Vapourware Codexian Game Development Thread

[Ninjerk]

Yes, when he posted the trailer video and said only Alien freaks will known the sound. Before then I hadn't cared to open the video of the menu screen.

 

[Cosmo]

So what's wrong with current music?

My two cents : you could afford those high-volume, high-pitched spikes if your loop was long enough to slowly build tension before them...
In its current state it doesn't suit the function of a menu screen (which is static : nothing happens in it so why should smthg happen with the music ?), and feels slightly incoherent.

 

[Kaucukovnik]

I for one like the sonic menu background. Didn't recognize it, but it's properly creepy and disturbing. Don't be afraid to let it get on players' nerves, there are xenomorphs waiting for fresh meat and hosts, FFS.
Tension slowly building up would be nice, but on the other hand you won't be usually staying in the menu for very long.

I have a suspicion that smoothed, perfected production is part of what's killing personality in contemporary products of creative industries. Almost nothing has balls anymore, everything's toothless, but well executed.

 

[Niektory]

I've implemented AI, if you can call it that. It runs on kamikaze juice. Maybe I'll get it above braindead level someday.
Also added some random sounds because why not.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Spent two hours overthinking and prototyping this place - still have to overthink the background (placeholder for now) and put a torch there.

 

[Cosmic Misogynerd]

Hello World!

After several hours I barely managed to implement keyboard/mouse movement and some crude animations.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

haha you mexicanos cannot into coding

 

[Zed]

I've done some progress on my adventure game engine.
I might share some pictures in the future.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

I've done some progress on my adventure game engine.
I might share some pictures in the future.

I'd like to have a look at it. My sister and I have a pretty cool idea for a small adventure game. AGS or Unity3d can do the trick, but if we can find a better solution, that will be good.

 

[Mastermind]

Hello World!

After several hours I barely managed to implement keyboard/mouse movement and some crude animations.

What are you using?

 

[Cosmic Misogynerd]

Built in engine with the D Programming Language. It's more a learning exercise.

 

[asper]

barker_s , great concept for a game. Eagerly awaiting updates.

Niektory , that is amazing. Is that the FIFE engine? Are you making a FF tactics style game?

 

[barker_s]

Thanks asper . Well, the project's been on a hiatus for a past month or so. The reason is, I've got a pretty shitty situation at work at the moment. Despite my manager's promises, I haven't got my paycheck in three months, so I basically quit. He's called me today, saying that he's doing all he can to set things straight with the higher-ups (and it's a bureaucratic hell up there I tell ya), so I might still return, but for all intents and purposes, I'm currently unemployed and It's stressing me out as fuck.

Coincidentally, the artist I've teamed up with (check out his site at http://www.nostalgicalgorithms.com/, he's got a cool project of his own) also lost his job and didn't work on the assets for a while. Hopefully, he will also come back when his situation gets more stabilized. Here's some of his work (WIP, rendered in his own engine):

There's also one more video that I don't think I've shared with you guys. I modified the code a little to allow for multiple Aliens and players in the level. Will come in handy when I finally get to multiplayer component (after the initial release, of course - I do want to get it out of the door eventually).

 

[Niektory]

Niektory , that is amazing. Is that the FIFE engine? Are you making a FF tactics style game?

Yes and yes.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Thanks asper . Well, the project's been on a hiatus for a past month or so. The reason is, I've got a pretty shitty situation at work at the moment. Despite my manager's promises, I haven't got my paycheck in three months, so I basically quit. He's called me today, saying that he's doing all he can to set things straight with the higher-ups (and it's a bureaucratic hell up there I tell ya), so I might still return, but for all intents and purposes, I'm currently unemployed and It's stressing me out as fuck.

Coincidentally, the artist I've teamed up with (check out his site at http://www.nostalgicalgorithms.com/, he's got a cool project of his own) also lost his job and didn't work on the assets for a while. Hopefully, he will also come back when his situation gets more stabilized. Here's some of his work (WIP, rendered in his own engine):

There's also one more video that I don't think I've shared with you guys. I modified the code a little to allow for multiple Aliens and players in the level. Will come in handy when I finally get to multiplayer component (after the initial release, of course - I do want to get it out of the door eventually).

I can help with some minor textures (if needed). Coincidentally, I have a thing for Giger-like art.

 

[barker_s]

Thanks for the offer zwanzig_zwoelf , I'll contact you if we happen to need some additional texture-work .

 

[shihonage]

I upgraded Shelter/Compound from DirectX8 to DirectX9, which was not as intuitive as it may seem... DirectX8 was going to pose more problems in the future. It already had an incurable performance issue related to font rendering.

Now slowly rekindling enthusiasm for the time when there's something to show again... namely, something that doesn't use stolen graphics and has a heavy Fallouty vibe... dry eye syndrome is a raging bitch, though. Moreso since I've been struggling with gastritis.

Now committing everything into a new Mercurial database... this one includes every single bitmap and datafile, not just source files... to make it 100% possible to revert to an earlier stage. Remembering 25000 lines of code that's been cold for 2.7 years is no joke. I'm paranoid about breaking the fragile prison demo, which uses most of the engine's features, and not being able to recreate its functionality.

I almost lost this prison demo when resuming work, and couldn't figure out why there was a phantom Player running around constantly saying "Can't talk" and a door that would say "Oink" when you click on it.

Behold, a character sprite. A meaningless image until they're all functioning as part of a whole in the way intended, however.

 

[Mastermind]

post demo plz

 

[shihonage]

post demo plz

The prison demo is heavily tied to Fallout: Tactics graphics. I need to untangle it and in the process, make a new level that uses none of that.

The prison isn't how the game should start. And it has too many AOD-style dialogue teleports, which should be used rarely if at all in Compound.

There was an old video which showed some object/NPC interaction depending on character type, and it took place in a corridor of that prison level.

 

[Destroid]

Is your game cross platform shihonage ?

 

[shihonage]

Nope. After much hard work it would be theoretically possible to port it to Marmalade or SDL, but that's a very low-priority idea compared to all the other TO-DOs.

IMO it's not a sane idea for a garage developer to port anything unless the game enjoys reasonable financial success on the main intended platform.

For example, Dead Colony is much more portable, it uses SDL exclusively, but there's no point in porting it to Mac or Linux if it sold 109 copies to date.

 

[Cosmic Misogynerd]

109 copies aren't that bad..

 

[shihonage]

It's a joke, and a money that I will never see, because it falls far, far below the $500 transaction threshold established by Desura.

 

[Destroid]

Better to choose something that is cross platform to begin with rather than talk about porting.

 

[shihonage]

Having something that compiles to several platforms isn't the same thing as having something that 100% works properly on several platforms.

From whichever way you approach it, there are multipliers of development time involved, and it isn't worth it unless the project is successful on smaller scale, IMO.

Dead Colony is "essentially" cross-platform. I could boot up Linux and compile it there with minimal hassle, most likely. But the inevitable quirks associated with each OS would take time to iron out, and in the case of that game, that time would just be a complete waste with no ROI.