Header

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 :)

,

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.

, ,

About my goals and an announcement!

July 10th, 2011 | Posted by vladimirsan in Just Talking | Projects - (0 Comments)

I'm almost on vacation. Now I can FINALLY start working on my projects again. Next week I'll post my work :).

Now that I have about a month and a half "free" I have a very specific goal in mind. I want to play more games O__O. You may think that just because I want to be a game developer I must play lots and lots of games...and that IS NOT the case. This past semester I wasn't able to play (let alone finish) any game at all!. This was mostly because of the crappy schedule that my university forced on me...

That is why this vacations I want to play more games :).I already have a list of the games that I'll play, I won't post the list here because I have a serious case of SPOILER PHOBIA...and well that's all :). I'll just say that my list is very diverse, old an new games of every genre live on it ;)

I bought almost all of the "new" games on steam, exactly in the "steam summer camp". Almost 40 of them (gotta love the sales O_O) which leads me to one of the main points of this post. I BOUGHT the games. You may not know but in my country we have a BIG piracy problem. Movies/Songs/Games aren't viewed as art but instead as...I don't know..."expensive garbage?". Basically when I bought the games (and I told my friends/Acquaintances  about it a lot of them said something like "why do you BUY that game! you can download the game from X.com or Y.net"

But...HOW CAN I as an aspiring Professional Game Developer HURT the INDUSTRY that I hope will give me MONEY for my GAMES?.I know the VALUE of a GAME. And I'm willing to PAY for the EXPERIENCE that the game PROVIDES (even if that means waiting for a crazy steam sale because that's what I can afford :p).

So yes ladies and gentlemen :) I've bought lot's of games, I'm buying lot's of games right now, and (guess what?) I'll continue to buy games for the rest of my life ;). And you heard/read it right :p BUY :).Oh..and also :p I don't think that I'm "throwing money". After all...gaming is my oldest and most beloved hobby. :)

Now let's make the "big" announcement shall we?. In this vacation I'll develop a short "complete" flash game :). This game won't be a one time only game. I'm planning to keep making small games starting now. (When I say small I say small in comparison of your typical RPG). Also :) I'm not developing this game alone. Andrea,a friend of mine (a graphic designer by the way) will be working with me :). So you at least you know that you won't be seeing "programmer's artwork".

Does that mean that you are dropping the RPG System?
No, I'll keep working on the RPG System as I always do. Yo could say that the distribution of my working time will be 70-80% Rpg System. and 20-30% these new "small" games.

Then..Why are you doing that! ? I thought you only liked RPGs!
I love LOTS of games. But your question if half true...once I thought that I would only develop RPG games. That is not the case now. I really have some interesting ideas (don't we all have game ideas....they even say that ideas are worth less than a penny) that I want to try ;)

But...What is your real objective by making these games?
Well! you really  are perceptive don't you?...I do have hidden objectives behind all this, but over the years I've learned that I tend to speak too much about my goals...and that I should instead be working on them. I'll be posting about these games here so when the first one is ready to launch I'll start talking ;)

That's all folks :). This blog is again ALIVE :p :)

I'm not dead...again...

July 4th, 2011 | Posted by vladimirsan in Just Talking - (2 Comments)

I know I know...I started this blog with the goal of posting once a week...but this is the end of the semester...please bear with me...I also don't think that I'll be able to post this week (at least something project related...I do have something "personal" that I want to post =D) but I promise that  in two weeks I'll be back with more iterations of the beloved RPG System and an important announcement ;)

I just want to share a video that the RPG Fanatic posted recently....you may (or may not) know about him, I just want to state here that I share some of his opinions and...well just that :p.

Maybe someday I'll be able to work with him in (you guessed it) an RPG :)....maybe :

I'm not dead

June 21st, 2011 | Posted by vladimirsan in RPG System - (0 Comments)

Ok...I haven't been able to update the site as much as I wanted to...but It will always be like this this time of the year...I'm really busy with the university projects and all that...I managed to start the second iteration..here is the use case:

Main Menu

The main final fantasy tune will start playing after the the vladimirsan.com logo dissapears. the intro will continue as normal. After the final fantasy logo the main menu fades into the screen. The player then can choose between two options
a) New Game
b) Continue Game

The player must press over the text of the option with the mouse in order to activate an option of the menu. When an option is activated the classic final fantasy sound. That's all :p

::Name:
Main Menu and Music

::Requirements Explored
Four(1,61,67,68)

::Precondition(s)

::Trigger(s)
Vladimirsan.com logo fading

::Main Course of Action
a) vladimirsan.com logo fading
b) menu appears/music plays
c) player picks an option
d) system plays a sound effect

::Alternate Course(s) of action:
c.a.1) player doesn't pick an option
c.a.2) system stays waiting for the player's action

::Exceptional Courses(s) of Action

That's all :D right now...maybe this week I'll be able to continue working :p. I'm at least pretty sure that I'll be able to work tonight.

Quick Update

June 6th, 2011 | Posted by vladimirsan in RPG System - (0 Comments)

Ok, now I'm REALLY busy. I'm on the hardest part of my semester and I won't be able to keep writing "long" posts at least this month. I've maneged to finish the first iteration of the system :), I've also created the oficial RPG System 1 page. There you'll find always the current version.

As I said on earlier posts, right now I just have the intro screen of the "game". In the next iteration I'll be making the main menu and adding sound effects/music to the system.

By the way I won't be able to write often because I spend almost all my time working on a Pushdown Automaton Simulator as an assignment (in C# if you want to know). And almost all my free time I work on the rpg system...so...bye :p

Thinking about time

June 1st, 2011 | Posted by vladimirsan in Just Talking - (0 Comments)

Ok...I have 68 requirements on the rpg system.  And this year has only 30 weeks left. That means that if I want to finish the rpg system as expected I should be doing an average of 2.26 requirements per week (minimum). Taking into consideration that iteration zero has ZERO requirements fulfilled I'm thinking that the goal of finishing the system this year might be  a little bold one. I know that I wasted a lot of time with that dammed book but...I hope to work A LOT in July,August,December on my "vacations", Maybe I'll be able to score 5 reqs per week. and compensate with these "slow" months.

I'll try to complete system by the original goal but If you read  a future post saying that I'll move the "release date" a few months (maybe in September). You won't be as surprised right? :p. Metrics can really come and bite you when you start taking them :p.

Anyway...this week I haven't worked a lot..another test week...at least I'll try to finish the iteration zero and start the refactoring zero (in the next post I'll also explain what is refactoring zero :p).