Guest Blog - Tom Resource

Hello gents, Lee’s spawn here to report my observations on the latest version of the project my dad showed to me. It is coming along rather nicely from the pre- pre- pre- alpha build I got to see after Christmas! I know I, realistically speaking, threw everything I could think of having to do with the shooter genre at you guys with a story tacked on to hold it together and am rather impressed with what you’ve managed to come up with so far. Along with that, I took a very “see what sticks” approach to the throwing, and having gotten a chance to test it out live on Pop Greffin’s Kindle, I got to see how those ideas are working and playing out in real time.

 Storyline wise, the only real concern I have is a clear differentiation between the two opposing sides. This ties into gameplay, as the version I was using didn’t allow a clear choice and kept forcing me to fight against the British. This is tempered, of course, with the realization that there is still a bit of work to do on this extreme coding adventure of yours, but I really worry from a consumer point of view that instead of buying a game with two different yet parallel storylines, they will essentially be the same. Then again, might also just be me and my big mouth running off into the sunset again.

Gameplay wise, the one feature I am really curious about is inclusion of some kind of limited-fire secondary weapons to add some variety to the normal tap-to-shoot gameplay. Again, having tried it out in real practice, I have no idea how ya’ll would go about implementing such a thing, but that was the only major concern I had in that area seeing as they were something of a value in the write-up I made for you.

Other than that, looks good and like a solid step forward. Lee’s spawn, out.

Resource Tom will be checking in from time to time to give pointers, observations, blah...

Liars Figure and Figures Lie...

Did I say that?  Oh my, get out the Phels Naptha soap and get ready for some soap chewin'...

Seriously (well - for me anyways), for this week we have the first of two presentations to make for the group.  I volunteered to get some stats for our work since Q1 of this course.

Well being a programmer - which is a definition of an individual who will do prodigious amounts of work for hours and hours so as to get out of a few minutes of repetitious labor - I found on the intertubes a nice (free! Who can not say free is not nice!!) tool that works with Subversion and does all my work - oh wait - snap - provides analysis, graphs and charts - of what we've accomplished in a fairly short period of time.

The tool is StatSVN- and you get it from here.

Now, I admit I love point and click.  Meaning this whole command line thing just - well - it's not my thing.  So read the darn readme file that is included in the project.  Then kinda think about it.

Meaning - it's a Java file.  Java is - simple?  crippled?  stoopid?  Idunno.  Anyway the absolutely brilliant statsvn.jar COULD NOT FIGURE OUT SPACES IN THE FRIG****G FILE SPEC - sorry, give me a minute - there my mind is back to the right way of thinking....

So.  I re-checked out our SVN branch file to a more kindly file at the root of C (no - this isn't a Sousa march dearies - we is programming now) and then re-followed the instructions.

Oh frabjous joy!  I got the report.  And I'm really impressed.  There is a huge amount of value in using this truly brilliant Java file.  It does a huge amount of work based on the svn.log file that you need to create.  It's well worth your time to figure out and use.  Truly.  You need to do this.  Why  are you waiting?  Do it NOW.  There - dont't you feel better? 

Oh, you didn't do it - well...

DO IT!! NOW!!!

Okay - so besides this I actually did some programming work this week:

1. Fixed the pause bug for the autofire feature
2. Using LuaGlider got rid of warnings/errors in the training/intro code
3. Error/warnings in 'the choice'
4. Added more functionality to the options menu:

The messaging object at the top of the screen tells you what you have picked in terms of autofire and which side you are helping.  And if you make a choice the text changes.  To get back to the main menu you need to click the Main Menu button - so if you have difficulties making choices you may be here a long long time indeed...

Next up - a guest blog entry from Resource Tom!!

Winter Intersession - the Game goes on...

I'm taking advantage of the period between the two sessions for now.  I've started working on the beginning/training missions/point of our intrepid player having to make his/her first in game choice.

So I've started by adding a few new ships to the mix.  Found a bunch of nice top down view graphics, and adapted them to our use.

For the here and now these are the 'canon' images I've added - these should be considered source files in that the in game images have been altered:

First is a background for our training mission:

 

This image is a cut out from the full size below:

 

I wanted something modern and very different from the rest of the game.  But I noticed the transitions were choppy - then I really looked at the image.  It's lighter at the bottom than the top, and of course the small craters or whatever they are don't match up.  So I found another desert type background that is a lot more even:

 

 

I also added a whiteboard:

 

This helps keep the intro-training text in an uncluttered environment.

 

As for ships, I've added  three - first is a training drone:

 

This gives our pilot something to test his/her new prototype GAU-6 20mm Vulcan Rail cannon against.

 

Next is the Zeppelin that may or may not make an appearance later:

 

 

And a steam punk boss of all bosses zeppelin which may make its debut later in the game:

 

From the looks of this bad boy our hero may have just met his/her match.  Kind of excited to see what happens...

 

 

Okay - now in keeping with a tech discussion with our Tom Resource writer - my original question was how do we keep a slightly future tech airframe full of gas and bullets in the time frame of 1917?

 

So I took some liberties.  Our pilot has two X type technologies on board - a Warshawski generator (okay - kudos to the Honorverse BUT Warshawskys has been a huge auto parts seller in Chicago for a very long time...) and the GAU-6 20mm Vulcan Rail cannon.  The current gen Vulcan is a GAU-4 - I added the electric Rail gun so means no cartridge case, propellant etc. to worry about. In other words we are just carrying the things that go out the barrel - nothing else.  The rail gun supplies the motive power.   In a pinch add ball bearings - heck even just washers and out they go at an astonishing speed.  Tom Swift can eat his electric rifle!

 

What's a Warshawski generator you ask?  Slyly I answer - it's the typical Sci-Fi X device that allows this discussion to move forward.  Gives us the ability to take slightly future tech and have it run in 1917 without trying to figure out how we are going to get JP8 or any other type of AvGas for our jet driver.  It's when our plane driver is asked to test full military power that things get - well, interesting shall we say?

Back to the paleofuture

Back in the day - when Java were a wee acorn in the minds eye of Gossling - Microsoft used to ship an icon creator as a part of Visual Basic and Visual C++ (aye - these were the days of yore before even Visual Studio came about)...

The reason I mentioned that was I started to take some open source sprite/png images I found and re-purpose them for our game.

I found a top down image of a 'german' biplane - as a gif file.  Saved it as a png, opened it up in Paint.Net.  Added a solid line in front of the plane and saved it as image A, removed the solid line, kept a little bump in front of the plan and saved it as image B.  With the Corona MovieClip functionality got a 'prop' animation with very little work on my part. 



Next part - a bit more work on my part, and the flashback to the image icon builder.

Found a top down jpeg image of a Fokker tri-plane.  Did the same work - saved it as a png file - but I wanted a transparent background.

Well - found that with Paint.Net - if I stayed careful, I could use the delete tool on any white space I found and that caused it to be set to transparent.  After about a half hour or so got an image with a transparent background - saved one image again with a solid line in front of the engine, another with just a bit of a bump in the front one.

Ran the game - oops too big.

Re sized it down a bit - and now we have German bi planes as well as a bit larger German Fokker tri-plane menacing our hero.

Other things of note.  Tom Resource was flogged to provide level information.  He got the Entente (English major - can't just say the Good Guy side) levels done, posted to our Google Drive.  I'm going to add his comments:

Here is the ENTIRETY of the Entente campaign I wrote up, with attendant clarifications on the terms I used. Pretty crude and breaks multiple rules of sentence formation and basic English, I am well aware, but I know you software guys: you can write a program to move the sun over if I give you enough time, so keep it quick and simple if at all possible... 

I like his faith in software engineers!  Good kid.

The Writers Appel

Yes - I'm getting into the spirit of the old style pulp/serial's of the time and subject we picked for the game.  I'm using this as a reference...

Storyboard

Level One: Introduction

Introduction to flight controls with a senior instructor’s prompts appearing as text on screen. It becomes clear the PC is a test pilot experimenting with the first deployment of a new prototype fighter equipped with laser and plasma weaponry, as well as the abilities to hover like a helicopter and achieve low and high speeds at the push of a button. The instructor explains basic flight controls and introduces the concepts of the fighter, including the Eternity Drive (the fighter essentially runs by tapping off of a micro singularity or black hole, allowing for virtually infinite fuel reserves and power for its primary weapons). The PC engages in basic target practice (live drones?), and when he initializes the higher functions of the Eternity Drive, is propelled into darkness. The PC emerges into an unfamiliar dawn as a blue biplane and black triplane are firing away at each other. The player has to make a decision here of which to assist; after shooting down their chosen target, they accompany the surviving plane home. Discovering the date to be 1915, the shocked pilot offers their assistance in the quickly expanding global conflict known as the Great War (WWI).

 

Level Two: Second Battle of Ypres

Entente Side: The PC is ordered to assist in any way possible after the mass retreat from the line due to German gas attacks. The PC destroys a few observation balloons before being jumped by a squadron of triplanes. After the destruction of the triplanes, a cutscene triggers in which the pilot lands to assess the situation, and receives orders from a ranking officer to destroy as much of the German artillery as possible to assist with the retaking of the line and prevent German exploitation of their successful gas attacks. While destroying the artillery batteries, a German Ace (the Black Knight) intrudes and begins attacking with incendiary rounds. After shooting down the Ace, the PC witnesses him retreating from the wreckage of his plane to the advancing German troops.

 

Central Side: The PC is ordered to assist German advances in the wake of successful gas attacks. He must defend the observation balloons from French and British biplanes. After shooting down the final biplane, a cutscene ensues in which the German commander order the PC to destroy and remaining British artillery behind the lines. A British Ace emerges (the White Knight) and begins a boss battle against the PC using incendiary rounds. After shooting down the Ace, the PC witnesses him retreating from the wreckage of his plane to join the retreating British troops.

An Editors Riposte

Hi Tom  (our resource),

First of all; we need to keep this simple for a couple of reasons - there are only 16 weeks left of dev time (this is counting up both class sessions); and we don't have a graphics person/team organic to the group.

So - we are going to be stuck with whatever 2D images/sprites we can find that are open source. That being said, I'd stay as close to 'real world' as possible. Later on if the team stays together and we want to go full bore development then we can get a lot more wild.

So with that caveat - I'd say stay with normal zeppelin for the times etc.

And yes - I think you have it as the player levels up there needs to be

Increase in player hit points

Increase in NPC hit points

Increase in number of NPC's

Sprinkling of tougher NPC's (on both sides - think squadron ace's fighting against and fighting with)

With maybe a boss battle against an enemy ace and their squadron

Some way for the player to add capabilities to their ship

And yes - there needs to be zeppelins...

And I like the idea of the user having to make a choice right away.

So taking your story line I've come up with a concept of the initial story -

Player takes off in airplane (now here is the where some background information is going to have to be fleshed out - how does the guy keep his bird gassed up? Load up bullets? That sort of stuff. So clearly we are going to have to have our hero come from the future, with some kind of air frame that uses X fuel that never runs dry) - some kind of event happens and player transported to the skies over WWI Europe; Axis and Ally dawn patrol squadron getting ready to duke it out and our hero is smack dab in the middle of the fight.

Here again some kind of background information on the aircraft - it needs to be slow enough to be able to fight against bi-planes. We are almost really talking about the kind of vessel that was in the Descent series - ability to hover, move slow then fast etc.

Once the player makes a decision - the enemy npc's get killed and the player lands with 'his team' at their base. That finishes the intro, gives a nice segue to some kind of cut scene and then an invite to go on another patrol or some other task.

A Perilous Junction

So 'our resource' - budding writer - does ask for some clarifications.

Got your note, couldn't read all of your handwriting but I got the gist of it.  Couple of questions for your and your team...

How pulp hero do you guys feel comfortable with me getting about  this (Ex. level 2 boss a normal zeppelin for the times, or a lightening-spewing steam punk monstrosity?)

<IDEA> Or, as a progression from level to level, normal gradually gives way to more and more insane ideas as the side the PC is fighting against throws anything it can think of against you to try to win back the skies?

Right away - does user get a choice on side they fight for/against, or does it make more sense to do a single "campaign" now; think of alternate campaign as DLC or a sequel if successful (NOTE - hint of fatherly pride here - clearly he DOES get the idea of monitization).

The Editor Strikes Back...

I gave 'our resource' some homework - nothing too complicated...

 

Tom - for Thursday we are going to need:

 

Beginning storyboard

• Background Story
• Characters
• Layout
• Level complexity - what happens when going from level 1 to 2
• What begins a level
• Hazards
• Top down vs. scroller
• Cut scenes - how does user get information
• Missions?

Right now we need at least two levels - game start, next level for our discussion on Saturday.

Oh - we settled on idea #3.
This is going to be 2D - hence the question side scroller or top down.
Keep it simple to start - we can flesh it out more as we go.

The story so far...

I figured I would begin my posts with the story information I got from 'our resource'...

I tasked my youngest son with this - give us a few game ideas that we could use to create a multi platform game.  He responded with:

Working Title: 1938, Pastwatch

Possible genre: Platformer/3^rd person

Story basics: Time travel storyline from a projected future into the past, namely mid to late 1938 in Europe. The PC is an agent of a governmental Time Security agency (the Pastwatch) sent to prevent a fellow agent (working name: Romanov) from changing the flow of events leading up to World War II. The story has the potential for multiple endings (possibly based on player’s chosen difficulty level), including ones where Romanov succeeds, succeeds but ultimately fails, the PC wins and the PC assists the antagonist in achieving his goals. The storyline depends on making the player believe Romanov intends to make the Czechoslovakian government stand up to Hitler’s ambitions for German expansion, igniting WW2 earlier and dramatically altering the perspective sides (perhaps even starting a series of smaller wars overall, with fewer overall casualties but a Nazi Germany that survives into the present day facing down a fracturing Soviet Union while the USA remains isolationist). The true story is different: he hopes to ignite the war earlier than actually occurred, of course, but intends for Germany to ally with Poland to invade the Soviet Union, allowing for the two powers to burn each other out and the building of a true European Union to result. The multiple endings can expound on the magnitude of his successes or failures, or even if his attempts to change (Intervention) rather observe (Witness) the past even work.

Possible Hooks: Leader boards for scoring purposes, time attack/trials mode, player decided difficulty levels, multiple endings

 

Working Title: Forerunner

Genre: Shooter

Story basics: As the titular Forerunner to a future alien invasion of the Earth, the PC must destroy as much infrastructure as possible to aid and abet the invasion while keeping overt resistance to a minimum. This means thinking strategically, striking at weaker nations across the planet and isolating more powerful nations before striking at them. A shooter in the purest sense, storyline would be limited to perhaps faux news reports of the PC’s actions and responses to them from across the world that the PC alien character would intercept. The true hook here, of course, is to actually be playing as the dastardly bad guy alien who, at the end of the day, is a punch clock villain whose sole goal is to suppress the elements of effective armed resistance and get his paycheck, while shooting the platitude shouting hero out of the sky.

Possible hooks: Same as above

 

Working Title: Flights of Fancy

Genre: Shooter

Story basics: A freak accident during testing of a prototype fighter equipped with laser and plasma weaponry sends it back to the spring of 1915, in the middle of the 1st World War. Upon encountering an air battle of biplanes and being fired upon by both sides, the PC’s first decision is to decide whom they will assist, the Central or Allied powers. That decision tips the balance of the war in their favor slightly, but the PC must also decide if they will intervene in other ways, such as going out of their way to kill specific individuals (a young corporal in the German Army named Adolf Hitler, for example) or use their historical knowledge to influence the course of history (help stave off the Russian Revolution, for another example).