Finished a lot of the extrusion editor and I really got itching to making part of the "game". Here's a screen shot of the game, still a huge amount left to do, but at least I have a ship that I can move around now. Also the serialization system is all done and is very nice, it really takes advantage of c# generics and reflection so that I have to do very little work. I also wrote an entire 3d transient line rendering library for draw 3d things to the screeen like 3d huds and debug info. I discovered a problem with the extrusion system where it isn't propogating the matrices in the correct order. I'll be taking a look into that next. Then I'll probable build some real art assets.

No new images to show today. Now that the editor is more functional I'm focusing on the Corpus system (my database of resources used by the game). A bunch of groundwork needs to be laid out so that I can quickly add and remove data. I'm building a system such that you only need to describe the serialization once (no seperate read/write functions) which should make things easier. Probably a few more days of that and then I'll be able to start making a few objects for the game (the player ship, an enemy ship). Then I'll go into the level editor and gameplay for a while.

63 days left. Hmmm...

Improved the layout of the extrusion editor tool and worked out the api for the corpus (the database of all objects). Also added a font system and fixed an issue with the way that I built render objects on the xbox (that xbox debugger is great piece of work).

I've also decided to amke a list based scripting system instead of a graphical one. Graphical scripting languages seem nice in theory, but a list will allow me to fit more informaiton on a screen and that's important.

Next up is to finish work on the editor (I have the point editor done, just need to do that attachment) and then actually save the data out. Once that's done I'm going to focus on getting a sample level in the game to stress the level editor and to start giving me direction for order to work on things. Luckily I know all the game systems (I've prototyped them already) so I don't have to worry about that, I just need to implement them in this game.

First a build a ship, then simulation space, then build a target, then build a laser effect... FUN!

More editor and back-end work done. The hud system is complete, and I've laid out the system for the main game loop and update system. I also added a mode system so that you can move from title to editor to game. I also added the corpus system which is a system for grabbing resources as the game needs them. And finally I added the structure for the scripting system. Now I need to add some more of the interface for building extrusion and start creating a level in the game. I've definitely settled on the space RPG design, so all objects will be along thos lines in the future. The robot model is good though because it uses the animation system and I want to make sure I don't break that.

Not a lot to show in this image, but as you can see I did get the mutliple viewport rendering up. I decided to go on the cheap somewhat in architecting it. It really only allows different views of the same scene, not full blown different renderings. If I even decide to do split screen (which I don't think I will) that will be sufficient. With the multi-threaded rendering, adding multiple rending list for each viewport would require a fairly big rewrite. I just need rendering viewports for the editor, and I can get away with this.

Added a hud system and started filling in utility functions. Perhaps more importantly I got my machine set up to put the game on my xbox so I can actually play it. Very cool. I'm hoping to have the editor done in the next week or two.

I'm now actually thinking that I might shift to making a space rpg that I have designed on paper. The advantage is that space games are substantially easier to implement. And at this point I have less then 3 months. I wouldn't have to build any of the streaming systems, I could just use my extrusion set type with a plug in animation system (instead of a curve system). And I have always wanted to make this space rpg. The thing holding me back is that I know I can write these complex systems at this point and anyone how knows much about game knows how much easier space-base games are to write. At this point I don't have to make a decision yet, the engine will still be the same. I'll think about it for the next few days.