RPG System Iteration 5 Complete

Posted on January 27, 2012 by vladimirsan

Ok. The fifth iteration is complete and after writing this post I'll start to work in the next one (which by the way will feature "obstacles" and collision detection in the map :) ). As I said before...this iteration only deals with the animation of the player's avatar.

I'll just post the video...then I'll talk about something "interesting" that I noticed while programming.

So, logically I'm using Pokemon Fire Red as a "model" of the map system. Usually when I'm programming/designing something I play Pokemon and try to "reverse-engineer" the logic of the game and use that as a base for my own system.

After I finished the movement of the avatar I noticed that I couldn't exactly reproduce the "Pokemon movement". I basically walked over pallet town for about 15 minutes just trying to figure why. Want to know why? after the break n_O.

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A flash portal? Oh God why?

Posted on January 25, 2012 by vladimirsan

So...I promissed to write a post about the reasoning behind the flash games portal. Here is it:

You see what I did here?. If you do you are awesome ;)

Even though right now I'm on the verge of launching my first flash game, my "global" plan involves launching A LOT more. Obviously I'm thinking about getting some kind of sponsorship for my games. But being as much of a perfectionist as I am, I really don't think that my first games will be "sponsorship worthy"...so, right now sponsorship is not an option.

<nerd parenthesis>
Surely you don't know about this, but one of my favorite games of all time is Starcraft, right now I'm a Zerg Starcraft 2 player (HELL yeah! zerg rush kekeke). Starcraft is a strategy game (you don't say o_O) and a lot of the initial game plan relies on building structures. 

Usually it's important to try to make your build order in a way that every building helps you to accomplish something specific, and IF a building helps you to accomplish more than one thing you will surely get an advantage over your opponent.
</nerd parenthesis>

With the "starcraft 2 build order strategy" in mind I begun to ask myself  "What can I do with this flash game so that launching the game helps me to accomplish MORE than just launching a simple flash game".

It's clear that I'm not the  first one to think that it is a valid strategy to create a flash portal (even with the monsters that are out there like kongregate) and that coupling your flash portal with flash games is a great strategy. And just like that...my flash arcade idea was born. BUT! am I doing this JUST because there are two random guys over the internet doing the same?....well maybe...I mean NO U_U. I'm different, keep reading to know why ;)
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Status Update -- What's in my mind?

Posted on January 23, 2012 by vladimirsan

Ok :) My first flash game is COMPLETE :D . Right now I'm just beta-testing the gameplay. I think that I ended doing a very complete and professional game :) (at least for a first timer). You'll be seeing the game soon, but not too soon..you know why?....because.....:

I'm making a Flash Game Portal O__O

And I want to launch the flash game portal alongside the flash game :) ...so....I won't be giving away too much information right now. I'll explain my reasoning behind this later. But don't despair :D , right now the portal is around 50% done ;) .  Soon you'll be seeing it.

Finally, the RPG System. Since SFML doesn't have a class that can be used for animations. I created one from scratch. The class is complete right now :) . And I'll start the next iteration next week :) . Well....that's all for now :) . I'll explain the reasoning behind the flash portal later :) .

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Iteration 4 Complete

Posted on January 1, 2012 by vladimirsan

Ok, so we all know that this itaration should be renamed to iteration 1 again...but I'm going to keep the old numeration :) . 

Since I had to start again from scratch... and  also since I wasn't feeling comfortable using Mappy to make the tilemaps. I decided to make a new map using Tiled and some Pokemon FireRed tilesets. I made the whole map in about an hour (counting the time taken to find/download the tiles and install tiled).The map is  really simple right now, but I'll be adding more details as I continue to work on the system. Here you have:

Then I wrote a simple C++/SFML program to explore this iteration requeriment : "Player can move in the map". To load my map I used a loader made by Quinns. I highly recommend the loader, it really is very easy to use and to extend :) . I even made a few changes of my own.

The actual code isn't really that complex, it just deals with the scrolling of the map, and the player movement.Even though I can't say that the credit is 100% mine,some of the ideas an the "theory" of my code are from 8bitRocket's book.

Unfortunately since I'm doing the new system with C++ I can't just "embed" it. I'll leave a short video instead :) .

(Sorry for the video quality...or should I say lack of video quality...it is my first screen recording...I'll try to improve that in the next video.)For the long awaited iteration 5 I'm going to animate the player's avatar, stay tuned :) .

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What the hell happened with the RPG System

Posted on December 25, 2011 by vladimirsan

First of all I just want to make sure that there is no doubt about the status of the system, the development of the system continues is just the approach of the development that is changing.

Ok it's time to write about what happened with the development the RPG System...I think that this will be a long (really long) post. Let's by reviewing the objectives of the system:

  • Gain experience with Role Playing Games design and implementation
  • Make the engine good enough to be used as the foundation of "complete" games

By the Fourth iteration I really started to notice some things:

  1. I was doing a lot of work that really wasn't helping to achieve my goals. I spent maybe a week worth of work just making the overworld map. I learned nothing by doing that...just spent time in something that I'll never use again.
  2. A lot of work on the RPG System isn't really "RPG related", menus and transitions really are "generic" and could be used in ANY game.
  3. A lot of the things in the RPG System aren't really "game programming related", the "core" of the system is actually an information system...and information systems is what I have been studying for a long time...so I really wasn't having problems thinking about how to make the "core" of the system.
  4. I realized that I was actually doing my LAST semester in the university....the moment of truth is really close. And by moment of truth I mean the moment where I will start trying to make a living out of videogame development...that is actually a scary moment :S and a scary thought.
  5. I was actually coding BY HAND lots (really lots) of things that I could easily let libraries handle.
  6. By doing a lot of "busywork" on the system I was actually delaying the true making of my first RPG.

Mainly because of point number 3 I decided to start testing the waters by doing some small flash games. Not too long after that I noticed that I was really learning a lot more by developing the small flash game that by working on the system.

It is clear that the RPG system wasn't helping me to achieve my goals...so...what will I do to fix that?

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Finally I'm back

Posted on December 22, 2011 by vladimirsan

Back to game programming :)

So my last post was more than two months ago,that is a long time...:(. I haven't checked the stats of the blog but I'm pretty sure that I have 0.0000 traffic right now...well THAT IS ABOUT TO CHANGE. I have some news :D

  • My last semester is over :) . Starting today I'll focus almost entirely on game development for a very long time ;) .  Next year I'll just have to do my thesis to finally have my degree (Computer Science btw). I'm hoping that the thesis won't be as time consuming as last semester (Last semester really wasn't that time consuming by itself...I just happened to be working part time...and that is one of the main reasons that this blog was forgotten)
  • About the flash game I'm making:  The game is really almost the same as two months ago. I think that I'll be able to finish the beta version of the game in two or three weeks. After the game is done I'll post here a full fledged "post mortem".
  • About the RPG System games...actually A LOT of things happened. I'm making huge changes in the approach of the RPG System. I'll write a complete post with the state of the RPG System soon :)

I think that's all :)

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Still Working

Posted on October 3, 2011 by vladimirsan

It's a shame that I can't share many of the things that I'm doing right now :p but please trust me when I tell you that I'm working a lot :) even if I don't post a lot. So...what did I do this last...month?

    • First of all...university is taking way more time of my life than I initially expected...that is mostly because I'm working part time as an "assistant teacher" (I may be using a non-related name...but I really don't know the proper one...maybe instructor X_X). Some days I don't have time to work on anything interesting (;)).It really is a shame that I can't work on my projects as much as I would like but right now I'm satisfied with my work. Now considering the last point please read the next ones:
    • The core gameplay of the flash game is ready :) . If we think that a game is like...a hamburger you could say that I have the meat ready :) . Now I just need to do...everything else -_-.  In order to test and debug the game I've started to ask friends to play the game and to give me "honest" opinions. If you are a friend of mine you can expect to see the game soon.

      I just have the meat O_O

      I'm planning to complete the game by December, but I really don't know  when I'll be "launching" the game. That depends on the progress of a third project that I started yesterday. I don't want to have false hopes about all this but I think that saying that "the (game + secret project 2) combo will be ready by the end of this year" is fine.

    • About the RPG system...the fourth iteration is really complex (at least comparing it to the previous ones). I managed to complete a small spike of the iteration. Right Now I can display a fraction of the map onscreen. I'm working on being able to move through the map. I'll post a quick screenshot of the spike but don't get over-exited, right now It looks...boring. I really need more time :( .

So...that's all I'll come soon with more updates :)

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About my flash Projects

Posted on September 5, 2011 by vladimirsan

Ok...since I have no news to report about the RPG System front....I'll better start talking about something else (this doesn't mean that I'll stop working on the system).

One of the hidden motives  that I have with this whole "flash projects" is to learn to create and manage a "game development team". So far it...has been a nightmare. I currently have two unfinished games "on hold" just because the designers that started the game can't/won't work, so far the main reason behind this kind of thing is the "lack of time" of the designers.

Being a college student myself I can understand that kind of thing.  I think that this rather than being about that graphic designers doesn't have time, is about "commitment"...allow me to explain myself ;)

Thinking about making games is fun....thinking about game ideas is...fuuuun. I think that most people that "want to get in the industry" are more in love with the idea of "making games" than the actual process of making a game. A process that is less like playing a game...and more like....how should I say this....ohh right...WORKING.

I won't work with anyone else without (at least) some kind of  experience making games. Actually for my next projects I'll go with freelancers.

But...I'm still working on a flash game right now O__O who is making the graphics?. That my friends will remain a mistery for now...Although I think that I gave enough clues in this post X_X

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Working on the Fourth Iteration

Posted on August 24, 2011 by vladimirsan

Ok...I have good news...regular news....and bad news :p let me start with the bad news x(

a) (Bad news) I'm in college again...even though this semester isn't as hard as the last one I think that obviously I won't be able to work as much as in vacation...

b) (Neutral News) I've been working a lot in the flash projects (actually I have A LOT to tell regarding this...when I enter the "beta test phase" of my current game I'll start  the talking/writing :p)

c) (Good News) I've also worked a lot in the RPG system...(ok maybe not so good news), I think that this fourth iteration will be (maybe) one the hardest in the entire system...mainly because I've never ever done anything like the things I'm doing right now (when I said earlier that I'm trying to learn...I mean it ;) ). Let me just copy here what this iteration is about:

Basic Scroling Map

This will be the foundation to all the overworld classes the overworld tilemap will be loaded and presented to the user.
The user will have the abitily to scroll the map using the arrow keys. The layer presented to the user will be the main land layer.
Other layers will be added in the next iteration.

::Name:
Basic Scrolling Map
::Requirements Explored
One:
3-Player can move in the map
::Precondition(s)
NONE
::Trigger(s)
Overworld Class map is called
::Main Course of Action
1)The game will load the tilemap
2)The game will draw the tilemap
3)Player presses a key
4)Tilemap move accordingly
::Alternate Course(s) of action:
3.a)Player never presses a key
4.a)Map stays still

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Third Iteration Complete

Posted on August 11, 2011 by vladimirsan

I really thought that I could end the 3rd iteration in a day or two...maybe a week.But It took me almost two weeks to finish the overworld tilemap (a friend of mine told me that sometimes she doesn't understand the technical details here...so I'll be adding wikipedia links whenever possible). Here is a picture of the map.

The map was made with Mappy. As you can see I'm running it in linux using Wine. I'm thinking about using Tiled for the next map....It's not that I think that Tiled is better than Mappy...is just that I'm learning and I need some experience in order to "compare". By the way all the black parts you see in the map will be water....Unfortunately Mappy just shows two layers (or at least I don't know how to show more than 2)...In the picture you can see the "land" layer and the "sprites" layer (forests,mountains,etc). Anyway in the actual game you will see the water :p that's all.

So...what comes next? I'll take the map and through flash I'll draw it and make it scrollable, that will be the fourth iteration (actually the fourth iteration will just be about drawing the ocean). And I expect to be over with that next week. I'm already planning all the code that needs to be written. It's not much...but let me tell you a secret O_O this is the first time that I'll code something like this O______________O.

And what about the flash game? well there are LOTS of news in that area...but I guess everything I tell you now will spoil the fun ;) . Don't worry I'll tell you everything (or at least a little) soon :)

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