Okay, woot UPDATED!
Its actually a huge update, but again most of it is code-wise and not alot to see for alot of the code :/ But there IS stuff to see for the rest of it
Okay, the item database code is complete. The monster database was remodeled a little too. The engine has a set of flags now which i can flip at runtime to do stuff like pausing select processes which allows me to stop monsters/effects/etc whilst a menu is open for example.
The item database and monster database now both use dynamic memory which makes for a much more optimised program! I cant remember if I said this before, but the visibility list also uses dynamic memory which cut program ram usage down from over 100 megs to 34
Everything that wasnt has now been rewritten to be fully modular. My engine is pretty much plug and play as far as most things go - instead of hard coding everything like loading of images etc the functions take names of templates for most things. Another example of this is the gui, currently it loads template "Default" and in the /Art/Gui directory you will indeed find a folder called default. If someone didnt like the gui they could just add another folder and fill it with their own gui images and it would instantly be ingame and selectable with no code changing required
The main idea behind this is I can possiably add say a normal gui and then a simple gui for people who like as little as possiable on their screens during games. But an additional benifit of this system is the engine is HIGHLY modable. It took a long time to set it all up.. but man im already getting the pay off with how much easier my life is now - for example to add an item to the game i just open up the database and throw it in and there, boom, job done. No code fiddling or recompiling
The modular nature of the engine will peak when I have added scripting support. I'm going for LUA as im familier with it, implemented it lots before and im comfortable with it
Hehe, by the time im done I will be able to close visual c++ and write the rest of the game in one of my own editors XD
Anyway, enough of the boring technical stuff that probably even the most geeky of you are getting tired with
You can now pick up treasure. You approach a chest, hit the action button and the world around you pauses whilst it zooms in slowly on the chest and it opens. Then it brings up a notice of what you got. It only lasts a second or two so doesnt really interupt gameplay bad, I have seen other games use the same system and I quite like it
Here
http://www.melted.com/spectural/storage/Shisaku/shisaku18.jpg
Usually that chest would be open at that point - but get this. When exporting my test chest model i made I forgot to export the animation data XD and further more, my milkshape trial just ran out so i cant export it now XD I will buy it when i have some more money
You will probably of noticed the gui now too
The red bar is obviously HP, the blue bar is WP which is will points, or mana if you prefer. The diamond would hold the portrait of the currently active character (you can swap characters whilst in the dungeon!) and you can see her name to the right of the portrait
The bar along the top is a user-customised multipurpose shortcut bar which I intend to be used for shortcutting spells and commonly used items. I may add more to the gui, im trying to balance accessibility without too much clutter though. There are plenty of things the user will need to get at (not just spells, but certain characters will have special, unique, abilities (i dont mind giving a way the fact one of the characters is a Bard and he will have music related specials) and then theres the summons..) but im going to end up with windows everywhere if im not carful XD
Anyway, screenie 2:
http://www.melted.com/spectural/storage/Shisaku/shisaku19.jpg
Inventory! This may not look like much but damn its eaten so much time! That inventory is actually a 3d object. I had to write my own functions for pasting images into other images and stuff to generate its texture on the fly. I spent like 2hours designing it too XD
I'll give you a quick explination of what your looking at. In the item database there is now a new property for each entry which is icon. The engine maintains a small database of icons internally. When it draws the inventory screen it takes a peek at the item database to find an icon attached to the inventory item. If it finds one that matches one in its icon database then it draws it, else it uses the default icon which is that ? you see. I only drew 2 quick icons for items (and i did it in paint, can you tell? XD) which is why theres lots of question marks there.
I have yet to write a function to draw text into an image (though i now can thanks to IanM!) but the icons will sport a number saying how much you have of that item. In the bottom black rectangle under the inventory will be the name and description of the inventory item you are currently hovering over. Under the word Invetory in the top black spot it will state your money total and possiably how many items you are carrying. Over on the left its going to get interesting - that white rectangle will eventually be a 3d render of your character sporting an idle animation, it will zoom in on parts of the character as you hover over the buttons below that which are weapon, arm (armband) etc allowing you to see what your character has equiped and change it etc. In the black bit above the white rectangle it would be active chars name, level and hp/wp. Possiably stats if i find room XD
Anyway im writing a book here, I will stop because if it gets too big people wont want to read it >> I will leave you with this:
http://www.melted.com/spectural/storage/Shisaku/v07.jpg
A small peice of concept art for a character called Valencia. Shes obviously a robot, but im not saying more about her because she has a particulary interesting story that im quite proud of
You'll have to wait and see! XD Sorry for the quality of the image, my scanner is awol so i used my webcam and screenshotted it >>;
Anyway, as usual I appreiciate all comments and feed back. Maybe a little while before the next update after this, I have some tutorials to finish writing before a few certain people end up at my door with pitchforks and torches >>
[07:16:59-pm] « Sephnroth » you were dreaming about lee...
[07:17:13-pm] « Mouse » stfu
[07:17:22-pm] « Mouse » he was hanging himself lol
