I'd questioned in the past some of my methods and strategies given that they seemed ineffective though I also realized they were likely going to fail regardless of effectiveness. This was one concept that stood out though as strangely important even though I'd known about it before I hadn't given it the proper credit it deserves. The "elevator pitch" which is how to quickly and accurately convey an idea in the shortest possible amount of time. Now that I'm looking at saving my big title for when I'm more established with a strong background and better talent and throwing out something else I decided now was the best time to consider this. Admittedly I'm reluctant to push my title given that it's nearly complete however I believe it's in the best interest of everyone if my goal is to get it in the hands of many and share the joy and pleasure. I believe that in a year or two I can revisit it with new skills, abilities, methodologies, and tools to make it everything I'd hoped it could be. This simply can't be done the way I'd like it to be with the resources I have now.
Moving forward I'd looked in my little encrypted file of concepts for more mini games that I can make myself quickly and a larger title I could flesh out with ease in a respectively short time frame. What I came up with was a game that would be light hearted and comedic while being entertainingly bloodly and violent while expressing innovative concepts that I'm known for. Though I doubt they'll revolutionize they will get attention which is what I need to get the resources necessary for future games of growing complexity.
So to the point my elevator pitch for the next game was actually how I first came up with it, in a taco bell, at 1am with about 30 people in the middle of nowhere. We were all traveling together and someone said something about you can't come up with a game concept that's any good in a few minutes and I accepted the challenge.
The ferryman of the underworld (cairn) in order to usurp the ruler of the underworld (devil/hades?) hires cyborg ninjas to kill you so he can infuse you with demonic powers to harvest the souls of alien angels invading from another universe in exchange for giving you the power for your revenge.
I then proceeded to rapidly flesh out key concepts of mechanics and gameplay, first and foremost of which was that since you're already dead and half a demon you can't be killed again thus no health or healthbar. Instead the game functions on sanity which isn't effected by bodily damage. They idea being that your mind simply can not handle what you're doing or how you're doing it and thus you slowly go insane by using your demonic powers and your objective is to complete your revenge before going completely insane which inevitably leads you back to cairn since he hired the ninjas in the first place. The game strikes balance between using your magic and relying on traditional weapons. As you use your powers your demonic infection spreads and starts creating blood pearls which amplify your abilities also making you go insane quicker thus you can harvest them and use them to infuse your weapons or use them as currency. Weapons infused with blood pearls/crystals when used against an enemy cause them to crystallize and shatter into weaker blood crystals which can be used similar to blood pearls only to less effect. These crystals can also be used in minor ways to focus specifically on a skill or ability. That is to say a blood pearl evenly amplifies all skills and abilities where as if it's targeted it can greatly increase one ability. With proper alignment and training you can slow the rate of your insanity in general or from the use of a specific spell or ability allowing you to use them more often or to greater effect without any additional consequences. For example casting many spells rapidly can spike your insanity where as over time they're less but you can be trained to do them without causing a spike as though they were done over time and in this way they may also be amplified to do much more damage. Training in basic levels carries through higher levels to great effect making it important to focus on core skills.
I actually have this far more specifically drawn out and I can see that it's hard to explain without completely revealing it in specific detail but I will say that I believe most gamers would appreciate the concepts once they get their hands on it. Right now I'm finishing up an early prototype of the magic menu and investments tree to see how well balanced everything is. As for mini games while I have the ideas I haven't laid any groundwork yet as I'm still back working on the first game, while it's probably ready to go I just feel that there's more to add and a little tweaking to be done but I am shopping around all the same for distribution methods. So I'd be interested in hearing how you'd like to get the mini game and what price you'd want to pay. I know you all want it free on a torrent or something and it'll probably happen but keep in mind my future is based on what I make from these first games if you want to see more games you'll have to make an investment in them.
If it wasn't obvious already, this is where I've been spending most of my time in the silent month of june / july. I still am working on both other titles but I needed a prototype of this to copyright it properly so that's what I did. I'm not entirely sure if I want to shift any real focus on it though as I stated above I am basically finished with both games and would rather push them, but the larger title could ever so easily be greatly expanded and revised to be so much better, specifically in the storyline simply because I'm still looking for a good script writer. The one volunteer I've had wasn't substantially better than me it was more of a lateral movement to a different type of writing I guess but around the same level of quality.
Just one last re-iteration on the importance of a 60 second or less pitch, I had chance at funding twice so far and missed out both times because I didn't have a simple elegant way of explaining the game in a way that commanded more time and attention. If I'd been able to just say something like it's a sci-fi fps zombie game with a focus on destructible environments and laser guns I might have at least been able to get a few more minutes to explain the key concepts more. While that's a vaguely accurate explanation of my game I suppose it's not quite the flourish you'd want to use because it comes out sounding generic, I'd want to delve more in on the story and characters in a way that might relate to who I'm pitching to. A scientist in an experiment gone wrong flinging him into an alternate apocalyptic dimension where he must gain allies and fight his way against a corrupt corporation to find his way home. Still not quite polished but it sounds better yes? actually that would probably be the pitch for half life, but you get the idea.
Thanks for reading the enormous pile of text. I promise a picture in the next post. and less text.
August 04, 2012
July 31, 2012
Top Down Shooter Update July
So to recap minor or less official updates I've removed the wheel scrolling spell concentration in favor of pre-defined sets and more upgrades. I've added stat tracking and a final level or end game. I've been doing a lot of balancing. There have been some graphical overhauls I'm now around 3 or 4 times better graphics from where they were without any increases in processing power or memory needed which I was hoping to reduce but I'll settle for breaking even. It's still not amazing graphics because I am trying to do massive mobs. I think you'll enjoy it though it's not bad looking.
Finally I've started working on the dungeon crawler part of it I'd thought about and played with for so long. I've started adding loot drops and random extensions on various levels. I've added an inventory system and a merchant you visit between levels. The same crystals you use for upgrades will be used as a form of currency. You'll have to buy and upgrade staffs for some spells to be unlocked like upgrading the fire spell to the lava spell. Staffs will be of certain types which determine some of the summoning spells you'll be able to use as you may need an earth type to summon Titan for example not that I have such a summon yet but I may in the future. I'll be working on adding more items and grades to keep things balanced. This next week or two I'll primarily be working on the upgrade system for equipment. It's likely you'll be using more of the crystals though I'm not sure yet if I want it available in the upgrade menu or at the merchant or both. I'm also not sure if I should put a cap on the upgrades to equipment considering I don't have caps on the other upgrades, it's a simple algorithm based simply on how many crystals are allocated.
Speaking of which the auto-allocation system got a minor update adding a little more control. I also updated the mana system a little due to some issues caused by charging a spell in which it would stop generating mana. The concept for the charge spell is while it drains the existing mana first then relies on incoming mana it eventually hits a peak and stops drawing it's capped and the mana would start to fill the bar again. What would happen is the charge spell was still looping the drain mana as long as it was held even after it reached its cap. This was a minor problem because I do have a line of code to drain a small amount of mana to sustain the spell I just didn't set it up to transfer the remaining mana to the bar it was just getting dumped. All good now.
I also made the mana bomb non-automatic to avoid some cheating. Now it will auto fill over time and you'll have to manually release it. I also added a cool down on it to avoid spamming it through another cheat.
I also had a draft for a different update that I never posted so I'll include the details of that below.
The right click spell system is completely redone. For starters it now when clicked rapidly throws a small bomb type spell and if you hold it it now directs energy into a ball where it's being aimed and the explosion ring identifying how big the blast will be grows steadily. I removed the previous system for scrolling the mouse wheel to make lines and cones for your currently selected spell etc. The local wave spell is still in effect which is similar to the held right click bomb spell though it's focused with the player as the epicenter. I have a new upgrade for the right click bomb section of spells for making their explosion larger based on how many enemies they kill and infecting any they damage. Infected enemies explode when killed damaging and infecting other enemies. The explosions from this don't hurt the player. I finished implementing those summoning spells and the stat tracking. I have a set number of levels and a special event for the final level 1000 with a unique boss and the spawn count of every enemy you've ever killed you now have to kill again to beat the game which can now be done. You can save and load progress which is autosaved every other level. I added 3 more spell types and 2 manipulators for all spells. Still no spell combining.
Finally I've started working on the dungeon crawler part of it I'd thought about and played with for so long. I've started adding loot drops and random extensions on various levels. I've added an inventory system and a merchant you visit between levels. The same crystals you use for upgrades will be used as a form of currency. You'll have to buy and upgrade staffs for some spells to be unlocked like upgrading the fire spell to the lava spell. Staffs will be of certain types which determine some of the summoning spells you'll be able to use as you may need an earth type to summon Titan for example not that I have such a summon yet but I may in the future. I'll be working on adding more items and grades to keep things balanced. This next week or two I'll primarily be working on the upgrade system for equipment. It's likely you'll be using more of the crystals though I'm not sure yet if I want it available in the upgrade menu or at the merchant or both. I'm also not sure if I should put a cap on the upgrades to equipment considering I don't have caps on the other upgrades, it's a simple algorithm based simply on how many crystals are allocated.
Speaking of which the auto-allocation system got a minor update adding a little more control. I also updated the mana system a little due to some issues caused by charging a spell in which it would stop generating mana. The concept for the charge spell is while it drains the existing mana first then relies on incoming mana it eventually hits a peak and stops drawing it's capped and the mana would start to fill the bar again. What would happen is the charge spell was still looping the drain mana as long as it was held even after it reached its cap. This was a minor problem because I do have a line of code to drain a small amount of mana to sustain the spell I just didn't set it up to transfer the remaining mana to the bar it was just getting dumped. All good now.
I also made the mana bomb non-automatic to avoid some cheating. Now it will auto fill over time and you'll have to manually release it. I also added a cool down on it to avoid spamming it through another cheat.
I also had a draft for a different update that I never posted so I'll include the details of that below.
The right click spell system is completely redone. For starters it now when clicked rapidly throws a small bomb type spell and if you hold it it now directs energy into a ball where it's being aimed and the explosion ring identifying how big the blast will be grows steadily. I removed the previous system for scrolling the mouse wheel to make lines and cones for your currently selected spell etc. The local wave spell is still in effect which is similar to the held right click bomb spell though it's focused with the player as the epicenter. I have a new upgrade for the right click bomb section of spells for making their explosion larger based on how many enemies they kill and infecting any they damage. Infected enemies explode when killed damaging and infecting other enemies. The explosions from this don't hurt the player. I finished implementing those summoning spells and the stat tracking. I have a set number of levels and a special event for the final level 1000 with a unique boss and the spawn count of every enemy you've ever killed you now have to kill again to beat the game which can now be done. You can save and load progress which is autosaved every other level. I added 3 more spell types and 2 manipulators for all spells. Still no spell combining.
July 28, 2012
Dynamic Destruction
My eventual plans on destruction include terrain deformation, dynamic rule based destruction of ALL objects, and added into the rule set a kind of hierarchy stress system. Simply put if it's in the game and you shoot it it will break apart the only question being how much which will primarily be determined by velocity. More on projectiles in my next post.
My concept is that I'll be issuing a "type" to environmental objects that are given numbers based on their weight and how much weight they can sustain and overall mass which acts as a multiplier for each. Then including a top down addition of all weight to see if an object can hold it if not then it acts as a low level impact and the objects all start breaking apart to some degree. This is a far cry from some of the tech I've seen out there but sad truth is I simply don't have the skill to make the next red faction system. Though I must say that considering my mid-range talents it's not a bad concept. The great part about it being rule based is how easy it will be to update later not only tweaking what's already there but adding in new sets of rules. For example if I suddenly think of a way to add in stress or directional weight which I hope to. Why you may ask? because while an object may handle all the weight coming down on it directly it might fall over or if one side of it weighs too much and the weight isn't being calculated like it should. For in an example of this a building with half the base floor blown out is calculating the rest of the weight on the top floor then evenly distributing it among the remaining base floor evenly to see if it will stand when it should transfer most of the weight on one side to the first couple remaining pillars or more accurately most of the building weight in a steel frame structure should actually be focused on the center pillar/s. Other things to consider is that an entire building doesn't have to collapse sections of it can collapse on their own though in the existing plans this may already happen to some extent. Because it's top down each floor is calculating if it can hold what's above it, my next plan is to probably implement sectional calculations and weight distribution so that the top down is only calculated by relative location rather than as an entire floor. So while some weight will be transferred to the sections of the same floor around it most of the weight will go into the section below it. Still not as clean as it could be or as direct as directing the weight to specific supports but it should do nicely. Now that I think about it (and this is really more of a note to self situation) I could also make it so that sectional weight transference works from the outside in directing most of the weight to the central pillar which only calculates top down and doesn't spread outward...
By terrain deforming above what I meant was if you plant explosives on the ground you can make little pot holes big enough to crouch in or lay down in or if there's something beneath them then blow a hole in the ground and drop down into a subway tunnel to traverse the level.
One of my BIG hopes for the next iteration of consoles is multi screen output because I'd love to put in 4 player co-op but 4 players on one screen has always been a problem. I'd also like 4 player local competition but screen watching is equally annoying. I remember the first time I did a system link to play halo with my buddies and everybody found a way to bring an extra TV and some friends it was a small LAN party in my house. We used to do that almost every week at least once on the weekends and sadly those days are kinda gone. We still play all the time online but that's only because there's not much we can do locally anymore. Do you remember the first time you did 4 player local? What game was it and would you be interested in seeing a return of local multiplayer?
The Edit: In my previous post I mentioned this post, and turns out it didn't really need much revising just some spelling and continuity issues. Yes continuity, it doesn't make sense now but it would if you'd seen it. Anyway what the major update to the above system was the first implementation of the rule system. Right now it's under object interaction and it works surprisingly well I didn't think it would work so well I'd planned on switching it over to like the physics system alone, now I'm thinking the physics just might be an extension of it to handle weight transference and similar. With that in mind my estimated time for completing the system just dropped significantly here I thought it was going to take me a year or two now I'm thinking maybe by the new year or march before I have something launch ready. Not that I would launch anything by then but it's nice to know I'd have a milestone completed way ahead of schedule.
For those of you interested in the numbers. I went from tens of thousands of objects to a few hundred. I then when shooting at them managed to increase object count into the thousands rapidly without any lag. My fps were running smoothly between 42 and 46. The poly count during the object increase also increased by about 60% something I hope to reduce further. My memory usage compared to the previous method of instancing is now less than 16% of what it was, and I am still using instancing for common objects. To clarify I went from tons of bricks that were split in two into a solid wall and back but now the brick isn't split by default it splits as necessary. Right now it's only functioning on predefined environmental object types but that basically boils down to anything that's been labeled a building which works out nicely for me considering they're the focal point of what I want to destroy. Overall processing however went up from where it was something I was hoping wouldn't happen. The entire purpose of this method was to reduce memory and processing necessary right now I'm just trading off one for the other. Right now I'm thinking it's likely how much the poly count is increasing during the fracturing process. Perhaps I can reduce the poly increase and object increase for something a little more block like and see what happens.
A note on a prior post about the top down shooter spell concentration isn't gone. I've arranged it so that concentration is now in pre-defined sets. The cone, the line, the immediate area, the ball, and a larger area effect spell. The right click now makes a charge shot for each that is quite powerful and does more damage the longer you charge. The left click is still stream and does constant damage. You can increase the power of the stream from the upgrade menu. I'll talk more in my next post on the subject.
My concept is that I'll be issuing a "type" to environmental objects that are given numbers based on their weight and how much weight they can sustain and overall mass which acts as a multiplier for each. Then including a top down addition of all weight to see if an object can hold it if not then it acts as a low level impact and the objects all start breaking apart to some degree. This is a far cry from some of the tech I've seen out there but sad truth is I simply don't have the skill to make the next red faction system. Though I must say that considering my mid-range talents it's not a bad concept. The great part about it being rule based is how easy it will be to update later not only tweaking what's already there but adding in new sets of rules. For example if I suddenly think of a way to add in stress or directional weight which I hope to. Why you may ask? because while an object may handle all the weight coming down on it directly it might fall over or if one side of it weighs too much and the weight isn't being calculated like it should. For in an example of this a building with half the base floor blown out is calculating the rest of the weight on the top floor then evenly distributing it among the remaining base floor evenly to see if it will stand when it should transfer most of the weight on one side to the first couple remaining pillars or more accurately most of the building weight in a steel frame structure should actually be focused on the center pillar/s. Other things to consider is that an entire building doesn't have to collapse sections of it can collapse on their own though in the existing plans this may already happen to some extent. Because it's top down each floor is calculating if it can hold what's above it, my next plan is to probably implement sectional calculations and weight distribution so that the top down is only calculated by relative location rather than as an entire floor. So while some weight will be transferred to the sections of the same floor around it most of the weight will go into the section below it. Still not as clean as it could be or as direct as directing the weight to specific supports but it should do nicely. Now that I think about it (and this is really more of a note to self situation) I could also make it so that sectional weight transference works from the outside in directing most of the weight to the central pillar which only calculates top down and doesn't spread outward...
By terrain deforming above what I meant was if you plant explosives on the ground you can make little pot holes big enough to crouch in or lay down in or if there's something beneath them then blow a hole in the ground and drop down into a subway tunnel to traverse the level.
One of my BIG hopes for the next iteration of consoles is multi screen output because I'd love to put in 4 player co-op but 4 players on one screen has always been a problem. I'd also like 4 player local competition but screen watching is equally annoying. I remember the first time I did a system link to play halo with my buddies and everybody found a way to bring an extra TV and some friends it was a small LAN party in my house. We used to do that almost every week at least once on the weekends and sadly those days are kinda gone. We still play all the time online but that's only because there's not much we can do locally anymore. Do you remember the first time you did 4 player local? What game was it and would you be interested in seeing a return of local multiplayer?
The Edit: In my previous post I mentioned this post, and turns out it didn't really need much revising just some spelling and continuity issues. Yes continuity, it doesn't make sense now but it would if you'd seen it. Anyway what the major update to the above system was the first implementation of the rule system. Right now it's under object interaction and it works surprisingly well I didn't think it would work so well I'd planned on switching it over to like the physics system alone, now I'm thinking the physics just might be an extension of it to handle weight transference and similar. With that in mind my estimated time for completing the system just dropped significantly here I thought it was going to take me a year or two now I'm thinking maybe by the new year or march before I have something launch ready. Not that I would launch anything by then but it's nice to know I'd have a milestone completed way ahead of schedule.
For those of you interested in the numbers. I went from tens of thousands of objects to a few hundred. I then when shooting at them managed to increase object count into the thousands rapidly without any lag. My fps were running smoothly between 42 and 46. The poly count during the object increase also increased by about 60% something I hope to reduce further. My memory usage compared to the previous method of instancing is now less than 16% of what it was, and I am still using instancing for common objects. To clarify I went from tons of bricks that were split in two into a solid wall and back but now the brick isn't split by default it splits as necessary. Right now it's only functioning on predefined environmental object types but that basically boils down to anything that's been labeled a building which works out nicely for me considering they're the focal point of what I want to destroy. Overall processing however went up from where it was something I was hoping wouldn't happen. The entire purpose of this method was to reduce memory and processing necessary right now I'm just trading off one for the other. Right now I'm thinking it's likely how much the poly count is increasing during the fracturing process. Perhaps I can reduce the poly increase and object increase for something a little more block like and see what happens.
A note on a prior post about the top down shooter spell concentration isn't gone. I've arranged it so that concentration is now in pre-defined sets. The cone, the line, the immediate area, the ball, and a larger area effect spell. The right click now makes a charge shot for each that is quite powerful and does more damage the longer you charge. The left click is still stream and does constant damage. You can increase the power of the stream from the upgrade menu. I'll talk more in my next post on the subject.
July 25, 2012
Found It
I was looking around the larger game realizing I made all this content, the entire city, every building and every street. Then I realized based on the missions that the players would likely only ever visit less than 1/3 of the city unless they actually felt like exploring. Well I just can't have that, you need to be taken by the hand and shown every amazing part of this city or at least most of it. So now I'm working up those side missions we all love. Nothing storyline critical where you have to complete it, but when it's done you'll have all the filler you could hope for hopefully. This will also be nice to compare city destruction later on. To see who destroyed what and to what extent is always fun. If you have no idea what I'm talking about I have a follow up post on the rule based dynamic destruction system which I'll post sometime this week, it's already written but I'm going to revise it probably because I just finished a major update to it.
July 16, 2012
Free Movement Update
One of my goals for my main title was to include a method for advanced movements you don't normally see in an fps. I'm finally finished with the major work and now only have tweaking left to do freeing me up for my next major overhaul of a key feature, really the selling point. First though I'll cover some detail of the movement.
The basic idea is to include natural feeling magnetism on edges of doors and objects of a height in which you might logically seek shelter behind in a firefight. This was accomplished fairly quickly for a basic result but getting it into a natural state that's easy to automatically get into and out of was the tricky part. Then there's manipulation of that state for using grenades or abilities, items, weapons, etc which was vaguely similar in nature. Then I built on it for grabbing hold of ledges and moving along them for example jumping up to a window and pulling yourself up or grabbing the edge of a building as you're falling then moving over to an escape ladder, as well as jumping between these ledges. Basically bringing a little free roaming to fps. Then I went from thinking free roaming to free running and started working on the system for running up walls to get to ledges, jumping off a wall while running up it bouncing between to close walls, etc. I also for little kicks threw in the ability to do standing and crouched running which wasn't a bad add on if I do say so myself. The difficult part of adding on to that though was sliding and kicks while sliding and rolling then making it easy instead of overly complicated. In the end most of it is automated and based on timing of button presses. For example, using an xbox controller, tapping A jumps while holding it runs vs holding it while moving sideways for a sideways roll. Once you begin a run you can stop holding A and you will continue to run as long as you hold the left stick in the direction you want to run. While running you can click the left thumb stick to go between standing and crouching or click and hold to go into a slide. While running you can also tap or hold A to jump or roll forward. While sliding if you come into contact with another player you'll just automatically kick seeing as it just works out better that way than leaving it up to the player. While hanging from a ledge you can pull yourself up slightly or completely to peek over the edge or climb into it, useful for surveying a room before infiltrating. If you run into a wall you'll automatically run up it if you tap A while running against a wall you'll jump off it or if you're already in air from another jump and you're near a wall you'll kick off it. If you run up a wall and come within arms reach of a ledge you'll automatically grab hold of it. All of these are conditional on the fact that you're not currently taking damage and if you are then you'll instead automatically take cover against the wall. Which you would also do if you walked into it. As you see there were a lot of details to work over, and you'll likely hardly ever notice any of them in the final game...
The next overhaul is to the destructible objects. Right now I've been relying heavily on instances of fractured mesh objects to create my buildings and make them destructible. However it's extremely resource intensive and generally not conducive to what I had in mind for the game. Thus I'm now working heavily on creating a dynamically fracturing rule based event system to destroy objects. More simply having a solid object break apart as it's supposed to based on how it's supposed to determined by what two things are impacting at a time instead of breaking them apart in advance and having them just sit together loosely until they're pushed apart which is basically what the current system is. The new system will be implemented probably as just code making it infinitely easier and faster to work with. That having been said I must get back to work these things don't just make themselves... or do they? More details on the destruction system plans in my next post.
The basic idea is to include natural feeling magnetism on edges of doors and objects of a height in which you might logically seek shelter behind in a firefight. This was accomplished fairly quickly for a basic result but getting it into a natural state that's easy to automatically get into and out of was the tricky part. Then there's manipulation of that state for using grenades or abilities, items, weapons, etc which was vaguely similar in nature. Then I built on it for grabbing hold of ledges and moving along them for example jumping up to a window and pulling yourself up or grabbing the edge of a building as you're falling then moving over to an escape ladder, as well as jumping between these ledges. Basically bringing a little free roaming to fps. Then I went from thinking free roaming to free running and started working on the system for running up walls to get to ledges, jumping off a wall while running up it bouncing between to close walls, etc. I also for little kicks threw in the ability to do standing and crouched running which wasn't a bad add on if I do say so myself. The difficult part of adding on to that though was sliding and kicks while sliding and rolling then making it easy instead of overly complicated. In the end most of it is automated and based on timing of button presses. For example, using an xbox controller, tapping A jumps while holding it runs vs holding it while moving sideways for a sideways roll. Once you begin a run you can stop holding A and you will continue to run as long as you hold the left stick in the direction you want to run. While running you can click the left thumb stick to go between standing and crouching or click and hold to go into a slide. While running you can also tap or hold A to jump or roll forward. While sliding if you come into contact with another player you'll just automatically kick seeing as it just works out better that way than leaving it up to the player. While hanging from a ledge you can pull yourself up slightly or completely to peek over the edge or climb into it, useful for surveying a room before infiltrating. If you run into a wall you'll automatically run up it if you tap A while running against a wall you'll jump off it or if you're already in air from another jump and you're near a wall you'll kick off it. If you run up a wall and come within arms reach of a ledge you'll automatically grab hold of it. All of these are conditional on the fact that you're not currently taking damage and if you are then you'll instead automatically take cover against the wall. Which you would also do if you walked into it. As you see there were a lot of details to work over, and you'll likely hardly ever notice any of them in the final game...
The next overhaul is to the destructible objects. Right now I've been relying heavily on instances of fractured mesh objects to create my buildings and make them destructible. However it's extremely resource intensive and generally not conducive to what I had in mind for the game. Thus I'm now working heavily on creating a dynamically fracturing rule based event system to destroy objects. More simply having a solid object break apart as it's supposed to based on how it's supposed to determined by what two things are impacting at a time instead of breaking them apart in advance and having them just sit together loosely until they're pushed apart which is basically what the current system is. The new system will be implemented probably as just code making it infinitely easier and faster to work with. That having been said I must get back to work these things don't just make themselves... or do they? More details on the destruction system plans in my next post.
June 05, 2012
E3 2012
Thankfully I'm home in time for E3 all this week. Big announcements but a substantially smaller number of games so far than I'm used to. Normally I'm used to 20 or 30 big AAA titles and this year it looks like 10 to 15, which is both good and bad. Some of the announcements aren't for games until early next year, and that is a long time to wait. I'm seeing a lot of focus on the casual games and the elderly and children etc. Nothing really wrong with that though I suppose just not my thing. This might be a little bit of a dry year which should give me all the time I need to really enjoy the normal 3 to 5 games I usually pick up. I skipped out black ops entirely last time I'll skip it again, medal of honor is very tempting but I'll probably skip it as well, I declared my end with the halo franchise and I meant it and from the vid I'm partially glad as such. Halo 4 won't be a bad game but it's practically not halo anymore from what I'm seeing so I'll undoubtedly end up playing it at some point in my life but not before it hits the 10$ or less box at gamestop. Some how I always end up getting god of war, never been my kind of game or series but I got a free copy with my ps3 and another free copy from a friend so I inevitably played it so thankfully I can avoid it till early next year when it comes out but somehow I know it'll find its way to me in the end. Gears of War IDK yet I've been all over the series thus far and no reason not to get it but I'm just not feeling it this time I'm going to have to get a demo or something before I reserve.
I know I'm going to reserve Last of us, it's just looking and sounding great so far and the video makes it seem like it's right up my alley. Dead space 3 I'm a little underwhelmed by but that's just because DS2 felt a little light in the end, though I still know that it'll probably be one of the games I enjoy this year. All these games are set for later part of the year though like Borderlands 2 which I already have reserved that first game was so amazing that if they simply released 2 as a giant DLC pack I'd have reserved it at full price. This leads me to my question of what are we getting for the summer? This summer is going to be dry indeed, prime for a juicy indie title or a surprise we weren't expecting. Almost reminds me of the summer when prince of persia came out on xbox, there just weren't any other good games that summer and it came out of nowhere to blow my mind, that was it's critical success was simply being in the right place at the right time regardless of quality which was actually great anyway. I'll be keeping a close eye to see what comes out that's for sure.
Moving outward don't forget about all the console bonuses going on. Right now PSHome has an E3 booth with all kinds of goodies, not to mention the new X7 club with a few freebies and that FLIRT game which is hard to find a partner for. Konami has some cute new outfits and Hideo Kojima is at E3 this year so I'll be interested to see what he does. Undoubtedly xbox will have some avatar items throughout the week so check regularly. Right now if you visit the PSHome area hall of the elements there's a free "magic symbol / seal" just for visiting that's kind of nice. There's also an addictive mini game they're advertising for something to do with a dragon and eggs w/e it's a featured thing and if you kick enough of these eggs around you get sakura blossoms blowing around you as a reward among other rewards and it looks absolutely amazing I'll be playing that probably all week in hopes of getting some of the other great rewards. This week will definitely be going to Sony not only on the console front but at the conference front as well. They're doing what they do best and pushing a few select great titles rather than Microsoft's approach of spamming good games with maybe one or two great ones. It's clear Microsoft is prepping for their next gen in the next year or two while Sony is starting to come into their own. They're holding solid to that "10 year life cycle" and now that devs are getting better with the console it's really showing and things can only go up from here.
Enough rambling, get back to enjoying the week, feel free to leave ideas comments suggestions and other thoughts.
I know I'm going to reserve Last of us, it's just looking and sounding great so far and the video makes it seem like it's right up my alley. Dead space 3 I'm a little underwhelmed by but that's just because DS2 felt a little light in the end, though I still know that it'll probably be one of the games I enjoy this year. All these games are set for later part of the year though like Borderlands 2 which I already have reserved that first game was so amazing that if they simply released 2 as a giant DLC pack I'd have reserved it at full price. This leads me to my question of what are we getting for the summer? This summer is going to be dry indeed, prime for a juicy indie title or a surprise we weren't expecting. Almost reminds me of the summer when prince of persia came out on xbox, there just weren't any other good games that summer and it came out of nowhere to blow my mind, that was it's critical success was simply being in the right place at the right time regardless of quality which was actually great anyway. I'll be keeping a close eye to see what comes out that's for sure.
Moving outward don't forget about all the console bonuses going on. Right now PSHome has an E3 booth with all kinds of goodies, not to mention the new X7 club with a few freebies and that FLIRT game which is hard to find a partner for. Konami has some cute new outfits and Hideo Kojima is at E3 this year so I'll be interested to see what he does. Undoubtedly xbox will have some avatar items throughout the week so check regularly. Right now if you visit the PSHome area hall of the elements there's a free "magic symbol / seal" just for visiting that's kind of nice. There's also an addictive mini game they're advertising for something to do with a dragon and eggs w/e it's a featured thing and if you kick enough of these eggs around you get sakura blossoms blowing around you as a reward among other rewards and it looks absolutely amazing I'll be playing that probably all week in hopes of getting some of the other great rewards. This week will definitely be going to Sony not only on the console front but at the conference front as well. They're doing what they do best and pushing a few select great titles rather than Microsoft's approach of spamming good games with maybe one or two great ones. It's clear Microsoft is prepping for their next gen in the next year or two while Sony is starting to come into their own. They're holding solid to that "10 year life cycle" and now that devs are getting better with the console it's really showing and things can only go up from here.
Enough rambling, get back to enjoying the week, feel free to leave ideas comments suggestions and other thoughts.
June 01, 2012
The Return
So I was let out yesterday, get home find an old friend in my bed it's 9am so I'm like don't you have somewhere to be? Needless to say they were startled and kicked me in the face breaking my nose eventually leading me back to the hospital where the same doctor had quite a laugh about me just not being able to stay away. So my friend explains to me how they thought I was dead etc and fills me in on everything regardless of the parts I already remembered. All that having been said and done I'm home again for now and will likely be leaving for a short while at the end of the month and periodically throughout this month on quite the quest. In my time away I did work on various parts of various games though apparently everything is still a work in progress which makes me wonder when I'll just sack up and cut the line saying here it's done enjoy.
Moving to something you may find interesting is a complex leveling system that I fear may be too complicated though vaguely simplistic in nature. I'd had the idea since FFX but never had a reason to use it till now only to be ticked when the "chrystarium" or w/e came out in FFXIII though I suppose it's substantially different from either one I may have some difficulty properly explaining it to people.
The basic concept is similar, you have paths and nodes, you must buy paths to buy nodes, each node has a level as does each path. You may only increase the level of a node up to the additive total of all directly connected paths. Each path my only be as high a level as the path prior to it. The cap is based on the central node which is required to buy anything to begin with, its level cap is determined by how much you've bought around it and how high it's leveled. There are 8 categories or specialties with a multitude of subclasses and hybrid classes available with their own levels. Once a level of a class has been unlocked it becomes the central node to a higher tier. each tier is multiplicatively more expensive than the before it. However nodes in higher tiers are substantially more powerful. A character is not restricted to a class and bonuses given by nodes apply to the character as a whole so any "abilities" if you'd call them that, more like perks or skill increases, are available no matter what your setup is. everything is contained within 5 circles which are also multiplicative in nature, the 5th circle is 5x more expensive than the base cost. Items that are in the 5th circle early on are substantially more powerful than the ones in the first circle and the further out you go the more powerful they get. Anything you purchase in a category class or circle reduces the cost of all other things in that category class or circle. Items purchased in a given circle expand that circle and all subsequent circles accordingly and investments in a category pull all circles slightly in that direction eventually shaping the circle to more like a triangle or similar. Each category moves to make slight changes so it makes logical sense that a stealth category might make use of some nodes out of a scout category which is nearby, you see how this might work. This also explains why it is more expensive to move into a category opposite your current investments. Backing up slightly the number of paths and their levels reduce the cost of an individual node directly connected to them, both for a first purchase and all subsequent levels. Eventually an upgrade of a similar type further out will likely be cheaper and that is why there is more than one hp node for example. Advanced descriptions and breakdowns of their cost and relation are shown in a popup box but a basic description is always available. Each purchase of a given node and its level offer "bonuses" to all other nodes of the same type generally in the form of an extra boost of whatever that node is responsible for, back to hp it may be an extra 10hp per node level and another 15 for each node or similar.
Classes and the central node are locked by requirements. You have to purchase every path and node around them and have a minimum level before you can purchase them or upgrade them. You may only purchase nodes and paths as far out as the 5th circle extends at a given time. The circles as previously stated though bearing reiteration also work on all levels and tiers so you can't bypass this by trying to buy a node in a class outside the 5th circle just because you can't buy out any further in the base level / class. Some classes may require a minimum investment in a given category or categories in some cases. The basic idea is that you're guiding a mutation of your body, you build and infrastructure for the mutation to build on and so it learns to more easily understand a mutation of a given type or that is similar to what it already knows or has formed. It may seem like a novel idea or it may seem too intricate and complex, or any number of other things but I thought it out and mocked it up now all I have to do is refine it and figure out exact methods and equations because the free form structure and nature of it is going to require a complex instruction set with no final level cap in theory a dedicated player could eventually withstand being thrown into the sun, though that isn't a part of the game the idea being that I won't restrict a player that wants to become a god as long as they put in the time. Right now I'm working out how to show the circles. The idea is that each circle has a given length and must go to at least around all inner circles and is being pulled in a given direction as determined by the category, so deforming the circle mathematically is to put it simply, and while not necessarily hard it is time consuming trying to get it right so that no circle ever expands beyond another circle while incremented equally some circles are almost evenly overlapping, I'm considering expanding outer circles further or adding a strict minimum distance addition to the circles but that's for the following days.
I hope you enjoyed reading I know it was long, feel free to tell me what you think.
Moving to something you may find interesting is a complex leveling system that I fear may be too complicated though vaguely simplistic in nature. I'd had the idea since FFX but never had a reason to use it till now only to be ticked when the "chrystarium" or w/e came out in FFXIII though I suppose it's substantially different from either one I may have some difficulty properly explaining it to people.
The basic concept is similar, you have paths and nodes, you must buy paths to buy nodes, each node has a level as does each path. You may only increase the level of a node up to the additive total of all directly connected paths. Each path my only be as high a level as the path prior to it. The cap is based on the central node which is required to buy anything to begin with, its level cap is determined by how much you've bought around it and how high it's leveled. There are 8 categories or specialties with a multitude of subclasses and hybrid classes available with their own levels. Once a level of a class has been unlocked it becomes the central node to a higher tier. each tier is multiplicatively more expensive than the before it. However nodes in higher tiers are substantially more powerful. A character is not restricted to a class and bonuses given by nodes apply to the character as a whole so any "abilities" if you'd call them that, more like perks or skill increases, are available no matter what your setup is. everything is contained within 5 circles which are also multiplicative in nature, the 5th circle is 5x more expensive than the base cost. Items that are in the 5th circle early on are substantially more powerful than the ones in the first circle and the further out you go the more powerful they get. Anything you purchase in a category class or circle reduces the cost of all other things in that category class or circle. Items purchased in a given circle expand that circle and all subsequent circles accordingly and investments in a category pull all circles slightly in that direction eventually shaping the circle to more like a triangle or similar. Each category moves to make slight changes so it makes logical sense that a stealth category might make use of some nodes out of a scout category which is nearby, you see how this might work. This also explains why it is more expensive to move into a category opposite your current investments. Backing up slightly the number of paths and their levels reduce the cost of an individual node directly connected to them, both for a first purchase and all subsequent levels. Eventually an upgrade of a similar type further out will likely be cheaper and that is why there is more than one hp node for example. Advanced descriptions and breakdowns of their cost and relation are shown in a popup box but a basic description is always available. Each purchase of a given node and its level offer "bonuses" to all other nodes of the same type generally in the form of an extra boost of whatever that node is responsible for, back to hp it may be an extra 10hp per node level and another 15 for each node or similar.
Classes and the central node are locked by requirements. You have to purchase every path and node around them and have a minimum level before you can purchase them or upgrade them. You may only purchase nodes and paths as far out as the 5th circle extends at a given time. The circles as previously stated though bearing reiteration also work on all levels and tiers so you can't bypass this by trying to buy a node in a class outside the 5th circle just because you can't buy out any further in the base level / class. Some classes may require a minimum investment in a given category or categories in some cases. The basic idea is that you're guiding a mutation of your body, you build and infrastructure for the mutation to build on and so it learns to more easily understand a mutation of a given type or that is similar to what it already knows or has formed. It may seem like a novel idea or it may seem too intricate and complex, or any number of other things but I thought it out and mocked it up now all I have to do is refine it and figure out exact methods and equations because the free form structure and nature of it is going to require a complex instruction set with no final level cap in theory a dedicated player could eventually withstand being thrown into the sun, though that isn't a part of the game the idea being that I won't restrict a player that wants to become a god as long as they put in the time. Right now I'm working out how to show the circles. The idea is that each circle has a given length and must go to at least around all inner circles and is being pulled in a given direction as determined by the category, so deforming the circle mathematically is to put it simply, and while not necessarily hard it is time consuming trying to get it right so that no circle ever expands beyond another circle while incremented equally some circles are almost evenly overlapping, I'm considering expanding outer circles further or adding a strict minimum distance addition to the circles but that's for the following days.
I hope you enjoyed reading I know it was long, feel free to tell me what you think.
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