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