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[Belimoth]

Yesh, the planet is a very cool touch.

[peous]

Thank you. To be honest I hesitate, because it's not really pixel-art related...

It makes really big pixels (on the planet), and that's why I put big pixels also for the stars... But ships have small pixels...

Anyway, if you think it integrates well with foreground ships, I'm reassured 

[peous]

More about thrusters

I made a big image to better compare generated models. Main thruster trail have now sub-trails. Not realistic at all but I like the results

[eigenbom]

well the planet style sort of clashes a little, but it adds depth. you could use the planets in the game, e.g., have little block satellites orbitting them (in the 2d plane) or have little square blocks as buildings that you can shoot or dock with? i think that definitely would make this game stand out from cpt jameson..

[peous]

Oooo that was a long time without a post.
Code didn't progressed much, I am more thinking about design and universe.

Copy that, eigenbom. Like I said, I'm thinking about design at the moment, maybe an idea about this will pop !

Meanwhile, this is a fist idea about a HUD.

To be honest I'm hesitating between this rough square design, that may keep the "pixel-art" style, or something more complex like the quick attempt I made for Sirius Online. If you have any preference just tell me.

[eigenbom]

I'd get rid of the thick blue borders, it might be alright after that..

[eddietree]

I have to ask: are you using GameMonkey for this?

[Alehkhs]

I have to ask: are you using GameMonkey for this?

Saves me the conspicuous effort of asking everyone what they are using to make games in an effort to figure myself out... 

[Sakar]

I have to ask: are you using GameMonkey for this?

Nope, it's being done in Unity (see below)

In your article you have mentioned using Box2D despite working with Unity. May I ask why you didn't use the built in physics engine?

1. I'm more used to Box2d
2. Unity engine is 3d, and I'm a bit hesitant in using it in 2d mode (like constraining the rotation to one axe and the movement to 2 axes)
3. I have full sourcecode for Box2d, and I can implement new shapes & new constraints if I want. As I want to have lots of shapes, lots of bullets, I want to be able to optimize if I want.

I hope I made the good choice ! Box2d is full C# so maybe it's slower than built-in physic engine... Have you any experience about using Unity physics in 2d with lots of bodies ?

[peous]

I have to ask: are you using GameMonkey for this?

For SpaceBeam, I use Unity and Box2d, as Sakar told. I need no scripting engine now so it's ok.

I use C++ and GameMonkey on this project http://whatabout.white-night-thegame.com/category/Tech
Maybe a DevLog on this one day...

The tech used on this project is 3 years of dev. No only gfx, but includes a full reflexivity, serialization, sound, script, an ingame editor... Mainly PC now, but slowly porting to iPhone...

Btw I don't know it there's a thread where I could suggest this engine to someone who would need this . Too much work to not use it... (even if 80% of readers are programmers or guys that want to do their own engine : )

[Franklin's Ghost]

I use C++ and GameMonkey on this project http://whatabout.white-night-thegame.com/category/Tech
Maybe a DevLog on this one day...

The tech used on this project is 3 years of dev. No only gfx, but includes a full reflexivity, serialization, sound, script, an ingame editor... Mainly PC now, but slowly porting to iPhone...

That's a really impressive project. The lighting video looks great and like the atmosphere you have going on.

[peous]

Thanks ! It's really different from spacebeam and that's cool !

Anyway, we are in SpaceBeam devlog so here's a video about new freatures : Trails and missiles.
Btw you can see some generated ships (the ennemies).

Missiles behave a fun way : They try to orient the same direction as you ship. So when you turn your ship, missiles tend to turn too, so you can knda remote control them
I don't know if I'll keep it, but it's funny. If you want to control precisely missiles, then you have to turn your ship. But if you turn your ship to control missiles, you cannot go where you want. So there's some kind of drawback... nice !

[eigenbom]

This is coming along really nicely peous.

[Revk]

I'm so following that project . Love 4X space games.
Will you take some gameplay/design inspiration from the X series (X3:Terran Conflict etc), or games like Distant Worlds ? Well, for everything other than the combat gameplay I mean.

I don't know if I'll keep it, but it's funny. If you want to control precisely missiles, then you have to turn your ship. But if you turn your ship to control missiles, you cannot go where you want. So there's some kind of drawback... nice !

Maybe make that a feature, but just as one kind of missiles, not all of them.

Also, Salut, confrère développeur français !! 

[eigenbom]

Yeh I totally want those curvey missiles dude. You better keep them in there...

[Franklin's Ghost]

Another vote for the curvy missiles as a specific weapon

[happymonster]

Have you tried using a purple background? 

[eigenbom]

Have you tried using a purple background? 

NO ITS ALLLLLL MINE!

[peous]

I'll think about a "moonman" edition for $1000 pledge with purple background... Hmmm yess

[peous]

Added some HP to the elements, and spent a while figuring out how to display damage.
On the center you can see the remains of my ship...

  It's hard to be a ship pilot when developper is testing damage display

I didn't wanted the blink to be too noticeable while damage was < 0.7 but still to preserve information. Above 70% of damage, red alert, element blinks and is really visible.

Ended up with a formula like:

Code:

damage is between 0 (full HP) and 1 (explode !)
if damage > 0.7 then
  color = red with blink_frequency
else 
  color = mix white and orange depending on damage
blink_frequency = 5.0f / damage;
blink using color and blink_frequency

Pfff....