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Games [Released] Brink of Extinction TD

Discussion in 'Works In Progress - Archive' started by _M_S_D_, Jun 3, 2016.

  1. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    Get the full game at:
    store.steampowered.com/app/748930/Brink_of_Extinction/
    https://gamejolt.com/games/brink-of-extinction/176423

    OP:

    Hello!

    For fun I decided to start putting together a tower defense game. The project has been running for about a year now, although at the same time I’ve been working on some other concepts/projects and handling full time studies.

    I identified several central components that were required to make the game.

    1 – A Simple waypoint system for enemy paths.
    2 – Targeting for both turrets and enemies.
    3 – Projectile controller.
    4 – A game controller that checks the state of the game (in game, in menu, game over etc).
    5 – A menu controller.
    6 – Turret and Enemy controllers.

    Alongside these there are obviously plenty of smaller scripts, for pooling objects, recycling objects, fading objects etc. But most of the time spent initially, was spent making the scripts required for the game mechanics.

    So the waypoint system I made is very simple. I use “anchors” placed in the scene and given a numerical value (signaling what path it belongs to). upon scene start each enemy will read in what path it is using and which anchor it should be moving towards. To add more “life” to this system all the positions the enemy receives have a random offset value. By randomization I avoid getting enemies that move in a single line, instead they will move in a similar direction, but not use exactly the same anchor position before progressing to the next position.

    After a bit of work, I managed to get this working as expected and fully optimized it effectively handles the pathing of the enemies. In early tests I only used cubes for enemies and my test was to be able to have 200 “enemies” on scene at once without and issues, which it could. This image is a newer image with “real” enemies, displaying the paths “drawn” for each individual enemy.

    screen_2016101.jpg

    Next up I needed to work on targeting. For turrets this is essentially just a CheckSphere and OverlapSphere gathering objects tagged as enemies. After that some different calculations to get the turrets to rotate to the desired location and rotating the gun properly. There’s also a test to ensure that the turret has actually reached its desired position before firing. Once the turret has found a target, the overlapsphere no longer runs (of course J).

    For enemies I wanted to avoid using overlapsphere as it can be inefficient and taking into account that I planned for very many enemies on scene at once this could prove heavy. So instead I store all the player objects in an array open to the enemy targeting script. Every once in a while the enemy will check if it is within firing range from a player object (base or turret) and decide if it should start attacking. The code for this is simple enough, essentially just checking if the enemy is within firing range from a player object by using “within circle” type code. This means that although the game is in 3D, I use 2D math to check this. This is not an issue because the levels are generally flat.

    Next up was a script that would handle the projectiles from enemies and turrets. Currently there are 10 projectiles (stored in an enum) and there will be another 2 or 3 before I am finished. The projectiles are the usual culprits, among them (regular) bullets, rail, acid spray, explosives etc.
    If the projectile type is of area damage type it will check enemies within radius of the area damage and send out damage values to the enemies (or turrets) affected. If there is no area damage, I use information from the enemy or turret (their targets) by just applying the damage directly and then handling the projectile events (instance lights or dust etc from pool).

    The game controller: Essentially this script handles the game states (paused, in menu, game over, level won etc). It also handles some of the inits for object pools. My main goal with this script was that it was not to become a “dump” for everything that doesn’t fit in anywhere else, and currently that has been avoided at least.

    The menu controller handles the different menus in game. For example when clicking a construction foundation for turrets, it opens the specific menu for it, if you click a base, or enemy these have specific menus. If you click a turret, it opens the update options, targeting algorithms etc.

    The turret and enemy controllers are scripts that control damage, hp, range, level etc. Simple enough.

    So what is the goal of the game and where am I now? 15 out of the originally planned 15 story mode levels are finished. I now have to make the 3 + 3 continous mode levels and start the neccessary programming for this. All previously mentioned retexturing that needed to be done has been done, animations improved and models have been spruced up as the earliest ones I made were a bit subpar.

    Some pictures:

    The game will feature 9 turrets, 8 conventional turrets that fire when detecting an enemy, and one that deploys a drone that can be moved across the scene.

    screen_20151230.jpg

    Turrets with new UV, mapped half of the turret then mirrored the texture because you can usually not tell the difference and most of the graphics are mirrored on both sides anyway. Also you generally see only one side of the turret. This way I can get more detail in using the same texture size (2k).

    screen_20160127.jpg

    Some random area shots of levels in different states of completion.

    screen_20160602.jpg screen_20160417.jpg


    That’s all, stay tuned for further updates. :D
     
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2017
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  2. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    Turrets - ready for the onslaught of vicious enemies!
    screen_20160604.jpg
     
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  3. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    Currently in the process of improving some enemy textures and models (slight nudges). Here's a current WIP.
    screen_20160607.jpg
     
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  4. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    Scorpion enemy now fully animated (vids will come) and the hideous cars replaced, although the new ones require a bit more "dustiness" to blend with the environment. Also, to the left is the exploder larva enemy. :)

    screen_20160608.jpg
     
  5. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    Expanding on the models needed for a harbour type section of the game:
    screen_20160609.jpg
     
  6. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    Currently putting all my efforts into finishing the remaining enemies and more graphical assets for levels.
    Discovered I need to remake one of the first enemies I made as it doesn't show consistency with the newer ones (as often happens once you find the style you are going for).
    But this is where things stand currently:
    The more or less finished enemies (the roach thingymajig to the left currently has no texture for the legs, but is otherwise quite finished) (and the tiny guy doesn't cast a shadow cause its small, and also because I spawn 30-40 of these at the same time, avoiding unnecessary shadowcasters that barely show anyway):
    screen_20160614.jpg

    The containers I made have now been implemented in an otherwise unfinished level (looks quite busy, but not very organized and "nice"):
    screen_20160611.jpg

    Then I decided to overhaul the asphalt texture, as it is used all over the place, but was looking a bit plain. As mentioned before the cars have been replaced and have now been changed in all levels and levels have been rebaked:

    screen_20160613.jpg

    Last image also shows how I decided to change from my own billbaord type grass (ugly), to Unity's terrain type grass, which imo looks better and also comes with the benefit of animating. :)
     
  7. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    A new friend joins the group of enemies, the spider (remade and unrigged, thus the odd pose):

    screen_20160615.jpg
     
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  8. Jamster

    Jamster

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    Absolutely love the artwork! The turrets look really nice!
     
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  9. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    Thanks ^_^
     
  10. Lu3DLC

    Lu3DLC

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    This looks great! Loving the texture detail on the enemies
     
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  11. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    Decided on a name!

    AND! Here's a first video of gameplay (a bit heavy on bloom, yes ;) ):
     
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  12. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    The monster family expands once again. Mosquito joins in on the fight. Will be making a variation of it similar to that of the spider and scorpion.
    screen_20160628.jpg
     
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  13. RavenOfCode

    RavenOfCode

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    This game looks great! The art looks amazing and I love the detail on the process.

    Great work! :)
     
  14. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    Thank you ^_^ Glad you like it. :)
    Here's the main menu concept I'm going for atm. Some things are missing still, but I should finish up on this during the weekend. Mostly I just need to tie up some loose ends (lose level, win level, start new game, early sound version etc) before I can start looking for testers. :) I would like to have some music in there also, but that isn't really a priority atm.


    Edit: Also added that machinegunturrets glow a bit red when being fired for a long time (they don't overheat though, that would be unpredictable gameplaywise). Also, blood stains now align properly with enemy direction, unlike before when they went a bit all over the Place (seen in the previous video)
    screen_20160629.jpg
     
    Last edited: Jun 29, 2016
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  15. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    Doing some testing with the exploder maggot enemy.

     
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  16. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    All but one (boss type) enemy.
    screen_20160708b.jpg
     
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  17. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    Subway entrance prop: screen_20160710.jpg

    And here is that prop in context (level 8), alongside police and taxi car variations:
    screen_20160712.jpg
     
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  18. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    Finally gotten around to working on the special attacks. There's an airstrike that fires 4-5 rockets at the selected area, it's slightly delayed so players have to plan where to use it while also avoiding accidentally striking nearby turrets. There's also a set of mines that can be placed in the scene. These can be seen in the following video (where one can also hear gooey noises from exploding enemies :p explosion sounds will be implemented soon).



    In other news there's been some optimization of object selection (selecting turrets, enemies etc) which was a bit of a problem area previously using a mix of old and new code, now it's all cleaned up and super efficient. :) Will be getting around to optimizing menus as that is a bit of a mess still (functional, but not optimized). Levels 1-3 have their enemy tracks rolled in, so the beta is more or less around the corner (those interested can PM or write a reply).
     
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  19. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    Haven't updated in a while, but there has been progress!
    All the special attacks are now completely finished (Graphics, code and sound). All the in game menus are finished, meaning selecting and upgrading turrets and seeing enemy health is finished. The menu to restart game and exit game is finished.
    I have an early iteration of the endgame finished - when losing the game the level reloads and when you have managed to finish the level you the next loads (basic stuff, but required, nonetheless!)
    I've also done some further optimization of some of the troublesome scripts. Among the issues was a poor method of selecting turrets etc... nicely fixed now :). I am very happy with the result there and hopefully there should be no issues with poorly optimized scripts.
    Level 1-3 is pretty well polished. These will be the levels featured in the beta once I decide to put it out for testing. The levels 4-8, 10 and 12 are also fairly finished except the enemy paths remain to be implemented properly.

    So that's pretty much it, things chugging along at a decent pace. Should be getting around to setting up a greenlight page soon. :) Next update should be about beta testing and early beta results. In the meantime here is the finished level 8:
    screen_20160726.jpg
     
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  20. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    I've run some pre-beta tests with friends and acquintances. From these tests I've received a few tips and feature requests ("tool tips" for construction options among other things) and bug reports. I have worked on these features and bugfixes and am feeling quite confident a proper beta is ready (if anyone is interested send a message here).
    I've done further optimization, removing an unnecessary update loop on each enemy for instance and also moving certain GUI functions over to events to avoid them running in loops and simplifying on mouse over functions and the like.
    Have done tests running the game at a steady 100 FPS and the results are promising, although more testing will be required considering I am running the game on a monster of a computer currently. :p

    Until next update: Early iteration of level 4 :)
    screen_20160804.jpg
     
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  21. Kronnect

    Kronnect

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    Hey, looks really good!
    Can I have a playable demo?
     
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  22. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    Absolutely! I will update the thread sometime next week with download location etc as I am currently on the road. :)
     
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  23. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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  24. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    Even though updates have been a bit more sporadic recently, the game is indeed progressing still. :)
    Currently finishing up building level 9 and 11 (both pictured below), and adding enemy tracks and spawn zones and tweaking them on levels 4 through 8. I plan on having levels 1-12 completely finished by the end of next week and the remaining three the two weeks following. There's also been some graphical tweaks on the turrets and on the already finished levels as I've added some new props and tweaked existing props.
    I've also gotten around to implementing more sounds and should get around to editing them starting next week. Music is an ongoing (albeit slowly so) project, but I should be getting around to this more once the levels start finishing up.

    The beta is up and running, so don't miss out on trying it out and giving your feedback here or on gamejolt :)
    I plan on launching the green light campaign in roughly a month once I feel that the game is presentable there and once I have started work on the continous game play mode (last remaining "big" thing that needs to be programmed).

    screen_20160817.jpg screen_20160818.jpg
     
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  25. QFSW

    QFSW

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    Another thing I noticed when playing the game was it was maxing out my GPU (got 100FPS i think) so it got pretty noisy. If you have time some graphic settings or a vsync toggle would be nice :)
     
  26. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    Yes, the whole options (game mechanics and Graphics related) part is completely unfinished, I should get around to this around next month. It is uncharted territory so don't know when it can make it into the builds though. :)
     
  27. QFSW

    QFSW

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    I've got some level of graphics options implemented into my game (AA,VSync,resolution,fullscreen and bloom) so when you come to do it PM me and ill share what i did if it helps
     
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  28. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    Will do, that'd be great. :)
     
  29. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    Builds updated:
    http://gamejolt.com/games/brink-of-extinction/176423

    Changes:
    Bug fixes:
    An issue where the construction menu is active (but invisible) upon start of a level has been corrected.
    An error where enemies would at times be pointing the wrong way when attacking and therefore missing the turrets has been fixed.
    An issue where turrets would aim higher than they actually should has been corrected.
    An issue where mosquito and roach projectiles would fire strangely or not at all has been fixed.
    Fixed collider issues on level 1-3 (primarily concerns airstrike).
    Tanker vehicle on level 1 can no longer be selected.
    Corrected bug where airstrike costed nothing on first use.
    Corrected bug where bugzapper costed credits regardless of whether it hit an enemy or not.

    Improvements/additions
    GUI alpha raised.
    Damage indication when base is being attacked.
    Addition of sequence of hexes turning on (and off) at the beginning (and end) of the game making clicking them more intuitive for beginners.
    Ferns and big leaves now move in the wind.
    Leaves blow from trees.
    Dust particles added for visual effect.
    Mine/airstrike marker has been modified.
    Ants now do 2 less damage and give one more credit when killed. (shifting the difficulty of level 1 in particular)
    Longer delay between waves on level 1-3 and within waves (between spawns of individual enemies) on level 2-3.
    Added particles during explosions.

    Sounds are still largely implemented without edits and fixes, so some play too long etc.

    Outside the scope of the beta I have made progress on improving all levels. Levels 1-12 are more or less finished. 13 should be started the upcoming week. Music composition will be started the upcoming week also. There will also be some tweaking on some of the enemy animations and minor tweaks on levels.
     
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  30. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    Slower progress this week. However, I have now set a date for the next build update, which will be next Sunday (the 11th of Septmber). This update will focus primarily on rebalancing some things, so no new features.
    Some noticable changes though:
    Selecting turrets now require one click only.
    Bug where an enemy could (rarely) get stuck on its path has been fixed.

    Also spruced up some code, the plasma turret projectile, overall post proc effects and a bunch of other things (it's been a week of detail work).

    The work on levels progresses, I have started planning the continous levels now that the turrets are fairly well balanced. Did not get around to working on level 13 this week, because I focused on adding details to existing levels and fixing minor bugs and other issues. But next week there should be progress with that. Also gotten my sound library in working order so I can start working on music (Exciting! :D )

    Here's what the game now looks like. Level 12 action.

    screen_20160904.jpg
     
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  31. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    Some testing of a new Plasma Turret projectile:

     
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  32. QFSW

    QFSW

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    I'm liking it!
     
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  33. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    Turret sales are now in! Recoup some credits by selling turrets before they get destroyed or when you no longer need them.
    Because this feature made it very apparent how the turrets pop in and/out when building/selling I decided to add a sequence to hide it. This is what it looks like atm (pretty much finished, just some minor detail work left, and builder module texture needs to be fixed):

     
    Last edited: Sep 8, 2016
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  34. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    New builds are up on gamejolt:
    http://gamejolt.com/games/brink-of-extinction/176423

    This update doesn’t fix that much, but adds the feature of selling turrets and rebalances alot of enemies and turrets.

    Bugfixes and improvements:
    Selecting turrets only require one click now.
    Bug where enemies could sometimes get stuck on their paths has been fixed.
    Minor issues and optimizations have been added.
    Roach animation improved.
    Camera fade optimized.

    Features:
    Machinegun turret rebalanced, double turret rebalanced, selling turrets now in. Sequence when buying and selling turrets is in.

    Known issues:
    Credit counter in HUD sometimes incorrect (this is a display error only).
    There is a build error relating to NFAA in one of the scripts, but this script is not actively used in any of the levels anymore. This will be fixed for the next update, it doesn’t affect gameplay.


    Outside of the scope of the build:
    Acid turret, missile turret, sonic turret, railgun turret and drone controller have been rebalanced.
    Spider variant B and C, Ant variant B, Roach variant B, Mosquito variant B and mite have been rebalanced.
    Levels spruced up.
    Random enemy spawn script started for the continous gameplay levels.
    Main menu spruced up (not added in build).

    That's it, the build update frequency will be lower from now on, as I start working more on music and sounds and more level work, things that won't require build updates for player input.
     
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  35. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    screen_20160913.jpg

    So, I've started trying to finish up everything that has been "left as is", although not QUITE finished yet, this is the main menu atm. Need to improve the buttons on the side etc, except for that it's pretty much where I want it.
     
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  36. QFSW

    QFSW

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    Looking pretty good :)
     
  37. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    Yay! A youtuber tested my game (previous version I believe).

     
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  38. QFSW

    QFSW

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    Great! any idea how he came across it? could be a useful thing to ask
     
  39. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    ^^ Through Gamejolt. :)

    These past (almost) two weeks have been quite crazy, so I've only made small progress on the game and am as such behind on my own schedule, but what can you do!?
    At least I've finally gotten around to starting work on the last remaining three "story mode" levels, which means I've mapped out the objects that need to be modelled etc. So hopefully, given the time constraints, I should still be able to finish up all levels, including the continous gameplay levels fairly soon.
    On the programming side of things, there have been a few more bugfixes. I've fixed some code, so that repair and upgrade buttons are deactivated when you are low on funds, at max level or full HP. I've done a few optimizations on the menus, but this will continue. I've also to remove some of the "bad" code in there, mostly out of stubborness as it is fully functional, just not up to par with how I want things to look ;)

    Anyway, no new news on build updates (as I've mentioned before, there will be fairly few build updates from now on).

    Level 13 [WIP]:
    screen_20160923.jpg
     
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  40. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    0.13 is now up.
    On the code side of things, this update only brings some smaller new features, smaller fixes and optimizations.
    Among other things some updates to the gui, buttons turning off when turrets are fully updated etc.
    Click sounds (temporary sound) when buttons are pressed.
    Some minor script optimizations, where things that we're previously (and needlessly so) updated every frame have been moved to 1/10 the frequency.
    Graphically some light baking issues have been fixed, reflection probes have been changed, main menu has been updated, hexes are now indicated on level start and the range display has been updated.
    Levels 1-3 have been rebalanced slightly.
     
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  41. QFSW

    QFSW

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    Awesome, will check out soon!
     
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  42. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    Greetings!
    Progress is currently (unbearably) slow, due to a heavy work load. But there has been some progress. Lvl 14 is more or less finished (lacks polish though). That leaves lvl 15, which has been started but is yet to be finished.
    I should also be getting around to programming the options menu tomorrow evening.

    screen_20161005.jpg
     
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  43. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    Hello people!
    So I managed to get some stuff done this week:
    Some microoptimizations in the menuscripts.
    Found a nullref bug that is now fixed.
    Added button in GUI for options.
    Started working on option menu.

    Lvl 15 is now finished, except a missing prop. That means all story mode levels are finished.
    I decided to add a preplaced turret, that will primarily be used in the continous levels - the tesla turret. This will also serve a strategic role in the continous levels. My plan is that this will be "connected" to some of the buildable hexes, once destroyed it will "unpower" these hexes meaning you can no longer use them. This means that as a player you will have to plan the defence differently as there will be more than one object in need of protection. However, I would also like to have the usual "stop the enemies before they rush through the defence" mode, so I've decided to have 3 + 3 continous levels instead of the originally planned 3. Landing the total level count at 21. Shouldn't delay the whole process that much hopefully.

    Level 15, which features the tesla turret as the object that needs to be protected (also serves a role for the story of the game here).
    screen_20161008a.jpg

    Close up of untextured Tesla:
    screen_20161008b.jpg
     
    Last edited: Oct 8, 2016
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  44. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

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    I've been running some tests with realtime lighting (from the sun, which was baked before) and think it looks pretty good.
    You can compare with one of the images in the previous post:
    screen_20161009.jpg

    Any opinions? I personally like this because it makes the enemies cast shadows, which is very atmospheric. :D Obviously I will need to rework the levels a bit to cut down on the total number of shadow casters and also fine tune the lighting more (which I was going to do regardless).
     
    theANMATOR2b likes this.
  45. QFSW

    QFSW

    Joined:
    Mar 24, 2015
    Posts:
    2,906
    If you can do it without making too much of a performance hit i'd say go for it!
    Is mixed a possibility?
     
  46. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

    Joined:
    Nov 12, 2013
    Posts:
    511
    I don't know about mixed, it seems to have been broken in previous versions. I will have to look into it again. Performance shouldn't be an issue, but depends on the lower end computers I'm targeting. I'll dom some testing and see where I end up
     
  47. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

    Joined:
    Nov 12, 2013
    Posts:
    511
    Greetings!
    The past few days I've been working on optimizing the scenes. I've made a script to merge all objects that share materials so that I can lower the number shadow casters. In the scene above I've managed to get it from roughly 1k to 220 which should be an ok amount. After that I've started reworking the lighting on the levels, although quite some ways to go before I am finished I am happy with moving the game over to real time lighting altogether. The look of it is much nicer and more atmospheric. :)

    I've also finished up the Tesla script. And given the functionality of having several in one scene I had to do some changes to how the gui handles info like HP etc for what was before just one base per level. Now HP is added up and then displayed. The tesla now attaches to a series of buildable hexes, so once it gets destroyed it overloads them and makes them unusable. I've not added particle effects etc for this, but it works like it's supposed to. :)
    Now I can start working on the continuous levels for real and start testing. I've started working on the random spawn generator for real and done some early testing, which looks promising enough for me to set the date for the next build to november 6th. This build will feature one continuous level allowing for the 3 turrets featured in the current build and 4 of the 5 enemies featured.

    Other than that, as usual some minor bug fixes and optimizations.

    Here's the first of the three strategic continuous levels. (Tesla still untextured)
    screen_20161015.jpg
     
    QFSW and RavenOfCode like this.
  48. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

    Joined:
    Nov 12, 2013
    Posts:
    511
    News on the upcoming 0.14 update:

    Lighting system changed from baked to realtime

    Menuoptimizations
    Options menu implemented
    Bloodspatter effect changed
    Smoke effect from turrets fixed
    Indication for damaged turret changed
    Blood spatter from enemy offset issue fixed
    Preplaced Tesla turret implemented and coded
    Tesla turret attack implemented
    Blood splats on ground fade out
    Continuous mode implemented
    Buildermodule now kills enemies that are on the hex where a turret is being placed
    Destroyed Tesla overloads nearby hexes and makes them unusable
    Metal/specular maps added to turrets
    Bug where menubutton in game could be clicked even if button hidden fixed

    Outside of beta scope
    Story mode finished
    Rebalanced levels
    Rebalanced turrets
    Rebalanced enemies
    Acid splash from Acid turret fixed

    So it's been a decent week even if I've been super busy with exams etc. Things in bold text have been started, but are yet to be finished. So it looks as if I'm safely on my way for the November 6th build update. Obviously the continuous mode is a first iteration and may see many changes depending on feedback.
    In terms of time, things are starting to clear up now so hopefully after the next build there will be a lot of work done on sound implementation and music. I should also be getting around to launching a greenlight campaign with trailer end november or so.

    Here's the tesla more or less finished.
    screen_20161020.jpg
     
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  49. QFSW

    QFSW

    Joined:
    Mar 24, 2015
    Posts:
    2,906
    Definitely like the tesla and its shadows. good job
     
    _M_S_D_ likes this.
  50. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

    Joined:
    Nov 12, 2013
    Posts:
    511
    Just a brief update displaying the overhauled lighting in its first iteration.
    screen_20161024a.jpg screen_20161024b.jpg screen_20161024c.jpg screen_20161024d.jpg
     
    Hikiko66 likes this.