I was considering going back and editing older posts to reflect some changes in ideas that I have, but I have reconsidered since I would prefer that this blog outline the whole process and evolution of this game from beginning to end. That being said there may be some repeat posts coming up as I need to update certain aspects. The changes won't be particularly large, rather a refinement of previously discussed concepts.
As far as where I am in the process now, I am having to go back and relearn Blender after taking a break from it while in school. I'm finding that I understand quite a bit more about haw the program works now that I have taken linear algebra. I'm also reading Mathematics for 3D Game Programming & Computer Graphics and I'm starting into OpenGL. I still have a lot to learn, and keeping up with all possible technologies is proving to be an overwhelming challenge, so I'm going to work to keep it as simple as I can at this point.
05 June, 2012
31 May, 2012
Auto Turret Behavior
So I have talked about turrets in the past, and in looking through my past posts I realized I didn't have anything written down about them. The recipe for making one will include at least 1 energy crystal, crafted metal pieces that will include enough for the dimensions of the turret, which will be 12 triblocks, and possibly something else I haven't determined yet. They will probably look a little like the Daleks from Dr. Who or the laser towers from Zelda with a floating globe that indicates . When crafted I want to give the creator the option of the scanning range in sets of 45 degrees. So for example they could set it to scan a 90 degree angle, or they could set it to 360 if they wanted, though it would be less effective as it would take longer to get back to a given point. Also the larger the scan field, the less radial distance the scan will cover
When attacked the auto turret will automatically fire a shot directly back to where it was shot from, and then it will scan in a 45 degree angle the area from which the shot was fired for approximately 5 seconds. The change of scanning also increases total distance of possible scanning to the maximum while it searches, but once it resumes it's normal scan the distance will go back to the original amount.
I want these towers to shoot a constant stream of soldier level weapon fire once locked on a target. A frontal assault on one is just not possible unless a team of least 15 soldiers are all attacking it at once, but I do hope to have a relatively dumb AI so smart players can defeat them if they work it right. All turrets will have the ability to fire in 360 degrees as well as directly up and mostly down so getting around behind one is not a guaranteed destruction.
One other thing I will consider is that if a player near a turret does their laser pointer in a specific direction, the turret will briefly scan that area more thoroughly. This could possibly be a problem though as spies could intentionally point a turret away while enemy players pass through an area, so I'll probably have to set a timer on it and a limit to how often a player could "direct" the turrets attention.
When attacked the auto turret will automatically fire a shot directly back to where it was shot from, and then it will scan in a 45 degree angle the area from which the shot was fired for approximately 5 seconds. The change of scanning also increases total distance of possible scanning to the maximum while it searches, but once it resumes it's normal scan the distance will go back to the original amount.
I want these towers to shoot a constant stream of soldier level weapon fire once locked on a target. A frontal assault on one is just not possible unless a team of least 15 soldiers are all attacking it at once, but I do hope to have a relatively dumb AI so smart players can defeat them if they work it right. All turrets will have the ability to fire in 360 degrees as well as directly up and mostly down so getting around behind one is not a guaranteed destruction.
One other thing I will consider is that if a player near a turret does their laser pointer in a specific direction, the turret will briefly scan that area more thoroughly. This could possibly be a problem though as spies could intentionally point a turret away while enemy players pass through an area, so I'll probably have to set a timer on it and a limit to how often a player could "direct" the turrets attention.
Distress Signals
I have been thinking about what could be done to indicate to other players of one's faction that someone is in distress. So along with the laser pointer idea, I had a thought that distress signals could be sent by pointing their laser pointer directly up. So long that a player is not under anything (like in a cave) and they are using the pointing function (which is a double use for placement of blocks and structures as well as quick communication), then if frozen the beam automatically shoots directly up and an alarm will be triggered if they are close enough to a communications structure( basically within the same hexfield as one). The alarm volume will depend on how many distress calls are being sent at any given time and will be relayed back to the main base. I envision a large map on one of the walls which will indicate distress signals by a radiating hex, the larger the radiation, the more attention grabbing it will be. So basically it would provide a player controlled mechanism to quickly indicate incoming attacks.
01 May, 2012
Google Developers Blog: Google BigQuery brings Big Data analytics to all b...
Google Developers Blog: Google BigQuery brings Big Data analytics to all b...: By Ju-kay Kwek, Product Manager, BigQuery BigQuery enables businesses and developers to gain real-time business insights from massive am...
This could prove to be very useful in the future. So I thought I would link it here. It's pretty boring behind the scenes stuff that has to happen.
This could prove to be very useful in the future. So I thought I would link it here. It's pretty boring behind the scenes stuff that has to happen.
Semester is almost done and Headgear
Ok I know that I have been rather quiet on this site for some time now. The nice thing is that my semester is almost done. I will have completed all of the prerequisites for grad school, and now I am just waiting to see if I will be accepted into the program or not. Even if I am not accepted I have already learned a ton and I have a good springboard for moving forward with this project. I will be focusing a lot more over the summer, so expect a lot more in the way of posts, though no guarantees of course.
So one idea I have had was to somewhat copy other FPS games in introducing purely aesthetic headgear for personalization. In this game I plan on a standard headgear being the antennae, and so at first it could be different configurations of antennae. If the game proves to be successful, then later on I will be able to commission an artist to make some better looking head items. This will have to wait until a game model is put together of course. This will also be another way for the game to get income and/or promote the game.
23 April, 2012
The Troll Server
So I have been thinking a bit about what can be done to make sure people behave in this game as I want it to be family friendly, to the point where a 6 year old watching it won't pick up new and unwanted vocabulary, and also so that a parent watching the game over a teenagers shoulder won't see how someone in world chat is talking in depth about their latest adult experience. So an idea that I have come up with is a
Troll Server
That's right, a server where there are basically no rules, no censoring, just be as much of an offensive "pick and insert your term here" as you wish. Now if someone does something worthy of getting sent to such a place and "didn't mean it", then they will have to show real remorse in some fashion to be able to return to the "civil" servers.
What this accomplishes is a way for all types of players to be able to play the game as they wish, and they can be around the type of people that they wish to be around. Banning from playing doesn't really work, especially since they may be paying customers who we don't wish to alienate, and trolls often pride themselves on the number of times they are banned anyway. Of course if people willingly wish to play in this server they will be allowed, since that will make it all the easier to police them. It will just have to have a disclaimer before players enter it.
Players could then decide as a collective as to what behaviors constitute a sentence of going to the Troll server. I ran it by a friend (Columba from Aion, Israphel Server) who is a self proclaimed professional troll and he loved the idea. I think it could solve a lot of problems if other games were to adopt a similar type of system. Now of course if someone has a complaint of some sort, all that has to be said is "Look, your in the Troll server. If you don't like it, show us you can behave so you can be on a normal server". It could have a 3 strike system, where after the third strike they have sealed their fate of ever not playing on a troll server. That should keep a lot of people happy in multiple ways.
Troll Server
That's right, a server where there are basically no rules, no censoring, just be as much of an offensive "pick and insert your term here" as you wish. Now if someone does something worthy of getting sent to such a place and "didn't mean it", then they will have to show real remorse in some fashion to be able to return to the "civil" servers.
What this accomplishes is a way for all types of players to be able to play the game as they wish, and they can be around the type of people that they wish to be around. Banning from playing doesn't really work, especially since they may be paying customers who we don't wish to alienate, and trolls often pride themselves on the number of times they are banned anyway. Of course if people willingly wish to play in this server they will be allowed, since that will make it all the easier to police them. It will just have to have a disclaimer before players enter it.
Players could then decide as a collective as to what behaviors constitute a sentence of going to the Troll server. I ran it by a friend (Columba from Aion, Israphel Server) who is a self proclaimed professional troll and he loved the idea. I think it could solve a lot of problems if other games were to adopt a similar type of system. Now of course if someone has a complaint of some sort, all that has to be said is "Look, your in the Troll server. If you don't like it, show us you can behave so you can be on a normal server". It could have a 3 strike system, where after the third strike they have sealed their fate of ever not playing on a troll server. That should keep a lot of people happy in multiple ways.
01 April, 2012
Mirrors
I had an interesting thought last night. A craft-able item that could be placed is a mirror that allows shots fired by the placing faction to be reflected, yet opposing faction's shots would be absorbed as damage which when it becomes to much will break the mirror. These mirrors could be hacked just as any other structure. There would be both ceiling/floor types and wall types, which could be represented as two different recipes. This will have to wait of course, but will make a nice addition after the basics of the game have been completely developed.
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