Worklog for *
Star Rogue
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Now that the C++ Framework has taken off in a big way I am moving the
whole project to C++/OpenGL this will allow me to make a renderer of my
choosing and have it work exactly how I want it. All future products from EdzUp will be via this route, reasons for this new direction is simply its easy to install Code::Blocks and MingW then have the framework and game compile straight away with no fuss than it is to fluff with environment variables etc. I will still keep my accounts with BRL sites BUT will no longer be using them for any meaningful development. |
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New piccy for ya :) As you can see Aradis is on the galaxy map, this is one of the pre-generated systems for the game and loads of others will follow. If you want to see what the new galaxy will look like head on over to www.edzup.co.uk/SRDemo/SRDemo.html where you will find a HTML5 version of Star Rogue. Please note the final version of Star Rogue is MUCH faster than the HTML5 demo version which is there just for demonstration purposes. Controls are in the instructions, however F4 accesses the galactic map and F1 returns you to flight mode from it. For the stats fans out there (if there is any ;) ) the current area is four billion by four billion sectors each sector having a possibility of upto ten star systems in it. |
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Well now you can actually shoot other NPC's, there has been loads of
other bits done under the hood and im working on all manner of other
sections. Currently im adding different types of AI and testing it to get the game as good as it can be and give the best experience for the players. I am also adding different damage effects and once they are in I will be updating the entire demo. On the whole front I am also adding in the sections for player information screens, and the docking screens. Once the whole screens and stuff are in there I will be working on the 'GALACTIC MAP' yes the entire galaxy so the players can then move around the entire thing. The uploaded version is a demo and will be restricted to the starting system, the full version of the game will have access to all the systems and races. More soon... |
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Well I have started the NPC's I can create the NPCs and see them in the
game (same as player ship at present till more are done) I also have a
naming system, a ship ID system and a company name system. All of these
will also be used to do stuff for the new service which will feature in
the ISN system. Those who have played Star Flight 2000 back in 'well'
2000 will know what I mean, on the whole its working rather flawlessly
which is a big plus. Im currently working on the NPC AI so they actually fly around and depending on their choice of brain may decide to ignore you, scan you or downright try to blast you into the cosmos either way it will make for a very interesting game. Once I have completed these modes I will upload a new HTML5 demo for you all to enjoy :D More soon... |
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Well for those who actually have been keeping an eye on the html5 demo
over the past few weeks will notice that its been moving ever forwards,
over the last week we have added the following: 1) BIG space stations - the graphic atm is a placeholder but the stations are huge. 2) Zoom - yes its back, I tried a velocity based zoom but it didnt sit right for the game 3) Instructions - this shows the keys etc for the game 4) Afterburners - these were adjusted they still arent 100% perfect but with velocity lock is quite amusing 5) Shooting - you can show fire shots off into space, at present there is nothing to shoot but this is being worked on right now. Currently im adding in the NPC's these ruthless pilots or panicking cannon fodder are going to make the whole universe less empty they will fly around the universe, sometimes they may even attack you. On the whole the entire game is coming together really nicely and the NPC's are one of the major milestones especially with the combat system etc. After that I will add in the screens for module placement, internal ship view and planetary landings etc. Also the information screens and docking stuff. More soon... |
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| We have a playable demo out now on http://www.edzup.co.uk/SRDemo/SRDemo.html This is updated regularly and I'm currently working on Space Stations and NPCs :) |
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Well I have the HTML5 version data in there but due to use of SetColor
(a HTML5 no no) o get 2fps. Soo I'm now converting some graphics for
demo release ao I can get it to speed in HTML5 and players can get the
general gist of the game. On the whole of it I am enjoying coding the game and cant wait to get more of it in there :) Things I want in are: 1) internals - so we can walk around in the ship or station etc 2) landings - planet surfaces 3) NPC pilots - so were not alone After that I will add all the other stuff like modular ships on set chassis and loads of other stuff I have on my list :) |
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Well heres another progress report for the game, the planets are much
better as well now that I have redesigned the planet using GIMP. What I
have to add now is a modular space station for the game and design the
internal sections of the ships so the player will be able to move around
them. For the HTML5 version I will add the data for the Aradis system as the target doesnt support file loading so I will have to put the files data into the game as code so it can be loaded. On the graphics front I am also starting to add the planets and other images into sprite sheets so that the game will load better on HTML5 once thats done the game should open better and allow the demo to be released for all to see. |
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Well I have added planets to the system now and the indicators for
unknown items and planets so once discovered they will be in the game. On the Framework front I have fixed the FileSystem class so it will silently exit under HTML5, reasons for this is so I can release a demo build for the game. Next thing to sort is some small glitches with HTML5 and the planet scaling in the game. This is a exciting game to be making and once its complete I will be releasing it on all platforms that monkey supports :) On the whole the Unity version doesn't work using the webplayer all I get is a blank screen, under monkey I can actually see the ship, backing and dust etc. Now I have stopped using sprites the game is all working across the board. |
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Well as you know I have created (in my oppinion) beautiful nebula
clouds for Star Rogue (see screenshots below), after thinking about
using Unity for the project (stop looking horrified) I thought I would
test the best part of Star Rogue and create some nebulas. Well long story short I have a system that makes the sprites and then allows me to attach the spacedust.cs script to them and sends em on their way. All is fine apart from in the nebula I get 20-40fps on a 2Ghz laptop with 2Gb ram, in comparison my monkey attempt gets a stonking 30-50fps in nebulas AND I have much more going on. At present the monkey version does look incredible in comparison to the Unity version as I 'also' have to have two cameras due to the background and zoom features. EDIT: well I fixed that to find that there is a problem that the game doesnt play in the Unity web player, after this fraggin annoyance I have decided to say sod it and see about forgoing the internet web game idea completely in prelude to a loverly desktop/android version made with monkey. |
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Well I now have the unstable wormhole in there now this wormhole can
seriously damage the player (its unstable), and if used will deposit the
player to a random sector of the galaxy. Unstable wormholes are
recognised by the random size of the wormhole and lightning thrashing
out of it. I have also added the debris to the game this will finish up that segment of the engine, I have also done the mines too :). On the whole the entire game is coming together now and once I complete the graphics for the jumpgate, planets and get the other segments done I can put up a demo :) |
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| It will play like a 2d frontier/starflight game where you can explore the whole universe :) After the basic game is down I will be adding so much to it as time goes by :) Here is the new Hayclon nebula and a WIP station finally here we have the biggest sun class in the game :D all of this is at maximum zoom so you can get a idea of scale for all of the items currently in the game, once I complete the rest of Aradis I will put up a demo so everyone can test the game :) |
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| Well I now have suns in the game, the image placement is perfect all it needs now is some scaling and it will be perfect :) I have also been designing the space station for the game this will be in there as a placeholder till its finished them I will post some piccies of it :) On the whole flying around in space is soooo fun atm I can't wait for the finished game :) |
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| Well I can now fly around in the Hayclon nebula which is HUGE to say the least. Next I'm adding suns, planets, wormholes, jumpgates, debris fields, stations and trade lanes. After that I can add NPCs and the rest of the universe :) Aradis is currently the only system in the game but its a complete system and its a nice experience to actually fly around in it. Once I complete the graphics and get them in the game I will post a HTML5 demo for you all to play you wont be able to leave the system though ;) |
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| Here is the first images of the new engine in action Entering a half density nebula (max density is very very thick) And a asteroid field :) (alpha issues have already been fixed) Finally open space The first two images are at maximum zoom as well :) What I'm gonna put in next is the star system loader then add more in from there till the game is complete :) |
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After having a look at the Unity system, the whole procedural texture
system we have currently and the whole 2d vs 3d debate, we have decided
to make the entire game 2d. Before ya gasp in horror the reasons for
this are million fold as I will explain: 1) Star flight the game all this is based upon was top down 2d this is the art direction we are using now. 2) with 3d using the original system I could have -65535 to 65536 sectors of space on the x,y,z now this is big but some of the bigger systems are off scale and tend to look a little screwy. 3) system sizes have been increased to -2billion to 2billion on the x and y, if the project does go 3d eventually then it would be z as well. 4) already just last night I have coded infinite asteroids, nebulae, mine fields and open space areas this lends weight to the new huge system ideal. 5) flying off the outer edge of the system will now put you in interstellar space (original star flight) where you can navigate to another system or reenter your the last one. 6) jump gates will now transport you to another system in the game which could be anywhere on the game map, likewise wormholes just transport you to a sector x,y and a offset x,y so you could end up deep in interstellar space. 7) the galaxy map has changed to be like sf2000's where it was billions of sectors across, there will be predefined systems for each race but there will also be procedurally generated ones for the rest. 8) we have a system in place so you can build your ship from components so you can make it as fast or as armed as you like it this is also nice as we also want the player to be able to make their own components if they have the blueprints. 9) The whole project is being coded using monkey, it could have been Unity but monkey is very very lightweight for this sort of project and I don't need overbearing 3d for it at all just paste, move and rotate. I also have EdzUp framework for just this sort of game :) As soon as I sort the nebula density I will post a screenshot atm it looks like we hit a really dense cloud :) |
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Well we have decided to go with Unity in the end for the project, I
have a semi working monkey version as you see but in the end the project
hit a wall. In this case the wall was entities in the game being
'terminated' for no apparent reason its as so the data behind them was
being deleted without required it to be done (the only thing that flags
it is if they are 4000 units from the player and these ships were right
next to the player). To this end I have canned the monkey version of the game and im going to Unity for all future developments, those that are interested to see where it got to can check out http://www.edzup.co.uk/starrogue/starrogue.html where you can find a demo which shows how far the project has gotten. EdzUp out... |
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Well as those that have been following the progress of Star Rogue will
know I have been looking at different game styles for the game, I have
settled on Frontier though mainly because sf2000 was based on Frontier
but with Elites controls. As it stood at the time I wanted to play
Frontier but thought there was two problems with the game. One problem
was physics in the game and it seemed that loads of people had the same
issue, secondly the entire universe was rather empty. After discovering
DarkBasic (now classic) I decided to look at procedural generation to
see if it could be done, after a year of constant work on it Star Flight
2000 was born ( http://www.edzup.co.uk/images/sf2000.zip ). Star Rogue is my next version set in the same vein as sf2000 but with much more than the original game and more complete. As everyone who has been on the forums will know I have loads and loads of prototypes and data but this one is much more further along than any other. Over the last week I have added the Hyper tunnel and I have NPCs started which is about 75% ccomplete for the first iteration with tweaks later. Once they are all in there I will look to then galaxy map :) After all that the BBS system will be worked on and other sections like combat etc :) More soon... |
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Well the editor is complete so I can move forwards with the game
engine, to the frontier end I have been looking at the whole system and
reworking bits. One marvellous upshot of this is system creation is down
on my laptop from four seconds to just over one, I will test the new
generator on android later so I can move forwards with the rest. Next up will be finalising hyperspace, this I want to be like sf2000s where the hypertunnel is shown when going between systems. With this new system and adjustments it has made the hypoertunnel possible :) I still have to finalise npcs and stations but they will make the game almost complete, after that its info screens, maps, dock screens, menus and saving and loading :) More soon... |
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Well now I have a file system made for the main platforms that Star
Rogue is being released on I can save files and load them back in. On my todo list is the edit system for the editor but that will be completed soon. |
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Well after looking at the file systems for monkey which seem to be
quite complete at the moment i have made a system for monkey so i can
add it to my framework. At the moment my framework supports all the
graphics scaling, rotation and colour for the game but minib3d handles
all the 3d side of things. What i want in the end is the framework to handle everything so i have a system in place to launch all my games from :) More soon... |
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Well today I have started coding the danger zones for Star Rogue these
will take the form of either simple nebulae to much more well dangerous
things like rad zones or minefields. On the whole game wise the player will see these at a distance rather than stumbling blindly into them so you should be able to avoid them if its possible. Another thing I have added is a mesh/texture area so I can specify either a special mesh/texture etc for things like planets, stations, asteroids etc it will enable me to add things so the player can go sight seeing around the universe as well this will make up another area for the player to have fun :) On the game front I have squashed a nasty bug I had which caused the game to crash on android devices so that's a good thing. More soon... |
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Well today I finalised the wrecks in the game, these little beasties
will be just items in the game that will be floating in space and will
drop cargo when shot. As with everything in space there is a downside
this (like in Freelancer) is a damage field around them that will damage
the player when they are in it this is the price for trying to get the
cargo. Unlike Freelancer though not all ships will have usable cargo its down to the player to decide what they go for also the game itself will 'randomize' some of the items so not all wrecks will be the same every time you play yup yet another gamble. I have to say coding in monkey does feel rather fresh and seems in some cases easier than max but as with everything there are downsides like losing access to lower level stuff like image manipulation but im sure it could be possible with something but I havent tried that yet. On the editor front all I have to do now is; 1) Danger zones - yes these are asteroid fields, nebulae, mines etc 2) Specials - these are things that dont fit any of the other categories could be things like huge space debris etc. 3) Saving and Loading - always handy and required LOL :) 4) Editing - yes after everything is placed its always handy to be able to move it around afterwards :D 5) Base system information - this is things like the star system description, year it was discovered/settled etc just back story to give the game another layer of information that makes it more fun. |
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| Well after finding this worklog again (forgot it was here lol), i have decided to add another entry :) well i am now working on the editor for the game this will enable me to make all the systems on my tablet so i can push productivity through the roof as i can use my tablet anywhere :). i am still looking for making the procedural generator but the levels designed for the game will allow me to set out a much better and richer back story and other stuff. on the whole game front i have started creating the GUI for the editor which works brilliantly and is portable to things like c etc. Also thanks to Pharmhaus i have an updater system so i can update Star Rogue from the website, basically this means all i have to do is release a game exe and base systems then the game will check on starting to see if there is any new levels available and will download them as required :) once i finish the last editor sections and put the first levels up i will finalise the downloader and get the first system of Star Rogue complete then release another demo :) more soon... |
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Well after a lot of head scratching i have managed to cobble together a
simple data file system to protect my media and game. There are still a
few kinks to fix but its getting there. on the game front i have added cameras to the mix and have started replacing the tired old fourteen year old graphics with more upto date stuff. on my todo list is finalising the npcs, adding space stations and finally sorting the galactic map out. There will be LOADS to explore and alien races to trade with just like in star flight 2000. Galaxy wise it will be smaller but will have MUCH more going on than in sf2000, it will also finally have the back story in there as well. more soon... |
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| Getting there And Yes this is made with monkey and it works on me Nexus 7 :) |
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| here's a wip pic of the generation system there is three suns in the system this is why the planets are lit the way they are, this code is monkey and minib3d |
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Well after spending the best part of a week looking at the code, how it
works and why i have hit a wall. Monkey with minib3d doesn't lend well
to procedural generation due to issues with mesh creation etc. Currently
i can create one planet etc but they ALL have to be created before the
game starts which doesn't lend to generating at random intervals in the
game. to this end i will look elsewhere to complete this particular project as i don't want to continue to fight with the generator etc. I might go back to 2d monkey or once again look to other systems. |
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Well i have finally got around to doing the whole project in monkey
using minib3d, on the whole its looking quite nice at the moment but i
want the whole star system complete before jumping for joy. on the whole porting from blitzmax to monkey is easy bit porting from dbclassic to monkey is a little harder but still doable once its upto speed i will complete the whole project finally. once the star system generator is complete i will release a tech demo so everyone can see it in action :) |