Saturday, December 4, 2010

Sky Lance - No Screenie Yet, But an Update

After having issues with the Ogre model exporter, I've decided to try to use Panda3D for the game. I've had segfaults trying to use it (Segfaults once I try to open a window...) but I've also found a couple of libs that the Panda3D build tool (It has its own build tool...) tries to link against (In particular the off-screen rendering component of Mesa/OpenGL) that it will skip silently unless you specifically tell it to link OpenGL. That's annoying, but I went ahead and installed that, so I should be good to go. If I still have segfaults, then I'll... Well, I'll keep trying, honestly.

That being said, I'm happy to keep trying with Panda. I want to make it work. The distribution tools aren't quite release-ready but are working, and they can build a stand-alone executable. Which is absolutely beautiful. Not only that, but it can build an executable for any of the three big platforms (Window, Linux, Mac) from any of those three, and it apparently trims down the Panda runtime that it embeds to what is actually used.

I'm happy to keep trying for that.

As I'm writing this, I'm checking out a fresh copy of 1.7.1 from the Panda CVS. (1.7.1 is the next release, but it's available on CVS and fixes some build errors from the current release version)

I'll be simplifying my design somewhat, as well. I'm thinking that interchangeable weapons are maybe a bit too much for something like this. I'm not sure what I'll do at this point as far as the exact design. But I'm trying to sort all of that out at the moment.

I'll try to have some actual progress on my next post.

Until then, peace

--- Mr. Dude

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

First Post in Quite Some Time - What I'm Up To

I've been mainly doing my blogging on the Ludum Dare public blog, but I've decided that I really need to use this page.

My current project which I began, well, yesterday, is a shmup titled "Sky Lance". It is a vertically scrolling shmup that is meant to be a tribute to such classic shmups as DonPachi (And DoDonPachi, and those after that), Twin Cobra, and Raiden. It is not a direct clone of any of those, though it borrows elements from Raiden and DonPachi.

As I'm writing this, I have a model of a player ship (One of a handful I will make) that has two skins, each for the first and second player respectively. I am currently taking a break from getting the Ogre framework set up for the game so I can start work on things like collision objects and some kind of entities.

The game will support two players on the same machine, and will also support playing with a game controller or joystick. It will also support a joystick for each player (Which is a natural way to play with two players)

It will have four or five playable vessels. (Which will vary in attributes and behavior, as well as in what exactly they are, IE: An airplane or a helicopter) It will also feature a handful of primary and secondary weapons that can be interchanged. Weapon pods that follow the player's vessel will be available as well. Weapons will behave differently between the different vessels, as well. Finally, each vessel will have a handful of different engines available that will each have advantages and disadvantages. (Such as good speed with poor acceleration)

Levels will be generated procedurally, but will follow an overall flow from the first level to the last. (Meaning that difficulty, setting, and other aspects will flow while the exact terrain and enemies will vary)

I could ramble more, but that all is simply tentative but more than likely.

My next post will have a screenshot that will feature some proof that I'm not just full of hot air.

Peace

-- Mr. Dude