15.05.2008. New map generation algorithm
First of all, it's actually May 16th (it's 3:30 AM), but since I started working on the 15th... :)
Anyway, the map generators for snow, tundra, oak forests, pine forests, plains and mountains have been rewritten and unified. Now there's one single function that does all the dirty work for me (picking proper tiles). Also, I used Perlin noise to determine which areas on the map have more chance of being populated with certain tile types. I'll go into details tomorrow in a developer's article about it. Right now I'm desperate for some rest (I seem to misinterpret compliments for hostile, sarcastic criticism, it seems, judging by what's up on RGRD).
15.05.2008. New overworld display
The display bug was easy to fix, but there appeared another one I hadn't noticed earlier. One of the settlement definitions was missing and all the towns on the eastern part of the map were generated wrongly. It has been corrected.
The new display is quite more impressive, using background colours only. See the screenshots section for a sample view.
14.05.2008. Toying with the wilderness again
I just realized my wilderness has a tiny problem: the displayed tiles' coordinates are not right. They seem to be strangely tilted: x-2, y-4... Weird... I'll try to fix that tomorrow, right now I'm to spleepy to think. Oh, and the wilderness display will change radically tomorrow. Now it will only use background colours save for the PC and settlements (and other locations, like caves and such). It already works more or less well and looks awesome... Well, at least it would have if it wasn't for the wilderness display bug...
14.05.2008. More coding on sound and wilderness
Well, background music is finally supported. I still have to go through some issues like changing tracks and crossfade them, but the most important part is that the music gets played. It's not the most fantasy-ambiented track I've heard, since at the moment I put AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" there, heh heh. But hey, I'm working on that as well, alright? By the way, I was pleased to see that no speed reduction could be observed with background music on. That's a relief!
Also, I got wilderness functioning well. Now, the PC may enter settlements and leave them. Some bugfixes have been done in the settlement generation algorithm (I accidentally used a wrong variable as input to one of the functions and it all got messy, but it's fine now) and only a few elements are missing there now.
11.05.2008. Sound
OK, folks, this is it! Two days ago I spoke with Jice about possible implementations of background music. The Vorbis decoder source seemed too cryptic for me to actually use, but something had to be done to finally make UR (and the other project, provisionally titled Strike Force Barnard, as well) reproduce music in a compressed format (the download can't be several hundred MB!) in the background! And lo, there it was, waiting for me all this time! Praised be the Guide that bore the key to the solution of the sound problem! Jice recommended me a neat library called FMOD and I started working on it immediately. An hour later, after looking a solution to some linker problems all over the FMOD forum, I made the program work! It actually plays .ogg files in the background!
The test program is there for me to have fun with it, working perfectly. I will try to implement background music in UR and SFB shortly (version advance, anyone?), perhaps as soon as I actually compose and record at least one piece for each game. This may be a while, a week perhaps.
In the meantime, I will try to code a new dungeon generator. I started working on it this afternoon and the whole thing seems to be taking shape. Let's hope it doesn't result buggy, which was the case of my previous attempt (the dungeons were quite horrible as well).
And now, if you excuse me, I'll get back to work.
08.05.2008. Another project started
I've recently began to work on another project, which means I'll have to divide my time between the two. Obviously, UR's development will slow down.
04.05.2008. A working wilderness map, at last!
Finally, after a month without even thinking about the wilderness, I have made some major modifications. Since it's a unique map (different tiles, different size, it's the only one that is scrollable, the only one with no monsters nor NPCs, items, a slightly different way of FOV calculation, etc.), it has now a totally new set of display algorithms. Also, it is saved and loaded correctly. Now, the only thing left to do is the possibility of visiting towns from the wilderness map (at the moment there is no way of leaving the wilderness). I guess it should be ready in a few days (I don't think I'll code anything more today, since I've got to go to work in 15 minutes, heh, heh... being a bartender sucks, by the way...).
Since the implementation of a working overworld is an important step ahead, the game's version advances to 0.0.3 (still unplayable).
02.05.2008. Further savegame modifications
After spending hours thinking about the saving and loading games, I finally reached a conclusion some may disapprove of: I'll remove the possibility to save up to 10 player characters. Such a feature makes many players abandon their characters and concentrate on others, more interesting, more powerful, etc. Being forced to run one and only one character means that the player will feel more identified with his character. Also, the game will hold its mysteries for a far longer period, heh, heh.
The town generator is almost finished. It already places roads, surroundings and town walls. Only castles, parks and graveyards are left to code.
01.05.2008. Town generation & savegame changes
I'm working on a decent town generator. Buildings and roads are already correctly placed. Town walls, surroundings and special structures like castles, parks, graveyards, etc. are still missing. I will try to add this feature ASAP.
Also, the savegame modifying protection has been removed. Occasionally, it misinterpreted information and deleted savegames without a cause. I'll not try to implement such a feature anymore. The reason is two-fold. First of all, I reckon that such a protection is unnecessary (let the players do what they will, since it is about their own satisfaction, not mine). Second, the savefile format will be changed soon from one monolithic file to multiple small files, which is considered a better solution by many roguelike developers.