Friday Rescue

Calling The AA

I nipped out for petrol earlier this morning in my 1962 Land Rover, and as I pulled into the car park, oily steam started to pour into the cabin and out the bonnet  Whoops.  Closer inspection and the head gasket was definitely waving a white flag.  Five hours later I am back home after an inordinate amount of time waiting for rescue.

Ordered a new gasket which will take a week for delivery, and now without wheels. More critically, it pretty much ate up my working day and dumped a good deal of stress onto my eyebrows.

Irrespective, I found time to work on my inbox and also some Reloaded stuff which I can reveal now.

Reloaded Inventory Concepts

Having looked at a few games out there, we have rested on two styles that we feel are generic yet stylish.  One is from Sky Rim and the other is from a game the name of which escapes me.  Copyright the respective owners:

The next step is to wait for our artist to mock-up something similar with a Reloaded flavour to it, and then start tweaking until we have our GUI style. Once we have that set, we can iterate the graphical theme throughout the HUD assets which will influence fonts, other panel art, gadgets and in-game overlays.

Once we have that artwork cut-up, we can go back and replace the place holders of the functional inventory system and it should spring to life!  The assets will be placed within an easy to find folder so you will be able to replace these graphics with a style of your own for your final distributable. Let's face it, you won't want your games to use an identical HUD panel style over and over!

Beware of Mines

As if one sneak peek in two days was not enough, I have another sneak peek for you.  It's a very early (old FPSC X9 scenes for the moment) prototype of proximity based munitions.

This one is an adapted grenade to explode in proximity to an entity, and will be adapted to allow a mine to be placed magnetically on the floor, wall or ceiling to provide the perfect rear-guard defensive line.

Once we get some nice graphics to accompany the grenade and mine, I will reveal them here for your viewing pleasure.

Signing Off

Alas it was not as long a day as I would have hoped, but I was expecting visitors this weekend who have cancelled so I have the whole weekend to continue coding and making a mess.  I also complete the Ultimate Coder App this weekend too (pretty much), so plenty to see across two blogs in the days to come.

Also I just want to reassure you that you have seen no Reloaded artwork thus far, with the possible exception of the inside of the explosion.  All the art seen so far is from FPSC X9 which is a convenient way to knock up prototypes quickly to see how they fit in.  Asset creation and integration will commence in earnest once we start to get closer to 'alpha release' country.

Thursday Inventories

Tune In For A New Feature

As promised on Wednesday, I have a new feature of Reloaded to reveal. It is in the very early stages graphically, but functionality it is pretty cool.  Rather than the simple pick-up, throw, drop feature of the current FPSC engine, a new  inventory system will be added to allow collection of multiple items and the ability to store, share and even steal items within the game.

This first shot shows the inventory panel opened for the player after he collected three items from the level.  Each item has a thumbnail, description, weight and size properties which will confine how much you can carry at any one time.  As I said, the artwork is programmer art, and I have now passed this prototype to our 2D artist to work his magic!

Here you can see our intrepid player pickpocket the contents of the Thug character.  The same system will be used to conduct trade with Non-Player-Characters and everything in between. Scripts will ensure that dodgy trades or foul play (like the character discovering he is being pick-pocketed  will result in further gaming fun!

And no RPG style game would be complete without opening treasure chests, cupboards, draws and other storage containers, choc full of lovely items!

With the addition of inventories for players, characters and in-game objects the games you can create open up in new and exciting ways.  Once we have some mock-ups of the final inventory panel artwork, I will share with you so we can have a chat about which one is best.

Explosion Take Two

For those who did not see the improved explosion capture from Rick, I have posted it in my blog today (without the stutter) so you can see where we are. Don't worry about the background, it was an old level taken from FPSC X9 and does not reflect the artwork that will comprise the Reloaded scenes.  You are also looking at the explosion without any shading which will blend the effect with the rest of the scene to make it look highly polished.

Signing Off

The storm last week nearly ripped a 1000V line out the wall of my house and it's pretty dangerous right now. The engineer is replacing it as I type so I might lose power any minute. Going to sign off now just in case I don't come back :) Catch you Friday!!

Wednesday Rise

Early Rise

After going to bed alarmingly early (8PM) on Tuesday due to extreme reverse jet-lag, I was up with the larks today, something crazy like 6AM. Not able to return to slumber I rose to start the days fun and games.  A cup of tea and a slice of toast later I was back in code land.

Perceptual AM

Given the Ultimate Coder has less than one week to go, I have decided to dedicate a few hours each day to progressing the PerceptuCam app to give myself a chance of earning a respectable vote when judging time comes. It also needed some TLC in a few areas so it was worth doing. I finished around 10AM and within those four hours, apart from emails and desk tidying had implemented a system to register when users log into the app, allowing other users to detect and call them via their 'whatismyip' IP Address. This address changes every so often for most users so the server I am using keeps track of these addresses per user each time they log in to the app. I also record the name and picture of the user as well for that extra convenience.  I finished off the round by creating an installer which installs DirectX, the Perceptual Redist and the files for the app. I will be using this later in the week to test with my team mates to make sure calls can be made back and forth before subjecting it to public scrutiny.

Email AM-PM

I also dealt with little emails here and there, such as some AGK related stuff which is exciting but secret, and will be revealed in due course. I spilled some tea on my keyboard before I left for the states, and found out today that my CTRL+WINDOWS+ALT keys where stuck solid. After some liberal key pressing and much use of those keys, they work once more. I have decided not to upgrade my keyboard as I rather like this one (MX 5500) and a new one costs over £150 so I will plod on until it explodes or cannot resist another cup of tea. I also found time to update my SVN repository which now provides a much faster way to work with the AGK source code, which will save time in the long run (and save $19 per month on hosting the SVN through a public service). Finally I found an hour to solve two issues on the Sensor Panel app I wrote and submitted to AppUp, and about to submit a new version to the Intel tester to see if it solves the issues.

The reason I tackled these seemingly non-Reloaded items was that they where cluttering my email inbox and I wanted them gone.  With those out the way the only emails I had left where Reloaded related - hurray!

Reloaded PM

As promised, I can reveal the latest versions of the explosion and a very early sneak peek at the inventory system too.  We have a little work to do on the debris texture and of course tweaks once it's part of the game play but it's looking very meaty and very violent, the perfect kind of bang.  Here is a short video of the latest prototype. Apologies for the stutter, it was Fraps running full capture at a large resolution, the actual proto runs smooth as silk.

For the Stutter, blame Fraps - The proto is silky smooth!

The inventory system has just been started so don't expect fireworks at this stage, and for the sake of building anticipation I am not going to reveal any screen shots :)

I can reveal that the inventory will be a proper GUI with semi-transparency so you can see the game view in the background, the ability to pick up and drop items, scroll through them and organise what you have. Perhaps the coolest feature is that all characters in the game can also have their own inventory allowing you to do cool things like trade and even pick pocket!

Signing Off

It feels like another early night for me as that 6AM start is not what my body is used to.  The good news is that my inbox is much diminished so there will be more Reloaded on Thursday, and if you are lucky some inventory shots!

Tuesday Backlog

A Mountain Of Catch-Up

Now I have rested and recovered from the long flight back from the GDC event in San Francisco, I have started the process of going through emails and letters to get back on track.

The Great News

The great news is that I have finished the secret AGK project before I left, and on my return have learned the apps are not only on sale in the app store but one of them is already at number 44 in the Educational chart - hurray!

Here is the magnificent octopus I was distracted by:

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/theory-test-uk-driving-test/id609636705?mt=8

I also knocked out free versions and an accompanying Hazard Perception Test as well (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/hazard-perception-uk-driving/id609649044?mt=8).  It was a lot of work, mainly in the latter refinement work to the app, but it was well worth it and now millions of future drivers in the UK and pass their test with ease.  Apart from some minor tweak work from time to time, this project is complete for me.

Things At GDC

As some of you know and have guessed, the gap in my blog was the result of spending a week in the USA attending the Games Developer Conference and having a really good time.

I met lots of very nice people and drank lots of very nice drinks. The event itself was informative and revealing, and my own participation was enjoyable and hopefully useful.

I spent a few days showing off my Ultimate Coder Perceptucam app and chatting with developers, and also doing a quick 20 minute presentation on working with Intel, AGK and Perceptual Computing.  I also handed out a few AGK discounts too for lucky GDC goers.

Ultimate Challenge

I have six more days left before the end of the UCCII competition, and will be spending a few hours mid-week to bring that app to conclusion. This will be the last non-Reloaded project on my plate, and you can check the progress from the week just gone here: http://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2013/03/31/ultimate-coder-challenge-ii-lee-going-perceptual-week-six#comment-1730296

Clunk Click

It has been a long time coming, but as of next Monday I will be a 100% Reloaded developer with only one project to focus on. At the start of the year I figured I could discharge my duties in 4 weeks, and it took 12. Let's hope my future estimates are a little better!

When last we saw some Reloaded, the room was exploding. I have since gathered 4-5 new emails in my inbox on this very subject and Wednesday I will be reporting on the progress of this and provide some lovely eye candy for you.  While this work continues, I will also be bringing the real time light mapping to the editing process of the current FPSC editor which is not far at all from being realised.

Once we are there and have something to demonstrate, there will be some work involved in making sure the light maps are managed correctly and that editing over time does not produce a huge amount of redundant light map files or memory leakage. This is important to do early as later on I may forget the intricacies of the system, and it will take longer to correct. It also means the system will be complete, sealed and working which allows me to fire and forget, and move onto the next exciting feature which is either physics or terrain. I suspect physics first as this has been a bane of the current experience for some time.

It will feel odd at first to wake up and start working on Reloaded right off the bat, and I am looking forward to calling it my primary (and only) project.  Expect screen shots, videos and small prototypes to follow in the months to come.

Signing Off

I still have a log of backlog to work through, but I am getting there. I should be able to report the latest progress on the explosion stuff Wednesday and some progress on the editor by the end of the week for sure. Next week is when it will all start to happen as I clear my desk of literally anything non-Reloaded and immerse myself in that world.  Thanks for your extraordinary patience - it will be worth the wait I'm sure :)

Monday Landing

Back From GDC

A five hour wait at the hotel in SF, forty minute drive to the airport, three our wait in the terminal, eleven hour flight to Munich, four hour wait at the gate, two hour flight to Manchester and three hour drive to Wales. It was a long day!

Signing Off

Normal service will resume Tuesday where I can finally reveal where I have been spending most of my time over the last few months.

Friday Shortest Blog Ever

Short One Signing Off

As you may know, the UK is having it's fair share of weather today, and in my case I was up at 6AM untangling a 20 foot metal garage which decided to go for a walk when the wind storm hit.

Spent most of the day sorting out the havok during the day and backing up and sharing some source code in the evening so Paul can carry on coding while I am at GDC. Managed to sit down long enough to emails, but not much else.

Rick asked me to take a photo of the carnage, which would have been a good blog moment, but when you are knocking an eight foot piece of metal off an electricity cable with 1100 volts running through it, you tend to shift your priorities.  The good news is the violent winds are easing off a little now (2AM) and as my body only really got 4 hours sleep since Thursday, I am off to bed. The horrid news is that my plan to get some GDC demo polish work done today went out the window (and over the fence and nearly into the road) so that leaves Saturday for doing everything. Now that's going to be a day!

Thursday Things

Things That Happened Today

On a professional note, it looks like I finished the AGK apps, with no more bugs reported on them from a days testing. Not celebrating yet. Will do that when I see them on the iOS and Android stores :)

In the late evening, I did some GDC prep work such as making my slides and also cleaned up some of the UCCII Perceptual Webcamera app to make it more polished. Will do the bulk of the final polish over the weekend, but I wanted to get movements done towards the end of the week so I have a good app experience for the GDC goers.

On a personal note, I sold my car today. My most favourite car ever, and it's gone, gone, gone. A sad day indeed. Going to see what it's like to live without a car for a while. I do have a 1962 land rover but it does not really count as a car, more like a vibrating mad washing machine on wheels, controlled by a wagon wheel and powered by hope.

Reloaded

No new explosions to report today on the Reloaded side. I did submit my story board script for the level that will feature in the product. Mark liked it, and thought the 'stylish noire theme' would work very well. Rick hated everything about it (I suspect he wants a MW3 clone). I've given him the GDC week to come up with a better script :)  In the meantime, lets take a blog vote. Would you prefer 'Detective Story' with puzzles and a bit of shooting, or 'Military Mayhem' with a few puzzles and lots of shooting?  You can't say both :)  The plan is to do one game and put extra energy into the quality finish, rather than quantity.

Signing Off

I've been staring at this PC so much over the last few weeks I think I need new glasses due to the amount of physical change I've put my eyes through. Probably go in for an eye test when I get back from GDC to see how blind I am getting and buy some prescription telescopes.