[Canyon Terrain Editor v1.0!]

Canyon Terrain Editor v1.0! 

I hope I'm not reviving too old a thread, but I feel the occasion warrants it. My terrain editor tool, Canyon Terrain Editor, has reached version 1.0 status with a new release! Version 1.0 includes a number of big new changes, including real-time shadows, a movable light source, a texture-by-elevation button, and much more! 

Here is a complete blog post over on my website with more information: http://entardev.wordpress.com/2012/07/08/canyon-terrain-editor-v1-0/

Here is the page on my site: http://entardev.wordpress.com/other-projects/canyon-terrain-editor/

Once again, I'd love to see any creations you all make with the editor. Enjoy!

Version 1.2 Update now available!

List of changes in the update:

• Improved Menu Interface
• Optimized background effect rendering in code and textures
• Added in-game instructions to first play of a session
• Changed trial to play versus AI
• Added limit on matches to trial version
• Improved Instructions screen

Enjoy!

[Verterum]

Newly released for the Windows Phone 7 is Verterum, my first game application for a mobile device. Verterum is a simple strategy game designed to be easy to learn but to still have some deeper strategy beyond the simple moves. Players win either by capturing all of the opponent's squares, or by controlling more of the squares on the board when they are all occupied.

Verterum in the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace

Features:

• Easy to learn, fun to master
• Play versus another human or an AI, or watch two AI players play
• Multiple board sizes to choose from
• Short average match length
• Colorblind friendly option

Feel free to post any comments or suggestions you may have. I plan to update the game in the future if feedback warrants it. Thanks!

Along the lines of what VomitOnLino said: Seems to me that a pretty simple (and effective) solution would be to have the AI store where he has last seen the player, and navigate to that (using A* or whatever). If he sees the player while he's going, update that point as he goes. Then, once he gets there, he looks again. This is basically what actual people would do, and you don't have to worry about some odd bread-crumbs thing (unless you mean to have some kind of footprint in snow or something that really leaves a trail).

[ati]

Yeah I have an ati card, 3850 I believe. I don't think that's the problem but it could be useful information..perhaps.

Well there's your problem.  

I don't want to turn this thread into a graphics card argument, but I will say that due to past experience and information from others, I am a little skeptical when it comes to ATI and OpenGL. Not sure how they are since they joined up with AMD, though.

[Canyon Terrain Editor Beta #3!]

Canyon Terrain Editor Beta #3!

You didn't think I'd forgotten about this, did you? No, I've been working away behind the scenes on the next beta version. Beta 3 cleans up some more nasty bugs (like the ugly pattern that showed up when texturing in one place) and brings a few handy features too (like automatically added file extensions). Go ahead and give it a try, let me know what you think, and show off all the cool stuff you make with it!

Don't forget to read yet another totally informative blog post I wrote about the new release and its features: http://entardev.wordpress.com/2010/09/13/canyon-terrain-editor-beta-3/

Link to the editor page: http://entardev.wordpress.com/other-projects/canyon-terrain-editor/

I think the foreground graphics could use some work, but otherwise this looks like a solid game concept. There's definitely a lot of potential here, particularly if you mix in a couple more mechanics, like enemies or traps that only hurt you if you're holding the right torch. I'm looking forward to seeing more of this one. 

That's bizarre. I'm on Windows 7 32-bit as well, and it works just fine for me. Hmmmmmmm, I'll look into that I suppose.

Screen size stays the same even if it's maximized.

Hmm, not sure what you mean by that. Maximizing the screen works fine for me... Screeny?

When exporting the file it doesn't add the file extension. Not too big of a deal, I just usually forget.

Good idea, I'll probably add that to the next version, unless I see some reason not to (unlikely).

Having all the buttons on the screen is pretty obstructive, would rather them be in a sidebar separate or file menu bar or toolbar at the top.

I'm toying with the idea to add some options for different button layouts.

Also, there's no way to copy height or lock an area.

Ooh, good idea. I should have thought of that sooner. 

Imported textures always end up being black for me. Where do I put my custom textures?

Should be somewhere relative to the editor .exe. Try putting them in the /data/textures/ with the others. Keep in mind, though, that the editor currently only supports .tga for textures. I hope to add support for others later on.


Thanks for the feedback!

[Canyon Terrain Editor Beta #2!]

Canyon Terrain Editor Beta #2!

Here we go again, folks. The second beta of Canyon Terrain Editor is out the door. There's a fair chunk of new stuff in this version, including some slight improvements to the user interface, basic random terrain generation (*high fives allen*), some important bugfixes, and more. Give it a shot and, as always, let me know what kind of cool stuff you make with it! 

Here is a link to the totally informative blog post I wrote about the new release and its features: http://entardev.wordpress.com/2010/07/25/canyon-terrain-editor-beta-2/

Link to the editor page: http://entardev.wordpress.com/other-projects/canyon-terrain-editor/

I've been starting up some development on this again, and I'll probably be making another beta release some time in the next few weeks. Before I do, though, I'm looking for more feedback on bugs to fix, features to add, suggestions to consider, etc. So, please give it a try and let me know what kind of experiences you have with it, and what would be really handy to have changed.

Thanks!  

When Entar finds out about the periodic table he is going to get really excited.

Silly, I found Indium while looking through the list of elements in the periodic table for cool names for a game engine.

Musagi
http://www.drpetter.se/project_musagi.html

Blender
http://www.blender.org/

My own terrain editor, Canyon Terrain Editor
http://entardev.wordpress.com/other-projects/canyon-terrain-editor/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indium
Have I discovered the secret ingredient to greatness in indie games? I think I'm going to have to use a little of this in the production of my projects from now on...

Discuss 

[CANYON TERRAIN EDITOR BETA #1]

CANYON TERRAIN EDITOR BETA #1

The first beta version of my terrain editor is now available. Have fun with it, make something totally cool, and be sure to bring back some feedback and screenshots of awesome creations. I want to see what you creative folk come up with.

Here is the download link: http://entar.quakedev.com/terrainEditor/CanyonEditor-beta1.zip
Full blog post: http://entardev.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/canyon-terrain-editor-beta-1/

I recently did an interview with the guys from Retro Affect, about their upcoming game Snapshot, among other things. You can see the interview on my website, here:
http://entardev.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/interview-with-retro-affect/


If this is posted in the wrong place, feel free to let me know.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Braid in this thread yet.

Also, I remember Final Fantasy VIII being somewhat involving on that level.

My interview on Games Fascination with Retro Affect:
http://entardev.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/interview-with-retro-affect/
 

Reminds me a lot of err.. darn it, I can't remember the name of it... 3D Landscape program back in the late 90s/early 2000s. Cool stuff.

If you remember the name of that editor, let me know - I'd be interested to see it so I can beat the pants off it.

Also, here's a quick screenshot of some new, detailed texturing work with the brushes:

Click to see full-size image

[UPDATE!]

UPDATE!
Added a render path for Vertex Buffer Objects (VBO) if supported, so now basically, you can work with as big a terrain as is reasonable. Also, a while back I added a "brush" functionality that lets you edit the terrain with brush images, for added detail. I've now added the same functionality to the texture editing, for even greater control.

Some of you might appreciate this: I was recently looking at my editor's CPU usage when I noticed that, in certain cases, it was sucking up a horrible amount of memory. The more times I did certain things, the more memory it pulled in. I thought there must be a memory leak, but when I examined the related code, there wasn't one. The code was very straight forward, and it was correct. Then I finally found it: I never put any limitation on the memory taken by the undo/redo stacks . Now you know at least one thing I'll be working on in the coming days.

Full blog post