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[Bollocks]

Screenshot Saturday:

I love your screenshots, because they remind me of the game I'm working on.

I'm working on a First person old school Tom Raider game (also in Unity), but have nothing to show as of yet because I first want to implement the basic game mechanics (climbing, diving) and my test level just consists of boxes of various heights to stress test the dynamic climbing system .

 

[BlastProcessing]

Screenshot Saturday

 

[Burt]

So, as someone who doesn't know much about coding but can handle all the art and animation aspects of a making a game just fine, what would be a good program to use as a hobbyist? I'm looking at Game Maker because I have absolutely no interest in making anything 3D, but is there a better option?

 

[MaritalWheat]

So, as someone who doesn't know much about coding but can handle all the art and animation aspects of a making a game just fine, what would be a good program to use as a hobbyist? I'm looking at Game Maker because I have absolutely no interest in making anything 3D, but is there a better option?

Stencyl seems to be prime. I've only looked at it a bit, but check out Jobbs' posts on the previous few pages. It's obvious he can output incredible 2D art, and from what I understand he didn't have much programming experience when he started with Stencyl, yet he seems to be having a very good time with it. From what I've looked at Stencyl, it has a lot of the core functionality you would want in a 2D game already set for you, and its "coding" is very visual.

 

[McNerdBurger]

Screenshot Saturday:



Lots of progress since I last posted. Most of my time has been spent setting up all the "market elements" (stocks, stats, commodities, events and abilities) so that they talk to each other. I now have basic dependency chains set up, meaning that an "event" will happen, affecting a commodity, which in turn affects a statistic, which then affects a stock. I'm hoping one of the main gameplay mechanics will involve anticipating and capitalizing on these chains. We'll see.

Some other things that have been done recently:

- Reworked the graphs to use vectrosity (a vector graphics unity plugin), which has improved performance immensely. Also using projected textures for the terminal screens.
- Set up a timer to open/close the market based on "days" (basically 3 minute high score challenges).
- Built a temp boy in Sketchup.


Next on the list:

- Create a test scenario with events, stocks, stats, and commodities that relate to each other in interesting ways. Once this is set up I should be able to play the game for the first time and see if the ideas are working at all.
- Set up the "ability" system and create the first one.
- First sound and UI feedback pass.

 

[Jobbs]

Stencyl seems to be prime. I've only looked at it a bit, but check out Jobbs' posts on the previous few pages. It's obvious he can output incredible 2D art, and from what I understand he didn't have much programming experience when he started with Stencyl, yet he seems to be having a very good time with it. From what I've looked at Stencyl, it has a lot of the core functionality you would want in a 2D game already set for you, and its "coding" is very visual.

Stencyl's good, I'd also suggest Construct 2. The only thing keeping me from using it is that I have a year of experience with Stencyl and I'm so invested in it. Construct 2 has very appealing features though, from the little bit that I've looked into it. I can't do a full comparison since I don't have much experience with it, but it has some advantages on paper. On the other hand, Stencyl seems to have the better workflow and a better visual coding interface that makes more sense to an artist. The snapblocks that you use to build behavior are extremely intuitive.

Also keep in mind that there's a pretty major generational leap between the retail version of Stencyl (2.2) and the closed beta version (3.0) which is still only available to subscribers. The way the program looks in terms of its interface hasn't changed much, but everything under the hood is completely different. The old is based on actionscript and had some pretty major problems that would have kept me from doing my game, (for example, using lots of objects and graphics as I do in my game simply killed the performance, the engine was not optimal at all for this) the new one is based on haxe and works much better. Also keep in mind that in my experience, Stencyl does well with .SWF exports, but the stand alone .exe export is pretty buggy (it's beta and a work in progress, they may fix all this up in time, but .exe understandably doesn't seem to be their priority). It also exports to IOS and Android but I've never used it for those so I can't comment.

Anyway, I definitely I plan to experiment with Construct 2 after I'm done with my game.

 

[vladimirdlc]

Saturday already, advancing slowly for my No Future entry, starting playing Bastion did not help .

Found a cool script for dialogs [1] Here a motivational pic for everybody:

@Burt I haven't tried Construct2, but I have tried GameMaker and I hated it, at least the free version, it got too many limitations for me.
Construct2 seems much more open and scalable with the free version, so I will suggest you try that first, and if you like it keep going with it.

 

[Ashodin]

I'd show you a picture of APEXICON, but you've seen it pretty much all week. I do have another game idea in the works, but it's still in concept stages. It's providing fuel for me to finish APEXICON as soon as possible though.

 

[phantomsnake]

Screenshot... Sunday?

 

[BomberMouse]

Screenshot... Sunday?

Really charming, what are you using to make it?

 

[phantomsnake]

Really charming, what are you using to make it?

Thanks! I'm using Unity with the Orthello 2D Framework. I should mention that the art isn't by me. Here's what the game looked like when my brother and I did the art:

But all that has been replaced with new art.

 

[Jobbs]

Thanks! I'm using Unity with the Orthello 2D Framework. I should mention that the art isn't by me. Here's what the game looked like when my brother and I did the art:

But all that has been replaced with new art.

I can't decide if I like the old or new better, to be quite honest. I'm still trying to figure it out, but there's definitely something to be said for the cleaner, more precise look of the old pixel art. The backgrounds in the new version are good, too.

 

[JulianImp]

Screenshot... Sunday?

Just recolor the mole and we'll have SalsaShark: The Game!

Jokes aside, the newer screenshot reminds me a lot of Spelunky, but that' isn't necesarily a bad thing. The background's simply awesome as well. Good work!

What's with the depth counter? Does it increase when you go to the sides, or just when you go down?

I've recently gotten sidetracked with a project I have to finish for a public display, so I'll have to set my main project aside for a few weeks while I spurce up the other game, which was incomplete due to being made for a local game jam.

 

[MaritalWheat]

I hate when you have a really good idea while working on something else. It's not like what I'm working on I'm doing for any commercial goal - more personal development and a portfolio stuffer, but still, I really feel like I need to finish it. Debating whether it's worth prototyping this new idea or putting it on the backburner.

 

[snarge]

I hate when you have a really good idea while working on something else. It's not like what I'm working on I'm doing for any commercial goal - more personal development and a portfolio stuffer, but still, I really feel like I need to finish it. Debating whether it's worth prototyping this new idea or putting it on the backburner.

I know the feeling. It can make working / finishing the current project much harder. Personally, I wouldn't jump to the new one, because it might cause a distraction to finishing your current project. Even though it's just a portfolio piece, not finishing one thing can lead to not finishing another thing, then you've started 10 projects and not finished 1. I might be speaking from experience, heh.

 

[Paz]

So fellow game developers, I need suggestions on the best services for handling account driven leaderboards!

If Cactus ends up on a platform like Steam then it's a non issue for that build because it will hook in to the platform account and handle things through their systems, but for the DRM free version we intend to release on every other website in the world (you know, the ones who will actually sell our game without 50 thousand votes) we need to have a custom account and leaderboards system.

Now I've handled my own leaderboards in the the past with custom databases and scripts hosted on my server but I've never had to handle accounts, and I'd really like to avoid being responsible for players personal information this time around too. So what are my options? Are there good third party accounts services out there that I hook in to my own database? do they also handle the database side? I'm really not sure where to start.

Onwards to google I suppose.

 

[Noogy]

Thanks! I'm using Unity with the Orthello 2D Framework. I should mention that the art isn't by me. Here's what the game looked like when my brother and I did the art:

But all that has been replaced with new art.

Huh, Orthello? I've been really tempted to try out Unity but am not enamored with all the workarounds needed to create a strictly 2D game. I'll need to look into frameworks like Orthello.

That screen looks great, btw

 

[Ventron]

Huh, Orthello? I've been really tempted to try out Unity but am not enamored with all the workarounds needed to create a strictly 2D game. I'll need to look into frameworks like Orthello.

That screen looks great, btw

I'm thinking of using Unity's GUI functions to replicate a 2D game. It'll be just like XNA, you have an Update() and a draw (called OnGUI() in Unity)

 

[Kamaki]

Man I've hit a bit of a road block, I decided to do a quick performance test on my HTC One X and the fps completely tanked. I think I really don't understand how to get good performance out of mobile devices.

Dynamic batching means that there's only a two drawcalls for that scene but I guess that many objects just destroys. Now I don't even want to work on it.

Also pardon the terrible gif.

 

[HelloMeow]

Man I've hit a bit of a road block, I decided to do a quick performance test on my HTC One X and the fps completely tanked. I think I really don't understand how to get good performance out of mobile devices.

Dynamic batching means that there's only a two drawcalls for that scene but I guess that many objects just destroys. Now I don't even want to work on it.

Also pardon the terrible gif.

Can the HTC One X usually draw that many triangles? Maybe it has to do with some kind of graphical setting or effect. I don't really know anything about what kind of performance mobile devices have nowadays.

Other that that I see some things that could potentially be very inefficient in that scene.

Especially where you have a lot of instances of the same object. What kind of behavior do those bullets have? And how do you achieve that behavior?

 

[snarge]

Man I've hit a bit of a road block, I decided to do a quick performance test on my HTC One X and the fps completely tanked. I think I really don't understand how to get good performance out of mobile devices.

Dynamic batching means that there's only a two drawcalls for that scene but I guess that many objects just destroys. Now I don't even want to work on it.

Also pardon the terrible gif.

Are you using Unity? If so, instantiates tank performance on mobile, so if you're instantiating those bullets, that could be the source of the drop. I would write some sort of recycling code that just places instantiated bullets into a pool that isn't updated or drawn until they are needed.

 

[JulianImp]

Man I've hit a bit of a road block, I decided to do a quick performance test on my HTC One X and the fps completely tanked. I think I really don't understand how to get good performance out of mobile devices.

Dynamic batching means that there's only a two drawcalls for that scene but I guess that many objects just destroys. Now I don't even want to work on it.

Also pardon the terrible gif.

As a previous poster has said, perhaps you should look into object pools. I've got some C# code I could share with you. It's made for Unity, but the basic stuff could be used in other environments as well. Just PM me if you're interested.

 

[prodystopian]

I'm thinking of using Unity's GUI functions to replicate a 2D game. It'll be just like XNA, you have an Update() and a draw (called OnGUI() in Unity)

You do not want to write a 2D game in Unity's built in OnGUI(). In fact, you don't want to write much of anything in it that will be used in the final game. The performance is quite bad.

 

[phantomsnake]

I can't decide if I like the old or new better, to be quite honest. I'm still trying to figure it out, but there's definitely something to be said for the cleaner, more precise look of the old pixel art. The backgrounds in the new version are good, too.

Nice of you to say that but I think the new art is a huge improvement.

Just recolor the mole and we'll have SalsaShark: The Game!

Jokes aside, the newer screenshot reminds me a lot of Spelunky, but that' isn't necesarily a bad thing. The background's simply awesome as well. Good work!

What's with the depth counter? Does it increase when you go to the sides, or just when you go down?

Haha... Every time I see SalsaShark I think of my game. Maybe he'd like a new avatar?

Spelunky is definitely an inspiration. Manic Mole is more fast-paced though and has more of a focus on digging and collecting coins.

It's a distance counter that increases when you go right. The game is sort of a cross between Spelunky and an endless runner but I may include some other game modes as well.

Huh, Orthello? I've been really tempted to try out Unity but am not enamored with all the workarounds needed to create a strictly 2D game. I'll need to look into frameworks like Orthello.

That screen looks great, btw

Thanks! Honestly, if I was starting a new game, I might be tempted to try a different framework (still sticking with Unity though). I think Orthello is mainly intended to be used by creating all your sprites in the editor at design time. I say that because every time I try to deviate from that and do things in code I run into issues. I've had to add some custom hacks to make things work. I don't know how it compares to other 2D frameworks though since I've only used Orthello so far.

I hate when you have a really good idea while working on something else. It's not like what I'm working on I'm doing for any commercial goal - more personal development and a portfolio stuffer, but still, I really feel like I need to finish it. Debating whether it's worth prototyping this new idea or putting it on the backburner.

I have to remind myself constantly that I need to focus on one project at a time. Otherwise I start thinking of other game ideas and I get really distracted.

 

[phantomsnake]

Interwoven in the environment are occasional networks (big or small) of "bug tunnels", where zerg like creatures live and nest. Going through them can be risky, as visibility is low and you might be rushed at any moment.

In this case, we find a mysterious mechanical door that seems to be looking back at us. Hopefully the player makes a mental note to check back here when he has more abilities.

This looks amazing! Great sense of atmosphere. We need more Metroidvanias!

 

[Lufiaddict]

Nice of you to say that but I think the new art is a huge improvement.

I'd say the old art gives off a NES vibe while the new art gives off a SNES vibe.

 

[Kamaki]

Can the HTC One X usually draw that many triangles? Maybe it has to do with some kind of graphical setting or effect. I don't really know anything about what kind of performance mobile devices have nowadays.

Other that that I see some things that could potentially be very inefficient in that scene.

Especially where you have a lot of instances of the same object. What kind of behavior do those bullets have? And how do you achieve that behavior?

I think it's something pretty doable by mobile I just didn't know how to go about it, the ship is about 600 tris and bullets are 2 tris each; an entire screen full adds up to about 1000 tris which shouldn't be stressing my phone out. I'm 100% sure you're right about the instancing though, especially as I've gone and fixed it now!
To make my bullets I had a Bullet Prefab that had a piece of code translating it, I then had a spawner in my scene that would rotate 2 degrees at a time and spawn my bullet prefab on it's position.

Are you using Unity? If so, instantiates tank performance on mobile, so if you're instantiating those bullets, that could be the source of the drop. I would write some sort of recycling code that just places instantiated bullets into a pool that isn't updated or drawn until they are needed.

As a previous poster has said, perhaps you should look into object pools. I've got some C# code I could share with you. It's made for Unity, but the basic stuff could be used in other environments as well. Just PM me if you're interested.

Thanks to you two for basically giving me an alternative! I've never heard of Object Pooling but it makes so much sense and now I can get a rock solid 60 fps on my phone, I even tried it with 4xAA Such simple stuff but it's genius! We'll just have to see how it holds up in the future with enemies also shooting bullets back!

 

[JulianImp]

I think it's something pretty doable by mobile I just didn't know how to go about it, the ship is about 600 tris and bullets are 2 tris each; an entire screen full adds up to about 1000 tris which shouldn't be stressing my phone out. I'm 100% sure you're right about the instancing though, especially as I've gone and fixed it now!
To make my bullets I had a Bullet Prefab that had a piece of code translating it, I then had a spawner in my scene that would rotate 2 degrees at a time and spawn my bullet prefab on it's position.



Thanks to you two for basically giving me an alternative! I've never heard of Object Pooling but it makes so much sense and now I can get a rock solid 60 fps on my phone, I even tried it with 4xAA Such simple stuff but it's genius! We'll just have to see how it holds up in the future with enemies also shooting bullets back!

Amazing! For enemy bullets, I think you could simply use a larger pool that keeps all bullets, and assign their sprites and properties separately for player and enemy bullets, so you can use a single pool for both rather than separate ones for each ship, or one for player bullets and another for enemies, since they probably behave the same way other than the fact that enemy bullets only hurt the player and vice versa.

How many are you handling in the pool, and how does it work when all instances are out at once?

 

[rohlfinator]

Thanks! Honestly, if I was starting a new game, I might be tempted to try a different framework (still sticking with Unity though). I think Orthello is mainly intended to be used by creating all your sprites in the editor at design time. I say that because every time I try to deviate from that and do things in code I run into issues. I've had to add some custom hacks to make things work. I don't know how it compares to other 2D frameworks though since I've only used Orthello so far.

Has Orthello been pretty easy to work with otherwise? And did you have other Unity experience before using it?

I keep waffling back and forth between diving deeper into XNA/MonoGame or trying to make something work in Unity... been leaning toward MonoGame mainly due to cost -- some of the other Unity 2D frameworks are pretty pricey.

 

[Ranger X]

Ok, I tested GIF CAM and I have a problem.

First off, my gif is slow. My game is 60fps, I did put max fps for the gif recording (33).
How come it looks slower and not just choppier (as it should) than my game?
And also, how can I resize the gif?? Its way too large.

 

[Vazra]

Ok, I tested GIF CAM and I have a problem.

First off, my gif is slow. My game is 60fps, I did put max fps for the gif recording (33).
How come it looks slower and not just choppier (as it should) than my game?
And also, how can I resize the gif?? Its way too large.

On photoshop change the animation speed to 0 or 0.03 on all frames. Save for web and it should lower the size a bit. Also resize image if too big.

 

[Feep]

2D Toolkit seems to be the de facto 2-D standard with Unity...it's $65, which isn't insignificant, but they did just include their GUI package for free as of last week.

If you're doing a purely 2-D game, there's really no particular reason to use Unity (exceptions: you want some fancy lighting, particle effects, navigation, or other more advanced effects and you suck at math). Honestly, Noogy, I *would* open it up and mess around for a bit, if nothing else but to learn some stuff. I was asking the DUMBEST questions in this thread a few months ago, but everyone was really nice and I feel a little more comfortable now.

 

[Paz]

Here's Tim getting ready to take the game to our first publicly playable showing at AVCon's Indie Game Room

I'm still trying to find a good solution for secure user account leaderboards, if anyone has a suggestion or war stories please shout! Third party services like Scoreoid are interesting but seem geared towards things I don't have any intention of dealing with (micro transactions, user acquisition stuff), I'm happy to roll my own mysql db and php scripts for the actual data but I really don't want to handle account authentication. Using google/facebook/twitter login seems interesting but also seems to be a major pain in the butt to implement inside the application.

Hmmm...

 

[phantomsnake]

Has Orthello been pretty easy to work with otherwise? And did you have other Unity experience before using it?

I keep waffling back and forth between diving deeper into XNA/MonoGame or trying to make something work in Unity... been leaning toward MonoGame mainly due to cost -- some of the other Unity 2D frameworks are pretty pricey.

It's pretty easy to work with and it comes with lots of useful examples. I picked up Orthello right when I started using Unity so I had no other Unity experience at the time. That was about a year and a half ago and I'm still using that combo.

I'm also using the NGUI framework. It does pretty much everything you'd want in a UI, it's well documented, and the code is very clean. You could potentially use it to make a whole 2D game but I'm not sure how far you'd get. I'd be curious to know if anyone has actually done that.

 

[caffeware]

Screenshot... Sunday?

Yummy.

Spoiler

New looks better.

 

[Ashodin]

Another workday, another screenshot. This time, showing off I finally FINALLY finished the columns (transplanted to another column) and the inactive board intermittent darkening. Will be replaced with a neat train station flipping effect while they reload.

 

[missile]

So fellow game developers, I need suggestions on the best services for handling account driven leaderboards! ...

Now I've handled my own leaderboards in the the past with custom databases and scripts hosted on my server but I've never had to handle accounts, and I'd really like to avoid being responsible for players personal information ...

Am interested in it as well. A global leaderborad having a unique id for each
user and being independent from any given platform. I have no solution, yet,
since I haven't thought about is that much. But one way of getting the stats
from a player without an account is by letting him upload a package containing
the stats while the package uses a fingerprint.

 

[snarge]

Thanks to you two for basically giving me an alternative! I've never heard of Object Pooling but it makes so much sense and now I can get a rock solid 60 fps on my phone, I even tried it with 4xAA Such simple stuff but it's genius! We'll just have to see how it holds up in the future with enemies also shooting bullets back!

Great to hear it worked for you! Draw calls and Instantiates are two things that don't really register much of a performance drop on the PC, and then when you put it on a phone, it's like night and day.

Am interested in it as well. A global leaderborad having a unique id for each
user and being independent from any given platform. I have no solution, yet,
since I haven't thought about is that much. But one way of getting the stats
from a player without an account is by letting him upload a package containing
the stats while the package uses a fingerprint.

I can only recommend something I've used before, and that would be Scoreloop. Unfortunately, it's only for mobile platforms, although it's for most of them (Android, iOS, Blackberry, WP7). It's really easy to setup, has decent docs, and great customer support. If you're using Unity, they do NOT have a plugin written though, so be prepared to write one...which is "fun". It also might be overkill, because it's much more than just leaderboards.

 

[prodystopian]

2D Toolkit seems to be the de facto 2-D standard with Unity...it's $65, which isn't insignificant, but they did just include their GUI package for free as of last week.

If you're doing a purely 2-D game, there's really no particular reason to use Unity (exceptions: you want some fancy lighting, particle effects, navigation, or other more advanced effects and you suck at math). Honestly, Noogy, I *would* open it up and mess around for a bit, if nothing else but to learn some stuff. I was asking the DUMBEST questions in this thread a few months ago, but everyone was really nice and I feel a little more comfortable now.

Have you tried their UI package?

 

[razu]

Woah, it looks like Unity's going all in with the latest generation of consoles!

The more platforms you can target with your engine, the more likely people are to use it, and being able to publish on PCs, Macs, Androids, iDevices, web, Flash, WiiU, PS4, Vita and Xbone with a single codebase is amazing, even if some asset optimizations have to be made for specific platforms.

I think I might be slowly drifting into the "rabid Unity fanboy" territory, but it's incredible how much better the engine has been getting as of late.

I would like it to handle build configurations now though. I have several perforce branches for different platforms, simply because I don't want to go swapping manifest files and source code definition symbols every time I switch between OUYA/GameStick/Vanilla Android, (as they are not quite the same). So, if I could have x number of Android configs, that would be cool.

Also, letting files be excluded from the build configurations, (which don't exist yet), would be great. I'm not a fan of adding, say, Game Center plugins to an Android project..

I'm sure they'll figure it out!

 

[Noogy]

2D Toolkit seems to be the de facto 2-D standard with Unity...it's $65, which isn't insignificant, but they did just include their GUI package for free as of last week.

If you're doing a purely 2-D game, there's really no particular reason to use Unity (exceptions: you want some fancy lighting, particle effects, navigation, or other more advanced effects and you suck at math). Honestly, Noogy, I *would* open it up and mess around for a bit, if nothing else but to learn some stuff. I was asking the DUMBEST questions in this thread a few months ago, but everyone was really nice and I feel a little more comfortable now.

I guess I'm just trying to figure out the best course for the future. I think I'll be sticking with XNA/Monogame for the next game or so (mainly because I've put a billion hours into my engine/tools), but it would certainly be nice to know that my endeavors will be supported.

I'll play around with it sometime later this year and see how much it scares me off

 

[Feep]

Have you tried their UI package?

No, I've been using NGUI...which I'm still not comfortable with, mind you. I can't seem to use pixel coordinates like they seem to keep telling me I can. = P

 

[Burt]

Oh man, I finally started goofing around in Construct 2, and it's a dream. I had to download a click-to-move plugin to handle that part (because I can't code for shit), but since I've done that and gotten a solid grasp of arrays, it's been smooth sailing. I was actually able to write out most of the generic "code" for what I'm trying to do by hand while I was in bed last night. It's that intuitive.

Who likes Ogre Battle?

It looks like poo cause I was just throwing stuff together to get a grasp on coding, but I think that for someone who's never touched code before to be able to snap that together in less than an hour shows how easy to use Construct 2 is. I could probably make it from scratch in 20 minutes just after doing it once. And like I said, I have most of the generic code for the AI, stats, the combat system, the UI, etc., either all written down or in my head already. It's just a matter of filling in arrays and making sprites.

And damn, it's fun being able to actually make something tangible out of a game that's been floating around in my head. I totally recommend putting some time into it for anyone who's got a game they daydream about.

I do need to wrap my head around how to condense and consolidate some of my arrays though, it seems like I've got way too many planned and should be able to work some of them together.

So, thank you Jobbs for the awesome advice.

 

[Ashodin]

Oh man, I finally started goofing around in Construct 2, and it's a dream. I had to download a click-to-move plugin to handle that part (because I can't code for shit), but since I've done that and gotten a solid grasp of arrays, it's been smooth sailing. I was actually able to write out most of the generic "code" for what I'm trying to do by hand while I was in bed last night. It's that intuitive.

Who likes Ogre Battle?



It looks like poo cause I was just throwing stuff together to get a grasp on coding, but I think that for someone who's never touched code before to be able to snap that together in less than an hour shows how easy to use Construct 2 is. I could probably make it from scratch in 20 minutes just after doing it once. And like I said, I have most of the generic code for the AI, stats, the combat system, the UI, etc., either all written down or in my head already. It's just a matter of filling in arrays and making sprites.

And damn, it's fun being able to actually make something tangible out of a game that's been floating around in my head. I totally recommend putting some time into it for anyone who's got a game they daydream about.

I do need to wrap my head around how to condense and consolidate some of my arrays though, it seems like I've got way too many planned and should be able to work some of them together.

So, thank you Jobbs for the awesome advice.

Yep, Construct 2 is wicked cool. I've started two projects within it, Mr. Wave and Apexicon. It's very easy and fun to use, and the things you can make with it are varied and awesome.

Ludei has updated their CocoonJS wrapper to include WebGL now, so you can do neat 3D effects, the special Construct 2 effects on Android/iOS. Score!

Old Mr. Wave GIF just to show what types of games you can make with Construct 2.

I'm streaming my coding, check out http://www.twitch.tv/ashodin !

 

[missile]

Today I had my first rocket launch! Hell, I'm a rocket scientist! xD

Well, I have implement the first part of may high-precision physics simulator,
i.e. I have integrated the linear momentum equation for a rigid body, although
not as precise as intended (Runge-Kutta of order 4) for the time being. Basic
Euler for the win! Nope, just kidding! xD Anyhow, the rocket had a successful
take-off! I also computed a simple thrust force produced by a nozzle while
exhausting propellant at a given rate out of the nozzle pushing the rocket
upwards. The term is simple in the sense that I currently do not account for
the pressure difference between the pressure of the ambient air and the
pressure behind the rocket's nozzle. And I also do not account for the
nozzle's cross sectional area. Am just considering the rate of change of mass
leaving the nozzle to produce the force. So I just simplified the already
simplified rocket equation a lil further. xD Anyhow, the two terms aren't too
difficult to incorporate, since they can easily be computed. I just didn't
wanted to sit around tinkering with some 'legit' pressure values.

The next step is to implement the angular momentum equation ... a hell of a
beast esp. considering that I want to include variable mass making the inertia
tensor non-constant. Ouch! Anyhow, there will be a solution one way or
another. Once this equation is implemented objects will start to rotate
according to their mass distribution and external moments applied. So for
example, if the nozzle's exhaust vector is tilt slightly the rocket will start to
rotate.


Edit: Here is a small visual of my simulator tool under development. Very
primitive for now. No special geometry is used for visualizing the rocket
etc. Just the raw important values will be visualized for the time being. The
red dot is just the rocket's center of mass.

 

[Feep]

Living up to your namesake, I see, missile. = D

Been awhile since I've ever thought about Runge-Kutta.

I feel like you should be in engine development. You seem to adore the mathematical aspects of game creation so much!

 

[Ashodin]

Missile proving it is as easy as rocket science.

Still streaming the coding, if you guys want to watch. Otherwise, I'll post another update in here once I'm done for the night.

 

[rohlfinator]

It's pretty easy to work with and it comes with lots of useful examples. I picked up Orthello right when I started using Unity so I had no other Unity experience at the time. That was about a year and a half ago and I'm still using that combo.

I'm also using the NGUI framework. It does pretty much everything you'd want in a UI, it's well documented, and the code is very clean. You could potentially use it to make a whole 2D game but I'm not sure how far you'd get. I'd be curious to know if anyone has actually done that.

Cool, I'll have to check out NGUI too, not having to code a UI by hand sounds pretty nice!

 

[missile]

For clearification, Runge-Kutta of order 4 isn't implemented just now. One
could read my previous post as if it were already included. The integrator
currently in use is just basic Euler many of you know as x += v*dt. It was
just quicker to code.

Living up to your namesake, I see, missile. = D

Been awhile since I've ever thought about Runge-Kutta.

I feel like you should be in engine development. You seem to adore the mathematical aspects of game creation so much!

About the namesake, I haven't thought about it! What a coincidence! xD

Pretty hard to be an engine developer these days. You either apply for a
bigger company or your better come up with something pretty cool by yourself
using all the advanced stuff, since, in general, most of the standard stuff is
already here in many SDKs. However, I indeed have a special need for what
I'm doing, whereby I would also do it if I wouldn't have the need, since I'm
intrinsically interested in all of this and I'm strongly auto-motivated by
nature.

Missile proving it is as easy as rocket science. ...

I did some research and I've found out that on going rocket scientists indeed
tinker around with the basic (1d) rocket equation for quite some time, from
which they do compute various important values from and already gain many
interesting insights. Making this equation 3d and incorporating angular
effects makes all the stuff a lot more difficult. But you would only do this
if you really want to compute the trajectory of a rocket sent to space. These
equations are indeed not so easy to say at least, but whats likewise as
difficult is modeling the forces exerted onto a rocket during flight. If I'm
done with all the equations one could indeed compute a rocket launch from the
surface of the earth. However, what separates me from a real rocket scientist
is that (s)he knows the entire regime the rocket runs through while leaving
the surface of the earth. For example, the flow regime around a rocket at
different altitudes is an entire field on its own. The aerodynamic forces are
pretty hard to calculate resp. to understand.

Anyhow, I don't want to follow Carmack on entering the rocket business. xD

Hell, I just want to have some cool thruster on my crafts! lol

 

[Duderino]

Posted our first screenshots today of Air Dash Online's early build.

Our programmers, animators, and designers will be working hard this week to prep the game to show at EVO. After retooling our foundation a few weeks ago, it might be a little more along the lines of a proof of concept than a full fledged fighter at this point, but we'll bring it regardless.

For those of you catching up, the game is built in Unity3d. I'm responsible for the all the dynamic lighting, shader programming, and now this environment. There's also a second character I built, but we'll see if he makes it in time for our EVO.