mission: infiltrate. Motivation and finally fixing that problem.

Sometimes, if your stuck on a particularly piece of code in a project, it's good to leave it and have a rest from it for a few days (as long as you make yourself come back to it).  For me, when I have a problem that I can't solve, either, by myself or via the Internet, it really affects my motivation, and that has been the reason that I've never finished a game that's more than hangman or a 5 minute diversion.

I've just had one of those problems for more than a week.  I'd been having problems with the enemies 'line of sight' and stopping him seeing the player through walls and solid objects, depending on the angle he was looking.

 If my past habits where to go by, mission: infiltrate would be dead.   I didn't want to touch the problem or even go near the game for ten days.  But, today, I forced myself to sit-down and try and fix the problem.  Well, what I actually did this time was remove ALL of the code that I was having problems with and tried to rewrite the function from scratch (although, it did take me 3 times to get it right).

The feeling I got when I could see and knew that I only had to change one more line of code to get the whole thing to work was fantastic.  "Great, the project is back on!" I said to myself.

What did I do different?
In the past, when I was in a situation like this, I would have just switched off the development environment and not opened it at all this would eventually lead to the death of the project.  

This time, I turned my attention of setting up the basics of my next project after mission: infiltrate, GP Race Manager(as posted about in this blog), that kept me in the programming frame of mind.  Also, I didn't leave the mission: infiltrate project completely closed.  Every day, I'd open it just to remember where I am, and also I've worked on some other areas of the game, that aren't really related to the game-play, such as menu's or adding new objects to the game.


As well as fixing the line of sight problem, I've also added that the screen starts to go red, little by little, when you are hit by bullets.  Also, for the PC version, the right mouse button is now the shoot button, as the shoot button at the bottom of the screen is designed for android touch-screens.  Screenshot:

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 - enemies cone of sight

Here it is, the beginning of a working cone of sight, obviously from the screenshot, a future fix will to make it that the guards can't see through walls.

If the player does walk into their cone of sight (or their view/sight range), they are set to the alert mode 'kill' as discussed before.

Still hoping to finish this action/stealth game for Android phones/tablets by the end of this month, but it will be tight.  And then I'll try and optimize it for Linux and Windows PC's because the current basic control system works best on a touch screen, so for PC's I'm thinking of introducing keyboard control.

After this game, my plans continue to be to restart my Android F1 management game and also make a small space shooter game.

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.

mission infiltrate: Video Update.

I've made a lot of progress in terms of what makes the actual game today.

As shown in the video below, the game is now playable and the level is winnable, in that completing the objectives (in this case finding secret documents and secret plans)  let's you finish the level when you reach the escape/exit point.

Also, the computers now turn off the alarm for the lasers, and you need to get the correct security key card to be able to go through certain doors.
Also, messages are now shown to the player in terms of what's happened at each 'action' point.

 I've also added a temporary title screen and basic level/mission select screen. Although I still need to improve these and add mission briefing/debriefing screens.

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.