VICTORY

Please ignore the broken puzzle Rarity in the background, what you should be focusing on is the hazy appearance of the characters.

What I have done here is attach a depth buffer to the map chunks (had to rewrite a good chunk of code to turn them into FBOs) and then rendered the characters under the depth.  Here I randomized the depth buffer data, so which pixels you can see are random.  I am going to rewrite the map compressor to allow depth data to be drawn directly onto the map, which will allow the artists to draw depth directly onto the objects on a line art map and make them realistically position themselves relative to the characters.

This is one of the reasons why I did the switch to opengl all that time ago, I wanted to attach depth buffers to the map since doing it in software was impossibly slow.  This technique runs at the usual 60fps since it’s all on the GPU.

This took me 2 days of struggling with stupid specifications of opengl (since, for example, you cannot glBlitFramebuffer to the display using the depth bits, you must use a canvas FBO) that weren’t exactly spelled out anywhere.  But I did it.

I need to go do something simple.  Probably go back to putting in combat abilities, or just go insane.  Totally insane.

Developer Update: May 10th

Yes there’s a new video.

This week, I’ve implemented streaming AVI files, finished Urimas’ icebolt spell implementation, added the Effects backend (combat is now more complex than clubbing the enemy) and finished the backend of the Skills and Talents windows.

Trainee has dropped work on the server to get to work on implementing the rest of the Talents for Twilight “Murderface” Sparkle.  It’s also good to get him some exercise.

A modeller has contacted us to make assorted object models to be placed in the world!  I haven’t actually got around to testing them though.  I’m not sure if I should do lightmaps first…

Urimas “The Spacepony” and I were interviewed on the Bronyville podcast, which you may or may not have heard.  The interview took place on Sunday but was released today (or maybe yesterday, what time is it?).  We also did the interview live, and most of you missed the post and preshows.

In which case, you’ll have no idea what this means.

Urimas has begun work on Applejack’s skills, including a lasso attack and we’ll probably reuse other frames for other attacks.

The writers have finished their rewrites and presented episode 1′s outline.  Obviously I’m not going to release any details since I like my neck and head to be attached, just letting you know.

I expect scripts to be completed sometime within the week and will probably divert Trainee onto implemented them.  Simbaro is going to develop the line art we need for E1 and then we’ll probably begin internal beta testing for balance.

But of course, you’re clicking this link because you want to know about Salty’s favourite fic.

 

Developer Update: May 1st

This is certainly not the Mona Lisa

Click to enlargify

I haven’t been able to get Simbaro or Dmitri to make any new UI stuff, so I’m using system UI for the moment.

This is a preview of the skill equipping screen.  I still need to center/recenter the text and the final UI will be visually… not bland.  Essentially you equip your characters with skills that you’ve learned, and you can only have 8 active in combat at a time.

I was also on the Australian Bronycast a few days ago (on my birthday, to be exact) but the audio got drowned out… again.  This is the second time that’s happened.  The back half of the interview, after I had finished answering questions, has the audio in place though.  Click here if you want to check it out anyway.  The audio gets fixed at 26:00 if you really want to listen to my enlightening banter.

I’m also going to be on the Bronyville podcast on May 5th along with Urimas “The Spacepony” Ebonheart, and Simbaro “I once got caught in my own zipper” Narasa.

Complain about the obvious prototype on the forums!

Developer Update: GRAGH

ARGH.

The dynamic combat camera took a lot longer than I thought it would to complete, but it’s mostly done now.  There were so many trig bugs, let me tell you.

I have some more bugs to iron out, but I’ll be posting a new video in a day or two to show off the new camera.  It makes combat a lot more interesting to watch.

As for what’s going on elsewhere:

Trainee did some title screen stuff.

Relimited and Xenmen are MIA.

Techvoid released a new version of the game updater, which will presumably debut along with the first episode and be used to patch it as we add more episodes.

I finished doodads.

I finished the first prototype of models.  The core is done but they require special entities to produce, and none of the artists have any experience with 3D, so don’t expect much from them.

I also fixed up the NPCs such that they have a permanent angle.  If you rotate the camera around, the NPCs continue to face the direction they were facing, and the sprite rotates.  No more having Twilight stare at you unwaveringly like a bad SNES port of Doom!

Hupondroid, our new music guy, has a bunch of the game’s music up on his soundcloud.  Click this link.

You know what to do.

Developer Update: April 23rd

Today on MLPOnline’s developer update we have WAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

WAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHHHHH

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WAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHHHHH

WAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHHHHH

WAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHHHHH

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YOU GUYS STOLE OUR PLOT IDEA

We came up with it first!

Team Update: The Final Update

I won’t be doing team updates anymore. It’s been a good run, but if you haven’t heard, we’re planning to release Episode 1 of the single-player campaign that the game will be featuring in June. That gives us about 2 months and a just over a week, so I’ll be focusing my efforts to aid in more more important aspects of the project.

Read the rest of this entry »

Stone

8-]

A word about custom sprites…

Since this question came up a whole lot in the big QA thread, I figured I’d clear up a few misconceptions about how custom sprites are going to work.

Please bear in mind that all of this is subject to revision, particularly if we have a limit to server space or bandwidth and can’t continue with it due to these constraints.  We’re running on zero budget, after all.

The plan is that you will be able to upload a custom sprite sheet using a format to be released at some point in the future.  I don’t want to finalize it yet in case we need to add another animation, and Urimas is constantly worried about having his sprites stolen (and it has happened 3 times to my knowledge).  Once the base sheets are released, you can upload a custom mane/tail/mark/whatever combination to the server and your account will be able to access it.  Exactly how many of these you’ll be allowed to have is variable based on available server space.

Obviously we’ll have to have someone around to monitor for quality and G-rated acceptability, since this is for all ages.  It’ll probably be a volunteer thing based on how many submissions we get each week.  As per usual, any rights you have to the image are forfeited upon submitting it, to avoid legal entanglements.

Exactly how you get the sprite sheet is up to you.  You could make it yourself, get someone else to do it, we don’t care.  This service is provided for free.

Developer Update: April 15th

This update, we have a new audio pony added to the team, Hupondroid.  His music is good, and will be seen in Episode 1.  It needs more views, though.

Episode 1′s plot is locked in and the writers are now busily slacking off working.  We have an estimated play time of 90 minutes for this episode, possible more depending on the length of the combat sections.

Chic has an open thread up on the DA blog asking for questions.  We’re shopping around to get someone to interview us, a podcast or whatever, and questions can’t possibly hurt.  The DA thread is over here.  I promise to answer your questions to the best of my ability!  I might even answer them honestly.

I’ve finished my upgrades to the inventory system.  Items are now usable in combat, stack correctly, can be purchased, and can be added to the inventory by scripts.  Simbaro is working on item prototypes, images, and possible recipes to be used in Episode 1.  I also fixed a bunch of bugs that nobody cares about.

I’ve also revamped a few of the tools, such as the MapCompressor, and we’ve begun work on converting the lineart into playable levels.  The task is relatively easy, but I’ll need to implement a doodad system since lineart isn’t very good at sorting depths.

Trainee has finished the title screen prototype and returned to server work.  He’s also got a prototype options screen with remappable controls.

Contex is working on the database backend and a website interface, and is going to redo our forums, possibly in a new theme or with a new backend.

Xenmen has started work on the random level generator after his hiatus.

I’ll be sure to post the podcast/radio show/whatever as soon as we get one ready.  Otherwise it’s back to coding for me.

Yeah that’s it.  Go away.