Moontears (Htbaa's Worklog)
BlitzMax side project 
Its name is Moontears
Besides 2dsupershoot I'm also working on another project. This time in BlitzMax. Its working title is Moontears. The game I intend to create is similar to a 2D Project Sylpheed type of game (no this is not an entry to the competition). This means a story with some plot twists, huge epic battles and lots of different spaceships and weapons.
The past few weeks I've been working on working on getting my base code done. I'm actually using game programming techniques to get stuff done! Like Finite State Machines, Fuzzy State Machines and Influence Maps (the little radar on the left). With 2dsupershoot I'm not using any of those. FSM's and FuSM's would've been really useful with 2dsupershoot. But that's fine, you learn along the way.
Moontears is going to be a much bigger game than 2dsupershoot. In it's current state alone it's already more advanced than 2dsupershoot. The influence map is used for fast target selection, as well as for the AI commanders to direct the units awaiting instructions.
Levels will be scripted using Lua. This will allow me to literally script the levels, dialogs and all that kind of stuff. Prototyping levels will be fast as well since you can just reload your Lua script while running your game. So no time loss with recompiling your game.
This will also be the first game where I'm actually going to make everything myself :-). I'm messing around with Wings3D (for the time being) to make my models (yes you may laugh) and I'm getting there, slowly. I'm using SpriteForge to render my spritesheets and I'm using BLIde to do some productive coding!
So far I've got no concrete plans about Moontears. I'm still thinking about the story and the story elements. But there's enough time for that. Besides, all the basic gameplay elements need to be in there first. Besides dogfighters I also plan to add bombers, battleships and warships/cruisers. Although I don't think one will be playing with battleships or warships. They move slow as well so I don't think there'll be a lot of fun in that.
Anyway, check out the screenshots. The influence map in drawn shape shows the occupation per sector. In my test bed the allies start on the left, and the enemies on the right. You can see them advance on the influence map (the influence map is not a radar!). On the 2nd screenshot you can see the units fighting. Although a still image doesn't say that much. I'm currently testing with 200 vs 200 units and performance is still good, and there's room for more as well (game engine needs a lot of tweaking as well so it will be even better).
The past few weeks I've been working on working on getting my base code done. I'm actually using game programming techniques to get stuff done! Like Finite State Machines, Fuzzy State Machines and Influence Maps (the little radar on the left). With 2dsupershoot I'm not using any of those. FSM's and FuSM's would've been really useful with 2dsupershoot. But that's fine, you learn along the way.
Moontears is going to be a much bigger game than 2dsupershoot. In it's current state alone it's already more advanced than 2dsupershoot. The influence map is used for fast target selection, as well as for the AI commanders to direct the units awaiting instructions.
Levels will be scripted using Lua. This will allow me to literally script the levels, dialogs and all that kind of stuff. Prototyping levels will be fast as well since you can just reload your Lua script while running your game. So no time loss with recompiling your game.
This will also be the first game where I'm actually going to make everything myself :-). I'm messing around with Wings3D (for the time being) to make my models (yes you may laugh) and I'm getting there, slowly. I'm using SpriteForge to render my spritesheets and I'm using BLIde to do some productive coding!
So far I've got no concrete plans about Moontears. I'm still thinking about the story and the story elements. But there's enough time for that. Besides, all the basic gameplay elements need to be in there first. Besides dogfighters I also plan to add bombers, battleships and warships/cruisers. Although I don't think one will be playing with battleships or warships. They move slow as well so I don't think there'll be a lot of fun in that.
Anyway, check out the screenshots. The influence map in drawn shape shows the occupation per sector. In my test bed the allies start on the left, and the enemies on the right. You can see them advance on the influence map (the influence map is not a radar!). On the 2nd screenshot you can see the units fighting. Although a still image doesn't say that much. I'm currently testing with 200 vs 200 units and performance is still good, and there's room for more as well (game engine needs a lot of tweaking as well so it will be even better).
(Posted on August, 31st 2008, 23:40)
Comments
Htbaa said:
That'll take a while. I don't want to rush things.
Just now I was working on a model of a momber and when integrated in the game I fgured its scale was way off :-). The chosen colors were off as well.
I'm really serious about this project and don't want to screw things up.
I might, just *might*, release a demo level when the game is starting to represent my ideas. The demo though will be a full demo with preview level and all. But it's just too early for that :-).
Just now I was working on a model of a momber and when integrated in the game I fgured its scale was way off :-). The chosen colors were off as well.
I'm really serious about this project and don't want to screw things up.
I might, just *might*, release a demo level when the game is starting to represent my ideas. The demo though will be a full demo with preview level and all. But it's just too early for that :-).
(Posted on September, 1st 2008, 21:38)