Wow diablo 3 looks good!

I am probably going to go with their lighting style I like it a lot. The camera has a light centered on its look location. Then smaller lights are in the scene of course. I also need to get fog in there =)..

I am adding in the buffs system currently. As I go I am adding tools and items to make level creation much faster =).. Everything is really going quickly now and only accelerating as the engine gets stronger. I am BIG into containment of code and it is really paying off in spades now! =)..

More later =-)..
–Update:
Whole buff system in =).. LOVE THIS DESIGN!!! wow… Next I need to create a system where the user can create a patrol path for a bot. It should be pretty simple. I plan on the user pressing the patrol button. Then a menu pops up with just a done. Each place the user presses will be in order the patrol point stored to the AI. when done is pressed the AI menu pops back up =)..The AI already knows how to find a path around the dungeon. So it will then just put on its patrol brain and go point to point until it encounters an enemy or trap =)..Really moving well =)

Placing AI =)

I made some great progress last night in getting level 1 going. I still need to add a shadow blob to AI.. and I still need to do some animations on these guys. The plan is to choose the good and bad AI going into the player made level. (If you leave the good blank the user can use their own.) Then when you place an AI you then press on them. A menu then opens up where you can :
1. Delete the AI
2. Pick the AI Brain (how they will behave)
3. Add a patrol route

So I hope that will not take to long to get in tonight -=).. I also need to get some animations done. Here is a shot of me testing the placement of AI by pressing empty places in the map.

AI hungry and want BURGER!

And the new menu!.. this is the creation mode menu when you press on an AI unit. You can set its health. Its brain (this guy needs to be a rifleman) based on what species this AI is. Then set its health level. Add or remove starting buffs to the guy. Set a patrol route. I think that is all they will need for now =^)

And here is a shot from my data tree system I store all game data in. Basically a large tree of data that I can alter in real time and save out.. (VERY VALUABLE system). This is how I serialize my game worlds and graphs.

This is shows a sub-species character char_recruit =)

Finally thanksgiving over!..

Update:
Here is a shot of the new buttons. THANK YOU GIMP For being so easily coded and scripted =)..I can make a change and export all 100 or so buttons to the correctly named file almost instantly =)

Ate my time up like crazy. My goals this week are to get level one playing. I have to create a bunch of tools that will make level creation along the way =-)… I hope to post some pics as I go =)

Happy Monday yall!

Note to developers…

NEVER EVER fall out of your design patterns… ARGH I hate when I do that.. then notice a day later… =P… I have to go bak and fix up some menus that I let fall out of my design paradigm.

I have one header and class file for each menu. Commands are issued by recieveing a text string from a button when it is collided with. I let myself get out of that and had a bunch of the character selection code in the game state mechanics for that state. I hope to get it all cleaned up today. ARGH..

Recouping after weekend…

I went to my old school Texas A&M and watched a 61-7 win.. wow.. Now I need a wekend from my weekend. I will update later with where I stand when I figure it out.. 😉

Happy Monday!

Update:
I had to do a little bit of a rewrite as I got ahead of the design doc a little. I had not finished the item design for the code side.. now fixed and much more robust =-).. Soon I will be fully into making levels =)… good stuff!

Chug Chug.. so much work…so little life =)..

Having to update design doc as I go as code does not get written without that part of the doc done =).

Updated Humans:
http://ryanmitchellgames.wikispaces.com/Humans

Updated Users:
http://ryanmitchellgames.wikispaces.com/The+Users

More tonight hopefully… not much time this last few days!

New long movie =)

This movie really shows off the progress from title screen to in game creating a level. =)

This is the first time in my 15 years of game development that things have gotten this much easier as I went =)… That means I really have a GREAT design here in this engine =)… I guess 1232525141 engine design is the charm =P…

Check out the video! (There is an hd version if you switch the mode)

I will be moving on making levels for a while and the cinematic tools to really get the player involved =-)

And you know the thing I like most about Skyrim…. I do not feel like I am being led by the teeth through the game like ALL AND I MEAN ALL the games hitting consoles these days.. I get to use my brain not just tap X so my character will turn a knob or punch a guy…then go down the same hallway that EVERY player will and do the same exact thing they will in a heavily scripted very small world… this game is amazing! =). I always end the nights trying to rampage in a town… never seems to last to long =)..I am only level 10 or 11…

Heavily updating design doc as I must have it done before I do any coding =)..
http://ryanmitchellgames.wikispaces.com/The+Users

4am… love these nights…

Update: Wow..Thank God the new kdtree code works =)… happy with it also! Collision detection and response can be such a tough topic as it needs to relate to the whole engine also.. I love working on it but it really can be tough.. this time not so tough =)..I could still and need to still introduce some optimizing =) (Mainly just tree balancing) I will get to that later … first make game happen. Video of the current progress incoming =)

BTW Skyrim is THE BEST RPG EVER!… BY FAR….. Even better then system shock 2 =)… Wow..

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Can’t sleep and was thinking about the oct-tree vs bvh vs kd-tree. I still love KD-Trees and their simplicity. I think I will stick with what I had with a minor alteration. What I was doing before was when I removed a node I would also trash all its children. I was also not laying in the children totally correctly with overlap issues. So what I will do, is when I place a node in I will follow this:

3 types of structures:
1.
KD_Tree_Node:
–Splitting axis
–Splitting point
–Collision node (can be null)
–Positive Child
–Negative Child

KD_Tree_ParentPtr_List
–KD_Tree_Node
–Link List Ptr Next

3.
Collision node:
–SceneGraphModelPtr used for world min max calculations
–pointer to models world min for speed
–pointer to models world max for speed
–pointer to models world center for speed
–Link List of KD_Tree_ParentPtr_List to all parents of this node.

_On_addition_:
1. Is this nodes collision model empty?
–Yes =
—-A. Place it here as the KD_Tree_Node Collision Node
—-B. The collision model adds a parent to its link list of parents.
—-C. Done traversing this recursion as any node passing by will have to test this collision.
–No =
—-A. If it is on the positive side pass it down to the next negative node
—— GOTO pass_down_code
—-B. If it is on the negative side pass it down to the next negative node
—— GOTO pass_down_code
—-C. If it is on both sides pass it down both sides of the axis
—— GOTO _pass_down_code_ for both positive and negative

_pass_down_code_:
–If this child is null
—-YES create a new KD_Tree_Node with the correct new rotated splitting axis and its point -bias from the minimum point axis. Then follow _On_addition_(1.Yes)
—-NO child is NOT node null go back to _On_Addition_ above and recurse

Anytime a Collision node moves or is deleted:
_On_Removal_:
–1. run through link list of parents and null out their KD_TreeNode->CollisionNode
–2. return all parents link list pointers to the parent pool of empty link list pointers.
–3. Goto _On_Addition_

There all out of my head now maybe I can sleep… =)…

This removes the issue I was having of the nodes really getting into some nasty loops as child after child had to be reprocessed on moving or deleting. This method might make a pretty large tree as nodes never go away but the level of recursion should only get so deep. Along with that I could and need to add a code block that in the future (When I am streaming a level and not just loading one) I can reprocess (balance) the tree. This would occur by gathering all the collision nodes in the tree. Then clearing the tree. Then reinserting them from a shuffled or spatially separated list. Anywho I should get some more sleep I was hoping on another workout this morning.. in a few hours..

Game-play and tools!

Got a little time today =)… The map is in. However I am finally tossing out my KD-Tree collision code. It is just to troublesome with a dynamic collision system I am going to go with a BVH system. Or at least give it a go now =-)… This could take a few days or a few hours depending on what I find \=(..I do love KD-Trees though… very hard for me to make the call. But removing a node from the tree is a real DOG.. A node could have a hundred parents in the tree. So you would would have to recurse to kill all node links in the tree and all children beneath the node would have to get reprocessed so then for each new reprocessed node you have to add it to a process list. This could get into some really heavy looping which I cannot stand. So I am thinking a BVH would be better as it would be fast to lose or add nodes to the hierachy.. I may just drop to an oct tree as it is the easiest… not sure.. we shall see tonight..

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Tonight I start to build the first level completely. So as I go I will be adding any tools I see that could improve creation time or make the experience better. This period will take a week or so I bet. Some tools maybe more in depth then others. One that comes to mind is any cinematic tools.

I will try to post pics as I go =)

Trying to figure out how to do a map… there is just so little screen space on the phone..An overlay over the whole screen would kill the frame rate (Fill rate is the NUMBER ONE hurdle for these devices by a LONG shot… I think it is orders of magnitude more important then the geometry pipe, or the cpu)…I am leaning towards a button in the top right that will open the map and then you can press somewhere and go there and it closes…I could probably get a small map in there. After some research most DK maps were no larger then 64×64 actually.. and even map makers though anything bigger made bad maps.. a 64 x 64 texture would not be to bad to keep updated with the grid.

Love Skyrim…

Update: Awesome I have the game going all the way from title screen to level creation =)… I need to go through and pretty up / polish EVERYTHING.. but it is really starting to come together!

—-
Shaky cam of the current menu system =) ( I WISH THE SIMULATOR WAS FASTER! ).. Getting there ..

I will put it down during the week though =).. I need to get cursed realms done… Skyrim has really motivated me to get back to an open landscape type game after this one. That really is my favorite type of game. I am pretty sure my new engine could put out a pretty good looking world on the ios devices ;)..

For now I just need to wrap up the menus for the game. Then I will be back to creating tools for the level creation. =).. good stuff =)

Echo…echo…ec…ho…

Heeeellllooooooooo……

Yup Skyrim must have been released….I am still trying to track down a copy for my ps3… not so easy.. dang I knew I should have pre ordered…

Going to be a busy day I am a not going to get much work time. I am almost done with the menus. I have a lot of bells and whistles in there. Then finally back to making levels. I need to add a lot of tools so making levels takes very little time. I also have to add a scripting toolset. That might take some time however it will be something I take to future games also =)…

Still working on menus…

I WANT SKYRIM SO BAD! … argh… cannot take the time to play it.. lets see if I can hold out =P….

MY ultimate demise will be when we have Skyrim’s Graphics in a M.M.O.R.P.G. with the ability to build housing and shape the world… that would be VERY bad for me…;)

B.T.W. Live streaming of Skyrim here:

http://www.ign.com/videos/2011/11/10/ign-live-presents-the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim

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Polish takes time.. I am adding a swirling soul stream in the background with some other effects and shader effects to spice-up the background behind the menus.. Takes time to add eye candy =)…

I will try to post some pics of the first run soon =).. After I get the whole game together a run through will be needed to get the looks all tied together =)..

Background for the menus .. of which I am going with blue now.. so much more pleasant =)..

This is what is behind the menus =).. A soul stream is what I envisioned in a dimensional gate…

Got the new gimp scripts done last night.

ROFLMAO…

Watching Tokyo Gore Police on streaming netflix…. wow… hhaha … while working of course… wow.. never seen anything like this gore fest…

——————

Where I would like my games to be feel wise some day =)

——————————————————————————————————————-

Man gimp with its scripting system was so much better then the old photo-shop I used to use. I think the last version I had was photoshop 7 and it lasted a LONG time for me =) (to expensive to upgrade)….But being able to code in gimp is so much more powerful!..

Tonight I want to finish the character menus!..

It works like this:
Title screen -> Choose Create Level -> pic 3 character types to use -> Pick up to 3 mods per character to apply -> start level

I want to finish and get to the start level part. =). I am almost there I just have a little issue in the collision system to find =)

Blender and gimp rock!

Tonight I will be creating some scripts that could save me days of time in the future for gimp and exporting… I really am impressed by this free software it’s like it was created by game devs 🙂 I could not recommend blender or gimp more to those that want to use code and scripts. They both were the easiest for me to get into of all the major packages I have used and they both saved me about 10,000 dollars! 😉

This little scripts saves me a TON of time =)

It is a Script-fu script I tossed together to go through and export the next from last to the next from top layer. That way I can sandwich the icons in a background and foreground. Then it saves each out as the name of the layer =).. One change then I run the script and all icons are updated =).. good stuff! =)


(define (script-fu-SaveLayers image drawable)
(let* (
(filename (string-append "\\" (car (gimp-layer-get-name drawable)) ".tif"))
(newImage 0)
(newLayer 0)
(doneLoop 0)
(numlayers 0)
(layerlist 0)
(count 0)
)

;; FIRST HIDE ALL LAYERS
(set! numlayers (car (gimp-image-get-layers image)))
(set! layerlist (cadr (gimp-image-get-layers image)))
;; DUPLICATE THEN SAVE EACH LAYER BY LAYER NAME
(set! count numlayers)
;;skip first and last
(set! count (- count 1))
(while (> count 1)
(set! count (- count 1))
(gimp-layer-set-visible (aref layerlist count) 1)
(set! newImage (car (gimp-image-duplicate image)) )
(set! newLayer (car (gimp-image-merge-visible-layers newImage 2)) )
(set! filename (string-append "\\" (car (gimp-layer-get-name (aref layerlist count))) ".tif"))
(file-tiff-save2 RUN-NONINTERACTIVE newImage newLayer filename filename 1 1)
(gimp-layer-set-visible (aref layerlist count) 0)
)
)
)
(script-fu-register
"script-fu-SaveLayers" ;func name
"SaveLayers" ;menu label
"Saves all layers and names to a tif file" ;description
"Ryan Mitchell" ;author
"Ryan Mitchell" ;copyright notice
"2011" ;date created
"" ;image type that the script works on
SF-IMAGE "image" 0
SF-DRAWABLE "drawableLayer" 0
)
(script-fu-menu-register "script-fu-SaveLayers" "/Filters")


MENUS!

model previewer in =)..
Here is a video of it in use. I might leave it in for people. A fun little thing to play with. Here is the human and User.
I am amazed at the exponential speed at which mobile gaming is going.. These graphics just a few years ago these techniques were top end stuff only.. now they are in a PHONE!..

——————————-
I thought this was funny =).. I was setting up a new model viewer to inspect models in game easily.. and first run I get this.. a user.. not so happy in my iPhone =O.. looked funny =)

Click for larger =-)

lol attack of the mini users!…

—-

Man things are REALLY moving fast now! =)..

I am steadily working towards a complete and playable front ot back game. I am currently creating the “syndicate” menus. These are like the game syndicate that allow you to
1. Pick the base minion
2. Pick his upgrades for that mission.

Then I will be completing the tools to create levels to be shared. Read the last post to see how the menus are shaping up =).. I want lots of flash and eye candy this go around as that seems to be the only selling point to games these days!

1 Day until MW3.. I really do not think their multiplayer can compete with Battlefield 3 but we shall see soon! =) I LOVE BF3 =)…

Day job time. More later.

—-

Character selection menu to pick your minions you are taking into battle. You also configure their modifications here =)..

POLISHING!

Here is video on the simulator.. it runs O.K. on my beefy laptop but on my mac mini it is stupid slow… =(.. I still need to make the menu rotate in and scale out.. but that is the look I am going for. After that I will fix up the text texture itself for more contrast.. =)

Adding polish as I work my way into the game from the menus. I am adding some flash and flare to the way the menus work (while watching football!!). I will try to post some pics if I get some time.. =).. I have the menus background fuzz in and out a litte on a random + sin wave. Looking pretty good! =)..

Update:
And finally with the animations in the simulator.. I like it! =).. so easy with the current design.

Now to get the flow working and into the creator!

I really like my latest engine design.

Video of title screen first pass!

Sorry for the blur I am trying to figure out a quick way to get Dev videos done. Now that the simulator is just to damn slow to video I have to work with an iPad or phone and Vice Versa… I think phone recording iPad will be better I will try that next time =)

I really like my latest engine design as EVERYTHING is scene graph based. (even the gameplay aspects)

For example I am working on adding a lightning effect. My setup is a base scene graph struct with a pointer to each other type of node inside. Most are null and only add 128 bytes or so of overhead per node and make it a HELL of a lot easier debugging (not a problem compared to the textures and art data anyway). Then I have a scene graph node type called lightning (which is just a pointer to a struct in my main SceneGraphNode generated from my node factory). I pass it two “actors” the node recognizes the smart pointers as a model and a light. The scene graph node base’s update, render, create, and destroy function pointers all are set to the lightning’s function pointer set…Thus on the update based from the scene graph it can operate on the objects as long as the pointers are still valid…if not destroy the lightning… weeee!!! so easy! =)…

I am finishing the lighting as the day job has slowed again. =/…..

After that I will be moving forward into getting from the title screen to the creation mode. I will then need to be adding all the tools to create and script a level in engine….;)

Chug Chug Chug… keep on keeping on!

Getting fun to play with the power of the engine.. =)..

I kinda like this red hue… just testing some lighting calcs though =P..

Here with the other stuff -)

I don;t know what do yall think here is the other version with more of a yellow light.. I think I like it more..

and here is when the lightning flashes…

Day job calls Be back later =)

—————-

Alpha info:
I am a bit of a ways off so when I get close I will be dropping the message here. I really need people that will be there for the project. I had 52 participants last time and 6 people that really gave input … cannot afford that again -P.. Anyone here I would love to have as you all have been following and know so much more then the passers by =-).. I would guess 2-6 weeks away from an alpha build of the first few levels.. It all depends on the day job and family really.. =)

————————

Light in.. now lightning.. and lightning effects then BACK TO GAME!

With new beefed up logo.. still think it needs work.. but I think that will be on the final art and polish pass after we are in alpha =)..

Going to nix the banshee roar..

Alpha info:
I am a bit of a ways off so when I get close I will be dropping the message here. I really need people that will be there for the project. I had 52 participants last time and 6 people that really gave input … cannot afford that again -P.. Anyone here I would love to have as you all have been following and know so much more then the passers by =-).. I would guess 2-6 weeks away from an alpha build of the first few levels.. It all depends on the day job and family really.. =)

————————

Still not done but here is where it sits.. =).. still need lightning, light swinging, and some fru-fru in the scene… I think I need to work on the logo some more it is to weak…

Before glow (CLICK FOR LARGER SHOT AS ALWAYS)

With Glow PAss (Which I really need to work on)

————————————-

Here is where the title screen stands (a whopping 2 fps in the ipad simulator… 30 fps on the iphone or ipad..)

Still need to add the lighting flashes in the pruple sky, the light, and some grass waving in the niche between the ground and the rock wall. I also want to work on th rock wall to brighten it a bit closer and darken the roadway. The roadway texture needs to be corrected and the rock in the middle popped out more. The wooden posts also need work.. it all needs work =P… that is why I nixed the banshee splash screen… no need for it and I want this title screen to roar =)..

—–

Going to nix the banshee roar..it is always better in games and animations in general to have less but look way better then more and spend less time on each ( As was made again very evident to me in M.E. ) So I am cutting the bansheesoft intro and placing a decal at the bottom of the load screens/title.. ;).. That way I can have more time on the title screen itself =).
I want the first impression to be a big wow…and one guy did this!.. I think that could help spread the word at release time with my 0 marketing budget anything helps =P… So tonight I hope to post a title screen much farther along =)…

Also as a note: I am amazed how poorly the simulator simulates opengl ES 2.0. as my _CELL_PHONE_ runs at a rock solid 30 fps.. yet it can barely manage 5 fps at best… annoying..

Logo time!

Update: Got trapped into watchng Captain America tonight.. I liked it even if it felt a bit disjointed at times. I did get a little done I will try to get a shot up tomorrow. I added a new shader that is set-up as a color _ Alpha is specular / Normal map Alpha is Height map / Light map – Alpha is glow .. So I can use libraries of my own textures over and over. I had not needed it until now and it was a breeze to put in ;).. good stuff!..

——————

Very first attempt.. =).. long way to go but I will post my progress… I am boing to build the mine background next.. =)

I wanted to take a break from all the writing and do some art as it really is the fun part of game making to me. I started the logo last night and hopefully tonight will have it done. I plan on the game starting with a computer fuxx banshee screaming intro video like M.E.. However, it will be much more intense with the effects and pizzas shaders allow. Then the title screen will be a view looking up and out an old mine enterance into flashing clouds. On the right will be a demon looking for you. The logo will hang above from a rafter. Then a single light will be swinging showing off the per pixel lighting… good stuff.

For now the day job!.. =)