Downs Engine v1.1.24.1

We upgraded the graphic and I manage to fix a lot of code to do with the deal with the getting in and out of mechs, some cleanups, bunch of other new stuff :D.

DownsEngine v1.1.24.1

-New player
-Bones
-Ore shines from the vehicle
-Debris is sexy

Needs the new mech ui now.

New sprite sheet.

I know I wasn't going to start this but I can't help it.

The debris is still very glitchy.

New team member!

I know i'm on holidays, this can't wait! I have a graphic artist now!

***Introducing: 'imurray'***

(Sample rough mock-up of the new tile graphics! can you say, sweet Jesus dinosaur bones?)

While I was looking for someone to do the graphics I stumbled across someone wanting to help out so now all the graphics will be done by him this leaves more time for planning and coding! Debris and everything also! Leave a comment if you want him to contact you, for obvious reason personal data cannot be released. 

I think I speak for everyone when I say his work is more than impressive, and there's still tweaking to be done the picture above doesn't even have the basic stencil lighting!

v0.23 Release!

v0.23 Is released for those that want to fool around with it!

http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=00822691032631083984

Try and get it to crash!

I didn't add hill generation/water in, i'll do that next time, before I leave!

If you manage to crash it reply below here what you we're doing.

Blocks! - More rambling on about blocks and how I think I could get more of them.

I was just sitting down fixing a few bugs and pondering how I could get more out of the art side of things, I don't want to have pixel deformation, it's far too annoying to redesign at this stage, what I need is an actual physics engine in to handle water, debris (Hope I spelled it right) and other things of that nature.

Then I realized I also need to add bits of cave left over, I was planning on having dirt demolish and you see particles fly out and bounce along for the added goodness effect.

Number 1 - What I could do is run it on my particle engine and add physics to the particles, i'm not sure how that would harm performance, suppose I could add in "If collision == true then run it" or compare it to an open space, if the space isn't air then run the collision, cutting out most of the detection that way.

Number 2 - What I also could do is create different graphics and use my water detection I wrote to check the bounds and place different tiles for different situations, if you dig up and there's only tiles to north and west make change those tiles, or have those tiles scan for air, if there's air create said tile, this would mean I would have to hand draw different tile sets for each bit of dirt to give a natural look, compared to a random and let it do all the work.

Number 3 - What I was also thinking is have the tile as a full one, then if it gets dug, break it down, think of asteroids, how they break smaller and smaller, this would make us of a physics engine if I wanted to place one in, or not but it would also mean that a 32x32 tile would break into 4 8x8 then 4x4, maybe not perfect but a random type of amount.

Here's a drawing of what I mean.

And you could also have a mount of dirt too, Maybe just an effect for now.

Fixes, fixes and more fixes!

It no longer crashes when you go near the bottom, what I've done, is extend the bottom so it doesn't scan when it's out of range.

When you hit L the whole screen lights up, also one thing I forgot to mention is I fixed the graphic for when you get out of a mech, it takes the width*height of the little dude, so if I was to get a 3*2 tank for instance, then it would adapt too it, from the way I have programmed it, if I were to add in some collision of a point to figure out the dimension of the structured piece then it would adapt also.

>I load all the dimensions in memory at the start, to grab the graphic
>Then All I have to do is load and change the tile over
>Bam it's done (Simplified anyway!).

First post of the year! Lets have a recap!

My first post to this blog stated some things I wanted to achieve! They were:

• Crafting table
• Boats
• Houses 
• Furnaces
• Smelting
• Add a hill generator to the terrain
• Holes
• Maybe enemies?
• Day/night cycle
• More variation of tiles

Highlighted in red is what Got done/semi implemented! The other stuff looks as it'll come once I work out a good way to craft items and what not!

A lot has happened in 3 months, I wouldn't call December a month to work on this, more like end of year/start of year that's slow, I can't wait to fully sink my teeth into this, I have a whole ton of stuff planned for this engine, and what 2 months work seams to of paid off, I know heaps about XNA/C# and there's still so much more to learn, After I come back on Feburary I'll work on this full time again!.

Snow!

Normal!

It's looking prettier by the day, I manage to fix a bug when you move left, the momentum for moving left was broken, I worked out if I speed things up it would bypass it all, got the whole place going darker underground but it as soon as you go under far enough will slowly fade, also you can press L to light up the place a little bit, I fixed the graphic and added in plants for snow and what not too, also trees, now I need a day/month/year cycle and to get the trees to have a life span! That's my next task!


It'll go something like this:


Day 0: Generator generates seeds, different seeds will have a life span value, I won't add in watering effects yet, I could add how much rain they get but this will do for now.


Day 3-5: The seed grows into a plant, the value will be random on it's growth, I'll add in a minus so how ever many times you collide with it, will harm the growth, maybe have the plant health and little hp bars on them, so they die if they hit 0, that seams like it'll be a fun challenge.


Day 5-7: The Plant will grow into a tree! A random tree but a tree none the less, this will be dictated by the climate on it's surroundings, maybe I'll add in a temperature and have the generator generate based on a temperature!


This should be fun!


Also, show your support and follow me! So I can see how many people I have following and it will give me more support too see others that want to see this project go ahead! It's going to go ahead nonetheless! After I'm done with this engine it will be able to be used by me for different 2d games (Think SNES quality). As it is I have a few designs already written up at home, to better the future of this!


What else needs to be put in is BARS so you can see a HP bar and what not! Leave comments below of what YOU want added!