floatstarpx
Member
Nice, nice! Is there already some gameplay to show?
Thanks

We posted a really quick clip here - zooming in & selecting crewmen:
https://twitter.com/BomberCrewGame/status/749609101798367232
Nice, nice! Is there already some gameplay to show?
I've been working on some AI in Unity lately, and I've come to the conclusion that, as a programmer first-and-foremost, trying to use some kind of visual node-based approach is kind of a drag. I mean, it's not like I can't grasp how to use node-based tools, my issue is that it seemingly takes a lot of time, and a lot of wasted space using 10 or 20+ nodes to accomplish something I could get done in a few lines of code (most likely quicker, as well).
I´m spanish too, can you provide any link about that course?
For those of you who have done things one way or the other (pure code, or pure visual tools) which do you prefer? I guess I'm trying to figure out if I should try and stick it out with the node-based approach, or just go back to using H/FSMs in code.
Hi guys, I'm a recent high school graduate and was consdering doing what I believe is the equivalent of a degree in Game Design and Development (I'm based in Spain and I belive this is the equivalent of a minor for US college), and I was wondering what GAF's opinion on the course is.
Is it a viable life decision? Will I be able to find work or establish my own "studio"?
Hi guys, I'm a recent high school graduate and was consdering doing what I believe is the equivalent of a degree in Game Design and Development (I'm based in Spain and I belive this is the equivalent of a minor for US college), and I was wondering what GAF's opinion on the course is.
Is it a viable life decision? Will I be able to find work or establish my own "studio"?
How do you guys organize your thoughts/notes/stories?
Any tools you use aside from the game engine/rendering software that you use that helps you be more productive?
Pad of paper and a penHow do you guys organize your thoughts/notes/stories?
I've got a question for Programmer-GAF (or Designer-GAF, if you kind of do the jack-of-all-trades thing).
I've been working on some AI in Unity lately, and I've come to the conclusion that, as a programmer first-and-foremost, trying to use some kind of visual node-based approach is kind of a drag. I mean, it's not like I can't grasp how to use node-based tools, my issue is that it seemingly takes a lot of time, and a lot of wasted space using 10 or 20+ nodes to accomplish something I could get done in a few lines of code (most likely quicker, as well).
For those of you who have done things one way or the other (pure code, or pure visual tools) which do you prefer? I guess I'm trying to figure out if I should try and stick it out with the node-based approach, or just go back to using H/FSMs in code.
As far as I can see it, things break down like this (in general):
CodePros:
Easier to debug (breakpoints!)
Easier to change without re-doing a bunch of nodes
More portable (not tied down to some visual tool)
Performance should be higher, due to less overhead
Cons:
Additional classes/scripts potentially cluttering up the project
Not quite as neat and tidy as having it laid out in a tree
Nowhere near as readable at-a-glance, as there's quite a bit of cross-class referencing
Visual ToolsPros:
Easier to read at-a-glance
Easier to organize
Easier to use for quick prototypes
Cons:
Basically no decent way to debug (at least not as effectively as breakpoints)
Performance should be worse, due to a higher overhead
Quick changes are more difficult
Locked into a specific system (not very portable)
Any thoughts?
Pure code. The advantage of visual tools are their approachability, and that is quickly lost once your FSMs start to become more complex.
Maintenance and debugging always become greater priorities at some point in a project. And pure code is better for both. I've seen "easy-to-use" node-based systems become utter nightmares on projects.
You and your F# sugar.Discriminated unions/pattern matching are the best for finite state machines
I don't know if it's a visual-learning thing, it's just that the node pattern just seems needlessly verbose if you know how to program to a basic extent. I used to use enums as well, but I've recently switched gears to use classes/objects as states. Basically a class encompasses a whole state, so it's easier to keep things simplified, but you gain the benefit of easier readability and extensibility down the line. I'd highly recommend looking into it if you haven't already!Pretty much everything I've ever tried that's "node based and so much easier" has turned out to be much more complicated and / or time consuming to follow than - even my absolute most awful - code.
I just don't think I'm visually learning based is the conclusion I eventually came to.
e:
I've found a 'block based' AI FSM works quite well, using a descriptive enum as effectively an index of behaviours with each behaviour being self contained, but the work with AI I've done has been very simplistic, so might not work for you
I'm also a code-oriented guy so for my first game I simply wrote a finite state machine for the AI. The game was space strategy but all ships had the same basic AI (obey order, stay idle, detect target, follow target, attack target, etc) so I didn't need anything more complex.
I applied the same idea to the tactical AI (basically the AI that would give orders to an enemy fleet) and since this was more complex I started having problems. You say that debugging is easier with code, I think is the opposite: debugging a mildly complex AI with a visual tool is easier because you can see the current status and logic without interrupting the normal flow of the game by using breakpoints. Remember that your AI is gonna be executing for each frame, are you going to be following the code for 60 cycles just to see what the AI does in one second?
My point: it depends of the complexity of your project, a simple idle/chasing/attacking AI can be solved with a pure-code FSM but for something more complex you want to have at least a way to debug it visually. I'm using Unity and for one of my prototypes I made a FSM AI that used Mecanim to help me debug it so you can also use a combination of both.
I'm actually using Unity for the first time, having previous experience in XNA. I have to say I enjoyed how quickly I was able to prototype with the GUI, but the deeper I get into production the more I wish I was doing everything purely via code. My main issue is dealing with how Unity manages objects and multithreading, and often times I'm wasting more time figuring out how they do things rather than write it myself.
I absolutely hate debugging in Unity as well. It just seems so tedious, half my variables return null when they aren't, I can't edit while debugging, etc. Debugging with Unity is easily my least favorite part of the process.
There are pros and cons for sure. But if XNA wasn't dead and Unity wasn't so well supported I don't think I'd be using it.
Same over here.Pad of paper and a pen
How do you guys organize your thoughts/notes/stories?
Any tools you use aside from the game engine/rendering software that you use that helps you be more productive?
Thanks! Will check it outI just got back and saw all the responses, they all help a lot, thanks everyone!
Sure! This is the one I'm the most interested in, but there is also one given by the Universidad Complutense
Oh, great!![]()
Looks pretty cool, tbh.
How do you guys organize your thoughts/notes/stories?
Any tools you use aside from the game engine/rendering software that you use that helps you be more productive?
Awesome gif
Holy fuck, the Unity forums changed for the worst. Is hard to read and a mess now.
Oh yeah thx a lot!especially love this dithering effect! really cool! ...
Boahh ... pretty nice! If you ever have a demo, let me know. :+... Got a short clip- taking on fighters over Belgium:
![]()
Made a new article for Beastmancer in case someone wants to check it: http://www.indiedb.com/games/beastmancer/news/june-2016-progress-report
Basically I made a lot of stuff during last month (no wonder I was burned out for a week) like changing the UI, preparing a dungeon and adding an option to choose between male or female character.
Holy fuck, the Unity forums changed for the worst. Is hard to read and a mess now.
I tried to read a thread. My face now sports a glorious tan, I don't see colors anymore and my scrolling fingers are swole as fuck.
Some manager must have panicked hard over his deadlines to push this "upgrade" to production.
Got a short clip- taking on fighters over Belgium:
![]()
my first 3d model ever xd
Has any encountered an error in Unity where a MissingReferenceException will come up describing as that object being destroyed, even though it has DontDestroyOnLoad set and then opening up where it errors it points to a StartCoroutine()?
I can't make heads or tails of it. I double checked in the scene and sure enough the two objects in question were very much there.
Are you using a static editor reference on an instantiated gameobject?
ie dragging your dontdestroyonload object onto a public variable field in the inspector, then making a prefab?
Sorry for the text dump!
No worries; what I think might be happening is that static editor references (which I assume you are using for UI) are recreated each time a scene changes or is reloaded; if your UI manager is persistent across loads, even though all of the UI elements it is controlling are named the same in the editor, they are actually entirely new instances, and the stored references it has are for ui elements that are in the scene you just destroyed.
You could probably fix this either by making a method of however you are assigning references, and calling that on 'first run' in your OnAwake(), and also each time you change level (either in your change level script or in the OnLevelLoad() or whatever its called method), or by making a prefab of your UI and instantiating it on level load rather than having it embedded in your scene.
e:
Alternatively, if you want the best of both worlds, where you have a fixed static editor UI with all your references set up, is that you make your UI manager and your UI part of the scene, and just update your pointers to that manager on a scene load / reload.
Keeping that UI across scenes would be as easy as just either making UI manager + Canvas + Events system a prefab and drag and dropping into each new scene, or just deleting everything except your UI + canvas + events manager and saving as a new 'blank' scene to use as a template
my first 3d model ever xd
Wow, I absolutely adore the overall style of this. I can't help but feel the camera might out too much by just a tad, but maybe its adjustable?