ProjectD!

Timothy Oltjenbruns — Thu, 02 May 2013 19:40:40 -0000

ProjectD's current code is quite messy and I do not plan on giving it its own project until I release a stable version. So until then, here is a checklist on what I need to do until it is "stable."

Write libraries for reading/writing Named Binary Tag specification 19133.2
- This is a special version of Minecraft's current specification for NBT (19133)
- It adds two extra tags, hence the #.2
Write GUI software to do the following: (Note: This does not package anything to NBT. It writes things to text files.)
1. Tile editor
  - Though 3D is supported in ProjectD, a 3D level editor is not on the list to become stable
2. Texture editor
3. Object instance editor
4. Physics layer editor
  - This is the only part that is engine-specific.
  - Initial editor will be made for JBox2D
  - Other editors will be made after "stable" release
5. Resource package editor
Write compile-time executable to package the editor's info into the ProjectD file

Sad News; Good News

Timothy Oltjenbruns — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 02:08:10 -0000

We are unable to meet the deadline. :( However, with all the problems we encourntered, we all learned a ton and wrote 70% of what we were planning on. It however, is not playable because the collision system does not work. We do plan to not only continue this project, but Project D as well! If you have not heard of Project D, it was a resource compression tool I made for Java. This weekend we expanded it to a tile-based map rendering library including a converter from the popular tile editor (but outdated for Java, and unusable with OpenGL) Tiled Editor (mapeditor.org). It also includes a tile/sprite renderer and packager.

After a code clean-up (code gets messy in a crunch, fact of life) Alchemini will be available in alpha here, and Project D will have its own project and site. My plan for Project D is for it to become a community project, after I finish what I want to get out of it. The goals of the project are to be a simple, efficient, and self-contained way of storing levels, textures, and other resource media, as well as being a small wrapper around LWJGL to render/play those files.

Here ya go!

Kendall — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 07:17:23 -0000

I said to expect another blog at around three. Well. It's that time. We've been working on getting the tiles onto the screen. We're so close! We're currently defining all the tiles. Let's hope we don't screw this up. Maybe we should go to bed soon... I can hardly see what I'm typing.

Looooong Day

Kendall — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 05:31:32 -0000

Warning: I'm exhausted. Some of this post may be imcomprehensible. Please wait till morning for edits.

Good... Morning. Yeah. It's 1:15. We've done so much today. Including, and basically limited to, fiddling with our tile editor. We spent a few hours trying to get "official" tile editors to work, but they all derped up. So instead, we made our own... For the most part. We used some code from Timothy's 'Project D' and made an interpreter that takes text from the "Tiled" tile editor (We used the actualy tile making program, but not the source) and converts it to tiles for the map. After a few hundred errors (yeah... Exageration), it finally compiled. Currently, we're working on getting the tiles to display. Timothy says that he will not rest until he gets it done.
Another thing we worked on was log and rock tiles. We had a lot of confusing pixels, but we finally got it working. And, if I do say so myself, they look pretty swifty! The physical levels are about done, but we still need to add enemies and a special surprise.
And here we are... 1:22 in the morning and Timothy leans over to me and says, "Wow. From what I'm reading, it would be really easy to embed this thing onto a webpage."
Expect another blog post at around three with updates on that... Sigh
And did I mention that Timothy also wants to animate the water? Probably by the end of the night, as well...

Update

Corbin Davenport — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 02:07:56 -0000

It's 10 o'clock at night and we've been working on Alchemini for quite a while now. We've done an enormous amount of progress so far including designing levels, creating tile sets, added map loader libraries, and character development.

We've also finished our awesome new website, which has the blog and downloads on there as well. If you haven't seen it already, check it out here!

We will keep you guys updated on our progress!

We have a Twitter account!

Corbin Davenport — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 04:06:37 -0000

We will be updating the Twitter account as well as the blog with our progress, so make sure to check it out here!

Alchemini!

Timothy Oltjenbruns — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 03:15:31 -0000

We have been planning for about an hour now and we have ended up with a puzzle-alchemy game based on the theme "Minimalism." You are a science nerd that has begun reasearch on alchemy. Because of being teased at school by the "popular" kids you want to invent a potion that makes you big and strong. As a result of the potion, you shrink down to miniature size and are trapped in your backyard. You must get though obstacles and grow back to size little by little.

There are a few more details and ideas, but those are related to the gameplay and such, as this is the sort of backstory. If you have any ideas, feel free to comment!

Theme is about to be released!

Timothy Oltjenbruns — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 01:56:13 -0000

We are all together in a skype call, getting ready for the theme to be released! Just an FYI, everyone is open to make recommendations, we would love to hear from you!

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