Dynamite: Day 3 – JSON Texture Atlas & Lighting Effects
I’ve done a bit of further improvement of the lighting code. I think the lighting will end up relating to the game mechanics somehow.
Next up – to finish up the idea I was talking about yesterday, having a proper texture atlas system. I ended up using jsoncpp for my json loading in C++. This worked very well. This is a vast improvement over how I did it in Galcon / Galcon Fusion. In those games, I generated C++ code with defined values for each image / texture. And I had generated C++ code with the structures for all these things, so everything ended up getting baked into the binary, and was very “undynamic” (it also added a considerable amount to the compile time, and in certain compilers – MSVC, I had to change some oddball stack settings for it to even work.) By using JSON I’m avoiding all kinds of nonsense and loading everything is just as quick as ever.
To show off this milestone, here’s an updated screenshot. I adjusted the lighting a bit more, to make the basic level of lighting a bit more 3D looking.
Tomorrow I want to have a basic editor up and running so I can save and load levels. The editor might end up being available in-game, so I figure I’ve got to get that feature in from the start. Then on Friday I’ll try and get actual gameplay happening. Thus leaving the entire month of October for the last 10% 😉
-Phil
September 29th, 2010 at 9:39 pm
How does everyone like the direction the look is taking? Any suggestions or ideas?
September 29th, 2010 at 9:52 pm
Looks good phil, I suggest more variation on the tile textures, like randomly made tiles so they all aren’t the same design.
September 30th, 2010 at 8:12 am
I’m impressed you have time to write daily in the first place!
As for the look, I like how spooky and eerie it is.
September 30th, 2010 at 9:19 am
@Socratic – good idea, I’ll try and vary stuff a bit more!
@GBGames – thanks! The blogging is pretty easy, I just have my “new post” window open all day and add in a few sentences and a screenshot everytime I do something new.
I think some people do this more via twitter, but I find the blogging format far more to my liking.
September 30th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Yo Phil, this game looks really good so far. Just a question. I think you mentioned in an earlier post that you already had an older finished version of this game, right? Do you have any old game play videos or pictures of it? I want to see it in action.
BTW, the reason I’m here is because I was in your mom’s class last year. She was playing Galcon Fusion before school and mentioned you made it. The game looked cool, so I checked this place out.
I haven’t purchased Galcon Fusion on Steam yet, but I plan to eventually. Keep doing what you’re doing!
-TWal
October 1st, 2010 at 10:33 am
@Twal
Yeah – here’s the old version:
http://www.imitationpickles.org/pyweek1/
Thanks for checking out Galcon & stuff!
-Phil