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In the beginning...
In the beginning...
| Name: | Rayna | |
|---|---|---|
| Date Posted: | Sep 12, 2008 | |
| Rating: |  2.5 out of 5 | |
| Public: | YES | |
| Comments: | YES | |
| RSS Feed: |  or Subscribe with  . | |
| Profile Page: | View profile page for Rayna |
Blog post
I've never written a blog before, but I suppose there is a first time for everything, as I've heard many people say. I thought perhaps I'd write a little snippet about who I am and what I'm doing with TGE, and maybe get to know some of the members here at Garage Games.
Rayna is my game name, which I've used for a very long time. It's a name that was just pulled out of the air one day and it's stuck with me, and fortunately I like it. I've got a background in programming from some Vocational courses I had taken back in high school, which was the "procedural programming" way. After high school I started some evening courses at the local community college and began working full time for a prominant business within their corporate office. I stayed there for approximately seven years until I finally decided what it was that I wanted to do with my life.
I have been an avid gamer for many years, even though gaming is stereotypically a male "thing". It's been a passion of mine ever since I got my hands on my first RPG. With that in mind, I decided to go back to school to learn Game Software Development, and for approximately the past three years that is what I've been doing. In about six months from now I will have my Bachelor's Degree and am hoping to get my foot in the door shortly thereafter.
At the start of this past term, I was given a list of required materials for the courses I'm taking. One of those materials listed was the TGE. I've heard of this engine in the past, and it was always that it was such a great tool to use for games. I was a little apprehensive about using an engine instead of creating the c++ code on my own, however these past few weeks have been enlightening. TGE is truly all that I've ever heard it was and more. I am thankful that I've had the opportunity to become familiar with it and am impressed at all of the features that it comes with.
As I've stated above, I'm taking a course which requires me to develop a working game in just under nine weeks using this engine. By week four I already had a working level, with a little bit of a kink. The kink was a counter that would not display the amount of items left in the chat HUD. I had tried to get a normal GUI score counter to appear on the game screen, but for some reason it wouldn't link to each other. I had followed guides here at the forums as well as the information in the text that we've been using, but it just wasn't going to work out for me.
I dream a lot in code when I'm frustrated about something not working, as in this counter. I dreampt that I used the chat HUD instead to display a message each time the item was found in the game and to also display the amount left to find. After all, we can't have the player scratching their heads as to how many are left. Well, behold...when the character picked up the item, the correct message was displayed and I was relieved. Then I noticed that the current item count left was not actually being displayed, however the statement was. ("There are (number here) pots left to find.") So it was showing up without the count. I tried different things to get this to work. I decided to finally post here on the forums for help and I got it. William Jonny Brannum replied to me and within a few hours the message to the chat hud was working perfectly. I am grateful for him to take the time to help me determine the minor issue and get this to work. He made my day!
Well, I suppose I could explain the game a little bit here. I really didn't have a name for it, and still don't, but I knew that I wanted to create an RPG. I am far from being done with all of the ideas that I have, but for right now I have one level which takes place on an island where the player moves the character around the island, and the connected dungeon island to look for all of these lost objects. Once the objects are found, a victory message box appears and you can either play again or end the game. Eventually I'll make it so that the next mission loads, but I have to make one first.
Since this game started out as a project for my course, I decided to keep within the requirements right now and will submit the game as my finished project in a little under two weeks, afterwhich I believe I will continue making it grow. As I get better at it, I'll probably add more complex features to it until I can call it finished. What makes me happy right now is my oldest daughter will ask me if she can play the game when she comes home from school. At least she thinks it's fun enough already. =)
I have high hopes of what I will accomplish with this game, and my career down the line. I am looking forward to chatting with this wonderful community here at GarageGames as well. Good luck to you all with whatever you are working on.
Rayna is my game name, which I've used for a very long time. It's a name that was just pulled out of the air one day and it's stuck with me, and fortunately I like it. I've got a background in programming from some Vocational courses I had taken back in high school, which was the "procedural programming" way. After high school I started some evening courses at the local community college and began working full time for a prominant business within their corporate office. I stayed there for approximately seven years until I finally decided what it was that I wanted to do with my life.
I have been an avid gamer for many years, even though gaming is stereotypically a male "thing". It's been a passion of mine ever since I got my hands on my first RPG. With that in mind, I decided to go back to school to learn Game Software Development, and for approximately the past three years that is what I've been doing. In about six months from now I will have my Bachelor's Degree and am hoping to get my foot in the door shortly thereafter.
At the start of this past term, I was given a list of required materials for the courses I'm taking. One of those materials listed was the TGE. I've heard of this engine in the past, and it was always that it was such a great tool to use for games. I was a little apprehensive about using an engine instead of creating the c++ code on my own, however these past few weeks have been enlightening. TGE is truly all that I've ever heard it was and more. I am thankful that I've had the opportunity to become familiar with it and am impressed at all of the features that it comes with.
As I've stated above, I'm taking a course which requires me to develop a working game in just under nine weeks using this engine. By week four I already had a working level, with a little bit of a kink. The kink was a counter that would not display the amount of items left in the chat HUD. I had tried to get a normal GUI score counter to appear on the game screen, but for some reason it wouldn't link to each other. I had followed guides here at the forums as well as the information in the text that we've been using, but it just wasn't going to work out for me.
I dream a lot in code when I'm frustrated about something not working, as in this counter. I dreampt that I used the chat HUD instead to display a message each time the item was found in the game and to also display the amount left to find. After all, we can't have the player scratching their heads as to how many are left. Well, behold...when the character picked up the item, the correct message was displayed and I was relieved. Then I noticed that the current item count left was not actually being displayed, however the statement was. ("There are (number here) pots left to find.") So it was showing up without the count. I tried different things to get this to work. I decided to finally post here on the forums for help and I got it. William Jonny Brannum replied to me and within a few hours the message to the chat hud was working perfectly. I am grateful for him to take the time to help me determine the minor issue and get this to work. He made my day!
Well, I suppose I could explain the game a little bit here. I really didn't have a name for it, and still don't, but I knew that I wanted to create an RPG. I am far from being done with all of the ideas that I have, but for right now I have one level which takes place on an island where the player moves the character around the island, and the connected dungeon island to look for all of these lost objects. Once the objects are found, a victory message box appears and you can either play again or end the game. Eventually I'll make it so that the next mission loads, but I have to make one first.
Since this game started out as a project for my course, I decided to keep within the requirements right now and will submit the game as my finished project in a little under two weeks, afterwhich I believe I will continue making it grow. As I get better at it, I'll probably add more complex features to it until I can call it finished. What makes me happy right now is my oldest daughter will ask me if she can play the game when she comes home from school. At least she thinks it's fun enough already. =)
I have high hopes of what I will accomplish with this game, and my career down the line. I am looking forward to chatting with this wonderful community here at GarageGames as well. Good luck to you all with whatever you are working on.
Submit your own resources!| William Jonny Brannum (Sep 12, 2008 at 20:19 GMT) |
Welcome to the world of Torque. I'm glad I could help :)
| Randy Hearn (Sep 12, 2008 at 20:20 GMT) Resource Rating: 2 |
Edited on Sep 12, 2008 22:36 GMT
| Rayna (Sep 12, 2008 at 21:14 GMT) |
I had considered posting a screenshot of the current progress, but I'm afraid it looks a bit skinny at the moment. I was focusing on the actual guts and gore of the game code and haven't really done much art wise. I am really no artist, so I'm most likely going to opt for one of those content packs to help me out for now.
@William: Give me a few days and I'll gladly put at least one up for you =)
@Randy: I had actually dropped this course about three times in the past because of the work load of the other courses they had assigned me to. I almost wish I had taken it sooner. I am having lots of fun learning all of the in's and out's, however as I've found out recently, there are always those times when you end up with more hair around you than on your head =) Thank you for the luck!
**
| Edward (Sep 12, 2008 at 21:33 GMT) |
| Phillip OShea (Sep 13, 2008 at 03:11 GMT) |
Scary stuff!
| Peter Pedersen (Sep 13, 2008 at 04:09 GMT) |
Nice blog Rayna, scary bit though about you dreaming in code...
Edited on Sep 13, 2008 04:09 GMT
| William Jonny Brannum (Sep 13, 2008 at 04:18 GMT) |
Quote:
Nice blog Rayna, scary bit though about you dreaming in code...
I dream in code too... I woke my wife up one night talking in my sleep about sending the new transforms to each client (she thought I was saying transformers though). You're right, it is scary sometimes what a passion can do to someone :)
| Henri Aalto (Sep 13, 2008 at 16:18 GMT) |
@Rayna: welcome and thanks -- I now feel a bit more obliged to write "my first blog" as well, after hanging around for years...
| Michael Perry (Sep 13, 2008 at 16:41 GMT) |
Anyway, welcome and know you are in good company =)
| Rayna (Sep 18, 2008 at 19:32 GMT) |
Edited on Sep 18, 2008 19:35 GMT
| William Jonny Brannum (Sep 18, 2008 at 19:36 GMT) |
Looks like you bought a content pack eh?
*edit nice clouds too!!
Edited on Sep 18, 2008 19:37 GMT
| Tom Eastman (Eastbeast314) (Sep 18, 2008 at 21:52 GMT) |
| Rayna (Sep 21, 2008 at 02:15 GMT) |
Yes, I was trying to go for a less realistic look. Still tweaking some of the look though...I'm not sure that I like the color too much. And my less "artsy" self is using a little of the content packs actually. =) The depthmask doesn't look at all that good with that water texture, so I'm pondering on what to do about it. And I'm cloud you like the clouds. It's actually my favorite part of the game environment at the moment.
@ Tom:
Thank you, I'm glad that you like it. =)
I'm actually working on the water problem at the moment. I've discovered some resources around the forums which are geared to making the character swim in water. Since I'm working with islands, this block of code is very important. I've added the code to my engine files and have recompiled them, however the little character guy jumps in and gets stuck still. I've tried having him more above the water and completely submerged, yet he's still not able to move in the water. That makes it difficult to play this then, if the player accidentally falls in then there is no real way to get back out for the moment.
On a more positive note, I've added some NPC's and am able to interact with them. Now I'm working on the ability to recieve quests from these NPC's and possibly the ability to buy and sell items from them. It's a work in progress!
Here is a little more to tantilize your tastebuds ;)
...and here is my attempt at level 2. I was really proud of the spider web in the window of the hut. (I actually made the hut.) It was my first attempt to create something original, although it's not much compared to the various works I've seen posted around.
Edited on Sep 21, 2008 04:25 GMT
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