August 21, 2007
I finally shipped out the 2nd beta of the 3-level demo. It shipped with a couple of very minor known visual issues, but overall, it's shaping up well.
It's amazing how many little fixes are required on levels and the game engine every time I make a build.
We didn't get much feedback from the 1st bet…
It's amazing how many little fixes are required on levels and the game engine every time I make a build.
We didn't get much feedback from the 1st bet…
August 12, 2007
The sublevels are now working pretty well, which is great news. It makes the temple level perform much better now that it's in two pieces.
Above is a shot showing a debug visualization of the shadow frusta. Each set of 4 pink lines represents one shadow caster, that could be a receiver as well, in…
Above is a shot showing a debug visualization of the shadow frusta. Each set of 4 pink lines represents one shadow caster, that could be a receiver as well, in…
August 10, 2007
Progress is still being made, although slower than I would have liked, due to my recent wedding & honeymoon, in addition to a strange hw-specific bug that cost a couple weeks of time to identify and sort out.
The bug involved my partner's machine having an intermittent bug where the player ( or …
The bug involved my partner's machine having an intermittent bug where the player ( or …
July 03, 2007
Back in '95 or so, when I worked at the Turner Interactive in Atlanta ( yes, Ted Turner's CD-ROM game company ), our team was working on a racing game.
As one of our group outings, we went to the local Dave & Buster's, which is an adult-friendly arcade ( ie booze & games ), and played a bunc…
As one of our group outings, we went to the local Dave & Buster's, which is an adult-friendly arcade ( ie booze & games ), and played a bunc…
July 01, 2007
Still trying to get this demo out there by the 7th. Lots of fixes and polishing going on.
One thing that needed doing was to add some dynamism to the music. For most of the project, the only ways to do music or mood drone type sounds was either as a per-level looping music file, or as a location-s…
One thing that needed doing was to add some dynamism to the music. For most of the project, the only ways to do music or mood drone type sounds was either as a per-level looping music file, or as a location-s…
June 26, 2007
Recently I had a strange problem with my new character's head. The old character was bald, so it didn't show up with him. On the new character, it was a bit of skin showing up on the top of the dude's head on its silhouette, even though he had a full head of hair. Since the game is played 3rd pe…
June 25, 2007
Made some AI fixes today, to fix the enemy fleeing behavior.
The enemies would realize that their health had dropped below a certain percentage threshold, and then keep fleeing the player, and attempted to keep away from his line of fire.
Now that the skills are working properly, the enemies eventu…
The enemies would realize that their health had dropped below a certain percentage threshold, and then keep fleeing the player, and attempted to keep away from his line of fire.
Now that the skills are working properly, the enemies eventu…
June 23, 2007
One of the nice things about the Ancient Galaxy rendering, is that it properly composites textures and decals before lighting and shadowing is computed.
Things like terrain layers, bullet holes, blood spatters, etc. are combined into a diffuse texture, which is copied offscreen, and then the same is…
Things like terrain layers, bullet holes, blood spatters, etc. are combined into a diffuse texture, which is copied offscreen, and then the same is…
June 16, 2007
I have been compressing textures lately. It is not fun, but needed to reduce the d/l size and also to reduce our in-game texture footprint.
I may look into compressing the lightmaps a bit, I already reduced the rez on two levels, and it helps a bit, but there are still way too much tex mem used rig…
I may look into compressing the lightmaps a bit, I already reduced the rez on two levels, and it helps a bit, but there are still way too much tex mem used rig…
June 14, 2007
We are gearing up to send out a 3 level demo, representing the shareware version of the game to a few select people.
The intro level, pictured last time works, and with less man-boobs.
So, you choose your character, then you start the digsite level as him, and can progress through the game. I ma…
The intro level, pictured last time works, and with less man-boobs.
So, you choose your character, then you start the digsite level as him, and can progress through the game. I ma…
June 09, 2007
It's been a long time since I've been in 'wrap it up and ship it mode' on a game, and because of that, it's easy to forget how much uninteresting, unglamorous work it takes to get it to a shippable level of quality.
Over the past few weeks I've been adding tons of text to menus, hints and story poin…
Over the past few weeks I've been adding tons of text to menus, hints and story poin…
June 02, 2007
I spent last week adding more menus, hints, scannable things, information, etc, as well as numerous other fixes to improve the usability of the game.
Today I added some more ruin-like aspects to the first digsite level, including busting through the ceiling.
I also added some statues outside.
I had …
Today I added some more ruin-like aspects to the first digsite level, including busting through the ceiling.
I also added some statues outside.
I had …
May 28, 2007
This weekend I put in an in-game cutscene, set to play at the end of the shareware version. We may add additional space scenes to various story points if time permits.
The cool thing about this is that it only required a one-line change to the code in order to implement, the rest was done through e…
The cool thing about this is that it only required a one-line change to the code in order to implement, the rest was done through e…
May 25, 2007
As of yesterday, almost all of the space ship functionality is there.
I got the crystal creation system in there, as well as the atomization ( ie destroy a crystal into its element components ).
Also put in a weapon destructor so you don't litter your ship or the weapon locker with unwanted low-grade…
I got the crystal creation system in there, as well as the atomization ( ie destroy a crystal into its element components ).
Also put in a weapon destructor so you don't litter your ship or the weapon locker with unwanted low-grade…
May 22, 2007
After playing the game some more yesterday, we found another problem - one that we had anticipated, but didn't have a great solution for.
Once you die, your equipment stays on your corpse, other than a PDA, which is needed to play the game, so it is provided for you automatically after being reconst…
Once you die, your equipment stays on your corpse, other than a PDA, which is needed to play the game, so it is provided for you automatically after being reconst…
May 21, 2007
Long time, no update.
Since I last updated, the project is now much closer to being a real game.
We have implemented all of the cloning functionality I mentioned last time, and it's pretty cool.
Here's the gist of it :
You find a space ship at the end of the first level, and on that ship are a teleport…
Since I last updated, the project is now much closer to being a real game.
We have implemented all of the cloning functionality I mentioned last time, and it's pretty cool.
Here's the gist of it :
You find a space ship at the end of the first level, and on that ship are a teleport…
April 04, 2007
We are gearing up for a private beta demo in 3 weeks, including the first couple of levels of the game, along with the cloning functionality, and the power-up system.
Yesterday I got the first digsite level working, besides the initial intro section. The digsite level was initially completely indoo…
Yesterday I got the first digsite level working, besides the initial intro section. The digsite level was initially completely indoo…
March 27, 2007
A brief digression, but with a point :
This year is the first in which I tried playing NBA Fantasy Basketball. For those not familiar with it, the idea is that you draft real NBA players, from any team, to make up your squad. Then each day choose active players vs those on the bench. Then you get…
This year is the first in which I tried playing NBA Fantasy Basketball. For those not familiar with it, the idea is that you draft real NBA players, from any team, to make up your squad. Then each day choose active players vs those on the bench. Then you get…
March 24, 2007
I spent much of last week switching Subversion providers. Our old one was not price competitive for a large repository. We have ~8gb now, and it was costing >$100 / month. The new provider handles website hosting also, so they allow more GB for less money, although the setup of SVN & trac…
March 19, 2007
Been working on a variety of things. I don't think there are any large-ish coding projects left, just half-day or less type things from here on.
A few weeks ago I found an exploit with the game - the player could swap weapons instantly, without his hands going down first, so this allowed him to hav…
A few weeks ago I found an exploit with the game - the player could swap weapons instantly, without his hands going down first, so this allowed him to hav…
March 13, 2007
I've been working on game balancing issues, and fixing level & art issues as they arise.
The last weapon type added to the game was beam lasers, and they were never properly debugged, so today I got them working nicely.
Our beam weapons stay on for a fixed period of time, and give out damage in p…
The last weapon type added to the game was beam lasers, and they were never properly debugged, so today I got them working nicely.
Our beam weapons stay on for a fixed period of time, and give out damage in p…
March 11, 2007
GDC is over, and I've been back at work for a few days. The commute to & from San Fran was brutal, over 3.25 hours total one day. I thought about taking the train, but there aren't enough nearby stations to make it worth it that leave at a reasonable hour.
Unless you want to go to drive & …
Unless you want to go to drive & …
March 08, 2007
I'm at GDC this week. The conference is pretty weak so far, but it's been great to see so many of my friends and colleagues.
I used to help teach the Advanced Direct3D Tutorial day with Richard Huddy and others, and Richard and my buddy Cem are keeping it going. Strangely, there was no OpenGL Tuto…
I used to help teach the Advanced Direct3D Tutorial day with Richard Huddy and others, and Richard and my buddy Cem are keeping it going. Strangely, there was no OpenGL Tuto…
March 02, 2007
I used to be a case-open sort of guy. About 10 years ago, when I lived in Atlanta, I would have to upgrade every time I managed to save $350 or so. I would buy more RAM, a slightly better CPU, etc. My favorite CPU back then was an IBM SLC 2 100mhz. It was cool b/c it was based on the 386 die, w…
March 01, 2007
Yesterday I fixed the lighting on the dust particles, and also the ambient on the entities. For the ambient solution, rather than storing, retrieving & filtering stored normals or occlusion info, I simply cast a short 5 meter ray from the objects center upwards and track the first intersection…
February 28, 2007
Made some more AI fixes, and worked on some particles. I had dust in the game a long time ago, and needed it for the first level, so I resurrected the dust particle system and largely re-wrote it.
I'm not thrilled with it - it can look great or horrible depending on what happens. I do some simple …
I'm not thrilled with it - it can look great or horrible depending on what happens. I do some simple …
February 26, 2007
Today I added the ability for designers to place dead entities in a level. This is key for the first digsite level where the adventure begins.
Last night I had fun watching various Cultist vs Aakash ( lizard ) battles unfold while debugging the AI.
Works much better now, and they don't seem to get s…
February 25, 2007
Let the battles rage
let dust swirl and rise
from the shifting feet
of steely fighters striving
for their bloody prize
Let the horn of battle sound
as they lift their weary eyes
to the battle standard
that waves and falls
as its bearer drops and dies
Let the fallen wounded
shriek their plaintive cries
up to th…
let dust swirl and rise
from the shifting feet
of steely fighters striving
for their bloody prize
Let the horn of battle sound
as they lift their weary eyes
to the battle standard
that waves and falls
as its bearer drops and dies
Let the fallen wounded
shriek their plaintive cries
up to th…
February 24, 2007
Well I finally fixed a sound drop-out problem that was rarely happening with looping sounds. One one level, a fan sound would occasionally drop out inexplicably.
I thought that maybe the # of active sound channels had been exceeded, even after adding my sound culling code the other day to remove fa…
I thought that maybe the # of active sound channels had been exceeded, even after adding my sound culling code the other day to remove fa…
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