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Work in Progress / Big ass monsters

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Lukas W
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Posted: 15th Mar 2014 15:15
Nothing is final yet and colors might change. I have not focused on a set color scheme actually, just a spur of the moment kind of thing >.< However I am actually considering to recolor the whole GUI into a brown-ish tone with orange highlights (for example cooldown progressbar would be orange and not red). And all icons will probably be remade into a more simplistic style, although with contrasting colors to further separate similarly looking items.

Having said that, I just want to point out that in the end it will depend on how well I can manage 3d modelling and texturing. If by some miracle it will actually look good, I may attempt a more realistic-style icon set.

IS that a game, a program, or 3 year old drawing.
Duffer
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Posted: 15th Mar 2014 16:45
@ Lukas W,

Understood - still, somehow like those colours...

Anyways, I really think I've cracked those problems with the SQLITE plugin - check out that thread - latest version works flawlessly with your code. Everytime, everyway....

a long time dabbler with DBC and DBPro with no actual talent but lots of enthusiasm...
Lukas W
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Posted: 17th Mar 2014 12:00 Edited at: 17th Mar 2014 12:11
Here is a video showcasing the latest content from v11.


IS that a game, a program, or 3 year old drawing.
Chris Tate
DBPro Master
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Posted: 17th Mar 2014 18:33
That is cool man! Must of taken some time to get TopGUI to work like that. I am using TopGUI in half of my game UI.

What does MP stand for? Sorry I am not thinking very well at the moment...

All of the basics are coming together like lego blocks, it is just a matter of time before the structure of the game gets built out of them.

Gunslinger
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Posted: 17th Mar 2014 19:35
Mana Points i think.
Lukas W
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Posted: 17th Mar 2014 19:39 Edited at: 17th Mar 2014 19:44
Mana Points.
Truthfully I was indecisive what to call the energy source. It could be "Energy", but shortened it would be "EP" (energy points) or just "E".. that is confusing for a player, so basically I settled with MP because at least it is a familiar term in the mmorpg world.

I have not yet started to work on the combat system, however, in the end, every ability will cost x amount of MP and have a unique cooldown. There is no global cooldown, but instead there will be animation locks. Some abilities can overwrite another ability to escape from a lock, but at the same time deplete MP (or energy) faster. Your toon will regenerate x amount of MP every sec depending on class, and you will have to use normal attacks that cost nothing, except for animation locks, that regenerate MP. It would not be impossible to add a stat on for example weapon, that further increase MP regeneration from every hit.

Basically what I am trying to say is that in order to fight an enemy, you must balance between your attacks and dodges so that you are less likely to deplete your energy source (MP).. without energy, you can not use ability and without abilities you can only run. If you can only run, eventually you will die.. You must fight in order to survive, and that is why the first line in my source code is: // if you can not fight, you can not live so that I will not forget my original goal. I want to make it very difficult to play, so that should you survive - you will think to yourself "that was an awesome experience" regardless of how graphics may look.

With that said, I should probably mention that I am not looking forward to the 3d animation part of development since it is the bit that either makes or breaks this game

Maybe I went a little off topic here, but I felt that it was important to explain exactly what MP stand for and what it means to have MP - since it is slightly different than how mmorpg's treat it. And it is still quite a bit into the future before MP actually becomes an important detail.

Edit:
Just to avoid any confusion since I was talking and comparing to mmorpg games. Note that this game will only be offline and single player game.

IS that a game, a program, or 3 year old drawing.
Gunslinger
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Posted: 17th Mar 2014 20:01
PP - Power Points.



Lukas W
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Posted: 23rd Mar 2014 13:18 Edited at: 23rd Mar 2014 13:18
Here are latest changes from (pre-alpha) 12
Quote: "bam12 - 23.Mar.2014
EDITOR
New Features:
* Added button 'store as new' so that it is possible to create items/debuffs at a faster rate
should they be similarly setup

UI
Fixed:
* Effect/item information windows are now drawn on top of all other windows regardless if parent
has focus or not
* Dragging or interacting with window handles on top of inventory window no longer cause
unintentional use or drop of items in inventory
* Now display item information window, and can interact with items in inventory only if mouse
cursor has free target at inventory window (no other window is overlayed, regardless of focus)

GAME
New Features:
* Can right click gear to equip from inventory or remove gear from profile
* Can not unequip gear from profile if there is no room in inventory
* Can drag and drop gear from inventory <> profile, display live feedback if item can be placed
in inventory slot below mouse or equipped in profile slot (using red or green square draws)

Fixed:
* Improved inventory module for faster performance
* Improved distance check calls to player for (hopefully) slightly faster performance..
at least in the long run with many more objects
* Fixed a bug where stackable (de)buffs did not stack. It was a product of disabling Sqlite
and where I rewrote reading of debuff data when temporarily reading from external files.
* Rewrote stats module, now has a more logical calculation (possibly less cpu intensive) and
easier management of variable names (nevertheless, stat changes from gear are disabled, only
buff/debuff stat changes are applied at the moment). There are no diminishing results in stats

OTHER
* Enabled SQLite again, thanks to Duffer for fixing wrapper issues"



Hooray, I reach milestone at 10'000 lines of code (not including editor, which would be additional 2.3k)
Now you are thinking: "lol, so bad optimization and high line count for so little game functionality >.<"
And yes, that is true -_-

I went ahead and tested this on a different computer I own and was pleased to see that everything worked great, and in some instances even performed at a higher frame rate.
But what really surprised me the most was that player was unable to jump.. ?? I don't even know what could be causing that issue, but probably it is something with newton?
I might release an exe file soon and if anyone is up for it, maybe you could report back if player is able to jump on your pc.
If indeed it is a problem with newton physics wrapper I might need to look into using Sparky's DLL or something (since DarkPhysics no longer works).


What is next:
make new color scheme on gui, stats from gear should be applied to actors, make some changes to editor, and then I dunno yet. The cool thing about this "rpg engine" is that it is possible to assign any npc/actor to wear a gear piece (assuming that gear entity is loaded into game, and the actor meet gear requirements) and have their stats altered based on that gear, the same goes with buffs and debuffs. So it is not only player who can benefit from gear upgrades and buffs - the only difference is that for player there is a gui interface (profile window) where he can see crap like that.

IS that a game, a program, or 3 year old drawing.

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Chris Tate
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Posted: 24th Mar 2014 08:54
Quote: "Now you are thinking: "lol, so bad optimization and high line count for so little game functionality >.<""


Not really, there is not much game functionality in DBPRO period! I am finding that most of the programming in DBPRO ends up being low level; assets and scripting tend to shape up the game logic in the end; unless you do not mind recompiling every time you change such logic.

Quote: "I should probably mention that I am not looking forward to the 3d animation part of development since it is the bit that either makes or breaks this game"


What will you use for the animation? I am using Blender; not too difficult once you get the hang of it. I have had trouble getting Enhanced Animations to work with my character; but my modelling technique may be the problem; I have not focused much attention on characters yet.

Programming animation transitions and using character states to determine what animation is playing and how one transitions to another took quite a bit of planning.

Quote: "I might release an exe file soon and if anyone is up for it, maybe you could report back if player is able to jump on your pc."


Go for it!

Lukas W
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Posted: 24th Mar 2014 16:44 Edited at: 24th Mar 2014 16:48
I plan to use Blender and Enhanced animations. For a first draft I will just make something primitive & ugly (boned) with basic animations and see how it plays out in-game with simulated combat. Once I get the hang of it (since the last time I worked with 3d animations was back in 2005 using DBC), I guess I will see how it goes from there..
I would also love to look into live inverse kinematics, but as I know myself well enough - I can't see that ever happening >.< Still it would be just what this game needs since gameplay will (probably and hopefully) be so heavily based on your character and enemy character animations. Anyway, I feel that in a way I have started on the wrong side of this project: where I started work with UI, items/(de)buffs, actor/entity based system, I should have instead started with animations and combat.

Regardless, the main issue for me is with Blender itself since I don't know how to use it. The last time I used it was well over a year ago when I made a first attempt at 3d modelling [link], and looking over it again now I can clearly state that I am not happy with the result. (Edit: Basically it's going to be some long weeks of watching and reading tutorials how to use blender I think)

IS that a game, a program, or 3 year old drawing.
Chris Tate
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Posted: 25th Mar 2014 16:36
Quote: "I feel that in a way I have started on the wrong side of this project: where I started work with UI, items/(de)buffs, actor/entity based system, I should have instead started with animations and combat"


I keep telling myself the opposite; I wish I started with the UI and items first. These elements work like 'lego blocks' and are what make building the game easier; at least in my experience it is far easier to develop the game with ready made UI than without.

Quote: "inverse kinematics"

I am sure you will find a way. I think Fallout created his own IK engine for one of his games; but I can vaguely remember.

Quote: "the main issue for me is with Blender itself since I don't know how to use it. "


The software with the slowest learning curve I have ever experienced; at least it has become more conventional and organized since version 2.5 came out a few years ago; I could not stand the previous version, far worse.

I have gone from not knowing how to select an object and move it from one position to another, to writing my own Blender scripts.

You can post up any questions about Blender here and I will answer.

Rigging your character in Blender is quite simple; it is one of those things Blender does really flawlessly. Most problems occur when the time comes to export it however; but these days the DirectX script engine developed by a fellow TGC community member Chris Foster AKA Kira Vakaan.

Before getting into rigging and modelling your character, make sure you know the essential principles; such as modifier logic and the difference between objects and datablocks.

Gunslinger
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Posted: 27th Mar 2014 11:30 Edited at: 27th Mar 2014 11:31
Quote: " Anyway, I feel that in a way I have started on the wrong side of this project:"


Start with the basic things is what i've learned over the last years.
Shiny and beautiful GUI, Icons, Animations, Models, is useless if you lose your interest in the project after working on one thing too long.

Games are about gameplay, nothing else.

That was my problem on my first projects, getting stuck on nonsense stuff and lose focus of the important things.

But:
You got the item stuff. I think that's a very important base for your game.
If you would do the item stuff later, you would have to change a lot in the code.
Like the stats of the items, are they based on base items, or generated for each item, want kind of upgrades / enchants are possible, etc.
If you would do that later, it would be a pain in the ass. Trust me, did the same mistake in my project.

I had fixed base items, just with a small inventory, without individual stats, and so on.
Had to rewrite everything because i made it later...

So, good luck, like the physics by the way.
Lukas W
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Posted: 2nd Apr 2014 21:57 Edited at: 2nd Apr 2014 22:00
I have not really done anything these last few days, just relax at home
Nevertheless, I attach a zip to this post so if anyone reading could attempt to run the game and let me know if player can jump on your computer. But please note that this is nowhere near ready for a release as there is absolutely no gameplay. I just want to know if player can jump on different pc's and try to figure out how come it can not jump on my other pc..

So yeah, if you have time - let me know if you can jump or not, or any other physics related issues.

Here are some notes regarding this zip file:


IS that a game, a program, or 3 year old drawing.

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Chris Tate
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Posted: 4th Apr 2014 19:46
I successfully launched and played the test. I can jump, drop items and pick them back up.

I find the movement engine very comfortable, at first I was expecting the character to turn as I move the mouse; but such mouse movement only controls the view, which is nice.

Lukas W
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Posted: 14th Jul 2014 10:46
Because I upgraded my computer I started playing games again and won't work on this project actively. That said, it is time to Do some 3d modelling and animation which is going to take a while as i learn how to. In the meantime just posting to prevent thread lock. Will speak soon when an update is made or another three months has passed.

IS that a game, a program, or 3 year old drawing.

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