The Calm

After 50 to 60 hours of relentless hacking at our creation, we've decided to take tonight and tomorrow as a time of rest. We still have much to do, but we are not concerned with being able to get it done by our deadline, even if they are complicated tasks. All the pieces are beginning to flow together. We integrated John's camera with my entity and item code, equipment was tested and works, AI area of effect attacks and states as well as being able to change complete behavior with the change of a single text file. Our design likely has flaws, but we are very happy with what we've done, and I'd hate to sell either of us short. John has done a tremendous job with the maps and the graphics. We are really pulling together to accomplish what we set out to do, and I'm very excited that we've made it this far.

The below video will show this. John posted some concept stuff in the last post, and you'll see it in action here. The first video I posted was mostly temp graphics that I had laying around. I am pleased at the style we're giving the game.

The first thing I should warn about is that we have not implemented collision yet. That is one of the tasks for the remainder of the week. However, this should be enough to show our massive progress since we started. We're currently hovering around 2,000 lines of code. In retrospect, that is not a lot, but it's always a fun metric to look at if nothing else. The light bug AI uses a generic "Area of Effect" module that will charge and attack when the player is near, and move randomly otherwise. I can change this behavior as well as its properties painlessly. Further, I can add this AI to another enemy and change the image, the delay of the charge and the lifetime of the effect without touching code at all. This shows how the AI comes together, and with its versatility, John's map system can easily be integrated.

You'll also note that the player no longer "moves", but everything around it moves. This is the integrated camera system, and what you see in many 2D games but may not always realize it. While the player still moves internally, the drawing centers everything around the player creating an effect of the player moving, while keeping the player centered. The player has a couple inventory items that can be cycled, and are shown in the video as linear, area of effect, and cone projectiles respectively. A cone is a linear projectile, but it fires at a spread of 45 degrees to create a "flame thrower" effect.

I've thought a lot about what keeps me going, and I honestly  believe that because I've been so busy between work and classes these days that it makes me appreciate the time I have to accomplish something. Before when I was discouraged, I would quit. Now, I keep going. It truly is the best way, especially when what you are doing is difficult. This game will not be perfect, but we've learned so much about the environment we're building in.

Our tasks for the remainder of the week currently include:

• Map and Enemy collision
• Linking map switches (i.e. door switches) to doors, so when activating them they correspond to the correct door
• Designing at least one dungeon to be playable
• Combat
• A couple tile textures that need to be implemented such as deep water and lava
• The GUI for inventory and perhaps a couple of other screens

Most of these are simply extensions of what we have already written, with the most difficult being map related items. Tomorrow will be a slow day, but some progress should still be made.

I'm amazed we've gotten this far and are on track for our deadline. One success after many failures is a great feeling, and even better than I can say that I've completed the challenge imposed on myself for my director. With our track to success has come dedication to our passions. 

For now, we have some limited functionality that is useful to a player. Next time though, we should have a fully playable demo!

Until then!