Work Post

3:16am - I've been really sick for about a week, and I'm still not feeling great, but I was energetic enough to get myself out of bed under the premise of coming out and doing work.

I had specifically planned to do some AI research, and the first thing I did, before I even started writing this, was watch the newest Game Makers Toolkit ep about Good AI in Games. After that I planned to read some of the articles by Richard Evans and Emily Short (or vice versa) about their developments in AI. But, I kind of balked at the idea when I actually went to their website, so that'll have to wait for another time.

I suppose that means I should work on my little AI project of my own now, my game of tag. Things kind of blew up when I realized how complicated my options are for sight cones in Unity. The simple option would be to use a cone shaped meshcollider to first determine if any targets are in the sight cone, then use a raycast to determine if there aren't any obstacles in the way, since the cone would overlap obstacles without detecting them.

The second way is similar but a little more complicated in code, and probably quicker to process. I'd use a cube shaped trigger instead of a cone, and then use a perspective matrix along with a raycast to determine if the ray is within the sight cone before testing for obstacles.

I'm honestly not sure which of these would be more efficient, computationally. I'm wary of using meshcolliders and I'm wary of using raycasts, they're both supposed to be expensive, but I've got no yardstick to compare them. I'd have to do a lot of math or do both and measure them against eachother to find out which was better. I'm not really willing to do either of those right now.

I think I'm going to try the second option. The Cube and Frustum option. It's less of a cone and more of a pyramid but that's what the player sees too, isn't it? Anyways I'm not sure how to actually do it, so I have to figure that out first.

3:49am - @.@;; Well that was a lot of complex math. It's been too long since I've worked with this sort of thing, I don't remember how matricies work. ^.^;;

Let me try to simplify it for myself here.

What I have is a ray, and what I want is to determine if that ray is within the perspective of the character. The ray goes from the character to another character that is penetrating the cube. How do I use a perspective projection matrix to determine if a ray is within or outside the frustum? When this was suggested to me I nodded my head like I understood and I thought I understood but now it doesn't make any sense to me. A perspective projection matrix is used in 3D engines.

Hmm... The more I think about it, the more I think I should try the other option with the vision cones. It'll give a 'rounder' shape and I won't have to deal with this stuff. I feel bad though, like I'm missing something important. :/

4:34am - Well I've got my cone shaped meshcollider now. I've jammed the cone into my mobile's head and made it huge. Now I just need to test it to see if it works. That'll take some coding. Unfortunately my tank is running dry after all this, so I'll have to put this down for now and do something else. I'm still sick after all.

Dwarf Fortress Post

8:38pm - Ahh the first non-work post! I'm playing Dwarf Fortress and I decided that since it's such a complex and strategic game that I'd keep a log of what I'm doing, to keep myself focused and perhaps entertain my friends.

It's not long past the foundation of my new fort, "Inkmost". I've decided to settle in the middle of a deep valley with a brook near a forest. I've set my dwarves to work, one chopping down nearby trees, and digging out their initial shelter. The first bit of shelter is down a long two storey ramp into the depths. I like to have a long route into the fort for defensive reasons. Then the wide corridor breaks off into two areas, the first will be the initial shelter where the dwarves will set up basic workshops and the second will be where the trade depot and export storage are located. The initial shelter will later become the fort's main inn and tavern. Above ground I built a fisherdwarf workshop to start off some basic food collection, as well.

For now I'm just waiting for them to finish digging out the underground areas I mentioned.

9:04pm - Alright, I've got the first area dug out and some basic workshops set up. A masonry, a carpentry, a kitchen and a still. I've got the carpenter making the first wooden beds and the mason making grates for the light piping, as well as a door and a few hatches to keep thieving pests out. The carpenter is also set to make a barrel and a couple bins when he's done the beds. I'll keep them updated with tasks manually for now.

The next project for my industrious miners is the light piping, or chimney, of the fort. It's the backbone of every fort I build, almost literally. It's the main stairwell leading between the floors, and it's got a ring of grates for light to filter down from the overworld, so the dwarves don't get cave adaptation.

9:19pm - Alright I put in the top of the chimney but I'm debating with myself if I want it to be wider... I should probably go with the size I've got since it's the size I've got. Anyways I'm saving and quitting for now. It's time to have breakfast.