I really didn't get much done today, but tomorrow I'll upload the new version with the laser designator, and the destroyed tiles. The new version will have the following changes in it:
-Higher Tolerances for Landing Velocity
-Carrier is 1 tile longer now, so you have a larger surface to land
-Laser Designator (toggled on/off with the backspace key)
-Cool Destroyed Tiles
-Reduced Fuel Consumption
-Reparir Trucks that actually have to wait to repair stuff
-Map of level at top of screen
-Misc little stuff
I spent about all my programming time today trying to figure out why the hell I can't mask my goddamn smoke particles(see last entry). I'm using the exact same code that I use everywhere else, but the damn thing wont show up. But when I put the code inside an already "set-up-to-mask" code block, it works. There's no reason I can think of that would explain why it won't work. I'm copying and pasting directly from stuff that already works, but it still won't do anything. All I discovered about the problem was that the texture stopped being displayed when I disabled depth testing for the masking effect, but if I dont disable it, I get a wierd looking half transparent effect. Anyways, because of this crap, you guys are going to have to deal with a crappy particle system until my next update.
Besides the fact that the textures wont mask, I'm really happy with how the particle system turned out. I was messing with it today, and you can easily mimic lots of real world crap with the thing: difting smoke, fire, exhaust , even splashes of water. I think I'm going to keep my old particle class even though this one is better, because it still works good for stuff like the water spray from the back of the fighter.
Mark is up to his neck in images right now. he's got so much to do, I've decided to make a little checklist for him:
Angels 20 Content Checklist
-Menu images
-Ship tileset
-Desert tileset
-Tundra tileset
-Detailed Fighter from side
-Explosion animation
-Various little things like bullets and whatnot
Speaking of explosions, I've finished programming the explosion stuff for the game, but I have no images to test it with, so I'll wait. The explosion sprites should give some much needed *oomph* to the weapons in the game (right now they look like fireworks when they explode).
There are a lot of little bugs I discovered when playing today. The most annoying one is that when you shoot at a MIG and the bullet explodes, it kills the tile it is over at the time of the explosion, no matter how high it is. This is just a by-product of some early collision detection code I wrote about 2 months ago, so it's not the end of the world or anything.
I've got to work from 3:00 to midnight tomorrow, so the update wont be up until really late, unless you live in Russia in which case, you better get up early to play this.
Well, I've got to go, and I didn't really do anything that deserved a new screenshot today, so I'll just leave you with the 2 entry old screen of the destroyed city.
??????????!!
Poor Thomas will be dissapointed that no one posted except me, how sad. Good thing he piled on the work for me, so I won't have time for the uneccesary,like emotions, so I won't feel sorry for him any more, just a vague burning hatred, like a serf. Well at any rate making the new tilesets will be a challenge, and here's some ideas about how they will be accomplished:
Ship- All sea and ship tiles. tiles will be ship parts, like the carrier. Most of the enemies will be barge based, so it will be easy to make it modular, so I would make a flak barge tiles, cargo loaded barge sections, as well as the expected bow+stern tiles. this way will only a few tiles, an enormous selection of enemy barges is possible. At the end of the map(s), expect bigger units (I had a missile cruiser in mind), kind of like 'bosses'. Jeeps and trucks will probably be replaced by speedboats and small tugs, that type of thing. But what of the 7-11? only time will tell.
Desert- pretty easy, although I will have to do some minor research regarding the specific desert and its flora (a google search qualifies as 'minor' research). It will be barren, with rocks and stuff, flak will look pretty similar, and I'll make the backround lighter, because what is a desert without a bleak, dusty horizon? Also, expect the return of the classic Flak Pueblo.
I'll finish up this post/comment thing now, because I'm sure I've exceeded your attention span by several minutes, and m dad wants to use the computer.
Artist Out.