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Music

June 10, 2011 by antonymity

As stated in my first post, I have plans to include background music in this project. My original plan was to use a tracker to create the music. I have worked with them before back in 1999 and found them to be great fun. There are a lot of great songs made in trackers available on the web by hobbyist musicians and some were even created for use in games like the music in Unreal Tournament 2004.

The downside to tracking, at least for me, is that it is literally a note-by-note process. Also the starting samples you get with a tracker usually aren’t the best sounding samples, but they do the job. It’s a long and technical process to write a song in a tracker and I’ve already got plenty of those kinds of processes going on with this project. I was in need of something simpler.

Much to my surprise I noticed the other day when I opened a new tab in Chrome, there was an icon to Google’s app store which was featuring Angry Birds as it’s newest available title. I of course visited the link, checked out the game, and decided to see what else was there. The very first thing I saw listed was an app called Audiotool.

Usable right in your browser after a split-second installation, Audiotool lets you create music “in the cloud”. There are drum machines, syths, effects – all crafted to look and behave like the real machines they represent. You can drag and drop these modules onto the main area, connect them together with wires, and pretty much start fiddling with all the dials, sliders and buttons as electronic music comes to life in your speakers. It’s challenging at first to understand what all of these modules do and how to use them (unless you’re already a dj then you should feel right at home) so they have a set of tutorials and a wiki set up to help you out.

So the point of this blog post is to announce that I will be using Audiotool to create the music found in the game. Their ToS give all rights to the creator of the music under the terms of the established creative commons so I should be able to set something up to have a soundtrack available with the game as well (optional, of course).  I only hope I can find a way to make the songs loop forever…

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If a building falls on you during battle, do you make a sound?

May 27, 2011 by antonymity

Tonight I decided to get some ideas out of my head and into physical words. These ideas pertained to my game’s battle system and I am happy to say that from what I’ve seen they all seem doable.

Basically the battles will play out FPS style. Since the weaponry in the game is (almost) entirely long-range (guns, grenades) I didn’t feel like making the typical text-based battle system where you just stand there watching as round after round of battle spam is spit out, with the occasional skill-input entered by the player. Instead there will be several different battle areas built around the theme of the area the player is currently in.

These battlefields will allow the player to move about freely which I am hoping gives more excitement than what is found in the typical battles found in current text games described above. There will be objects the player can use as cover – in a city-themed battlefield, perhaps a dumpster could serve as cover, or even a tree. These objects will make it much more difficult to hit the target, but they won’t last forever. As they take damage, the target becomes easier and easier to hit, until the cover is completely destroyed leaving the target out in the open.

One other type of cover will be buildings. Upon entering a building you are under the cover of the walls of that building. Like the cover described above, these walls will take damage and eventually leave you out in the open. Though if you happen to be upstairs and are left without protection and you haven’t battled from downstairs yet, you can take cover down there if you wish. Be careful, though – if the building as a whole takes too much damage it will eventually crumble and if you’re still inside when it happens, you are going to be hurt very badly.

These tactics are going to be usable by the enemy as well, so don’t expect a one-sided fight. They will seek cover much the same as you and will use tricky tactics to defeat you just the same as you will attempt upon them (protip: lay some mines around a building and shoot one when an enemy seeks refuge within…).

So… if a building falls on you during battle, do you make a noise? I surely hope so, and it’s my goal to make sure the noise that is made is you having a great time.

Posted in Planning, Updates | Leave a Comment »

> use eye drops / Your vision becomes clear.

May 22, 2011 by antonymity

I’m very proud of what I have created thus far. I finally mastered what I needed to in order to make my GUI for the game and to have it carry some nifty functionality along with it. Unfortunately, it isn’t enough.

During a brief moment of clarity today while writing a musical piece for the beginning of the game I realized that I have more options available to me than I have allowed myself to see. That being said, I have decided to incorporate some new modules into my repertoire. This will give me the power I need to achieve some of my plans (colors and music for starters).

It’s been very fun making this first area of the game. I am developing both the area and the game engine at the same time, adding what I need to either one when the time arises. At times I feel my code has become a bit messy and it makes me feel less good about it, but everything in-game works perfectly. I am hoping that with this new direction I am headed in I will be able to take the experience I have gained thus far and can create a better product.

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After much trial and error, I finally have a basic game window

May 3, 2011 by antonymity

Basic Game Window

Behold its boxy glory!

As development goes on there may be additional features added, but for now I just wanted to have a working GUI that accepts input and displays output before I began writing the main game code. As always, this looks simple but it took me quite a while to wrestle into existence – even with a GUI designer (Boa Constructor). Simplicity is what I was after anyway. I don’t need a fancy GUI with useless bells and whistles. I just need something a little more tangible than cmd.exe and its limitations.

Now the real fun can begin! :D

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Hey! Over here! I’m over heeere!

April 29, 2011 by antonymity

Hey there! Thanks for stopping by. I go by Antonymity, but you can call me Anton if that’s easier for you. I created this new shiny blog so I can share updates about my adventures in game development with you.

In the age of 3D this and HD that, I am currently creating a text-based science fiction-themed role-playing game. There’s a few reasons I’ve chosen an all-text platform. Let me use this text editor’s nifty numbered list button to share these reasons with  you:

  1. I suck at drawing things
  2. This is my first big programming project so not having to also deal with graphic-related libraries and whatnot lessens the overall torture involved
  3. I’m a big fan of MUDs
  4. Related to the above: I found many MUDs are still using stock code like ROM and just making small modifications. Even those that have been modified greatly still had the stock code experience at their core. I longed for a MUD that was based on truly original code so that my experiences were no longer confined to the same dull rules over and over
To compliment my decision to break out on my own and create a text-based game that finally had the features I’ve been longing for, I’ve decided to ‘modernize’ the text-based genre while I’m at it. This time I will use this text editor’s nifty bullet list button to share with you these modern upgrades:
  • Achievements!
  • The ability to post to your Twitter and Facebook account when you earn an achievement!
  • Original theme music for each area, including a few different themes that will play in battle!
  • Battles: No longer simple turn-based spam-fests! Engage your enemies in fully-explorable area-themed battlegrounds! Take cover behind objects! Run right up to your enemy (but watch out, they might do the same!), or take the fight indoors and run through nearby buildings for shelter or better sniping positions above ground! (Sound familiar? You’re right – it’s total FPS style!)
  • There’s more, but I don’t want to spoil everything for you ;)
I’ve got a website up for the game itself – www.antonymity.com (Yes, I know – I’m really creative with my online handles!). While the ‘behind the scenes’ type stuff will be placed here, the game’s site will be periodically updated in it’s own way. In fact, what you see there as of the date of this post is the very first update the site has seen beyond the ‘new site coming soon’ landing page that was there for a couple of weeks. Don’t worry – it’s intentionally cryptic. All of the updates will most likely follow suit. Again, that site is for the game while this site is for the game dev :)

Well that’s about all I have for now. There’s a link to the right which you can use you subscribe via e-mail so you can keep up to date with my progress. Feel free to leave me comments, questions, constructive criticism and the like – just keep it clean and civil so can all enjoy ourselves here.

Thanks a bunch for stopping by, and I hope you stay with me as I keep record of my progress :)

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