2010/04/14


OSARE v0.04 Release

OSARE v0.04 is ready for download. New to this version is font support and basic menus. I spent a lot of time in the last few weeks creating several iterations of the graphics for the font, menus, and icons

Features

  • NOTE: now runs in windowed mode by default (apologies to XP users, windowed mode seems to change the desktop resolution). To run in fullscreen mode use -f or –fullscreen options at command line (easier to use options coming in a future release)
  • FontEngine is a class that handles drawing of a bitmap font, with support for left/center/right justify (word wrap coming in a future release)
  • Finished the icons for Powers. Commissioned Blarumyrran to finish the icons for the basic set of weapons/armors.
  • Character Menu displays the proper info based on the Avatar’s stats (level up coming in a future release)
  • Powers Menu displays the Avatar’s build (dragging powers to the action bar coming in a future release)
  • Log and Inventory menus are mostly static. Inventory drag/drop and equipping coming later. I still haven’t settled on a design for the Log, which will contain quest info and achievements.
  • I refactored all the menus and hud under a MenuManager class. That class controls which menus should be displayed. In a future release it will handle drag/drop between the Inventory, Powers, and ActionBar menus.
  • When the core menus are open (Character, Log, Powers, Inventory) the game action is paused.
  • The actionbar hotkeys work but clicking on the action bar doesn’t work yet. Also, still no way to change the default key bindings. All this coming in future releases.

screenshot of combat
screenshot of character menu
screenshot of powers menu

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2010/04/05

Font and Menus

I’ve been doing lots of work on OSARE and 0.04 is just around the corner. Most of my work has been outside of code: designing icons, menus, and a font.

I have the basic font class working and it’s nice. I’m using an ascii-based bitmap font. Right now I have lower ascii, but it should be easy to add upper ascii. At the moment I’m not too interested in unicode support; that might be a sin but I don’t care (yet). I have routines to write out text with left/center/right justify. I don’t yet have smart word wrapping (I’ll save that for when I actually need it, probably once I start doing the dialog engine).

I’ve been drawing up the four main gameplay menus: character, inventory, powers, log. The first version of the Character menu is done: it displays the avatar’s StatBlock properly (a second version will handle level-ups and resets). The Powers menu shows the build correctly (a second version will allow dragging powers to the action bar). The Inventory and Log menus are basically blank for now. I also created a MenuManager to hold each of the menus and govern their opening/closing. I also changed the HP/MP bar and the Action bar to “menus” and put them under the Menumanager class.

The proficiency icons on the Character menu are the stock weapons/armors I have for the current male hero. Maybe the icons should be something more generic (a barbarian or samurai would have very different base items).

I will create Powers-style icons for the C,I,P,L menu buttons on the bottom-right of the action bar. Maybe make them clickable. Maybe add a very simple MenuToolTip class. Once I feel at a good stopping point I’ll release 0.04.

OSARE Blog

The OSARE project has a new blog. I’ve imported previous news items and the conversion is complete.

I spend a lot of time thinking about my programming projects (not just OSARE). As the projects grow it’s impossible to keep all those thoughts organized between releases. This blog will probably be barely-edited ramblings of ideas, dev updates, etc.

2010/02/28

Version 0.03 Release

Version 0.03 is up! The core gameplay is starting to emerge.

  • Combat to the death. You can kill zombies and they can kill you.
  • Added combat sound effects.
  • Added a health and mana bar
  • Left-mouse click is now an aimed sword attack (1-key will instead attack the way you’re currently facing)

Although the RPG combat mechanics aren’t in yet (accuracy, dodge, absorption, weapon damage, etc), basic melee values are hardcoded in for this demo. The zombie has a high chance of being crit, along with a satisfying crit death animation and sound. Next to the health/mana bar is a slot for a 32×32 pixel character portrait.

I added a lot of memory cleanup in the class deconstructors. Please let me know if you encounter a game crash on exit.

One user has reported it doesn’t work under Vista (hard lock, requires reboot). It works on my XP and Win7 systems. I’m compiling the Windows version with MinGW on XP. If anyone has tips on SDL with Vista please contact me.

2010/02/15

Version 0.02 Release

Version 0.02 is up! Things are finally starting to get interesting.

  • Re-rendered all assets using Blender’s CatRom AA setting. The result is much sharper.
  • Added SDL_mixer support and background music by Remaxim
  • Added the bare bones for the Action Bar
  • Set Action Bar slot 1 to melee attack (no customization yet)
  • Added (much hardcode) a basic zombie creature. The zombie will pursue and try to melee attack.
  • Bug: fixed an issue in the Collider class with a variable not initialized

Although the hero and zombie can try to attack each other, I haven’t yet implemented the attack collisions, damage, dying, etc. That will probably come in 0.03. Zombies make a great starting creature because it’s okay if their AI is oversimplistic. This zombie will pursue if in range, stop once it gets to melee range, and try to melee attack. After some melee attacks it will try to bite. The current zombie gets stuck behind walls a bit too easy. Right now he chases the player directly and can basically see through walls; in 0.03 he will not see through walls and pursue the spot where he last saw the player. This will make his pathing appear slightly more intelligent, but still as unintelligent as a Walking Dead should be.

The other major addition is background music. In the map.txt file you’ll see a line that says music: dungeon_theme.ogg. If you want to hear remaxim’s other tunes in game, change that .ogg file to one of the other songs included in the music folder.

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