we have an intro almost done (intro screenshot) a backend data store, and 10% of a client.

getting there slowly.

I've been working with Jonex and Viblo during the last days (the others have taken a break/given up :) ).

Jonex thought we needed a new tile set, so he wrote a pretty interesting script that, using PIL, could generate all the different kinds of rails we would need. The result looked like this:

It also made the code for determining which tile that should be used a lot easier. However, after analyzing exactly how the player would play the game, we today decided to scrap most of the tiles. Well - we decided that we weren't gonna use them. So, most of that work was for nothing. :/

Also, there seems to be something wrong with the rendering. Every other "column" has a "pixel error". Very weird.

Anyways, I've been spending a lot of time rewriting the code that determines what a tile with rails shuold look like. It mostly looks like it did before, but there are a couple of improvements (and one small thing I'm not too fond of).

The game looks like this using the new tiles:

So, we have unfortunately made very little progress since the previous screenshot was taken, even though we've worked quite a bit. The damn rail code, I tell you!

I hope that we can fix some actual game-play code tomorrow, because I can't participate very much on friday and saturday, so I wanna make sure that the project is on the right track (haha, track.. railtrack.. *tired*). A lot of the underlying data structures should be set up at least, so with a bit of luck it's just a matter of connecting them to the GUI. :)

Also, viblo has fixed mouse scrolling, some background code and some beginning GUI stuff.

Today saw my entry start to take shape as an actual game. I've got a definite list of jobs that need doing so now I just need to go through them one by one, tick them off, and I'll be done.

My first job was to replace the awful graphics I had for the boiler and the 'machine'. With those redrawn the board starts to look a bit nicer, but I think I'll need to replace the plain grey background before I submit.

I changed the gauges that measure the pressure in the pipes from a simple red bar to a proper pressure gauge which as well as tell you the pressure will also indicate the composition of the steam. I haven't yet implemented the board elements that will add the additives to the steam so this stays as 100% plain steam, but it should work fine.

Adding support for the different types of steam was the third time I'd rewritten the majority of the steam handling code. Perhaps not the most efficient way of doing things but at least it's nailed down now. I don't forsee having to doing anything other than tinker with if from now on.

When I changed the graphic for the boiler I added a chimney pipe. The obvious thing to do was to make it smoke. A quick 40 line particle system later and the boiler now smokes with the amount varying depending on how hard you're working the boiler. I also made the pressure release value steam when it is venting excess pressure. This definitely makes things look a bit more exciting and dynamic, but I'm a bit worried about how much it'll effect the framerate. It's a bit hard to tell at the moment as I'm compiling KDE 3.5.2 in the background...

Anyway, the smoke can be seen clearly in the following screenshot...

On the game front I implemented a level format in XML so the game will now load the levels and set up the board according to the level it's on. I just to get it to detect when you've won the level and move onto the next.

I've made the score system go up and down depending on how much you're using the boiler and how much steam you're getting to the machine at the correct pressure. It'll need some tinkering but currently you score around 9,000 points for completing level 1. This seems about right to me, but obviously I'll need to make this scale up as you work through the levels.

Tomorrows main tasks are to add the level introduction/ending screens and to finish adding the remaining pipe types. I don't think I'll get time to do any more than that as I've promised someone I'll go and play Badminton. Still, not including tomorrow I reckon I'll be able to put in another 15 or so hours which is enough time to achieve a fair bit... will it be enough though?

After working on the logic part of my game, I finally started with the graphics.

As you can see on the screenshot, it's programmer's art :-)

For now it does nothing but keeps incrementing the current date, which is not very useful, but at least it proves that I'm still working on it.

So, I now have a few sounds, some sprites, and a very basic game-type thing that lets you move a little spaceship around. (Thanks for the help, RoeBros!)

Right now I'm thinking the game will go something like this:

It's the typical 10 bazillion little alien ships vs. you type game. There's bullets all over the place, and they dive bomb you and stuff. Now, the twist: your spaceship runs on steam, so you start out with a full tank of steam. As the game progresses, you run out of steam and thus move and fire more slowly.
To replentish your steam, you must blow up an enemy that drops it as a powerup. The higher up on the screen you hit the alien, the more steam will be in the powerup (These alien ships run on steam, too, you see.)
Your goal is to survive as long as possible without getting blown up or running out of steam.

That's the plan, anyway. We'll see how far I get on it.

We now have blimps flying around as obstacles, and the ship has gained a cannon weapon (watch out for the kickback though...) Next up is some anti-air cannons for further difficulty and the goal of the level (landing pad).

Spent around 4 hours last night (well, early this morning) hacking away with some art and the code to produce realistic looking steam for my train, and I'm really pleased with it. It actually billows nicely, dissipates pretty much like proper smoke, and it looks good and realistic whether the train is stationary or moving at high speed. Had something working after around 5 minutes, but kept tweaking things and trying new ideas, and in the end, the whole thing comes in at only around 20 lines of code and only uses one small image. Going to add a few more parameters which may be useful if I have steam elsewhere in the game, and then it's back on with the game framework.

My game has pirate ships now. Also seagulls, scoring, and ornamental clouds. All in all, it's progressing nicely. I've also added more sound effects, gamepad support, and the code is getting cleaned up as I go and expanding the game requires it.
I think soon I will need to add a main menu of some sort and probably a high score table. After that, I could actually call it a game, although it is of course possible to restart it every time and write your highscores down on some paper. :-)

I've only been able to access the net sporadically over the past few days, so I've not been able to post any updates on what I've been doing. Here is some information about my pyweek entry.

Game premise:

Build and maintain a reliable steam distribution network on an alien world. Steam comes from geothermal vents: you must route it safely to an ever-growing city, through a network of pipes and substations. Unfortunately, you're under constant attack from marauding aliens, sandstorms, and quakes.

Game overview:

It is a single-player real-time strategy game with a 2D view. Requires Python 2.4 and Pygame 1.7.x. Game tested on geriatric laptop without Psyco, so system requirements will not be high.

Still to do:

• Storm season.
• Textures
• Sound effects
• Scoring and summary screen
• Better item selection
• Solve parallel lines problem

Been having a lot of fun with this so far.. unfortunately I have to take a break to do some "real work" now :(. I'll post a screenshot when I've done some textures.

- Jack (Biscuit Games)

With alot of help from an awesome hacker I work with (who has found this train problem fascinating), I have been moving closer to getting the physics right for my trains. Suffice to say it involves springs, masses, dampening coefficients, and static and rolling friction! Hopefully once reasonable constant values are established, I can make the "game" infrastructure around it... scores, title screens, instructions, and some fx.