If you are interested in snagging the newest version, you can follow the link HERE
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Extinction Plan v3.8.1 Minor Update
I decided to just fix the menu updating issues that popped up in v3.8. The issues popped up when I, for some reason, removed the camera from the menu scene. This was causing anything displayed on the GUI to be overlayed on-top of themselves without clearing between renders. I added a camera, and it was fixed. In the meantime I made sure to fix the issue with the character name not updating when the player resets their data. Again, it was simply a matter of calling the new name into render when the button is clicked.
If you are interested in snagging the newest version, you can follow the link HERE
If you are interested in snagging the newest version, you can follow the link HERE
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Extinction Plan v3.8 Alpha Released
Extinction Plan Alpha v3.8
A Fusion Bunny Production
Developed by: Joseph Dart Jr
Click here to get the download for Windows (x86_x64), Linux (x86_x64 Universal), and Mac (x86_x64 Universal)
Opens in a New Window
----------------------------
So I finally got around to releasing the v3.8 Alpha of Extinction Plan! This was one of the largest updates to the game since 3.0, and not only adds some basic player upgrades, but completely changes the overall style of the gameplay. Extinction Plan now works off of a wave system. 5 waves of enemies, each one with a higher number of consistent enemies (when one dies one spawns), ending with 15 spawned total. Each wave lasts one minute, and then the next is started automatically. The exception to this rule is every 6th wave, which is now a boss wave. When the 6th wave begins you will be required to clear all of the remaining enemies before the boss will appear. After the boss is defeated the enemy spawning starts over with tougher enemies.
When the player defeats an enemy they receive a single experience point to use towards upgrades, in which 50 experience are necessary to purchase each. The current upgrades simply involve the players movement speed, and overall health. Upgrades are obtained at the start of the game, and any experience which is unused is lost once the game starts. This prevents players from hoarding their experience. Currently, there is no cap on the upgrade amounts. With update 4.0, the amount of upgrades available will be exponentially higher, and the upgrades themselves will be capped at a certain amount. If you no longer wish to have a severely upgraded player, I made it so you could reset all of your data inside the new "Player Options" sub-menu of the main-menu.
The main menu has been changed with a placeholder logo and a couple sub-menu systems. The "Player Options" sub-menu allows you to reset your character data or rename your character. Simply type the new name into the space provided and hit the save icon next to the input field. Resetting your player data will automatically reset all of your statistics to their default states, so be sure to only go this route if you are sure you want to start over from scratch. A warning with a secondary "Are You Sure" type button will appear to keep you from accidentally performing this task. If you still go through with it and feel you have made a bad choice, there is no way to recover your data.
When you die you are now presented with some statistics about your performance. I'm hoping to increase the information provided, namely the amount of enemies killed per-wave so you can see where you may have not performed as well and can adjust your performance better in the future. The death menu allows you to return to the main menu, in which case you can start a new game and buy upgrades with any collected experience. If you happen to quit unexpectedly, do not worry, the game automatically saves experience as it is collected so it will all be waiting for you when you return. Wave progress is not saved, so you will always have to start a new game if you exit the program.
A pause menu has also been added. It pauses the gameplay and allows you to go back to the main menu or quit the game entirely. This is achieved by pressing the "Esc" key, and no longer removes you from the game entirely. If you need to take a break and don't want to lose your place, use this menu. A minor bug is already apparent in the pause menu that it allows you to still shoot a rocket while paused. The rocket will not move, but will spawn and then start moving as intended once the game is un-paused. This is already fixed, but since it does not effect gameplay I don't see a purpose for releasing a fix solely for that issue.
The enemy mother-ship no longer spawns enemies, but will instead shoot projectiles at the player every second. These projectiles will come directly at the player regardless of distance from the mother-ship and have a 5m blast radius. Wave 12 mother-ship also randomly chooses a position within a 50m range of itself and drops a projectile from the sky straight down. This was done to keep the player on alert and moving, even if they were somewhere the mother-ship could not specifically hit them at. This range may be increased, or the way the projectiles are spawned may change in future releases; testing will tell.
A Fusion Bunny Production
Developed by: Joseph Dart Jr
Click here to get the download for Windows (x86_x64), Linux (x86_x64 Universal), and Mac (x86_x64 Universal)
Opens in a New Window
----------------------------
So I finally got around to releasing the v3.8 Alpha of Extinction Plan! This was one of the largest updates to the game since 3.0, and not only adds some basic player upgrades, but completely changes the overall style of the gameplay. Extinction Plan now works off of a wave system. 5 waves of enemies, each one with a higher number of consistent enemies (when one dies one spawns), ending with 15 spawned total. Each wave lasts one minute, and then the next is started automatically. The exception to this rule is every 6th wave, which is now a boss wave. When the 6th wave begins you will be required to clear all of the remaining enemies before the boss will appear. After the boss is defeated the enemy spawning starts over with tougher enemies.
When the player defeats an enemy they receive a single experience point to use towards upgrades, in which 50 experience are necessary to purchase each. The current upgrades simply involve the players movement speed, and overall health. Upgrades are obtained at the start of the game, and any experience which is unused is lost once the game starts. This prevents players from hoarding their experience. Currently, there is no cap on the upgrade amounts. With update 4.0, the amount of upgrades available will be exponentially higher, and the upgrades themselves will be capped at a certain amount. If you no longer wish to have a severely upgraded player, I made it so you could reset all of your data inside the new "Player Options" sub-menu of the main-menu.
The main menu has been changed with a placeholder logo and a couple sub-menu systems. The "Player Options" sub-menu allows you to reset your character data or rename your character. Simply type the new name into the space provided and hit the save icon next to the input field. Resetting your player data will automatically reset all of your statistics to their default states, so be sure to only go this route if you are sure you want to start over from scratch. A warning with a secondary "Are You Sure" type button will appear to keep you from accidentally performing this task. If you still go through with it and feel you have made a bad choice, there is no way to recover your data.
When you die you are now presented with some statistics about your performance. I'm hoping to increase the information provided, namely the amount of enemies killed per-wave so you can see where you may have not performed as well and can adjust your performance better in the future. The death menu allows you to return to the main menu, in which case you can start a new game and buy upgrades with any collected experience. If you happen to quit unexpectedly, do not worry, the game automatically saves experience as it is collected so it will all be waiting for you when you return. Wave progress is not saved, so you will always have to start a new game if you exit the program.
A pause menu has also been added. It pauses the gameplay and allows you to go back to the main menu or quit the game entirely. This is achieved by pressing the "Esc" key, and no longer removes you from the game entirely. If you need to take a break and don't want to lose your place, use this menu. A minor bug is already apparent in the pause menu that it allows you to still shoot a rocket while paused. The rocket will not move, but will spawn and then start moving as intended once the game is un-paused. This is already fixed, but since it does not effect gameplay I don't see a purpose for releasing a fix solely for that issue.
The enemy mother-ship no longer spawns enemies, but will instead shoot projectiles at the player every second. These projectiles will come directly at the player regardless of distance from the mother-ship and have a 5m blast radius. Wave 12 mother-ship also randomly chooses a position within a 50m range of itself and drops a projectile from the sky straight down. This was done to keep the player on alert and moving, even if they were somewhere the mother-ship could not specifically hit them at. This range may be increased, or the way the projectiles are spawned may change in future releases; testing will tell.
Monday, April 14, 2014
Raiders: A Lost Art - Prototype 02
Raiders: A Lost Art _Prototype v02
Released 04/13/2014
Download Available through Google Drive: HERE (Roughly 8MB/Zip Format)
----------
After a couple weeks of working out some of the major bugs in Raiders I finally released the second prototype. Unfortunately I had to strip some of the professions menu's, although the initial source code is still there. I simply didn't want to rewrite the crafting professions source code without also converting the inventory system over to work with the player save system. Once this is completed there will be no persistent script anymore and therefore I will be able to create a main menu system.
The process took longer than I wanted, but in the end I rewrote almost all of the scripts from the ground up, a task I felt was necessary for the systems to function properly and efficiently. I stripped thousands of lines of code from the main GUI script, and rewrote the remaining 2000 to utilize methods for every task. All of the characters now run off the same 200 lines of code, and only access the other code when the player calls on it. Not only does this reduce the strain on processing and memory, but it created a much more efficient way for players to interact with their characters without requiring any change confirmations. In prototype 01 you had to confirm every change that you desired to make by hitting a button in a separate menu; in prototype 02, changes are made instantly. I hoped that this would stop players from accidentally canceling changes they were making by pressing a different button before confirming the change.
One of the major discoveries I made while working with the GUI was finding a way to display a characters Health on the battle GUI based on which characters had been placed on the battlefield and in what order. I needed the health to be rendered in correlation to the character's information pane, and also be able to update accordingly. The way it works now is that the system registers which character was just placed, and then adds that characters placed clone as a specific object in an object array. Because the object is added to the array at the same integer location as the button, it is easy to pull the information from the object and have it render in the proper location. Much of this will be changed over time as my GUI improves to utilize character portraits and graphical buttons instead of text-based ones.
The enemy attack was another major discovery for me. Instead of using my normal cooldown timer based attack script that the characters use, I rewrote the AI script from the ground up. The enemy now chooses a target after 3 seconds of the fight starting and then attacks that target 9 seconds later. This process repeats using method invokes every 15 seconds. 3sec -> Target -> 12sec -> Attack -> 18sec -> Target -> 27sec and so on and so forth. The enemy now turns to face its target, and will also follow them as they move around the battlefield. This targeting system works off of a public method, and so a character could interfere with this targeting system and force the enemy to target them specifically. I thought this would make sense for tanks to be able to taunt the enemy, allowing healers to focus on a couple characters if the player was crafty enough.
I certainly made more changes than this and if you are interested in reading any of them you can check the download link provided. It not only includes access to the Raiders prototype 02, but it contains an online changelog where you can see a more detailed breakdown of all the updates the game has undergone this release, as well as any known bugs and a link to a form you can submit any bugs you may find while playing. I also gave a link to the Fusion Bunny Productions email address in case you simply want to leave feedback or have a non-bug related inquiry.
Released 04/13/2014
Download Available through Google Drive: HERE (Roughly 8MB/Zip Format)
----------
After a couple weeks of working out some of the major bugs in Raiders I finally released the second prototype. Unfortunately I had to strip some of the professions menu's, although the initial source code is still there. I simply didn't want to rewrite the crafting professions source code without also converting the inventory system over to work with the player save system. Once this is completed there will be no persistent script anymore and therefore I will be able to create a main menu system.
The process took longer than I wanted, but in the end I rewrote almost all of the scripts from the ground up, a task I felt was necessary for the systems to function properly and efficiently. I stripped thousands of lines of code from the main GUI script, and rewrote the remaining 2000 to utilize methods for every task. All of the characters now run off the same 200 lines of code, and only access the other code when the player calls on it. Not only does this reduce the strain on processing and memory, but it created a much more efficient way for players to interact with their characters without requiring any change confirmations. In prototype 01 you had to confirm every change that you desired to make by hitting a button in a separate menu; in prototype 02, changes are made instantly. I hoped that this would stop players from accidentally canceling changes they were making by pressing a different button before confirming the change.
One of the major discoveries I made while working with the GUI was finding a way to display a characters Health on the battle GUI based on which characters had been placed on the battlefield and in what order. I needed the health to be rendered in correlation to the character's information pane, and also be able to update accordingly. The way it works now is that the system registers which character was just placed, and then adds that characters placed clone as a specific object in an object array. Because the object is added to the array at the same integer location as the button, it is easy to pull the information from the object and have it render in the proper location. Much of this will be changed over time as my GUI improves to utilize character portraits and graphical buttons instead of text-based ones.
The enemy attack was another major discovery for me. Instead of using my normal cooldown timer based attack script that the characters use, I rewrote the AI script from the ground up. The enemy now chooses a target after 3 seconds of the fight starting and then attacks that target 9 seconds later. This process repeats using method invokes every 15 seconds. 3sec -> Target -> 12sec -> Attack -> 18sec -> Target -> 27sec and so on and so forth. The enemy now turns to face its target, and will also follow them as they move around the battlefield. This targeting system works off of a public method, and so a character could interfere with this targeting system and force the enemy to target them specifically. I thought this would make sense for tanks to be able to taunt the enemy, allowing healers to focus on a couple characters if the player was crafty enough.
I certainly made more changes than this and if you are interested in reading any of them you can check the download link provided. It not only includes access to the Raiders prototype 02, but it contains an online changelog where you can see a more detailed breakdown of all the updates the game has undergone this release, as well as any known bugs and a link to a form you can submit any bugs you may find while playing. I also gave a link to the Fusion Bunny Productions email address in case you simply want to leave feedback or have a non-bug related inquiry.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)