Progress Reports:
11/10/03
I'm finally recovering from Viewtiful Joe and Rebel Strike, and now I'm fixing to be run over by MarioKart: Double Dash!! and Silent Hill 3 (PC)... this could wind up being a terrible time for game development :(
Also, I'd like to mention that running speaker wire across your attic is the pinnacle of "not fun." While the cotton-based insulation is fine to work with, the fibreglass lining the walls was definitely not the sort of thing I want to cover myself with.
11/05/03
Okay, saving and loading files are completely supported from within the GUI. My goal is to keep the number of hotkeys within the editor as low as possible. Every editor function should be accessible from either a menu or icon. Don't get me wrong, I like hotkeys... I just don't like having to memorize them every X months when I return to a game or editor. Or, if I'm on a laptop prefer to hit keys as little as possible ;) Chicklet keyboards suck in a fabulous manner. Now I just need to fix support for editing block attributes, and finish the block repository, and I can move past the editor.
11/05/03
Finished basic water support, but I've also been hitting the map editor hard, so there's more than just one thing going on this week. The editor's nearing completion, which is good news since I'm ready to continue work on the terrain graphics. Several minor optimizations have quadrupled the game's frame rate, which give me a little more breathing room. The textured water elicits a feeling on tranquility over time, and I sometimes catch myself staring at it instead of working ^.^
There are still one or two minor bugs in the block shadowing routine, perhaps this weekend I'll find time to look into the issues. This being the end of the year, time is at a premium, especially at work. Plus, we travel frequently during the Sept - January months, so don't be surprised if I disappear for several months.
11/02/03
Yay! We now have a nice broadband trunk running to our office, so I can listen to Nectarine all day long ^.^ Joyous... joyous indeed...
Started working in liquid support, so hopefully in the near future I'll have flowing water and bubbling lava, and possibly some swamp juice for good measure. The water generation algo is more advanced than the one used by FB, and the ebb and flow of the surface is much less uniform. If it turns out well, I may incorporate it into FB's engine just for kicks. I haven't decided if I'll allow troops to wade into shallow water or not. I'm guessing I'll nix the idea shortly, but we'll see how things turn out.
10/29/03
Finished revamping the engine's drawing and masking routines. Now there's a lot more room to play with when making maps. This will also make it possible to include explosive panels in doors and bridges. Several of the planned missions include blowing up bridges and rock walls. I can't really release any decent screenshots until I get further along with the standard block textures. I only have a few at my disposal... hence all the environments seems to look the same :(
10/27/03
I've been spending way too much time playing Viewtiful Joe. Bottom line: if you don't have a cube, it's time to get one. The prices are dropping and bad ass titles are rolling off the line faster than I can buy them. Life ees good, and with Mariokart, Crystal Chronicles, Tales of Symphonia, and new entries for Paper Mario, Zelda, and Metal Gear fixing to drop, I may need to clone myself just to have enough time to play them all.
10/25/03
Max Payne 2. I don't think I need to say anything else.
10/10/03
I had the renderer for CH completed, but there was a potentially severe limitation that was bothering me, and I just didn't feel comfortable with it. To keep the map sizes down, I placed a limit on how many tiers a stage could have. That worked for relatively simple maps, but I had more complicated ideas in mind, so it was back to the drawing board. This is the first ISO engine I've ever done, so there was a lot of initial theory to work out. Rather than consult tutorials, I decided to strike out on my own and come up with my own approach. I have no idea whether my techniques are in line with what others have done in the past, but once I'm through I'll compare my work with existing projects. It's a great way to learn assuming you have the time to spare.
10/10/03
Getting back into the swing of things has been kinda rough considering how much my coding style and practices have evolved since I first started CH. Certain conventions that I had taken for granted are now unavailable, and I'm having to do a lot of code renovation before I feel comfortable creating additions to the code base. The good news is I've managed to fix a substantial amount of minor issues that were bothering me before I took up work on Frenetic.
I've been away from home for nearly a month now, and the depression is beginning to set in... I can feel it sapping my strength, my resolve buckling under the weight of the unfamiliar environment, and lack of common amenities. To combat this all too familiar menace, I've taken up vigorous exercise on a daily basis (which I stopped doing several months ago), and started working on CH. The more I work, the less I'll contemplate how miserable I am. Gotta love how that works :)
10/09/03
It's awfully hard to work out of a hotel room day after day. There are numerous occasions when I just can't bring myself to open the compiler and write the code that I know all too well needs to be written. So I play games instead :)
The score thus far:
F-Zero GX - Pretty, but falling off the track is @%^!@'ing stupid. I thought this was supposed to be a RACING game?!?
P.N.03 - Swank presentation, but way too short. My right thumb hurts.
Soul Calibur II - Great game overall; excellent eye candy.
Splinter Cell - Controls suck, camera sucks, sneaking around in the dark with a headset that glows is idiotic. I had no idea NSA agents were so inept at killing :(
Billy Hatcher - Cute, but the game feels unfinished. Somewhat fun.
Viewtiful Joe - Perfection :) This is, hands down, the "must play" title for '03.
Rebel Strike - I'm not sure how I feel about this title... still playing it.
10/07/03
I seem to be having trouble with my projectiles. I can get straight shots to work properly, but the arrows just aren't assuming the appropriate arcs when fired. This is most likely something stupid I did last week. Jack Dark, who was responsible for Frenetic Plus' music, will be stepping in to do the tunes for CH. Unlike Plus, CH will assume a more orchestrated approach. I have my hands full doing the coding and GFX for this project, so once again I'll be farming out the music.
The Frenetic Plus Post Production Notes (PPN) are complete, excluding the audience reaction section, which I cannot complete since I do not have any access to feedback at this particular moment.
10/04/03
How to begin, I wonder? It's been a rollercoaster year thus far with the release of both Frenetic and Frentic Plus. The year was also punctuated by a scrollie release and the inception of One Million Ninjas, a new indie label that RedKarma is proud to be a member of.
Initially the idea was to release Frenetic Plus is June, and FB: Cry Havoc in December, but it's painfully obvious that won't be the case. Plus was just released, and CH is still in early development. The good news is that the game itself is relatively simplistic, and the GUI is complete at this point, so the only real stopping point will be the enemy AI. This is not my first experience with complex AI, but this will be more intricate than anything I've attempted before.
From a design standpoint, CH is looking wonderful. Taking a similar approach to FB, CH incorportates various elements from over a dozen games, along with new elements that I have yet to see (although probably exist, knowing how many games are floating around out there). Needless to say, its ultra-smooth interface, intuitive (and relatively fast) actions, and unique gameplay elements seem poised to merge into an extremely satisfying experience.
Assuming I don't screw everything up; or die in a tragic blimp accident. Damn those blimps.
10/02/03
Frenetic Plus is on the server. Lock the doors, and hide your daughters, because there's nine megs of bullet-slinging goodness roaming the town.