GP Race Manager Editor

I've been away for a week working.  But today I've returned.  While I need another days rest before I get back into working on GP Race Manager, I have started making a basic editor for myself, to quickly edit the games data.

here is the current progress:

NaGaDeMo Game Update

Today, I've been working on my top-down spy/stealth shooter game that I'm hoping will eventually be available for Android phones, flash and Windows/Linux PC's. 

It was meant to be finished for National Game Development Month (NaGaDeMo), but I think because of learning a new language and a few problems I've mentioned previously, the best I can hope for is a demo level of the game.


Today, I have managed to do a little:

• Enemies and objects (such as crates, chairs, ...) can be added in the editor
• The Player now collides with objects as well as the tile map
• The Player can shoot bullets
• The Bullets now can collide with  the tile map and objects
• Fixed various annoying problems with the editor, and added a new menu, to make selecting the tile and objects you want easier.

Here is a screen shot showing the enemies, objects and bullets now in the game:

And here is a screenshot of the incomplete level editor which I'm using to create my levels:

 

In regards to graphics, I've only added a chair to the objects, which can be seen in both screenshots above, I think I'll leave the graphics untill I' need some time out from coding.

NaGaDeMo - No Go

It looks like I'm not going to get my NaGaDeMo game finished.
I haven't had a lot of time to continue making the game as I've been quite ill and haven't been up to it.

Today, was my first day back working on the game, and I've spend most of the day learning monkey and editing the level editor.  So haven't made much progress, game wise.

This week I'm going to be busy as well preparing for a two week trip in July, so it doesn't look good.

But as said in the last post from last week, I'll aim to try and get at least a demo level done by the end of this week. But to do that I've got the following things to do in 3 days:
Create basic enemy movement/AI
Create more tiles and graphics,
Create objectives in the levels (such as destroy computer / get documents / reach point A / rescue hostages).

I will try and update more this week.

Android F1 Manager Game (Day 7)

I haven't had much time again.  But, I've finally completed the drivers signing/sacking section of the game, with todays updates bringing the ability to sign drivers from other series or unsigned drivers.  I still want to improve the look, such as to sort the drivers somehow, but I'm relatively pleased.

I've also made a start on what will be the hardest part, the race screen, calculating the car's and driver's level of performance, and displaying the players two drivers stats at the bottom of the screen, as well as the top ten drivers, positions to the left of the screen.  


Finally, if I manage to get this released for Android, I'd love to make a version for Windows and Linux PC's, and I've been testing various, visual basic style GUI programming languages, such as Lazarus and Free Pascal and wxWidgets.  But, I've decided that I'll use my old favourite BlitzMax, and have started making my own gui library, so in the future I can quickly create the layout and buttons, and worry more about the game programming.

However, at this moment a PC version is just a thought, as the mobile version is hell of challenge, and I'll concentrate on that at the moment, as a PC version would have to be even more detailed, and maybe futile for a one-man team.

Long Time, Decisions. Flash or BlitzMax

It's been a long time. I've had a baby.

I've recently come back to one of my projects, the noir platformer, which I hope to start again (not the level editor, that works fine) But I've got a big decision.

I can either go the flash (and possibly iphone app) route using a piece of software called stencyl, or go back to blitzmax, which means the linux/Windows PC game.

Please, test out this initial experiment (which took all of 5 minutes, so don't expect anything good) and tell me if it loads, or is too fast/slow:

Flash Game Test

F1 Grand Prix Manager Style Game

Here's a quick first screenshot of my current experiment, a race simulator (possibly with management)

Fourth Day (Planning)

Today, I haven't done that much work on the game.
I've used most of the day planning, as I still haven't decided definitely what the 7 games on each planet will be about or if this first version will mostly be just about vocabulary.

The only new part to the game, was setting up a new empty level ready for the next mini-game to be started next week.

Third Day

Well, Yes I did miss one week of development due to personal commitments. But this Friday (my only real free day that I can work on the project) I have completed the first game, the memory game, where the user has to find two similar cards (one with the English word on it and the other with a picture of the object or subject).

I'm fairly pleased, as this game is ready to be used across the different planets, and just needs the graphics to be inserted for each planet, and a score system (which I'll implement across the whole game).

I'm even considering releasing a version of this game on it's own as a resource for teachers of the English language, with as many different vocabulary subjects as possible.

Second Day

So, Friday is definitely my coding day, as it's the day I have free.

Today, I've been working more on the navigation from area to area.

I've included the current progress as screenshots below.

The user can select which planet they want to enter (such as number planet or animal planet) and then from there they can select which game they want. The red buttons will eventually be replaced with a nice picture for each game type (Well all the graphics will be replaced, as to increase productivity, I've just included the quickest graphics I could draw).






I've also started the first game which will be a 'memory' card game, where the user has to find pairs of objects from a set of cards. It isn't complete yet, but at least it's a start. If I can get at least one game completed a week, I think that will be good progress.



I'm looking for someone to do the cartoon graphics for my game, so leave me a message if you can.

Adding Computer Car paths

Well, on Saturday, even though I was feeling tired initially, I managed to get quite a bit done on the game.

- I drew 12 different temporary cars graphics on the sprite sheet (hopefully someone can improve them later)
- In the editor the user can now add the start positions of all 24 cars
- In the game all the cars are now put into their grid slots depending on their position.
- Increased the size of the track tiles,


Today, I'm hoping to implement some basic form of movement for the computer controlled cars. I've been thinking about this yesterday and there are two different ways:
1.The Computer cars looks at the next piece of track and moves in that direction
2. The user creates the driving line in the editor and the computer cars follow this.

I chose the second option, as I hope to have at least two different driving lines for each track that the computer cars follows, and they change between them if they wish to overtake or there are too many cars in the same position. This way I hope to at least stop the computer cars from looking like they are all on rails in a line. Hopefully, if I programme neatly it will also able me to improve it and add new bits of extremely basic computer ai, along each step of the way.



If you can draw, please leave a message or email me at isionco(at)gmail(dot)com

Tired but motivated

I've only spent two afternoons working on the game, but I'm pleased with the progress, yes it may only be a moving car and a scruffy track editor, but my past experiences have helped, from the educational games mathematics and interface building to the recent platforms editor and and player movement.

Today, I'm feeling quite tired, so I don't think I'll get anything major completed, but days like these are used to do the little things, such as add a menu, draw some graphics, which may only be quick jobs, but usually these small jobs add up throughout the development progress, so it will be good to get some done.


As for the next major steps:

Game
1. Create positional array so cars position in the race are always known and they can be put into the correct grid position at the start of the race.
3. Add, basic physics or effects of the car going off track onto sand or grass areas.


Editor
1. Implement starting positions(grid positions/slots) into the editor.
2. Add more temporary track graphics like grassy areas, fences, stadiums
3. Add the ability to add objects, such as pit crews, checkpoints
4. Add the ability to create computer driving lines around the track for the computer cars to follow.
5.

Pit-Stop! now Race on!

Yep, the inevitable has happened,

Since my last blog post I found myself doing less and less on the platform game every day and then every week, until I hadn't touched it for two months.

However, as I have free time for the summer, I have started trying to make a new game, a racing game. My initial hopes involve it being an arcade racing game, but with a championship or career mode, but I'm not making any promises this time that I'll actually finish it.

First I want to try and get something basic working, and then build upon it.

Update,

I've started creating a new about section on the website, Even though I've just started, I hope to include may details of games I've tried to make during my childhood and early teens, such as eh-oh Bebo (who's 'telly-tubby like' recorded voice pestered my parents many times) and Military Bananas 1,2,3,4,5,6.

I have got back to game programming, and returned to BlitzMax for the time being, I'm thinking that I don't think I'l release mobile versions of my games at first, so I can concentrate on getting the game done, without worrying about scaling, memory, resizing, etc. But I will re-access this when I've finished the game.

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.

Switched to PureBasic

As much as I like BlitzMax, I have found the PureBasic programming language to suit my needs more, in that for me at least it has been a lot easier to set it up so I can use it when I running Micro$oft Windows or my favoured operating system Linux Ubuntu.

Also, being based on basic, switching from BlitzMax to PureBasic has been a fairly easy process, with only a few problems learning the slightly different ways that PureBasic does things. However, I have already got the basic menu system of my English learning game running and working perfectly. So unless I come up against any problems or limitations I think I will stick with it.

In other news I've also had some interest in my educational game, but it's only early days.

Now, If only I knew an artist!

Development Difficulties and History - part 3 or 3

I haven't been able to update the blog much over the Christmas period, as I have been visiting family in the UK.

But good news is that I have a new lovely laptop, it's not too expensive but it does pack hell of a punch and can manage all 3D games I have tried so far.

Anyway I thought I would finish this tedious history of mine in the quickest way possible.

...After downloading Blitz3D and having a month of experimenting I knew that this interpretation of the basic language was for me. Unlike my failed study of Java and brief tinkering with C++ and another version called C-Lite (if I remember correctly), the Blitz3D syntax seemed to suit me well, and this was the first time I actually enjoyed programming, with complete understanding of what I was writing and the great ability to see if what I had written was working in an instance.

Within weeks I had created a simple 3D Star Trek game where you could fly in a giant sphere representing the Solar System and fly from planet to planet and even been chased by an enemy ship (but only with six or seven lines of ai). Also, I even managed to create my own 3D models for the first time.

After also creating another basic game with a sea landscape and some island and a pirate ship that could move about, I decided to work on my educational computer game for learning English.

While my initial enthusiasm was great and I started well. Eventually, my enthusiasm dropped and appeared in brief spurts, maybe this was due to the fact that the only place I could receive a wifi signal to connect to the Internet was from my bed, and this was an awful and uncomfortable setup for programming, as I couldn't sit-up as the table was to low, so I was always slouching. This went on for about three months, and I barely had anything to show for my time.

I don't know at what point I decided to try out BlitzMax, but even though at first I thought it was too fiddly, I eventually got hooked, especialy by it's more object orientated language, which is fantastic for me compared to Blitz3D which wasn't object-orientated.

Using BlitzMax also gave me the chance to start again with my educational game, with a new approach and a more modular design, where I keep everything seperate, like graphics, data, each of the game screens, the menus. This has and will help me, as code can easily be changed and new bits added and removed. However, the same problems of enthusiasm appeared and I found myself sometimes only doing one or two hours every week or even every fortnight.

I did manage to get back on track in September, when I moved to a newer and bigger flat, that it included it's own studio and a massive desk for me to work on. Work on my game continued well all through the month of September and for some part into October, and initial fears of how and from where I would get the graphics and music for my game where put to rest, when I decided to make my own graphics and actually found a cartoon style that looked good and I could actually draw (well except for the main characters, for whom I am still undecided of how I will draw them). I also found a couple of websites where people submit their sounds and music and these can then be legally used for commercial games and programs, all just for a possible mention in the credits.

However, programming did come to a halt during October, as financial worries and concerns where at the top of my head and I never managed to sit down and even do a decent hours worth of programming. This lack of work continued through November.

Finally, In December as mentioned in this blog, I finally took the plunge and changed from the Windows operating system to the Ubuntu version of Linux. This lead me on to a quest to find a high level programming language that I could work with on Linux, and then run on Windows.

My initial thoughts where to try the scripting language of Python and Pygame which is designed to help with making games in Python. But this language wasn't for me, with the forced indenting which wouldn't compile unless I got it exactly write and the general syntax and layout of the language.

I also tried some versions of the basic programing language, like Free Basic, but even though I liked it a bit, the lack of tutorials for the type of game I want to do, and the default graphic engine not being for commercial use, led me to try something different.

After playing around with a few other versions of basic (I can't remember all their names), I landed at Pure Basic, which even though I have only played around with it for a week, I think it could be a serious contender for me to use instead of BlitzMax, as it is easily setup in Linux and Windows, and using my dual-boot computer I can compile nearly (if not all) the same code for both operating systems. So here I am now, considering whether to continue with BlitzMax or switch to Pure Basic.

Any other suggestions for basic like and cross-compatible programing languages are welcome.