December 18, 2009
I have made many changes since my last post, mostly in two areas, sound tracing, and NPC crystal usage.
The sound tracing is a system whereby I trace sounds from their source, through portals, towards the listener ( usually the player, but sometimes the camera ).
When the listener is in a different c…
The sound tracing is a system whereby I trace sounds from their source, through portals, towards the listener ( usually the player, but sometimes the camera ).
When the listener is in a different c…
August 30, 2009
Every time we add a new level, it exposes latent bugs in the code that didn't show up in other levels.
We are adding another area to cavecity2 ( the last area of the shareware levels ), and in it is a winding ramp. Going down this ramp caused the camera to jump around in an unusual way that didn't …
We are adding another area to cavecity2 ( the last area of the shareware levels ), and in it is a winding ramp. Going down this ramp caused the camera to jump around in an unusual way that didn't …
August 15, 2009
As I'm wrapping up the 1.2 Ancient Galaxy patch, I think back on some of the challenges I've had with the AG Engine and why it can be somewhat of a cumbersome codebase to work with - similar to other complex software systems.
A largish piece of it is the fact that so many data and logic dependencies…
A largish piece of it is the fact that so many data and logic dependencies…
July 15, 2009
Made some more AI tweaks. The AI NPCs now will investigate a suspicious sound, and track the average location of various dangerous sounds they hear over time. This is known as the 'seeking' state.
This makes them gang up on the player, sometimes way too much, so I added a quota so that only so man…
This makes them gang up on the player, sometimes way too much, so I added a quota so that only so man…
July 07, 2009
Ran some in-game profiling over the past couple of days and found sound pathing tracing taking more time than I'd like.
Ancient Galaxy has a system to trace sounds from their source through portals into other cells, and then to the listener itself. This has the effect of making sounds appear to com…
Ancient Galaxy has a system to trace sounds from their source through portals into other cells, and then to the listener itself. This has the effect of making sounds appear to com…
July 05, 2009
I'm happy to report that the re-factoring of the AI code is complete, and was a success!
Not only did I fix the main issues that I wanted to address, namely enemies and friendly NPCs occasionally getting stuck and/or lost, but the changes also fixed the Patrol state.
Patrol is where the designer has …
Not only did I fix the main issues that I wanted to address, namely enemies and friendly NPCs occasionally getting stuck and/or lost, but the changes also fixed the Patrol state.
Patrol is where the designer has …
July 02, 2009
Over the last few days I have been re-factoring the AI code in Ancient Galaxy. It was written by another programmer, and was pretty good for the initial cut of it, but I didn't really take full ownership of it and re-think it later on, and now it's gotten out of control.
The original design had a B…
The original design had a B…
June 24, 2009
This morning I made some fixes to the 'Slow Crystal', formerly known as the Pulse Crystal. This is an orange power up that lets you slow down the rate of fire, rate of reload, rate of shield regen of nearby enemies, and also shuts down their current shield.
I also made it slow down projectile sp…
June 21, 2009
In Ancient Galaxy, you have a spaceship that is used as a home base - a place to store, manufacture & analyze weapons & crystals, as well as a place to clone into an alien species.
We have been getting requests for the ability to go back to your spaceship without dying. Currently the only w…
We have been getting requests for the ability to go back to your spaceship without dying. Currently the only w…
June 17, 2009
Ok, managed to get the camera paths improved. I was using a simple method of interpolating the camera keyframes, but it failed when I made too few keyframes.
Basically, I made 3 points, one for location, one for location + facing, or for location + up vector, for each keyframe, then did Catmull-Rom…
Basically, I made 3 points, one for location, one for location + facing, or for location + up vector, for each keyframe, then did Catmull-Rom…
June 15, 2009
Based on comments to this blog, and from one of our testers, I added some camera paths to the 1st level of the game.
Camera paths are one of the features I added to the game quite a while ago, but never really exploited as much as I could have.
Camera paths are non-interactive sequences where you los…
Camera paths are one of the features I added to the game quite a while ago, but never really exploited as much as I could have.
Camera paths are non-interactive sequences where you los…
June 14, 2009
After diving into the camera code to fix the fps-independence issue, I remembered something I heard from a director on a popular animated CG movie. He suggested adding noise to the camera movement. He also suggested that doing some tricks that make it look like a real cameraman is working is even…
June 12, 2009
After checking out a preliminary promotional video, I noticed that the camera looked very stiff and unnatural, although I have camera smoothing code in the game.
After looking at the code, I realized it was probably the fact that the camera smoothing was not fps-independent and the recording was red…
After looking at the code, I realized it was probably the fact that the camera smoothing was not fps-independent and the recording was red…
June 10, 2009
Over the past few months I have been making small fixes to the game, but also doing a lot of release-related work. What is that, you ask? Well for those developers who haven't been through the process, I'll elaborate :
1) Made a fully automated asset build system. One batch file packs up all the …
1) Made a fully automated asset build system. One batch file packs up all the …
June 07, 2009
I'm proud to announce that Ancient Galaxy has been released. You can download a 3 level version here :
http://www.compositestudios.com/community/download
If you enjoy it, or just want to support independent game developers, you can register it and receive a code to unlock the other 20 levels here :…
http://www.compositestudios.com/community/download
If you enjoy it, or just want to support independent game developers, you can register it and receive a code to unlock the other 20 levels here :…
June 24, 2008
The other night as I was making fixes and running through one of the levels, I had trouble finding a certain key needed to enable the teleporter controls, allowing me to leave the level.
I was a bat clone, and was successfully sneaking through the level without being detected by keeping away from ot…
June 22, 2008
Ancient Galaxy is fun.
After spending so long fixing & tweaking, it's easy to lose sight of the fun factor after a while, but I just played through the shareware levels, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Some of the things that make it fun after playing it in one form or another for so long -
1) …
After spending so long fixing & tweaking, it's easy to lose sight of the fun factor after a while, but I just played through the shareware levels, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Some of the things that make it fun after playing it in one form or another for so long -
1) …
June 21, 2008
Ok, we are both up & running again with our pcs. I ended up getting my old pc back up without one of the two striped harddrives.
All I ended up losing were some pictures, and a couple of mp3s, not a huge deal.
We now have all of the levels lit properly using an ambient cubemap. I used to have s…
All I ended up losing were some pictures, and a couple of mp3s, not a huge deal.
We now have all of the levels lit properly using an ambient cubemap. I used to have s…
June 12, 2008
Within the same 12 hour period, both my partner and I, in separate time zones, had our main hard drives die. What are the chances?
Needless to say, we got a lesson in how to get things up & running again quickly. Luckily, most of the project was on an off-site subversion server, so the main co…
Needless to say, we got a lesson in how to get things up & running again quickly. Luckily, most of the project was on an off-site subversion server, so the main co…
June 01, 2008
OK, we figured out a good way to improve the usefulness of crystals in the game. To explain why we needed to change it, I should give some background facts about the game as a whole and the previous system.
Possibly the main Unique Selling Point of our game is that you can scan corpses of alien DNA…
Possibly the main Unique Selling Point of our game is that you can scan corpses of alien DNA…
May 30, 2008
Some more improvements :
- Fixed gunfire kick to be cumulative
- Made kick divided by burst count for burst weapons to make tuning easier
- Made submachine guns suck a bit less
- Made explosions for traps more powerful
- Worked on info displays for clones
- More fixes to corpse sliding
- Made shield disto…
- Fixed gunfire kick to be cumulative
- Made kick divided by burst count for burst weapons to make tuning easier
- Made submachine guns suck a bit less
- Made explosions for traps more powerful
- Worked on info displays for clones
- More fixes to corpse sliding
- Made shield disto…
May 28, 2008
Long time no update.
We are in late beta test right now with Ancient Galaxy.
Here are some highlights of the changes since the last update :
- Distortion shader effect for explosions & laser blasts
- Numerous AI fixes
- Fix to air control to keep player from getting where he shouldn't
- Bullet casing…
We are in late beta test right now with Ancient Galaxy.
Here are some highlights of the changes since the last update :
- Distortion shader effect for explosions & laser blasts
- Numerous AI fixes
- Fix to air control to keep player from getting where he shouldn't
- Bullet casing…
October 25, 2007
We are still tweaking & tuning the game, trying hard to release soon. We already submitted for IGF, but since they accept updates, we're hoping a new version improves our chances.
Some changes since our last update :
The player's gun always displays an aiming reticle, even when there is not a …
October 02, 2007
Well, finally the game is what could be called a late release candidate. There are some things to work out with the installer, and a few help menus that would be nice to add, and perhaps a bit of text and balance tuning, but the game is basically done.
It's been incredibly challenging to get it to …
September 23, 2007
Yesterday I made a build that includes up to level 6. out of 10. The other 4 levels are in various stages of completion, but all are laid out physically and partly populated.
Tons of work since the last update, too many things to mention, but a partial list just to give those a feel of how much wor…
September 01, 2007
Beta 3 went out yesterday as per our weekly beta build process.
The new beta has many small fixes & improvements.
Of course, just after I shipped it, I made a few fixes right away. One fixes a rare crash bug if someone was just finishing reloading their gun when they died.
Another implements th…
The new beta has many small fixes & improvements.
Of course, just after I shipped it, I made a few fixes right away. One fixes a rare crash bug if someone was just finishing reloading their gun when they died.
Another implements th…
August 29, 2007
I spent this morning doing the robot scrapyard level, and the ship invasion level. At one point in the game, your ship is invaded by robots. Since they are robots, they keep the atmosphere at vacuum level, killing you when you return to your ship.
You then are cloned as a robot, and must either st…
You then are cloned as a robot, and must either st…
August 27, 2007
Lately the game has been getting more fun. Which is really good. It was fun before, but there were things that we had wanted to revisit that now proved to be really good ideas.
One area of the game that was somewhat unusual was the way shooting worked. Basically, most weapons worked in burst mode…
One area of the game that was somewhat unusual was the way shooting worked. Basically, most weapons worked in burst mode…
August 22, 2007
Several folks have commented on the GUI, and we agree, it's a bit of a mess. We're cleaning it up while avoiding a complete overhaul.
Here is a version that more cleanly separates the various weapon & crystal slots, and makes it more readable. It also adds a border to the map display area.
Next…
Here is a version that more cleanly separates the various weapon & crystal slots, and makes it more readable. It also adds a border to the map display area.
Next…
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