Tag Archives: Game Engine

Mecha Asylum Code Reuse and Refresh

Posted by santosj on October 6, 2006 Comments Off

Reusing Old Game Engine Code

I’m finally using some of the old game engine code for the new Battle Machines/Game Engine project. The interesting thing however is that the Game Engine was based off of the old Mecha Asylum code. I’m going to also use some of the old Mecha Asylum code with the development.

The point is that I have spent a lot of time on Mecha Asylum and the Game Engine. It would go a lot faster if I just reuse those items instead of recreating them again.

Merging Mecha Asylum, Game Engine, and Battle Machines

So, what I’m doing is merging the best parts of Mecha Asylum, the Game Engine branch off of the Mecha Asylum code into the new Battle Machines code. It would be nice, since it would be easier to move the code over to Mecha Asylum when the time comes. However, I believe I’m probably going to buy a new template for Mecha Asylum before I do so. That won’t be for another 9 or 10 months. The work that I’m putting into Battle Machines and Heat of the Race won’t be wasted when I finally restart Mecha Asylum.

It would also be nice to have three games to be under Absidon Games beta status. However, it would be interesting to place the data from index.php into other files, so that index.php doesn’t have to be edited at all. Work will probably begin soon to do just that and remove instances of BM_PATH and instead use GAME_PATH and then use that for all of the files instead. Or, to use set_include_path() for the library instead. It would make things interesting, using the latter and would have to use relative paths.

The point is, that all of my work on Mecha Asylum and the months spent on the Game Engine won’t be wasted and will eventually be imported into the new Game Engine that Battle Machines will eventually use. The idea of the old Game Engine was to create everything, the new game engine is going to use other libraries where possible.

After the Merge

I suppose it would be time to delete or archive the old Game Engine and Mecha Asylum version. I suppose it would be worth the investment to change Mecha Asylum to use the new Game Engine. Even so, working on Heat of the Race is something that I really need to do and have put off for a long time. By the time I get back to Mecha Asylum, I want to have a pretty damn good idea on how to create browser games and the tools that go behind them.

I think I’ll probably rather delete the Game Engine files since there isn’t much there and what is there is pretty worthless.

Possibly Related Posts:


Progress Report: 10/13/2005

Posted by santosj on November 13, 2005 Comments Off

RTS

The RTS Prototype is moving along at a fairly quick pace and I should have it done by the end of this week, if not starting the form processing pages to take the game into beta. I have been thinking about extending the RTS version, but currently I can’t think of any good ideas of what I can add to it. Right now I’m just doing a basic RTS version where you grow your army, build your base defenses, and attack other players. The underlying code is a little bit more than that, but that is the general idea.

Besides, perhaps Group and Alliance wars, I can’t really think of anything that it needs. I will be looking for input from beta testers and people playing the game to extend the game. I may extend some parts myself after playing the game for a while and after I get a feel for what parts would be good to extend. I guess that after I make the game I will look at other RTS type of games and see what they do and see if I can’t add it myself to the RTS game.

In the next version I will be looking at adding missions and allowing players to roam the landscape. That would be pretty cool indeed, but right now I don’t have the time frame to complete those features for the RTS version. I did want to connect the RTS version and RPG version, but I may not do that after all. With the current RTS implementation, it is kind of possible to do, with the cities and everything. It would be cool to do it, but it will be at the bottom of my wishlist. I was hoping for a basic RTS version, but not as basic as it is going to be. It does kind of suck at how simple the game will be played.

I should just work to completing what I have planned so far and then look to extending in a new design document. After I complete the game engine I need to work on making both modes work off of the same game types. I also want to try to make the RTS version include computer controlled players to add into the mix. I was thinking of add that to the RPG mode.

Online Members

I need to add online members list to the core Game Engine Features. I was thinking of just listing how many admin members and regular members are online and then have a link to them. Depending on whether they are in the game or not, have the name allow them to attack the player. If in just account viewing, then have the player mail the person. I think it could work off of the member list in some way to simplify coding.

Future Roadmap

The game engine needs to function like a game engine and allow customization. Right now the game is a little too hard coded to be too much use to anyone. I will go through and add the administration pages and make the game more customizable with using MySQL and SQLite. I will eventually switch over the mysql tables to SQLite for the basic account pages. I am still going to use the finished product of the game engine for Heat of the Race and package the game engine for download. I’m not going to sell it because I don’t want to support the game engine. If people like it and want to donate cash for me developing it, then that would be great.

I think the basic tools of the game engine are great and I hope to further the development of the tools. I will keep track of features I want to add and changes I want to make. The game engine is far from being complete and seriously needs more work before I can give it out. The administration pages are nonexistant and I can’t release the game until that and the rest of the core features are finished along with the basic RTS and RPG game modes.

Versioning

Major.Minor.Bug Fix. Security Fix

The Major Rewrite is usually a complete rewrite of all of the game features from a core templating and uses a totally new system of development. The major rewrite will break every other part of the game and cause the game to be remade.

Minor rewrites are for adding new features or changing old features. Features should be bundled into one minor version. If the minor rewrite, rewrites a lot of the core features, then it doesn’t justify a major rewrite, since only a few things would be broken. Minor rewrites should focus on small changes and adding features to be added to the next major rewrite.

Bug Fix name speaks for itself, it will be used for fixing of any bugs in the minor version. Security fixes will have another decimal devoted for it. I don’t think there will more security fixes than bug fixes. If there are then the two will be switched.

1.1

  1. Simple Plug In Feature.
  2. Adding Full Customizablity to Game Engine
  3. Private Messaging: Maximum PM count for Donators and Normal and Folders. Feature Complete (no BBcode through).
  4. Message Board: Feature Complete (no BBcode through).

1.2 – Plug In Filters and Game Events

1.3 – Additions to RTS mode.

  1. Missions
  2. TBD

1.4 – Additions to RPG mode and Changes based off of the Simple Plug In Features.

  1. Spell Handling.
  2. Missions Creation and Handling
  3. TBD

1.5 – New Installer and Plug In Installer.

1.9

  • Rewrite of core templating system and game features for adding API type features to the code.
  • Major Assessment of the game engine and its features from Research and Development.
  • Feature Assessment from Feedback and Self Development of Mecha Asylum and Heat of the Race.
  • Administration Assessment from Feedback and Self Development.
  • Work on creating the API tools and modules for version 2.0.

2.0 – Completed Rewrite of the Game Engine from Research and Development of version 1.9 and previous versions.

After version 2.0 is complete, Mecha Asylum and Heat of the Race will also be evolved to the next version of game play and features. I also hope to use version 2 to create two other games and extend the development. I also hope to sell the game engine, if I deem it fit enough to be sold.

I have a very limited time frame for completing the first version, but I want to continue development of the game engine to take it to the next level. Other game engines are being evolved and I don’t want to be left behind. In the world of free game engines, the one that has the most features and ease of development is what succeeds. Also free is great towards the success of the game engines. After Mecha Asylum and Heat of the Race, I will go back to developing the game engine and once the first version is completed, I can use the old pages and features. That way, I can develop and evolve the features from the first version in a quicker fashion than in the first version.

By the second version, I also hope to have most of the version 2 core features finished by the time version 2 comes out. Some of the core features won’t be evolved beyond the basic features. There is only, so much one can do, before you can’t do any more. When that happens, I can look away from that feature and focus on a new one or improving an old one. I continue to debate the Message Board and the use of it. There are many forums that far extend anything I would ever be able to do.

I do need to focus on adding BBCode or something like it to the game engine. I don’t really think it is that important, but it would be something for an API to focus on. For the Message Board, I want to add support for linking to the forum. I suppose the first one would be phpBB, since it is open and free. It would also be the easiest to do because of that. Or I could work on making a skin for it instead. I don’t know, I could just work on making my message board as good as I can and then finalize the features and not work on it any more. When I make the API for it, I can allow the other developers add features to it.

Possibly Related Posts: