AggrorJorn

The first brainstorm ends in 5 hours. Based on the brainstorm I will make a large poll (for the project members only). This will eliminate severall ideas. Beforehand I can tell you that not everyone will like all the decisions that will follow. After all the polls have returned I can make a first report, meaning: the first basics will be documented. A second brainstorm will then be active for 2 days to address new or forgotten feautures. The programming and design brainstorm can best be used once the 2nd brainsorm has finished. This finetunes the game design document. This weekend will then be the first time we start making stuff. Then we will make use of a project server/website to maintain tasks and planning related stuff.

Bugs Since the last blog I have been spending most of my time trying to find and solve bugs. There is a nasty one which causes a memory error. But it is not always present in every single playthrough. Firing I started working on the firing mechanism. That didn't go as smooth as I had hoped. Especially my particles looked really boring. After a couple of days, I decided to remove them for now. Bunkers, canons and Sniper tower can succesfully fire. Rotation and good particles are added later. The main point is that their firing mechanism works. The sniper tower is the most peculiar of them all. I wanted to make a bullet trail and went for an unusual approach. I created a cylinder, which I align to the enemy that is locked. The cylinder gets stretched as long as the distance between the tower and the enemy. This doesn't work entirely correct but for now I am satisfied. WaveManager The most important class is the Wave Manager. It stores all the enemies, time counters, waves and subwaves. Adding waves is fairly simple now: //Create all the subwaves for wave 1[/left] [left]//Enemy, Spawn time, amount, time till next subwave, path object SubWave subWave0_0 = new SubWave("crawler", 1, 4, 5, path); SubWave subWave0_1 = new SubWave("crawler", 0.5f, 8, 5, path); SubWave subWave0_2 = new SubWave("crawler", 0.1f, 12, 5, path); //Create all the subwaves for wave 2 SubWave subWave1_0 = new SubWave("crawler", 1, 10, 5, path); SubWave subWave1_1 = new SubWave("crawler", 0.2f, 10, 5, path); SubWave subWave1_2 = new SubWave("crawler", 0.1f, 40, 5, path); //add the subbwaves to the wave1[/left] [left]//time till next wave Wave wave0 = new Wave(1); wave0.Add(subWave0_0); wave0.Add(subWave0_1); wave0.Add(subWave0_2); wave0.CalculateWaveTotalTime(); //add the subbwaves to the wave1 Wave wave1 = new Wave(1); wave1.Add(subWave1_0); wave1.Add(subWave1_1); wave1.Add(subWave1_2); wave1.CalculateWaveTotalTime(); //Create a WaveManager[/left] [left]//Extra time between waves, camera WaveManager waveManager = new WaveManager(0, camera); waveManager.Add(wave0); waveManager.Add(wave1); waveManager.CalculateTotalGameTime(); Sound I added severall sound effects, some music and some voice overs. I hope you like them. Demo You can donwload a first demo from the asses store: http://www.leadwerks...nt-madness-wip/

I assume the objects are linked correctly? Parent and child etc.

You are invited to the google docs folder. If there are problems with accessing files. Let me know

The google docs folder is set up. To keep anoverview I have made a new topic (I hope you don't mind DigitalHax). Please send a private message (name, email, skills) if you want to join. http://www.leadwerks...munity-project/

Project Midnight Salsa ####################################################### Info ####################################################### Making a game with community is quite the challenge. Lets see what we can make as a team. Our first rule: Lets keep it simple. No complex gameplay, not trying to be a 'unique' game. Just simple gaming. Second rule: having fun and perhaps also learning something. Deadline for 1st tech demo 30 July 2012 Language C++ and LUA Genre First Person Shooter Date/Style Modern Game Target Tech demo subway station Features Weapons: melee, handguns, shotguns, machine guns, rifles etc. Monsters, zombies and spooky supernatural enemies Goal: Getting to your destination Wasteland setting with underground locations. ####################################################### How do we work? - Project Wiki - Project Forum - Google docs for brainstorming - Google drive for asset management - SVN for Source control. https://twitter.com/AggrorLeadwerks

I think we can say in advance that we wont reach the level of amnesia. Although a horror game is nice, I think you need a good story. Something that is very difficult if it is done properly. With LE you can make the setting, place scary sounds randomly etc. But tweaking all that and making it interessting for the player to play: thats really difficult. Personally my choice is a simple zombie shooter. Lets first try that before we try something more difficult. We can always expand from there on out.

This is a must watch:

Penumbra series and amnesia work on an insanity AI. The more scared you are, the more you are seeing and hearing things. Stage 1: normal Stage 2: Random wood squeaking stage 3: Louder breathing of the player, spiders, rats, bug Stage 4: Dizzy view, even louder breathing, screams and talking to yourself Stage 5: Loudest breathing, slower walking, seeing things (hanging people, walking monsters, limbs, blood, text on walls) Stage 6: Talking to yourself and Sound disorientation The last stage is the most briljant of them all: The player has a sound listener attached to itself. The listener is responsible for hearing where audio comes from. Normally you hear sound to the left in your left speaker etc. But when very scared, the listener starts to rotate in random angles. This results in hearing (scary) sound from a different direction. eg. sound coming from left in front of you, now comes from above and behind you. You become completely disoriented. You will start looking behind you more often and become paranoid as hell. Sound is very important (if not the most) in horror games. Actual Amnesia experience: I remember when I heard an icy scream, I looked behind me, but there was nothing there. When I looked back to my original position there was an enemy right in front me. (It had spawned there during my rotation!! Awesome stuff right?). I literary punched my screen. Never did I get so scared in a game.

Is it okay if I make a new Topic for this? I can add all the names and general info there.

@red octobor: Exactly what Rick says. No big documents are being typed. Just some simple drawing and brainstorming with multiple people. @Rick: Good point about the large terrain. I didn't necessarily mean that we would have to fill the entire terrain, but merely have a large view. Still working on a small mall 256x256 is indeed a better idea. We are getting more input of which can kind of game its going to be, although this is not conclusive right now: What have we got at the moment: Environment: Deserted, wasteland, broken buildings Genre: First person shooter. Type: Survival -> from A to B I will set up a google docs folder and Invite those who are interessted.

Brainstorming about this is easier if we have access to some sort of chat tool, with some planning. I would recommend (for now) Google docs, that every one can access (on invite). @DigitalHax, can you make a list of people who want to join? I can send them an invite to the collaboration website. If anyone has suggestions on websites that can be used as a tool, please report them here. thanks

I like that idea DigitalHax. The only thing I would like to add to that is that we make use of the most powerfull features off LE: Large terrain Outdoor Dynamic weather, night/day cycle (Lighting) Rich vegetation Inspiration sources: Book of Eli (movie) The last road Rage () Fallout () Also agreeing with Flexman. Walking and shooting people would be a nice start.

have you tried: object.model:FindChild("Outer")

A community project is allways welcome. I have been team leader for teams existing out 6 people a couple of times. I like scheduling, planning, assigning tasks and creating a good overview. Like said by others: leadership is essential. No doubt the people involved in this project are willing to do their best, simply because he/she needs to have a copy of Leadwerks. I would be interessted in managing: setting up communication, control of documentation, creating tasks. Don't ge tme wrong: it's not the making of the game that is the challenge, it is the working together. I am used to work via Scrum or in sprint based systems. Lets say we would all be in a chatroom: Sprint 1 - Set up 1. Brainstorming session 1: Global game concept Genre (FPS, Strategy, Hack and slash) core gameplay mechanics (ea: running, crouching, phrone, jumping, weapon selection, weapon shooting, killling enemies, vehicles, upgrading, conversation etc. ) 2. Brainstorming session 2: Group deviding and Sub teamleaders Leaders Programming Level Design Art Music [*]Documentation Tools Tools for documentation Tools for progress Tools for task control [*]Documentation Global game info (short document on game genre, core mechanics, targets, rules of the project) Game design (gameplay, animation, level design, Color schemes, characters) Game technology (the working off inventory, upgrading, AI. Classes and game structure in generall) Story, interaction (depending on) [*]Media management Models Maps Textures Art Code Storage, backup, syncing Sprint 2 - Concepts and prototypes 1. Paper prototyping round 1 Brainstorm about small prototypes: aka character control, inventory, driving, enemies Creating art work Evaluating progress and making up a first balance. Redefining direction and adjusting project flow (task management, adjusting game design documentation). Creating first prototypes and level designs. Have to be tested and evaluated by the entire team for feedback 2. Paper prototyping round 2 Fine tuning prototypes and level designs Preparing code for injection in main project Sprint 3 - Main project Setting up the main project: Programming (Solution) Art Directory (models, sounds) Levels/maps Sprint 4 - Evaluation and finetuning Testing, bug reporting Fine tuning Some more testing...(a lot) That roughly sums it up. I might have forgotten some points, but out the top of my head, thats how I would go to work.

Hmm odd, Double directional light maybe?

I am very interessted in the shader editor. Perhaps I see this the wrong way, but it seems like the shader editor is an ultimate tool to learn OPEN GL.

My thoughts Exactly. Perhaps replacing it with another character. The character can then also define its scope. For example: private: script.state =false$ bool public : script.state =false€bool Still, the idea of exposing the Lua variables to a Type is pretty cool.

The functions look really clear. @Rick:You are saying that the commented variables are converted to actual useable variables? I thought it was just an explanation and that those '--' were just added as a comment.

This is not possible. The editor can only load gmf. The tools to convert fbx, obj etc to gmf come with the SDK.

Very interessting and cool stuff. Really inspiring. Can't wait for the second blog.

Third possible way: If the player's weapon is too close to an object, point it upwards so that you can't fire. Sort of like in Crysis 2.

Also regarding your first statement: Don't hesitate to ask questions! That's why we are here for at werkspace. Have fun creating..

This option was, unfortunately, removed due to a problem with Physics.

Building selection A little update on the building placement. You can scroll with your mousewheel to select a different tower. I made the following code to cycle through the towers: //Mouse wheel checking m = LE.MouseZ(); if (prevM < m) { selectionID++; if (selectionID > 4) { selectionID = 0; Console.WriteLine("now 0"); } SetNewCurrentTempTower(); } else if (prevM > m) { selectionID--; if (selectionID < 0) { selectionID = 4; Console.WriteLine("now 4"); } SetNewCurrentTempTower(); } prevM = LE.MouseZ(); Range ring Instead of creating a decal I thought it would be nice to display some rotating meshes to show the range of a tower. At the moment the meshes are not being adjusted by the terrain height but that is something on the to-do list. One thing I noticed was that the FPS dropped heavily when using this range ring. A loop was interfering with the process causing a lot of unnecessary instances being created. Firing towers I made a small beginning with the tower's firing mechanism. Towers are now able to lock on to a target if it is within range. The bunker and sniper tower are the only towers with a working firing mechanism. The canon and the flamer use rotation and have extra calculations for damage, rotation and area impact.