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RPG System Iteration 6 Complete

February 12th, 2012 | Posted by vladimirsan in RPG System - (0 Comments)


Ok. the sixth iteration is over. In this one I added some "solid" objects to the map and manage the collisions between the player and the map. Since the collisions are tile based this iteration ended way easier than I initially thought. Here is a small description of what I did:

In my last post I mentioned that most of the logic of the Pokemon maps is tile based instead of continuum. This is exactly why is so easy to use "look ahead points" to manage the collisions instead of going for a "pixel perfect" approach. I basically started doing this:

Instead of checking the whole avatar to see if it's colliding with some "solid tile" I just check the pink points n_n. Also I don't always check the four points. I just check the ones that are relevant to the direction of the player.

Later I noticed that having only one point per direction could lead to some wacky collisions don't being recognized...>_<. So I added two more relevant points.

And It was perfect ^_^...there is still room for improvement though. Here is a short list of things that COULD be done, but I wont now. (I'll probably do them in my first "complete" RPG)

  • I think that the middle collision point isn't THAT useful now that I have 3 per side. It could be removed. But It must be tested
  • Also, I noticed some bumps with the camera system when the player is colliding with a solid tile. Right now the camera want to ALWAYS have the avatar sprite at it's center.
    I could try to add a "smooth" value. So that the camera only moves when the player is actually moving.

That's all for now...the next iteration will focus on animated tiles. I don't really know how many iterations will take to finish the system...BUT there are only have 7 main features left :D so it MAY be 7-10 iterations :)

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RPG System Iteration 5 Complete

January 27th, 2012 | Posted by vladimirsan in RPG System - (0 Comments)

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.

(more...)

Iteration 4 Complete

January 1st, 2012 | Posted by vladimirsan in RPG System - (1 Comments)

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

December 25th, 2011 | Posted by vladimirsan in RPG System - (0 Comments)

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?

(more...)

Still Working

October 3rd, 2011 | Posted by vladimirsan in Flash Games | Projects | RPG System - (0 Comments)

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 :)

Working on the Fourth Iteration

August 24th, 2011 | Posted by vladimirsan in RPG System - (0 Comments)

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

Third Iteration Complete

August 11th, 2011 | Posted by vladimirsan in RPG System - (1 Comments)

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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Vladimir = (Mapper) Vladimir;

July 27th, 2011 | Posted by vladimirsan in RPG System - (0 Comments)

Remember when I said that this system is giving me a greater insight on the rpg making process?. Well I'd like to say exactly that one more time. After the main menu my objective is to develop the "overworld" map. But I can't "develop" anything without a map can I?. And  that is exactly the main focus of this third iteration. I'm making the tilemap of the overworld map.

Of course...I could have just taken the original FFI map and use exactly that to create the map right? I could but I won't learn anything about that, and remember that the main objective right now isn't finishing the system. The main objective is providing myself enough experience so that when I try to make a "real" RPG I will know exacty in what I am getting into.Here is a screnshot of what I have right now:

Now...I have to confess that I always thought that the whole mapping process was...well "easy and fun" after all you just open a program and pretend to be an architect right?  what can be  hard about that...right?.
Well let me tell you that making even the simplest map is A LOT OF WORK. I've been working since last week in the map and I have almost nothing to show (well you can add my inexperience with all that kind of work to the mix).

What I do have now is a greater understanding of all the related  to the making of  a RPG. Since I'm always thinking about the project that comes after this one...I can at least tell you  that a mapper will be a CORE member of the team.

I'll keep working on the map...I still need to add A LOT of details to it. Maybe I'll have it finished by next week so I can start programming the tilemap engine for the system :)

Second Iteration Done

July 20th, 2011 | Posted by vladimirsan in RPG System - (0 Comments)

:) Sonner than I expected the second iteration of the system is over. Let's see the current class diagram:

That  isn't a 100% accurate diagram. I've changed some things but is good enough so that you can see what is happening :) (If you understand UML).  Also I want to share with you the "milestones" of this iteration:

  1. SoundSystem is operational as you can hear ;)
  2. Good understanding of AsWing (The GUI library that I'm using for this project)
  3. At least now I Know that making a pre-loader in flash is no easy task :p
  4. The Main Menu is ready (this was the main objective of the iteration remember?)
There is one issue that I want to address now...most of my development is done in an Ubuntu. Today I discovered a really nasty bug with haxe/ubuntu (only happens in ubuntu). When you play a sound, any sound, in almost any possible way you can play the damn sound....there is a small delay. It is almost unnoticeable with songs, but with SFX is obvious. I spent maybe all most of this day development time working around this issue.

Now we have sound

July 18th, 2011 | Posted by vladimirsan in RPG System - (0 Comments)

:) I'm already working on the System :D, that alone is enough reason to celebrate. I've spent most of the week  refactoring my code. By refactoring constantly I hope to keep my code clean and manageable. I'll continue to refactor even if that "slows down" the project. It will help in the long run.

Besides refactoring I started with the sound system. Remember the use case for this iteration?.The system now plays the classic prelude tune from Final Fantasy when the menu appears. It may seem like something simple...but since I know really very little about audio files and compression all my attempts to compress the mp3 file were in vain.I mean...I "can" compress the file but I don't like the resulting quality...in the end I just left the file as it was and moved on. This is definitely an area where I need to improve/get help for my next game.

Since the size of the system grew from 57K to 1M I decided to add a preloader...that is supoosed to be an easy task right? well I couldn't successfully add a Haxe Preloader :(. I've spent several hours trying to add the preloader according to the instructions from SamHaxe. Finally I tried the SamHaxe movie (I just took for granted that the code worked) just to find out that their preloader doesn't work......X___X

I'll try to add the preloader as soon as I can. I mean... it can't be impossible O_O. I expect the final size of the system to be around 5-6 megabytes so it might be necessary to add one.

Edit
Ok, after using all my google-fu and reading several posts about it... I decided that since the preloader is not my main priority. I'll keep the preloader on stand by. When the system grows too much I'll just use the mochi-loader X__X sigh...after all when I do release a game I'll be using the mochi loader too...

The new version is already uploaded and you can stop by anytime. I hope to finish this second iteration by this Wednesday. If I do I'll post the system that day. The next iteration involves the overworld map...and that is way more interesting than an main menu ;).

About the Flash Game

We have almost finished the design document of the game. I also finished yesterday a small spike to get used to the developing environment (I'll be using Actionscript 3). I'll start the "development" of the game today. I won't be as strict with the development process as I am with the RPG System.

I'll start with a first spike/iteration and keep  programming/designing from there. After all I have to make sure that the game is "fun" O_O. And the best way to do that is to play as soon as I can X_X.

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