December 02, 2006
Made some mini-map fixes, to handle the case of large maps. In the case of large maps, the 512x512 fog of war texture coords are scaled to cover the whole map.
Also added more scanning into the game. I already had scanning of symbol decals, which look like writing carved into rock. Today I added …
Also added more scanning into the game. I already had scanning of symbol decals, which look like writing carved into rock. Today I added …
November 25, 2006
Today I got the fog of war re-written. It's not quite as nice as the old version, but it's blazing fast, so...
First I tried the technique I mentioned in the last update, but it didn't look good at all. For one, the amount of blurring required was too great, and it had a very rectangular look due …
First I tried the technique I mentioned in the last update, but it didn't look good at all. For one, the amount of blurring required was too great, and it had a very rectangular look due …
November 24, 2006
Gameplay update :
I update the shield code to match the new style. The old style of shield just absorbed a fixed percentage of damage. The new style, takes damage points till it goes down, then doesn't begin recharging until it doesn't take any hits for a second or two. After adding shields to so…
I update the shield code to match the new style. The old style of shield just absorbed a fixed percentage of damage. The new style, takes damage points till it goes down, then doesn't begin recharging until it doesn't take any hits for a second or two. After adding shields to so…
November 14, 2006
We have lost another programmer on the project, so now it's just me doing the code. This is the 3rd programmer that we've lost due to Real Life issues, so it's understandable, but frustrating trying to get this project to completion.
I'm going to open up a slot for a part-time programmer to join th…
I'm going to open up a slot for a part-time programmer to join th…
November 08, 2006
Going to try to update a bit more often again.
Yesterday I made some fixes to the item menus. It was an interesting problem to make them work.
The idea is that certain objects, like chests, corpses, etc. contain multiple objects that you could pick up.
We didn't want to go the Diablo/Titan Quest …
Yesterday I made some fixes to the item menus. It was an interesting problem to make them work.
The idea is that certain objects, like chests, corpses, etc. contain multiple objects that you could pick up.
We didn't want to go the Diablo/Titan Quest …
November 05, 2006
Long time, no update.
Progress is being made. So many changes and fixes since the last update, not sure where to begin.
I solved an interesting issue with the portal system today. This has been an issue in the back of my mind for a while, but I finally figured out a solution today.
What you see here…
Progress is being made. So many changes and fixes since the last update, not sure where to begin.
I solved an interesting issue with the portal system today. This has been an issue in the back of my mind for a while, but I finally figured out a solution today.
What you see here…
September 05, 2006
Well, I got the sound engine reworked last week. It now uses SDL_Mixer. It seems to work well enough for our purposes, although it's missing pitch shifting ( doppler ).
In the process of converting from FMOD, I fixed numerous lingering sound issues. One of the most major ones was a bug from the t…
In the process of converting from FMOD, I fixed numerous lingering sound issues. One of the most major ones was a bug from the t…
August 27, 2006
Our alpha test went pretty smoothly, although we have only received feedback from ~25% of the testers so far.
We are now testing out a new character modeller/animator, and one of the partners has signed up to do the textures for it.
I have made numerous improvements to the level editor to allow one t…
We are now testing out a new character modeller/animator, and one of the partners has signed up to do the textures for it.
I have made numerous improvements to the level editor to allow one t…
August 15, 2006
A few days ago we shipped a 3-level demo to various folks for testing and feedback.
So far, the feedback is mostly positive, with some good pointers for improvement. We have already made several changes based on user comments.
Looks like the next step is trying to figure out how to scale up developm…
So far, the feedback is mostly positive, with some good pointers for improvement. We have already made several changes based on user comments.
Looks like the next step is trying to figure out how to scale up developm…
July 25, 2006
Still cranking away on Ancient Galaxy - on a combination of fixes and polish.
The force fields are fun. I actually used one today to kill a lizard creature as he followed me around a 90 degree corner. I just put 3 shots near each other on the wall, and toasted him with reflective shots from the fo…
The force fields are fun. I actually used one today to kill a lizard creature as he followed me around a 90 degree corner. I just put 3 shots near each other on the wall, and toasted him with reflective shots from the fo…
July 21, 2006
Made several fixes to the force fields, including making the spikes show up better, and being smarter about choosing the quad orientation.
I also added reflectivity. It's a cool effect, but not super-useful gameplay-wise right now, because it's hard to set up the force field exactly at the right an…
I also added reflectivity. It's a cool effect, but not super-useful gameplay-wise right now, because it's hard to set up the force field exactly at the right an…
July 19, 2006
A lot of cleanup & fixes in the past few days.
I added a Quad ( and the beginning of a Lozenge ) primitive to the physics system, and fixed a couple of bugs here and there. I am tempted to switch to a contact manager type approach with contact caching, etc, but it hasn't been needed yet, so I w…
I added a Quad ( and the beginning of a Lozenge ) primitive to the physics system, and fixed a couple of bugs here and there. I am tempted to switch to a contact manager type approach with contact caching, etc, but it hasn't been needed yet, so I w…
July 14, 2006
I've been doing more work on the navigation system, and I think it's done for now.
The system I first implemented was hard to get right, and there were a lot of special cases.
Here's how it worked :
Every time an object that could be an obstacle ( a locked door, a trap, a force field, or a large colli…
The system I first implemented was hard to get right, and there were a lot of special cases.
Here's how it worked :
Every time an object that could be an obstacle ( a locked door, a trap, a force field, or a large colli…
July 13, 2006
Tonight I finally got the dynamic navigation updates working. When I started the A* implementation, I wanted to be able to have both a static set of costs as well as a dynamic set of costs associated with each path from node to node.
This way, the static costs would reflect the state of the world i…
This way, the static costs would reflect the state of the world i…
July 08, 2006
Somehow I managed to break entity lighting for point lights. This is now fixed.
Here is a shot of a fun battle I had today in the Sunken City...
In other news, I was unstoppable playing hoops today. Scored 8 of our teams 11 points in the last game, and assisted on another...
Here is a shot of a fun battle I had today in the Sunken City...
In other news, I was unstoppable playing hoops today. Scored 8 of our teams 11 points in the last game, and assisted on another...
July 07, 2006
Yesterday was my one year anniversary of working on Ancient Galaxy full time. It has been a crazy year, with a divorce, my sister's death, and the difficulty of assembling and maintaining a team working on the project.
Overall, though, it has been probably the best year of my life so far. I have b…
Overall, though, it has been probably the best year of my life so far. I have b…
July 04, 2006
I spent the last couple of days on a few optimizations, from physics to shadows.
The framerate isn't quite what I'd like but it's smooth & playable on my system ( ~30-45 fps ), and I don't have a lot of other speed-up ideas, so I need to move on & continue getting the test version ready.
I ad…
The framerate isn't quite what I'd like but it's smooth & playable on my system ( ~30-45 fps ), and I don't have a lot of other speed-up ideas, so I need to move on & continue getting the test version ready.
I ad…
June 30, 2006
I was still having heap problems yesterday, even after making the monster weapon fix. It appeared to be in the same area of code - the attachment system. I was able to track it down and fix it within the hour. It was caused by the player save point loading code. When you start a level, it loads…
June 28, 2006
As we're finishing up the mountain temple level, I am needing to build the lightmaps and navgrid more often. Normally I run with the lightmaps set to 1% resolution to speed things up, and turn off the navgrid generation ( so the enemies just sit there ).
So, I thought I'd take advantage of the dual…
So, I thought I'd take advantage of the dual…
June 26, 2006
Today I made some improvements to the damage knock-back system. Earlier today, it was possible to slide all the way down the mountainside just by being hit by one hand cannon shot. Now it's not that powerful.
I also tweaked the camera. Before, aiming too low made your char's head get in the way o…
I also tweaked the camera. Before, aiming too low made your char's head get in the way o…
June 25, 2006
Today I made several fixes and improvements.
Earlier I fixed some issues with the blend meshes that caused the lighting to not match up too well.
Just now I added a knock back effect to getting hit by a weapon. Normally if a sentient entity is on the ground, his velocity just gets set to his des…
Earlier I fixed some issues with the blend meshes that caused the lighting to not match up too well.
Just now I added a knock back effect to getting hit by a weapon. Normally if a sentient entity is on the ground, his velocity just gets set to his des…
June 24, 2006
One of the things I've learned from this project is that Blending is the solution to many, many problems.
A simple linear blend can help things seem more natural, from animation, to sound, decals, and terrain.
Our level designer recently added a mountain under the mountain temple level. It looked, g…
A simple linear blend can help things seem more natural, from animation, to sound, decals, and terrain.
Our level designer recently added a mountain under the mountain temple level. It looked, g…
June 22, 2006
Today was a day filled with not especially fun, but very important code changes.
My partner re-factored the main menu system, to make it cleaner and more extensible, as well as to support the new gameflow.
I was able to get the player's progress saved and loaded properly. Before today, the player wa…
My partner re-factored the main menu system, to make it cleaner and more extensible, as well as to support the new gameflow.
I was able to get the player's progress saved and loaded properly. Before today, the player wa…
June 20, 2006
Well, last night we simplified the controls, and I definitely like it better.
Now there is only the two-handed firing animation, and you can move while firing two-handed. The laser sight is always used to show where you are aiming. It jitters a bit while just aiming, and jitters much more while fi…
Now there is only the two-handed firing animation, and you can move while firing two-handed. The laser sight is always used to show where you are aiming. It jitters a bit while just aiming, and jitters much more while fi…
June 16, 2006
We are pushing to tighten up the gameplay and wrap up this demo.
One of the changes we are making is to simplify the controls. Right now you can fire one handed, which is less accurate, or you can fire two handed with a a laser sight, which is more accurate. Further, one handed firing allows you t…
One of the changes we are making is to simplify the controls. Right now you can fire one handed, which is less accurate, or you can fire two handed with a a laser sight, which is more accurate. Further, one handed firing allows you t…
June 11, 2006
Here is a recent shot of the game.
Some of the new changes :
- more furniture, another statue, and fleshing out of the temple level
- 3 different cult enemies - Cultist, Inquisitor and Confessor
- changing weapons now causes the char's hand to drop to his side before the gun is switched.
- When enemie…
Some of the new changes :
- more furniture, another statue, and fleshing out of the temple level
- 3 different cult enemies - Cultist, Inquisitor and Confessor
- changing weapons now causes the char's hand to drop to his side before the gun is switched.
- When enemie…
June 04, 2006
We got a good bit of of work done in the last few days :
Improved UI :
We replaced the multi-line listbox with a multi-line edit box, in order to get word-wrapping a eliminate the horizontal scroll bar. This only worked properly after forcing the vertical scroll bar to always appear, otherwise the h…
Improved UI :
We replaced the multi-line listbox with a multi-line edit box, in order to get word-wrapping a eliminate the horizontal scroll bar. This only worked properly after forcing the vertical scroll bar to always appear, otherwise the h…
June 01, 2006
Here is a shot with some of the UI changes made yesterday.
I like the color on the health & firing bars better, and the guns now show their slot #, which corresponds to the key to hit to get that weapon.
You can also use the [ & ] keys to cycle through your weapons, and the mouse wheel.
I fi…
I like the color on the health & firing bars better, and the guns now show their slot #, which corresponds to the key to hit to get that weapon.
You can also use the [ & ] keys to cycle through your weapons, and the mouse wheel.
I fi…
May 31, 2006
Still cranking on the game. Every day it's more of a game, and less of a collection of parts. Some of that is adding little things like a menu to restart if you die, and some of it is polish.
Those of you who have requested to be alpha testers will be given d/l information in the next week or two.…
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