Red Wizard Island

[Slydog]

This is shaping to be a very nice game.

I agree!! 

I love the polish details, such as the sparkle particles.
It seems to flow and play quite smoothly!  Great job! 

[r0ber7]

This is shaping to be a very nice game.

I agree!! 

I love the polish details, such as the sparkle particles.
It seems to flow and play quite smoothly!  Great job! 

Thanks. Details are my strong point, big things are not. (Like landscapes and so on). But I'm learning.

- new level halfway through design.
- horizontal shooter mechanics are in place
- catapult, check
- explosive blue flame guy, check

[kaotiklabs]

I'm loving it!!

want to play!

[mentalthink]

  A lot of work, and a very nice graphics... the change of Scenario I love it!!! change from the land to the castle, very good Idea, and very very nice...

Aproximadedly when it´s finished?¿...

[matchy]

Yes, how important is it that we know how long this project will take?

[r0ber7]

Thank you all, once again, for the uplifting comments.

Aproximadedly when it´s finished?¿...

I really can't say. What I can say is that I'm halfway done with the amount of levels. Right now there are 5 levels, total will be about 10. On the one hand, most of the game mechanics are in place. Most code added after this point will be specifics for new enemies and bugfixes. On the other hand, there are still much graphics to be drawn. I'm doing this in my spare time. I also have a job, a girlfriend, am looking for a new place to live, and sometimes I just want to go out instead of sitting inside behind the computer. So really, I can't  say.

I've made one thing clear for myself; it will be finished. Which is why I'm not aiming to go for a huge world. So yeah.

In other news, I finished the horizontal shooter level where the player flies on the back of a bird. It's pretty neat, video this week. Also:

- started on gfx for next level (elves & their houses, maybe some gnomes too)
- added code so that NPCs can follow you around (for quests, like, herd the sheep back to their master or something)

[r0ber7]

Hey you guys,

New video of the sidescrolling bird-flying level.

Today was a day for optimization. I was using REDIM in-game to adjust the size of several arrays. The problem with that was that, every time a single projectile/particle/powerup was added to the array, a REDIM was done, which would result in FPS < 60 when many explosions were going on at the same time. I still wanted the arrays to be flexible, but wanted to limit the amount of REDIMs done during gameplay. My solution:

(using powerups as example)

Get the number of powerups at the start of the level ( = powerup_n).
Set the powerup array size to powerup_n + 200 ( = powerup_reserved_n).
Replace all REDIM commands with my own rwi_redim() function.

Code (glbasic) Select Expand


FUNCTION rwi_redim :

if powerup_n > powerup_reserved_n
REDIM powerups[powerup_n]
powerup_reserved_n = powerup_n
endif

endfunction


This way, the array increases in size only when the maximum size of the array has been reached. At the same time, FOR/NEXT loops going through all powerups can use powerup_n, so that the loops will only check the actual powerups that are present.

The next two weeks I'll be on vacation, so I won't be doing any coding or pixeling during that time. However, I will most likely do level design and make sketches and think about the storyline. See you in two weeks. 

[erico]

Nice video! Nice shotemup level!
Reminds me dearly of Agony.

now...vacation? what is that?

Have a nice time.

[r0ber7]

Nice video! Nice shotemup level!
Reminds me dearly of Agony.

now...vacation? what is that?

Have a nice time.

Thanks. To be honest, I used the wings from Agony for drawing these wings. Figured, why re-invent the wheel.

[r0ber7]

Just wanted to say I'm back, and doing some pixel work.
Previously, I spilled water over my keyboard and had to order a new one before I could code again (cleaning didn't work). And after I returned from vacation my video card was fried. Linux still runs in low-res so I can do some pixeling, but Windows won't start up so I can't do any coding, and OpenGL crashes the laptop too. So I ordered a new video card which will arrive next week. By now I know the inside of my laptop better than the streets in this town. 

[Wampus]

Fried video card? Hope it wasn't a hugely expensive one.

[r0ber7]

36 euros for a replacement. Working fine now, doing some guerilla coding in between real life obligations. Mostly debugging and tweaking of controls / movement. Also introduced some very basic AI, some enemies will now chase you once they see you.

[matchy]

Working fine now, doing some guerilla coding...

Super cool!

...in between real life obligations.

Depressing. Let me take that back. lol...keep it up m8.

[r0ber7]

Working fine now, doing some guerilla coding...

Super cool!

...in between real life obligations.

Depressing. Let me take that back. lol...keep it up m8.

Hahaha. 

Alright, so I did some more stuff. But because I do a little bit here and there now, and because I have no desire to update this thread with every little thing I do, I only update www.psyview.nl/blog with all the details right now. I'll use this thread for major updates, like, new videos, interesting code, or even a demo release, etc. Rest assured, I'm still going.

[r0ber7]

New enemy:

He sucks the mana right out of you. Other than that, been doing little bits every day.