A Personal Project

[Katherine1 362]

Hello LotC,

 

I decided that I want to share a project that I've been working on, on and off, for about a year now. This project has nothing to do with Minecraft or LotC. It does, however, have to do with writing games, so if you're interested in gaming (which I'd expect since you're here) or programming, read on! I'll try to keep the nerdy techy stuff toward the bottom to avoid deterring readers.

 

This is the beginnings of a game engine. It's a 2D top down engine. A game engine is the base part of the game that drives how all the basic parts work. Graphics, Sounds, Input, etc. I initially began this project for someone else. I got pulled into writing a game for someone who wanted to do a kickstarter. Well, that never happened. They eventually dropped off the face of the earth before we could complete a demo, so I took what was there and started developing it to my own purposes. I've worked on it on and off as time has allowed ( I actually took a lot of time off of working on it while I've been here on LotC ). And what I have so far lets me do some pretty cool things.

 

First of all, maps are drawn in Tiled Map Editor, which is a free 2D map editor. So mapping is actually incredibly easy. I also currently have a way to move between maps (not featured in the demo below), and collision detection so that you don't pass through buildings or trees. Both are done by drawing rectangles in the map editor, which is much easier than trying to figure all that out by other ways. I can even render multiple Tiled Maps on top of each other, so that I could make a house in Tiled, then add it to a map that's already being rendered whenever I want, wherever I want. Simply put: Maps that change as the game progresses!

 

All the resources for the game are held in one file (which secretly, is just renamed zip file, shhh). By swapping out that one file, you could have a completely different game! 

 

Then I have scripting. I can run javascript files, which let me completely separate game logic from the engine. At the moment, the engine only runs a script when the map is loaded, though this will be expanded on. I've already got a nice selection of functions that can be called in javascript, letting me do things like load a map, or place an NPC. At the moment an NPC can be rendered, though I have not tried, and they would just stand and do nothing.

 

Oh, and for the nerds here, the engine compiles the scripts the first time they are run, so that when they need to be called again, they run faster. (scripts get recompiled each run, though.)

 

I also have language files so that all text can be easily translated, giving easy multilanguage support! Most recently, I've implemented an XML file that holds character information. Whether it's the player or an NPC, it'll hold basic information on the character, and important things like where their spritesheet is, and where all the frames of the animations are on the sheet.

 

That's another thing I have working, basic animations :) 

 

The entire thing is written in Java. I used libgdx for the graphics library. This build is tested and working on Java 7. I can't guarantee that it'll work on an older copy of Java. In the zip is a folder, just extract the folder somewhere. Inside is Game.jar and a folder with the game assets. (all zipped up in a purdy archive) Just run the jar file like you would an executable. It should work. There isn't much to see, but wasd to move, esc to exit.

 

Here are some screenshots of the two things to see on the map. Note that the art assets in use for these tests are Liberated Pixel Cup assets.

 

 

And here's the promised demo: Demo!!

 

Just wanted to share. It's a pretty sizable project that normally no one ever sees :)

 

EDIT: Okay, none of this Google Drive hosting crap. There's the zip as it should be. Download that.

[AlmondTree 418]

I want to try this and i will!

Edit:When i try to run it, it opens and closes in a split second :I

 

Edit: Yepp and my folder looks like this - http://gyazo.com/c74ad95387211389591a694cbd8974b2

[Katherine1 362]

Sounds like something's breaking. Not at all surprising, unfortunately. It hasn't really been tested on something other than my laptop. You're using Java 7, not Java 6, right?

[Jimacat 34]

When i try to run it, it opens and closes in a split second :I

[Katherine1 362]

Well, time to figure out what's killing it! What Operating System are you two using? What version of Java? You unzipped the whole folder, right? that assets folder needs to be where it is for it to work. Does your monitor support 1280x720? That's the size of the window. 

[Huh 91]

I double checked, and am running on java 7. My monitor can support that, and my folder looks like this: http://gyazo.com/e7e3adfe84b603bfb7ee9f22d49a4727

Mine still closes after opening :/

[Katherine1 362]

That's not right, and not how I have it packed. Huh. Is google drive doing something weird? I'll look into this.

[AlmondTree 418]

I got java 7 and windows 8, and it says x64 too. My screen is fine as well

[Katherine1 362]

Redownload and try again. Google Drive was goofy and bad. I now have just a direct link to the zip file.

[Elad™ 560]

It works fine for me.

[NomadGaia 930]

Seems interesting, but It still doesn't work for me.

[AlmondTree 418]

Yay works now! ^_^

[Valon (Yokey) 168]

I like this. I've always been interested in Game Development

[Overland 349]

Works for me nicely, and I haven't found any but one small problem with it (the collision boxes for the objects are a bit larger.)  I hope you manage to develop it more, as it seems it has some potential. 

[Katherine1 362]

I do still develop it, and am not stopping now. I want to get it to the point where I can make the kinds of games I want to make with it.