map again (for the moment).
"Night/Invasion" mode can be conjured by clicking on the bottom of the window with a full-of-text text box (no error catching at the moment, so it'll just bugger up). Pressing ESCAPE in this mode will simply boot you out; you cannot do anything but jump around, use doors, and use elevators -- and defenses will be hostile towards you.
This is very experimental! You still can't die!
Some test level data below

Code:

0,5/3,1/2,4/1,90/0,5/3,1/2,4/1,90/0,5/3,1/2,4/1,90/0,5/3,1/2,4/1,90/0,5/3,1/2,4/1,6/0,4/1,80/0,5/3,1/2,4/1,6/0,4/1,80/0,5/3,1/2,4/1,6/0,4/1,80/0,5/3,1/2,4/1,6/0,4/1,80/0,5/3,1/2,4/1,1/0,2/1,4/0,2/1,81/0,5/3,1/2,1/0,2/2,1/1,1/0,2/1,4/0,2/1,81/0,20/1,80/0,20/1,80/0,5/3,1/2,1/0,2/2,1/1,1/0,2/1,4/0,2/1,81/0,5/3,1/2,4/1,1/0,2/1,4/0,2/1,81/0,5/3,1/2,4/0,4/1,3/0,2/1,81/0,5/3,1/2,4/0,4/1,3/0,2/1,81/0,5/3,1/2,4/0,4/1,3/0,2/1,81/0,9/2,1/0,4/1,3/0,2/1,81/0,9/2,1/1,7/0,2/1,81/0,5/3,1/2,1/0,2/2,1/1,7/0,2/1,81/0,5/3,1/0,3/2,1/1,90/0,9/2,1/1,90/0,8/2,2/1,90/0,5/3,1/2,4/1,90/0,5/3,1/2,4/1,90|t,8,4,1/t,13,4,0/t,10,8,0/t,11,8,1/s,9,12,0/s,7,19,0/s,4,19,1/d,13,18,0/d,17,18,0/e,11,18,1/t,16,13,1/s,17,8,1/s,20,8,0/s,13,4,0/s,8,4,1/

LITTLE CREDITS ON THE RIGHT
ChevyRay for FlashPunk <3
MrLL for supporting my use of pink and white
Ashkin for giving me the idea to make a companion for you
lolilover for providing inspiration for the current name
nihilocrat for making the first reply
LazyPancake had a blister whose skin oil inpired ooze enemy concept
other people someday

<3

Are you here to remove this thread?

If not, turn to page 77.

Whoa it's raigan o:
~ I think your first comment was quite positive, really, from the two sentences the criticism(?) was wrapped in :D Thanks! and you're welcome!

( To be honest, I divided the '5 tiles' up into 20 tiles myself, if just to make it a bit clearer to myself how I'd be organizing stuff in code :x )

AtomicTroop - more individual sprites does not necessarily mean more objects. In fact, as of recently I just use one big object for my tilemap, and it works great :]


Thank you, chrknudsen :3 Off-topic, maybe, but totally helpful & useful.

Hajo: cool :D


Final response is to nikki:
Sometimes you need a bit of additional detail for proper tessellation, but it could definitely be pulled off with just one of each horizontal/vertical for simpler tilesets. You did forget, however, a bare minimum of

• middle 1x

Tigsource + Game Design (a 'game design' game?)

The Neverending Hybrid Game Design Game

Mipey, I considered rotation, but figured this would be... enough :x
Rotation might be even more limiting, too (textures need to be allow for rotation-matching and stuff)

This is a great mix of responses xD

Core, it's as much 5 tiles in its creation as it is 20 smaller tiles if not more so -- and the former is quicker and easier to say. :D
Plus, the 'dynamic' bit is supposedly the fact that the tiles automatically set themselves up instead of you having to do them by hand. Maybe 'automatic tiling' would be a better phrase, or something.

Anyway, glad I could be of assistance to some :3

Yep. And it makes things way easier on me :3 so I figured I'd give a good presentation or something, so that other people can do this instead of making 2^8 tiles 47 or so different tiles for interior corners, the bastards they are

[8]

That's right! I used only five 16x16 tiles, and made a system that would allow them to cover any tile layout -- interior corners and all! I'll admit the method is slightly limiting, but in most cases you can use this method (with a bit of programming) to tile your stuff flawlessly. At worst, you'd need to create 8 tiles, when in most cases you need 16 different tiles made even without accounting for interior corners. The solution is a matter of cutting each of your supertiles into four SMALLER tiles. That's why I said I was kind of cheating -- you need to make sure that each of the 8x8 tiles can mesh perfectly with the others. (Of course, you can go 32x32 tiles with 16x16 quarter-tiles, or 70x70 with 35x35 subtiles too. But the tiles must fit on a grid; they can't match up in weird ways or the whole thing goes down in flames!) Each corner only needs to check for 3 adjacent spaces (instead of the usual 4-8), thus reducing the amount of artwork that needs to be done manually. Should I include some example code or something? There is a better explanation HERE [my blog <3], as well as below.

Instead of checking a tile for four, or even eight different neighbours (resulting in 16 to holy shit different tiles per tileset), you can simply check each corner for three different tiles, as shown here:

It's a bit more work to implement, and you may end up rendering more sprites (despite rendering the same number of pixels), but in the end you'll be able to add a whole connecting set of tiles with a relatively very small amount of work.

Congratulations!


Anyway, I hope that was helpful for anyone who needs to make a million different connecting tilesets :x Maybe I just saved you a half-hour of work, or something.