3D shooter: Progress

I been working with the control system and thanks to some nice helpers at the Blitz3D forum learning about movement and control in 3D games, as well as some theory about the targeting system in Star Fox (aka Lylat Wars in the UK).

Now, thanks to this great help with working out the movement and adapting some code kindly given to me, I'm pretty happy with how the ship moves.

Over the weekend I haven't been able to stop thinking about the game and have come-up with some ideas for names:

Seren 1 (seren is Welsh for star) Serol (welsh for stellar, could use it with a name, such as the pilot or squadron) Galaeth (galaxy).

Regarding how it plays, I'm considering two game modes (ideally, I'd like to have them both): 1. A survival mode, where the player has to survive as long as possible and random enemies are created, this would be the easiest to implement. 2. Story mode, where the player has to travel to different worlds or environments, such as in a city or in an asteroid field. This mode will depend on how confident I feel in my programming abilities as I am learning 3D game development as I go.

3D Space Game: We have buildings!

I'm back working on my 'on rails' space shooter game.

If I do finish this game, levels will either be in space or above the ground on planets.  One question to do with levels that I've been thinking about are whether to have fixed pre-designed levels or randomly created ones.

The planet levels will be in different locations, such as above a city, in the mountains, above lava. 
So, today, I've been trying to create a city and playing with adding randomly sized and placed buildings in the level, and they work quite well in that once they disapear behind the level, they are moved into a random position in front of the player.

The player approaches a dense city

Inside the city

A city with 'thinner' buildings

3D Game 2013: Fire All Lasers!

I'm really enjoying using miniB3D with Monkey.  Even though I've just started I feel a renewed energy towards making games.

Anyway, today I've got pretty accurate laser shooting (the laser is currently just a coloured 3D tube) and also textures.

If this game does go anywhere, I would debate whether to use textures or just  basic colours for the models, because, I'd like to make a game with a graphical feeling similar to Star Fox (or Lylat Wars) on the SNES, as well as my graphic and 3D modeling skills not being great.

3D Exploration, now with proper targets...

I haven't done a lot of work on my 3D test game today, I've been busy with the lovely bureaucracy of Spain.  However, I improved the smoothness of the ships movement and added some better looking targets for the ship to point at.

As you can see, my 3D experiment is in the form of a basic 3D 'on rails' shooter in the form of Lylat Wars (or Star Fox for non-Europeans).

3D test, still going...

I've had a bit of a frustrating day learning 3D, but I have made progress.

I've managed to get some temporary targets (the red, white and blue objects) and for the ship to follow them, the ship can also be moved using the keyboard or a touch screen on a mobile.

3D, Testing the Waters

The previous posts were related to a 2D space project that I was working on.  I say that in the past tense, because I'm still not sure what I want to do.  I haven't released a game since January because I had stopped enjoying programming due to pressuring myself too much to work on a big project that had become overwhelming (Grand Prix Super Manager).   And although I've been trying different ideas in the meantime, I hadn't put any real time into any of the ideas.


Today, I've started to have a look at what it would take to make a 3D game using Monkey and minib3d.  I've set my heart on a simple space shooter 'on rails'.
It's my first real foray into 3D programming (I had tried a few years ago, but my programming knowledge was lacking at the time), and although I'm still not sure on whether it will lead to anything. So, here is today's progress:

The first screenshot shows a small 3D space ship model I created that currently only flies forward over some land, it currently runs on PC's through flash and mobiles using Android:

The second screenshot shows the a basic 3D ship model in the model editor which I'm testing out. 

mission:infiltrate. More small updates..

What's new?

The mission select screen has been slightly improved, showing which missions are available.  I'm still not sure what I'm going to put in the boxes though.

A green health bar has been added at the bottom (it's graphic needs improving though).  Also, a health pack has been added.

When the player, the mission failed screen appears. A mission successful screen also appears if the player completes the objects.

Also, on a minor note, bullets now pass over low height objects such as tables.

Mission: Infiltrate update

Today, for my 2D topdown shooter 'Mission: Infiltrate' I've added the start of a pre-mission briefing screen where the player will find out there objects. Obviously I'll try and make it look better at another daye.

 Also, I've made some progress on the enemies line of sight, with them not seeing through walls, but it still needs a lot of improvement and I'd like to come back to it.

mission: infiltrate. Slow progress this wek.

This week I haven't made a lot of progress on my 2D topdown shooter game, Mission: Infiltrate because I've been busy in my personal life.  But I'm still determined to try and finish this game.

Not much to report on progress, but, since last time, the enemies now start to move towards the player if they see him and stop when they reach a solid object.  Also, I've added reloading to the enemies weapons and have added some new objects to the game, such as first aid kit, and cupboards (where ammo and things could be found).

I've also started to put screenshots of all games in development here:
http://sionco.imgur.com

mission: infiltrate. minor update

Just a minor update.

Today, I've given nearly every object/enemy a health level, so when shot the level will go down until it reaches 0 and is destroyed.

I've also been trying to improve the game performance for lower powered android phones, by removing unnecessary loops and checks in the code.  The device I'm testing the Android version on is a Samsung Galaxy Ace, which is a low-mid range phone and it's running quite well on it.

mission infiltrate: One Room or lots of little rooms?

The screenshot below shows a new map being made in the level editor. (I'm going to add more objects to the game in the future to make is look less 'bare').

But one thing I'm still thinking about is whether to make one room levels like the one above (as this is turning more into an arcade shooter at the moment) or to have a level made up from lots of little rooms, which could mean very big levels overall while not using up as much resources/processing power on the phones.

However having a mission compromising of lots of little connected rooms would add a lot more time onto the development of the project because I'd have to change  both the level editor and the game.  Currently as said it's very easy to make a level like the one above (if anyone wants to make a level, please contact me below). 

mission: infiltrate. The Start of enemies.

Today, I've started the difficult part of the game, the enemies.

Right now I've got the enemies being set to 'kill' if the player walks near them.
Currently, when an enemy is set to kill, he just turns to look at the player and shoots at him.  This has been implemented today (as shown in the screenshot below):

Eventually, the guards will follow the player, and will only be set to alert or 'kill' mode if the player enters their line/cone of sight.

I've also fixed some bugs such as an incompatibility between the editor and the game that messed up the players starting position and the initial screen 'offset'.

Finally, I fixed a problem with the size of the 'level select screen' where the mission boxes/buttons weren't adjusting properly to the different screen sizes.  This can be seen in the two screenshots below, which show two different resolutions (one for PC and another which is a typical android screen size).  Obviously, it needs more work to make it look more visually appealing, such as images for the different levels.  But that will be left for the end of the development stage.

shooter game: a possible title?

I've been thinking of a title for my game and currently like:

mission: infiltrate

I've been creating a menu system that I can use in all of my games for the future and have a basic setup working for the game, which allows you to select the level or 'mission'.

Here's the current title screen, (it may well change in the future):

Tell me what you think.

Overhead shooter game. Today's Progress

As shown in the screenshot below. I've made some progress in the the game-play area of the game.   Now, in the editor the objectives can be setup, for example:
1: go to computer to turn off laser.
2: pick up security pass.
Currently the objectives are marked with a small red square as shown in the screenshot below, but I'll probably remove this for more difficulty.  Also, I've started to define all the different objects, such as the laser sets off the alarm (and will later alert the guards).

I've also made a list on a piece of A4 paper of all the tasks I need to do, divided into appropriate headings, such as 'Enemies' and 'Game Play' and then tasks that need to be done and are important to the game, and in a different colour other tasks that I'd like to add once the important tasks have been finished.  

Hopefully, this will allow me to concentrate on the core gameplay tasks that need to be done first.  And then I can think about adding cool features, such as lines/cones of sight for the guards.

I still don't have a name for this game.  any ideas?

Concept Picture

No, I haven't stopped and canceled another game mid-development.  I just had an idea for a type of game I'd like to make for mobiles, and drew a rough concept image to help me visualize it.  I'm not sure whether I'll make this game and not sure whether it would be a small strategy or action game.

I'll finally have time to get back to work on my games and my overhead shooter.
I've decided that it will be more action orientated (although I'd like to make a 2D Metal Gear Solid style game in the future).

Android Spy/Shooter Game Rebirth, day 3

Above is a photo of what the game looks like at the moment, I've tested it on two Android phones with different resolutions and it's working fine so far (touch wood). 

In the demo level I've created above (artwork will be improved), you can see a bit of how a level will play out.  The player has to go into the room at the top, where there are computers and find the right one to switch of the laser.  The laser blocks the entrance to the room at the bottom which has a desk with an ID card that will open the doors in the small room to the right which leads to the exit.

I'm still undecided on whether the game will be more about stealth or just full on action. 

Android Spy/Shooter Game Rebirth, Day 2.

This weekend I'm still not at home, so I haven't got a great deal done on my overhead shooter game.  But today I've added collisions with objects and the beginning of the bullets class, and tried to make an organized list of what needs to be done.

End of summer. Back to Work

After mentioned in the previous post, I haven't been able to do any programming over the last two months because of work and family commitments.

But, today I've got back to work, I've gone over and restarted the overhead shooter/spy game for Android using processing.org. 

I've redone collisions with the tilemap and setup the starting position of the player properly as defined in the level editor.

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.