I re-added the ability to create items with the item manager today, and “pick up” the items.

The problem is, to get the items back to full functionality, I need a window system for the inventory window. Beyond that, for character traits/states/exp, and quests, I need windows as well.

So I tried out creating a basic game starting interface, and a pause menu for the game, and the engines UI portion works beautifully, quickly, and just the way it needs to.

Now I need to create the different in game windows, skin them, and make sure positioning works– though I may have to add that if I haven’t already, as well as adding optional “limits” to where the windows can be dragged, so they are not dragged outside the visible area.

Also, may have to have groups– so that they know which one is selected, and will bring those to the front.

Lots to do– I am hoping to start using agile software development techniques to aid me in finishing this monstrosity. I still need to get at least screen shots of my other game “MadWand” before August, for the intel game competition. It would add a chance of making money, and more importantly getting publicity. I first need to  have a few iterations of creating games proficiently before I can start creating them at a decent rate, but at that time I would like to be setup to be able to create flash, desktop, and android games, even if just ports of the same game at first.

Well, back to work before my gf gets off of school at 10pm! have about 15minutes to try to get the game windows created, skinned, and determine which features need to be re-added to the window class–

Porting my Diablo/RPG game to my game engine to hopefully tidy up development, and seperate basic functions from the game itself, to abstract them into two seperate pieces.

Finally got the hero moving again, and the screen scrolling, as well as the A* and collision working.

I added entities+ enemies, and going to work on re-adding items, inventory, equipping items, and finally NPC’s and quests again.

I’m trying to keep things from being too dependant on each other, but some things need to be. Since all entities are map objects, they need constant communication with the map, such as which tile they occupy, if the destination tile is clear, or what occupies it if it isn’t, ect.

Tomorrow I’ll have to start compartmentalizing classes so they can be more independent, and function (if possible) without their dependencies in tact– so that if I ever have to remove enemies, but jsut test the hero, he won’t be looking specifically for enemies.… But then again he does need this information if he will distinguish from one entity type to another– so again, problems with deciding where to compartmentalize objects.

I’ll at least get everything working that I had before, then start trying to plan out the best way to tear each system apart and break dependencies, so systems might be able to used on future games without as much work converting them to different object types.

I’m reading a good book “introduction to game development second edition” which seems very comprehensive. Goes into almost every aspect of game development, from business and professional standpoints to programming tidbits. Very good so far!

I’ve spent the last month or two trying to look into project planning ideas/methods/techniques, and in the process learning about design.

Have found mostly general tips, nothing too great aside from a professional project outline in my “The art of game design: A book of lenses” by Jesse Schell. Overall a great book on things to think about during the design process, and can be applied to projects out of the scope of game design. From this, I was able to put together several documents detailing the game I am working on, and giving a decent outline.

But still, I am trying to find a good way to plan out all the classes I would probably need, what kind of properties they would have and share, the order in which they should be built to create a meaningful design.

I would also like to layout all the graphical assets I would need (and later sound, music and video), so as to follow along with the programming portion of the project.

The main reason for my focus on project planning is lack of time/too much wasted time due to poor planning. With my diablo like flash game, a lot of the time was spent going back and changing core classes when I realized there were better, quicker and more efficient ways to do things, and started adding more classes I hadn’t originally planned on because of adding more features that are needed, but were not planned beforehand.

One good piece of advice I picked up out of a game development book that was released the end of last year is milestones.

By creating milestones, and striving for usable prototypes, I can more or less flesh out the features of the game. By starting with the bare minimum to have some kind of interaction, to adding more interactions and core game features, I can separate tasks by level of completion. That way I can see the major milestones I need to accomplish to be able to reach my end goal, and can concentrate on planning out each phase of each milestone, so I know what to focus on first, and instead of trying to plan out the entire scope of the game, which is a daunting task, I can plan out smaller “games” that build into the final prototype.

I would really like to submit my game for the intel game competition 2010 (level up), but the project might take longer than I have to finish in time. My RPG took about 8months to get all the core features programmed and working, along with a level, dialogue, and quest editor partially built. A lot of the time was spent re-programming things as new features came about, as well as a lot of research into getting an isometric Diablo 2 like game working with the graphics/scrolling and interface system.

But my new idea will require a good amount of research as well– I need to incorporate box2d, or emulate some of it’s functions for one of the core game mechanics. Aside from that, I also have to be able to create professional level art, and art takes me more time to create than programming, since I am not well skilled in it yet, and have to spend a long time revising things.

So for now, I think I will finish converting my diablo game into my game engine, and make sure all the features are working properly again, and use that as my primary submission to the contest. Since it was near completion for the main game, I should hopefully be able to finish it up relatively quickly, and might be able to get enough time to create a level in my new game for a secondary submission.

I would also like to get started on Android development, but need to find a better way to learn it. The books mainly seem to cover building an application using the built in GUI elements from the android OS, without focusing on creating original programs, and secondary showing “how many android widgets you can cram in your app”. I would like to be able to make a couple small programs for my own use, as well as release it on the android store, which would help me later convert my 2d games to use on the android.

I’ll have to look more into project planning, and hopefully figure out the best way to pre-plan, and save time during development.

I’ve converted my latest side scrolling flash game into an engine over the last couple weeks. I’m making it to simplify a lot of the “loops” that need to be run through when creating a new game.

I found some added some tree models to the game. I’ve been tweaking the grass, but still don’t have it looking right. Need to add more good looking variation, add a real building in, ect. Hopefully have it looking good soon!

I’ve been working a lot on the map, and dialogue editors for the game. Still need to work on the quest editor, but that should be easiest.

I’ve also been developing a decent set of UI components in both of the editors that I can style differently and use in the game. Things like a 2d scrollable window, a class to handle, position, and handle children of those windows, and much more.

Right now I am again back to focusing on graphics. Worked a lot on trying to make realistic cartoon grass, but I think the details on top of the grass will be what makes the world more “3d” . So now that I have some decent looking roads and base grass tiles done, I’m going to be modeling and rendering out the other objects in the game.

Need to add:

–Trees
–Shrubs
–Grasses
–ditches/holes in the earth
–buildings (1 and 2 story along with round ones)

After that, I’ll clean up the characters a bit– fully model the faces, correct the anatomy, and creat new monsters that generate better silhouettes than the wolf.

I’ve been working on the flash mmo RPG as much as possible on my offtime, but finally have the dialogue and quest system working properly.

I’ve gotten to the point of needing to start making many levels and quests/stories, so I am working on a map editor, quest editor, and dialogue editor.

The map editor screenshot is from 3 days of after work work. it’s going to be a bit more involved than I originally planned, but I should be able to create maps very quickly this way.

If anyone wants to sign up for the alpha when it is ready send me an email or post on the message board!