• A pause menu
• A comic strip viewer
• Save data
• Cheat codes

The main menu is coded, and it includes a nice little level select grid with 25×25 pixel thumbnails of each level (1/20th of normal scale).  These are rendered from bits of the game’s actual level data, which means that if I make changes to the levels, the thumbnails will automatically stay up-to-date.  Here are the thumbnails for the first two chapters.  How cute!

Have a nice Monday night.

I’m feeling good about the game’s conclusion.  I’ve been planning it out during the past few months of work, and it’s pretty strange to finally see it in action.  It should work in completely different ways for the people who’ve played the original and the people who haven’t, which is exciting to me.

David’s music is also starting to come together, and it’s sounding marvelous.  What else would we expect from him at this point?

As has been the norm lately, this level doesn’t have any detail objects yet, so the final version will also have various nubbins and doodads decorating the scene.

Ben’s illustrated comic panels are coming along really well–there are now 10 out of 15 completed.  David is also still hard at work on the music (sound comes soon), but it’s tougher to gauge his progress with numbers.

Suddenly, it feels like we’re getting close to the end of the project.

Numbers are fun, so here are a few:  I just checked and the game currently has around seven hundred lines of dialogue.  For comparison, the original had about fifty lines of monologue.  Hooray!  Some might think that “more words” isn’t necessarily “more better,” and those people are exactly right.  However, the tone of this game is much more conversational (since it’s not all about a hermit this time around), and it’s much longer, too, so I think the extra text is appropriate.

Oh, also, the original game was under 2,000 lines of code in total, and the prequel is already past 6,000.  2,000 of those are just level data, though, and half of that 2,000 is just the tile maps.  Here’s the above screenshot’s tile map because…I dunno, it looks kinda neat.

maps[36]=[[1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1],
          [1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1],
          [1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1],
          [1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1],
          [1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1],
          [1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1],
          [1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1],
          [1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1],
          [1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1],
          [1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1],
          [1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1],
          [1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1],
          [1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0],
          [1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0],
          [1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0],
          [1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0],
          [1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0],
          [1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0],
          [1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1],
          [1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1],
          [1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1],
          [1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1],
          [1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1],
          [1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1],
          [1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1]]

This is just the map of the terrain–each level also needs data for game objects like switches, characters, and doors, plus scenario data like hotspots, dialogue, triggers for dialogue, etc…but those don’t look particularly interesting.  If you’re curious about the hotspots, dialogue triggering, and NPC behavior, you can check out this earlier post that covers those topics .

Note that the data is a 1:1 representation of the level where each number is one 20×20 pixel tile, but it’s mirrored across an imaginary diagonal line that extends from the top left to the bottom right.

Pop quiz for programmers who are interested in tile-based games:  What’s the purpose of that mirroring?

I’m still revising nine more levels after the dressed ones, and then there are seven remaining that don’t exist at all yet.  We’re getting close!

The polish is also starting to show, which is incredibly satisfying.  Here’s a new screenshot of chapter four (The Swamp) with various tweaks and changes.  Note that this level isn’t dressed yet, so there are no scenery objects.

The most recent addition is the layer of grass on top of the tiles.  It’s fancier than you might expect at first glance–since materials in the game (like the default Swamp material) can have randomly bumpy edges, the grass has to conform to those curves.  Luckily I found a simple way to handle this, and it looks nice, even up close!

First off, lookie there, our “beginning of the year” deadline has whizzed by.  What a surprise!  It’s all good, though–we’re continuing to make solid progress, and we’re getting closer to the end all the time.  The game’s art is close to being finished, for instance!  I’ve been working with Ben on the game’s visual polish a lot over the past few days, so here’s a nice new screenshot for you to check out.  Ben placed all the detail objects in this scene (chairs, shelves, etc), so it looks much more aesthetically pleasing than before.

Also, will you check out that sweet-ass purple carpet?

But no more!  I took some time yesterday and today to make a really spiffy preloader for Company’s prequel.  The preloader isn’t just a loading bar in this context–in an online game, it’s also the very first thing that the user sees, which means it’s a valuable chance to make a good first impression.  If the user sees that special care has been put into even the loading bar at the start, then they know that I’m for real.

But enough talk–let’s play with the thing!  You can move the mouse left to right to change the “loading status” (left is unloaded, right is fully loaded), and you can also move the mouse up and down for added fun.  In the actual game, the horizontal control will obviously be replaced with an actual progress meter, but the vertical control is cute so I’ll be leaving it in.

Click to try the Preloader Demo

Oh, and I’ve also got a possible title:  ”The Customs of Myself.”  It’s got some class, some mystery, and it clearly recalls the original, so people are more likely to realize that the games are related without being told so.  What do you think?

Here’s a screenshot of the (work-in-progress) visuals for Chapter 4, “The Swamp.”  It’s still missing all of the foliage and detail objects, so you can expect much more densely detailed scenery in the actual game.

And because you asked so nicely, here’s a screenshot from Chapter 2.  Note that all of the previous levels shown and this one, too, will eventually be dressed up by Ben to look prettier.

So far, I’ve made “rough drafts” for all eight of the first chapter’s levels.  These will all be adjusted to some extent before they’re ready to ship, but all of the gameplay scenarios, dialogue, etc are working as intended so far.  Since my last post was a massive wall of text, I’ll shut up for a bit and let you look at some screenshots.  Note that there’s still various bits of placeholder art strewn around (the corner of thought bubbles and the doors are most notable in these shots).

Have a nice weekend!

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The AI for Fix is nearly complete, so I can talk about its overall structure with some confidence now.  This part of the code is immensely important to me, since this game is very character-driven.  The characters need to behave in a believable way so that players can forget that they’re made of sheets of sprites and just think about them as characters, or maybe even as people.

This game’s AI has turned out to be relatively complicated, and it consists of five layers of abstraction (!!!).  From least to most abstracted, they are Trivial Moves, Paths, Behaviors, Scripts, and Triggers.

So what does all that actually mean?  Well, we’re going to have to start at the beginning…

1)  Trivial Moves

A Trivial Move is an instruction so simple that it requires no analysis to follow.  In this particular case, where we’re just talking about making NPCs move around a level, they are capable of three Trivial Moves:

Walk:  Walk any distance to the left or right.

Drop:  Walk off a ledge and fall.

Jump:  Jump up a step, across a gap, etc.

Sometimes, an NPC needs to move somewhere and one of the three Trivial Moves can get him there.  These are the simplest problems to solve, since they only need to figure out which of the three Moves is applicable.  If none of the three Trivial Moves can reach the destination, though, we need to think of something else.  Something like…

2)  Paths

If an NPC is physically capable of reaching a particular destination, then their movements to get there can be defined as an ordered list of Trivial Moves.  Think about MapQuest or Google Maps–Cars can only drive on roads, so they find the shortest path from A to B that follows the roads.  Fix uses a similar system to find a path from A to B that only consists of Trivial Moves.

The general idea is to start at the position of the NPC and find every possible way that they could potentially move.  This system examines the collision data that is already being used for the level.  It finds all of the possible paths simultaneously, expanding them outward from the character at the same rate.  Since they all grow at the same speed, the first one that (accidentally) reaches the destination must be the fastest way to get there.  It’s a very brute-force method, but since the NPCs have a pretty limited range of motion (the presence of gravity makes a huge difference in terms of navigation), they never have that many possible paths to test.

But even if we know how to get from A to B, how do we even know where B is?  The answer is…

3)  Behaviors

A Behavior defines what an NPC is trying to accomplish at any given time.  ”Follow the player” is a simple example of a Behavior.

A more complex Behavior is “Move to a hotspot.”  A hotspot can be any chunk of the level (and a level can contain any number of hotspots).  Though this is an instruction that’s very easy for us to understand, it involves several instructions for different situations.

If the character wants to move to the top floor of a level, for instance, they need to start by checking whether or not they’re already there.  If they’re not, they’ll try to find a path to get there.  If they can’t find one, they’ll wander around until a path opens.  Once they reach the top floor, they’ll wander around some more (making sure to stay inside their destination hotspot) until they receive another instruction.

But wait, where do instructions come from?

4)  Scripts

Gameplay scripting is becoming very popular.  While game engines are written in low-level, high-performance languages like C, scenarios for levels are often written in more abstracted languages.  Overgrowth, for instance, uses AngelScript for gameplay scripting.  Flash is already built on this type of structure–any code I write for my games is written in Actionscript, an abstracted scripting language.  The Flash Player, which is written in a low-level language, interprets this script.

For Fix, gameplay scripts look less like scripts of code and more like theatric scripts.  At least at the time that I’m writing this, if you hit the “Fix Demo” tab at the top of the page, you can see a demo that reads the following script.

(The three floors of the level are defined as hotspots which are named bottomFloor, middleFloor, and topFloor.)

(Jack moves to topFloor)
Jack:  I'm going to the top floor.
Jack:  …boop boop boop…
(Jack moves to bottomFloor)
Jack:  And now I'm going to the bottom floor…
Jack:  …
(Jack moves to middleFloor)
Jack:  And now the middle floor.

Aside from the inherent cuteness of this solution, it’s ridiculously easy for me to write these scripts.  Also note that the game’s dialogue is read from these same scripts, so it’ll be very easy for me to write and implement conversations (of which there will be…many).

So that’s all well and good, but how do we know when to start a conversation?

5)  Triggers

Triggers have two parts:  A condition and a conversation to start.  A condition is something like “Kathryn reaches bottomFloor” or “doorOne is open.”  Conditions can be combined, like “Kathryn reaches bottomFloor and Jack reaches topFloor.”  Once all conditions for a given Trigger are met, it starts up its target conversation.

 _____________________________________

So…yeah.