I also started working on the editor, it's not much yet, but I can load maps and place entities on them. I have decided to decouple the run-time game code from the editor code, even if it means I would need to duplicate things a little(not much, though), since I realized, based on conversations I've had with members here and a tweet from Carmack on the subject, that it would benefit me in the long run, as in-editor objects usually have different requirements from their runtime counterparts.
So here's another video, showing the player walking around in the level and shooting some bad guys:
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One problem I had was with the physics: I'm using Newton and, for some reason, doing raycast seems pretty expensive. It's not like I'm doing *much* of raycasting either, I cast a ray to check if the player is visible from the enemy's pov, and there aren't more than a dozen of enemies on the whole level. So there's definately something fishy here. I'm getting more than 100fps of course, but it's not like the engine is stressing a lot anyway. So I probably need to check what is going on. One thing I'm thinking is that I'm using the old Newton version, so maybe switching to 2.x would fix the problem somewhat. We'll see.
Other than that, I have sketched up a basic story for the game, which I titled "The Black Sector"(probably for good). It's basic run-of-the-mill shooter stuff, and I'll probably revise it, but it's better than nothing. Here it is, taken straight from the story screen, which you can select on the title menu:
[quote]
The year is 2220.
You are Mike Shooter, a skilled bounty hunter, responsible for bringing more than 120 notorious galactic
criminals to the highest bidder.
One morning, as you are enjoying your usual Nova Espresso(tm), your telecom notifies you that you have a message.
It's Jake Stone, prominent member of the Galactic Council for Peace and Prosperity(GCPP). Turns out, he
has a job for you, the most dangerous, but at the same time profitable, of your career.
He wants you to chase after the well-known and feared criminal known simply as "The Lizard".
He has already assasinated a member of the Galactic Congress, and it is rumored that he now targets the Princess herself.
Unfortunately, he has managed to found refuge in the black sector.
The black sector is a small region close to the outer boundaries of the Milky Way. Little is known
about it, since it's occupied almost completely of the most dangerous and demented criminals and pirates from all
galactic races, making its charting extremely dangerous. It is there you must go and capture the Lizard, bringing him
and all of his allies down. Not an easy task, but if anyone can do it, it's you.
And the reward is more than you could ever dream...
So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead...the black sector awaits...
[/quote]
In other news, next week I'll start tutoring some highschool students on computers&programming, for some extra income. I am going to get the school material and read it though to be prepared. As about programming, I'll probably start with Python to better teach them the basics, but other than that my goal is to generally teach them some good practices, such as:
1)Information hunting.
Be it from books, the internet, MSDN, help files, I will teach them how to search for what they want to accomplish on their own. I consider this a pretty strong skill for a programmer, which as we all know needs to do most of his learning on his own.
2)Use the debugger.
Very important in my eyes. And generally use their tools to full effect, most notably their IDE. Also understand the compiling&linking process so they can solve whatever problems arise in that department on their own.
3)Source control.
This might come a bit later, but it also very important. I haven't decided which I will use as a teaching tool, but I'm thinking git. Opinions on this?
Of course, it all depends on whether the student wants to learn some solid stuff, that is he's interested in the field, or whether he just wants to pass the highschool course. I'm not going to give extra work to anyone that doesn't want it
And yes, I know I promised a working demo last time, but honestly there isn't much gameplay and it wouldn't be worth it to download a >200MB file(all those assets and stuff). So that'll wait when I have more in the game going on.
That's all folks, thanks for tuning in, and feel free to leave any comments that come to your mind!
