Alright it's been a long since I have posted on what's going on with my project. The truth behind why I haven't updated is that I have been wanting to get some sort of software that would allow me to record what I was doing so I could shot SSS in action but I don't have a Mic anyways so I will just go about it textualy
So here is a screen cap...
So what I've done...
-Windows now start in good positions not piled on top of each other
-Layer functionality added, you can use layers like in photoshop. So you can change the opacity and order etc. The idea behind this is you can do things like Design clothes to fit over a person etc. Easily the one feature that makes this better than characters mucker
-Hue, Saturation and Brightness Shifting: The ability to to refine a colour selection (light blue for instance) and shift it's hsl to make it something else (Dark Red) or Black or Green etc... Great if you wanna make npc's or want to simply take an existing sprite and re-Colour all or just parts of it. Say you make a red hat with a blue feather you can select out the red to make it green hat with a blue feather.
-Animate: Lets you take the sprite sheet and create it's animations, including the speed and what happens when it ends (go to a different animation, loop, freeze etc). This info can then be spit out to xml for use by a programmer
-Window locking. Windows now lock in place... Trav wanted this feature so I added it.
-Saving, Loading: Created a file format with the extension .sss, These files contain the layer and animation information. With them you can reload in development projects.
Finally an alpha candidate should be ready soon. If your interested let me know and I will make you a guinea pig.
I'll make this quick as I have got to hit the hay.
The new screen shot:
And now the explanation.
-You can now flip areas both horizontally and vertically -You can apply symmetry from left to right, up to down. -You can now select colours using the colour sampler. Or simply press ctrl or alt. to grab the current color your mouse pointer is over. -You can rotate images 90* at a time clockwise. -You can bump images up down left and right. When pixels reach the edge of the screen they will wrap around. -I got most of my problems figured out with what was happening with the selector. You can now select a region without problems. As well when you go to apply some sort of effect that affects an entire region it now only affects the selected region. If no region is selected then it is applied to the entire picture. An example of this is the burgandy box that has had many effects used on it.
This makes it so that all but 2.5 tools are now finished. What I have left to do is: -Erase... this may be removed. If you paint/draw with a transparent color why do you need to erase? -Polygon selector: honestly this is going to be a nightmare to implement and at this time I am planning for it to not be released with the Beta. -Selector: While it is possible to select a region of the picture you can not move or stretch it. The next plan is to make it possible to do so, this is what I will not be working on tomorrow as I am getting my computer parts tomorrow.
I will finish up the tools and then most likely get started on the layering.
My development has been infringed upon by several things. I've been hanging with friends a lot lately. Not that thats bad but it leaves me with less time to work. Plus I ordered new parts to build a computer and I have been looking at how to build it and when the parts would get to London. They got to London but were unable to be delivered before the weekend so I have to wait until Monday for that.
Which has given me time I was going to devote to fawning over my new piece of equipment to spending time with Rose and development time on sprite shop.
Here is an update in what has happened since last post.
As you can see I actually got into the whole "Drawing" thing that a program like this would be expected to do.
-I drew the "Woot" with the regular pencil tool. -The outline was done with the outline tool. Click a colour and then the program will take the edge of that color and change it. -The circle with the rectangle and lines in it were done with the Circle, Rectangle, And Square tool. -I filled the rectangle with the paint tool. -The burn tool changed the colour of that one random pixel in the middle of the white space. - Travis and I decided that with the way the burn tool was functioning dodge would be redundant so I got rid of it. -The dodge space has been taken by colour replace: to use simply click the drawing area and all pixels with the colour you clicked on will be replaced with the colour you clicked with. I used the colour gradient and colour replace to re-colour the dudes hair from brown to purple. -As you can also see zoom is working as we are veiwing the picture at 2 times normal size. You can either use the side buttons to zoom in and out or simply scroll the middle mouse button.
I'm currently working on being able to select an area of the picture and move it etc. I hope to have it done tomorrow or Monday. It is being a little irritating so I will most likely intersperse it's development with the remaining features. After this is done I will begin working on layers.
Anyways as always let me know what you guys think I appreciate the comments and or praise.
Alright so I have finally finished the color portion of the program (or at least I am pleased enough with it that I will leave it for now). I am now going to move on to filling out the tool bar's functionality. I think I will begin with zoom as that could affect how the program actually functions. After that it will be simply be going one by one making the tools work.
Here is a screen shot of what I have done so far now.
So what I have added....
You can now drag and drop colours. Simply click on one and drag it to another location. Also you can grab colours from the chooser pallet below and then drag them into the working pallet.
You can generate a colour gradient between two colours. Right click the first colour and then drag your mouse to the other colour once you release it will generate a gradient between the two colours.
You can select colours now. A rectangular box will appear around the colours you select for the left and right mouse buttons.
The tools in order going top to bottom left to right...
-Pencil -Line -Outline (takes the colour you have selected and places it around your image) -Fill -Ellipse -Rectangle -Burn (takes the colour you have selected and makes the colour you are clicking more similar to it) -Dodge (opposite of burn) -Flip Horizontal -Flip Verticle -Lasso Select -Rectangle Select -Colour Select -Erase -Zoom In -Zoom Out -Rotate (90 degrees at a time) -The remaining arrows all bump the image one pixel in their direction (wrapping around if necessary)
So that's it. If you are Travis or anyone who has any ideas on other features I could add feel free to comment.
This blog was created so I could muse about being a mastermind (aka talk about crap I do in a work sort of way). I have not really been doing that very much lately. So I shall update people on some actual work I have been doing.
Like most people I am prone to start a project strong and then get 50-75% of the way there and just never tie up the loose ends. So with Fantropics I promised myself I would not do that and I would get it done. Well low and behold my laptop bit the big one and it took Fantropics with it (I can get it back I just need a new fan).
Not to be one to be project-less I began work on a program I told Travis I would make. There really isn't a good tool if you want to design sprites. Or at least one that is commercially available. So I got to talking with Travis about what he would like in a Sprite designing program. We came up with a small features list here...
it's a partial list as there may be stuff that we didn't write down.
So I've been plowing away and here is what I have.
As you can see you currently have the ability to load in an image.
Upon loading the image a pallet will be generated for it and displayed in your colors.
You can use the middle mouse button in the colour window to select any colour on the screen and a large variation of colours will be generated for it.
You can then edit the cell size so that your mouse will lock to the appropriate grid size.
Once the appropriate cell size is entered you can pick a portion of the image and it will be sent to the drawing window.
Thats about it. I am working on the pallet right now because if I do it properly than it will be quite powerful. Eventually I plan to get on to the actual "drawing" but the precursors must be done first.
I guess everyone must start out like this. I've been feeling a large amount of pressure lately regarding money and the like. Currently I am the sole provider for myself and Rose. There are a few issues with this however. My current job is not permanent... It will be ending in april. this means I need to get a job before May. Currently I make enough to keep us a float but not enough to put any money away for later. We have a bit in our savings... It could pay the bills for one month... It's scary to think however that if I can't find a job that pays at least 16 dollars an hour than me and Rose are going to have a rough go of some things.
There are little things we could do to cut down on expenses. I suppose we could drop all forms of entertainment. As well we could change our eating habits. That could probably save 200 or so... I just began having to pay off my OSAP so that adds another $-200 a month.
If one of us could find a job it would relieve my stress a lot. If Rose found a part time job and I was unemployed it would buy us another month or two for me to get a job. If Rose found a full time job we could survive for quite some time slowly eating away at our savings. If I find a job paying what I get paid now we can keep up our quality of living. The best situation would be if I could get a job in the area of 40K and rose snagged a part time job.
Rose is going to school in the fall and that adds a whole different layer to the problem. Rose wants to go to school badly. I have not seen her so excited to do something ever. Her going to school is an absolute must. This raises the problem of money... I have no idea how we are going to pay for it. That's a fairly large chunk of change we need. Rose has brought the money up before saying she can wait/not go but it's what she wants to do. She wants nothing more to go to school and thats what she's going to do. I mean there are plenty of things I want to but they are nice to have sort of things. I know that if Rose doesn't go she will regret it for the rest of her life and so I'm gonna make it happen.
I'm a skilled fellow and I know I'm needlessly worrying. Just at this moment my projections for the future seem so bleak. I know we won't wind up homeless but I don't want to slide back in our lifestyle. I always want to be pushing higher and higher. I don't want to go back to being a poor student.
The economy just makes it so much worst as job postings are so few. Everyone wants experience. In these times no one wants to take a chance on a junior. I'm in a rough spot in the economy. New employees are a gamble and even more so if there are "inexperienced". I have a year and a half of experience but that doesn't get you any slack I'm still junior.
Makes me think I should go into business for myself. I mean start a small game studio or something. My group has an interesting idea that I could see some health watch groups and maybe the government taking an interest in. I think it's a really good idea so I don't wish to reveal it on the internet just yet but if things come down to it I may look to blaze my own trail if I can't get a company to help me work at theirs.
Bah I was hoping writing this out would lift my spirits but it has only helped to bum me out even more... I guess I'll go do something else. I will feel so much better when I don't have these issues gnawing at my mind
I can't remember if I have mentioned this in my blog yet or not but here it is anyways.
I have been working on a remake of Startropics, I dubbed my version "Fantropics". It was one of my favorite games as a kid and I played the crap out of it. I decided that I was going to learn XNA and I thought the best way to do that would be to remake an old game. I had been playing it around christmas when I decided to start and I had beat it about 3 times.
The actual engine for the game came together almost instantly it only took a week or two to remake the basic engine. Since January I have been working on the level editor which has taken up most of the project.
I am working with someone else to do the graphics as I am quite inept. I was originally going to do the background but then changed my mind... But then a certain graphics artist who will remain nameless decided to get all busy with school work I decided I couldn't wait any longer and I did the backgrounds myself. I think they turned out absolutely fantastic. My next steps are going to be to load the levels into the the engine. After that is done it will be rather easy to whip up the first dungeon and have my mini remake complete.
Here are the first few rooms in the original startropics
Christian Bale(Batman) flipped out yesterday on the set of terminator and the audio made it's way onto the internet. here is the audio. It's pretty cringe worthy to listen to him chew this guy out so I understand if you don't listen to the whole thing but it gives this post context
So now with that in mind this is why I love the internet and all who use it
Yep people pull this stuff out within hours of it hitting the internet. Woot a user driven world.
Onto stuff people won't care about... So I have been working hard on an Editor for Fantropics. It's proving to be far more work than I had originally expected I have easily spent twice as much time on the editor than I did on the engine. I had been putting it off for a long time because my XML and XPATH-fu are not strong. That sounds lame because in theory they are mark up language crap so it should be easy. It's not the concept but the C# syntax that throws me off. The XML classes in C# are a little messed up and confusing to me. I was able to get the XML a-flying last night though and have C&D of CRUD (Create Replace Update and Delete). So tonight filling out the rest should not take long at all. The editor should be done this week I hope
The system requirements for the sims 3 has been released and it's not as steep as one might expect
XP (Service Pack 2) Processor: Pentium IV 2.0 GHz / Athlon XP 2000+ Memory: 1 GB Graphics: GeForce FX 5900 / Radeon 9500 Graphics: Ram 128 MB Vista (Service Pack 1) Processor: Pentium IV 2.4 GHz / Athlon XP 2400+ Memory: 1.5 GB Graphics: GeForce FX 5900 / Radeon 9500 Graphics Ram: 128 MB
Laptop
XP (Service Pack 2) Processor: Pentium IV 2.4 GHz / Athlon XP 2400+ Memory: 1.5 GB Graphics GeForce: Go 6200 / Radeon mobile 9600 Graphics Ram: 128 MB Vista (Service Pack 1) Processor: Pentium: IV 2.4 GHz / Athlon XP 2400+ Memory: 2.0 GB Graphics: GeForce Go 6200 / Radeon mobile 9600 Graphics: 128 MB
While my computer is a PC with XP sp2 I just meet the requirements. I'm going to buy a stick of 2gb ram and a "new" 256 mb video card which will cost about 30$ each plus game. So that will cost me like 120$ overall. Well worth it though as my first plan was a new computer for 1500$.
I am soooo excited for that game!!!
This was originally the end of my last post but I got so excited I decide to go on about features.
They have redone the create a Sim. You get a lot more control over your sims appearance. I mean sims can be fat I don't just mean that pudge in the sims 3 but actually fat. The weight is distributed more properly instead of the way they had it in the sims 3; 2 body types stick and pear. The features seem a little bit easier to manipulate. I always found the create-a-sim daunting in the sims 2. I mean you could tweak things a lot but you never could escape from more than like 4 face feelings. My favourite was how often sims could wind up with jowls. In this one, faces seem to be more unique.
Another cool feature is the material editor. If you have played MySims it is more like that. Anything can have any material. Got a redneck family that loves urban camo? why not paint all their furniture the same colour as their shirts so it will work? Wanna put that nice red colour on the couch so that it matches the walls? Go ahead. That is very exciting for customization. Also They have introduced a lot of "clutter" objects. Things that don't actually do anything but can be placed to make a room seem more real. Like toilet paper dispensers etc.
One of the features I am most looking forward to is the trait system. They have done away with personality bars and instead have given you a pool of 60+ traits in which you will give your sims 5. This makes a lot of sense because no one describes themselves as 2 bars neat but instead they will say they are sloppy or clean if they are in the middle they won't mention it. They actually searched personal ads to see how real people describe themselves.
Another cool thing is the abolishment of load times. One of my big gripes about the sims 2 was that I always felt as if I wasn't getting the full worth of the expansion packs due to the fact that I was hesitant to leave my lot because it would take a good 3-6 minutes to get downtown. While I suppose this is truer to reality lol it does make for some boredom. So I would prefer to stick around at home with my sims doing their thing. No they have made it seamless. Wanna go for a walk well lets go visit the neighbors.
Rose is hesitant about this next change but I think it will be cool. Your sims are a lot more autonomous. So that means their basic needs will require less work then before. On one hand it does make me fear that it will lose that "Sims" feel but on the other hand I hated having more than 2 sims in a household (omg don't get me started on the well practiced ballet that 2 parents a child and surprise twins takes to all keep from pooping themselves.) So I'm thinking it might be more fun to have a big household.
The focus seems to be more on telling your sims story rather than living their life day to day. This I feel will result in a more driven gameplay as I think most people made up stories and quirks for their sims. I mean while no sims really understood what I had set aside for them I knew where they were eventually going to wind up. The sims 3 is going to bring that story element more the the forefront of the gameplay.
Speaking of telling stories. I have not seen the feature but I have heard it discussed. The sims 3 will have a much more robust video recording/editing feature. Apparantly it will be stronger that you will be able to record edit and create sim videos without having to leave the sim 3. How well this works remains to be seen but I for one am pumped to make stupid music videos :D.
To get you all in the Sim mood here is a music video made with the sims 2
Blarg. I have spent the last 3-4 days pretty irritated at a lot of things.
I'm job hunting right now. I am really tired of searching for work. While I am glad to currently have a job I just wish I had the luck to have gotten a co-op that would have led to full time employment. Since I have moved to London I have needed to look for work 7 times purely because of school and only being able to work when I wasn't schooling. A lot of the job postings I am seeing are 1 yr contracts which is a big no. I don't want to be looking for another job in 6 months so I can have one by the time the contract has expired.
Trying to get my group motivated. Maybe I'm a poor leader I dunno but they don't seem to be to jazzed about doing anything. I set them out a little challenge about a month ago and none of them have even started it. In contrast I have finished the engine and am currently writing the level editor.
Speaking of that level editor I am experiencing some weird issues with that. I'm not going to go into the specifics but it is maddening when I am trying to perform a simple task with a program and all of a sudden the code decides it's going to hate me and blow up a lot. It's not the logic of my program but merely a small intrinsic part of the API. So I'm going to go and wrestle with that tonight and attempt not crush my mouse. I have also learned that I can not crush a mouse with my bare hand.
The editor does have the ability right now to draw: dots, hollow rectangles, filled rectangles, borders, and complete fills. So next I wanna be able to draw layers and then after all of that is done I wanna make it so that you can begin assigning things to things. Gonna have it done by February so I can pull the whole project together for March.
Screw the economy. It really sucks that the whole thing went to crap just as I was getting ready to go into the business world. Bah oh well. It makes that whole job finding thing I'm doing a lot more difficult.
I Won't Make Excuses
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Twelve years old and in grade seven, things were going much better for me
than they had in years. Kids at school were still monsters with no souls,
but the...
New compy delays
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Haha whew back from the dead.
I didn't post for like a month and haven't played DDR in like a week. I
don't intend to actually post very much about what I ...
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