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clockwrk_routine
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« Reply #40 on: July 31, 2012, 08:52:03 AM »

Thanks dude!  that's what I have going on, I have a top/max for the arc searches, cept don't have bottom/min.  Looking at my code, one reason why it's slow is because it's checking jumps from every tile :/ It stops searching if it encounters adjacent tiles of same elevation but still calculates a small arc for each one, which isn't necessary I don't think.

I also have a 3-dimensional array that is created of the map, populated with GameObject values at XYZ coordinates, which is dumb me thinks.  It gets checked during raycasts.  I'm going to replace it with a dictionary of XYZ keys and Names pointing to the GameObject, instead of the gameobject themselves.

I might also stick to some guidelines, for creating a map, so jump checks aren't as frequent.

For robot building its going to be a crafts system, using parts that aren't consumables but key items, as Zelda items are.  You can break down robots to have those parts available again for crafting a robot.  Their will be a maximum distance to control your robots, which is your wireless range, you can also place portable wireless towers to increase your range, or tap into the any available ones in the environment.  You will eventually be able to program your robots to do complicated tasks/have behaviors, where your input isn't necessary except when you want to change their behavior.

I was thinking about the hacker enemy types, I thought they would be interesting they would kind of be like wizards, also using wireless technology's to take advantage of your robots, send them viruses, control them depending on the security systems in place.  You will also be able to hack other robots/technologys to glean information to solve puzzles, or control robots.

After tweaking the movement script, I'm going to attempt AI next.  I BOUGHT GRAPHING PAPER

edit:

@solarlune The 3-d array was necessary because I haven't found a way to return objects at position other than checking against their position, or using collision with a raycast.  I tried the collision with a raycast, but with the arcing formula, it moved too slow along the arc.  I couldn't figure out a way to make it move past a certain speed.  I thought the array would would be the fastest way to retrieve an object, what do you think?
« Last Edit: July 31, 2012, 11:08:32 AM by minnow » Logged
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« Reply #41 on: July 31, 2012, 12:46:58 PM »

The raycast checks are a bit slow in general, so I think that's not the correct way to go. I'm pretty sure most grid-based RTS titles just use blocks to indicate which game world positions are valid movement spaces (i.e. blocks indicate where objects can move), rather than raycasts.

Also, most grid-based RTS titles seem to restrict movement to a 2D plane, if I recall correctly (i.e. there's not usually bridges and stuff). Final Fantasy Tactics, as an example, is a grid-based RTS game, and it usually sticks to simple 2D grid spaces for movement. Your game so far, though, has valid movement spaces that are above other valid movement spaces. That is a bit more difficult, but it shouldn't be that hard at all.

For this game, I would go with the 3D array route, I think. You can append a list consisting of a reference to the valid ground game object to the map array (or dictionary) according to position, like you already did. I'd say use a list, since all values would be full in a dictionary anyway, and it's probably slower than a list (I'm not sure, though).

Also, if the game objects will actually be moving in all 3 dimensions, there can be more than one valid movement space on a single 3D point (like a bridge), and so there can be several individual grid spaces on a position. That's why you should make sure the ground objects are contained in a list, so that you can loop through them all in the same way (i.e. if there are two blocks on a position, you can check their list, and if there's just one, you can still check its list).

So, then you can loop through the lists and check the distances to the moving object. You really only need to check the ones that are within the moving object's distance (generally), and you can subtract the height difference between the moving object and the ground tiles from the movement amount, like you've done. Also, it doesn't quite matter THAT much how slow it is, since each moving object only needs to evaluate the field each time it prepares to move. (This is a turn-based strategy game, right?)

EDIT: By the way, that multitexture mode bug I mentioned was recently fixed, so you can grab a build from the Blender BuildBot if you want to export a runtime (or if you just want to work with the latest build of Blender in general).
« Last Edit: July 31, 2012, 01:30:20 PM by SolarLune » Logged

clockwrk_routine
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« Reply #42 on: July 31, 2012, 07:18:51 PM »

!!! wish I thought about that earlier.  I first had the array fill up with 0's, to the size of the map (10x10x10), I replaced some zero's with references to tiles in that position.  When I was doing checks, I was incrementing the Z index, and seeing if there was an object there, for every search.  Dumb.

Just going to fill a 3D, array with only tiles, and loop through the Z list at x and y, to find multiple objects as you said.  Foregoing checks to see whether there's a tile at position.  That should make the check a lot a faster, thanks for your help!

I'll probably pass on the latest build right now, if there's nothing significant.

edit: yip yip 100x faster approximately
« Last Edit: July 31, 2012, 11:13:27 PM by minnow » Logged
clockwrk_routine
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« Reply #43 on: August 05, 2012, 10:22:10 PM »

Quick update no pictures  Sad:
-Player moves with mouse click
-Added enemy NPC with simple AI
-Uses the same pathfinding script as the Player, which if I do say so myself very accurate and very fast.
-Moves randomly
-Moves towards Player
-Moves and attacks player with ranged attack (well bumps into him repeatedly...)

Scrapping robot idea, and will probably go back to the concept art I was working on.  Right now the engine, is real-time and not turned based, I don't think there's that much more code I need to add to adapt it though, eventually I want to be able to switch between the two.  One is because I want to use whatever I build in this project for other future projects, and two because for this current project the player will be able to switch between the two modes manually (like Baldur's Gate) that or I will have it switch to turn-based when the player encounters an enemy and switch to real-time after combat ends(like Fallout).

Been thinking about two systems of combat, and I'm not sure which one to go with I might try out both. they aren't that different from eachother.

ATB-Tactical (real-time):  The PC/NPC's will have ATB bars.  They will not be able to move, while their ATB bars are filling unlike FFXII.  You can move multiple characters whom have full ATB bars at the same time.  While multiple characters are selected a combo menu will appear for various combinations attack unlocked between the characters.  

ATB-Tactical (turn-based):  Same as the above, but ATB increases/decreases per turn action dependent, and all PC/NPC's with full ATB bars act in the same turn.  You can wait for other PC's ATB to fill, inorder to perform combos.

Also side notes:
The enemy NPC's will have up to 3 attacking/supporting skills for varying range.
They will also use utilize environmental advantages, height, healing objects, explosive objects, cover.

K that's all, going to work on more of the AI.  Also this is the longest I've worked on a solo project  Toast Left

edit:
Working with ndee's easyEmit addon for particles.  It's pretty awesome, except I have a problem where only on certain camera angles, does the alpha appear correctly.  It looks like the alpha flips.
« Last Edit: August 06, 2012, 09:10:06 AM by minnow » Logged
clockwrk_routine
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« Reply #44 on: August 11, 2012, 10:09:53 AM »

art break...

- ATB (semi real - semi turn) is in place
- Support for multiple PC's
- Tool for building levels:  I think this goes for unity too, but you can also build interface items, or scripts in Blender to automate tasks with python.  This tool takes selected tiles, changes dimensions and Z location, so I can mock up a level layout rather quick to playtest.
- flame effect made from particle system

With the ATB styled tactical combat, I see an emphasis on squad based tactics where positioning in relation to other members is very important to the outcome.

One thing I want to implement, is having a field around each PC/NPC, that when one or the other enters, it's hard for them to leave.  Making positioning all the more important.  This will probably be in a separate stat, which is unit/level/item dependent.  Maybe it will slow down ATB from filling, allowing the possibility of moving out the field, but also getting multiple hits on the target - the effect stacking caught in multiple fields - (cornering/avoiding being cornered.)

Also thinking about possible temporal effects left over from skills:
- Allowing skill combinations, say a fire spell leaves behind a residual fire element that can be combined with a wind spell, for a inferno spell.
- Beneficial/Curse spells are in effect while standing on those squares disregarding alignment.
- 'Fuel' to increase the effect range of a spell
- And I'm toying with the idea of cloaking enemies that are out of PC range.  While using sense skills, that light enemies up should they step on a square, that either tags the enemy for a set period, or only lasts for while they are on that square.

I usually don't like the look of fog of war, where everything is blanketed in a thick black, I do like when things are covered in transparent shadow.  I also don't like how enemies suddenly appearing out of nowhere like in X-COM, it's not the kind of feel I'm going for, which is more based on suspense.  So maybe have the enemies as they approach visible fields, start off as shadowy figures gradually being more defined before stepping into the light.
« Last Edit: August 11, 2012, 11:40:26 AM by minnow » Logged
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« Reply #45 on: August 11, 2012, 03:02:30 PM »

Cool art, and I like the idea of the ATB system, where being surrounded makes you build-up your action gauge slower. So what kind of game will this be? I mean, it sounds like a strategy game, but would it be kind of like an RPG?
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clockwrk_routine
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« Reply #46 on: August 11, 2012, 07:08:29 PM »

I'm probably generalizing because that's just the place I am at right now.  There will be rpg elements, I plan on there being 3 - 5 main characters each with their own sets of abilities that play with eachother.  I want to avoid leveling if possible, but have the characters acquire abilities/tools.  Exploration/towns/dungeons/overworld those sorts of things yes.  Would you call them crpg's like fallout/baldur's gate/arcanum are an influence, switching between turn-based and real-time but I don't think the adventure will be as open as they are.

One game I see as a direct influence is Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter, I just got a kick out the story, design, and the combat system.  3 characters get caught up with eachother and becoming outlaws and trying to escape to the surface, moving their way through labs and fighting science experiments, being chased by a shadow organization and dragon people.  It was also pretty scary and challenging, I think they called it a survival rpg in that it was pretty dark and claustrophobic environments kept you on your toes.

Ideally I would like to go with that horror fantasy theme less on the sci-fi, but I dunno if I could do it, the visual design is barely fleshed out so we'll see.
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« Reply #47 on: October 01, 2012, 05:58:32 PM »

following this for sure
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clockwrk_routine
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« Reply #48 on: November 05, 2012, 11:14:59 PM »

:D It's been a while but I'm looking at this project one more time.  The design/graphics for Entropy (ld24) is very involving, it'll be nice to get messy with code again, my art classes are demanding enough.  I'm starting to refactor my code which might carry over into the sports comp we shall see.
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clockwrk_routine
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« Reply #49 on: December 05, 2012, 07:01:45 AM »

For my final assignment in visual concepts, we're to make any interpretation of a map, using any medium, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to practice game design/dev.  I'll have the next two weeks to  spend.  It's going to be an adventure game made with Visionaire Studio (which is also used being used for Stasis by Chris Bischoff).  I cracked it open today and followed some tutorials, I have to say it's pretty awesome and really easy to use, it reminds me a lot RPGMAKER.  It has everything I need, but I think you could also fashion a CRPG similar to fallout/torment/arcanum which would be fun but probably not for this project.



this was just a mockup, our last assignment was working with collage.  The ground is a composite of two images.  Since I have only two weeks, I'm really focusing on crunching out as many assets as I can, so I'm mixing pre-rendered 3d graphics with collage.  I don't have much planned, I wanted to shift perspective and styles kind of frequently.  We'll see where this is in two weeks.  also LD is coming up and if I can get my projects done before then, Eugene and I will probably participate again.  see you later  Coffee
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clockwrk_routine
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« Reply #50 on: February 18, 2013, 10:08:31 PM »


okay.. so I started working on a cross platform pixel painting program.  You have a canvas, you can add frames, you can play those frames, and continue to paint as those frames are playing.  So you get this effect of your strokes moving.  Another feature is a small brush creation area, which acts like the canvas, whatever you draw in the area becomes your brush.  You can have infinite brushes/frames.

I'll be releasing this once more of the features get implemented.  Its fun but it's also for game art, images will be exported to spritesheets.

Features yet to be:

-Add art assets.  So while you can work on a single animation asset, you can tap the up or down arrow, to add/cycle through your available art assets.

-Texture Packed exporting.  Exports to a single png, with an xml detailing dimension and position of assets on the png.

The idea is to be able to keep all your game assets in one png file, and be able to load and cycle through your project through the app.  Hopefully this helps keep your files more organized.

-Layers

-Change Layer/Brush modes, burning, dodging, multiply etc

-Onion Skinning

After these features are in, I'd like to add vector/modular animation, a timeline, tweening.

more:
« Last Edit: February 18, 2013, 10:47:29 PM by minnow » Logged
clockwrk_routine
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« Reply #51 on: February 20, 2013, 05:26:40 PM »

added a couple of things

masking - holding shift shows your current mask as a transparent layer.  the mask covers your entire frame including layers, layers don't currently have their own masks might add this in the future.  You can paint out your mask when it's being displayed.

onionskin - haven't seen too many pixel programs with onionskinning and find it incredibly useful, enable/disable with tab.  shows previous frames as a transparent layer underneath your current frame to visual aid in drawing your current frame.

The idea behind the masking is that you can paint underneath whatever texture you'd like for your graphic, using the mask to represent the form of the frame, without disturbing the texture.  this was how I made graphics for entropy, except the mask was a vector graphic I made in blender.  I was working on adding vector graphics and animation but I don't think I'll be adding it anytime soon.

Palette/color spectrum/brightness slider for brushes.  Will be adding an alpha slider.  zooming and panning WASD.

Will be adding another kind of mask, this mask that will only allow you to paint within that area it doesn't disturb textures outside of this area.  Maybe enabled when holding down alt.

I want to keep the workflow fast, so you can focus on what you are doing without going through dialogs, or fiddling with scrollbars and buttons too much.  I'll be uploading a video demonstrating the all the features shortly.
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« Reply #52 on: February 20, 2013, 06:07:28 PM »

This is really cool, what types of files will this be able to export to?

Could it export high-res mp4s?
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clockwrk_routine
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« Reply #53 on: February 20, 2013, 07:37:38 PM »

hey thanks pb yea I only have plans to export to png or bitmaps.  Did a short search, from what I gather i'd have to write a video encoder myself in actionscript.  There's probably something out there that could take an animation strip and encode into mp4.  Just curious why do you need mp4?

Also about exporting, you can either export seperate pngs or a giant composed png of all the assets with an xml file mapping out the images.  So to keep all your assets together for every game project you have, and be able to load them back into the program and cycle through them.  This is probably the last thing I'll work on.

Was thinking you could add tags to your assets, so you can cycle through tags and then cycle through each asset associated with that tag, selecting and going into edit mode.

« Last Edit: February 20, 2013, 10:12:19 PM by softchange » Logged
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« Reply #54 on: February 22, 2013, 01:09:50 AM »


okay.. so I started working on a cross platform pixel painting program.  You have a canvas, you can add frames, you can play those frames, and continue to paint as those frames are playing.  So you get this effect of your strokes moving.  Another feature is a small brush creation area, which acts like the canvas, whatever you draw in the area becomes your brush.  You can have infinite brushes/frames.

I'll be releasing this once more of the features get implemented.  Its fun but it's also for game art, images will be exported to spritesheets.

Features yet to be:

-Add art assets.  So while you can work on a single animation asset, you can tap the up or down arrow, to add/cycle through your available art assets.

-Texture Packed exporting.  Exports to a single png, with an xml detailing dimension and position of assets on the png.

The idea is to be able to keep all your game assets in one png file, and be able to load and cycle through your project through the app.  Hopefully this helps keep your files more organized.

-Layers

-Change Layer/Brush modes, burning, dodging, multiply etc

-Onion Skinning

After these features are in, I'd like to add vector/modular animation, a timeline, tweening.

more:


very very cool!
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clockwrk_routine
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« Reply #55 on: February 22, 2013, 04:09:43 AM »

thanks I'm really enjoying working on this
here's a demo shows the ui more, which is work in progress
first time using adobe captivate so it's kind of awkward





Masking needs work, though I don't think I really demonstrated it.
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clockwrk_routine
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« Reply #56 on: February 23, 2013, 04:46:58 PM »

did some refactoring and have mask layers working for each frame.
got out of work last night and started thinking about what next to implement, found the need to work with layers so was coming up with ideas for a dialog.

What I'm thinking is you can toggle in and out of the dialog with one of the function keys.

(I'll try to explain this in words before I get a graphic up)
The dialog will give you an entire overview of your frames and layers.
It will resemble a timeline, if you are familiar with working with video editing software, it will look similar to that, where the channels are layers of a frame.  

The dialog represents the frames horizontally, with layers stacked on top of each other, you can move copy and stretch layers across multiple frames.  Say if you want a consistent element, such as a background, that would be on layer 0, you could stretch it across all the frames.  This will all be handled by the mouse.

I might be able to apply other functions to this dialog, what those are I don't really know. :<
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clockwrk_routine
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« Reply #57 on: February 25, 2013, 03:00:35 AM »

eep eep foundation for the timeline Smiley

(needs to flip the layer ordering)
I think I'm at the 60% mark, needs a lot of polish, necessary tools (eraser, paintbucket, sliders for alpha) and secret fun stuff.
I'm going to integrate the timeline into the main window, since key commands only work on the active window.  stoked Smiley
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« Reply #58 on: February 25, 2013, 03:42:06 AM »

This is coming along really nicely and I like the way you are approaching the animation. Seems like you've created some tools that I haven't ever noticed in other programs.

Should be fun to play with  Smiley
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« Reply #59 on: February 25, 2013, 08:37:29 AM »

mezmerizing    Hand Shake LeftAddictedHand Shake Right
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