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[ITS_Mike]

I've been working on separating the code out so that I can work on it easier, and I think I am finally finished   Rather than a single Main class which had everything in it, I now have CRTEffect, GameLogic, GameRenderer, Player, PostProcessingPass, RenderingSettings, RenderingUtils, SpriteObject, SpriteSystem, TileSheet, and UserInterface.

Now that I have it separated out, I'm going to be merging it with the previous engine.  This will allow me to use the CRT effect with new prototypes

[ITS_Mike]

I finally managed to merge the two engines!  I might work on the CRT effect a little more (add rounded edges and make the screen curve slightly), but this is pretty close to how I expect it will look.  And best of all, I've uploaded the prototype so that you guys can see it in action!


Playable Prototype - Click Here


Controls
Arrow Keys - Move


Please comment with suggestions, thoughts, and also what FPS the prototype was able to run at; it should stay at about 59-60 FPS ideally, but I am a bit concerned that this won't be the case for everyone.  Also, please let me know if it doesn't work at all!

Oh, and one final image before I end this devlog entry.  For comparison, this is a screenshot of the game with the CRT effect turned off:

[karlozalb]

Good CRT shader man! It's very realistic. Why vertical lines? Maybe are you simulating a 90 degrees rotated CRT TV?

BTW this is the result of my CRT shader:



Shaders rocks!

[ITS_Mike]

@karlozalb: Thanks!  The CRT is indeed rotated 90 degrees; this was done to give you more vertical room, since it is a vertical scrolling SHMUP, and is arcade accurate.  Your shader looks cool!  Shaders are an awesome invention

[ITS_Mike]

Halloween (our deadline for pre-production) is quite close now, so I've decided to make an adjustment to the game: Originally we were going to have hand-crafted levels, but it's looking like we won't have time for that.  So, I'm going to have enemies appear at random (although their type will likely not be random, since we don't want 5 boss enemies appearing on screen at the start of the game).  This should help allow us to meet the Halloween deadline and enter production.

I am currently working on implementing Box2D for collision detection.  I was thinking of doing it myself with a custom system, but then I would also have to implement spatial partitioning to make it perform decently; because there is already a good library that does this for me, namely Box2D, I've decided to use it instead.

[GroZZleR]

I ran the demo and the controls are really wonky.  If you hold down two buttons at the same time (say up and left or down and right) and release them at the same time, the plane will continue going long after you've let go.  The movement isn't smooth at all either.  Tap a button repeatedly (up or down) and you'll move in baby steps some times and huge leaps other times.  It's very inconsistent.  Definitely gotta nail the controls before anything else.

I was only getting 29 fps.

[ITS_Mike]

@GroZZleR: Thanks for the feedback!  I wasn't able to recreate the multiple button release bug unfortunately, even running it at 30 FPS.  About how long does your plane continue to move?  It's possible that it's just losing momentum; the plane does not instantly start/stop moving, and must build momentum and then drain it.  My guess is that this is also causing the "button tap" bug, since your plane gains momentum very quickly, any slight deviation in the delay between taps could cause a significant change in how far the plane moves.

[ITS_Mike]

Halloween is in only another three days, so I really need to hurry and wrap up the final pre-production prototype.  While I work on it, I will be live streaming the process to Twitch.tv   If you are interested, please stop by and say hi!  I'll be streaming 8 hours a day while I work.

Twitch.tv Live Stream

[ITS_Mike]

I was unfortunately unable to make the Halloween deadline, and the game is not even at a point where we could say "Alright, let's just use that as the pre-production prototype" since there really isn't a game yet.  However, after some discussion (and removing a lot of features) we have been given a 3 week pre-production extension.  The game will be very basic, but for us it is really important to get a game, any game, released.  We can always make a sequel with some of the cut features

Live streaming the game development process was pretty fun, and I plan on doing it some more today   If you want to tune in, click on the link below and I'll see ya there!
Twitch.tv Live Stream

[ITS_Mike]

I've been trying to get depth testing to work properly in Stage3D since last Friday, and yesterday I discovered why it wasn't working: Apparently when you render to a texture, the depth buffer that you created with the backbuffer is not used.  If you want to make use of a depth buffer, you need to specifically request it by specifying "true" for the enableDepthAndStencil parameter of flash.display3D.Context3D.setRenderToTexture().

Unfortunately, it was all for naught, since I then discovered that Stage3D does not support alpha testing.  Alpha testing allows you to discard fragments that meet a certain condition. In my case, I would need it to discard fragments that have an alpha value of 0; such fragments would be transparent portions of a sprite and should not be rendered.  If a completely transparent fragment is rendered, then it is also written into the depth buffer.  This causes the transparent portions of a sprite to obscure other things that are behind it, if those things are rendered afterwards:


I could get around this by sorting the sprites by depth before rendering, but initial tests showed that it would heavily impact performance.  Because I am already using a heavy CRT shader, I decided that it wasn't worth adding yet another sluggish feature to the engine.

If I absolutely need to specify the z-order of the sprites, I can use their index numbers; sprites are rendered from low to high, so sprites with a higher index will appear on top of sprites with a lower index.

[ITS_Mike]

I spent most of yesterday working on a different way of doing the "making of" videos for the game.  Unfortunately, the first attempt didn't really work out.  However, I have some ideas on how to improve it

I did manage to get some work done on the actual prototype though; explosions have been added, as well as a banking animation for your plane.  Respawning is also delayed now, so it's a bit less jarring when you die.

Because I might be experimenting with different recording techniques, I might not be doing a live stream today...  However, if I do, I'll mention it on Twitter, and you can also subscribe to my Twitch.tv channel to get email notifications

[ITS_Mike]

Yesterday I upgraded the clouds to use the graphics that GreyKnight drew for the original prototype.  I was shocked how much it improved the feel of the game!


I also upgraded the explosion animation to the one used by the original prototype, and added music and sound effects!  The game is starting to feel a bit more like a game now


Gamedev Livestream

I plan on live streaming the game's development from now till 5:00 PM PST, with an hour or so break in the middle somewhere.  If you want to tune in, head on over to the link down below and I'll see ya there

Twitch.tv Live Stream

[goob256]

Looking really nice in that last screenshot. It's a tiny bit hard on the eyes but I imagine that's because it's a still. With things moving your eyes are moving and you don't get that sort of "cross eyed" feeling from staring at one spot due to the scanlines.

[ITS_Mike]

@trentg: Thanks!   You can actually try out the game (although a slightly older version, but it still has scanlines) if you want, I posted a link to it in this devlog entry: Playable CRT Effect Prototype!.

[ITS_Mike]

Quick update!  I just finished getting the basics of the coins implemented, and I just had to show a screenshot of it


Next I need to make them drift down the screen, and of course make it so that you can collect them.  Collecting 100 coins will give you an extra life!

Currently on break, but the live stream should be back in about 1-2 hours

[goob256]

Ah, I didn't see that one. Yeah, works and looks well. It stays around 60 FPS most of the time but dips to 45 briefly occasionally (1.8GHz i3 with Intel HD 4000.)

EDIT: I found when I plugged in it never went below 54 FPS (usually maxed.)

[ITS_Mike]

@trentg: Thanks for testing it   It's good to know that it works decently on at least one Intel GPU; I've had some bad luck with them so far

[goob256]

Most Intel GPUs are pretty weak and can be buggy. Intel rarely if ever updates their drivers after the first release which makes it worse. I found bugs in the Intel drivers on my netbook when developing my game. It's a weird GPU (a PowerVR chip in a PC) but ya, even though I found a workaround I won't be applying it. Instead I've got both OpenGL and Direct3D backends and Direct3D works fine. So long story short, Intel GPUs are a pain!

[ITS_Mike]

Gamedev Livestream

I'll be starting up the game development livestream again   If you want to tune in, head on over to the link at the bottom of this post and say hi :D  I'll be working on adding in the coins, and I plan on live streaming from now till 5:00PM PST (with a couple hour break in the middle somewhere).

Twitch.tv Live Stream

[ITS_Mike]

Yesterday I released a new mini-episode of the Building a SHMUP series of video devlogs   This one shows off the progress I've made so far on the coins.




Gamedev Livestream

As has become somewhat regular recently, I will be live streaming the game's development over on Twitch.tv!  The link down there will take you to the livestream   Again as usual, I will be streaming from now till 5:00 PM PST with about an hour or two break in the middle.

Twitch.tv Live Stream