Created a weather engine

Today, I haven't had much time to get into any serious programming, so I used the little time I had to try some not so important stuff in the game. So today, I created a simple weather engine, that can be used to create snow and rain effects (and maybe more to be added) for the game. It works quite well, and will definitely look better with some nicer rain and snow graphics.

I've also used the time to change tiny bits of code to make them either more efficient or more readable, which I like to do when I only have half an hour free to do programming.

Level-Editor

Well since I've got home from work (10:00pm), I've spent the night working on the level editor. It's now 02:12

It works a lot better now.
I've added the ability to create a new level with the user selecting the width and height of the level before they create it.
Also, I've added the ability to load and save to different files before starting and during the level editor running.

My level editor code is extremely messy, and unorganized, but I'm not to bothered about this, as it only consists of two files. It's the game that needs to be neat and organized and so far the basics framework I've started for it is.

gravity works! game codename: in darkness...

It's only a couple of minutes since the previous post, but I'm quite happy with the simple physics and gravity I've implemented. Basically, I've created a character class, and have given the man basic movement and gravity, so he can currently move, jump and will fall if he go's off the building.

Level editor

Ok, I've had a bit of a busy week, with preparing my students in my real job for exams, so I haven't had much time to work on the game.

But what I have done, is re-written the level editor slightly, and created some temporary tiles and stolen a character graphic from another game just for temporary purposes to see what the game could look like.

Here is a screenshot of the current progress, showing a character falling from the sky (as there is no collision detection yet) and the tilemap working

Level-Editor

Even though I haven't decided on the exact type of game that I'm going to make, I have several rough plans and ideas, and no it's probably going to be tile-based, so I've decided to make a rough level editor, nothing to fancy, just something that can read from a tilemap image and change the tiles when the user clicks on one.

The basics are finished, but I've yet to implement a scrolling map view, file select to choose which file to edit or edit the level size without opening the files separately.





I know it's only taken me an afternoon to get to this point, but I'm relatively pleased, as I plan to make some tile-based games, such as a platformer, over-head and puzzle games, as well as the main game I'm going to focus on.

Framework

First things first, and that's to create my own framework, or modules for common things that will be used in all my games, such as I have a graphics module, a navigation module to provide a simple navigation template where screens or levels can easily be inserted into games, and also a navigation bar that is easily editable and inserted into any screen.

RE-LOAD!

As you can see from the dates on the previous blog entries, I haven't updated in a while.

Well for 2010, I've decided to start from scratch, so I've removed the old website and put a temporary intro page until I have some work to show, I've also designed a new pixel type logo, which I like better than the old one.

What's new on the development side?.
Well I've decided to move back to Blitz and BlitzMax not just because it's fun, but I found PureBasic just to fiddly from things that should be simple such as moving from a windowed screen to a fullscreen. However, I think I may use it again if I want to make an editor for a game level or an editor to help edit game data.

Speaking of games. Even though I did get quite a few of the mini-games working in my educational software, through lack of motivation and the fact that I have no money to purchase the type of images, art and animations that I think the software would need (as I can't find enough royalty free images) I have decided to put my educational game on hold. Maybe, I will pick it up one day in the future. At least I will have a working demo to show others and a base to start on.

I have decided to make a game that I want, a game that I WOULD WANT TO PLAY.
I have got a good idea and have nearly finished my design documents, and have found myself coming up with what appear to be good ideas at the unusual times.

I haven't decided on what game to make yet, but I've been playing with a few ideas and made a couple of demos.