Bedtime Bunny Tales

Gamers look away! This is not something I would normally associated myself with, it is an interactive children's bedtime story book on iPhone and iPad. I love it for 3 reasons. The bunnies are cute and cuddly, it's beautifully drawn, and the bunnies are cute and cuddly. Yes, I'm a big girl/child/whatever. But really my pathetic intro really doesn't do this wonderful piece of work any justice. You can learn more from it's official site.

Alright, honestly. The reason this is on blog is no other than I help code the event editor that are used to handle the touch input and various effect and component interactivity in the app. This makes it the first iOS apps that I have a somewhat significant contribution (in my mind) in. I like to talk more about the technical details of it but I think no one will care. Especially when the art is just brilliant.

So, If you have kids, get it. If you love cute and cuddly bunnies and beautiful art work, get it. Did I mention that it's cute and cuddly. At any rate, at least get the lite version and see it for yourself. Here's the links to AppStore:

iPhone

iPhone-Lite

iPad

iPad-Lite

Ah, I feel so good being part of this.

TDTK v1.3.1 released

Straight to the point, the new additions in the latest version:

• Improved path-smoothing, the creep no longer clip through tower when moving diagonally and will try to cut the shortest path in open-space.
• Path-validation check before tower building in open-field mode are now added. Player can no longer build on spot where it will effectively block all possible route.
• Further optimize component interaction.
• Fix bug on iOS where restart and next button doesn't work after level end
• Slight adjustment to the shader used in iOS scene for more consistent dynamic batching

 As suggested in the title, it is now live on Unity AssetStore.

Also, check out the latest webplayer demo! 

Finally, it has been almost 5 months since the toolkit went on sales on Unity AssetStore. I like to take this opportunity to thank those who have purchase and used the toolkit, as well as those who have actively given me feedback. You have made it possible or me to improve the toolkit to current state. I hope the toolkit have serve you well and there will be more improvements to come.

TDTK v1.3 (iOS) Released!!

A moment many of TDTK user have been waiting for, TDTK is finally iOS compatible. It has been upload and now available on Unity AssetStore.

You are welcome! :)

Another note, I dont see myself doing any major update on TDTK any time soon. I'll be working on a new project.

Procedural City Block Filler

Just another showcase of the work I have done. Something I've build for a client which I think it's rather cool. Big thanks to him for allow me to disclose this. Like the title of the post suggested it's a procedural city block filler. The idea is a algorithm that placed the building prefab for you on a cityscape defined by lot.

The algorithm can place the a fixed list of building prefab automatically based on three method.

• Fill - Try to occupied as much space as possible in the lot.
• Edge - Just line the building on the edge of the lot.
• Random- Randomly place building on the lot until a certain amount of place is occupied.

Different building type can be placed on different type of lot, which can be specified manually. The idea is the user can easily lay down as many lot as they want and specify the lot type via tag. The lot for simplicity sake will just be a rectangular plane object. The user can then assigned the building to be placed on each type of the lot. The building can be an any size and height, but they are assume to be cubical. The algorithm can be run in editor mode as well as in run time.

There are other parameter which can be adjusted such as the building spacing, filled rate for "Random" placement, spacing from edges, etc

Here's a link to a demo webplayer for those who are interested in seeing the algorithm in action. The adjustable parameter in this demo is limited as I'm too lazy to build a full run time interface for it. The screenshot below is taken from the demo webplayer. For simplicity sake, I just used primitive cube of different size and height and color to represent the buildings.

Taken from demo webplayer

Announcing TDTK v1.3, it's iOS compatible!

Haven't been active recently. My gaming urge has finally caught up with me and I've spend all my free time, even a bit of my suppose working hour jamming game. Witcher2 in particular. Try it, it's brilliant. It's the only RPG in years that have me going hours after hours just to find out how the story goes.

Finally, good news to all those that haven been waiting for requesting for an iOS compatible version of TDTK. I finally got all the licenses and hardwares this last weekend. Like I promised to some of the user, I have start work to port the toolkit to iOS immediately following that.

It certainly has taken a lot more time than I thought. But I'm very close to wrapping things up. Testing on iPhone4, the toolkit manage to achieved a steady FPS of 20 and above with the example scene. It should do better when a better optimized art asset is used.

Anyway, the toolkit will be ready by December or early December.

PathFinder Version1.0

PathFinder is now it on Unity AssetStore!

 So here's feature in current version:

•  A* Path-finding algorithm
•  GridGraph Generator applicable in just about any terrain
•  Line-Graph Generator based on user hand-place waypoint
•  Configurable parameter to fine-tune the grah
•  Queue based path-finding call so no lag spike

The package is designed to be flexible, robust and easy to use. Feel free to try out the both demo with custom environment and smooth terrain. Also the link to the documentation.

Here's the link to the Unity AssetStore

TDTK v1.2.3 (fix and minor improvement)

Following the release of version 1.2.2. I found one or two nasty bug, with the newly added open-field gameplay mode off course.

In version 1.2.2, the spawner call the path finding and store the path. The creep never find they own way, instead they relied on their respective spawner to pass them the path. A recipe for disaster, when the circumstance is right.

With version 1.2.3, each creep call the pathfinder to find their individual path. To avoid lag spike when every creep call the pathfinder at the same time, a queue has been setup for the calls. So essentially one pathFinder component can handle all the creep and spawner in the scene. Less memory usage too. There may be a slight delay for the creep if the queue is long but most of the time is hardly noticeable.

The new version has also change the basic way a creep move. This fixes a bug where the creep stray off path and never recover if the waypoint is missed, somehow, most of the time due to a lag spike.

Anyway, version 1.2.3 is now available on Unity AssetStore. Here's a demo WebPlayer if anyone's interested.

Spot the Difference in 3D

Finally I've been able to bring this to light. It was a contracted confidential project I worked on and I've only got permission to showcase it lately. It's not something ground breaking but at least it's a stand alone mini-game with purpose. It's made for a research project therefore some of the details might not work exactly like a normal game.

The notable feature of the game is it uses uniTUIO library to enable input custom made tuio interface. It is compatible with mouse and keyboard input as well as multi-touch input to manipulate the object in 3D space, which includes select, rotate, translate and zoom. It also feature dual language, English and Japanese (the research project is run by a Japanese University).

Since I wrap up the development 2/3 months back, another coder has taken it and port it to android platform. Here's the link to the app: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.Gamelancers.Spot3DTheDifference

Here's a lit of other people who have also contributed to this project apart from me:

Project Coordinator and Model Selection: William Widjaja
ScoreBoard and Android Porting: Sérgio Nunes
2D Artwork: Betty 

TDTK v1.2 Released!

Announcing the release of TDTK v1.2! The package has been submitted to the unity AssetStore and should be available very soon.

As posted before the latest addition would be the open-field gameplay. Feature in this version is a auto-navigation node generator and an A* path-finding component as seen in my PathFinder Project. Which could be extracted and used in other project with some modification.

The new game mode is rather easy to setup, Just define the area of the "field" with the node generator, the spawn point and destination point for creep and everything will be taken care of. You can try out the new example levels which are included in the package with this demo here.

PathFinder (Update)

It's been a hectic week. Didn't quite manage to focus on the thing I really wanted to do. 

But anyhow I manged to make some break through. I have optimised the my A* algorithm to a very acceptable speed. A rough average estimation shows that at worse case, it's able to search through around 400 nodes at 1ms. A performance I'm quite happy with. Not quite the "blazing speed" compared to the top unity path-finding pacakge out there but it's certainly powerful enough to meet any requirement of real time game without slowing down the game play.

Beside that, I've also managed to get it working with terrain with varied height. As well as implement a faster and more light-weight auto node generatior. So here's a build for showcase purpose, or bragging right. :)

So I've been working on both path-finding and TDTK v1.2 lately since the next addition of TDTK is gonna need path-finding. So next thing to do would be getting this optimized algorithm running within the frame work of TDTK.

Annoucing TDTK v1.2 (WIP and Coming Soon)

So it's official, I'm working on the next update and improvement of the TDTK. There will be one an only one addition in the next update. But boy it's a biggie and it comes with one of my favourite element of a TD game. Well I don't know if there's one official term for it but I'll call it open-field gameplay/mode.

Yes one addition in the update doesn't sound a lot but this addition will allow a whole lot more possibility compare to version1.1. Which to be honest, is a bit more technical and is much less exciting.

The open-field gameplay, simply put, the creeps don't follow a fixed path on this one and the player is allowed to build on the active walkable area. In other words, other than build the right tower at the right place the player will also need to plan and build a maze. I guess the idea is shown pretty clear in the screenie above. The player builds a formation of towers in a enclosed field. The creeps will find a way to get across the field to get to the other end. In this case, travel in the path marked by dots from green to red. The placement of tower is still bound by a grid system obviously, as in previous implementation.

Yes this will required path-finding. I have put the grid-based A* path-finding I've done into work on this one. Worry not setting the grid and path-finding to work in this one will  require very minimal effort. If anything it is easier than setting up a fixed-path for the creep using waypoints.

But it's still very early in the development process. So regrettably I don't have too many things to show at this point. But it's in the pipeline and it will be available in the near future.

PathFinder

Right, following the lost of all RTS-X source code, I'm back to square one with anything everything I ever done with path-finding. Despite the fact that the one I have before was not very robust, or performance friendly, or flexible in different terrain.

Anyhow I have tried my hand at A* path-finding again. I plan to put it in TDTK for open field tower deployment mode. Figure I would need it in rebuilding RTS-X as well. Only this time I'll do it properly and make a complete path-finding project that would be useful in a variety of other future project I might have. Or at least that's the plan...

So this is what I manage so far:

• auto grid-graph generator on the terrain.
• height-consideration for connecting neighbouring node.
• somewhat optimised standard A* path-finding algorithm.
• post searching path-smoothing.

The performance for this one is not perfect but it's a big improvement from my last attempt some months ago. At least it works alright in this simple demo with 5 agents searching simultaneously without noticeable drop in the framerate. As seen in the image below.

Searched path (start from green dots to red dots) for five agents in blue color

.

The path seraching involves node with different height doesn't quite work yet, especially when the path smoothing comes in. But the path smoothing works just fine. So instead of going through all the nodes in a path like being shown in the image above which make the grid-based path very obvious, the agent only need to traverse through minimal number of path. Hence a more natural path. Just like the image below, a big improvement indeed!

Path smoothing which reslut in much fewer node to go through in each path.

So the next plan would be more optimization to cut down the processing time and get the height difference of the grid to work. I might look into navigation mesh implementation. Something that sound brilliant in theory! But to be honest I myself have been struggle to derive it's implementation from all the material I've look into. This will be interesting...

TDTK v1.1

Finally I feel v1.1 is polished enough to be released. So here's a list of the major updates:

• added GUI-elements based UI
• added new tower deployment scheme
• added scene transition facility
• revamp code logic flow to be more orgainised. Require less input from user when putting a scene together
• revamp some of the script configurable parameters to make configuration more intuitive and less error-prone
• optimizations and bug fixes
• added comment on some ofthe script explaining the vital logic flow
• added untested code block for touch input

With it a more comprehensive demo contain 4 playable levels. Please excuse the over the top sound effect, I have to make do with limited asset at my disposal. As well as the unpolished or possibly unbalanced gameplay. I believe a better level designer can surely do a better job than me, I've only spent minimal amount of time to set it up. But yes everything in the demo is included in the package.

As always it is now available n Unity AssetStore for $65 (similar to v1.0). Feel free to contact me to make a direct purchase at a discount price of $60.

Bad News

I'm sitting in front of a laptop belong to a friend. The reason? There has been a break in at my work place. The took no money but all of my hardware. My tower case along with everything in it, screen and even mouse and keyboard.

This is very bad news indeed. It also means that some of the very hard work I've done in the past has been lost. Save a few lucky one that has been backuped on dropbox. A list of casualties:

• RTS-X
• Untitled Top-Down Shooter
• TDTK v1.1 (good thing I have v1.0 stored on dropbox)
• Scource Code of Footman

As well as some small test project. The lost of the shooter and RTS-X pain me the most. There has been some rather neat features that I've spend many many hours into it and yet to be seen or enjoyed by anyone. I hereby apologize of those who have collaborate with me or contributed in those projects. It maybe some time again your contribution will be put to good use.

But with that said, I'll start over again. First by spending a fortune getting myself a new machine. Then work furiously for the next few months or weeks I suppose. Wish me luck.

TDTK v1.1 (WIP)

Looks the same, but it's different!

 

First of, a general update list of the progress of TDTK version1.1:

• New building mode. Instead of click and drop a tower to the scene like a typical RTS scheme. An alternative mode has been added where user player select a specific spot/platform in the scene before click on the GUI specify which tower type to be build.
• An alternative GUI based on using guiTexture and guiText instead of scripted GUI elements. Easier to reposition and customize with custom GUI art.
• Streamline of various configurable parameter to make setting up prefabs and level more intuitive and easy.
• Optimization of the code to give better performance

To see the new building mode and GUI in action, please try this webplayer demo

Basically most of the changes and additions are build with the mobile platform support in mind. However this is just a start. Touch control will not be include in version1.1 yet. It's just that consider the new build mode and GUI which are almost a mandatory for mobile platform, are applicable on other PC and Mac, I have decided to make a small update for version1.0 with these.  TDTK with mobile platform support shall be released as version2.0. 

I'm trying to make things happen as soon as I can. However if the development for version 2.0 is taking too long for whatever reason beyond my control (QA and testing). I have a backup plan of release subsequent version1.2 and even version1.3 with other additional feature such as open map play with path-finding, etc.

Bike Demo

A rather cool bike mechanism demo I've made for a paid Job. Big thanks for Brian who given me the permission to post this. Here's the webplayer.

Please dont mind the lack of texture on the model and environment. After all I've only been given such asset, just adequate to complete the task

Sneak Peak

Just note that I haven't update the blog in a while. 2 weeks to be precise. But that doesn't mean that nothing is happening. A lot can happen in 2 weeks. So behold a sneak peak of my latest work:

An awesome mech model!

Alright Obviously I didn't make that, not much of a modeler and artist myself. It's made by Ognjen, a brilliant artist collaborating with me. And Obviously this is a one of the model of the up-coming game. Unfortunately this is all I'm going to show for now. I have high hope for this one. The reason being I end up spending more time playing it than actually developing it whenever I sit down to work.

The original plan is to try to make a simple mini-game in two weeks, for challenge and for fun. But seeing the game now I'm in a bit of a dilemma here. To release it knowing that I haven't develop it to the fullest potential or stick to the original plan and release it anyway.

I don't know, Just let me work away for now. If I work fast enough, it should be available on kongregate by this weekend.

Minimap Script Package v1.0

 

I've placed the minmap component of the TDTK as a seperate script package on Unity AssetStore for anyone who wants a minimap component but not interested in tower defense.

Here's a link to the package for anyone who's interested: http://u3d.as/content/song-game-dev/minimap-script-package/220

TDTK v1.0 is Released!

Finally TDTK is on unity Asset Store!

Here's the link:
http://u3d.as/content/song-game-dev/tower-defense-toolkit-tdtk-/1Zt

Should you have any open question, comment, feeback, please post it at this dedicated thread on unity forum:
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/96556-TowerDefense-Toolkit-v1.0-now-on-AssetStore

TDTK Update (v1.0 is Completed!)

Voila! Version1.0 of TDTK!

Finally I've wrap up the toolkit for the first release version. I'm putting it up to unity asset store as I'm posting this. I hope I can list out all the features in current version but frankly that is just too big a list! Anyway, here's the latest and final update to the current version since my last post.

• Added AudioManager for music and general sound effect.
• Sound effect support for creeps/units.
• Sound effect support for towers and shootObject.
• Towers build button now support icon display.
• Complex spawning with multiple spawn point and path is now supported. (check out the new demo!)
• Some tweaking to the GUI
• Even more eye-candy and example prefabs.
• Documented everything I can remember.
• lots of bug fix

I certainly hope that I can add more update in the future. There are still many things that can be to added to make this a better TD toolkit. However I'm trying not to make things too complicated at this stage.

So here's a demo made using the final version. Please don't mind the inappropriate music and sound effect. :)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/23073684/TD_ToolKit/demo%20version%201.0/platform_dualspawn/WebPlayer.html

TDTK Update

Since the last post, lost of feature has been implemented (some of them can be seen on the screenshot above). The most notable addition are the minimap and the visual effects, but here's the list:

• configurable minimap
• tooltip for build button
• improved GUI elements (selection indicator and range indicator)
• alternative resource for upgrades
• resource gain after each wave is cleared
• option to speed up time during gameplay
• small tweak here and there, lots of polishing
• and lots of visual effects, lots of explosion!

Most of the feature listed above can be customised to some extent. For instance, the texture of object on the minimap can be replaced and the map itself can be resize and re-position. The wave-end resource gain can be turn on or off or the gain rate can be adjusted and so on...

I'm particularly pleased with the eye-candies I've added. You have to see it to appreaciate it. To show what I mean, here's two brief playable demo updated from the last post.

Grid-based tower deployment - http://dl.dropbox.com/u/23073684/TD_...WebPlayer.html
- move mouse to screen edge to scroll
- left-click and drag to rotate view
- mouse scroll to zoom

Platform-based tower deployment - http://dl.dropbox.com/u/23073684/TD_...WebPlayer.html
- use w, a, s, d key to move around
- left-click and drag to rotate view
- mouse scroll to zoom


So yeah, we are close to wrapping up the development. I'm working on the documentation now. Have to say writing documentation is much much tougher than writing the code or putting new feature into the toolkit. >.<

RTS-X Development Update (Tech Tree... Again)

Exciting, exciting! Things in the art department are finally moving! And as a result I have this exquisite screenshot to show.

Ok, this is the same tech tree I showed in the previous update. The functionality remain the same, the newly added icon are the only addition here. All in all, a very small update to be honest. But at least some real art work at long last. Ognjen, an artist I corresponded on unity cummunity has made me this as part of an code art exchange deal. I'm very impressed to by the creativity and the amount of detail he put into these icon. I certainly hope we could work up more deals in the future.

Tower Defense ToolKit (TDTK)

Got a Brainwave this week thanks to someone who asked me to write some TD code base.  So guess what, I'm currently working on a TDTK. This TDTK is designed and made as a code base toolkit for easy construction of TD game of any kind. It should at least support construction of a standard TD game without needing of any code extension. It also meant to be serve as a tutorial/example project for beginner or maybe intermediate user of Unity3D. 

The toolkit comes with a bundle of scripts that is flexible and configurable to fit a variety of TD gameplay scenario. Part of the coding can be extended to use in RTS. Despite having two working example level (so far, this is still a WIP), there are no 3D art asset in this TD. The user are meant to incorporate their own models. However it does feature some 2D standard asset some example example/prefabs demonstrate how to use a simple 2D texture to the best effect. So there's definitely more than code that is showed in these Toolkit.

Here are a list of the feature currently implemented or supported in the TDTK:

GameControl and GUI

• Configurable resource, player's life, number/type of buildable tower for every scene
• Configurable number of wave, creep type for each wave, number of creep for each wave, interval for each wave
• Selectable tower after being built for stat display, upgrade and selling.
• Range indicator for for tower when seleceted.

• Hitpoint Overlay to display hitpoint

SpawnMode Supported:

• Timed Wave Spawn
• Timed Wave Spawn with skipped time upon wave cleared
• Timed Wave Spawn with user Initiated Skipped
• User Initiated Wave

Creep:

• Configurable hitpoint, speed, resource gain upon unit destroyed, hp overlay display.
• Auto determining of waypoints.
• Compatible to use with custom model with custom animation.

Tower:

• Two build mechanism, build on specified tower platform or build on pre determined grid.
• Configurable damage, range, cooldown, aoe, slow effect, shootobject, targeting, upgradable level, upgradable stat, resell value.
• Auto setup component and parameter depend on model used.

Tower firing object:

• Projectile: basic projectile type, with configurable speed, projectile curve
• Missile: a missle type, with configurable speed, curve pattern
• Beam: a straight laser beam
• Shockwave: aoe wave type, with configurable expanding speed and radius

Game Environment Setup:

• Auto setup path object for creep (2D only). Considering adding 3D.
• Auto setup collider component for tower with custom model

Camera(typical mmo character camera):

• Pan on horizontal plane using keyboard or mouse at the edge of screen
• Rotate camera arround pivot.
• Zoom in/out using mouse scroll.

Quite a list consider I've only worked on it for less than 4 days. Most of the feature are now in place. What's left is polishing and testing and of course, documenting. I'll need to have most of the code commented to hit the brief that this is a more or less a beginner's example project, something I don't normally do. >.<

As a customary practise, here's some screenies:

Screen shot taken from scene with grid based tower deployment

Screen shot taken from scene with platform based tower deployment, notice tower is built on some pre-placed platform.

And a brief playable demo put together using the TDTK. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/23073684/TD_ToolKit/platform_based/WebPlayer.html In this demo, the standard camera control apply, w,a,s,d to pan, left-click and drag to rotate and mouse-scroll to zoom. A scene like this including the tower type, creep type, creep path can be setup with relative ease using the TDTK. Please let me know if you find any bug with the demo.

To be honest, I've actually have this in mind for quite sometime. Most of the code or effects are what I spend hours digging the web though self help material and put together in my self-teaching learning process.  I guess this should be helpful for anyone who wants to learn about unity. I'm planning to put this up in the unity asset store in upon completion.

Rubik's Cube

A very simple GUI based Rubik's cube puzzle. Rather than showing it in its full 3D glory, this one is just a 2D GUI interface that represent all the faces of a Rubik's cube. This faces can be manipulate using buttons. Underneath all this 2D GUI, the mechanism works exactly like a real Rubik's Cube. I've uploaded this game to kongregate, you can try it on this link if you are interested: http://www.kongregate.com/games/songtan/rubiks-cube. 

Mind you there are plenty a lot of good Rubik's Cube based puzzle implementation or alternate implementation that are better (3D) or more fun to play than this. Just bear in mind that this is just a showcase of my coding work and I only spend a few hours on it building from sketch to current state.

Of course I didn't wake up one morning and decided to code such mechanism. This is actually a modification from the work I've done recently. Rudy (the person who commission this) has generously giving me the permission to modify the source code I've written for him into a mini game. The original purpose of this application was an aiding tool for trading card game where each face of the cube will be mapped with a card, and the card can be highlighted in details upon mouse hover. Of course such feature has been taken out to suite this game purpose as a puzzle game.

RTS-X Development Update (New Tech Tree)

Yes this is an regular post regarding the mini RTS I've been working on and I've decided to name it as "RTS-X" for the time being until It is worthy of an epic name. Or until I can be bother to think one.

Noticed It's been slow on the update lately. Due to various reason, university commitment and other free-lance jobs etc... If only I could get a sponsor to support me working full time on this. But hey, at least the development is still going on, whenever I find time. I have been working on a rather big design feature and I think it's about time I do a new update on the blog and shed some light on the things I've been working on.

Behold, a brand new comprehensive multi-discipline tech-tree. The idea is very similar to the talent-tree or skill-tree found in most RPG. You can upgrade your tech in a semi-linear fashion and there are three different discipline to specialised in. The three discipline are command abilities, units and towers. You can invest command-point in either of this discipline to boost your combat ability in each corresponding discipline. Command-point can be gained by performing action in battle, deploy a unit, kill an enemy etc. (subject to change, this is still a WIP)

Here's some screenies. 

I know I'm still using the old icon and all the upgrade looks the same. But these are just place holders until I get some real icon for each upgrade. Hence the two screenies that show each icon represent different tech with different prerequisite and description. I'm desperately in need of getting someone to draw some decent icon for me. If you like to help, please contact me. You can reach me at my email: k.songtan@gmail.com

Here's more detail about the tech:

Command Abilities:

A tech discipline specialised in enhancing the player ability in using command ability. Upgrade in this discipline to increase command ability efficiency and unlock more powerful ability. Example upgradable Tech:

• Energy Generator - Increase the energy regeneration rate by X per sec for every level upgraded. (require 3 command-points in Command Abilities Discipline)
• Artillery Barrage - A series of concentrated artillery shells. Each shell causes X aoe damage. X is increase for every level upgraded. (require 12 command-point in Command Abilities Discipline)
• Intense Shelling - Increase artillery shells number of Artillery Barrage by each level upgraded. (require 12 command-points in Command Abilities Discipline and Artillery Barrage)

Units:

A tech discipline for player who wants to empower their unit. Spending command point in these upgrades makes the units more powerful as well as enabled other strategic perk the benefit usage of units in battle field.  So the old system where each unit has individual upgrades is still in place. The ultimate Bonus, you might be able to unlock a super unit or two if you dig deep into this tree! Example upgradable Tech:

• Mass Production - Reduce the resource cost require to deploy unit for every level upgraded. (require 12 command-point in Units Discipline)
• Demolisher -  Increase hp, damage and damage bonus against tower for every level upgraded. (require 8 command-point in Units Discipline)
• Over-Charger - Unit has a chance to score a hit which cause double damage. (require 6 command-point in Units Discipline)

Towers:

Tower upgrade equivalent of unit discipline. No example upgradable tech on this one. real sorry. I'll save it until I reveal how the towers work in the game.

Zombies!

One of the game which I've involved myself in has near launching and has got a trailer. It's an iphone survival game with you guess it, zombies! Check it out...

Well honestly I wasn't the main developer, I was only responsible for coding of several puzzle sequences. Still, Thanks to Albert who owns this game. He has agree to credit me for the part I've done. Hope the game does well!

RTS-X Development Update: Command Abilties

New feature - Command abilities has been added into the game. Command abilities is a series of powerful abilities that can be used anytime to alter the tide of the battle. Current abilities include:

• Particle Canon: A very high speed projectile based satellite canon that could cause tremendous damage in a concentrated area.
• Ion Canon: A satellite fired, high damage, energy beam that would burn anything in its path. The beam can sweep along a path and even change direction while being fired!
• Artillery Barrage: A series of artillery shelling on an area that would cause widespread damage
• EMF Shockwave: Generate a EMF shockwave that disable and slightly damage all mechanical device within a big area temporarily. 

The usage of command ability required energy. A renewable resource that is constantly being charged. Like always, here's a link to try out the new feature, along with the units with new path finding algorithm.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/23073684/T-Mech_Demo/demo_ability_6_June_2011/WebPlayer.html

The listed abilities below are those that currently implemented, there will be more as the development goes. Expect the next update to include command abilities relevant tech upgrades.

RTS-X Development Update: Path-Finding

Been busy with lots of stuff recently.

I've realised that the pathfinding hasn't really work in more complex environment. Which is certainly something I plan to have down the line. So I've been spending a great deal of time researching pathfinding especially A* algorithm.

So following that I set on reworking the unit pathfinding. After many hours I've manage to put on a modified, light weight  A* algorithm. I'm quite pleased with it although there might be more tweaking to be done. Here's a screenshot of the algorithm in action, the line of green dots indicate the waypoints or path calculated.

It's quite difficult to make the algorithm light enough not to put a strain on the system resource considering there are many active unit on screen constantly performing the search. Must say I've been tempted to use some readily written unity pathfinding algorithm. Anyhow I'm learning about how to manipulate the mesh and stuff so probably in the future I will replace the current navigation grid with a navmesh.

RTS-X Development Update (Unit Upgrade Demo)

A lastest development report of my unnamed RTS project. Hmm, perhaps I should give it a name.

In short, here the stuff I've implemented since last update:

• AI is now in place. You can expect in the final build each time you fight them they will employ different strategy. Unfortunately I can't demonstrate them just yet.
• All GUI elements are now in place. The GUI and control scheme are almost finalised. Except all the icons for button, which are still place-holder until the finalised icon is drawn.
• All units/towers are now upgradable, each with multiple levels of core upgrade and one unique ability that reflect their strategic role. I'll add even more upgrade in the future.
• A prototype base structure that placed at the spawn point of each side. A game objective so to speak. Destroy enemy's base and you are victorious

So basically almost all the core gameplay element are in place. The rest are the visual aspect of the game. which is what I'm working on now. Of course, The path-finding can still use some work. The unit do get stucked from time to time for various reason.

Here's a lastest demo I put together to show some of the recent progress. There are no tower in this demo yet, I meant to save them for a late surprise.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/23073684/T-Mech_UnitDemo/unit_demo_with_upgrade_full_GUI/WebPlayer.html

This demo features:

• all available unit in current development.
• all the relavant upgrades of the units.
• tooltip that gives you insight about the strategic element of the game.
• AI with easy/moderate difficulty.

The power balance of the units and upgrade haven't been tested thoroughly. Therefore any feedback is welcome.

Technical Demo Update

Made some major update on the inventory system and uploaded a new demo.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/23073684/TechnicalDemo/WebPlayer.html

The changes are:

• Revamp the inventory system. Now the interaction works like a typical drag and drop. Just like the typical one in most RPG, ie. World of Warcraft.

• Also added a shop option, no money transaction yet (a relatively easy feature I think). but the point is to demonstrate how the shop items is arranged.

• Item can be deleted by right click when it's picked up. 

• Functioning tooltip showing information of the item in the inventory slot when mouse hover over.

• Currently tweaking the whole system so it's easily adaptable to other project. Also working on making the system more flexible so any configuration to the system can be done easily.

* The link in the previous post has been modified to link to the lastest version of the demo.

A Technical Demo

This is RPG demo showcasing what I've done in the past. It's piece together from some of my own experimental project and the work I've done for others.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/23073684/TechnicalDemo/WebPlayer.html

There are 4 interconnected scene in this demo. Player can travel through each scene in reverse or chronological order. Well basically it's like travel between rooms in an rpg game. There's a running loading screen between each scene change.

A mini-map is display at the top right corner indicate player position and view orientation of the camera as well as the position of the event orbs. A scene change will be triggered whenever player enter this orb.

An simple pick and drop inventory system is in place. player can equip the character with the item in the bags slots. The are 3 equitable slot, weapon, shield and helmet. The equipped item will be shown visually on the player character.

There are no combat system or any monster in place yet. Not that I've never done it but I don't feel like putting it in now. Perhaps I'll add in more stuff in the future when I've more things to show for.

RTS-X Development Update (Unit Demo)

I've decided that it's time to put up a demo demonstrating the units in action.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/23073684/WebPlayer/WebPlayer.html

For the sake for demo, both side will simply deploy whatever that is clicked by the user.

RTS-X Update 4th May 2011

Some progress report on the development.

I've decided to change the theme of the game to sc-fi setting. With laser and plasma and mech hacking and shooting each other. Give me more freedom to think what the towers and units can do, without resorting to magic. Well actually not, It's just easier for me to do the modeling and texturing. I can come out with whatever vague shape and texture and say that is whatever I say it is.

Here's a preview of how are the units gonna looked, or shaped like in the game. I said 'shaped' because obviously they arent textured yet and I'm really hopeless at that.

I didnt give them legs as that would require more effort to animate them. Instead I give them some sort of jetpack stuff. So it looks like they are hovering above the ground. Pretty neat work-around I think.

I've basically have all the core gameplay elements wrapped up. So I've now got functional unit and tower. Like to put a video up but I gave up after spending a while trying. I've never ever make a video before. One of the new feature is a new path finding algorithm. So instead of being confined to navigate along a narrow path, the unit can now navigate open area with multiple obstables so the action can now take place in an open area.

In the new game, each unit/tower is gonna get their own set of upgrade options. Which mean this gives me a huge amount of work to put together a working and not so ugly GUI for the players to navigate through all the upgradables option. It's a long and painful job this, plenty of graphical work and tedious coding. This the fruit of my labor so far after almost a full day works:

Looks completed but I'm cheating by putting on the similar button texture. In the end product they should all be different. So I might have only completed 10 percent? or less if I decided to throw in more stuff. But at least it look quite decent at this stage. The most painful thing is, I might use another method of GUI implementation in the future in favor of game performance so all the coding work might go down to the drain. >.<

Just another typical development process I guess...

The march of the Footman

A week past since Footman v0.1 is first published on knogregate. Have to say I've been very much on the edge everytime I check the play count and comments.

But I'm very pleased to say that it's overally well-received. I've got 1700 plays in seven days! Above all, I've got a rating of 3.2 our of 5 after being rated by more than 100 people. Not bad at all, considering the game itself is very minimal. Really, big thanks to all those people played and rated.

To be honest I didn't want to publish it. It's still too basic and unpolished in my view. Anyway, at least now it motivates me to come up with a better version. I plan to have it ready no lastest by mid May. Not sure if that's possible. It is a hell lot of work to do for a one man team. Anyone who can contribute some 3D props are most welcome.

Stay tune...

Footman version 0.1

Introducing my first ever publicly available game demo, Footman, version 0.1.

It's a very simple RTS with it's only goal is to stop the incoming enemies from stealing your crate. It is actually an idea originated from Tower Defense(TD). Instead of bulding towers like typical TD, you deploy different types of units to stop in incoming waves. You can also upgrade your unit to fair better against the increasingly powerful incoming waves. Of course, there are towers to aid your struggling effort like any TD defense. Instead of pumping all your resources into deploying more unit, you can spend them on tower which is also upgradable like the units. Here's a screen shot:

The demo is now being host on kongregate in the following link:

http://www.kongregate.com/games/songtan/footman-v0-1

This is of course but a very very early demo about a new game concept I'm working on (There's only one level!). So please pardon the any shortcoming you come across. Please, do feel free to leave a comment after you play it. I love to read positive comment, even more so about constructive criticism.

Ultimately the end product of this project is gonna be an alternate RTS. One where you decides the general strategy bu need not worry about controlling and micor-manage the unit. I'm working on the next demo, which would more or less resemble the final gameplay. And it's gonna be very different from this one.

Cant wait...

First Post!!

Wahey! First post!

Not being a typical chatty chaps that blog, not really sure what to say here.

Anyway this is gonna be my game development blog. I'll try to post what ever I've done in regarding my involvement in any game development project. Hopefully that means be lots of exciting stuff. This is a shoutout, I'll post about the project I'm working on when I got time.

Great things are coming up!