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xtreampb

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Blog Entries posted by xtreampb

  1. xtreampb

    Disappearance

    By xtreampb,

    Hello all,
     
    I would like to first apologize for my disappearance. I ran into some issues with my source code and silly me, didn't set up a repository for my source so reverting my changes to a stable state was not practical. I decided to change gears and try to use only LUA. I created a new project and imported all the assets over and as it turns out, the loading is actually faster. One thing i was trying to do was thread out the loading of assets when maps are created but that just put my project in an unrecoverable state. I still plan on creating randomly generated mobs/items on map load, but instead of doing this in C, I'll do this in LUA. This workflow will be along the lines of creating a global function that will be called on map::load. I want to create a generic script object to pivots. This way in the editor I can select what can spawn where. I'm also going to have to create a "Map" script attached to a pivot entitled "Map". This script will have all the limits that can be spawned. The only issue now is to figure out how to track number of generated entities of each type. I don't want to use globals. I wonder if LUA supports static types? That is some research for me to figure out.
     
    Right now i'm hitting the design phase hard and shying away from development and prototyping. One of the most important aspects of my game is the spell tree. It has multiple different levels and some aspect types can evolve into other aspects such as water evolving into ice for an example. Others can be merged into one-another to create new types of spells. Like fire and earth combining to make lava flow freely from the ground below. This is a complex tree that I want to get right and will take time to design and connect and then even more time balancing. Because of this complexity I'm having a hard time "drawing" this design out. I've resorted to Visio. I like the structure that this can build however, this same structure limits to how and where things and objects can be placed. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, I'm open to hearing them.
     
    ~Xtreampb~
  2. xtreampb

    Multi-threading woe's

    By xtreampb,

    So I attempted to thread out my application and i think OpenGL got angry at me. This is what some simple threading to test if i can spin off threads in my C++ back end (which would be great). However I don't think this is possible so loading assets in a linear fashion seems to be my only option. This may be a product of early optimization.
     
    Along with finding out that I can't multi-thread, it became that when i use the crawler prefab, the game will crash when it loads. I don't get any errors in the editor or in my C code so i have know idea what is going on. I just may have to create a new project. I still want to use the pivots to mark spawn locations. I'm having some issues creating the logic to be used to set the unique spawn options. Because the script will be used for each spawn, i can't use the global stack to push an options table because they will over right one another. I'm thinking about creating a C++ function that lua calls that will send a table as a parameter and then the C++ will use this along with some constraints to determine what it should be, if anything. From there the object will be loaded and placed in the world.
  3. xtreampb

    Procedural Arena

    By xtreampb,

    Playing the same map over and over again can get boring and repetitive causing players to loose interest quickly. I'm writing a system that when the map is loaded, will randomly load entities, position, and rotate them as appropriate. This means that every time you enter an arena or the gauntlet, the enemies spawned will be different. Not only will they be different but so will their abilities.
     
    This idea comes from trying to optimize the loading of map file. What I plan on doing is instead of putting the entities in the map, i'll use pivots to store their location and rotation. I'll then attach a script that will be used to determine what kind of entities can spawn at that pivot. Not every pivot will be used to spawn an enemy. Some will spawn items and even still some pivots wont spawn anything. I feel this will make each user's experience unique increasing their enjoyment and the game's replay ability.
     
    The greeting party has been designed and their picture can be found in the steam community page. Click here to view and leave a comment.
     
    To see the progress of this game in real time watch at www.twitch.tv/xtreampb
  4. xtreampb

    The Road to Now

    By xtreampb,

    So as many of you may know, before the release of Leadwerk 3.0 I was working on a castle defense type game. With the release of Leadwerks 3.0, I was unable to get my models to import properly. It has been a while since then as I didn't have any ideas for a game for me to work on, as well as time and inspiration to work on one. I also got a new job as a C# developer which will help me become a better programmer. I've also been taking classes and just life in general. I have recently gotten a new idea for a game and have been inspired to create it. Talking with some game developers that work with my company they feel it is a good idea.
     
    Arena is a game based on the grind elements found in other popular games where you fight monsters to get drops and experience. Right now there is a plan for 2 Arena maps and a gauntlet to run. I plan on this game being an internal competition on the server where players will directly battle each other for glory, compare times, and even have cooperative aspects where players fight along side one another to be the best team in the server. There will be few different ways to be a champion of a server but there only one champion of each aspect of the game. Players will be able to select and spec out classes, enchant weapons and armor and even combine enchantments to devastate their opponents whether it be human or not. For players who like a challenge, the hard core mode will make you select your strategy carefully. Dying in a hardcore arena or tournament will cause you to loose your equipment and stats. Tread carefully.
     
    This game is currently in a proof of concept stage where I'm putting together rough drafts to the maps to play on along with a rough combat, loot and experience system. You can watch this game as it develops on my twitch account at www.twitch.tv/xtreampb
     
    Keep an eye out as this develops for special opportunities may become available.
  5. xtreampb

    Time to Linux

    By xtreampb,

    So in anticipation of Leadwerks 3.1 standard on linux, I just installed linux an i'm installing wine to run my desktop SVN viewer Source Tree which links back to BitBucket . I've got to get famirliar with this interface. I've used it once before but couldn't get used to the interface. If anyone has any tips or tricks for modifying the interface or has any reccomendations of sub kernals to use and how to configure/install them I would be very greatfull.
     
    Last time i treid linux i only saw code::blocks as the IDE to use. I didn't like it on my windows and so when i tried it on linux i didn't like it there eaither. That pretty much killed using linux for me. Didn't have an IDE that i liked why would I use it. Now that i see there is netbeans, which I use for java programming, is it possible to compile Leadwerks 3.1 standard C++ code using the netbeans IDE. I mean they should both call the same compiler and linker so it shouldn't matter right?
     
    My last thought for this blog is what would the community say in an effort to help drive the linux gaming environment, we would release our games for Linux one month prior to our release for windows and mac. I've attached a poll to get a feel of the communitys feelings on this subject.
  6. xtreampb
    A few weeks ago i discussed my business software to a friend of mine. This friend owns an insurance business and expressed to me that my business software as a good potential, it just has to be put in front of the right people. With him insuring businesses, we agreed that he is in a better position to put the software in front of people who would benefit from it. Because of this, I have decided to make that my current priority when it comes to time set aside for software developing. This will help me fund my game project.
     
    About my business software:
    The software asks the user to determine what positions are needed, and how many shifts are needed for that position each day. On each shift the user puts the start time, stop time, and the number of employees assigned to that position are needed for the shift.
    next the manager populates a list of employees which include their name, position, max hours, days and time available for each day. all the shift and employee information is saved between uses.
    One all data has been inputted, the manager will press "generate Schedule" any time the manager wants a new random schedule. manual editing is still available.
    What this does is allow the manager, each week, to create a new random schedule at the click of a button. The only thing i have left to do now is to implement some encryption algorithms for the data and create the installer.
     
    Once available, would anyone like a demo of this software? It is designed for any place of business that has part time employees such as retail. It isn't designed for places of business who's shifts carry past midnight.
  7. xtreampb
    So i just got confirmation that my bug is currently being worked on and should be fixed with the next bug fix release. I think this came about due to my post talking about a few of the physics bugs. I also fixed one of my bugs that was causing a lot of issues. I was using a double variable to store the amount of damage being dealt. When i converted that to an int variable, all of a sudden all those minor collisions were no longer affecting the amount of damage being dealt to each other. with this information, I feel as though I can use LE3 again to create Kings. I am glad for this as it will allow a larger customer base. It will also allow player to compete against one another, regardless of their platform.
     
    I don't understand why people on windows can not play with/against people playing on apple. TCP/IP and UDP are all industry standards and don't rely on OS specifics. Would anyone like to enlighten me on why people on different OS platforms aren't typically able to play with/against one another?
  8. xtreampb

    Pushing Lua

    By xtreampb,

    So after a quick, prompt to mentoring session from Josh about how to use Lua, I learned a lot. Hear are just a few things.
     
    Each Lua project has its own virtual stack. Here is what this means. Each Leadwerks project, when running, creates it own virtual, global, stack. You can use this just like a normal stack in C/C++ except is done in a more explicit manner. In C, you call functions and the function along with the parameters are pushed onto the stack. When you exit the function, the function and it's parameters are popped off the stack. This is all handled mostly behind the scenes and new programmers are typically not aware of the stack or the heap. Now if your just using Lua, this tid bit of information may not hear you. But if, your using C with your Lua game (or Lua with your C game) then this may help you. Josh has kindly taken a good bit of work out of interacting with the global Lua stack with his Interpreter class. Here pushing and popping items onto and off the lua stack is more manageable. Lets look at one of my uses of the interpreter class to send my world object from my C code, to my lua script.
     

    //done in C++ world = World::Create(); Interpreter::PushObject(world); Interpreter::SetGlobal("World");
     
    the above code creates a world in my C++ project, pushes this object onto the global lua stack, which is a virtual stack, and sets the key for this object to "World". Now to access my world object in my lua script is this:

    --done in my App.lua start() script self.world=World
     
    thats it. i can now use my world object inside my script. As easy as this is, it isn't complete. As with any stack programming, it has to be balanced and just calling it in the script doesn't make it balanced. In the C code, before you do anything with the interpreter, it was reccommended to store the size of the unmodified lua stack with:

    int stacksize=Interpreter::GetStackSize();
     
    Once you are done pushing things onto the stack, set the size of the stack to it's previous, unmodified size with:

    Interpreter::SetStackSize(stacksize);
     
    This is just one of the many things I learned about Lua from Josh. I'm thinking that once I get comfortable enough with it, that I'll write a tutorial about this. Let me know what you think.
     
    Remember you can watch the development of this project at www.twitch.tv/xtreampb. Stream is most active between 8:00 PM and 11:00 PM. Stop by and say hi, ask questions and give suggestions.
  9. xtreampb
    Hello everyone,
     
    So with my business software released, i'm moving back into game design. I'm putting my castle game to the side for, what I feel, a easier game to execute. With the majority of mechanics planned out, I'll begin to design the first few levels. I think i'm also going to video record a developer diary to keep people informed on the status of the development of the game. I am looking for some artists, especially 3D modeling with animation skills as well as texturing artists. anyone interested can PM me.
  10. xtreampb

    Status Update

    By xtreampb,

    Hello all, it has been a little bit since my last post about continuing to use Leadwerks 3. I have gotten some good positive feedback from the staff at LE3 in regards to them confirming the bugs and doing what they can to fix it.
     
    The colliding of hidden models isn't an issue with LE3 but with the physics engine that LE3 uses. The staff at LE3 is getting in contact to resolve that issue. I have a work around so this isn't stopping me.
     
    The staff had some issues verifying the rolling of models bug. My instructions weren't very clear. I posted a video demonstrating the bug yesterday. I'm still waiting to hear back about that bug.
     
    These 2 bugs aren't major on my end as of right now. I will continue to push on. The project is on a hold as i need money to pay my modelers and graphic designers. I'm currently getting ready to move, just bought college books and lab kits. on top of that my anniversary is the first week in august and that is a week long trip to the mountains that needs to be paid for. because of this, going to have to put this on hold. It seems like i'm never going to get this thing more than a foot off the ground. I want a working demo with an interface before I put it on kickstarter and greenlight in attempts to boost my chances of it succeeding.
     
    ~Xtreampb~
  11. xtreampb

    Code name Kings

    By xtreampb,

    So most people have seen my game WIP "castle defense", which i'm giving code name "Kings", in the asset store. This was created with LE 2.2 as my machine at the time could't handle LE 2.5. This was to get my mind started on game programming before LE3 was released. I was ecstatic when LE3 was released as this meant i could write with one code base for windows and mac. I couldn't care less about mobile platform support. Even before there was a mention of Linux support i predicted that one of Josh's secrets was Linux support. I turned out to be incorrect but now with LE3 supporting Linux, I'm excited that I could be one of the developers that helps get the ball rolling on Linux game development and blast open that market. All of this with one code base in native C++ code on top of all that.
     
    That all brings me to this. I'm attempting to get kings on the market to help fund some other ideas going on. Because LE3 is still getting a foothold, and the possibility of having to buy Linux support, and defiantly having to buy the OGL4 renderer, i don't see it feasible to continue developing kings using Leadwerks 3. I've also ran into a few physics bugs that have been reported to the community, and i'm sure are being worked on. My current plan is to develop kings using LE 2.5. once done and published, I will redo the game using the latest version of Leadwerks 3, using the revenue I receive from the sales to release the game for all desktop platforms available.
     
    I'm going to have to start my code over from scratch as when I moved from my old machine to my new one, the code got lost. That is a good thing however as this will allow me to start fresh and do it right this time. With each new feature working, i'll post an update to the WIP in the asset store, and create a blog entry. Once i get a satisfactory demo working, i'll post a steam greenlight and kickstarter campaign, so BOLO (Be On the LookOut) for those to come in the future. Any critiques both good and bad are welcome, so bring it all on
     
    ~Xtreampb~
  12. xtreampb
    Below is a primitive list of features that kings will have. Please leave comments asking questions on how they may work or any features that you would like to see added or removed.
     
    The objective of Kings is simple. To build your own castle, and to destroy your opponents before he/she destroys yours. You challenge friends which will cost IGM (In Game Money) which is specified by you. It works like a bet. You bet your friend x amount of money that you can beat them. If you opponent agrees to the duel, then x(x) is up for grabs and the winner takes all the money plus experience for winning. Your opponent can deny and will lose x/2 of the bet. Opponents can challenge each other when they are in the same tier, or higher. This is to prevent bullying by higher levels. Once on the battle map, your castle will be loaded and so will your opponent. Once in game, everything acts in real time. you select a cannon and fire. Items that can be fired will be different types depending on what you have unlocked, and purchased. Items that can be fired will also depend on what type cannon you are shooting from. Cannons can also have enhancements added to them to do things such as fire shot which light your items on fire which will have effects i don't wish to disclose at this moment. Before you challenge anyone or accept a challenge, you must first build your castle. your castle is built based off items you have unlocked with your experience points and have bought with your IGN. IGN is only achieved via winning duels and a daily login reward. No need to actually purchase money using your hard earned bucks.
     
    With that...here is my feature list. This goes into unneeded details as this also serves as the progression to final product. I have to be able to load from my computer before i can load it off my friends computer.:
    Realistic block destruction
    realistic building destruction
    ability to build structure
    Ability to limit what is built using building inventory
    Ability to add to building inventory by buying blocks
    ability to limit what is bought for building inventory by unlocking with experience points
    Ability to limit what items are launched by combat inventory
    ability to add to combat inventory by buying items (unlimited base item)
    ability to limit what is bought for combat inventory by unlocking with expierence points
    ability to save structure on local computer
    ability to load structure from local computer
    ability to challenge people by typing in IP address
    ability to load opponents model off their computer
    Steam integration:
    Ability to use steam lobbies
    Addition of achievements
    ability to save structures on steam cloud
    ability to load structures from steam cloud
    Ability to use steam matchmaking
    Tie all game information to steam profile.



    If you have any questions of would like to add something let me know.
     
    ~Xtreampb~
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