  updating teh blag! | 
Posted - 5/21/2007 10:41:11 PM | i got some stuff done today. first i figured out how to draw a textured triangle in 2d - using mdx in a c# winform app. had some kinks, but i got it.
after i got this, i figured the tilemap editor would be easier to make than the sprite editor, so i started looking at how i wanted the gui interface. i made a mockup to start with..
.. and started looking at how i'd implement each panel. controls with auto-scrollbars expect a large control surface and the last time i tried this, the app slowed down really bad when you had a large enough surface. of course, i was using winG+++ and not dx, but i still don't like the idea of enlarging the inner control just to get the scrollbars to scale how i want them.
hmm. actually, thinking about this... if i have a low-impact control like a panel and put a viewport-sized control IN that panel that moves to keep itself centered in the viewport... that saves me a whole crapload of work! i can just render to the viewport-sized control and not have to draw the whole map every time.
anyways, gotta wrap up. laters
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| 2d tilemap and sprite project! | |
Posted - 5/20/2007 3:50:41 PM | i'm starting a new project. very simple, very concise, very possible to get done. what i need to build right now is a 2d visual library that takes directx and sets it up so i can build and show a tilemap as well as sprites on the tilemap.
goal! 2d tilemap. requirements!
- single layer
- animating tiles
goal! 2d sprites. requirements!
- multidirectional
- selectable animations
basically i want a visual system for use in mdx under c# that i can use to build a zelda gameboy title. i'm not interested in mechanics, i just need something that works and isn't too slow. making it easy to use is important too. on top of the code needs, i need a tool to be able to build each of these things.
the library will require you to call the code to do the drawing with, so if you want to draw anything on top of the tilemap you can. ideally there will be a routine to sort the sprite list. you will need to call another routine to draw the sprites with as well. i want it set up so it isn't all just done for you, so you can do your own things between or over the tilemap and sprite layer, even between sprites themselves.
this is an ongoing project that i should be able to step in and out of at any time.
that is all.
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| i can see clearly now... | |
Posted - 5/15/2007 1:35:13 PM | i was thinking to myself that it wouldn't be so bad to make a 3d game, i've had the thought a couple of times. as long as it was simple and easy to use and build for, then i'm not losing right? well, i was putting alot of thought into it today and...
i have, right now, such a clear goal that it pretty much writes itself. i've played with the plush3d library in the past, so i have a good idea of how i want things set up as far as basic objects go. i've played with wings3d in the past and i really liked how you make things in it; coupling that with the knowledge that i only want to build a cube- (block-) based world, the interface for building maps becomes incredibly simple. i want sprites for most (all?) of the objects.
sure, i don't exactly have a game there. but if i write actionrpg with these new goals in mind, i've got something visual that's actually pretty exciting to build for me.. the graphics engine and mapbuilding alone makes me want to code. actually having a goal for these things is even better, because with proper effort i can take on any part of the project and work on it at any time.
i'm headin out for my exercise and when i get back hopefully i can start drawing up some plans for this.
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| .net research | 
Posted - 5/14/2007 10:26:21 PM | ok here's the score right now. allegro is looking to be out of the question atm. above and beyond the difficulty of installing the damn thing and packaging for distribution, i still haven't figured out how to use the damn p/invoke and all that threading stuff yet. what i'm looking at doing right now is building .net games in c++ and tools for the games in c#. i want to only have to write a single interface for graphics and whatnot for use in both the c++ and c# apps. the interfaces will be just wrappers for mdx, obviously. can anyone give me some urls? i don't even know where to start looking, keywords would be helpful too.. 
[edit] placidbox says "dllimport"
[edit 2] dllimport doesn't do classes apparently, so if i write a library that uses any classes, i need another way to do it. one person mentioned COM (nooooo!) and another person mentioned the CLI and that looks just as complicated. i'm starting to think benryves was right when he suggested i stick to just c#. if only more people were using it! i wouldn't be worrying about how difficult it is to get help with it...
[edit 3] i'll just stick to c# for all my needs. it can't be any worse to get help with it than allegro was!
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| unf unf unf | 
Posted - 5/14/2007 1:24:32 PM | since last i updated, i think i had my fill of castlevania and moved away from it. i've beaten (and 100%ed) dawn of sorrow and i just defeated the bald guy in portrait of ruin, so all that's really left is to defeat dracula (and 100% everything). i picked up pokemon:pearl along with my gf who picked up pokemon:diamond (she thought diamond sounded prettier) and i played it for a bit, but i'm just not in the mood for that kind of repetitive grind.
i started getting back into pokemon tcg recently too. i had jaycee play a couple of games with me just to get a feel for it, and she got right into it. she beat me 3 times in a row, and i just beat her for the first time last night. i suggested she take a few of the cards she didn't like out of her deck and replacing it with some others, and now she sees why i collect it - she was on ebay last night for a couple of hours looking for cards for herself :) i know its not magic or yugioh but its still a damn good card game, and she likes the cute pictures.
for the last week or more i've been thinking about all things related to actionRPG and picked up Zelda: Oracle of Seasons just to have something related in my hands. keeps it fresh in my mind, what i want to do and whatnot. jaycee was watching me play it on the gc and asked if i had Oracle of Ages. we fished it out and she was playing it with me while we were waiting for the laundry. (i think i've got a keeper!)
she knows enough about spriting that she could pick out the number of frames for the sword animation and various other things. she got through the first two dungeons without too much trouble, simple prodding was all it really took when she had trouble. j: "where do i go next! grrr!" m: "what was the last item you found?" j: "bombs... ohhhhhh" that's my girl. she figured out the interface fairly quickly.. i thought she might not have known to use select to switch between inventory screens, but she figured out how to save on her own. she's played enough games that i've been ok to bounce some simple ideas off her to get some (somewhat scattered) feedback.
i've always been sure that the biggest problem i've had was simply that i didn't have anyone to do this with in first person. being able to talk to someone out loud and actually have a full conversation "in real life" has always been really really good for this stuff. my buddy in university wasn't the best to do that with, he was more interested in tabletop rpgs so things always went to that no matter what i presented him with. especially difficult with him was terminology. for instance, if he was referring to a "sprite" onscreen, he'd use the word "icon". it got pretty bad sometimes just trying to figure out what he was actually trying to say.
anyways, now that i've got the new computer, i can't really play with any code until i've got the tools i know how to use. i've had vc c#/c++ express on the compy for a couple of weeks, and i grabbed the newest release of the dx sdk and installed it the night before last. i was planning on learning some basic 3d to go over my head with, and i figured i might as well just stick to what i know and worry about the more complicated stuff when there's a better reason than "but it'd look neat!".. that means i gotta grab alleg and compile it again, and then i think i'll be all set for more crappy 8bit-looking tests :)
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