Got some good progress done. The online Map editor is coming along nicely with some new additions such as, saving to a database, generating exportable content files for integration into Torque. Still I need to do a couple things to it, mainly bulletproofing the submitted maps to make sure I don’t forget to add doors, things are sealed properly etc etc.
Month: February 2009
Mapmaking tools
Ok so pretty good weekend. I decided to have the main game dungeon created from larger macro tiles. so instead of having to come up with a super complex dungeon generator, all I’ll need to do is to have an algorithem that just connects the larger tiles together.
So Friday and Saturday morning I sat down and wrote this
It’s essentially a tile based map editor. It doesn’t have any real fun features such as checking the validity of the map or verifying that the only open tiles on the outer edge are by the designated exit area.
Spent some time Sunday getting the data exported from the page into the Torque Game Builder engine, which wasn’t hard at all. So the game now can render macro tiles. Problem is that the collisions don’t seem to be working properly.. so that’s the next task.
TED – my favorites
Been spending a good bit of time on TED.com listening to the talks, there’s just so many facinating talks on so many cool topics, that I just had to jot down some of my favorites.
David Gallo: Underwater astonishments – incredible underwater critters http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/david_gallo_shows_underwater_astonishments.html
Barry Schwartz on virtue & wisdom http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_our_loss_of_wisdom.html
Seth Godin: Sliced bread and other marketing delights http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/seth_godin_on_sliced_bread.html
JJ Abrams and the mystery box. http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/j_j_abrams_mystery_box.html
Tim Brown: The powerful link between creativity and play http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/tim_brown_on_creativity_and_play.html
Scott McCloud on understanding comics and visual narratives. http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/scott_mccloud_on_comics.html
Johnny Lee: Creating tech marvels out of a $40 Wii Remote http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/johnny_lee_demos_wii_remote_hacks.html
Jane Goodall: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jane_goodall_on_what_separates_us_from_the_apes.html
Theo Jansen: The art of creating creatures- he makes amazing kinetic sculptures. http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/theo_jansen_creates_new_creatures.html
Painting update – day 8ish
So after a nice little hiatus with the game programmy project its back to work on the behemoth that’s been hogging up the kirchen for going on a month now.
I really didn’t want to do this, which is why it probably took so long. You see, I didn’t finish the background first… and you always start in the background and make your way closer to the viewer. That way.. you don’t wind up having to paint over large swatches of the stuff you’ve already painted.
Which I did. Which sucks and isn’t a lot of fun knowing you’ve got to do something you were happy with all over again.
I actually fudged over the planet area fairly well so there’s just a couple small things that are going to need reworking.. so in all reality it could have been much worse.
So After that I started re-refining all the shade transitions on the gearwork and after I slopped a little shading on the planet guide beam thing I made up my mind to actually render out the gear works instead of the flat blue shapes.
The base color for 2 of them done and some simple shading on the smaller one and a little detail and it’s a good stopping point.
A good weekend’s worth of progress.
Made a pretty hefty chunk of progress over the weekend and last two nights.
Some behind the scenes work with putting everything in the level controlled by a manager object that keeps track of what’s going on and what to spawn next.
Off the top of my head:
- WSAD controls work.
- Money powerup (yellow dots)
- Magic powerup (blue Sigils)
- monsters drop money and score interfaces.
- New guis
- Basic fundamentals of waves are in place.
- Object thresholds are in place so (in theory) it shouldnt crash due to too many simultanious spawns.
As always this is an alpha build, play with it at yer own risk.
Graphics are primarily placeholders.. No there isn’t any sound yet.
You can download it here www.swiftthought.com/BSDDoD/BSDD0D-alpha002.zip (3.94mb)
Feedback always appreciated.
A quick preview
Ok, been working on this 3 days in the evenings.
Here’s a single level (alpha) test.
Basic controls: Move mouse, click button to shoot. Dont Die. Move with Arrow Keys.
Short sharp turn in freetime utilization
Talking a couple days away from the biggo painting.. Kinda mentally stuck on what to do with the blues..
So I’m diving head first into another side project. Which I spent the all of yesterday working on and plan on spending the evening on (after working out) to hopefully have a workable single level.
It’s all so much fun, it’s hard to pick just one project to focus on… Which, I guess, is why nothing ever gets ‘done’.
