So the co-op patch has given me some fluff. Apparently it broke sdk_shareddefs.h which is a very useful file that defines such things as SDK_USE_SPRINTING, which lets me enable sprinting very cleanly and easily. I believe that the co-op base uses an old version of the source SDK, apparently one from before they used sdk_shareddefs.h. This is just a guess but it works for my purposes.
Fortunately I saved the code from before I used the co-op patch, so now I think that if I go back to that code, I should be able to take the features I want from the co-op code (the AI fix is all I need).
So I should be getting to that then.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
set-up
I'm psyched, I got through one of the phases of setting up stuff. I got hammer all ready and everything and can now make maps and play in them.
I still have to setup revision control on the source code before I can begin any real work (not to mention I need to finish the design) on the programming front.
The only other thing I might need for the Alpha (the version I hope to get Muddy into by this summer's deadline) is sound, which I haven't looked into at all.
Setup will soon be done! YAY!
Setting up stuff so you can start working is the least fun part of modding/game development/programming. Although IDK bug fixing might get pretty frustrating. Although at least at the bug fixing point I'd have a game I could play to prove I'd done something already... Failing to set-up isn't a great feeling. It's cool that Source made it relatively painless (though I still had an issue getting the .fgd to work to let me put spawn points in Hammer).
Setup that isn't done:
I don't plan on creating any models for the Alpha (the HL2 ones are acceptable stand-ins for now.) This was forced by scheduling, there isn't any time to figure out modelling stuff right now. I'd have to learn how to rig stuff in blender then go through animating things, not to mention actually modeling the characters in the first place, and designing them so that I could model them in the firster place...
I still have to setup revision control on the source code before I can begin any real work (not to mention I need to finish the design) on the programming front.
The only other thing I might need for the Alpha (the version I hope to get Muddy into by this summer's deadline) is sound, which I haven't looked into at all.
Setup will soon be done! YAY!
Setting up stuff so you can start working is the least fun part of modding/game development/programming. Although IDK bug fixing might get pretty frustrating. Although at least at the bug fixing point I'd have a game I could play to prove I'd done something already... Failing to set-up isn't a great feeling. It's cool that Source made it relatively painless (though I still had an issue getting the .fgd to work to let me put spawn points in Hammer).
Setup that isn't done:
I don't plan on creating any models for the Alpha (the HL2 ones are acceptable stand-ins for now.) This was forced by scheduling, there isn't any time to figure out modelling stuff right now. I'd have to learn how to rig stuff in blender then go through animating things, not to mention actually modeling the characters in the first place, and designing them so that I could model them in the firster place...
Friday, June 25, 2010
Scheduling, Timing, and Symmetry
I determined yesterday when designing that asymmetric maps were better then symmetric maps for purposes of replayability (they become repetitive more slowly). Yesterday I also switched the game mode from a cooperative L4D-style one (with bots as enemies) to a un-cooperative TF2-styled one (with other players as enemies). I also discovered an issue with the schedule, my deadline is August 30th, which is exactly 66 days away (slightly less then ten weeks! Two Months! Waaaaaiit a second...)
Two Months? That's the same delivery schedule that the pandora was on! And it's already being released! OMG My deadline is in the past! CTHULHU FHTAGN!
Meanwhile, I've now determined that a cooperative multiplayer would be better, as it would be asymmetric and less repetitive. More importantly it fits my vision of the game better, and it's what I always wanted the game to be.
I'm now redoing the schedule to be spread across multiple years, I'd already realized that by the end of this summer i wouldn't have the entire game done and polished, but now I plan on a prolonged development cycle where I work on Muddy every summer until it's finished. I'll have a deadline and goals to accomplish each summer, and I'll also continue "inactive development" over the other seasons, (re-balancing, play-testing, noting areas that need polishing, etc).
This summer's deadline is August 30th and I hope to have a alpha build with one finished map and some other goals I haven't quite established yet. I'll probably have weapons (as those probably won't take too long, and it'll be good to playtest them as soon as possible), and I'll probably have the goals of the game mode implemented, but beyond that I'm not sure exactly what goals I'll have.
Meanwhile, I've now determined that a cooperative multiplayer would be better, as it would be asymmetric and less repetitive. More importantly it fits my vision of the game better, and it's what I always wanted the game to be.
I'm now redoing the schedule to be spread across multiple years, I'd already realized that by the end of this summer i wouldn't have the entire game done and polished, but now I plan on a prolonged development cycle where I work on Muddy every summer until it's finished. I'll have a deadline and goals to accomplish each summer, and I'll also continue "inactive development" over the other seasons, (re-balancing, play-testing, noting areas that need polishing, etc).
This summer's deadline is August 30th and I hope to have a alpha build with one finished map and some other goals I haven't quite established yet. I'll probably have weapons (as those probably won't take too long, and it'll be good to playtest them as soon as possible), and I'll probably have the goals of the game mode implemented, but beyond that I'm not sure exactly what goals I'll have.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Wiki... bad?
So using a wiki has greatly helped the design process, it's (in my opinion) the best format for doing this stuff in. Unfortunately it is... Down-ish?
Every few hours the site becomes inaccessible, Chrome/Firefox says the page will not load/isn't responding/etc. A little while later it starts working again. This worried me because of a vandalous message on one of the main pages of wiki-site itself that warned that spam was attacking wiki-sites and that the administration was doing nothing about it (and oddly the message was staying there and had been there for quite a long while). The message was written by someone with admin access, and was very colorful (literally, green and red colors if I remember right).
This makes me want to use a different service for my wiki. Now, I will only use a wiki that uses mediawiki and that allows monobook as the skin/theme/CSS (so Wikia, the largest competitor, is out). or a monobook-like skin would work actually, but I wouldn't use anything that uses pictures in the layout or that's too colourful (it's actually a bit more complicated then that as to which skins I'll use, but pretty much it's limited to monobook so it's not important).
Unfortunately for me there is no such service so far as I can see. Google Sites wiki? Wait what?
It's now been over an hour since I was last able to access the wiki, I need to have the game mode determined soon so that I can move on to the rest of the game design, and wiki-site isn't working for this at all. With Google at least the site would be accessible... But no, of course it doesn't allow either monobook or wikicode (it's all done in some wyswig-style editor garbage GAH).
Currently the only option I have is to use a openoffice document on my computer... but putting the entire design into one file would be a horribly ugly way to do this (which is why I'd rather not do that). I originally went to wiki-site a few days ago for another project I was working on (planning my GURPS campaigns), and I realized it would be a good place to plan Muddy. Unfortunately it appears that my only options at this point are:
1) use OpenOffice
2) install mediawiki on my desktop and use it there.
the problem with 2 is I'd have to install PHP and Apache before installing mediawiki and I've done that before and it wasn't fun. In point of fact it was not terribly unenjoyeable, it just took a lot of time and the fact that it eventually got working was in no way because I understood what I was doing or that something I did worked, but rather that the GM was feeling sorry for me so he just made the installation work automagically without properly explaining himself. I don't want to rely on the GM's charity.
So Openoffice it is then!
"yay"
Every few hours the site becomes inaccessible, Chrome/Firefox says the page will not load/isn't responding/etc. A little while later it starts working again. This worried me because of a vandalous message on one of the main pages of wiki-site itself that warned that spam was attacking wiki-sites and that the administration was doing nothing about it (and oddly the message was staying there and had been there for quite a long while). The message was written by someone with admin access, and was very colorful (literally, green and red colors if I remember right).
This makes me want to use a different service for my wiki. Now, I will only use a wiki that uses mediawiki and that allows monobook as the skin/theme/CSS (so Wikia, the largest competitor, is out). or a monobook-like skin would work actually, but I wouldn't use anything that uses pictures in the layout or that's too colourful (it's actually a bit more complicated then that as to which skins I'll use, but pretty much it's limited to monobook so it's not important).
Unfortunately for me there is no such service so far as I can see. Google Sites wiki? Wait what?
It's now been over an hour since I was last able to access the wiki, I need to have the game mode determined soon so that I can move on to the rest of the game design, and wiki-site isn't working for this at all. With Google at least the site would be accessible... But no, of course it doesn't allow either monobook or wikicode (it's all done in some wyswig-style editor garbage GAH).
Currently the only option I have is to use a openoffice document on my computer... but putting the entire design into one file would be a horribly ugly way to do this (which is why I'd rather not do that). I originally went to wiki-site a few days ago for another project I was working on (planning my GURPS campaigns), and I realized it would be a good place to plan Muddy. Unfortunately it appears that my only options at this point are:
1) use OpenOffice
2) install mediawiki on my desktop and use it there.
the problem with 2 is I'd have to install PHP and Apache before installing mediawiki and I've done that before and it wasn't fun. In point of fact it was not terribly unenjoyeable, it just took a lot of time and the fact that it eventually got working was in no way because I understood what I was doing or that something I did worked, but rather that the GM was feeling sorry for me so he just made the installation work automagically without properly explaining himself. I don't want to rely on the GM's charity.
So Openoffice it is then!
"yay"
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Blog Up: What is Muddy?
This blog's title is Muddy Source because Muddy wasn't available. Muddy is a project that I (Modred11) am working on currently single-handedly, it is a Source Mod which I'm calling Muddy.
I have created a wiki which will be where I design Muddy's technical and gameplay elements. I am currently working on the design and will begin to work on the implementation (the mod itself) only after the design has gotten somewhere. However I am on a tight schedule: the end of summer is my soft deadline. It's possible the deadline will be pushed back to next summer, but only if I see significant progress on the game before this first deadline.
As of right now I'm mainly just setting up the Blog, Wiki, and finding out that ModDB hosts mods, so I will probably upload it there when I get to working on it.
I have created a wiki which will be where I design Muddy's technical and gameplay elements. I am currently working on the design and will begin to work on the implementation (the mod itself) only after the design has gotten somewhere. However I am on a tight schedule: the end of summer is my soft deadline. It's possible the deadline will be pushed back to next summer, but only if I see significant progress on the game before this first deadline.
As of right now I'm mainly just setting up the Blog, Wiki, and finding out that ModDB hosts mods, so I will probably upload it there when I get to working on it.
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