A Horrible End

Tragedy strikes on this day, for I have lost the room in which I was working. The many hours of constructing the map, the views, the buildings and infastructure are all now reduced to nothing. A strange error occured in the process of testing my game today, and when I reloaded the program to try and fix it, the room resulted with a label of <undefined>. Or in mathematical terms, It was divided by zero. What makes this worse is that I do not have a backup of the game, which means I cannot retrieve the progress that I made.

However, have learned alot in the process of creating this game; I have increased my skills in sprite creation and animations, making better quality sprites and other pictures. Attention to detail was increased, which helped in making the game with a smoother look. I have been able to apply some basic knowledge learned in this semester's math course into my game, which really helped in the process. Without it, I may not have been able to do make some code.

The most important thing that I have learned from all of this? BACKUP YOUR WORK.
That is a mistake I will (hopefully) never make again.

I went from the beginning of the semester with little to no knowledge of coding to a more increased knowledge. While still basic however, I am proud of my accomplishments in that area. I hope to expand my horizons in the future in terms of learning more advanced coding like javascript or C#, or something like that.

The sad truth is that there is not enough time for me to regain what has been lost, as there are only 3 days of class left after today. I'd need to lay out all of the buildings again, the roads, the enemies, set the dimensions of the room, create a new view for the game, etc. And although it may not seem like too much work, it actually took me alot longer to complete these tasks than you might think. I spent half of the class today laying out about 3&1/2 buildings before losing progress.

It's sad, but I think I'm done with GameMaker for the year. I've really enjoyed using this program and learning how to construct a game with it, it has been one of the most fun and interesting projects I have ever done in school, because it's something that I really enjoy doing. In the future, hopefully next year, I'll come back to making a new game, even better than this one.

Construction!

Apparently the tiles work vertically too. Thats good, because I don't feel like making new ones. All I have to do s make a new window/roof texture thing for this building, then I'm done. Time to make some health variables and stuff.

Roof Done... Almost

Here is a screenshot of the (almost) finished roof texture. All that is left for me to do now is smooth out some of the textures, and fix a couple small alignment issues. Then, hopefully next day i can begin work on the health variables, which will allow the game to actually work.

A roof over our heads

The roof is complete; Now all I have to do is smooth out the textures and make another variant of it, just so it's not as boring. Then, I can move on to bigger things.

Tiles

From roof tiles, to tileable textures, I have been busy today. I have begun working on the remaining textures for the houses in my game, which I feel should be done some time tomorrow.

Robocraft Final

        Robocraft; a game where you can design, build and battle your own robots against other players who do the same. The goal during gameplay is to blow up the enemy base, while defending your own base against your enemies.

        I am currently at tier 4 in this game, out of 10 tiers in total, and I don't want to stop playing this game. Within the 5 days that we have played this as a class, this has become my new favourite game. When I first got the game I honestly didnt know what to expect out of the gameplay, but it's honestly really nice. And how you play it is up to you, there are many different ways to approach this game.

       To play this game, all you need is a somewhat decent computer; the requirements as for computer specs are not high at all, which is quite surprising, because the gameplay is so smooth and quite detailed. Once you're in, just build your robot and get into the fight. it might take a game or two to get the hang of things, but once you've got the idea, you're gold.

       Some things i have learned along the way are things such as keeping your wheels covered, testing out what kind of weaponry you like, and just having some fun with the game. Rather than playing it seriously, just try to have some fun with it. The game is quite enjoyable.

        I can see this game going a long way, and if this game even becomes paid in the future, I'd definitely be willing to invest in it. Below are a few links to the robocraft community, including Website link, Forum Link, and download link in case you want to get the game for yourself.

Website:
http://robocraftgame.com/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=t.co
Forums:
http://robocraftgame.com/forums/
Download:
http://robocraftgame.com/download/

Here are some more screenshots of gameplay, and my final tier 4 hovercraft that  have managed to acquire in playing this game.

Shooting at the enemy base.

Getting half blown up amidst battle

Blowing up the enemy base.

When in doubt, add more guns.

Shooting stuff.

Flying around.

Give this game a try for yourself; it truly is great, and I will not cease playing this game, even though we are done in IT. Come find me in battle, maybe we can platoon some time. 

Robocraft: Day 5

I have created a beast of a robot... at least it would be considered that if it was still in tier 3. I have accidentally moved up to tier 4 in adding a third rail gun to my robot, and it's not too bad of a jump. The battles are somewhat the same, just a little bit stronger enemies to shoot at. I advise that you watch your levels. If you arent ready to take on the world of  higher tiers, make sure to cap yourself off at a certain tier that you are comfortable in.

Robocraft: Day 4

Today was a huge day of learning; I tried out armouring my aircraft, using new weapons and new strategies. I tried out the plasma launcher, which with alot of them can be quite powerful, but very inaccurate, and found the rail gun is an excellent choice, long range, accurate and powerful. 

Advice: find the things that fit your playstyle, and make the best of them. 

Robocraft: Day 3

An upgraded version of my old robot. it has such much better armour, and even a couple of the tier 3 smgs. One thing I noticed with this design is that it's really nice to have the wheels covered. When the get destroyed quickly, it becomes hard to stay alive.

I decided to try my hand at building an aircraft, now that I have unlocked the hover things.

The last design liked to flip and spin out of control, so I decided to redo it, and this is what I came up with.

It flies nicely, and has some good firepower. It hasn't been played in any games yet, but net class I will try it out for sure. 

Advice: Keep your wheels covered. It helps. ALOT. Also alot of guns are really helpful too. More firepower, more success.

Robocraft: Day 2

I recreated my robot based similarly on a design I had seen on the previous day. I well rounded, thick and armour robot with powerful weaponry mounted on the top. The designs I saw had a plasma launcher rather than the regular t1 and t2 guns that I have, but this one works really well. I managed to pick up multiple kills in the first game that I played in this robot, and I also managed to level up about 2 or 3 times. Its seems like this is a good design plan, just a little more armour would be nice for the internal parts of the bot.

Advice for a noob; Don't get shot. If you do plan on getting shot and moving into battle, make sure that you have a robot like this with alot of armour on it so that you can manage to take a few hits before it really affects you.

Robocraft: Day 1

Yes, my game will be finished eventually, I'm just going to have a little more fun gaming first. Robocraft; a shooter game in which the player creates their own vehicle / weapon, in order to kill other players and their own created vehicles. Shown above is the first vehicle that I decided to create. 

Show here is the matchup of my first game.

And here is my vehicle mid-game, at a point where I was half destroyed with no more steering. 

I was pretty proud, as my little vehicle had helped me to earn a pretty sweet victory right off the bat.

I then upgraded my vehicle with the earnings from that game, and now I have a more armoured version of the old one, now with thrusters and enemy radars. 

I learned the importance of armour, which I will apply next day, as I have been torn to pieces man ya time by my enemies, and I have found a few strategies in game to help me out. 

Advice to newbies; Try to find the playstyle that suits you. Do you want a heavy hitter? Something with armour? Pr something that can dart around the map at high speeds? Its really all just a matter of preference in my mind; play the game how you see fit. 

Construction... Sort of

I have created a third building sprite now, so I have somewhat of a building in place. A few more variants of each sprite should be made later, and of course a few more to add on to it to complete it, but so far I'm pretty pleased with it.

Keeping their distance

if distance_to_object(object_tankHull) <400;{

speed = 0;}

The code I used earlier that prevents the enemies from moving towards the player if the player is too far away. I also added A new sprite for another section of the first building, and I am almost finished the first building. A screenshot will come when the next part of the building is complete.

Buildings

Don't mind the awkward borders of the picture. Pictured are some of the road sprites, which I need to give some more texture, and the beginnings of a new building that I am work on. Hopefully I can make a couple of these so I can tile them around the map. 

Infastructure

I have created a set of road sprites, along with three and four-way intersections. I set up the map in a sort of pattern with the way the map is laid out. I am going to limit the movement of each enemy to only be moving when I am in a close vicinity of the enemy. I want to add a counter that shows how many enemies remain, and a starting animation as well.

(Image will come tomorrow, this computer is not helpful in taking and uploading screenshots.)

Problem Solving

Using the code on the right side of the picture, I have managed to solve the previous issue I was having, where the enemies would get out of sync during collisions. This took a lot of trial and error to get it to work smoothly without crashing the game in the process. I also have managed to add a rough collision system between all of the enemies, although it does need a little more work... but at least it is functional.

I Liek Tank

The IS-3 is nearing completion. A little more shading is to be done, and a few details nee to be added, but overall it is looking quite nice in comparison to the other tanks.

Fire Away

 I have added a firing mechanic for the two new enemies, and  I have started work on the shading for the IS-3, still more needs to be done, however. 

IS-3

All that is left ot do on this tank is maybe a little bit more detailing and add some shading to the texture, but for the most part it is complete. I added the code from the t34-85 in order to make the tank track towards the player, and react with it the same way.

A solution... for now.

Until I come up with a solution for my enemies not working together, I have decided to start working on a few extra enemy sprites, that way there is more variety in the enemies that the player will fight, also possibly leading to different ways enemies have to be dealt with; each one having specific amounts of health, damage, etc.

Back to Gaming

Now that I am finished on Algodoo, I move back to work on my game. Not much notable progress has been made. There is still the problem of having separate enemies not working together and coming apart, and a solution is hard to find, as they are made up of two parts. It shouldn't be that hard to fix, i just need to work with it a little more.

Algodoo Download Links

The "My Own Challenge" Completed:
Aircraft Carrier Template
Aircraft Carrier Solution

The 5 Challenges Completed: (Some are not in their beginning state, as I no longer have those. Accidentally saving over them with the finished product was a bad idea.)
Loch Ness Challenge Solution
Bridge Challenge Complete
Junkyard Wars
Landslide Complete
Acid Challenge Solution

Loch Ness Challenge: Complete

In order to complete this challenge, I had to find an equal balance in the weight of the gears on my vehicle, and the base of the vehicle itself, that way it would float across the water. Having multiple gears allowed it to cross swiftly and smoothly, and get over the loch ness monster with relative ease.

Loch Ness Challenge

This challenge is proving to be more difficult than I thought; and it is the last one that I need to complete. I have to build a "paddle boat" to get across the water, and over top of the loch ness monster. Various attempts have led me to changing the material to that comparable to helium, in order to allow the boat to "float" over the water.

2 Challenges Complete: Bridge, and Landslide

Above are the beginning, middle and end screenshots of the Landslide and Bridge challenges, both relatively easy to complete, just requiring a little bit of tweaking before perfection.

Aircraft Carrier Challenge.

So once again, here are the rules to the challenge. The design for the landing gear that I created last class is the one I decided to use. I finished the rest of the challenge, created a template and a finished product. Download files will come at the end of the week, along with the other versions of all of the challenges that I have completed.

Internet Troubles

Due to some problems listed above, I was unable to post this on Friday, so here it is.

This is the landing gear I spent all of the block working on; I tested out various designs, and this was the only one that worked well, so I decided to go with it.

"Your Own Challenge"

This is my Aircraft Carrier Challenge. In this you must fly the jet off of the ship, bomb an island and land. Specific rules can be found in the picture. There is still more I have to do, like smoothing out my landings and making the landing gear work, but it is almost complete.

Water Challenge Complete

This challenge was difficult. You have to move the water throughout each tank in order, using pipes, gears and propellers; an equal number of propellers and gears. It also must have a good flow, which with my contraption was difficult to achieve, but finally by adjusting the placement and speed/torque of the motors, I was able to get it done.

Cinco de Mayo

More progress has been made on the aircraft carrier challenge, and it turns out I need to tweak the acid challenge configuration I currently have. I have so many partially complete levels left to do, but it should be a breeze to finish them all.

May the Fourth be With You

Algodoo day 5, and another project is in the works. It needs to have more flooooow. And for the to work, (hopefully) I just need to add more liquid to the machine, with a few small things to edit.

Your Own Challenge

My new challenge: Build a fighter jet with working bombs, missiles and retractable landing gear.
To do this there needs to be a balance between all of the thrusters, and certain key bindings are required to drop the bombs. (No, they dont have to explode for them to count, but it would be cool.)

More progress on this to come.

Jankyard Wars: Complete

The junkyard wars challenge; a level in which you are instructed to build a vehicle that resembles a honda ridgeline out of a specific pile of parts. I made the general body of the the vehicle using all of the rectangular shaped objects, and some parts with circles. 

The wheels at this point were positioned too close to the bottom of the truck, and thus it was hard to move. So I got creative, and added some small circles to the body and attached the wheels onto them, leading my vehicle to the finish line. 

In order to put everything together I just used the geometry action of gluing them together, and adding center axles on the wheels.

I also added the crate in the back, and strapped it down with a chain, and added some lights to the front and back, just for fun. 

In order for the truck to work, it needed about 170 rpm on the wheels, and 50000nm of torque in order to get over all of the obstacles.