Builder try 1

Ok with a few changes we have the builder.  I plan on skinning him differently so it is clear that what class is what.  Pretty much I hope one can get the idea that I hope to convey in the character design.  Nothing too crazy with everyone pretty much the same size.

Soldier try #2

Ok I know that it has seemed like I haven't done much lately so I thought I would show you how I have progressed in my use of blender.  I admit that I can't that full credit for as I started from a male base mesh, but I think that the modifications give a pretty good indication of my vision for characters.  Again the only real difference between a soldier and a scout will be size.  I'll have to work on widening the whole thing for the builder class.  I'll work on painting it next, after I have reviewed a few more tutorials.

End of the semester report

Well I made it to the end of the semester and I think I have learned some valuable information.  I will most likely concentrate on C++ or C# as the language, as Java has many drawbacks for games(memory management, having to run on virtual machine, etc...).  I still would like to stay away from Microsoft if at all possible, one because I think there is a potential for a lot of players on Linux and Mac, and two I just don't like Microsoft, but C# is Microsoft's baby.  I do have to admit that the XNA Game studio library that comes with Visual Studio makes the process of implementation much easier.  I'm fairly tuckered out from a rather stressful semester though so I may not do any work on this until after Christmas.  Have a happy holiday to everyone who happens upon this.

P.S. I got A's and B's with the exception of one F in an unimportant class.  I found that I simply didn't have the time and wear with all to keep up in all of my classes.  Next semester luckily will be much easier.

Online Multiplayer

My semester is drawing to a close, and I think that while I now have a greater understanding of the enormity of the task I have set myself, I don't quite see the path I should take.  One thing is clear, programming effectively and properly will take time to learn.  I am still committed to making this an online multiplayer game, and to that end I studied what it would take to create a basic system where a player logs in.  I found that there are many many different ways that this could be accomplished and I quickly became overwhelmed.  I probably should have found a simple way to do it so that I could pass my C++ class, but what I really wanted to do was to learn to create a flexible and robust database system that would store much more information about players than just their email and password.  Because I don't exactly know what information about players will need to be stored as of yet I am not able to create a data structure for the database to hold.  I am hoping to get more clarification on data structures next semester in one of my classes.  In the mean time I can get back to  working on art work and fleshing out the use case scenarios for everything in the game.

More research on MMO

So in looking around at some new MMOs coming out soon I came across a few that are implementing systems similar to what I would like to set up.  Firefall is looking to be very interesting, especially since it is:
1. Free to Play
2. Players will be able to change roles by equipping "battleframes", which is something similar to what I was hoping to set up.
3. They will have microtransactions, but they are insistent on making sure that cash items will not effect game balance.
4. It's an FPS MMO set up in a persistent world setting.

I'm not able to play it yet as they are still in the early stages of beta, but I'll be sure to analyze it once I get the chance.  There are a few others too, but this one really caught my eye.

The long road

So I am coming to a realization that programming is an art that is easy to get the basics of and extremely difficult to master.  The amount of information that goes into games can be pretty overwhelming, and I now see why they have a very long list of names in the credits of high end titles.  It seems that there is a plethora of programs out there already, but the best programs are guarded very closely so no one can copy them.

I feel like programming is like cooking.  There are really a very large amount of flavor combinations that can be made, and through experimentation and a little luck one can find those combinations that make for very delicious food.  The problem that happens is that when someone learns of a simple combination that makes for great food, they make it a secret and try to capitalize on it by making it so they are the only ones who one can get this delicious food from.  I feel like the community of software creators are very proud of the products they have created and are not very interested in helping new programmers learn the art of code slinging.  This is not true of everyone who programs, but just read the average EULA for most programs to see wording to the effect of "Thou shalt not reproduce, reverse-engineer, decompile, or anything else that shows you how this product was made".  It's basically saying

When I embarked on this project I admit that I only had the viewpoint of the end user or consumer of video games.  Now that I have learned some of the processes that go into making them, and the lengths that some companies go to keep their "recipes" secret, I can see that this will be a longer process than I had originally thought.

Discipline

I am home sick today and so I think I will take some time to post a little something.  I am a little concerned with my level of discipline related to programming.  I have been getting the concepts well enough when I look at examples of programming, and I have been able to write short programs well enough.  The problem comes when I need to work on programming for an extended period of time.  I quickly become disinterested as it is something akin to writing a paper.  I know that the end product will be a (hopefully) enjoyable gaming experience, it's just a rather long and tedious process getting there.  I'm also running into the problem of feeling overwhelmed and inadequate all at once.  I know that I don't have to do it all at once, but at this point I have been having a hard time just keeping up with my classwork let alone working on this game.  Granted I took a rather heavy load this semester and I hope that future semesters won't be quite so cerebral, but from what I have heard graduate school is all about pushing ones brain to the limit.

At any rate I think that I have the basic concepts for the game set out, and now I need to move into the implementation phase.  I will work on getting textures and models during my school breaks.  I am learning a lot of good and useful things despite my feeling of inadequacy.  Thanks for your patience those who are sticking with me on this.