Month: February 2015

STILL GOING!

Update Now for one of the last 2-3 major systems I need to write. Well I do not consider this one so hard. I need a buff/debuff system that can be applied to AI. So the slow bolt will actually slow the target. Or a sickness might make an AI explode, or a bug attack that does DPS and confuses… etc.. This is getting good…

The system design.

Combat occurs with a direct bolt hit.

Combat AI is sent the damage info and it is applied.

Then the buff manager is sent the ai hit, the attacker and the item stats used.

Slow has a – 0.5 stat for speed that is a -50% to be applied to the AI…

Apply it until it is over and restore stats.

Pretty easy…

The next system will most probably be the story delivery systems… now that is the exciting thing for me….More later

Made a fireworks show =)

!MissionEuropa2_fw

!MissionEuropa2_boom

Keyboard controls in =)!MissionEuropa2_Hi

Hit now to find out why the puff of smoke is rocketing off to the left…only when it hits an ai

Abilities in!

Here is the effect when your bolt impacts something =)…

GOING Really well!

!MissionEuropa2_BoltHit

Now the last step for both weapons and abilities tying them back into the original combat system before RAIN was integrated! .. Good stuff! I love it.. Now I can start to fly even faster that the systems are designed!

I need to add in some keyboard controls for testing first.

More later!

Simplicity

Going to Keep It Simple Stupid so the K.I.S.S. method will be I create use effects as I was going to and allow for multiple use effects on each mod of an item. One will respond to charge building a glow. One may respond by firing a bolt on fire mode. Etc… one will may do it all.. Just depends on the script. I will separate them out to individual pieces so I can mix and match them. I also want them also to scale by the level of item used and add effects as they get higher level so some scripts will just not fire below a certain level. ….. this will be awesome =)… So for example a lighting bolt will have a small glow before firing and on hit a small shock at level 1. At level 100. Upon hitting the target a bolt will also come from the ground up into the sky on hit and when firing the glow is very bright with sparks coming off of it… Good stuff! I am finally getting work time!

Planning time

I like to think out loud on the blog and plan systems here. Right now I want a more data driven design for the items and abilities. That means code that transcodes data into gameplay thus the rock solid code is safe and the easily changeable data is the path the gameplay takes. So here goes..

So the actions needed:

And the problem I have is prefabs are game objects that require more attention by the cpu then a script alone… Then again I cannot create a data driven prefab without a game object. So the decision is to store the scripts to fire off in the mods as usual however allow a list of them so things can be combined. This means a game object will not be required for each different effect. And a game object requires many things, from updates to rendering to many other calls I can reduce. So now the mods themselves will have a list of scripts to access. These scripts are like I have them now as item uses effects. They will be independent and thus the lego design I desire. IE I add a use script that upon charge will build a glow on the hand. Then a script that responds to fire and will send off a green slow bolt. Also a script that has a fire effect leaving the hand. Thus I can make several scripts and combine them for many different effects. I am still pondering this approach as I will have to live with it for the next several months… It will be the base of everything in Mission Europa 2. The big issue I have with Unity is I cannot set script data without a prefab unless I create my own database. Which might be the next item I do. The weapons effect needs to have settings that can be applied. Tomorrow I will decide the path I need to think of the route… I think I have decided settings in the weapons effects that can be applied to all. I only need a few. Color, Scale, pulse speed, etc….. that maybe the best path… anywho more later below is what is required for each weapon type.

Ballistics:

Muzzle flash

Bullet casing

Shoot effect

hit effect

applied effect

Flame Thrower:

Flame effect

hit effect

applied effect to target

Sword / dagger /mace /axe:

arc effect

hit effect

applied effect
Ability:

Start effect

Charge effects

Fire effects

applied effect

Bolt Thrower:

bolt effect

fire effect

applied effect

Consumable:

fire effect

applied effect

Another late night at the day job

Update;

I have to get the bolt and battle working but the system is there!

Start Charge

!MissionEuropa2_RH1_Spell

Charging =)

!MissionEuropa2_spell2

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Update:

So I finally made it to the abilities. The AI has been constructed to be like a player now. The way I want the ability to work is the same as the other items.

Player or AI triggers item use by

starting (pressing the button)

charging (holding the button)

firing (releasing the button)

ending (auto clean up after firing)

So for slow I want your right hand to be your ability hand.

You press the ability on the side of the gameplay window.

It starts a glow on your hand.

You hold for a while and it builds to a max size.

Then release it producing a bolt.

The bolt is a prefab that has a bolt script attached.

The bolt script contains the AI_Node that shot it or null

The prefabs list to attach to the base GameObject

And the item that shot it.

The bolt then travels to the target impacting. It then adds a buff/debuff of slow to the ai_nodes list of buffs/debuffs

the hit AI’s stats are then reprocessed with the buff list.

Then the player mows it down with a machine gun.. =)

Anywho that is the plan for tonight.. I hope I can get the whole system in one night…more later

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I have one project that is really really hard to complete. Hopefully within a week I will finally kiss it goodbye and send it back to the hell it came from. Anyhow I am at a stage in that project where I can finally put some M.E.2 time in. I have had VERY little time the last week and a half… So I will throw some stuff up here later about what is happening. Keep the ideas coming =-)

Kinda boring stuff today…

I am adding in some of the last touches for the AI.. I am making a system that equips the slots of the AI so I can get the stats for everything including speed. The first ability that is coming is slow.. All abilities can be used by AI also so the systems have to match the player. Good stuff anywho frozen in currently I plan on starting the ability tomorrow and once one is done the rest will take a fraction of the time. More later!

Both Projects OUT!

Update: Here the AI is shooting me =)…I now have a full grasp on RAIN and their behavior trees. Very nice I like it. I hope it scales well. Anywho more when I get time!

!MissionEuropa2_AI_RAIN_UNITY

Finally I can get back to Mission Europa after a week of hard hard day job and turned night job work… I have to pay the bills though!…

So current ME situation:

I need to get some good animations in for the affected enemies. Scary leg dragging stuff =).. The animations needed are Punch, Walk, Run, Shoot, cast spell/ability. Then I just need to add it to the behavior trees I have in RAIN already. FINALLY back at it… then after I get that in I will be finishing the rooms for level 1. I need to get abilities designed and in game. Then the story begins!… Getting close to a playable level every day. I will then move to looking at WEB based testing so everyone can play and give feedback to make the game stronger! more later….

Funny how things work

I spent 3 hours on a bug on Sunday and today in 20 minutes my AI is pretty dang good. I finally have RAIN under control and tomorrow I will move on to getting the AI behaving in the level.. This is another big step!… Good stuff.. long two weeks at work and now hopefully more time for the game. It is amazing how game development works… you can spend an afternoon stuck in one silly thing and make a step forward.. then the next thing you know your at a full sprint again… Now I am at full sprint again..

Moer tomorrow long days are over I hope!.

HAd another long day job day!

EEEK again… shipped one project stayed late sitting down at 9:30 at night for 30 – 1 hr of work argh… worst week in a long time at the day job… But I REALLY hope tomorrow to get some real work time… I am getting an hour tonight… =)

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EEEEK… I need my game work time and have not found much the last 3 days but I should ship the two projects I am working on at work very soon.

figured out a HUGE bug yesterday..

It took 4 hours to dig through all my systems to find it and as usual it turned out to be something very simple… When I put any more then one character in the game only one could shoot…. Then I tracked down that the one shooting seemed to be shooting really fast… The next discovery was all characters had all the items needed to work however on creation some were already made…aha! I found that upon item creation I was not copying the mods but all pointing to one!.. Simple fix but it took FOREVER to figure it out.. Sometimes it works that way sometimes not. Anywho tonight back at it with actual forward progress I plan on a huge work week on Mission Europa..more later!

Still a little AI stuff left

The fact that I use the cpu to do so much of making my game makes it a bit harder to use foreign APIs. However, Rain is great so far as I am starting to get most of the design patterns and adding to their forums in discussions to help others. I have the weapons systems fully functional on the AI. Now I need to tweak a few things to make the AI better at using their items. I have them checking range now and had to do some testing to find the right places to put things so far so good. The last change of the night though left the AI spinning firing into the ground so there maybe a bit more to do =P… The awesome part is this “use” system is used on ALL items. Thus once the system is done an AI can use anything while it observes the stats of the items it is carrying currently up to two!.. It can use all the weapons you can just like you can… pretty awesome =)

I love unity and am starting to love rain!.

More tomorrow…. time for Better Call Saul… and what a start to Walking dead wow!

Ok AI time

Update:

Had a few minutes to throw up a screen from last night. Here is an AI firing at me… There are issues I need to work out tonight… Then I need to get them punching and animating better. Good stuff… this is an ugly screen with no lighting etc but just getting the code together!

!MissionEuropa2_Gun

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Today I will have this part finished. I want the AI to have the option to fire the saw and punch you for a test. I already and really close and plan on buckling down this week into a big work week in the evenings. I have a camp set up in my living room so while the fam watches the boob tube I can get things accomplished. (not a big fan of tv myself beyond walking dead and better call saul… yet I still have to be doing something else or my attention darts all around.) … More later!

Got a lot done

Update: Wow got a ton done today… if every day was like today I would be done totally in 4 weeks easy… But I have to feed the family with the day job =)…

Anywho I have the weapon systems working from button press through everything down to all of the 3 mods that can make an item. Now I also have it working down to the bottom of an AI’s items it is using… NOW I have to make the system that makes a weapon from the library and places it in the hands of an AI along with dealing with making decisions of what to use and when.  Not really all that bad it is just a couple of hours of work. Then I need to get punch working. Good stuff!

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The weapons work great with a TON of flexibility and data driven design. Just wanted to post I am working 😉 more later ;
Next I need to wire in the AI to the same systems

Work weekend

Getting down to the final parts of the item use system. It starts as the player or AI use an item then it tells the item it has started to charge then the player or ai moves to the fires stage that is passed down to the item. Then when the attack is over that is passed down. The item then tells all the mods a state has changed. If the mod has a use effect at a state then it will run it. Anywho back to work!

Techie night,,,

So I have been working with unity I have two decisions. One work with prefabs with scripts attached or have a string deciding the script to work with with each item. Since the armor you wear is run without game objects the decision was made for me .. Each mod can have multiple scripts attached that respond to startup..(build your effects) Run through attack start, attack charge, attack fire, attack finish, attack restart. Thus every item in the game is not a game object thus does not get update calls automatically. I will have to have a system to rectify that. This is good as with all the items in use the overhead is tremendous. So I am working on a system to work this out…. that is tonight…. good times… and after a day at work like I had this is nirvana… 6 differen phone calls with 30 minutes of yealling and problems not caused by me needs time to recover.. .this is therapy =)…. wish this is what I did for a living on my own… the game industry is way worse then the day job =P….

More later……