Wednesday, May 16, 2012

How Exactly Does My Game Work?

My game is going to have lots of functions, so it's code will be rather complex. The list of things to do in the game are things like "process AI", or "generate map", or even just "run". The code in my game just runs in a loop. Only one thing is being processed at a time. This would be an example game loop:

--> Process AI--> Check Input --> Process Input--> Recieve/Send Multiplayer data --> update screen --> restart

How does the computer change if it just keeps repeating one loop? The loop just receives data and outputs a result. Each loop, it changes variables, and the computer saves those for the next loop. Computer programming goes in one path, but has infinitely possible paths.

My game starts up and loads the main menu. After that, it's loop is to receive input, change variables, and output the screen. If the player clicks "play game" then it gives some data to another loop that starts generating the map. The game's status is changed to "playing" and the AI, sound, etc. starts. I hope this post was interesting about how my game will work!


Monday, May 14, 2012

Where My Game Was Inspired

My game was inspired mainly by Minecraft. The idea of my own voxel based game, that I could control was too much to pass up. In addition, I had learned a lot of Java (a programming language as opposed to coffee) and I had nothing to program with it. I also was interested in video game programming, and was learning about 2-d video games. Suddenly, an idea popped into my head, and that idea is 3-D. I was going to learn about 3-D games. You may say "Why don't you wait for Minecraft to stop development like Minecraft waited for Infi-Craft?". If I waited until Minecraft closed up shop, I would be waiting a long time, so I decided to start.

Where is my game inspired besides Minecraft? Probably the HUGEST source of my inspiration is Minecraft mods. My idea for electricity is based on a Minecraft mod called Industrial-Craft. This mod is amazing, and is a great idea. I have decided to add a similar system to my game. Also, one of my favorite pass-times is a game called "King Arthur's Gold". It is a 2-D version of Minecraft tuned to fighting. Multi-player is my favorite part. I am inspired by this game for more fights in my game.

Another source of inspiration is Ace Of Spades. Although I could not get it to work on my computer, the game play of Minecraft mixed with FPS seemed great. You just need to manufacture your ammo and weapons in my game. This will add so much more to my game, fighting over territory, and trying to control as much land as possible.

What about death in my game? My inspiration is Mario! The classic Nintendo version of 1-ups and game over is great. I just need to modify the idea a little bit. You have a certain number of lives to start with, and you can earn lives by gaining experience or finding a special mineral. If you got a game over, you would have to re-spawn randomly in the INFINITE WORLD. Don't worry, there is probably going to be only a few servers, and a lot of people so you will be able to find someone to build with.

With all these inspirations, I am going to have a lot more than just different colors of wood to add in my updates. I am going to have lots of  everything in my game, and you get all the fun you could hope for in one un-modded version of my game. (Yes, I am against modding on my game) Even without mods, my game should be awesome! (the first version will be a little stale though) As usual, thanks for reading.


Thursday, May 10, 2012

Trading, Electricity, Binary Power, And Lives

In my game, there could be a form of currency, or there could be barter. I am thinking about just making it with barter. There could be a special type of container that holds items your colony is willing to barter. When you are ready to trade, you can go to a neutral or allied colony and right click on their trade chest.

To prevent people from trading things without the teams permission, there could be a vote for each trade. The ability to trade with other colonies will open more possibilities to the games MMOG mode.

Electricity was inspired by a mod for minecraft. You can generate electricity from solar panels, generators, geo thermal energy, etc. You can use energy to macerate ores, smelt things in the place of a furnace, use weapons, and provide lighting. Electricity is just my way of expanding my game and making it more complex.

Binary Power is a way of replacing "Redstone" from Minecraft. In Minecraft, redstone provides free power. Binary power is a way to use elecricity to make an On/Off circuit. Electricity will not be On/Off, and therefore is not good for controlling a system of motors, lights, etc. I saw the need for a type of power that is either on or off, and that is where Binary Power comes in.

In my game, you are obviously going to die a few times. It really isn't fair if you die and respawn in the middle of nowhere, or if there is no penalty and you just respawn. In order to fix this, I have adopted the idea for a lives system similar to Mario Bros. You can gain more lives by making a special item, or finding a certain crystal in space. If you run out of lives, you get a game over and respawn randomly.

Thanks for reading!


Tuesday, May 8, 2012

More Decisions...

I have been telling people that my game would have realistic models. I may have to reconsider that. Making all the animals look realistic (not cube-like) would take a lot more time, and it wouldn't quite blend in to the blocky world. I have come to the conclusion that the animals will be blocky, but they will have a realistic texture, as in the blocks.

How realistic are the textures? The textures are 512x512px for the blocks (as compared to 16x16px in Minecraft), and probably more realistic for the animals. I will try to make it look as good for its size as I can. Some of the objects may look weird, but this game is based on voxels (those little, persistant, annoying cubes that make the world).

What about the performance? With such large textures, it may crash some peoples computer to be rendering a world of them. I decided to make an optional 64x64px texture pack. Well, it's easier reducing resolution than it is to raise it. If it still lags for some people, I may even make a 32px, or 16px.

Minecraft lacks the feeling of FPS. You can't really have a true fight with other players. You can just kill them for their items. In my game, you will have to build a fort, and defend it. Also, with a 3-d play, it would be easy to mine into a base. To make it harder to do that, there will be a longer mining time for blocks, and a louder noise when mining.

With all these changes, I hope that you will enjoy my game, and continue to play it (when it is released, at least). Also, there will be a forum after V1.0.0, and some other little tweaks and changes to the site. I am learning how to make a good website as I go, so please be courteous when you comment on my site.


Friday, May 4, 2012

Why My Game Is A Total "Indie" Game

Well? Why is my game a total "indie" game? Indie game means that you publish the game yourself. I am doing that, so what makes it "total"? For one, I am making this game myself, from textures, all the way to code. What else is a good reason? This blog is maintained by me, (but hosted on google), as well as the main site. You may have seen some of the old, buggy site versions. Right now, my site has been majorly updated about 3 times, not counting small updates.

Well, there still seems to be more that I do by myself, or plan to do by myself. I am thankful for google hosting my blog now on blogger, but eventually, I plan on setting up a web/dns server to host my own site. You don't need to understand that, but basically, I am planning to run a machine that hosts my site.

Do I have any help on anything? Yes, of course I have some help. All of you readers are my help! By reading my blog, and providing attention, you support my game. If no person is part of my game when the forums come out, (yes, I said forums) and the game is released, my game will be an EPIC FAIL!!!

What else do I have help on? Ok, so no body actually helps my physically on the project, but I get lots of tips and help from the LWJGL Forums. I would not be able to even start on this project without their help. I also receive moral support from the Epic Inventor Forums, who are kind enough to let me link to my site from the forums. Anyway, I appreciate the motivation from the people at the Epic Inventor Forums.

What is the point of this post? The point is to tell you "I am making this game totally by myself", so you know that by supporting my game, you are supporting an indie programmer, not some big company like Nintendo, or EA. This also enables me to make my game  free for a while. Anyone who registers during V1.0.0 gets a free account forever. If you don't register before a few updates, you will have to pay for the game. Remember to register early, and you get a free copy!

Thanks for your support,

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Ideas For More Animals

In my game, I will add animals, but they each need to have a function. Some animals will be for food, others for help or defense. However, some of the animals need to be dangerous. To fill the place of dangerous animals, I have some ideas. My game needs one animal that sticks out, and is unique about my game. One idea that I have speculated about is for two fictional creatures. The "lava snatcher" and the "water snatcher". The lava snatcher would hide in lava and pull you in when you approach. The lava snatcher would pull you into water and try to drown you. The purpose of these mobs are danger.

There also needs to be some animals/mobs that are useful. My ideas are the monkey, and the dwarf. Monkeys would attack you if you attack them, but if you tame them, they will collect bananas from banana trees and either bring them to you or put it in a special backpack you make it. Dwarves would be tamed by gold, and they would mine for you. If you make a special dwarve chest, the dwarves put all mined goods in the chest. They also may steal some gold though...

Obviously, killing monkeys and dwarves is not a good way to get food. Therefore, I am adding animals like cows, chickens, pigs, and possibly more. Cows would give you milk if you use a bucket on them. Bulls are aggressive if you attack it or another cow. They will also attack red blocks. Hens will drop eggs randomly in the morning if they have a good nest. If there is a rooster nearby, the eggs have a chance of hatching. Pigs are for just food. Boars are aggressive if you come close to it or a sow.

Also, spawning animals randomly in a map is not very realistic. If animals are infinite, then you would not protect them or consider them a commodity. In my game, going on a "chicken killing spree" has it's prices. I want animals to be a resource, and for it to be valuable to start a farm. That also provides one more thing to protect from bears, etc. Just remember when you are playing my game, and you find two chickens, you can "KILL!!" or you can breed them (no unneccesary details/animations...) and get more chickens.

I hope this post was enjoyable, and also comment on your animal ideas!!