Brainfold

Phew, been a busy week, but today I got quite a lot done again. I generalized the code for input mapping, component subsystems (which are responsible for managing the entity components of a game world) and collision handling, and I’m quite happy with all of them at the moment. Terrain is also a bit more [...]

As I suspected, most of yesterday was spent snowboarding and playing board games, but today I have been working quite a lot on the game again. Specifically, I’ve been working on component-based entities. It was quite a big a change and it essentially had to be done all at once, so the game didn’t even [...]

Got more stuff done today. I started on entity types with a type database, added a simple texture manager and again structured and consolidated lots of code. Entities are all the visual and/or physical objects in the world: at the moment the terrain, units and shells. Entity types define properties for entities, and entities can [...]

As expected, today was a bit slower on the coding front. I did manage to implement a unit-based turn system (as opposed to a player-based), meaning a player can potentially have multiple units and not all units have to be controlled by players. There’s also really basic collision response now: shells disappear when they hit [...]

Like yesterday, I didn’t get what I wanted to done, but did get as much done as I wanted to. Summary of today’s accomplishments:

Physics simulation for all objects, thanks to Chipmunk (see screenshot #1 below)
Units can now shoot, but turns don’t change yet (screenshot #2)
Input mapping is done in a really nice, general [...]

Ok, I’m all ready to start development for today. Today I’m going to focus on gameplay and playing around with physics assisted by Chipmunk. But first I’m going to write a bit about my plans for the game.
There are two major gameplay features and one programming technique I want to emphasize. Let’s get the dull [...]

Ok, so I didn’t actually update during the day and didn’t get an actual playable game prototype done today, but I’m damn pleased with my progress in any case. And I don’t remember programming being this satisfying for a long, long time!
Anyway, I got randomized, heightmap-based terrain and basic units implemented. You can [...]

Morning.
First order of the day is a little rant and laying out of plans. As I said in an earlier post about my history as a game developer and yesterday’s post, I haven’t really done any game development for a long while. I think my problem is perfectionism.
“Back in the day” I used to just [...]

I know, I know, I haven’t written an entry for a while, and I haven’t actually got anything done either. I’ve been struck with programmer’s block: for many days now I’ve fired up Eclipse and just stared at code but getting nothing actually done. I just can’t seem to get myself to write anything. It [...]

Rumours of me disappearing have been grealty exaggerated. Though being ill and concentrating on studies (for a change) have stopped me programming for a while, nothing has been abandoned. In fact, I did what I have been planning to do for ages: I learned Blender. Now I can hopefully make my own test models instead [...]