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1:12am - This might be a short one, it's already pretty late. I've not worked yet today though and I want to do at least something small.
So after noodling about in Unreal yesterday and figuring things out, I've decided that I'll do another short project to add to my portfolio. Like I was saying, I'll do what I plan to do with my 7DRL but in a 3D action game.
Basically, there'll be a randomly generated dungeon based on the Cycles design theory from Procedural Generation in Game Design by Tanya X. Short and Tarn Adams. The player will experience the dungeon from the first person perspective. There will be monsters and you can attack them with a melee weapon.
Some things I want to include in this:
Animated Arms with attacks
Different weapons
Decorated Dungeon Sections
Ranged Attacks?
Monsters fight back
The idea behind the Cycles design theory for random dungeon generation is that instead of having a single route to and from the goal, where you backtrack, you have two paths to the goal, so you can make a circuit from the start and back again. You can also expand the circuit with additional loops, for sidelines.
There's all sorts of things you can put on those circuits to make them more interesting. A simple example would be to have a locked door on the start of one of the routes, and the key to that door on the other route or at the goal. Then you can unlock a shorter path back.
To make it more interesting, a key is the goal of a subloop like that, but the door back uses a lever from the opposite side. Then you can have a shortcut back to the first path, with your key to the lock on the other path.
The tricky thing is that for the game these cycles were built for, you're meant to go into the dungeon and come back out again. I'd like to make it more like that lever door side route, where there's a way back to the entrance at the end. It would seem more like a linear path because of that, though it would still be a circuit technically.
In the case of this game demo, I'll be making dungeon sections that are assembled as tiles on a grid. These tiles will have up to four exit routes onto other tiles. Some will be rooms and others hallways. The idea is to assemble these tiles into circuits to make a dungeon with a variety of features.
So, I'm not sure what I should work on first. The random dungeon generator, or the player. I'd really like to have a pair of animated arms that swing a sword at least. But the rest of the dungeon will be very basic until I reach the polishing stage, where I might change out basic primitives with some fancy dungeon geometry. We'll see.
I think I should probably do the random dungeon generator first, since it's the more technical piece and it'll give the player someplace to stand.
Given that, and the fact I'm still up, I'll open up Paint.NET and make some dungeon tiles.
2:17am - I'm too tired to do any more. I'll need to work on this more later.
So after noodling about in Unreal yesterday and figuring things out, I've decided that I'll do another short project to add to my portfolio. Like I was saying, I'll do what I plan to do with my 7DRL but in a 3D action game.
Basically, there'll be a randomly generated dungeon based on the Cycles design theory from Procedural Generation in Game Design by Tanya X. Short and Tarn Adams. The player will experience the dungeon from the first person perspective. There will be monsters and you can attack them with a melee weapon.
Some things I want to include in this:
Animated Arms with attacks
Different weapons
Decorated Dungeon Sections
Ranged Attacks?
Monsters fight back
The idea behind the Cycles design theory for random dungeon generation is that instead of having a single route to and from the goal, where you backtrack, you have two paths to the goal, so you can make a circuit from the start and back again. You can also expand the circuit with additional loops, for sidelines.
There's all sorts of things you can put on those circuits to make them more interesting. A simple example would be to have a locked door on the start of one of the routes, and the key to that door on the other route or at the goal. Then you can unlock a shorter path back.
To make it more interesting, a key is the goal of a subloop like that, but the door back uses a lever from the opposite side. Then you can have a shortcut back to the first path, with your key to the lock on the other path.
The tricky thing is that for the game these cycles were built for, you're meant to go into the dungeon and come back out again. I'd like to make it more like that lever door side route, where there's a way back to the entrance at the end. It would seem more like a linear path because of that, though it would still be a circuit technically.
In the case of this game demo, I'll be making dungeon sections that are assembled as tiles on a grid. These tiles will have up to four exit routes onto other tiles. Some will be rooms and others hallways. The idea is to assemble these tiles into circuits to make a dungeon with a variety of features.
So, I'm not sure what I should work on first. The random dungeon generator, or the player. I'd really like to have a pair of animated arms that swing a sword at least. But the rest of the dungeon will be very basic until I reach the polishing stage, where I might change out basic primitives with some fancy dungeon geometry. We'll see.
I think I should probably do the random dungeon generator first, since it's the more technical piece and it'll give the player someplace to stand.
Given that, and the fact I'm still up, I'll open up Paint.NET and make some dungeon tiles.
2:17am - I'm too tired to do any more. I'll need to work on this more later.
