If I only had a brain…..

Update: I needed to get a local menu system up for loading and saving. (Internet based menus and systems are great).. a little hiccup nothing to big =)…
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If I only had a brain…..Well he is getting one. I expect to have him chasing things down to do with a few hours work. =)..

The plan is a AI Job manager that will queue jobs up that the user adds or circumstances add. Then when the AI goes idle after completing a job they will grab from the queue something they can accomplish. If they fall in the line of duty then their job is returned to the queue. The jobs will be digging, patrolling, building, eating, resting, training, researching, defending, and attacking.

Working on AI.. =)

Update: So finally midnight oil time..here is the little bugger that I want to be be dong a job soon! … For some reason I find AI to be one of the easier jobs.. Maybe because I have a lot of fun with it. Anyway TO WORK I GO!

That little dude needs to get a job! =)

That is from a level I qucikly tossed together and then used the game to upload to a server (with a screen shot) and then downloaded it from the server =)… all good.. NOW AI! =)

OK tonight!

I will be working on finishing the vis-cull node. I should bang that out in 30 min. Then I will get to the AI walking around on the ground and path picking. as far as the culling I am going for a very fast check. Simply take the cis Sphere position and project it onto the cameras view at direction vector. Then take the distance from there to the sphere minus the radius of the sphere (This is perpendicular and the shortest distance from the camera at to a point on the sphere). The last step is to be sure the dot of this vector is less then the FOV of the camera plus a bias. If so then you can see it otherwise skip the vis node and all its children.

Vis nodes on my scene graph are notified to update and when told to do so they build a min max off all the children below it. Thus entire sectors are dropped from rendering with one check.

More later =)

Did not get anything done this weekend due to a new addition to the family a JEEP!

I finally ditched the 15 year old dodge dakota for a 2010 Jeep!! saved half price to a new one!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!… GET A JEEP NOW! =)

Now back to making game happen. The internet based loading and saving systems are done. My next step is to create the visibility culling system (very easy). I am just going to base it off the sectors at render time do a check to the sector and render or not =). The AI will be on a different system.

Then after that I would like to see about a Cut Scene creation system. Where you have a time line and place in the text / animate the camera / and maybe even record the audio that is then altered to a different voice… (BIG MAYBES!) .. we shall see soon -=)

Online storage done!

Moving on now!.. I need to get the level working now and the game playing.. Then I need to add in the tools to create in game cut scenes with the actual game so users can make simple cut scenes to intro their levels… (Along with the story driven offline levels)…

Good stuff! =)

Excited about being different =)

Image:

Here is a picture taken in game by a render to texture. Then grabbed from the Render Buffer and converted to a UIImage JPEG which is then cataloged and stored server side for later use =)…

Update: Got some cool stuff in. I now can dynamically download textures from the web =).. neat stuff for maybe things that change in game also. Right now it is used in the level sharing only but it is modular and compacted to be used for any shader it is attached to =)..

Update: Watched the rest of the Anime Series Claymore on netflix last night… WOW what a good series. It is not a bleach or a Naruto but the quality is astounding I have not researched it yet but I hope there is another season. Anyway I really want to integrate that “spiritual pressure” effect seen in Claymore and Bleach. Where the screen blurs down in vertical lines and a deep electronic hum plays… I think it would be awesome to get that effect a few minutes before the boss shows in the game..It would be a warning something bad is coming =) ..
I would do thi sby using my scene render texture and when it is transfered to the back buffer use a shader that every other pixel shifts down or up a certain amount… most probably a sin wave with a certain frequency. Then I would also color shift with another sin wave. I might even use a normal map to push pixels in a certain direction. Or even render a particle effect with normal map colors in another texture and use that one as the normal map.. anywho it all depends on how much power I end up with after the game is optimized =)…

Anyway radnom thought =)

I finally took a look around at the competition and am very happy with this direction. Everything (read a lot not all) these days seems like a one trick pony with some good art… IE running around shooting stuff….. and well doing more of that.. There are some very good looking games coming thanks to the unreal tech (though I wonder if it limits the games as it did me when I used it back in the console days)… I am just kinda sick of the whole run and gun games. I do like the online ones though. They still pull me in. I am really looking forward to Battlefield 3…. I think that is the killer game of the year to me. Again though I would love some games that are more than fire(buy) and forget….I wonder when plants vs zombies 2 is coming?

Anyway not much to post about the game right now still getting the online downloading and uploading systems finished… 😉

TOOLS!

Update: I need to make a texture down-loader from the web. I do not think it will be to bad (maybe an hour or two). This is so when you are picking out levels that other people have created you can see a representation of the level in front of you with the description,name, and ranking. No biggy as it is just another speed bump while also being something I can use in the future.

Update:
Upcoming thread added to Touch Arcade:
http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=107844
😉 Heading home to work!…

Update: So all I have left to get the levels back down from the server is to get the binary download working for the levels uploaded. (Should not be to hard)…;)

Wow.. man almost all the code I am writing is 100% portable between games now!.. and the tools are getting really nice. I am of the opinion 50% of dev time should be tools as they will increase productivity by several hundered percent…Right now I am inches from creating a level in game. Saving it to the web server then downloading it on another or the same device. I plan on using this to create the game. I also want to release it as a 99 cents a month gig for people that want endless levels and want to make new levels. I could add in new assets if it gets popular enough. IE add in new bad guys and weapons / environments. Who knows! For now back to the day job. More later =)…

More success =)

Here is an image taken in game in the save level process. The Name and Description of the level has already been uploaded to the server. Then a screen shot without the menus is generated from your last view (Soon you will be able to take pictures from ground level). This shot is uploaded to the server for others to see what your level looks like. After beating the level they get a chance to Rate it also. You will be able to sort by rank, newest, and user name.

Right from the server =)…

REALLY BUSY DAY! BUT CHECK IT OUT!!!!

Editing levels in its full glory! …. Now to get it loading and saving from the web!.. probably tomorrow on that one today is chocked full of life! =P.. My son just moved to first string Corner on his football team!.. he had the shut out saving diving tackle to end the game today.. o the heart loves it!..

Check out this video.. this baby is starting to look great!.. Please ignore the frame rate there is a ton of debug spew going on currently…

Back to work for a few more minutes…

A happy Saturday indeed =)

Creation UI Video.. =)

Woot:.. KD-Tree bug squashed.. it was not even there.. it was in the destroy call .. I was calling destroy node and not node and siblings … ;).. good to go!.. I will try to get a video of me editing soon -)

Shot

There!.. that is how I want the interface to work… quick ins and outs and on to playing or creating. Next up level creation!!! WEEEEEE!!!!

Here are the title screen icons…

A screen shot of the title screen icons. In the background there will be either the demon breathing barely lit, or one of each of the four enemy types idling and staring at you. Either one will have lighting lit skies as clouds roll into a red-ish sunset skyscape that is destroyed to a black base. The title cursed realms across the top behind the characters.

Click on image for a clearer shot word-press really reduces these images…
(Doom had a good idea to rename continue to resume ;))

For waht each icon is you can always refer to the TITLE menu wiki
http://ryanmitchellgames.wikispaces.com/Menus

Had to update screenshots to crete icons so I thought I would share them here =) Just some of the toys =)

Video of where I am in the ui right now.. one more night should suffice for now… I need a lot of flash still but that is for later.. I need to get levels running as I want to get this thing playable soon!…

New Menu Method! =)

I now have all the “modes” in there. I am going with a new interface method. (Shown in the video below). Basically you press a catagory button to set the current button. IE press the spell button and the available spells appear. then you press what you like and it becomes current. This same method will go for everything else. I am going to make the buttons transparent and computer display-ish and when the they scale in a flash will show and then they scale in. Thus they do not obstruct the view to much. See below =). I now am going to get a first run at the menu graphics so I am not bothered by the lack of transparency when I make the first maps this week!.. Finally!

With the icons looking like this.. they are see through.

Way to bright right now but I will fix that later with a shader mod =)

What do you all think before I get to far?

Getting in the game states.

I am placing in all the place holders for the game! =)… pretty awesome…

I updated the wiki to reflect the menu structure of the game here:
http://ryanmitchellgames.wikispaces.com/Menus

I have a Splash mode -> Title screen -> Game
-> Create

So I am creating the modes of each. Pretty quick process =)… lovely.. now watching football while I work is slowing me down a bit… thank goodness for the pauses between plays and commercials =P….

Back to work!

Got about an hour and a half today…

My son lost his football game 24 – 6…. owach!…

On the game front I now have the registration system in and VERY smooth WAY WAY better then M.E. All systems have been contained and modularized. Ready to rock.. I have to make the internet in game menus next (about an hour). Then get the serialization process to upload a level to the server. After that the download and de-serialization must occur =). Having done that a thousand times I am not worried =). I think by the end of the week I will have the imps running around digging. As a bonus I might get the first humans running around =).. After that things will get even more downhill =)… I am getting excited. There is nothing like this bad boy on the ios! =)

Have a great night.. off to Billy Bob’s to take the lady out and meet some friends =).. Got the boots on! =) course mine are more city =)

Pretty happy with the new solution….

Pretty happy with the new solution….but I had to throw out 12 hours worth of work…. argh!.. Interfaces can suck!…

My current system works great. There is a SceneGraphTextNode that when clicked on it triggers a command that if editable is turned on will spawn a textAlert window with a text field. There you can enter the text with a title pulled from the SGTE node. When done it sets the text in the node and regens it! I really like it as it focuses what you are typing then goes away. Plus a HUGE benefit is it is 95% portable to other platforms!.. I then can do some great 3D stuff with my menu that others cannot that depend on iOS UIKit (which is REALLY limited).

Off to the day job.

I am hoping for a great and productive weekend! I hope the same to you all!

Found a solution

LOL example of the ios UI lunicy

“The simplest (and most proper way) to move the text view down is to add a message

[find setMessage:@”\n”];
Also, the reason your frame isn’t taking effect is that -show sets the frame and creates the view hierarchy before starting the animation. You should also make the text view the first responder so the keyboard pops up.”

;P….So to arrange your ui you have to add carriage returns… nice.. I had to have 1 ui so I could use apples keyboard. If I go to another platform I will just replace that 1 ui object =)

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Solution reached: I am going to use my own menu displays that way I can use all the great effects I have and still have interactivity. When you have to enter text. pressing on the value to be entered and I will load the IOS keyboard and open a text entry panel. After done entering it will be updated in my menu’s text in the background. This way I can keep my games feel, have maximum portability, create great fadeing flashing animating effects, and not have to mess with Objective C!!! (my favorite bonus)… =)

Does anyone view objective C like they did Java when it came out?.. I was in school when java hit and it was near impossible to avoid it. I knew c++ and C (along with all the side scripting and high levels like pythong etc)… and saw Java as a cross platform that really was not cross platform and TERRIBLY slow as it is interpreted. Good riddance =P…. I wonder how long the Objective C thing will last.. (hopefully not long at least as a language a lot of people try to squeeze speed out of..scary thought..).. =)..

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Update: After being thoroughly upset at the UI systems in ios and how I can work them into my 3D app… I am going to just make my own menu items. I already have the click capabilities and FAR better animation capabilties. I really am just sick of wasting time trying to figure out why things are not working the way they should and the extreme amount of latency in ios coding..for example after loading a UIViewController from an XIB file you cannot just start working on it.. NO that comes later…after a latent call.. this is ALL over the palce… . Perhaps the BIGGEST driving factor for me is portability also… I am looking towards the future and all these menu systems would have to be replaced on an ios specific bases to be workable. That is a big fat NO… =)..

Here is what I am planning as far as level sharing now.

User account: Entered if not there already.
Name:
Pass:
Email: (For retrieval purposes)

Creation:
Create your level share and upload it with a name. If the name does not exist then it will upload a screen shot taken right before you started your upload, a description you write, a name, and the level data to my server.

Retrieval:
Method 1:
Log into the website and manage your favorites list. Then later in game you can just choose from your favorites list.

Method 2:
Goto your level favorites (retrieved from the server if you press refresh from server).
Then Choose get new.
Choose a spot to place it in your ten favorites.
The level is then downloaded and added to your list.
Choose a level. It will show the description and then choose play.
At any time you can rate the level 1 to 10 stars. This will help rate the levels.

This is my working doc really I will update as I create this…. I need it so I can build and test levels on the go now.. so I am completing it now. =)

Cursed Realms

Upodate:

Website and domain bought:
http://cursedrealms.com/

Database being setup to store the levels.. =).. good stuff!..

Pretty soon I and you will be able to create levels anywhere for all to play. I currently will have a 10 slot level limit as I really want there to be quality not quantity. That means you will have 10 levels to play with and change. If you want a new one trash an old one =)…

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The name has been chosen!… 😉 Cursed as each universe or Realm is colliding into each other and providing mayhem for all.. . I like the name a lot..

Here is the info on the game if you have not seen it..

http://ryanmitchellgames.wikispaces.com/

😉

Back to work.. I need to get levels saving to my cloud =)

Levels now serialize!

I am now placing in a cloud based system to store levels.. Basically I could then construct them on my ipad or iphone anywhere and not have to lug around this notebook pc. That would also allow users to share user created levels with each other.. One of my ultimate goals in making games will be to create a game where users make the world like second life. However, they are making a game instead. sharing assets and the like with some form of player based government approving items as things go. THAT is way down the road =P… For now sharing levels sounds fun!… I plan a ranking system after you play it so we can score the best levels and others can easily download them =)..

Happy labor day..

I hope you all hAd a great day off 😉

Doom is running another contest soon might want to follow him on the twitter doomfan…

I got in the 3d text object in today and expect to be moving into the level serialization the first part of the week. After I get the levels serializing or (saving). I will get to building the levels and AI up.

So hopefully pretty soon we will be looking at a playable game!

See the last post for shots of where I stand 😉

I wish I had. A clone or two to get this baby done. However this new engine should last me the rest of my life with small upgrades along the way. I am very happy with it’s modular and robust design.

Have a great day tomorrow!

Plowing forward at mach speed now!

Update Again:
I finished a very fast and memory efficient flood fill search system for AI to find jobs and tasks not to mention everything else. To test it however I have to have levels!.. So now is finally the time to start building, saving, and loading levels… I will be checking and fixing the serialization of levels now. This should not be to hard as the system was designed with this in mind from the beginning. Any-who after I get the levels serializing I expect to have an imp running around doing work soon. Things are really moving =)…

What I need for game testing and testers :
1. level one working front to back..
2. A temp menu system to get into the game with place holders…
3. The level 1 human corpse soldiers
4. The pistol weapon
5. The Rifle weapon
6. The ability to go into first person and take over minions.
7. Associate all the rooms to what they need to do.
8. Intro scenes and cut scenes for level 1…
9. LOTS of miscellaneous items for gameplay

This means after the above I am ready to get a tight crew together to make this bad boy awesome. =)….After level one game play is tweaked to awesomeness I get to extend it on to the rest of the levels which is MUCH faster then getting level 1 up and runing.

I am even considering a level sharing system where other players make a level and upload it to be rated and played by all =).. I think that would be awesome!

Back to the Day job… man without the day job I could be done easily… BUT I need to feed the family also =P….

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Update: Today I am moving forward with the AI. I need to implement a flood fill search system for the AI to do their jobs. It is pretty simple I will have a byte mirror of the game grid, a link list queue of nodes to search, and a pool of queue nodes (to prevent repeat allocations). Then when a search is asked for:
1. Clear the byte mirror to 0
2. start at the node that is asked to start at.
3. add all open children to the search queue tail.
4. run through search queue and repeat until the target is found OR no more nodes are ready.
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Here is a large shot shots in the ipad version showing where I stand right now.. BACK TO AI!!!

I want some little buggers running around in there soon!

CLICK TO MAKE BIGGER!
OR click HERE to see it on the game wiki!

Note again no art is final… as is very obvious with the edges I need to smooth. The edges on the height map have to be either matched or 0.5….=)

I also think I am going to go with shadow circles on characters.. but we shall see.. I could always make self shadowing volumes an options for later more powerful devices.. =)