I’ve made a massive improvement to how the maps are actually rendered. At the minute the maps are rendered as a series of layers one on top of the other, this is so you can see the floor through a glass table for example. Problem is that the graphics have to be rendered separately in the game, effectively rendering the level multiple times, which slows it down considerably.

Today I’ve been writing a couple of functions that take these individual layers and merge them all into one. The function creates a new sprite-sheet of the combined tiles, only adding unique tiles, and spits out a new array containing the data that tells the computer which one of the new tiles to draw at each position.

I’ve made a very simple demo to show it in action. The “map” is generated randomly and the combined sprite-sheet and array are created at run-time each time the program is started. Its hard to tell because the “tiles” are so basic but trust me its happening.

There is a slight loss of quality between the original tiles and the combined ones that I need to look into but the speed gain is too much to pass up!

Lance

Worked On: 
Redesign of level class

Didn’t get home from work until 7:15pm today so only managed to get a couple of hours work done on the level class. I’ve been working on splitting the levels right down to their component parts. The aim is to have the parent level class pull in lots of smaller sub-classes which each hold their own unique data sets.

This should hopefully make the saving of level data much easier to manage as each class only has to save its own set of data. All of the saving is done via an .ini file reader/writer written by JoshK on the blitzmax.com forums (Josh is the guy behind Leadwerks (www.leadwerks.com) who offer some very powerful 3D game engines, which started life on Blitzmax! All data is saved in human-readable form (this data will all be encrypted and packed into a single file when the final build of a map is made) and can be edited/tweaked outside of the editor if necessary.

The ultimate goal is to be able to build completely self contained levels from inside the editor without the game engine needing to do anything other than load it. The ability to save not only positions but also properties of all objects in the map (from items and triggers to shadows and lighting) is a big part of that goal. So far its all going very well!

I will be developing the new structure along side the new editor, as well as incorporating the render to texture code and some other stuff I’ve been working on lately. This means the dev updates for the next few weeks/months may not follow much of a pattern but I’ll try to keep them as ordered as possible.

Lance

Thought an update was needed, so here’s a video clip showing the different layers the engine outputs to give you an idea of the many different aspects that have to be taken into consideration, this is just a graphical representation of selected areas on the map, behind all of this is thousands of lines of code!

The game engine is now done so we are hard at work on creating graphics, sounds, cut-scenes and of course puzzles and enemy boss battles!

The hard part is now done (we hope!) so now it’s just a matter of putting all these pieces together to make a playable, thought provoking and genuinely scary video game, thanks for your patience we’ll be updating on a more regular basis from now on.

Select 1080p on the video below for optimum viewing;

Our latest build for ‘Predestined’ features 3D shadows and extra sound effects depending on the floor type you’re walking on (wood, carpet, stone etc.).

This demo video has no enemies but features new enhanced sound, lighting and shadows that will look and sound awesome in the game.

Hit 720p and fullscreen on this Youtube clip to really see it in action!

Thank you to all waiting on this game, the engine is pretty much done, we are now working on implementing the story into this funky little shooter, you won’t be disappointed.

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, we both have to hold down full time jobs and this is all done in our spare time remember.

Anyway Lance has integrated a new system for particle graphical effects, check the video below and notice the new effects such as:

• The fire flies
• The flies around the light
• Leaves on the trees
• Ray-casting effect on the light
• Flowers around the light
• Slight fog effect

The game engine is now running on Direct-X 9 whereas it was running on version 7 before, much more powerful but is scaled to the users system requirements regardless.

Be sure to select 720p at the bottom of the player for ultimate quality.

Ok our new demo is online and ready to play right here.

Enhancements compared to the previous demo are:

• Updated graphics and sound
• Completely new enemy A.I. system
• New save game system implemented
• Dynamic CPU monitoring (results in lower CPU usage)
• DirectX and OpenGL modes supported
• Updated shadows
• Playable character sprite beefed up and is bigger on screen
• Melee attack (crowbar) now included (right mouse)
• Bullets now travel in real time, you no longer have to directly target one enemy, anything close will hit him and probably his buddy behind him too
• ‘Run’ button added, hit Space Bar to move faster
• Shotgun added to the arsenal, one hit kills up close, BANG!
• Circuit board puzzle is now easier
• Cut scene added
• Items that can be interacted with (Use/Take/Examine etc.) are now highlighted in red. If it’s red you can do stuff with it

Download the new demo HERE and check the download page for in-depth information.

25/04/2011 – 02/05/2011
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Well I’ve had plenty free time this week as I’ve been off work. I managed to get everything I set out to do finished, and a lot more besides!

First order of business was to complete the new AI and get it into the game. I finished off the behaviour patterns of the NPC’s pretty quickly as most of the groundwork was already in place. Once the NPC’s were working how I wanted them to I started to restructure the code to make it usable in the game.

What I ended up with is basically a long and complicated chain of types (classes) that all tie into the NPC types. I’ll admit it was a ballache to code it this way, following the chain was very confusing at times and trying to find which adjustments to make and in what type could be a nightmare.

I have a good reason for writing it like this though (or so I believe). You see the thing is, I’m more interested in the actual game than the code. I think it’s important to do all the complicated work on the engine so that I can focus purely on the creative side when I’m actually making the game. This is just a part of that and now that the hard work is done all I have to do to make a new NPC is is give it some stats (health, speed, damage etc) and a brain (the AI).

The bonus to this is that I can assign different “brains” to the same type of NPC independently. This means that in the game you will never be 100% certain how an enemy is going to react just by looking at it. Adds a nice aspect of uncertainty to the gameplay, even if there are only a few different behaviours to choose from.

I had to fiddle and tweak the code no end to get it to co-operate with the existing engine, but to be honest it wasn’t half as bad as I was expecting it to be. With the AI in and working, as far as I’m concerned the engine is complete and I can start looking towards making the rest of the game!

I sent a copy of the new version over to Shane to let him pick it apart and give me some feedback. I’m in a pretty good position to have Shane available and willing to test for me. You could fit what Shane doesn’t know about games and gaming on the back of a postage stamp (I’m convinced you can take that literally). So when someone like that gives you advice you’d do well to listen to it.

Biggest change that came from this is that you no longer have to aim directly at an enemy to shoot it. The player now fires real bullets, as it were. This was a very good move in my opinion. The combat just feels so much better now, more intuitive. The guns all still have different stats for range, accuracy and damage, and the accuracy and damage of the player is still increased by the adrenaline system, it just plays a lot differently now. Good call Shane!

I also added a run/walk button and automatic reloading of weapons (if you have ammo in your inventory). After that it was just a case of fixing a few minor bugs here and there and the game is now looking and playing much better than it was at the start of the week.

I’ve only got to redo the first cut-scene and a new demo version will be available on the site! Happy Days.

The ‘Video’ page now shows footage from our latest demo build.

This demo will replace the current one very soon and highlights enhanced enemy AI, the new melee combat, enhanced graphics and sound, a new ‘Run’ button has been added, the character auto reload’s now when gun chamber is empty and bullets now hit any enemies in the line of fire, not just ones directly targeted.

The next update you see should hopefully be the new demo build, we’re currently working on a cut-scene for when you complete the puzzle that really kicks off the story and shows you what this game is really going to be about, stay tuned.

11/04/2011 – 24/04/2011
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‘Artificial Unintelligence’ pretty much sums up my last couple of weeks work on the game. Theres not a great deal to report to be honest, I’ve been pretty busy at work, and the weather’s been superb so I haven’t had as much time for the game as I would (or should) have. I have been making progress though.

Following on from the rewrite of the inventory system I decided to tackle the last big job left to do before the engine is complete – A.I. I’m still using the same pathfinding routine – an A* algorithm heavily based on a fantastic article by Patrick Lester at http://www.policyalmanac.org/games/aStarTutorial.htm (the source code in the article was converted to Blitzmax by Jesse Perez – that was the code I used as the basis for mine).

The thing with pathfinding in games is it’s pretty easy to get one “unit” moving around a map and interacting with the player. The problem, for me at least, is getting multiple units moving around and interacting properly with each other while still sticking to their original purpose. That’s what I’ve been working on.

The beauty of games like this is that the enemies tend not to live long enough to show up any really bad faults in the A.I. For me personally though that isnt an excuse to leave flawed A.I in the game. I feel obligated to cover all possibilities and stress test the hell out of it all to make sure that players (hopefully) don’t get pulled out of the game by some stupid A.I.

With that in mind I set out to rewrite all of the stuff I wasn’t happy with. I wrote a new system for organising unit target positions for groups of enemies and wrote a sort of bredth-first search function that can be used for the more advanced aspects of the A.I (such as finding target positions that are not in the players line of sight).

I also changed the whole system to use a grid based approach instead of a pixel based approach. While this is possibly less fluid than the old method it’s much more solid, more stable. I really started to understand the grid based method while I was writing VirussS, which goes to show that it can be a good idea to go and do smaller projects sometimes, especially if you’re learning like I am.

There’s still a long way to go yet. A lot of the more advanced routines are only half finished, then I’ve got to wrap it all up so it’s usable in the game. Then I’ve got to actually integrate it with the existing code in the game! Might take a while…

Not that I’m too bothered about that though, this is a part of making games that I really enjoy. Creating personalities for the NPC’s is something I find very rewarding. That is when it works, watching a bunch of squares flail around on the screen like bees on acid isn’t exactly fun, it’s pretty disturbing in all honesty. When it all comes together though and all those little squares are running round in unison with each other, it’s definitely worth it.

As much as I enjoy it though, all of this work is really just to make the game more fun to play. I don’t want the game to be filled with yet more mindless zombies, shambling their way to the player. The enemies will be much more than that. I’m not saying it will be perfect, I’ve still got a lot to learn after all, but it will be interesting, and more likely than not pretty damn unpredictable. But how scary can a game really be if you know whats lurking around every corner?