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The Kingdom Of Soul


Pixel Perfect
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Progress continues with my mini game. I now have the interface fully operational supporting a full inventory system with configurable screens and support for storing, inspecting, selection and removal of game world items. All pickable world items and associated data are fully configurable outside of my engine giving maximum flexibility.

 

Below is a screen shot of the Inventory Screen with an item selected and the Inspect Icon clicked revealing the Inspection Screen and Item text:

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Intel Core i5 2.66 GHz, Asus P7P55D, 8Gb DDR3 RAM, GTX460 1Gb DDR5, Windows 7 (x64), LE Editor, GMax, 3DWS, UU3D Pro, Texture Maker Pro, Shader Map Pro. Development language: C/C++

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So you have an external program that makes it easier to edit ingame options for objects? Like name settings, what the player thinks about the object, were the object can be used for. Stuff like that?

 

Effectively yes. The external editor isn't written yet but very easily could be. It would be nice eventually to have an editor handle the entire screen layout and save a config file that just gets loaded by the engine. But it's not exactly hard to define it now to be honest! About 20 lines of code is all you need to add to define all of the inventory interface.

 

Each pickable game object has a unique numeric identifier assigned to it, a game object type and a name. The book in the inventory slot above has the type 'readable' for instance indicating that it contains text that can be displayed.

 

A separate text file contains sets of data for each unique item number, including a short description used when moving the mouse over the inventory slots and a second text block which can be of any size. However you lay the text out will be how it appears on the inspect screen (as shown in the previous screen shot). So this allows for fast input of text data. The screen allows scrolling of text line by line using the arrow keys or page by page using PageUp and Page down (although these are completely configurable externally too in my engine). It's all loaded and indexed by my engine for fast retrieval.

 

All of the screens are completely configurable. You simply design an image for the screen and add it to the screen object collection specifying things like the start position, width and height etc. Selectable images for icons can be added and screens can be designated as containers with configurable slot layouts. The draw order can be individually specified too. Support is provided for a custom cursor and all mouse over support is provided automatically.

 

It's all packaged up into a single User Interface Manager module and it should be fairly easy to expand this to cater for skinned menu systems too, but I have yet to code that.

 

It's been a rush as this has all been coded this month but I'm really pleased with the way its come together.

Intel Core i5 2.66 GHz, Asus P7P55D, 8Gb DDR3 RAM, GTX460 1Gb DDR5, Windows 7 (x64), LE Editor, GMax, 3DWS, UU3D Pro, Texture Maker Pro, Shader Map Pro. Development language: C/C++

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Very nice Pixel, I hope you keep this forum thread updated on your progress, it's looking great so far, and it sounds like you have a nice system designed as well.

Thanks Paul, I'll try and maintain this thread as the game develops. I'll see if I can put a video together of this in action as static images don't really do it justice!

 

I'm still not sure if I'll have a working game up and running by the end of the month as I still have so much more to do but it's been worth it for the experience alone and I will keep going until I have a playable release available for people to download.

Intel Core i5 2.66 GHz, Asus P7P55D, 8Gb DDR3 RAM, GTX460 1Gb DDR5, Windows 7 (x64), LE Editor, GMax, 3DWS, UU3D Pro, Texture Maker Pro, Shader Map Pro. Development language: C/C++

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As promised a video of the new interface in action. Best viewed by double clicking on it to get to my You Tube page and selecting 720p and double clicking again to get the large screen:

 

 

Unfortunately the conversion from 1024x768 to 1080x720 has resulted in some blurring of the text. It looks crystal clear in the game itself.

 

I'm off to North Wales for the next four days to enjoy the great weather we are having here but will be hopefully be continuing development from next Monday.

Intel Core i5 2.66 GHz, Asus P7P55D, 8Gb DDR3 RAM, GTX460 1Gb DDR5, Windows 7 (x64), LE Editor, GMax, 3DWS, UU3D Pro, Texture Maker Pro, Shader Map Pro. Development language: C/C++

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Guest Red Ocktober

verrrry verrrry nice... except for one thing (you're probably working on it)...

 

there's no lighting effects from the fire... it's a great looking scene with this exception, and i think it's add sooooo much to the ambiance and mood that the scene sets...

 

props on the ui...

 

--Mike

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Thanks Mike and yes you're quite right there is no lighting in that scene as I have yet to start the level design. Didn't seem much point until I'd got the game mechanics working. I'm hoping to devote a couple of days to the level design and a couple more to the AI :)

Intel Core i5 2.66 GHz, Asus P7P55D, 8Gb DDR3 RAM, GTX460 1Gb DDR5, Windows 7 (x64), LE Editor, GMax, 3DWS, UU3D Pro, Texture Maker Pro, Shader Map Pro. Development language: C/C++

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After four solid days of converting hundreds of assets I am now finally starting the level design. Unfortunately, I've really under estimated how long this was going to take and as such now stand no chance of finishing the game by the end of the month as I still have to complete the level design, configure all the path finding and write the AI scripts for the NPCs and the overall game play logic. However, it has been a fascinating journey and I've learnt a lot having designed a UI and Inventory system from scratch and got that working. I will hopefully have finished the initial level design and have NPCs walking around it by Sunday.

 

Despite clearly failing to complete a game in a month I will continue with this project now and finish it, releasing a playable demo as soon as I get there.

 

It just leaves me to wish Brent the best of luck as I think he is the only person left in the competition now.

 

If I get the NPCs up and running on the weekend then I'll probably post a short video but in the meantime here is a quick screenshot of some of the level design I started today:

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Intel Core i5 2.66 GHz, Asus P7P55D, 8Gb DDR3 RAM, GTX460 1Gb DDR5, Windows 7 (x64), LE Editor, GMax, 3DWS, UU3D Pro, Texture Maker Pro, Shader Map Pro. Development language: C/C++

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Looks great man! Unfortunately I'm a little behind as well. That said, I should have a playable demo done by the end of the "competition". :) Worst case it'll be a couple of days late. Thankfully the MAGIAM rules are closer to guidelines. :(

There are three types of people in this world. People who make things happen. People who watch things happen. People who ask, "What happened?"

Let's make things happen.

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Thanks Brent. Great to hear you are still on course. Looking forward to seeing your entry :)

 

With hindsight I set my sights a little too high given the time scales, but hey ... it's all a valuable learning experience!

Intel Core i5 2.66 GHz, Asus P7P55D, 8Gb DDR3 RAM, GTX460 1Gb DDR5, Windows 7 (x64), LE Editor, GMax, 3DWS, UU3D Pro, Texture Maker Pro, Shader Map Pro. Development language: C/C++

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An in game shot with female NPC. I'm going to test out the pathfinding before going much further with the Level design. Should have her walking around in this scene tonight hopefully!

post-51-0-46778700-1304095118_thumb.jpg

Intel Core i5 2.66 GHz, Asus P7P55D, 8Gb DDR3 RAM, GTX460 1Gb DDR5, Windows 7 (x64), LE Editor, GMax, 3DWS, UU3D Pro, Texture Maker Pro, Shader Map Pro. Development language: C/C++

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Thanks Krankzinnig and don't worry, I fully intend to finish this. Too much work has gone into it to not do so ;)

 

I've just dropped the scene into my engine editor for the first time and generated some navArea data for pathfinding. Takes only seconds and shows the advantage of spending time developing good toolsets:

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Intel Core i5 2.66 GHz, Asus P7P55D, 8Gb DDR3 RAM, GTX460 1Gb DDR5, Windows 7 (x64), LE Editor, GMax, 3DWS, UU3D Pro, Texture Maker Pro, Shader Map Pro. Development language: C/C++

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lol ... as he chases all the women round the square at three times normal animation speed ... that brings back memories ;)

Intel Core i5 2.66 GHz, Asus P7P55D, 8Gb DDR3 RAM, GTX460 1Gb DDR5, Windows 7 (x64), LE Editor, GMax, 3DWS, UU3D Pro, Texture Maker Pro, Shader Map Pro. Development language: C/C++

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Thanks wailingmonkey ;)

 

Progress has continued tonight and my initial setting up of the path finding and animation testing in my editor has been very successful. I'm really happy with my implementation of animation driven motion, it's working like a charm. Just need to slow her down a bit on the stairs. The proof testing is now out of the way and I can now start on the full level design. Although this is a major distraction from my work on my FPS stuff it’s proving very enjoyable and I've always fancied creating an adventure game so I'm going to stick with this for the time being and complete a playable level.

 

Below is a short video of how I use path finding to allow the NPC to negotiate the small test level. Again, best viewed @ 720p resolution:

 

Intel Core i5 2.66 GHz, Asus P7P55D, 8Gb DDR3 RAM, GTX460 1Gb DDR5, Windows 7 (x64), LE Editor, GMax, 3DWS, UU3D Pro, Texture Maker Pro, Shader Map Pro. Development language: C/C++

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The vegetation on this is very crispy and good looking. The waterfall could use some work though, but I understand it's really hard to make (I myself have tried failed many times).

Thanks Lazlo. I have to agree, Flexman had also made some pertinent comments on the difficulties of waterfall design and they are incredibly hard to perfect. I really don't want to get side lined for a long period of time on this as it's simply a small bit of eye candy for the game so may well settle for less in the end.

 

Looks really good. I can imagine taking Tina to that spot for a picnic :P

Thanks Dozz. The Tina and picnic comment really made me laugh out loud :)

Intel Core i5 2.66 GHz, Asus P7P55D, 8Gb DDR3 RAM, GTX460 1Gb DDR5, Windows 7 (x64), LE Editor, GMax, 3DWS, UU3D Pro, Texture Maker Pro, Shader Map Pro. Development language: C/C++

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This all looks great Pixel, but it seems you've bogged yourself down with art and level design instead of focusing on the gameplay to complete it within the given time. I'm kind of surprised actually that you would do that given I know how you feel about gameplay vs art.

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