Saturday, September 28, 2013
Day 6
Got some rudimentary text up and working. It's just a bitmap ascii font (lifted from Sublime as a placeholder), but it'll do the trick for now. I also whipped up a texture and slapped in on the placeholder spheres to make them look more like robots. The rest of the work today was mostly code cleanup and math related. Tomorrow is my boyfriend's birthday, so I'll (probably) be taking the day off. After that, I plan to start tackling game logic.
Friday, September 27, 2013
Day 5
Blar. I didn't get to work on the game today. We still have a few boxes laying around from after the move, so I decided to go through the one that was full of paperwork. It was boring and time consuming. I'm going to try to get some text and other GUI elements in tomorrow.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Day 4
I started writing code today! I setup a very basic world layout so I can start working on game logic. I've got a skybox and a 100x100 grid. The spheres are placeholder robots (with color denoting type). I haven't written any code for them, so they just sit there for now. Not much else to report today.
Day 3
Today was more productive! Although it will still sound boring! What I did today mostly involved spreadsheets. Here's a couple of things:
For now, I'm going to start with a relatively simple 3 resource system, although I'll probably revise the system later. For now you've got:
Iron and silicon can be mined or extracted. Energy can be harvested from various sources (I spent a good deal of time today looking into the pros and cons of different kinds of primary energy). Robots also require energy to stay operational, and have to recharge when they get low.
The types of energy sources you use are important. Some might result in pollution (which might actually work to your advantage). Wind is clean and cheap, but unreliable. Hydro power is very efficient, but first requires you to fill mars with water. Fission is a good source, but also results in dangerous, long lasting waste, not to mention the possibility of catastrophic failure.
I also started working on the numbers behind several robot types. I'll introduce a couple for an example. Basic Bots (featured in yesterday's sketch) can perform any mundane task, but not very well. Other bots specialize at a single task. Mover Bots, for instance, cost more to produce than Basic Bots, but they can carry a lot more.
It's kinda like comparing a Swiss army knife and a screw driver. The knife can do more things, but the screw driver's better if all you need to do is turn screws. Now, lets say Movers can carry twice as much as Basic Bots. This means they have to cost less than twice the price of a Basic Bot, otherwise you could just build two Basic Bots.
In actuality, there are more variables involved, and the numbers aren't quite as nice, but you get the idea. I filled in some rough numbers today, but I still have to work on balancing them.
For now, I'm going to start with a relatively simple 3 resource system, although I'll probably revise the system later. For now you've got:
- Iron - Roughly corresponds to the size and 'strength' of the robot.
- Silicon - Roughly corresponds to the computing power or 'brains' of the robot.
- Energy - Used for building and for carrying out tasks.
Iron and silicon can be mined or extracted. Energy can be harvested from various sources (I spent a good deal of time today looking into the pros and cons of different kinds of primary energy). Robots also require energy to stay operational, and have to recharge when they get low.
The types of energy sources you use are important. Some might result in pollution (which might actually work to your advantage). Wind is clean and cheap, but unreliable. Hydro power is very efficient, but first requires you to fill mars with water. Fission is a good source, but also results in dangerous, long lasting waste, not to mention the possibility of catastrophic failure.
I also started working on the numbers behind several robot types. I'll introduce a couple for an example. Basic Bots (featured in yesterday's sketch) can perform any mundane task, but not very well. Other bots specialize at a single task. Mover Bots, for instance, cost more to produce than Basic Bots, but they can carry a lot more.
It's kinda like comparing a Swiss army knife and a screw driver. The knife can do more things, but the screw driver's better if all you need to do is turn screws. Now, lets say Movers can carry twice as much as Basic Bots. This means they have to cost less than twice the price of a Basic Bot, otherwise you could just build two Basic Bots.
In actuality, there are more variables involved, and the numbers aren't quite as nice, but you get the idea. I filled in some rough numbers today, but I still have to work on balancing them.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Day 2
Whelp, not much happened today. Got sidetracked by car troubles which took up a good portion of the day. A conversation with my boyfriend helped me flesh out some story details and gave me a few gameplay ideas. Hopefully I'll have something more interesting to post tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll leave you with some sketches from about a month ago.
Monday, September 23, 2013
So It Begins!
So after saving lots of money and quitting my job, it's finally time to begin making an indie game! An endeavor that will hopefully become my career. I'm excited and terrified, but hopeful.
For months I tossed around game ideas in my head, but I eventually settled on one: a game about terraforming Mars with self-replicating robots. The game will focus on resource management, and will play somewhat like Dwarf Fortress. The player's job is to plan and issue commands, which the robots carry out automatically.
I expect the project to start slowly. The first few weeks will be likely be dedicated entirely to research and design. I'd like to try for daily updates on this blog. I probably wont have much to say in the first few weeks, but I want to get in the habit.
I've done some brainstorming and research already. Today I started refining those ideas and fleshing out the details. Robot types, resource types, player goals and actions, etc. In particular, I'm also considering the 'big problems' of terraforming. The long term player goals that need to be met. These include things like raising the temperature, improving the atmosphere, shielding from radiation, etc. All large-scale actions will have multiple effects; some good and some bad. An important part of the gameplay will be balancing the effects of your decisions.
For months I tossed around game ideas in my head, but I eventually settled on one: a game about terraforming Mars with self-replicating robots. The game will focus on resource management, and will play somewhat like Dwarf Fortress. The player's job is to plan and issue commands, which the robots carry out automatically.
I expect the project to start slowly. The first few weeks will be likely be dedicated entirely to research and design. I'd like to try for daily updates on this blog. I probably wont have much to say in the first few weeks, but I want to get in the habit.
I've done some brainstorming and research already. Today I started refining those ideas and fleshing out the details. Robot types, resource types, player goals and actions, etc. In particular, I'm also considering the 'big problems' of terraforming. The long term player goals that need to be met. These include things like raising the temperature, improving the atmosphere, shielding from radiation, etc. All large-scale actions will have multiple effects; some good and some bad. An important part of the gameplay will be balancing the effects of your decisions.
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