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[RabidFrog]

So i created my entity class and the classes that will derive from that, setup the container for all my entities and started adding routines to cycle through and update logic / render my objects and so far, all is going well

Got a basic fleshy quad for humans and green quad for zombies, going to start working on the controls, then some basic collision routines, just so i can start prototyping gameplay :D

My goal is, to put any playable code up for people to look at my progress, will keep you guys updated as i do.

[Atrus]

A screenshot would be a nice. Or screenshots...

[RabidFrog]

A screenshot would be a nice. Or screenshots...

Screenshot as requested

Just implemented a first-pass functioning collision routine that checks for overlapping circles.

Will re-write at a later date, but gives me the functionality i need to start prototyping some gameplay and control systems.

I came to the conclusion that previous attempts to make games have always tapered off due to a lack of perceived progress, this time i want to have something up and running sooner rather than later, i can then always just swap out parts as i need 

[RabidFrog]

And a second one

Just because i tweaked it a little 

[RabidFrog]

I pretty much started from scratch a few weeks back, and this is where i've got to since then;

• Created the Visual C++ 2012 Project
• Written the GLFW + OpenGL init class
• Written some basic math functions to calc hypotenuse, draw circles, calculate vector <-> cartesian conversions etc
• Written the timer tick class, allows for multiple ticks at different rates
• Created basic quads for simple output, caching them in display lists
• Written some basic input handler code for keyboard and mouse
• Written the (first pass of a) class that will hold all my entity information
• Created Human & Zombie entities and started adding some basic behaviour to their logic functions
• created basic collision detection based on bounding circles

So in light of what i've achieved in the past couple of weeks (part-time,) i'm promoting the game's progress to 10%

[RabidFrog]

just taking some time to read THE NATURE OF CODE by DANIEL SHIFFMAN

What a great book, really helpful for me, and i'm sure any aspiring programmer would benefit a read too!

Thanks Bobo for linking it

[RabidFrog]

I've replaced my movement code from using polar vectors to euclidean vectors and implemented bounding rectangle aabb checking instead of circle radius checks.

its already easier to manage, feeling good about progress

i want to start getting some direct mouse control of the survivors next

[RabidFrog]

Was just asking for help with a problem i've been trying to think around, been told my methodology for handling entities is wrong 

Going to have to rethink how i structure the engine. gagh 

[RabidFrog]

Progress Update:

I'm now no longer "Engine Building" as has been my major hangup since forever. 

The whole process of building a framework for initializing the game, setting up the screen, handling fonts, handling loading of textures etc, etc has been an exersize in reinventing the wheel, I've finally found something lightweight and powerful enough to do exactly what i need (for now, lol) - OpenFrameworks

It even has a whole set of functions for vector math! :D

Starting to work on the game directly now, already have a drag/select option (mostly) working!

Will try to cobble something together and maybe try my hand at making a youtube vid for the first time over the easter weekend

[RabidFrog]

having some real progress using openFrameworks, feeling like i want to really spend some time and get stuck into it now

Next thing i want to implement is sprites instead of blocks and take a look at finishing up the control scheme (selecting units, drag selecting, targeting etc)  a lot of this works already but is currently hacked in, need to clean it up and smooth it out..

I think when that's done, i'll be able to promote it to 20%

[RabidFrog]

Quick vid of the progress so far -

[RabidFrog]

So i'm stuck in work on a boring Saturday morning, i thought i'd just talk a little bit about some of the choices I've made with certain parts of the game.

Art / Sound Style
As this is my first game (actually second, but i never released my really buggy first attempt,) I'm not going to be able to garner the interest of any folk who may want to assist in any asset generation, so i'll have to resort to good ol programmer art (and i'm really bad.. lol)

That being said, my favorite computer was always the ZX Spectrum and i have a real soft spot for the art style and sounds (the 128k variant) created by the old machine.

So i'm going to style this first game in that format, sticking to the same 15 color palette but taking a little artistic license by extending the resolution (256×192) 2x and stretching the horizontal resolution to fit a 16:9 ratio, this will result in a internal resolution of 682x384 which i'll then resize to around 80% of the host resolution.  I'm also planning on applying a CRT filter at a later point when i'm adding polish to soften it up a little and hopefully add the effect of signal bleed inherent with using the old RF leads on TVs

I'm planning on keeping to certain conventions of games on the spectrum, due to its video memory arrangement there was a phenomenon all speccy fans are well aware of, attribute clash, this was because the screen was divided into 8x8 blocks which could have a single background colour, and a single foreground colour from the 15 colour palette, so when sprites moved around, the backgrounds would have to be coloured as they moved, or they would inherit the background of the block they traversed.  I'm not sure if i want to emulate this behavior, i kinda do, but maybe i'll have to give that a try in a prototype first, I've already worked out how that would work, but it has an impact on the assets and has to be decided on early in the pipeline.  I do want to keep to the constraints of the 8x8 blocks though, so my sprites will fit into multiples of those dimensions, i'll also keep to just the 2 colours per 8x8 block too.  The spectrum had no hardware rendering, so there are no sprite constraints per line or anything.

An example of these dimensions using an image from google would be something like this:



I'm aware there's not a lot to look at just yet, but i'm feeling like i'm close, and i really want to start talking more about it

[RabidFrog]

Done a first pass at some Zombie AI, going to work on adding it soon.

Also buying a new laptop expressly for developing my game, so i can try to get more time at it