When I ask which entities collide with a certain entity, the quadtree returns the entities in the same quad tree node space. Then, a hit-box check is done to see which of those entities overlap the hit-box of my entity. The hit boxes scale with the entity, btw. Last, an image check is done on the remaining entities.

screenshot or it didn’t happen! As you can see in the screenshot, there is only one hit at image level. (HIT*1)

I’m happy! Next thing to do is importing and exporting entity worlds.

A little surprise for you if you’re interesting in classic arcade games. I’ve been creating this nice little remake over the last few days, and now it’s done.

Here’s ScrambleRND:

It’s a remake of the classic 2D scrolling shoot’em up. I took the Vectrex version gameplay and made it look like an Atari 2600 game. Also, the terrain is randomized for a little extra fun.

Instructions are in the readme file. You can download the game from my PC games page.

Have fun! And here are some additional screenshots.

The 1.0 version of the port is available on my google code page, in the downloads section. You can read about it on the wiki as well.

The download includes a little Asteroids game as well which was built using the framework. The source code is included and you can check out how to use the system and create a simple game with it.

I am now starting work on implementing the system in my map editor so we can enjoy an endless diversity in game objects and structure in the new game. The thing to build now is something like an object set, where each game object is described by which components it holds and the values that go with that component. Something like this:

[object]

group=”enemy”

transform=10,10,1.0,50

renderform=”alien.png,10,32,32”

gravity=”2.0”

[/object]

This defines an enemy, with a transform component: position = 10,10, scale = 1.0, rotation = 50 degrees. It also has a renderform component: the image is loaded from alien.png, and it holds 10 frames of 32×32 each. It is also subject to gravity and its weight is 2.0.

This is very easy to load and save. Also, the editor user will be able to add objects on the fly, add components to it and add it to the map. The objectset is saved with the map itself or separately so it can be re-used for other maps.

Bye for now!

I put all the new stuff together and created a basic tile based 2d map editor. After chatting on Google+ for a bit, I decided to go for a location based 2d map instead. As the game will be using large maps some sort of optimization for screen drawing and collision checks is needed and for that I implemented a quadtree. A quadtree divides the world into zones which make object lookup extremely fast. You can find the quadtree module on my google code page as well.

You can see a screenshot of the editor I am creating down here:

The propertygrid, 2d map and 2d grid modules you see in the editor are available at my google code page as downloads or as source code, so go there if you need one of those features for your tools/games.

The new game will need a lot of flexibility, both in behavior and game object structure. The behavior / logic aspect of this will be covered by integrating LUA scripting; expect a post on that from me as well.

To achieve the object structure flexibility I took time to check out component based entity systems, as opposed to traditional OOP object inheritance.  I found this great system called artemis but it is written in Java.  I am currently in the process of porting this system to Blitzmax.  If you are interested in it, you can, again, check out my google code page.

That’s all for now. See you soon.

Some time ago I bought Monkey and put it away for a while while finishing Trapped. With that game out of the way and after taking some time off programming it is now time to go and make something with it.

But first I need to get to know the Monkey language a bit more and try to make my own modules to make programming  life easier. Also, as my main platform to make stuff for will be Android, I took some time to get to know that OS from a development point of view. Also, as Monkey takes a lot from the Java language I decided to get to know that language better as well. So far, so good. Delving into Java has made Monkey more clear to me as well and the Google Android tutorials are really good at explaining how a typical Android project is constructed.

So I am slowly creating some small things with Monkey. I intend to make some kind of game framework, based on the structure of the RRFW framework, but stripped down to the bare essentials and optimized for use on mobile.

The first thing I am attempting to create though is a decent unit testing framework, so I can create my stuff with TDD in mind. The lack of reflection (run-time inspection of objects) is making it a little cumbersome to set up but it is working. I am happy.

I created a Google Code page for my Monkey modules. You can find it over here. So far only the unit testing module code is uploaded.

Other than the joy of discovery I have no set plans for my Monkey development.  I have a game idea or two I want to try out but that will have to wait until I have some decent game structure running.

I’ve been accused of being a Google fan, and it’s true: I think overall Google makes great software, and I love the way it all interacts from mobile to desktop using the cloud concept; and one that actually works because I never think about it: it just works.  These past few days I’ve been trying out Google Plus. So, is it any good?  In my opinion it is.

Am I afraid that Google will know all about me? Sure, they will know all I put up and agree with to be public. I use the following assumption: expect everything that you upload or share on the internet to be out there in one way or another. Do NOT put online what you do not want shared, and this goes for everything from public forums to social networks. So I won’t.

Here are some of the key points that I think matter:

• Google Exit: You can leave Google+ and take all your stuff with you;
• Security: 100% control over who I share information and posts with. Circles are great;
• Export: You can export all your stuff at any time and make backups. Great!

The push to integrate all Google services and platforms sounds great to me, and I cannot wait until the floodgates open with more services and more users.

Here’s my profile page: gplus.to/wiebow

Inspiring. Wouldn’t that be a fun game to make? Hmm.

Anyway, I will need a versatile 2d map editor. And maybe integration with some kind of scripting language, like LUA. Let’s go research and get back on this later.

You can get from this location.

You can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6IT4ONJ1TMo