next »

[Linus]

I heard it was compo time!
Such flawless timing, I have exams I need a reason to disregard!

Obviously, as it should be, I never finish a project, but I'm hoping I'll get far enough on this to make it into something usable.
So, for starters, I salvaged some code from another unfinished project and ripened it into some kind of framework that seems suitable for a game. Some more hours of work, and I'm loading textures, another few hours and they produce something, now it looks like this:
etc etc. Update:
Okay, a release! Probably all I'll have time for during compo.

Lacking is a decent AI, a more graphical UI and end-game conditions. So basically it's a sandbox environment where you can build your units and fight the opposition.
Either way I'm happy I've finally produced something that could be called a game, it feels like an accomplishment.



-Early Release-
http://secretweb.org/stuff/king.tar.gz

Remember, this is a Linux release, compilation was done on Ubuntu 9.10. If you have any problems starting, you're most likely missing freeglut3 or libdevil1c2, both of which are available in apt-get, aptitude or synaptic, or whatever manager you are using.

!Windows Release!
http://secretweb.org/stuff/king.rar

Just in time, I got it compiled on windows, happy me!
There's a readme-file along with the game explaining controls.

Note: There may be some controller issues, remember that 'C' is used for UI actions as well as in-game actions. xcven+arrows is all controls used in the game.


Linus

[Galaxy613]

I has an linux. Will it work on Ubuntu 9.04?

[oryx]

Theme sounds fun

[Linus]

While I still have close to zero goals and absolutely no planning, I must say this piece of software is progressing towards my unintended goal quite fashionably.


Update: I note I accidentally managed to replace an old picture, sorry. :p

And, yes, I am currently developing in Ubuntu, even if 9.10, but I can't see any major issues arising.

For the time being, I've set up some resources. My only major goal for now is to be able to behead peons and have some kind of menu based task selection. After this, I'll see how things develop. (Input and such details are, of course, already there. I stole them from an old and abandoned project of mine.)
Minor goals include turn/action based play and keeping it runnable on my internal Intel graphics card.


Linus

[Linus]

Okay, here's the lowdown.
I decided on a course of action.
Major goals:
 a world map. <- mostly there
 lots of parameter tweaking. <- ready!
 still some beheading. <- It's getting there, at some point
 evolving world. <- Have a framework halfway implemented
 turn based strategy. <- Not expecting too much trouble here.
 hidden things that make you happy.
 The king should say stuff and will always be with you.
Minor goals:
 An ending.
 Necromancy.
 A title screen.
 An AI. <- I may just have the player on the deciding end on how to evolve his kingdom, and enemies as passive elements that may or may not be obligatory to overcome due to mechanics.

A new screenshot, showing off a preliminary interface:



Linus

[Linus]

Allow me to begin with a new screenshot:


Trees now use correct multi-texturing so ground sprites appear beneath them, trees EXIST. The blight has a blight sprite instead of that other sprite.

A parametric rule system defines how parameters in each zone change over turns, and parameters in turn define what type a zone is. So, if I, for example, lower a "holiness" parameter below zero, grass turns into blight, and trees turn into evil trees.
Simple, effective. I'll soon be extending it so buildings create a constant output of some parameters. Once entities get in, they'll be restricting themselves to moving in certain zone types, so you'll have to use buildings and make changes in the environment to be able to expand your kingdom.
(A peasant, for example, would refuse to walk on blight.)
Well, I'm getting somewhere. :D

Edit:
I realised that picture up there is from BEFORE I added in multitexturing, have a newer one:



Linus

[homeDrone]

  Looking good.

[SirNiko]

I miss the line "Hello my filthies!"

-SirNiko

[Türbo Bröther]

It warms my heart that there is someone employing the use of horizontally doubled pixels in this competition.

[Linus]

Would you kill me if I say it's just because the default resolution is 640x480 and sprites are drawn in a 32x32 grid? :p

Thanks for the nice comments, people.

Hopefully the filthies will be back in there at some point, right now it's just default text. High priority now is adding in buildings and enemies.

Linus

[JMickle]

are you gonna fix the incorrect sizing? it really puts me off

[Linus]

B-but. I like it that way? 
If there is a general consensus that I should, I might, but as of now I'll be leaving it. Either way, this is an easy change as both the UI and the resolution are quite modular.


Linus

[JMickle]

either make it double width or single either would be good but somewhere inbetween? nah it looks like a mistake

[SimpleSyrup]

gives it a good old school (atari 5200?) vibe, even if is not aesthetically pleasing. ii ssaayy kkeeeepp iitt!!

[Linus]

Tell you what. It looks great on my 16:9 screen, but it might be that it just goes well with widescreen. When I'm closer to finishing up I'll look into testing it on some different setups to determine good 16:9 and 4:3 resolutions and UI configurations to go with them.


Linus

[JMickle]

BRAINWAVE - selectable sizes 

[oryx]

I like the wide pixels, gives it a unique look and feels even more 'retro'

[nunix]

Yeah, the current look is boss. Keep it!

[Linus]

An attractive girlfriend makes a deadline way harder to manage than an exam does.

Anyhow. I've got some new things to show you.

What we've got here is some fog of war, entities that are generated and can move... and a lot of things under the hood. All of it except the initial generation is powered by a simple logic based rule system that dictate how things are changed when a turn ends. Forests may spread, entities can be created or turned into corpses, fields may turn into blight or the other way around, and more.

I'm basing everything around a roguelike concept, so nothing will be limited or "nice" in the game. Simply put, if you tell a peon to walk into water, he will not say no. He will drown. You are king, they will obey regardless of consequence.

I am doubting the deadline though, I'll have to cut some corners. :<


Linus

[Linus]

I was going to type something artsy about how I love programming in C++, especially when I have great progress, easy bugs and get lots of work done, but then I thought "fuck it, 6AM."
Which, incidentally, is the same reason I never bothered switching from dijkstra's shortest path algorithm to A*, or, for that matter, caching the results rather than re-calculating it again when I need to draw another tile on the world map. Such things come when you have a flair of inspiration or get frustrated by perceptible lag which doesn't have to be there. That is not now.

Screenshot update:

Latest addition is a better ruleset for foilage and flowers, which now litters the world in abundance.
In case anyone is curious, perlin noise is used to good effect for most of the world generation, which can be seen in that the parts of the world are more uniform in placement now.
While not shown in the image, enemies have begun popping up at their respective caves and ruins. Next up is an AI.
It's either that or I drop the single player for now and rebuild into a hot seat strategy game. Thoughts on this?


Linus