Hey everybody!
Wow, its been so long since I wrote an update, I'm not sure where to start.
Our tank game is coming along slowly, Mark the Artist has been working on some tank images while I brush up on my coding skills (the last thing we want is another hacked together project).
On my side of the field, I've been doing alot of work and learning regarding the more "advanced" features of C++ and whatnot. I say advanced because I had never realized how important stuff like polymorphism was until I was 3/4 through coding Angels 20.
My newest project was an experiment in using polymorphism and a custom container to handle all the game logic. It pretty much consists of a base class called "Thing" that has all these smaller more specialized classes (like "Bullet" and "Tile") derived from it. These objects are then placed inside a ThingManager object using a function that gives the manager a reference to the object. The manager then handles all the stuff internally, and because the derived classes are still technically "Things", they all use the same functions names. It's been done before, and its been done better, but it's mine, and I'm happy with it[grin]. As a matter of fact, it's turning into a pretty handy platformer engine (minus actual images for graphics) as I continually add little classes, and test them out, as you can see below:
My only regret with learning this stuff is that I didn't learn it a month ago when I started writing the code for our tank game, and now I have to go back and rewrite quite a bit.
As I said earlier, Mark has been working pretty hard on tank images for the game, and he's put together a little composite of the 4 most recent additions to the tank library.
And now here's an artist update from Mark the Artist:
Es un Artist Update! Es Increible! That's right, I've decided to write another
Artist Update, in which I, Mark the Artist, try to compensate for some lack in Sir
Sapo's journal entries, in this case a complete lack of updates. I haven't been
working on anything super-important for our tank game (more on names later),
because we are at the end of four of our classes, which means finals(!). Besides
studying, I have been working on are several different tanks, just random chassis
that may or may not have a place in the game (I'll try to get Sir Sapo to post an
image). Two are big huge prototype units that I hope will be featured in a mission
in which you have to defend a test facility from an enemy assault, and you get to
choose which prototype you'll use. It'll be fun, trust me.
I've also worked a little on tiles for the ground, which isn't very much fun, it's
difficult to make tiles look like they aren't tiled, or make things look 3D from
a pure top-down perspective(I'm thinking shadows of some kind). The GIMP is
supposed to have some sort of tool for making tiles, but I haven't found it yet, so
I'm sticking with MS Paint for the basics.
In addition, I've been trying along with Sapo to try to create a good name, but most cool
names seem to derivative. The leading name is currently "Armored Division:
Legacy of Kursk", but it lacks specificity, perhaps something more acronymy like
"AAR: Advanced Armored Assault." Anyway I need to go take cold medicine/play Xbox live,
so good luck with Christmas, etc.
Well, I'll try to stay more current with my entries, and I'll talk to you guys later!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!