STDG v0.0.1 + few more features = v0.0.3?

Go straight to version 0.0.3 demo. >>

EDIT #1: Just worked through some major server upkeep annoyances and in the process upgraded this version to use the path finding algorithm I just implemented. I know there is a little bug regarding the fact the player tries to walk behind the target and sometimes this cell is non-walkable. This is the first thing I’ll fix (probably have all 4 directly adjacent cells to target be target cells and go to whichever one is reachable [preferably the one directly behind the target]). Good night!

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So I’ve added a few more features listed below and also added a list of things I’m planning on implementing next. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comments section.

New features:

• You can follow Dekota by targeting her (see the nice red oval underneath her?) and then pressing ‘f’ (warning: path finding is super basic right now, see upcoming features below for info about that)!
• You can sort of speak to Dekota (or at least listen to her) by getting close enough (within two tiles) and pressing ‘e’. Go through her message by pressing ‘e’ again or leave her (and let her walk again) by pressing ‘q’.
• Added UI elements in upper right that disappear when mouse approaches them. They reflect actual values that will become pertinent soon.
• Open your absolutely useless bag (for the moment) by pressing ‘b’.
• Portrait in upper left hand corner displays ‘current tile’ rather than close up of player.
• Dekota now has a sprite of her own!

Fixes:

• You don’t lose ENERGY unless you hold shift AND move now.
• Changed tile changing from simply META + click on any tile to two different use cases (1: ‘[', ']‘ to iterate through different tile types, 2: ‘META + click & hold’ to change all hovered tiles to currently selected tile).

Ideas for next demonstration:

• Need to implement A* search algorithm for path finding
• How about some combat?
• Improve the panel UI (add some other sprites for the borders, look into fonts)
• Work on communication, dialogue (emphasis on dialogue)
• Tone down the glitches and not-so-wonderful feel of moving, running, and jumping (wow, that’s like all the features)
• Make a more formal map editor…

Extra:

• I just remembered what I had thought of at work that I wanted to implement now: water (I have a nice idea for how I’m going to do this)!

Thanks for checking this out! Once again, if you have any input, leave it in the comments below.

Java STDG first half iteration

I don’t care. Take me to the demo. >>

EDIT #1: Wow, need to rework the game loop — running way faster here than on my computer…

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STDG. It stands for semi-top-down game. Original, I know.

I haven’t touched Java in what feels like years, but since I have this bizarre fascination with games deployed in a web browser that aren’t written in Flash, Java had to do.

I’ve been working on this program for a few (time flies when you’re having fun) hours now, trying to get some sort of little engine cranking and while it’s riddled with bugs which you can discover on this version of the game’s demo page at http://tjkoblentz.com/java-stdg/v0.0.1/demo/, I’m slightly content with it’s very minimal feature set thus far.

If you click anywhere in the applet area of the page I linked to above, you can give the ‘game’ focus and interact (that may be the wrong word for this iteration, but you get the gist) with it limitedly.

Here is the current ‘feature set’ (*cough* …):

• W/A/S/D keys: move the main player up/left/down/right respectively (or use the arrow keys to achieve the game effect)
• Space bar: jump (no animation, but try to figure out why it’s slightly useful, even in this version)
• Hold SHIFT: attempt to run — I’m not liable if you don’t succeed
• META + click (right click may work too) any tile: change its type in order
• Left click CellObject (such as the NPC name Dekota): target it causing it to be en-squared and connected to the player with a red line

Things I’m sort of happy about (4/10 on the happiness scale):

• Camera moves around nicely
• Collision with tiles works
• Good potential for animations

Basic bugs I know about:

• Painting and animations are super borked and some frames may perhaps glitch
• Input response is far from optimal (if you can pinpoint anything regarding this, please leave a comment to help me out and lend some insight)

Lastly, if you find yourself not being able to move at the start even after clicking into the applet element, either refresh the page and hope there is no rock randomly generated in your tile beneath you, or just META + click yourself until you stand on a walkable tile.

Cheers! Oh, and please provide input by commenting — I like that.

PS: I used some sprites from http://charas-project.net/. If there are any issues with the resources used in this project, please let me know.

Ready, go.

So this is probably my 9th blog attempt now, but I’ve decided something: I expect no structure whatsoever. Sometimes I feel like I want to write something (hence the desire to have a blog) or share a link, but don’t have the place to do it. So here’s to dismissing that belief once and for all. I hereby declare today the beginning of a long and fruitful usage of this WordPress installation (3.0.1 at the moment).

So for this first post, I just wanted to announce my most recent project, wrongfully codenamed ‘Codesaurus.’ It is an open source web application built using Ruby 1.9.2 and Rails3 beta4 currently designed to map out programming language features and soon to link these features across languages.

I started working on this project about a day ago and you can find (and watch, branch, etc.) the project on github at http://github.com/tjko/codesaurus as well as a version of the application in a production environment at http://codesaurus.heroku.com.

Let me know what you think about the blog idea and ‘Codesaurus’ in the comments.