The Eye of the Storm (DarkMage is back!)

[Breakout]

Nice game darkmage, I've seen the trailer and it looks sweet.
You seem to have accomplished a lot is this game so far.
Good luck with the demo!

[DarkMage31]

Update: I have completed the crouching system. Crouch is toggled by hitting the Shift key. Crouching makes you move slower, but you will be quieter. I'm working on animating it now.

I still have to develop a visibility formula that takes into account:
1) Crouch or not
2) Shadow cover
3) Pressed to wall?

I haven't done the wall press system yet, another thing on my list of things to do. I built in to the AI the limitations of his vision already. The farther away you are from him, the less shadow cover you have to be in to remain invisible. If he's right next to you, you better be in the heaviest shadow there is!

[Brittany]

Originally Posted by DarkMage31

Update: I have completed the crouching system. Crouch is toggled by hitting the Shift key. Crouching makes you move slower, but you will be quieter. I'm working on animating it now.

I still have to develop a visibility formula that takes into account:
1) Crouch or not
2) Shadow cover
3) Pressed to wall?

I haven't done the wall press system yet, another thing on my list of things to do. I built in to the AI the limitations of his vision already. The farther away you are from him, the less shadow cover you have to be in to remain invisible. If he's right next to you, you better be in the heaviest shadow there is!

This sounds really good! I'm drooling for a demo DM

[Sorye HK]

Hope coming up with that formula doesn't take too long Darkmage.

[dotFallen]

Glad your back darkmage. I was sad when lunar was cancelled bud glad your back with a game that looks even better

[DarkMage31]

The algorithm is done:

[(S * 10) / 2] + 8(C) + 2(P)

S = Shadow cover (0-10, ten is most invisible, 0 is fully illuminated)
C = Crouched (1 = crouched, 0 = standing)
P = Wall pressed (1 = pressed, 0 = normal)

I am now making an algorithm to determine if the guard sees you or not. Or I may keep what I have. I need to think more.

[Neo-Dragon]

sounds really cool!
I look foward to seeing a demo.

[D-jo4000]

Ummm how do you have 3d-rendered things in an rpg maker 2k(3) ?

[DarkMage31]

The game isn't in 3D like it would in a console game. I render the images in TrueSpace 3.2, my 3D modeling program, and render them to images. I open them up in an image editor and convert them to 256 colors. I then import them to RPG Maker and use them for backgrounds and such.

The goggle renders I'll be showing now and then are for cutscenes, equipment briefing, etc. Not like ingame stuff.

Did that answer your question?

[D-jo4000]

yeah that answered my question I just didn't understand that before







NY babyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sorye HK]

You know that last post of yours was a bit spamy SadFurret...
Anyways, I'm quite amazed at how you made that Algorithm, DM!

[DarkMage31]

I came up with a little bit more to add on, and now the visibility meter is working perfectly!

The white bar shows how visible you are. If you are not in total shadow, as a guard approaches the meter goes up. The closer a guard is the greater the chance of you being seen.

Also, if you accidently bump into a guard they'll go on full alert now too!

To keep the hype going:

[Sorye HK]

NIce... You really are talented, DM!

[Peekimon]

Wow!!! Very awesome 3d graphics you got there !!!

[DarkMage31]

Wow, I needed to dig this thread out of the second page!

As always, I've got updates.

-I've reworked the structure of the AI. I can now do more stuff with it
-I've added a "clamping" animation around the speed gauge (yes, there is a speed gauge for your convenience) that transitions when you crouch and uncrouch. You'll see how it works when you play it eventually. It created lag in the crouch/uncrouch sprite animation, but I realized this probably won't happen if I make it a battle animation instead of a picture sequence. I'll work on that tomorrow.

[Sorye HK]

Oh ok. Hope it works out, DM.

[RM2K3kid]

What have you got the AI doing at the moment? I hate lag but I never seemed to run into any.. wait I did when I was creating my reflection system that worked but then I lost it ... Well sounds great can't wait to see some in-game shots.

[DarkMage31]

The AI is currently able to visibly identify intruders if the hero is close enough and in little shadow. All the framework is there for a completely unaware stage of awareness. I started implimenting some basic motion detection, but it didn't work out all that hot. I'm redoing that. Sound detection is next.

[Sorye HK]

You must have a hard time working them all out...

[DarkMage31]

It's actually not that bad.



Yeah, I know it's not exact, but it's good enough. The head won't be there in the game. BTW, I didn't model the head. I found it on the web somewhere.

[Sorye HK]

Woah~ Looks very neat darkmage....

[DarkMage31]

Those renders are for my tests only - just to make sure the goggles are semi-realistically proportioned. Released for your viewing pleasure.

[RM2K3kid]

lol looks great for a test! Can't wait to see more!

[DarkMage31]

Ugh, just remembered: after my computer crashed, I lost the 3D object file for the goggles! I need to remodel them... oh well.

So I FINALLY finished all the poses for transitioning from crouch to standing and back. I'll attach the charset here if you want to check it out. The reason there are so many posses are because there must be a transitional phase for each frame of walking so the transition is smooth when the character is walking. I'm considering making a new pose for sprinting when you push the speed all the way up.

[Breakout]

Nice character set DM, your right, there are a lot of poses, lol.

A sprinting version would be a good idea, so the character doesn't look as if its walking really fast.