tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74197716037582728582024-02-07T21:41:53.397-08:00Worlds CollideKWFL GamesAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14424593337494332735noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419771603758272858.post-40077879348271091562015-11-25T15:13:00.003-08:002015-11-25T15:13:37.775-08:00Good Morning, <div>
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It's been awhile since I've posted anything but work has still been progressing, my two main focuses have been GUI for ship designer and the research system. This post I'll just do a quick summary of the ship designer changes and there will be a post later for the research GUI and it's system as there is a lot to that one :)</div>
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Here is what ship designer looked like before I started this work</div>
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Here is a mockup of possible what I'm aiming for, this is with a module selected to show the details of that module (not in-game yet):</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjHp3yYwfJ15_Q1RFr-pXM2mZ6rrg8yjqsszMGdR-g5WhtcyrhEx3LMWGKfB_b8XWPABls-KV0RIy4a4A5ny1HDrl1sgfaARKpBUksqDJq2JJfCMlRttl2a9App8ThhLpTuKO5Tf57o-Dy/s1600/ShipDesign+Example.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjHp3yYwfJ15_Q1RFr-pXM2mZ6rrg8yjqsszMGdR-g5WhtcyrhEx3LMWGKfB_b8XWPABls-KV0RIy4a4A5ny1HDrl1sgfaARKpBUksqDJq2JJfCMlRttl2a9App8ThhLpTuKO5Tf57o-Dy/s640/ShipDesign+Example.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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This might be a little overdone with the lines and extras but would like to try it in game as they all actually show some useful info at a glance but they might be removed if it appears too much. </div>
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Some of the main changes are adding backgrounds for the stats which I think really help and grouping the stats by type (Movement, Hull, Power, etc). I also moved the preview stats to the left which seems to work better as on some of the larger stat names it could overlap which was no good.</div>
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The hull selection list has also been updated, mainly focusing on the stats and how to display them. Now the research system adds a lot more variation to the hull options I needed to show more stats and in a useful way. I was mainly thinking if players care when the ship has 10hp or 100hp then realizing it only matters how much it compares to other hulls, i.e. "It's twice as strong as the cheaper one". So along those lines hull GUI has been changed to be bars (tooltips can still show the actual figure), these get the values by finding the highest value for each stat that any hull has that is available to the player and basically displaying it as 0-100% of the best available one.</div>
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Hopefully at a glace this will make it easier to choose what you are looking for. One thing I'll be paying attention too when testing is how it feel as tech advances and the bars actually change for hulls that haven't changed stats. For example if you get new hull for Battlecruiser that has twice the HP as your previous best design that previous design will now be half a bar (it used to show a full bar). So it should always show up to date information but it will be a dynamic comparison. I will need to see how it will feel as a player, as I can't think of information been displayed like this in other games but think it should work.</div>
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Here is a current screenshot of what I've been able to implement so far, very much a WIP and nothing final but starting to feel more developed:</div>
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I've also done a lot of work on research systems and the GUI. Halfway through it was redesigned as I began to see limitation to the initial approach, so I'll talk over that with some before and after screenshots next blog. </div>
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Happy to answer any questions or feedback in the comments.</div>
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Til next time!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14424593337494332735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419771603758272858.post-56705746838025539932015-07-15T02:18:00.000-07:002015-07-15T02:18:02.823-07:00Hi All,<br />
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Sorry for the lack of information lately I've been having a little break for dev work and had a Hawaiian holiday during that :). I was finding it hard to be motiviated for dev work outside of my full time IT job but every time I went to play a 4x game I just find myself thinking about what it do\don't like and would add or avoid in my game...<br />
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One thing that keeps bugging me in games I'm playing are the combat mechanics, using Gal Civ III as the latest example are complete combat rounds. The fact that if you attack it's either a total loss or victory (perhaps with some loss). I'm my game its more like Civ V (not one unit per hex though) in that you can attack, do a little damage each way then wait to next turn. I like how this allows harassing or testing the enemy strength, without having to commit to a total loss if you estimated strengths wrong (or the GUI estimate isn't detailed enough). So I get a bit more motivation for mine when I keep seeing this or similar in turn based games, I just want to have some starship skirmishes! :)<br />
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On another front I've done some design work especially toward research and tech systems in the game. Current system is looking a little complicated but very dynamic and interesting... I will start adding the features and test to see if too complicated or hopefully works well.<br />
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The process might look something like this:<br />
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1. Design the customized module you want. Pick using the amount of points researched in the stats you want. i.e 3 pts dmg, 2 pts accuracy, 5 pts cost reduction, etc. These modifiers have diminishing returns shared across all stats so it will be adifferent result if you pick dmg then accuracy second compared to if accuracy is first then dmg.<br />
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2. Once design complete you order a prototype from a research corp(s). This will lock in the stats you have chosen but each corp will produce a prototype with stats chosen and also a random modifier based on corp stats (some corps could be more reliable and consistent results or others more random but have chance to produce higher quality prototype)<br />
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3. Pick the prototype you like (can discard ones that didn't work out as well) for a ship you are designing. Ships can go through the same prototyping stage allowing variation from ship builders (you could still keep all the prototypes produced to use in your fleet if you want but only mass produce one variant)<br />
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4. Now comes the interesting part... Once you have a module up to a certain modified level you can research the next tier, lets say you have fission reactor up to required level then you can research Fusion reactor based on the last (or best) completed fission module. This will inherit the improvements from the fission reactor and add it to the base stats of the fusion reactor.<br />
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4a. So here you have a choice to research the next tier module so you get the base boost offered from the next tier or continue to refine the fission reactor for small increments but those improvements will add good bonuses to the next tier fusion reactor. The base bonuses are stacking so if fission reactor has a 40% boost researched and fusion has a base of 100 it's base will be 140 and then if you research 40% for the fusion reactor you get 196 instead of just 140, which will continue to stack throughout the tiers this can accumulate to large differences in the later tiers<br />
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4b. You can always start a new branch at any time, you could even simultaneously research a high output reactor and a low cost, high reliability one, and continue these through each tier. This will very quickly provide you with 2 quite different variants from the same base module<br />
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Now Corps will always have their versions of modules and pursue their own research so first you don't always have to design the modules if a corp has one you want already. They also might have higher tech available then you would want to pay for, so you could have an expensive high tech fleet or a cheap larger one. Corps could also have their own ships for escort\defense of their property (research stations, freighters, etc) and will probably be using cutting edge tech as they don't have to pay for licensing costs for their own stuff. All this to be balanced of course with lots of trial and probably AI games to watch how easily a change give a team an advantage.<br />
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One way I plan to avoid it been to much to micromanage is by having module modifier research take a decent amount of time and not much can be done to decrease the time, research capacity will expand parallel as empires expand so more projects simultaneously not increase research speed. We don't want to be redesigning modules\ships every 10 turns... and because prototypes will cost a decent amount it's not economical to research a new prototype every tech that you complete.<br />
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I'll leave it there so this post doesn't get any bigger, it's a bit of a brain dump so if I missed explaining a critical point just ask and I'll hopefully explain it, once I have the framework in I'll try to provide some screenshots to show it better hopefully :)<br />
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Thanks,<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14424593337494332735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419771603758272858.post-88930992431470173132015-04-07T00:15:00.001-07:002015-04-07T00:31:46.597-07:00I've uploaded another <a href="http://www.indiedb.com/games/worlds-collide/downloads">demo version</a> v0.091 (once moderator approved in IndieDB) with fixes and some more useful AI for anyone interested. I've also done a video blog as a test to see how it goes and if it helps explain where I'm up to and what I have planned better then just a blog post.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xmDUtbWDjio/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="256" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xmDUtbWDjio?feature=player_embedded" width="480"></iframe></div>
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And Part 2 as I crashed the game (fixed now) during recording... lol<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/02CnsBo7g74/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="256" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/02CnsBo7g74?feature=player_embedded" width="480"></iframe></div>
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Don't hesitate to offer any suggestions or feedback on the format, also if you would like a video blog detailing parts of the game you specifically want to know about just let me know!<br />
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Thanks,<br />
PaulAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14424593337494332735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419771603758272858.post-47221512020347066642015-02-17T14:32:00.001-08:002015-02-17T14:54:10.584-08:00Hi Everyone,<br />
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Got another preview release for anyone who is willing to try it out. Added piles of stuff since my first demo including: Ship Design, Sounds, Damage, Research, Etc though some at a very early state.<br />
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If you want to provide any feedback on the general feel, would love to hear a general Pros\Cons summary or even just 3 points below:<br />
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* The first annoying\incomplete thing you noticed<br />
* After playing a bit the most noticeable\incomplete thing you found<br />
* First or biggest bug you find<br />
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<a href="http://www.indiedb.com/games/worlds-collide/downloads/worlds-collide-v0089">http://www.indiedb.com/games/worlds-collide/downloads/worlds-collide-v0089</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZKamoGsWCMUOWqNQAJ3hqIKR-0AWo2kC6mVpv-vIaDfjYWUP7miUwM0oOi3H5HdoEaU5IJO_jeYdtwKiQ5ob3lslmupT766cio0b_hmc_FAX9N-vkHM2ltWoYcxFLO8hrv1rDma1w0fKb/s1600/screenshot_20150202+-+20.46.26.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZKamoGsWCMUOWqNQAJ3hqIKR-0AWo2kC6mVpv-vIaDfjYWUP7miUwM0oOi3H5HdoEaU5IJO_jeYdtwKiQ5ob3lslmupT766cio0b_hmc_FAX9N-vkHM2ltWoYcxFLO8hrv1rDma1w0fKb/s1600/screenshot_20150202+-+20.46.26.png" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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I hope this release will convey a little more of the feel of the game I'm aiming for even though still very incomplete.<br />
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-PaulAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14424593337494332735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419771603758272858.post-16965146708461916652014-11-19T20:05:00.001-08:002014-11-19T20:08:53.607-08:00It's time for another update this one I will detail some background data structure changes I've been working on and why. Also I've done a first pass on textures for a station and the freighter.<br />
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I've also updated the module status GUI details too, still unlikely to be final but better than just plain text:<br />
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Most of my recent focus has been to get shipyards implemented. To do this I've had to restructure some the custom objects I was and adjust the way the were linking to each other too. This really highlighted to me why programmers often do data design first and will layout all the data they want and how it will link with other data. I think it would save quite a bit of work if you get it close to right first time... oh well I'm still learning :)<br />
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Now I might get a little technical in data structure terms but read-on if you're interested!<br />
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This first involved the 'Ship' type, originally just had the single 'ship' object and that was working well but as I planned how stations were going to work I realised it's going to work a lot better if a create a parent object type called 'unit' then 'ship' and 'station' will be a subtype of this. the unit object would manage selection, scaling, combat, etc as these actions are shared with ships and stations. Ships have unique functions for movement, internal damage (may change later), designs, etc. Where as stations can have sectors for research and shipyards (can add production stations later too if I decided to), constructions and has a different base type for design\stats. I've completed most of this work now and have the base station type working correctly ready for expanding the functions for stations!<br />
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The other structure change was the 'Market' object. Previously this was linked to the planet object as each colonized planet would have a market. however I now wanted markets for shipyards so construction materials can be delivered with my current trade logic and orders can be placed etc. Again this involved changing a lot of the way markets were linked and created. Now Markets are just linked to the grid directly as anything on grid can can share a market if it exists (don't want to have inter-grid trading as that is been to fiddly). I'll even create a market on grid for consturcion of ordered stations, probably a limited market so corps don't start placing random orders for items in open space, but it will use freighters to deliver station parts to the construction site without having to change much of the trade logic.<br />
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Next I'll be working on the GUI, orders and building functions for shipyards. this might be a time to revisit my ordering GUI as I want the planet and shipyard order menus to be the same and current planet one I don't think is very user-friendly. This probably goes same for the market menu, I'll have them shared and current version really needs some work to be more useful.<br />
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I've also done some adjustments to galaxy generation keeping planets a bit closer to their parent star and changed the lighting\brightness to reflect this. There has also been plenty of little additions or balances I've done as I've noticed them :)<br />
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Now on to ships and texturing... one of my least skilled jobs but still learn some tricks as a I go. though I'd say if I get anywhere with this project a texture artist\modeller is probably the first outside help I'd jump at. Here is first pass at the freighter I was doing and WIP for the station. So neither textures are finished but at least it now looks better than no textures at all.<br />
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These were taken in editor so don't show specular maps or proper lighting.<br />
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As alway happy to hear any comments, queries or feedback anyone may have to offer?<br />
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-PaulAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14424593337494332735noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419771603758272858.post-48180278386757246502014-09-08T15:58:00.001-07:002014-09-08T15:58:43.538-07:00Hey Guys,<br />
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Just an quick update, I've still been progressing well on this and am getting a little excited at times with how it is looking if I do say so myself :) I've been working on the research system, including the GUI (still programmer graphics), some early resource and trade balancing. I still have to implement some of the research options so they actually effect the stat you researched, some are working as planned though.<br />
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I've also added a basic 'next unit' cycle, so when you finish moving something it will select and focus the next available ship to move. Adding this makes it start to feel much more like a game and less tech demo-y! It's amazing how even quite simple things to add make it feel so much more playable.<br />
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I plan to release another public build in the near future but I won't promise an ETA just yet as I'll probably just get distracted adding more and not meet it anyway ;) I could get back to updating the changelog on the blog but not sure if it was worth doing? Happy to hear any feedback or questions from anyone or if a few people would really like another build I could focus on that?<br />
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Token screenshot of the current research screen, mainly to show what you can do, not the awesome GUI I have in place...<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14424593337494332735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419771603758272858.post-49317033982137495662014-07-21T04:51:00.000-07:002014-07-21T04:51:05.262-07:00Hi all, I had been holding off from a blog hoping to have a new demo release to go with it but time seems to be dragging on and I keep working on other things but not always fixing the base playability or stability just yet... oh well.<br />
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Overall I've added quite a bit since my last blog, including but not limited to: Missiles, post processing effects, turrets, sound effects, started research mechanics, module sizing, mixed planet population races, ship crew race, planet habitability (temp, gravity, atmosphere, etc)... so I've haven't been idle with it. I did quite a few fixes and performance increases too, though probably added a few things that need fixing in the mix there too :)<br />
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Here is a quick example of the post processing effect, this hasn't been tweaked at all for stars it looks way better but a bit strong on the ships a planets probably but cool to know what can happen at least<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaUD_rlUp1rAsfeY73sRKSMh5sr61ijPKm9s4uZWh5D03K-wQv5nTiLFt_vEkmY_EaV2OtdaMO-bi3hG2XipQ8VQd11x01P3ESjBwA1NPYZwLEAYkN36iThnOxqweGbx3z58iap31uwkwW/s1600/screenshot_20140721+-+21.12.49.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaUD_rlUp1rAsfeY73sRKSMh5sr61ijPKm9s4uZWh5D03K-wQv5nTiLFt_vEkmY_EaV2OtdaMO-bi3hG2XipQ8VQd11x01P3ESjBwA1NPYZwLEAYkN36iThnOxqweGbx3z58iap31uwkwW/s1600/screenshot_20140721+-+21.12.49.png" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Here is what it looked like without:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1iTvdm-lkNrBN_2X_v5a5mPvgvTwne7gMRqOIoS1BT17dIDUHGySNg07vrb-ijhYQ3mgP24hdv8L8zVMbmsFLgNRsrvs_0vENpKmqeykFe2lxkS-zUaO8zYWEWwZUS_G77wg_A5ykdEd0/s1600/screenshot_20140721+-+21.30.34.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1iTvdm-lkNrBN_2X_v5a5mPvgvTwne7gMRqOIoS1BT17dIDUHGySNg07vrb-ijhYQ3mgP24hdv8L8zVMbmsFLgNRsrvs_0vENpKmqeykFe2lxkS-zUaO8zYWEWwZUS_G77wg_A5ykdEd0/s1600/screenshot_20140721+-+21.30.34.png" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Below is what some of the combat can look like now, certainly a lot better than what I start, might do a video later, as it looks better in motion:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlzQ1uEg_6-S__XOxZV446D6u-Ce3fsY4buMl-fk9kZeGad-k98vrl0n1WXOldxwYZ4Ab2MeAdpAehJqzBrWuIebfqzC0QiWK5u9EQCbtdYNYDXc3bcN2KWi-YKW9eAcIrrcclw9ZYwjbs/s1600/screenshot_20140721+-+21.16.20.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlzQ1uEg_6-S__XOxZV446D6u-Ce3fsY4buMl-fk9kZeGad-k98vrl0n1WXOldxwYZ4Ab2MeAdpAehJqzBrWuIebfqzC0QiWK5u9EQCbtdYNYDXc3bcN2KWi-YKW9eAcIrrcclw9ZYwjbs/s1600/screenshot_20140721+-+21.16.20.png" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
And here is another example of missiles but also showing what I hope to do with research, though a lot prettier GUI of course! Basically you choose individual stats to research but each level has diminishing returns but is infinite though going too far wouldn't be worth it. Technically this way can't run out of things to research, also other stats for the same module still get a diminished return so you don't just automatically choose the first 5 level for each stat until it isn't worth the effort anymore you have to choose whats most useful and go for that first.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpqgB0S6eNiHzkJfeFJdT6jkqZELkdoz9JNqqKv3VuyMH6SGwdxjVkpC56dbyQsq_1_BUl6JmxIv899r9rddxYb1p00SVz4bFZdYCvKkmHfkpdM2LoefpoDhIrzHaZaMBawuVekdIj9KmD/s1600/screenshot_20140721+-+21.14.21.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpqgB0S6eNiHzkJfeFJdT6jkqZELkdoz9JNqqKv3VuyMH6SGwdxjVkpC56dbyQsq_1_BUl6JmxIv899r9rddxYb1p00SVz4bFZdYCvKkmHfkpdM2LoefpoDhIrzHaZaMBawuVekdIj9KmD/s1600/screenshot_20140721+-+21.14.21.png" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Each stat can have a different return so if damage would usually be the best thing to research you can decrease the value of research to make it more of a choice between other stats, Also you wouldn't have all stats available for research with each module but just the most useful ones for that module type, this is all just specified in the techs themselves (I don't want to have 10 choices and really you'd only even pick 3-4 of them)<br />
<br />
This is still early stages, but to progress in the the tree itself for new module types, you can have prereqs and what level that prereq must be on, i.e. totally made up but say you want to the 'super mega blaster' you need to research 'mega blaster' MK X first (9 levels of any mega blaster stat) and also could have another prerequisite of "weapon theory" lvl 5 as well. After you have the Super mega blaster you can still continue to research 'mega blaster' if it is still in use and you want to improve it more.<br />
<br />
This is all subject to change and testing\balancing of course but is what i'd like in it, would be great to add some tech randomization too but need to do it properly if at all so not planning that feature yet. I'd be happy to explain any more details I may have left out if anyone has questions?<br />
<br />
Thanks,<br />
PaulAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14424593337494332735noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419771603758272858.post-2568184677676909682014-04-03T20:48:00.001-07:002014-04-04T15:53:28.814-07:00<span style="background-color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif, Tahoma, Arial, Verdana; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Just noticed with the ship design changes I've put in that ships costs have gone up and caused an issues with corps not been able to afford to build the basic combat ships for you. I've created a quick fix to allow corps to actually build the ships you request, also added WASD + arrow key camera control as well. Just copy over the old .exe file</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif, Tahoma, Arial, Verdana; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif, Tahoma, Arial, Verdana; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif, Tahoma, Arial, Verdana;"><a href="http://www.sendspace.com/file/xtlsv4">http://www.sendspace.com/file/xtlsv4</a></span></span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14424593337494332735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419771603758272858.post-59984257889449818592014-03-23T02:08:00.002-07:002014-03-23T02:08:27.475-07:00<br />
Hi All,<br />
<br />
It's been quite awhile since an update so I thought I'd put up a new in-development version to download instead of trying to remember all the changes I've added since last version. this is very much a dev version without any polish, little testing and most features still incomplete if there are there at all, use at your own risk ;)<br />
<br />
hopefully this will still give you an idea of what I am aiming for and a little bit of the feel of the game. Happy to hear any feedback or questions you may have with the current version and the design of it.<br />
<br />
Enjoy!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sendspace.com/file/8zxp6g">http://www.sendspace.com/file/8zxp6g</a>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14424593337494332735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419771603758272858.post-34784138496690793122013-12-14T19:22:00.002-08:002013-12-14T19:29:56.021-08:00<div id="" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif, Tahoma, Arial, Verdana;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Hi,</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif, Tahoma, Arial, Verdana;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif, Tahoma, Arial, Verdana;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">I've still been spending a decent amount of time continuing the game. Lately I've been working on ship and module damage and starting work on the effects associated with it (added turrets while I was at it!). I'm got a short clip showing the early test of taking damage and the effects applied to the ships (super early version, very basic explosions for now) </span></span></div>
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/HHikMKNKnkE" width="420"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif, Tahoma, Arial, Verdana;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Still have a bug that I am still trying to find the cause that you might notice near the end of that. Otherwise I'm slowly getting the details in that I've been planning. Still have the basic shaders and effect for the ships but this is just for testing, it's still a 4X game and you never zoom in that close to the ships.
<br />
<br />
I plan to work a bit more on the ship design screen and interior views then add another ship size with equivalent weapons for it then should be able to release another public test to get some feedback!<br />
<br />
Any feedback or queries welcome :)<br />
Thanks, </span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14424593337494332735noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419771603758272858.post-83229527670120831662013-10-19T05:18:00.002-07:002013-10-19T05:18:23.723-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Hi All,</div>
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<br /></div>
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Just a quick update, I've been expanding on the ship designer at the moment, I have placeholder meshes for loading for internal modules (which will also have collision meshing for weapons that penetrate through the armor\hull when hit). These load with a mesh based collision footprint (doesn't have to just be a square, any mesh shape with work) for positioning and overlapping checks. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Loading, saving and modifying designs is in and all working now, I think next I'm going to start work on the internal damage simulation so you can see internal damage and even weapons pass right through if they have high penetration stats and the ship is already damaged, etc.</div>
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Below is an in-game early screenshot (plenty will change still I'm sure) the render window. I also plan to be able leave it open (resize it if you wish) to show current combat and weapons as selected ship takes hits during combat if you want.</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Once I get the internal combat damage showing and working I might release another public test release if anyone wants to test it out. I have plenty of graphic improvements I know how to do and will do sometime soon, like shadows, lightning, normal mapping, glow, HDR, real ship internals, real module models, etc </div>
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I would be glad to hear any suggestions\feedback?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvTQ0rmsiGhH-wy4yqjSG8g3wXgf67WDiINZHfXPvxFZsPRSSF7N5fMErHKS5NMdJuops6dkdVvghNI_PyapA_SfzmEQJe6LwLyFplKY6FBaq5lZlSZo2sHvwRAFVqorT1e6RQWkXEg5Rl/s1600/screenshot_20131019+-+21.50.14.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvTQ0rmsiGhH-wy4yqjSG8g3wXgf67WDiINZHfXPvxFZsPRSSF7N5fMErHKS5NMdJuops6dkdVvghNI_PyapA_SfzmEQJe6LwLyFplKY6FBaq5lZlSZo2sHvwRAFVqorT1e6RQWkXEg5Rl/s320/screenshot_20131019+-+21.50.14.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div>
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<div>
FYI, I'm off to Hong Kong for 2 weeks for holidays so don't expect to see any updates here but I will have a few days after to play with this before I'm back to work :)</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14424593337494332735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419771603758272858.post-86648168349172829472013-09-30T22:43:00.002-07:002013-09-30T22:43:49.645-07:00I've been working a bit on the GUI preview details, this will show details about the grid your mouse is hovering over while you have a ship selected. It will show details such as the default order if you right click, how much cap you should have once you arrive if moving, what damage you can deal and chance to hit percent of each weapon, this takes into account cap once you arrive and stats of your ships and the hostile ones as shown in the early GUI below:<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe7r1n7N8XgDrfYWOg2KtL0hel-5l1ekhbMsV1tvYI5xbx-JFhB7Zr0yCfA6KPAU8w_ScqUYMx5H2dT4xcZFlBACOjjpZ-qkiDyK95Z7-1DkaBDfFoZvIebyRWL8JLpAZ_rgmglDE4HlCS/s1600/screenshot_20131001+-+15.22.35.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe7r1n7N8XgDrfYWOg2KtL0hel-5l1ekhbMsV1tvYI5xbx-JFhB7Zr0yCfA6KPAU8w_ScqUYMx5H2dT4xcZFlBACOjjpZ-qkiDyK95Z7-1DkaBDfFoZvIebyRWL8JLpAZ_rgmglDE4HlCS/s320/screenshot_20131001+-+15.22.35.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
The other current progress has been on ship design, I've decided to go full module layout\design with an internal grid. Below is the start of it which mainly has been getting preview windows working that render available hulls and rotate when mouse over. Grid positioning has been setup too which is loaded from an image to represent available grids. I will add background textures to make it a little more like a control window but it isn't going to take up fullscreen because I really want all GUI screens to still allow access to the main window (albeit a smaller space on the side or something) incase you want to check something in game when you're deciding on ship design options.<br />
<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicnJqSwgL3cfQK_5i77-lLHu4w04PSwnxA8fIpE6DR62TKHGH5MuKOpJYNCGpzgSGztkVFO9tMEE_qETp-jHqP8Ldjxdk5WFWKXUFfAoqf196c1-dgyMoX0LJ4KZ_HZrv-Tu60SKl7wY1-/s1600/screenshot_20131001+-+15.14.39.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicnJqSwgL3cfQK_5i77-lLHu4w04PSwnxA8fIpE6DR62TKHGH5MuKOpJYNCGpzgSGztkVFO9tMEE_qETp-jHqP8Ldjxdk5WFWKXUFfAoqf196c1-dgyMoX0LJ4KZ_HZrv-Tu60SKl7wY1-/s320/screenshot_20131001+-+15.14.39.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The grid will be rendered with a textured model of the ship internals, plus sides to tie it in better (looks like the ingame ship with the roof off). Probably won't render green but this is just for testing at the moment, I'll also have fixed grid positions for certain ship types to represent specialized ships that need to be designed around their specialization. For example colony ships need a colony ship hull because much of the systems are integrated into the hull. From a gameplay point of view this is mainly so I don't have to penalize or add some other stats to stop players using colony ships for combat because they have more internal space (easier to balance from my point of view).<br />
<br />
This is just the current plans for modular design and specialized equipment and will be optional for user created mods if desired.<br />
<br />
As always would be glad to hear any feedback or questions you have.<br />
<br />
Thanks,<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14424593337494332735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419771603758272858.post-2783610358169344312013-08-27T04:39:00.001-07:002013-10-09T20:12:59.516-07:00I've got a basic tech demo\pre-alpha release I'm making available for anyone who wants to see current development progress. I hasn't been thoroughly tested or polished even as a tech demo so be warned! Let me know if you have any issues running it or any initial feedback you might have.<br />
<br />
There is a massive list of changes\fixes and polish I already have in my head but unless I'm getting overwhelmed with feedback I would be happy to hear what stood out the most (a bug, polish or best feature so far)<br />
<br />
Here are the most standout issues I know:<br />
- No Sound<br />
- GUI Clarity not even close to finalized<br />
- Turn optimization (sometimes will lock during turn processing)<br />
- Everything AI related<br />
- Balancing in any way<br />
- No ship designing<br />
- Etc...<br />
<br />
I decided just to go completely public for now because I don't expect too much interest immediately and I couldn't be bother working out who will test and provide useful feedback<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.sendspace.com/file/0zqbjb">Download</a> (Includes Patch now, only need the patch if you downloaded the "Project.zip")<br />
<br />
<br />
Edit:<br />
Patch is up for anyone who noticed they couldn't change resolution or the market tabs didn't select:<br />
<a href="https://skydrive.live.com/embed?cid=BB146AC66E329400&resid=BB146AC66E329400%215671&authkey=AA8pLt1Fs1k-YTE">GUI Patch</a> (Extract into the same directory)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14424593337494332735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419771603758272858.post-10918700190651455942013-08-22T04:46:00.000-07:002013-08-22T04:46:15.181-07:00Here is a first pass of the new freighter mesh I've been working on. It has a texture mapped but I still need to make the texture. I was doing the freighter mesh now so ingame you can visually see if a freighter is empty, under half full or full according to how many containers it has, this will be scalable so larger freighters carry more containers and it will only have containers for the percent of how full it is.<br />
<br />
I also thought I will do this now so I can release it as a tech demo when I want. Before it was a mesh from EVE Online and I don't know if anyone would care but technically might get in trouble for that and I needed the mesh eventually anyway.<br />
<br />
<br />
This is a render from my graphics test program (includes basic effects as they would work in-game and shaders currently implemented)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuoJRpxDje8zdSailbIcRjeB8YZbU-p2-jWtRBWNmlXk4896fS86EP7FurFMrWQhnac9iW7kw4E5xozrw3sd2rCbbp6imHZZ5jBY64ZOgpqZqetZvhCLD-VYc6iV_Q9lto1mN8yX9K8iq7/s1600/Freighter.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuoJRpxDje8zdSailbIcRjeB8YZbU-p2-jWtRBWNmlXk4896fS86EP7FurFMrWQhnac9iW7kw4E5xozrw3sd2rCbbp6imHZZ5jBY64ZOgpqZqetZvhCLD-VYc6iV_Q9lto1mN8yX9K8iq7/s400/Freighter.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Here's it with basic cargo containers shown in 3dsMax:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBm777cTBSmye-PJxnVhgTJOlRQYf6YZpQgpwXv21S571bAqhuYdQGQszMCxXWHXIC5L_Xc5_FkeW3ZoUMgYJK2pKYepMtRVmZoCO78H58SQuAHIFKasyww-cSWqbMBDn5q6ehy_qgGe7n/s1600/FreighterMax.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBm777cTBSmye-PJxnVhgTJOlRQYf6YZpQgpwXv21S571bAqhuYdQGQszMCxXWHXIC5L_Xc5_FkeW3ZoUMgYJK2pKYepMtRVmZoCO78H58SQuAHIFKasyww-cSWqbMBDn5q6ehy_qgGe7n/s400/FreighterMax.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Its only first past mesh and haven't started on the texture yet but happy to hear any initial feedback if you have any?<br />
<br />
Thanks,Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14424593337494332735noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419771603758272858.post-26013348595356119752013-08-03T19:39:00.003-07:002013-08-04T00:10:05.536-07:00<br />
<br />
Work's been a little slow lately but still going, also been distracted a bit with the new Civ V expansion.. just for researching ideas of course... lol. I did find a simple code statistic generator that I ran on my code to see how much I've done and for anyone else who might be interested:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Files: 26</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Code lines: 25456</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Comment lines: 4839</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Classes: 217 (0 or 0.00% commented)</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Class fields: 1250 (5.76 per class, 0 or 0.00% commented)</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Class methods / functions: 1446 (6.66 per class, 14 or 0.96% commented)</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Global functions: 93 (0 or 0.00% commented)</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Global variables: 337 (0 or 0.00% commented)</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Constants: 17 (0 or 0.00% commented)</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Total items: 3360 (14 or 0.41% commented)</i></span><br />
<br />
It doesn't count commented functions\method the way I comment them so I have more then the 0% - 0.96% commented code. This is just my code and doesn't include any code for Irrlicht the renderer or the BlitzMax wrapper.<br />
<br />
I also did some work trying to get multi-threading working though it seems with BlitzMax that the built-in garbage collector isn't very fast for multi threaded programs and basically causes the programs to freeze for a second ever 2-3 seconds which isn't worth it. I might do some more research into it later when the multithreading is more obviously needed, maybe manage memory more carefully or do some manual clearing if possible. It might make it usable but at the moment the AI code is faster single threaded anyway. Probably because the GC freezes, total turn time went from 9 seconds ST to 19 seconds when MT for the same turn processing) I'm sure this will change once it's doing more of what I'll add to it.<br />
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I've added the ability for the AI to determine when to declare war on another empire. At the moment it takes into account quite a few variables such as how many wars it currently has, the history and outlook of each war and to military strength for each war and estimated strength for them all together. So it shouldn't be declaring war on a really strong empire especially when its already got other wars that aren't looking so good... etc.<br />
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I'm still going on the AI to determine when to end wars and make peace, I was working on that then realize I really need to be able to get the AI to say what it will want if another empire wants to make peace with it. Then from this you can get and AI that is at war but wants peace to get the cost (Cash, ships, planets, etc) it will be for each war it currently has then determine which empire(s) it should make\pay for peace with.<br />
<br />
So while I was working on that part of the AI I've gone back to the working on the diplomacy screen so I can initiate trades\offers with the AI and more easily debug\see how the AI will value each\trade offer. Once the player diplomacy screen is done. I'll get the AI response working correctly so then i can get back to the relationship work and hopefully get the 2 integrated with each other properly.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14424593337494332735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419771603758272858.post-88724296872294015242013-07-03T04:39:00.003-07:002013-07-03T04:39:54.599-07:00Forums upI've now added some basic forums to the site. This is in anticipation of hopefully and maybe releasing a playable test soonish to get initial feedback from a handful of users (haven't got anyone specific lined up yet but shouldn't be hard to find a couple of testers!).<br />
<br />
Of course they are also there for any discussions or asking me any questions about it.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14424593337494332735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419771603758272858.post-85728120490264039302013-06-30T03:04:00.000-07:002013-06-30T05:28:04.820-07:00Hi All,<br />
<br />
I've been doing a lot of working and planning on the GUI, especially the fixed GUI items such as Diplomacy, Fleet, etc) So far I have 4 permanent GUI buttons for Empire, Diplomacy, Fleet and Research. The empire and fleet button have 2 sub buttons each. Below is a screenshot of the planet list open. This is what I've been working at the moment including sorting and a scroll bar on the left if you can't fit all items within the specified GUI size. The GUI style and data is just a start I'm sure it's going to change before I'd consider it final...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIVbyEqSDRY9clHVozgec21_ZFlw04C7O5SwGtqp2ok7OrjBbGYIWm3foURRqwAgD5neRcZiJCZFlK-_ki0bstAoG32Jb-mx_8YH7yru8_u7DEsBxQXdfH6KUZ2js6nZTo8P1zaAhui74W/s1280/screenshot_20130628+-+22.18.16.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIVbyEqSDRY9clHVozgec21_ZFlw04C7O5SwGtqp2ok7OrjBbGYIWm3foURRqwAgD5neRcZiJCZFlK-_ki0bstAoG32Jb-mx_8YH7yru8_u7DEsBxQXdfH6KUZ2js6nZTo8P1zaAhui74W/s640/screenshot_20130628+-+22.18.16.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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One thing I really want to make sure I have is multiple options for controlling the GUI. As an example with 4x games but others as well I always get frustrated when you just want to drag and drop, multi-select or other functions that would be considered standard but hasn't been programmed in. So I will be spending as much time as I need to make using the GUI as smooth and intuitive as I can. Of course I might have a different idea as to is a good GUI compared to other people but I'll do my best and will always be looking for suggestions and improvements as it go.<br />
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At least now i have a decently functioning GUI table type\object that I can reuse for fleet management and am already using for the load\save game listing too :) I started work on this after I decided I need to expand the diplomacy more before I can start play testing thoroughly myself then detoured onto the planet listing as it's the first button down the bottom... lol.<br />
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Next I'm going to get back to the AI and how it manages relationships with other empire. I had got the basics in and working already. The peace loving AI would like an empire more for each turn it didn't do anything aggressive against it. Next I've added the option for an AI relationship to deteriorate if borders are too close and overlapping, this is variable according to how I set the AI's specific personality. So I'll get back to this and continue to add more reason's\calculations to modify relationships.<br />
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The big step will be adding the functions for the AI to evaluate declaring wars and wanting peace etc. I'm going to add overall goals for each AI personality (some can be the same of course). These will determine who it is more likely to ally with or go to war with. An example would be if the AI's goal is galactic domination it would be more likely to ally with a weaker empire or 2 to allow it to declare war on it's nearest military rival. Another example would be if the empires goal is financial domination that it would probably just be focused on strengthening its internal protection and forming alliances with any large empire to increase trade etc. others might even just want galactic peace, research, etc<br />
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I'll be happy once I get the AI overall goals in and it making decisions based on the final outcome it wants. After that I might start working on the ship design windows and functions... seems like there is still so much to do even until it's close to playable. Oh well keeps me busy for now :)<br />
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Happy to hear any suggestions or feedback on the current ideas and screenshots if you have any?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14424593337494332735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419771603758272858.post-69203657138836548652013-06-02T22:33:00.002-07:002013-06-02T22:33:58.947-07:00Hi,<br />
<br />
Just thought I'd give another quick update on what I've been working on. Recently I've added the ability to detect unknown objects far off and once they are closer you can identify what they actually are. This ties in with my plan to have sensor stacking penalties for ships on the same grid. Now if you have 3 ships on the same grid the sensor profile will be 3x as large but you still need to be as close as you would if it was just the one ship to identify it. The stacking effects of sensor signatures are in and working too now.<br />
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As shown i've got place holder '?' when its an unknown object I'll add details to the GUI when you select an unknown signature so it will show the signature size but will only show it as one signature. e.g. 300 points signature (which could be one 300 point ship or 3 x 100 point ships, etc)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikOuQh-Hq0NMTUq2IwXIF30Z-NLwg8v5V-TdNSYMR7ZonfKGhSGAxIDEmaMdH0kHcXok3HiKuhMyYydvNdgvONdNKLmuQIjpmVmbNq3FhhpaH-8DRccUY75LTq9laM5t8nHTZ2vJLA2I6w/s1600/screenshot_20130603+-+14.05.40.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikOuQh-Hq0NMTUq2IwXIF30Z-NLwg8v5V-TdNSYMR7ZonfKGhSGAxIDEmaMdH0kHcXok3HiKuhMyYydvNdgvONdNKLmuQIjpmVmbNq3FhhpaH-8DRccUY75LTq9laM5t8nHTZ2vJLA2I6w/s400/screenshot_20130603+-+14.05.40.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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What I want to do next is to determine how sensor strengths will work. Currently it is just adding up all the sensor strengths that reach the specific grid. It will have a stacking penalty for the sensor strengths but not sure exactly how I'm going to calculate this.<br />
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Ultimately how I want sensor strength to work is for you to have stacking penalties effect each extra scan that reaches the grid however these to be determined by the angle of the scan compared to the last one. So first you would check for the highest scan strength and use that as the first and main scan resolution. Next if the next highest strength is 180 degrees from the highest one you get a maximum strength of 75%, however if you are only 90 degrees from the highest scan you get say 50% strength only and if your 10 degrees you only get 5% of the strength. This would simulate sensor triangulation so the more surrounded the target is the stronger the sensor strength on it.<br />
<br />This hard part of doing it this way is that all sensor sources and the angle they are from will need to be saved for all grids and all empires\teams that have some sensor strength, this could very quickly add up in RAM usage :( as currently I'm saving the sensor strength for each grid for each empire so if I have 8 empires each grid object has 8 floats stored to measure current sensor strength.<br />
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If I have to measure and save all ships and strengths for each grid with the current method memory usage would just get out of control. I think be best way is going to be by calculating the strength each time a change happens by finding all ships within possible sensor range (Max scan range) and cycle through them to calculate actual sensor strength. The benefit of this way is its also easier to add alternate sensor types which I am planning for too (EM Signatures, Gravimetric, etc). I don't want more than 3 at the moment otherwise it just adds to much variation and choice doesn't matter as its more luck.<br />
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Redoing the sensor strength calculations shouldn't be to hard hopefully just a day or 2, but adding the direction penalties is going to be a bit harder by sorting and calculating the diminishing returns for it but still getting the highest possible combination of all strengths correctly will take some time.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14424593337494332735noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419771603758272858.post-9263595965696482952013-05-19T04:56:00.002-07:002013-05-19T04:57:08.141-07:00Hi All,<br />
<br />
I'm finally able to get back to some more programming now that work had returned to normal, no more working all week and weekends :).<br />
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Most recently I've been looking at what I can do with the GUI as I was test playing through I realized I need notifications on when ships and things are finished. So I added them as a notification that drops down on the left like the other ones I have. Then I was thinking about expanding the functionality and hopefully make it look nicer too by if the ship that was finished it on screen now it will also show a direct overlay on the screen too not just list it in the expanded button on the left.<br />
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Here is a quick example, still playing with positioning and i'm debugging the GUI Exclusion zones as the extra boxes you see drawn below. I'm going to randomize the spacing a bit more and spread the overlays around just a bit more too. the overlay item will also be a button to allow you to select the ship too.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIT6rdhyphenhyphenQWhPT9plJgEZavfdJ7MLq6EFAZ3ks4hbhfG3_K49vvJIxdbCGapQ0NJ4CbEO0IrfKEql7mikqvyPk2mo7-FkonR4vHznVm-Oq33KCV18pq8GiSoRDPRTS0oYiowLkmCCH487uQ/s1600/screenshot_20130518+-+08.22.03.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIT6rdhyphenhyphenQWhPT9plJgEZavfdJ7MLq6EFAZ3ks4hbhfG3_K49vvJIxdbCGapQ0NJ4CbEO0IrfKEql7mikqvyPk2mo7-FkonR4vHznVm-Oq33KCV18pq8GiSoRDPRTS0oYiowLkmCCH487uQ/s400/screenshot_20130518+-+08.22.03.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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I've added some animation for when the overlays appear which looks kinda cool and might do up a YouTube video of gameplay soon or if there is anything specific people would like to see.<br />
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Anyway just been doing some refining of some game options and also managed to workout how to get BlitzMax to rebuild modules now which allows me to change the Irrlicht wrapper with any improvements I want. I wish I bothered to get this working early there are so many easy additions that i wanted to do by just didn't have MinGW installed or setup correctly. hopefully this will make things just a tiny bit easier for me now :)<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14424593337494332735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419771603758272858.post-10383674645440731492013-04-07T04:48:00.004-07:002013-04-07T04:52:01.507-07:00Hi All,<br />
<br />
It's been a little while since an update so I thought I should say something, I haven't had a lot of chances lately to work on the game but still been doing what I can. Recently I've be trying to work out a bit more for galaxy creation and planet distribution especially for spiral galaxy types.<br />
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Here is an example I've got working now with moderate galaxy size and moderate star and planet density, It's still looks a bit too crowded possibly because when you zoom in stars after often only 4-5 grids away and planets from each system can overlap of be on grid away.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaTUIQ0aJfLlJJzK1CjYy-B6Y6Woe349Rg517do_eVMiju9Me53osRaqVR9hpF-3QhLx307pMHe0s9RMfWahEw15oOqdSmWZiNa_aGnkKHVy_t7Ii__GX7O1Yuvw78KjUve2fn1rCGfoNq/s1600/Moderate+Galayx.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaTUIQ0aJfLlJJzK1CjYy-B6Y6Woe349Rg517do_eVMiju9Me53osRaqVR9hpF-3QhLx307pMHe0s9RMfWahEw15oOqdSmWZiNa_aGnkKHVy_t7Ii__GX7O1Yuvw78KjUve2fn1rCGfoNq/s320/Moderate+Galayx.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here's an example of a moderate size galaxy with highest star and planet density... i think it ends up with 500 planets and 300 or so stars.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTdVSx0ZXYUMRuzai6gzlTowxJ9WzN32ozwXyDpBSUh9H-gUKxAQv-TxuSO3Qp3-e16PB_Tr_-GYeyNEfKLnUSjBgov2j0MFcbeb4GmCm3wLlglrA2U8UKpiMlrX4SQl-1d_53NPeGxXbA/s1600/Dense.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTdVSx0ZXYUMRuzai6gzlTowxJ9WzN32ozwXyDpBSUh9H-gUKxAQv-TxuSO3Qp3-e16PB_Tr_-GYeyNEfKLnUSjBgov2j0MFcbeb4GmCm3wLlglrA2U8UKpiMlrX4SQl-1d_53NPeGxXbA/s320/Dense.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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I did have a look at a max size galaxy with max planets and stars with current config. That galaxy though taking quite awhile to load also seemed to cause an issue with saving too taking forever and the save size with getting up to 200MB before I just cancelled it. Then I realized that was probably just because I disabled FOW which gives player full sensor strength on all grids and it tries to save all that. As it's just a debug feature not to worried about that for now anyway... :)<br />
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Playing with a galaxy max size runs alright on my computer just need to work out the optimal density so you don't have planets all over the place then I'll set that as moderate density setting and allow players to increase or decrease from this value as is usual for new game settings. I think what I have now for moderate density is not to bad but just need to decrease the max setting so it doesn't create quite so many planets and stars as is does now.<br />
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Once your empire gets a bit larger the corporation tradings between your planets could slow turn processing down a lot if you have that many planets. I haven't got to stress testing anything like that yet though but is something I need to keep in mind.<br />
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Anyway that's mostly what I've been doing lately. Unfortunately over the next few weeks work is going to be quite hectic which might make me less motivated to spend time on this after work. Expecially if I'm getting home late and working on the weekends coming up.. but I'll see how I go!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14424593337494332735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419771603758272858.post-78551648245352727422013-02-18T19:49:00.002-08:002013-02-18T19:49:46.336-08:00<br />
Lately I've been planning how I want to implement ship design and damaging. I'm definitely planning to ships with modules that you can add to it and vary the modules for the role you want it to have as is mostly standard for 4x games.<br />
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Other than this I've been thinking about having a floor plan for each ship and you place components down on a grid within the ship, and you can place armor plates, ammo storage, weapons, etc. Positioning will have an effect on both the efficiency for nearby modules and their vulnerability. For example perhaps if you place ammo near your weapons you can increase the reload but been closer to the edge of the ship its more likely to get hit and could cause an internal explosion.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3pXeBwyALvrAlFlGz3ruUGW02I19S3WWaEIyzHOUwxv7GyPICqWK1jhmu6sEdP5BPNbhNXd3MpmlXGk0un7-yt6bWN-Iqmx7FaPGSh1x1U9FND-_s_cxAteF_XZgUD1TcXxuiyisoO6YI/s1600/Crosssection.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3pXeBwyALvrAlFlGz3ruUGW02I19S3WWaEIyzHOUwxv7GyPICqWK1jhmu6sEdP5BPNbhNXd3MpmlXGk0un7-yt6bWN-Iqmx7FaPGSh1x1U9FND-_s_cxAteF_XZgUD1TcXxuiyisoO6YI/s320/Crosssection.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here is a basic mock up, some components could have considerations such as if capacitors are destroyed they can also damage adjacent modules to a certain radius. All modules also have a density which can stop certain weapons from penetrating further. Obviously armor would have a really high density and that's all it is, but other modules may have a certain density too and be worth position between sensitive components and the exterior.<br />
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I am already planning to have directional combat, so if you manage to land behind an enemy ship you can attack their weak side (if the enemy ship is designed that way). This combined with only one move per turn hopefully will present good tactical opportunities\decisions.<br />
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I haven't decided if this is going to be to fiddly and micro managing or will add some worthwhile depth, obviously it will involve a lot more work then if I was just using icons and a listing space available to fit modules. Once I smooth out the main game play a bit more I might make a rough working model of this and see if it's worth it.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14424593337494332735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419771603758272858.post-12628024852603206392013-02-11T03:32:00.003-08:002013-02-11T17:42:03.513-08:00<br />
It's been a little slow lately, mainly been busy with working on my car on the weekends to get it driving again, but it's back on the road now so hopefully I can do a bit more on the game :)<br />
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I did have a go to see how far I could play in my game at its current stage... It was good actually I set about a full invasion of another empire and worked on taking over all their planets and see what are the most obvious issues that need resolving first. There is a bit to do, lol.<br />
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The main things were some turns the AI could actually take 2-3 mins for a turn processing, though most other turns were complete in a few seconds at most. This is not overly surprising because I haven't yet tried to any optimization to the AI code and could been stuck in some loops that aren't needed. So some of that could be easy resolutions, but the good part although sometimes took forever it never actually froze up or got stuck in a infinite loop, so that's a positive.<br />
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I'm still having some minor issues with empire borders redrawing correctly after taking over planets, a reload of the game fixes it but I don't think it will be to hard to chase this one down and resolve.<br />
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I'll see what I can get fixed with the current build then start adding the next features. I've been thinking about what I'd like for ship design and combat effects, that might be what I start working on next!<br />
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- ThanksAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14424593337494332735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7419771603758272858.post-15939610843248708132013-01-31T03:24:00.002-08:002013-02-10T23:39:20.794-08:00Hi All,<br />
<br />
I thought I should start a blog for anyone interested in following the development of the 4X Space Strategy game I am making. I still need to think of a name for the game, though I do have a few thoughts at the moment. Might even do a poll with the current thoughts I have for the name :)<br />
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Everything I show here is very much in-development progress and subject to change (hopefully improvement!). A lot of it will be incomplete information but I enjoy reading about other indie developers and their challenges and developments so I thought I could offer progress and development information as well.<br />
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I'm always interested in hearing any feedback, queries or extra information people would like to see. I'll continue to update and post screenshots or videos here as I go or that people request.<br />
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Thanks,<br />
<br />
PaulAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14424593337494332735noreply@blogger.com0