Sunday, June 27, 2010

Snap Shots of the Progress So Far

Here are a few images from my current project... you may notice the differences between these and the previous project shots I posted. This is a different type of game.




Hope you like where it is going... because I had to learn a lot of math in order to get it working :)

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Reinventing the Rougelike

Or at least the algorithms that generate their worlds.

The project is trucking along at a steady pace, building content, defining the rules, and all that fun stuff!
Right now however, I am wrestling with the decision I made to build the world with a hexmap instead of a square grid.

As I dig through the forums and wiki pages for the way rougelikes build out there worlds, I am having some trouble applying the procedural generation of a square grid for dungeon adventures with generating a map of space for a time management strategy game.

My real trouble has been handling the ways that certain aspects of my world are to look. Planets take up as many as twenty one hex spaces, and not wanting anything to overlap.
There are sure to be some algorithms and tools already created for what I am trying to make, but I haven't found it.

So, it seems like I am going to spend a few more days searching through heaps and mounds of text before I can create the world generator that I feel this game will need.

Work continues!

fidgetwidget out

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Game Changer

I have finally succumb to changing my game ... I am using the game engine core that I built for the previous project (putting it into a project of its own, so I can better re-use its functions and features), so I haven't lost everything I had done, but I have come to realize that I had bitten off more than I could chew, and need to focus on just one mechanic at a time.

I do still plan on completing the other project, but there is just too much learning I have to do before I could complete it, and so, I am going to do the learning in stages, creating complete games around core concepts of the larger game idea I was working on before.


So, this time, I am going to focus on the simulation/strategy game aspect of the game, and get that right, before I put it together with the adventure/action side that I had been working on.


I could have made a game that focused on the action/adventure game side of it first, but felt I wouldn't be able to create something compelling enough on its own in a short period of time, using the game engine I have built so far, so instead am focusing on something that seems to be lacking in the Indie Games Marketplace.

Hopefully this smaller, more streamlined project will not take as long as the other would have, and had already taken. But one never knows when has a good deal of learning to do.

Wish me luck!