JARL status update ft. Link Dump Time III

Okay, so, long time, no update, let's do a little fix on that. I've been writing a little rant about gaming and my opinions on it, but this is not the time for it, so let's have a little status update on JARL instead, and some interesting links again.
 "

This is what success tastes like

So, JARL. I've been working on the ruleset, and will update it soon to much more complete version. I've also been playing with SDL a little, so it will most certainly be featured on release 0.1 and as such, makes the chances of having tileset much more likely. Also, I've begun to rewrite most of the code, as internal logic was getting way too hard to follow. Now it's much more clear and better designed.

Also: there are now 11 character classes, I may add one more if I have time. 12 races still. Aaaand... Tumblr failed me, and now the original projectblog on Tumblr is inaccessible by me, I can't edit or anything. So, when I gain some inspiration, I'll just put a new one up.

And then, links:
A modeling tutorial series for XNA using Blender. Seems pretty nice, though I haven't much experience in either modeling nor Blender in particular.

Alternative way of making 2D animations using skeletal animations. "A word of warning: while skeletal animation helps solve some problems with memory, loading times, smoothness, it is not a silver bullet."


How to make fewer mistakes at writing code. This oughta interest everyone who does any coding. Read through, it's very interesting read.


A chapter on book called "The Architecture of Open Source Applications", this particular chapter being about The Battle of Wesnoth. Really interesting read. "Our developers attempted to lay the foundations for broadening accessibility right from its earliest iteration. This would have undeniable consequences for all aspect of the programming architecture. Major decisions were made largely with this objective in mind. This chapter will provide an in-depth examination of our program with a focus on the efforts to increase accessibility"


Cliffski is angry that indie seems to mean these days the same as "cheap" and "unpolished". I agree with him, it makes no sense. Valve is basically indie company, you see.


Remember to have secure passwords.


Thomas from Frictional Games takes on the subject "Player - the artist?" and I do agree with him very much. "Consider doing a trek through the woods. Even if several people follow the same route in the same forest, each one will have with very different experiences. Some might take side-tracks, have some unique encounters, do the trekking at a different pace, etc. The possibilities are essentially endless. The person doing the journey shapes his/her experience in a unique way and has a big responsibility in how it all turns out. Still, this is not an artistic endeavor."


That's all for now, enjoy.

Roadmap

So, I’ve come up with a small roadmap for this project (up to version 0.3). 0.1, as promised, should be ready this summer (meaning, at least before the end of August). 0.2 should come out before new year. 0.3 should come out the next summer, if not sooner.

(Major) release versions, estimated time of release and major features:

0.1 (31.8.2011)

• Basic (inter)actions - movement, (melee) attack, killing, dying, xp, leveling up?, picking stuff up?
• inventory(?)
• console/terminal based
• random generation
• dungeon save format(?)

0.2 (31.12.2011)

• SDL/SMFL/OpenGL (not quite decided yet)
• inventory
• skills (basic)
• more detailed/fleshed out leveling up
• debug/developer-mode
• dungeon save format
• save game format
• spellcasting (?)
• ruleset v. 1.0 should be finished by now

0.3 (1.6.2012)

• more skills
• basic special abilities/attacks
• dialogue
• more interaction
• classes and races
• character generation
• ruleset fixes, should they be needed

Hopefully I'll get 0.2 and 0.3 out sooner than planned, but 0.1 release date is pretty much what it will probably be.

Hey, also, if you have Tumblr, you might to want to follow the project there, there will be less general gamedev-yammering there and more about "what has happened". At least there'll be once I have a little bit more time, at the moment I have final exams for this Spring and two larger schoolprojects going on.

Concepts

I've been drowned in schooldwork lately, and now that I'm getting out of them, I got sick. Brilliant. My nose has been running non-stop for the last 12 hours, and the same thing the day before this one. I feel really heavy-headed. So, not much real work has been done, and I've mainly been playing video games and playing around with concepts and ideas.

I've been thinking about changing the way leveling up works. Instead of the generic DnD-like way of "new talents and abilities per levels", I've been thinking about what if you basically had acces to every ability and spell from the start, but might not be able to use them until you level up enough and gained enough of Mana Points/Power Points/Focus Points/X Points to actually use them?

Link Dump Time II

So, I decided to start rewriting the whole project because I had designed pretty much everything backwards. Instead of fixing it I decided it would be far more easy to just copy some of the code and write more flexible code. I've laid down some fundamental features that JARL (the project name for the roguelike) will feature.

• AI-companion(s)
• 12 playable races and 12-14 playable classes (I gotta settle this down as soon as possible)
• Multiclassing
• Skill system with synergies (if you have high skill in Acrobatics, you get a small bonus to Dodge or something like that)
• Dungeons will be created with different themes (catacombs, dungeons, tunnels, arena, etc)
• World map

I'm starting the rewrite by rewriting the dungeon generation code. I feel it is too limited at the moment, with only straight tunnels and square rooms having tops 2 doors. What I want is that rooms might have more doors and tunnels might be shaped like T or X or even |----|--|, if you understand what I'm trying to say.

But hey, some links that I've picked up along the way!

http://www.xnet.se/fd/

File destructor, just when you desperately need more time for your homeworks.

http://freegamer.blogspot.com

A blog about FOSS-games and development

http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen/

Automatic CS-paper generator.

http://www.gameprogrammer.com/fractal.html

Generating random fractal terrain. An interesting read alright.

http://www.pagtech.com/2006/07/04/how-to-write-a-game-design-doc/

Want to make a game? This is a must.

http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-09-2003/jw-0905-toolbox.html

Why Getter and Setter are evil.

http://teknopants.com/pixothello/

A nice program to make tilesets.

http://all-things-andy-gavin.com/2011/02/02/making-crash-bandicoot-part-1/

An interesting read about the way how Crash Bandicoot came to be.

http://sinisterdesign.net/?p=785

What makes an RPG an RPG? About the same subject I posted last time.

http://www.markwatson.com/opencontent/AIprog.pdf

AI programming in Java

Oh hey, it's summertime! Damn, we jumped an hour, and it's 5 am?

Role-playing games and mechanics

I've been doing a lot of designing lately and I just thought that I should make a post about what I feel about role-playing games and their mechanics. These are my opinions, and if you disagree with some points, feel free to comment. Be warned, wall of text inboud.

Edited: note to self - do not write while sleepy, you'll forget a lot of things and jump out of the text.

Link Dump Time

Nothing fancy going on, so I thought that I might as well dump some of those links that I've stored under "Interesting, read soon"-section of my bookmarks.

http://seanmalstrom.wordpress.com/2009/05/19/treat-paying-customers-better-than-potential-customers/
Treat paying customers better than potential customers. Remember those times when you bought a boxed copy of a video game and it included about 200-page manual, maybe maps and other fancy stuff? What happened to those times, one would think that all this extra stuff would make your purchase feel more worth your money.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-11-30-music-to-play-games-by-article
A nice article about video game music.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/reviews/2011/01/history-of-graphic-adventures.ars
A short history of graphical adventure games. Well worth your time, and nostalgia.

http://gamereader.net/2010/12/07/tyranny-of-the-masses/
What if the data collected from video gamers means that the games will be less complex? An example: in ME2, Soldier was the most played class and was played more than every other class combined. What if some CEO draws conclusions, that because of this, there really isn't need for the other classes?

http://gafferongames.com/
Game Developement articles and tutorials. Well worth your time.

http://www.koonsolo.com/news/dewitters-gameloop/
Interested abot gameloop? Go read.

http://roguebasin.roguelikedevelopment.org/index.php?title=Dungeon-Building_Algorithm
A basic dungeon building algorithm for roguelikes. If you're interested, go read.

http://tutorialblog.org/pixel-art-tutorials/
Pixel Art tutorials. I didn't learn anything, but I'm not really visual artist. Anyway, good tutorials.

And something not so serious:
http://norefuge.net/vgng/vgng.html
Need a name for your video game? Here you go.

http://www.goodfuckingdesignadvice.com/index.php?adviceID=69
Good design advice. Fucking good.

Hi again! So, I promised a text about classes and races and whatnot, so here it comes! I have a lot of thoughts at the moment about these classes and races and am likely to add and change things as the project is still starting, but anyways.


Code is coming nicely, dungeon generation is almost complete, it just needs a little tweaking so that I can parametrize dungeon creation, meaning there could be catacomb-like dungeons, arena-like dungeons and so forth.


Also, if you have any feedback or suggestions or whatever, please, feel free to tell me.


Ps. It's freaking cold outside. Dang.


Edit:// it seems something broke, but I fixed the text size.