Since I'm going to be using Panda3D, I've decided to try to actually make something with it before the compo.

I'm going to be revisiting one of my (Rather short-lived) warmup game, though only in a rough way.

Beta Gunner Warcry was a game I set myself to finishing in 2 weeks quite some time ago. Performance issues (Granted, I'm on a netbook) cut that off.

The game was supposed to be a side-scrolling shooter with procedural levels.

I've decided to recycle the idea, but making changes. Instead of a side-scrolling space shooter, it's now a tank shooter. Instead of a side-on view, the camera will be attached behind the turret. (It takes ~2 lines of code to do that in Panda! ^o^) I will be using the fact that having a camera behind you instead of above you limits your field of view to my advantage. My level generator will place plenty of obstacles in levels, which will block your line of sight and often hide baddies.

Levels will still be procedural, though, and I'm still giving myself 2 weeks to finish it. (Since I started yesterday, that means that I have until the 14th, but I'm not holding myself down to minutes or even hours here)

I've currently got a model of a tank body, a model of a tank turret, and have gotten to the point where I had a tank driving around. I would have a screenshot, but I forgot to take one before I broke things to get a data manager and a factory put together.

Panda3D is a dream to use. Simple and easy, great performance, and excellent packaging tools. I think I've found something that makes me happy.

Folks, you can look forward to a Panda3D game from me this PyWeek. I'm not going to specify further until the theme voting begins (As I've no idea until I know what the theme might be), but Panda3D is a guarantee.

        --- Akake

I have a screenshot of what I've got so far in Beta Gunner Warcry.
It doesn't have lighting yet, as I've not yet put that in, but it'll have lights soon.
The room doesn't have corner walls yet, either.
And there's no collision yet.

But still! There's a tank in a room!

I've disappointed too many people with unfinished games that I made huge promises about. (Also means that Panda3D's given me enough problems that I'm seriously reconsidering it...)

I'd like to apologize for my habit of proclaiming before I should. I'd also like to apologize for my habit of bragging about a game idea and then flaking out. I wanted to redeem myself, and I'm not off to a great start.

I really want to say that I won't brag about things until they've happened, and that I won't make decisions until I have all the information. All I can do here is try, though. (As much of a trope as that is...) I struggle with self-control, and I'll have to work harder to keep myself from jumping the gun about everything.

I'm sorry I've acted the way I have. I'm trying to change, and I'll try harder from here on. Please forgive me.


        --- Akake

I've finally decided that I am going to work with Panda3D this time around.

To practice, I've decided to resurrect an old idea of mine: An Alien Breed clone.

Thus far, I've got a model of a space marine with an armature and a bit of skinning. (For those not familiar, skinning is the process of assigning each part of a model to a bone in the armature) (For anyone who knows better than me: I'm very new to 3D, so if I'm wrong, please correct me)

So far, though, it's looking like it might be more fun to have the camera follow the player from behind than to have a top-down view, so I think that's what I'll do. This project has gone through several language/library changes, but I think I can stick with Panda3D.

I've got it up on SourceForge, as well. I'd post a link, but because the name change hasn't taken place yet, a link right now would break some time in the next couple of days. (Not to mention that all I have is the model of the space marine and a window that doesn't do anything) I'll post a link once I've got something working. ("Working" meaning that I have a player character, some kind of level, and some kind of

Because I'm using Rect-based collisions, no ODE woes await me. (Rect-based collisions are more plausible for a character on foot, whereas I'd want some kind of physics for a vehicle)

I'm using a cartoony art style with a less-than-serious theme and a look and feel that is less-than-realistic. (For example, my space marine model as about 3 heads tall, which means that her body is only about twice as tall as her head)

I haven't decided what the baddies will look like beside the fact that they will be aliens. I've not yet decided any weapons other than a rifle and a pistol. I'm noting it because I have a habit of designing a whole game and then not making anything. (Mind you, I may sketch out some ideas for things, but I'm trying not to set things in stone right now)

I'm really going to try to make this one happen. I'm not giving myself a strict deadline just yet, either. I just want to get this done.

        --- Akake

I'm about ready to call it a day on my game, so I thought I'd post about a few things.

First, when I applied for the SourceForge project name change, I hadn't read the notice at the bottom of the page that said that name changes were offline at the moment. Because of that, there's no wait for a name change that would stop me from working. >_>

Because of that, I finished skinning the model and then made a walk cycle for it. I'm actually pretty happy with how the animation turned out.

I've found out, though, that exporting animations for a Panda3D mesh from Blender is kind of funky. The exporter doesn't like handling multiple animations from a Blender model the way that Blender stores them, so I had to learn a couple of new things. Glad I'm doing this now and not during the compo! ^_^;

I might still be doing more work today, but for now I've got a model of a space marine with my first character animation. Very happy at the moment. ^o^

Tomorrow, I hope to have some kind of agent in some kind of game world. I may also have terrain tomorrow, if all goes well.

This has been fun so far. Hopes are high that it will stay that way. ^_^

I've made some progress on Chibi Breed. I've tweaked my space marine's run cycle just the way I want it, first off.

I've also got a test level with portal culling (Which was tricky) that is generated from a list of cells with data about position as well as which directions they are open in and which they have doors in.

I've got collisions going, as well.

I'm getting the hang of Panda3D, and learning it as I go. I think I'll be ready to use it in the compo. ^o^

Here's a screenie:

I have a few underlying ideas. I will be doing a game about robots. This is for certain. I will most likely be making a shooter, and if I don't I'll make a roguelike. I will also use procedural levels if I can.


Choice #1 - Caught

You have been caught in a small subspace and must fight your way out. You, a military combot, armed only with your plasma cannon and missile launchers, must find the key to each door and find your way to safety!


Choice #2 - Wings

The Renault system's newest military fighter ship, the RF-43 Honeybee, has been sent on its cardinal mission: Rid the areas around the planet Kerrin of the space bandits that populate the many asteroid fields nearby.


Choice #3 - Primed

A small combot has only minutes to clear an area of baddies. Armed with only a limited battery which is depleted with his every move and action, our hero must move fast and act smart to stay alive.


Choice #4 - Pop-Up

You are a maintenance android whose space station has been attacked! You must arm and disarm turrets around the station to keep off the baddies. You can only have a limited number of turrets running at any time, though, and turrets that are destroyed will take time to repair. Make sure you don't get killed as well!


Choice #5 - Election

You choose your fighting robot. You choose the type and size of level. You choose the types of baddies. You choose the boss. There is no plot, as the game's all elective.

I've been spending the past few years trying to form a real identity for myself. Trying to figure out a consistent way to live my life and do what I do.

I've tried art, I've tried sciene, I've tried programming. I've tried being a minimalist, I've tried being ecologically-minded, I've tried being retro.

I've been trying to find some underlying method, some underlying idea I can apply to my life. Is this futile? Should I be doing this? Is there any hope to this?

I... I really need advice. I know this isn't really the place for it, but I've got very few other places to go and they wouldn't be friendly to this kind of personal issue.

I'm really sorry if this bothers anyone, but I need some direction on how to handle this feeling.

        --- Akake

After spending a few days trying to wring decent performance out of a game, I've decided once and for all that Panda3D just isn't going to work out on my netbook. Since I lack a Real Computer, that sinks it for me.

I'm really irritated with myself. I wanted to do something big and cool, but now I don't know.

I'll... Post again when I've got a clear idea.

Hate it when I get really braggy about something without fully testing it. ._.

        --- Akake

The title of my game will be "Hazard". It will be a top-down shooter in which you must complete small levels in very short time limits or else you will be trapped in that room and will Lose The Game.

I don't have much else yet, though.

I have a couple of screenshots with bad filenames (One with quotes, the other with spaces and quotes), and neither will work. They also will not delete.

richard, could you delete those for me. Sorry to be a bother ^^;

I've got a few things working on Hazard. First, the player can move and fire their gun. There are also baddies, and there is terrain in a world structure.

There is a factory that can build a test world as well.

At the time of writing, there is no sound, but I will work on that in a bit. Despite the late start, I may actually finish!

Screenie is up on my entry page, for the curious.

EDIT: I have also posted a demo on my entry page, check it out!
ANOTHER EDIT: Fixed the demo zip, should work now!