Month: November 2011

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!

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 =)..
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