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tjheldna

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  1. tjheldna

    Dwarf Beard

    By tjheldna,

    My latest entry for the Leadwerks Tournament "Dwarf Beard". This entry is really the product of a merge of a lot of work I have done over the many years.
    The code template I used goes all the way back to my first game created in Leadwerks "Mages Alchemy". The Template has seen many iterations, updates as my skills increased or I just work out a more better way of doing things. For this tournament I've made many new improvements focusing on character controls, AI and handling animations. Making both of those changes has really made the character code manageable and readable which was my focus coming back to this code from not looking at it for over a year and re-understanding it.
    Artwork taken from various graveyards of projects.
    Its playable now after a few tasks in particular are complete i'll upload the project. For now here are some action screens.


  2. tjheldna
    Recently we made the choice to use Trello to map out our current workflow. We are using a loose implementation of Agile with a backlog of the tasks we need to complete. We have 2 week sprints in which we aim for a certain amount of task points in each sprint to complete.
     
    We have found this system works quite well given the fact that we work on this part time for now and this also gives us good flexibility as to what jobs we feel we need to do in the sprint.
     
    We invite you to browse the Dead Anyway’s Trello progress as the board has now been made public. Commenting and voting on features will give you the latest in a of series public spaces where we want your input. Trello will become more relevant to you as we progress into a public prototype build as the community can vote on features you want us to work on. At some point we will take ideas from the community and vote on which ones make it into the backlog to get the community more involved in shaping the game.
     
    Our previous method of documenting in Google Drive needs to be migrated fully over so expect the backlog to keep on filling up.
     
    Take a look at our current progress here: Dead Anyway On Trello
     
    What’s new since the last update?
    Twitter Account has been set up. Link
    Indie DB Page setup. Link
    Trello account setup and in use. Link
    At least fifteen new models ranging from houses, trees, props, and weapons.
    Integration of NoesisGUI and Lua.
    Cut scene functionality.
    Two Story house navigation between levels.

  3. tjheldna

    DA 19 weeks in

    By tjheldna,

    19 weeks in and about 5 miles of skype text in which Rick and I have collaborated on this game prototype. Already it’s had is fair share of emotions and emoticons, but has been a privilege and a pleasure none the less.
     
    What’s new to DA
    Gavin character now animates in game.
    Introduction of AI.
    Scene interactions with inventory items.
    Various scene and interior models as well as a few weapon models.
    A Simple crafting system (combining items to make new items or tool on item).
    Visiting the documentation again.

     
    Where is it all headed?
    Our main goals at the moment are to go back to documentation and clearly define all aspects of the game and what we require to get the prototype out. We noticed that there are too many grey areas in our ideas and think we need a very clear definition of the features this game will have as this is an ambitious project and we want no surprises.
     
    Our second goal is to put together a working prototype for you to download and hopefully get your valuable feedback. Initially we put together a list of requirements needed for this to happen however, we both think it needs more content and things to do in game before we let you have a shot.
     

     

     

     
    Thanks for reading!
  4. tjheldna

    Dead Anyway

    By tjheldna,

    Once a thriving small town population of five hundred now lies silent and in decay as if all life vanished overnight. Overgrown gardens, peeling paint, every creak, and moving shadow beats your heart with adrenaline as you wearley walk down the main street. You are not alone here, the hairs on the back of your neck make you sure of it.
     
    You continue walking, as the fear of the unknown is overcome by the desperation to gather supplies and find shelter.
     
    It doesn't matter, I’m dead anyway.
     
     
     
    For the past twelve weeks or so Rick and I have been collaborating on a game project prototype. The project really hit the ground running starting out by fleshing out an idea of a game, storyline ideas, code and model requirements, quests, etc and have been working on a prototype ever since.
     
    Rick has been leading the coding side with various features that will be needed. Some of the big ticket items included a Diablo style inventory system including looting; asset management so we are able to get all the detail so the game will scale to what we need; many more unsung features.
     
    I have been working on the asset side of things without spending too much time on an individual objects as there is a lot to create, even in terms of a simple prototype.
     
    Already we have had our fair share of setbacks but also a fair share of successes too. Here is a first look what we have accomplished to date. Needless to say it’s all in progress.
     
     
     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     
     
     
    Thanks for viewing.
     
    R&T
  5. tjheldna

    Mages Alchemy

    By tjheldna,

    Hi all,
    I'd like to introduce the game I've been working on since I purchased Leadwerks and am very happy with the results in the short time span. I have been working on games for as long as I can remember, however this is the title that I'm actually going to finish. This has turned out to be quite a long blog entry. I hope you enjoy....
     



    The Title
    The title of the game was always going to be a stand in name, however over time I have grown accustomed to it and it may stay.
     
    The Concept
    The concept of this game is primarily a learning game in particular addition subtraction and multiplication. I'm sure games like this have been done before, so I am taking what I hope to be a different approach. I want the user to feel like they are playing more of a normal game by creating an immersive and magical world. With that fact I hope to make the user feel like they are not learning when in fact they are and are anticipating the next challenge.
     
    The initial design incorporated a vast world with quite a detailed storyline to match. This being an overwhelming task for 1 developer forced me to trim back features and then trim back some more until I was left with more or less a skeleton of what I originally planned. In doing this it has made the learning side of things much more visible.
     
    The End User
    I am a little worried about my target audience for this game. The target audience is for students (not limited to) around the middle primary years. I am hoping that parents like me who see games as a great way to learn and would use this game to supplement the students learning in a fun way. The biggest risk is that the users will not have the required hardware to run this game. Are there may parents out there with gaming machines for there kids to use???
     
    On a personal note I recently had my son (12 months) in front of the game as I was just running the character around, testing some elements and he was glued to the screen and laughing with excitement. This has given me hope that I am on to something here!!! Wow that really made my day.
     
    I intend to expand on the features once the initial game is done and add more game play elements that I really and create the game this intended to be. This will hopefully make the follow up game more manageable and help sow a seed for it.
     
    The Engine
    I have tested and tried many different game engines and this seems to be the best combination of ease and features that I can find. I have tested Shiva, Unity, Gamestart, and C4.
     
    Releasing
    I am setting a tentative release time frame for around late Jan/Feb 2013 but hopefully sooner. I do not plan to charge any $ for the game however this may change. Regardless if I do, the amount will very minimal. A possibility is to maybe limited to the first limited number registers are free or something like that.
     
    Due to restrictions with the Leadwerks engine I can only release this on the Windows platform, but will port as soon as LE3D becomes available. The no terrain thing will impact heavily on this project as it relies heavily on it, but I'll have to wait and see. I would love to see this on a mobile device it would be perfect for it.
     
    The Game
     
    Camera
    The game is like a 2D side scroller that can turn corners and is not just limited to just left right. I think its called a rail camera, well I'm going to call it that anyway. The camera follows the player and transitions between camera nodes in the world and is always facing the direction of the player. The tricky part was how the player controls work in relation to this as if you walk to the opposite direction of the camera you can find your inputs reversed (with fixed up/down/left/right). The way I solved this is that the up movement is always the direction of the camera, it really makes for an easily controlled character however you do need to course correct as the camera moves which is hardly noticeable, but feels natural.
     
    Tasks
    Throughout the game you encounter obstacles which block your path. These can be in the form of drawbridges, gates etc. These obstacles can be removed but only by using the magic of math! A successful round will see the obstacle removed and you can proceed to the task and eventually complete the level.
     
    The Math
    The game focuses on add, subtract and multiply at this point in time. The math has different levels of difficulty to suit a more larger audience. Initially the game was designed for grade 3-7, however this is not 100% decided as game content and difficulty may not suit years that low. I plan to add divide and number sequences at a later date.
     
    Levels
    The levels will range from forests, castle's and dungeons. I am hoping to produce around 10 levels for the initial release. A forrest level and a castle level are in the works, most of the other levels will be variations. Once a level has been completed there is no stopping you from re-playing the level. You may need to as you need to collect enough coins or an item to continue.
     
    GUI
    I created my own GUI interface code, purely from using LE functions. The interface includes windows, buttons, image buttons, checkbox, radio buttons, borders, images, listbox, label and text boxes. These are used extensively in the game however, the entire GUI appearance need a lot of work and I am forever optimising this GUI system. I'm currently experimenting with colours.
     
    Reporting
    As the player completes math tasks in the game your stats will be saved to your profile for later reporting. The stats are saved to a sqlite database due to it's ease of installation. I don't want the users having difficulty installing something like mysql and then just giving up. MySQL functionality will be added later so that can be installed on a server and the game connects to the database to accommodate many users and to keep data safe . Connecting to a database hosted by me is also an option I'm considering, but it really depends on how big or not this project gets.
     
    Website
    Currently I have abandoned my website and am looking at starting from scratch. New company name new website and new host. I am in the process of creating an entire world (on paper) and publishing it on-line so you can go into the website and read up on the game world's lore.
     
    Functionality
     
    Done
    Complete GUI system using only Leadwerks functions.
    Complete Inventory system (Pick ups, mounting weapons etc).
    Near complete Game Interface system.
    Character controller and animations.
    Camera movement system.
    Complete serialization system (serialization of the whole world was not needed for this project however. I will implement this at a later date).
    Math games.
    Complete User login system.
    Database saving.
    Combat system - melee, projectile shooting weapons (not sure if will be used for this game however).

    TODO
    Magic system (it has been worked out on paper though)

    Testing
    I will require some testers when the game is in its Beta stage and will post on the forums when ready.
     
    Here are some preview images some things aren't textured and some are WIP. I'll create a video soon when levels are more complete!
     

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