Bugfixes 26/08/16

Just a quickie to say I have done some bugfixing and general refamilisrisation with the engine as my schedule will be freeing up significantly as of early September.

Still unsure of where to go with the project as a whole but I endeavour to find a good solution over the coming weeks while i plug away at the engine itself.

Streamline

Future of the Engine

Over the next fortnight I will be overhauling the blog to reflect the new direction and schedule of the engine development.

Watch this space for updates. ;)

SSME Modtools V0.4

Slightly early update - I still will post on Sunday and should hopefully have the 0.4 Alpha done, but here's a little something for now.

Here you can find the SSME Modtools V0.4 Alpha. This is a small tool I've whipped up that will allow for easy generation of Traits, Mutations and Beliefs and export them as engine-readable files. Eventually I intend this to be a regularly updated piece of software to go alongside the core SSME engine that facilitates easy creation of all mod-related files and the ability to inspect a mod's current configuration. For now, however, it's a bit rough and ready but will do the job.

So what even is a Trait, Mutation or Belief?

I realise I've not spoken much about the planned system for regiment creation - largely as I haven't had time to sit and transcribe my thoughts between work and programming this. Essentually, when creating a regiment you are alloted a certain number of points. These points can be used to purchase certain starting scripts that provide set structures of soldiers, they can be used to equip your Commander, and they can be used to purchase Traits, Mutations and Beliefs.

Traits are regiment-wide modifiers that apply changes to every soldier in your regiment. For example - your regiment might be better at fighting at night, or known for their prowess with a certain weapon, or notably faster than other regiments, etc.

Mutations are essentially racial traits, modifications that affect all members of your faction. In an effort to retain mod independence, rather than having races in the game there are instead mutations. These are similar to traits, except for all members of your faction - ie these will not apply to any mercenaries or allies you bring aboard, while Traits will. The Mutation system, whiel loosely planned, is going to be a resource management system within the game of safeguarding and maintaining your DNA against the forces of corruption. So gaining negative Mutations is also very possible.

Beliefs (name pending) are traits that affect only your Commander. These are additional modifiers on top of your Traits and Mutations that affect only your Commander. As such, these should be cheaper, and potentially more powerful. These are intended to truly make your Commander unique and special to you, and are passed on when one Commander dies and another takes their place.

So how do I use it?

Simply place the main executable tool in the main SSME folder alongside the core SSME.exe file. For now, you will also need to place all included text files within /Mods/CM/Text/ for the Chapter Master mod, however from Sunday's release onwards these will be automatically included to showcase how the tools work.

Once placed correctly, simply double-click the executable and it will run for you. Type out a name and description for your Trait, Mutations or Belief and start applying some modifications. Don't forget to set a cost before you generate the final file! Any Traits, Mutations or Beliefs e-mailled to me between now and Sunday's release, depending on quality, will be included in V0.4 Alpha of the Chapter Master mod to showcase what can be done.

Some Tips:

• Cost is capped between -100 and 100, current thinking is that a typical regiment has 200 points to spend.
• The 'Special' category is not yet implemented, but will include non-numeric options such as Vampirism, cheaper equipment, special event interactions and luck modifiers.
• Traits should typically be the most expensive, Mutations slightly less so, and Beliefs quite cheap. All values can be negative for sets of penalties. Though, obviously, make what you like!
• Try to avoid new lines (hitting the 'enter' key) in descriptions for now.
• Please e-mail all errors to cmggamedev@gmail.com

Download link at: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_0sZlHDudgnYnVrRzZxcTZ6NDg

That's all for now,
Peace out

Progress Update 15/05/16

Today's progress update is going to be short and to the point.

I've barely been able to put any time into SSME this week as I had to take on more freelance work than usual to cover bills, though I have planned out some of the next version updates and what I intend to do with them.

In addition I have spoken to a programmer friend of mine and he may be interested in helping out here and there with the core engine, so once I get him up to speed on the codebase that may accelerate things.

So in order, here are the versions I've got planned out so far:

Version 0.4 Alpha
This will see the completion of the regiment creation system, as well as traits/flaws, resources and some basic systems implemented that relate directly to regiment creation. ETA: 1 Week

Version 0.5 Alpha
This version will see the implementation of fleets and fleet movement. This will necessitate the implementation of loading and unload armies into ships and some additional node (star/island/etc) interface options to select and view fleets in orbit/docked/etc. ETA: 2-4 Weeks

Version 0.6 Alpha
At this point we can begin to see the core elements of a playable game coming together. This version will include recruitment, resource gathering and expenditure, equipment as a resource-dependent system that can be bought, sold and have limited supplies. This version will also include a basic combat systems for fleet engagements and army engagements. ETA: 5-6 Weeks

Version 0.7 Alpha
This is about as far as my planning goes, but it will involve a simple diplomacy system to interact with AI factions, as well as the core components of an AI system - events, different factions, generating factions on the map at game start and so forth. At this point I expect the game to be pretty much playable, albeit basic. ETA: 7-10 Weeks

These estimates are based on my current rate of progress, so are variable depending on workload, financial concerns and family related matters. Similarly if my friend helps me out on a lot of it, then it'll go faster, or if I hit a vein of inspiration and code for several days straight in my free time, it'll go faster too. But the estimates should hold roughly true.

That's all for now,
Peace out

Quick Note

Hey guys,

Just a quick note that I'll be away this weekend and will be taking a few days off from development, so next update will be Sunday 15th May.

I am hoping to have 0.4 out then with regiment creation and the tool to create regiment generation scripts, though content will vary depending on time, so stay tuned!

That's all for now,
Peace out

Progress Update 01/05/16

This week we have a new version, but not to the standard I am happy with. I was pretty close to not releasing this version, as it doesn't present a ful new feature like have been previously introduced.

As such, I am unwilling to call this new version 0.4 Alpha and am instead naming it 0.38 Alpha. This new version has come a long way since the last, and that's the only reason I'm willing to release it - despite the fact that I haven't had too much time to implement new features this week. My current to-do list is as long as my arm, and I'm really struggling to find enough time in the week to put all of the new ideas in before more get piled on and new art assets come rolling in. Definitely not the worst problem to have, but frustrating nonetheless.

Version 0.38 Alpha sees the first half of regiment creation implemented. In total there will be 4 stages of regiment creation (plus 1 stage of starting a new game): Regiment Selection, Regiment Colouring, Regiment Settings, Leader Setup and then Map Settings. Of these, only the first two stages have been fully implemented as of yet, though the remaining three screens exist to be clicked through.

This version, compared to the last, also includes the new scripting system for regiment setup (which will soon be implemented as a selection box in regiment settings), new regiment management interface features and support for pre-made regiments. Along with this there's a whole host of specifically CM mod updates - new art, sound and text.

Between work and life commitments it's becoming increasingly difficult to fit as much into a week as I would like, but I am hoping to get a guide up shortly (or more likely a standalone software tool) to create new regiment generation scripts so it's easier to handle than the current large blocks of plain text. Fingers crossed, I will also have the full 0.4 Alpha ready by next Sunday.

The newest file can be downloaded here.


*** PATCH NOTES V0.38 ***

Build Version: 0.38 Alpha
Development Name: First Genesis
Download Link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_0sZlHDudgnUjl1VXdqQ0pxMlE

The rar archive contains all files for a Windows environment build of the core engine with Chapter Master sprites, sound and text in use to test.

Features

• Added support for new, individual in-game buttons
• Added support for recursive regiment scripts
• Added support for additional sounds
• Added support for regiment creation
• Regiment selection implemented and will pull pre-made regiments from the mod folder
• Regiment colouring implemented to allow for custom styling and colouring of the regiment as well as pulling from pre-made files
• Rearranged regiment management interface to allow for smooth traversal
• Ensured hard cap of 10 sub-units per unit, with the exception of the parent regiment unit which can contain up to 14 initial sub-units.
• Fixed issue involving multiple menus
• Fixed issue involving node popup and buttons disappearing
• Fixed issue relating to image transparency loading failures
• Fixed issue relating to catastrophic implosion of the known universes
• Streamlined regiment loading code
• Streamlined loading screen to reduce further flicker
• Optimized the doowidgets

As ever, you can get in touch with me by commenting here or by e-mailling at cmggamedev@gmail.com - I welcome any and all offers of help and support.

That's all for now,

Peace out

Progress Update 24/04/16

Hello one and all!

So the time has come again for a status update. This week has been pretty busy, but in a very frustrating way. I've spent the largest part of this week's coding time bugfixing and finessing a new system, so the tangible "look wot I did" progress isn't very high, though the modding potential is huge.

Previously I had pre-programmed into the engine for it to start you off with a full, generic set of 1000 soldiers distributed as you would expect. This was obviously not ideal to have as a fixed pattern and needed to be changed.

So now, we have what I'm calling Regiment Scripts. Regiment scripts are going to be selected at the time of regiment creation. These are plain text files formatted specifically to procedurally generate large numbers of soldiers in set formations. This is done by issuing block commands for a given list of stats - numbers pulled from the mod's equipment data files - and repeated until the proper formation is satisfied.

For instance, there could be a "1000 soldiers in 10 companies of 10 soldiers plus support staff" script - which is what I've been experimenting with - or a "recovering band of only 200 soldiers but a large fleet spread across the sector" script. The possibilities are ultimately endless.

The scripting isn't quite finished yet as there is no support for location, vehicles, fleet and some other unimplemented parts of the engine. But for everything that is currently implemented, it will allow for complete user control. I will produce a general document in the coming week to describe how to create these scripts simply and quickly, or I may just create a little tool to do it visually, I'm unsure yet.

There have also been some significant graphical update allows for a much nicer-looking regiment managerment interface, as shown below:

This is all generated from the current test script at runtime, and cna be changed to suit the specific game's needs. This is all part of the process of adding regiment creation to the engine.

By next week I hope to have implemented the full and proper regiment creation screen, and have worked through my backlog of additional art inclusions - we have new planets, a starmap rather than a solid black background, new system for buttons along the bottom, and some updated main menu buttons. All in all, next week should be a reasonably sized release and one step closer to a playable engine.

That's all for now,
Peace out

SSME 0.31 Alpha Hotfix

Hey folks,

I was so rushed off my feet to get theu pdate out yesterday on time that a couple of pretty big bugs slipped by me. So I've polished it up a bit and am ready to release 0.31 Alpha, fixed and properly working. As ever, I appreciate your help in identifying and understanding any bugs that occur, feel free to e-mail me any time at cmggamedev@gmail.com

The new version can be downloaded here.

*** PATCH NOTES V0.31 ***

Build Version: 0.31 Alpha Hotfix
Development Name: Migraines Be Gone
Download Link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_0sZlHDudgnOW5jUmg0cmdlcVE

The rar archive contains all files for a Windows environment build of the core engine with Chapter Master sprites and text in use to test.

Features

• Fixed the  back button bug causing users to be stuck within the regiment management window
• Fixed the game menu popping up behind the regiment management window - opening any of the popups will now close any others open
• Fixed a bug involving the node map not displaying properly when returning back to a game
• Fixed an unreported bug relating to muting the sound (I am not surprised, the sound is amazing, who'd want to mute it?)
• Added updated 'beakie' sprites from artist to solve alignment issue
• Fixed potential armless soldier bug
• Streamlined loading screen to reduce flicker and flashing
• Changed game menu to not revert to its base state when hidden - if you go into save game and press escape to quit out, when you go back to the menu it will still be in save game.

I will likely do a post in the week (Thursday night likely) detailing my near and near-future plans for the engine and a rough timeline of when I expect things to be done. I will also be adding a more prominent following option for the blog, so those of you interested can get e-mail updates when I put a new post up.

That's all for now,

Peace out

Progress Update 17/04/16

** NOTE **
A couple of critical bugs were found and I will post another update shortly with a fixed version.

Iiiiiit's update day!

This week has been ridiculously busy. The engine has come along a huge distance this week - not quite in a playable state just yet, However I hope you'll enjoy mucking around with the current version as much as I've enjoyed developing it. I'll save a ramble about the features and just let you guys read the changelog - but there's a hell of a lot been done.

Next week I may not release a new version, it will depend a lot on what gets done. But my current plans for next week are to implement the regiment creation screen, implement regiment settings to allow for different structures in terms of companies, squads, etc. I also intend to flesh out the regiment management interface more to allow for soldier movement/transfer, regiment renaming, soldier renaming and some other stuff.

The file can be downloaded here.

*** PATCH NOTES V0.3 ***

Build Version: 0.3 Alpha
Development Name: Regiment Management
Download Link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_0sZlHDudgnRWtQTHJfSFI2RDg

The rar archive contains all files for a Windows environment build of the core engine with Chapter Master sprites and text in use to test.

Features

• Fixed naming bug
• Added support for node & population center names
• Added full regiment hierarchy
• Added modified Poisson Disk distribution for node placement
• Implemented regiment management panel fully
• Added loading screen
• Added music change
• Expanded button clicks further
• Added icon support
• Added SSME icon
• Revamped title screen system to include title, backdrop and logo
• Added credits
• Added rank support
• Improved load times
• Streamlined code

As ever you can get in touch with me at cmggamedev@gmail.com - always welcoming offers of help, playtesting, idea bouncing, art, music, text, etc. Any comments or posts over on bay12 I'll also take a look at and respond to.

That's all for now,

Peace out

Progress Update 10/04/16

Progress, we have progress!

As promised previously, we have a new version with some demonstrable progress made. I am about 6 hours away from a significantly larger progress update, but that will have to wait for next week. Keep your eyes peeled though, that one will provide some actually useful things to do.

You can download the new version here. This is Space Soldier Management Engine v0.2 Alpha.

So what's new?

Simply put, menus. The sound system has been completely revamped as well as the internal asset management system (text, images, sound files, etc). This means that in the future it's going to be much easier for me to add new setso f content to the engine. It also means that various options will persist throughout the game - volume, etc. The Soldier Editor has also been upgraded this time around, with the framework in place for full regiment customisation next update.

So without further ado...

*** PATCH NOTES V0.2 ***

Build Version: 0.2 Alpha
Development Name: Menus Galore
Download Link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_0sZlHDudgnNUtaM0d0QlVXZk0

The rar archive contains all files for a Windows environment build of the core engine with Chapter Master sprites and text in use to test.

Features

• Hotkeys added, F1-F9 for buttons along the bottom. Esc brings up the game menu also.
• Main title screen added, currently only support for New Game and Exit.
• Main game menu added
• Save/Load (currently unimplemented)
• Audio Options (implemented)
• Gameplay Options (unimplemented)
• Video Options (unimplemented)
• Persistent settings between sessions
• Reorganised internal storage systems to allow for simpler access to assets
• Soldier Editor page updated with soldier stats and equipment listing
• Framework in place for full organisational structure for next release

Don't forget you can get in touch with me for anything at any time at cmggamedev@gmail.com or by commenting here or on bay12.

I will likely be releasing 0.3 next week with (hopefully) full organisational abilities and save/load of all individual soldier data so you can start actually creating meaningful squads, companies, regiments, etc and saving them to memory for later use.

That's it for now,
Peace out

Progress Update 03/04/16

Progress has been good this week, I managed to geti n several hours this weekend and flesh out the in-game menu completely. Save and Load menus are in place - though obviously there's very little to save or load right now - and the audio options are all fully functional and included. Currently there's little in the way of gameplay options to put in, and I'll stick a little Windowed/Fullscreen toggle in the video options menus shortly.

I have also begun work on the screen transition system - taking the player from the main menu to regiment creation and then to the main game and back again. This has led to some interesting bugs I'm working out now - the downside of just jumping right into a project without planning the code first!

There is no version 0.2 to release today, but I am confident it will be ready by next week and should be a noticable step up from the previous Soldier Editor version. I might update mid-week next week even, as I'm getting quite enthused to get work done on this project, depends if I can find some time.

I've been chatting to some of you by PMs on Bay12 and e-mail and have found your support great, already had a couple of offers of help and that's extremely encouraging, I'll be taking you guys up on any such offers!

With the next version hopefully next week, I will also be adding a bit more to this blog in the form of a central repository of version and download links. I think I can just add plain webpages to it, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.

That's all for this week,
Peace out

Progress Update 27/03/16

So not much progress for this weekend, but I did start out on the in-game menu and some architecture for enabling menus further down the line as well as keyboard shortcuts.

So far the in-game menu will be called by pressing the Escape key, and the buttons on the bottom portion of the screen (the 'button panel') are called with F1, F2...

The main menu is going to consist of some very simple options, and I'm reusing existing sprites as that's all I have to work with. The options so far are:

• Return To Game
• Yup!
• Save Game
• Simple, right?
• Load Game
• Simple, right?
• Video Options
• Not much for now - this is not a graphically intensive game in the slightest, and in actual fact will barely utilzie the GPU if at all, so this will probably just be resolution and fullsceen options
• Audio Options
• Music on/off and sliders for different audio elements
• Gameplay Options
• Some simple checkboxes for display types I think
• Exit Game
• Simple, right?

Here's a little sneak preview of the not-so-great UI using the existing sprites. I don't have any other sprites to work with for now, so they're all using the same things.

I anticipate to finalise the in-game menu and start working on the main menu sequence by the end of next weekend, probably with an actual downloadable release for progress.

That's all for now,
Peace out

Status Update 20/03/16

So while this blog has only been active for a day or so, it has actually been a good couple of months since I last released anything or properly worked on the Space Soldier Management Engine.

So what am I doing now?

Well, this weekend I've finalised the sound system to allow for individual volume control. Sounds pretty dull, right? Well, this will lead me quickly onto adding an in-game options menu which is essentially my next goal.

The thing about this engine is that ultimately I could be using something like Unity or Unreal to make the game a lot faster, have all the graphics, sound and networking already built for me and perhaps even make it better as I'm more familiar with that. However, the game I'm envisioning would only suffer from having advanced graphics I think - I'm not building a Starcraft 2/Dawn of War/Civilization style game with nice graphics and real-time interaction. My real aim for this engine is something more akin to the Dominions series - simple graphics and interface, but extremely high in detail and management. Customisation is king, and I'll be drawing a lot from games like Dwarf Fortress for that. So with that in mind, I am building everything from the ground up. I will be using some existing libraries to facilitate cross-platform functionality and simpler construction, but will not be using an existing game engine or game development library.

With all of that in mind, my current goal for a v0.2 release is as follows:

• Main menu sequence - splash screen, new game, load game, options, credits, exit.
• Basic division creation screen - created at this time to support Chapter Master's chapter creation parameters, though as ever everything will be kept extremely modifiable and will be provided as a core engine only.
• Completed chapter management interface - for this I intend to pre-define in mod files the specific structure of troops and divisions, such that you can allow for a Chapter Master style of 10 comapnies of 100, or something altogether different. I have plans for this interface already finalised and it will be touch navigatable.

At my current rate, depending on movitation, this should be done in a couple of weeks, but we'll see how it goes.

That's all for now
Peace out

Soldier Editor (v0.1)

The Story So Far

As it stands, the engine is still in its core stages of development - basic interface, graphics control, sound control, etc. I will be pursuing this project in a goals-oriented manner, building components as needed to complete discrete build objectives.

The first objective was to create a soldier editing interface. The current build can be found here. The release notes for this version can be found below It is worth mentioning that this release is far from a completed version, in fact it is simply a tool to utilise the pre-existing sprites and create interesting looking guys.

*** PATCH NOTES V0.1 ***

Build Version: 0.1 Alpha
Development Name: Soldier Editor
Download Link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_0sZlHDudgndzBSVmpzYzgzNGM

The rar archive contains all files for a Windows environment build of the core engine with Chapter Master sprites in use to test.

Features

• Chapter Management button added, loads up Soldier Editor page only
• Background music added
• Mod support extended to include directory paths for sprites
• Soldier colour scheme made modular
• Colours are stored in RGB format, specifically R,G,B
• Colours stored in /Mods/CM/Settings.txt
• Styles can be compared withn /Mods/CM/Images/Soldiers/Aquila/ - Soldier 1-4 represent styles 1-4
• Basic crash fixing

That's it for now
Peace out

Space Soldier Management Engine, An Introduction

What is this?

The primary focus of this blog is going to be my development of the Space Soldier Management Engine, development name "Superhuman Space Soldiers". For the benefit of having a complete set of lore, artwork and references to draw from, the initial version is going to be generated with a simple, base game and will be assured compatability with other popular franchises.

Ultimately, however, I am creating a general engine here. Swapping out mods is going to be seamless and easy, and will allow for a variety of games including but not limited to European historical conflicts, the Age of Sail-based pirate adventures, far future sci-fi games, fantasy universe games and many more.

This project will be undertaken between paid contract work and will therefore vary in speed of progress and inevitably take quite a while to make.

A Little Background

So you're probably wondering "Who even is this Streamline guy?". Well, I'm not going to delve into any personal details but I will say that I have been programming for several years, primarily focused around cross-platform desktop applications in C and C++. Like many programmers, I have dabbled in numerous languages to varying extents, but have a particular love for C++. I have been working as a freelance software developer for roughly two years and have completed a number of projects, most pertinently I am currently contracted to create another large scale strategy game, which I am unable to disclose many details about at this time.

With all of that said, I have no concerns about ability or complexity of the project, the only determining factor for completing it will be time and motivation, as with all things.

So why blog?

Well, simply put, I need your help! This is a big project, and has lofty goals. The engine itself I can create all myself with no real issues, however there's more to a game than just an engine.

I have no artistic ability and will inevitably need assisstance in testing, quality control and numberous other aspects. This blog is intended to be a central repository of progress, knowledge about the engine/game, and to gather support and help in its creation. If you'd like to get in touch for any reason or believe you'd be able to help out in any way - little or big - please e-mail me at cmggamedev@gmail.com

That's it for this post at least.
Peace out!