SyntaxBomb - Indie Coders

Just made those modifications with comments in the code, at the library......file is here......

(media files not included since I don't have access to the media, a compiler or anything but a text editor at the library).....

(removed....it's now included in the game download...the one that was here was written in the library without any error checking or testing...so it had simple syntax errors and stuff since I had nothing to error check it with)

(just look for comments in the code that include the word 'library') 

New download available....all changes except additional tanks added in (from post earlier)

code available in download..... 

https://matty77.itch.io/conflict-3049

Features currently lacking (that I know about)

• Heavy vehicle factory needs two more functions
• Engineering bay needs two more functions
• Air traffic control needs two more functions
• Power generators need more functionality
• Radar needs more functionality
• Tank and walker function needs more distinction
• Razorwire needs to build faster and be more useful
• Units need selection audio
• Units need orders received audio
• More weaponry audio
• Buildings need selection audio
• Animals need more audio
• Units need occasional idle chit chat communication
• Variation in projectile graphics and firing related effects
• Tanks and vehicles could receive scorch marks in battle (use a shader setting)
• Muzzle flash on firing
• Specialist infantry needs more audio
• Improved explosions
• Additional ground textures and vegetation types
• Improved building shadows
• Scoring system
• Defender shield should glow
• Flames/fire could be a useful addition as an after explosion effect

And i am sure there is more

• Factories have an 'upgrade' option for their vehicles they build now, as does air traffic control.
• Tanks and walkers have had a few changes, as have some of the newer infantry. Balance is an issue still currently.
• Razorwire builds faster.
• Units have selection and 'issue order' audio now - from a TTS service with a range of voices, then modified using an online free voice changer.
• There are additional ground texture and new trees (not uploaded all of this yet and it will change once I refine the textures to a smaller selection)
• There's a scoring system, though it's not obvious yet.

So a few changes from the above......

Oh...and Xerra...I just moved above you in the post rankings..... hehehehe

In this video I'm showing the different ground textures, some of the new units and just a general small snapshot of the game....mainly the new ground texture though.

I have an old Total Textures CD from decades ago which has a whole bunch of high resolution ground textures (along with other stuff) and what I did was create a heightmap in blitzplus, smooth it out in paint.net, then write a blitzplus program to randomly select various ground texture files and blend them together depending on the heights in the heightmap to make a final output image. Then I save these as pngs and load them into the game:

Of course the ground texture doesn't change midway through a battle normally, I'm just playing around with the visuals to see how the textures look...

There are also some more trees, the rocks are bigger and slightly altered, there's some new units, and some voice overs.

Game link is here: https://matty77.itch.io/conflict-3049

in 0:52 you see these walkers occupying the same space... I first thought it is some kind of "cover shield"-effect - until they split their paths (revealing these were 2 units). Ensure units cannot occupy the same space.

Out of ammo: if a tutorial hints for it, or some "hud" element eg has that small "out of ammo" icon + some text (next to other battle messages) ...so maybe "Some of your units are (icon) out of ammo, hover your mouse over them to refill." can help. This way the units just require the icon (and maybe a "No ammo!" text...depends on icon size of course). "texts" always invide you to "read" ... and this takes more time than just a visual clue. Less things "displayed" on the screen (if multiple units are out of ammo...).
Also: clicking on that "battle message" could center on the next "out of ammo" unit (so click-e-di-click and hover until restocked) ... but dunno if that eases the pain too much already.


Video: the video is a bit of a "mush" not telling much about the ground textures, but so far they looked better than before.

Tank traps: they look "too dense" (you would only place them so narrow, that no tank fits through (easily)).



bye
Ron

Thanks those bugs are being addressed.....

The units occupying the same space occurred because I was trying to be smart to only let units that are bigger push each other around....it meant that same sized units larger than infantry would sometimes do that....fixed in the current upload (my internet is damned slow....takes a long time from my home pc to upload anything)

The tank traps ... should be more spaced apart now....it won't be perfect...

Number of enemies attacking in the waves is more of a challenge now, before it was too easy.....

Link to game: https://matty77.itch.io/conflict-3049

Re: out of ammo....yeah, maybe....I'm not sure.....we'll see.

Yeah...I had trouble capturing the video....I can't capture fullscreen on my PC with fraps at a decent framerate (by today's standard my PC is a potato), and OBS only does windowed mode and I don't enjoy playing in windowed mode.

Screenshots ( a lot of them - ground textures)

To do....

1. Razorwire, Patrol, Disperse and Tank Traps need graphical icons on their buttons.
2. Upgrading various things, research, etc, all need icons on their buttons.
3. Audio should play when user upgrades an infantry to medic etc
4.Fix space battle camera glitches.

To add.....

Unit icons that appear along the base of screen 6 icons by 2 rows for a total of maximum 12 units.

10 'frames' per unit type representing different 'health statuses'. 

Would allow easy selection of individuals such as the medics, sergeants etc from there as well.

So yeah...there'd be a set of up to 12 icons at the base of screen, with a wireframe representation of the unit, overlaid with some text HP/BASEHP, Name "Soldier", Type "Sergeant", Level 0-5.

Same would apply for buildings and enemy units....

A couple of 2d images with individual cells within would work....about 1500x1500 in size.

Easy enough to do....

I'd render out the wireframe images in blitz3d into an animstrip, then load them into the game.

Put all the units onto one single animstrip in their various health status stages.

Easy enough to do.

Something I'm very aware of when it comes to polishing games as a programmer not an artist who lacks money is this:

I can only go so far on my own. If I had the resources to hire the right people, then the quality of the end product is orders of magnitude better than what I've done so far and could do myself. Ultimately everything I've shown so far is really just good looking placeholder content if an artist were to look at it. Good by programmer's standards, but nowhere near a 'pass mark' for real artists.

It's like if I compare it to an a analogy of seeing how far I can travel from my home in a day. If I'm limiting myself to traveling on foot then I'm stuck within a radius of less than 100 km. But if I hire a vehicle or book a plane ticket, then that distance suddenly increases 10,100 or a 1000 fold.

It's as I said, how long is a piece of string. I can train and train and practice and practice, but ultimately, everything artistic that comes from me is going to look and sound orders of magnitude worse than what a real artist could make.

In the end if I do it myself alone I'll have something I can be proud of but will still look ultimately no more than programmer placeholder content.

You might need to learn to "adjust" things ... or to "recreate" things.

What I mean is: search for "good looking" assets ... and try to recreate them (you will need a more ...advanced...painting program there, krita/inkscape, photoshop/illustrator, affinity-photoshop/illustrator-alternatives, ...). You will learn more about your tools and the possibilities.
You will also learn how others "layout" certain things.
You will automatically create layered graphics which can be more easily adjusted to "new needs".

Once you know that many are just "cooking with water too" it will boil often down to finding some interesting texture (can even be handpainted!) and put a lot of effects "on it".
This means you create a kind of "button" and eg an "button overlay" (in your graphics program it might be a single file during "design phase") and you have an "icon" which you place "below overlay but on top of button" (this way eg the overlay can create some "shadow" on the texture etc).
This way you can "separate" tasks ... eg have some AI create the "icons" (the middle part of the button image) for you ... in variations .... you then just "place them inbetween".
This also allows to simply "scale" things etc.
This also will "unify" your look ...and you can easily do things like "graying out" or hover effects etc.

What I want to tell you is: you are a coder, you understood to split things into "components" or ordered things in a certain way (this is "layering" ...and your painting program has orderable layers too).
Simply use the same approach for graphics creation.
This will enable you to do parts of this work on your own - and paves more paths regarding "where to find assets" as you then no longer need to find "a button with a weapon on it" but just "weapon" (yes this can then even be a render of your weapon-model done in Blender...).

It won't help for "complete backdrops" (the "more to display" the harder it becomes).

Once you "split" eg the button into layers you will more easily be able to extend the "button" into some more complex HUD element / interface. You will use the same "base texture" etc.


Yes, you won't be as "creative" as an artist (this is why you will look via image search what others do ... recreate things, or "lend ideas" ..) and you won't be as effective/fast as an "artist", but you will surely create something which is _more_ advanced than what you might create "out of the blue" (on your own).

So as usual you exchange "money" with "time" ... pay more money for better assets, or spend more time for better assets.


Another hint: do not try to create all required buttons at once ("first is the attack button, now to the stop button, ...")... create a _good_ button, and try it with various things (text, icon, extra data like some "in stock"-bar etc). This avoids starting with 20 buttons and on the 21st you recognize you cannot do things and start to "modify this one" leading into inconsistencies.


There WILL be a lot of "game GUI"-templates you can check for ... and even if they are paid ones ("preview only", watermark, ...) you can get a lot of ideas from it ...
Ignoring these "found image" you will sooner or later watch some tutorials for your painting program on how to create "GUI" or "buttons" - just to learn how certain effects can be achieved (like learning "inheritance", "components", ...) - you simply learn "ways to achieve something". I would really suggest to either use Inkscape or Krita if you do not have experience in Photoshop/Illustrator (where you will find most tutorials).


Yet you will of course still also be able to ask for help here in the forums (or in the NG discord - if you want it "more live"). Am sure there are people here who could assist in certain steps .. even if it is just looking at google images for "suitable HUD/GUI"-designs.


Cannot tell much about sound/music assets as this pond is still too deep for me (and I am afraid of copyright infringements there by having a melody in my mind which someone else "invented" before. "being inspired by" is less likely to create trouble for graphics, and easier to check).
This is btw something you need to consider for "external hired artists" ... you do not know where they take their graphics from (remembering that Xerra once had backdrops created by an artist ... including brand names they most likely did not licence...). If you do things on your own you know what you did and where you took your "pixels" from.


Edit: even as programmer you can have a "layout" (can be handdrawn) on where you would like elements to appear (you are the "game designer", not just a "programmer"). These things WILL be require multiple revisions ... and you will have to know "what is in the game", "what to always display", ...)
This is required to eg be able to design how "heavy" a HUD can be (how much things need to be compressed into only a small area ... etc).

bye
Ron

Thanks Derron....

Oh...I just massively optimised the rendering by moving almost everything out of the pixelshaders and into the vertexshaders. As an easy mistake for a beginner with shaders to make I'd put so much stuff into the pixel shaders that could easily have been done without any loss into the vertex shaders. That's done now....it's much faster. Runs at 60fps on my machine the entire time.

Better shadows in the game now......

They're using a very similar method but you have a bit more control in the vertex shader to make stretched shadows from the feet of the units in whatever direction you choose.. They're still drop shadows except they're not directly underneath the units, but are more like stretched in mid afternoon sun.

Some updates....available for download....

Game Link:https://matty77.itch.io/conflict-3049

Video: