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Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Still working

Sorry for not posting in a while. I thought I'd post something to let you guys know I'm not dead and that CyberpunkRL is still being worked on. Unfortunately the past few days have not been very productive due to a sudden Bad Company 2 addiction. Don't worry; I'm aiming to get 0.2a out within a week. That's not a hard deadline or anything, but hopefully I can stick to it. What more do I have to do to get 0.2a ready? The truth is I've already gone through my list of things I wanted to do for the next release. The problem is there are a lot of rough edges I'd like to smooth out before I release another version. I've added so much stuff that there are a lot of things that aren't fully integrated or completed yet (a lot hacking stuff for instance).

I'm happy to announce the next version does have saving! It uses the rather unforgiving model of only one save allowed and it is deleted when you die.The files are in plain text format and can be edited, if you're a dirty cheater.

I've also listened to a lot of the suggestion you guys have given in the comments and stuff. Thanks for all the support!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Victory

Spent the day battling a damn memory leak caused by not disposing certain objects. In the end it turned out to be several stupid mistakes on my part that caused it, but I had to spend 8 hours mucking about in memory profilers and rewriting large sections of my map management code. I guess it wasn't a complete waste, since I learned some new skills and became pretty familiar with managed and unmanaged memory. Oh, and cleaner code. I could have had saving and loading finished if this hadn't popped up! There's always tomorrow though. I leave you with but a small glimpse into the agony I suffered today.

New font

Thanks to Nolithius from #rgrd, CyberpunkRL now has a much more readable font. It's just a larger version of the old one, but I no longer have to strain my eyes to look at it. If, for some reason, you were attached to the old font you'll still be able to use it by editing a newly added configuration file. Yesterday I did a lot of work on the AI. They have real pathfinding now, so they can chase you very well. They can also call for help, and cops will investigate gunshots and screams.
Here's the latest screenshot, which also contains a hint about what I'm working on today.

Monday, July 12, 2010

I've been hard at work...

I had a list of things to work on for the next release:
But I haven't finished everything on it yet. Instead I've been doing other miscellaneous, but exciting work on the game. I've rewritten even more core systems, particularly items and a powerful new scheduler. I've also done more work on visuals and the interface. Many of the changes I've made in the past few days are not very visible when playing the game, but they will make my life so much easier in the future. I've also started working to improve the map generators, particularly the city map which is now based on an island generated using cellular automata and contains several distinct area types (slum, industrial, residential).
I'll probably put off releasing 0.1.2a for a while longer so I can add more things, but I'm really excited about the future of CyberpunkRL.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

A little update...

In my last post I said I'd post an update about the hacking system "tomorrow", but it's been a little longer than that, sorry. Anyway, I got a little caught up doing other behind the scenes improvements. The field of view calculation is SO much better now and some of the other code has been cleaned up a little. I just started on the hacking interface tonight. I decided to go for a really old school terminal thing:
Every time a skill check is taken, you're prompted to press any key and then you get sent back to the map. I did this so that I can simulate time passage while you're in a console (because it would be unfair if time passed but you didn't see what was going on). When the authorities are notified it just increases your bounty, but I may add alarms and other counter measures eventually, once I implement real pathfinding.

Anyway, progress is going well. I'm going to try to release a new version packed with new stuff within a week or two... hopefully.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

More graphical changes

I don't really have much to show you this time, but I figured I'd post a quick progress report. I've been hard at work since the last update. A lot of the work I've been doing has been behind the scenes. I completely rewrote a few methods and systems, particularly the items system. Most of those changes are behind-the-scenes and are barely noticeable in-game. I also decided to go with a solid color for floors so I can draw it behind objects and actors.
I did some work on the stealth system, added a somewhat useless augmentation, added a character info screen, made light placement not random, made targeting less annoying, added neon signs, and fixed a few other things. All the changes are pretty minor, however, so I plan to not release until I add a major new feature--hacking. I'll post about hacking once I've done some work on it (hopefully tomorrow). Also, I've decided hacking will be done through a command line thing. Sorry to disappoint those of you who were hoping for some kind of virtual world hacking interface. I'm just not a huge fan of that.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

0.1.1a Released - should work on 64bit now

Well I was going to add more to this version, but I decided to release it early. I believe I've fixed the 64 bit OS compatibility issues. Let me know if it's not fixed.
Download CyberpunkRL 0.1.1a

Changelog:
VERSION 0.1.1a
- Possibly fixed 64bit crash by forcing target platform to be x86
- Added stealth. Press 'z' to toggle stealth mode. Stick to the shadows
- Light sources are now visible on the map (star-like icons). They can also be broken when shot
- Buildings are now colored
- Minor item stat tweaks
- Reduced base sight range slightly
- Keypad keys should work in all menus now

Saturday, July 3, 2010

0.1a Release

Alright, I'm releasing 0.1a to the public. It's missing a lot of features but I think it still should provide some enjoyment. Give it a shot. Feel free to comment here with feedback. I didn't make an installer, so just extract everything somewhere and run cyberpunkrl.exe. If you have problems make sure you've got the .NET framework installed (CyberRL is windows only for now).
I'm trying Filesmelt for hosting for now, but if it goes down or doesn't work out, I'll try somewhere else.

Download CyberpunkRL 0.1a!

I included a manual. It may not cover everything, so the best way to learn to play is to just experiment. Expect to do a bit of dying while you get used to the game.

64bit Compatibility
It has come to my attention that CyberpunkRL crashes on 64bit OSes. I'm working on fixing that crash and it will hopefully be fixed in the next version, which should be coming fairly soon. I'm sorry for the inconvenience! 
Update: I think I've fixed the 64bit incompatibility by setting the target platform to x86 rather than anycpu. I tested on my 64bit laptop and it worked. I'll release a new version, 0.1.1a, within a few days.

Name change, release imminent

I've decided to change the name of this game to CyberpunkRL from CyberRL because I stumbled upon another roguelike called Cyber Rogue and I want to avoid confusion. It's a shame; CyberRL was more catchy. Oh well! I'm nearly ready to release 0.1a either today or tomorrow. I just need to put in some finishing touches and find a file host.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Appearance changes and first release approaches

I decided try out some different characters for rendering the map. I chose the lowest level of filled block for the floors and the solid one for walls. I like that the floors now show lighting more clearly (which will help when stealth is implemented) however I dislike that objects on the floor have different backgrounds. I tried to offset this by rendering a solid color gray background behind them, but that just made things hard to see so I'm sticking with black backgrounds for now. I may end up switching the floors back to periods if I feel like it's too ugly, but I'm definitely keeping the walls.
In other news, I spent the last few hours hard at work. I feel like I'm almost ready to release a public alpha version (0.1a I guess I'll call it). I checked off everything on my todo list for 0.1a except for in-menu item descriptions which I'll probably add in tomorrow. I also have a few other minor tweaks and features that I'd like to add, and I need to write up a quick manual and find a place to host the file.

Edit: If anyone is actually reading this and has an opinion on the new map graphics, I'd love to hear it.