Status Update

Depth of Field is on Ice. Problem with my Shader showed up, will finish a other time.

Now I'm back on my Hexamat, the editor for my 2D game "Off Planet".

At the moment I'm working on the so called "Assets". That is my name for content, like tiles. At the moment I'm figuring out how set the whole Assets up (FilePath, Tag, Kind) and also, at the same time, how to edit those informations.

For now I can create/save the assets and get them into the editor screen, and make some small edits though the property control.

The next thing will be the come up with some methods to edit the informations that the property control dose not show, or is not really capable to manipulate.

The whole thing gets harder as I not only have one kind of Assets, but four. Source (for the normal 2D picture) , Permutation (a permutation of a Source), Animation (a list of 2D pictures changing over time) and last but not least the List format (a simple list of pictures, for random/procedural content).

And every kind need its own set of tools. ... makes quite a pile of code.

Originally I planed to start with the level scripting code tomorrow, but I want the assets to be perfect (or at least working somehow right) before I start with that.

Greg the Mad

Its harder then expected

Yes, it is.

I've written articles before, but its surprising hard to find the right words to describe the Depth of Field effect. Much harder then physics ... its optics (a part of physics). The first draft is ready, but not for public yet.

So it will take a few more days till its perfectly done. :)

Greg the Mad

Depth of Awesome

So, the DoF shader is done, and I already made a compare with the usual linear interpolation approach of DoF.

... To my surprise does my technique perform better then the linear interpolation thing. What is probably because for mine you only need to draw the scene 3 times, while it is 4 times with the other technique.

Now I only have to figure a way out to put a future tutorial online. Best way would be to put it on my own internet page, ... which does not exist ...

Second best way would be ZiggyWare ... which is hacked by hackers ...

And as I don't have a third way yet, I'll have to look for one.

In that time I could play around a little and try some alpha mapping + DoF ...

Greg the Mad

The Perfect Depth of Field

Yes, my Depth of Field Shader is working! And this in a most perfect way!

Objects that are in front of the focus point always blur, stuff in focus do not, and background can only blur over Background.

Still, even if that works great with normal opaque stuff. For scenes with elements that use the alpha channel you probably can use the same Shader, but you might have to play around with some RenderTargets. ... What will be my next goal. :)

Greg the Mad

Depth of Field

Its interesting that my last post here was 'Personal low' especially if you know that I actually had a great time in the last weeks. Wrote some lines here, got my Hexamat project back working, started a book, increased the usability of my engine, build a house, raised two kids ... well I did not all of those things but I'm fine. :)

Depth of Field:

The Depth of Field is if you focus your eye or camera on a object, you see everything beyond it blurred. You don't need it for my planed 2D game, but till now does sidetracking only got me forward. And it also taught me some lessons in RenderTargets, PostProcesses and Shaders in basic.

Well how does DoF work in video games? Simple, you render the scene, and render a blurred version of it, later you just render a third picture, were you interpolate between those two scenes based on the distance.

Simple as it gets does this way of DoF just suck. I've seen it and how it looks in Dragon Age Origins and just thought: "Hey, ... honestly? Is that the best way to do?" ... "NO!" I thought. So I grasped the next best DoF tutorial and took it apart. Learned the techniques it uses, cut them out and implanted my own.

Its not finished yet, and I don't know nothing about performance yet (no really ... what does that work mean? ... :p). So I will spend some more hours into it and make a sample, maybe even an tutorial.

I still don't know where I'll post it, as Ziggyware is hacked ... again. But we'll see. If I can build a Lego Mako and put the Manual online, I can do everything.

Tune in again when it says:

Mad Man Making

Greg the Mad

Personal Low

Well its not a 'Low' as I was more or less happy at the time, ... happy playing World of Warcraft.

I've played alot ... got me some mounts, some levels, some items. I'm not 80 yet, nor even close to what I want my character to be, so I'll continue to play.

In this time I wrote no line, ... not code line at least.

I'm a creative person, yes. You see a tree, I see a feature, a story, a experience, whatever. I'm that kind of guy who lies wake at night thinking about a story. What pushes a character to go on? Why not just stop and enjoy the moment? IS it the hope for a better life than this? Is it the love for a other character? Or is he just not the person who stops?

So I just started a book. Its 10 pages by now, not even close to the main happening what sets the story. Its about the game I wanted to make before my WOW low. A guy who ... no, I will not spoiler anything. From my point of view its quite a interesting story, with interesting characters, etc. So it would be a good book. No best-seller, but good.

Would? Why it would be a good book? Simple because my plans have shifted. I want to write that game. Not because of the experience I would gain, not because its for my Port Folio, but because of the story.

Monday I'll get my new PC, I'll set up WoW, play some minutes on the highest graphics setting possible, and then I'll get C# and XNA on it. Try some solutions for my problems, and even if they don't work out, I'll write a prototype. Try some easy settings, the controls, camera, etc.

Not to make a game. To tell a story. :)

Greg

What I've done?

Well, nothing.

I spended the last weeks, more or less doing nothing. I played World of Warcraft, bought a new PC table (out of glass and steel) and only made some minor changes in my code here and there.

I hope that ends soon.

The last weeks aktually have lost my target, to make a game. A 2D survivale adventure game, called "Off Planet"

One of many Designes on a long list of games that I plan to realise over time. Its supposed to be my Port Folio.

But in the last few week, I've lost that target out of sight on the sneakiest way possible. I spend a few hours thinking how to make procedural borders of tiles.

Dosn't sound that dangerous, but it didn't ended with that. How about 2D collision? 2D Physics? Oh! My old console code! And so I was lost in a circle of WoW and experiental programming.

I may finish some last lines in the console class (it could be usefull soon) and than get back to Hexamat, and so back to Off Planet.

Greg

And I'm back

Well, I returned last friday at 23:22, but it took me till now to write a blog update.

And my Fazit is: It was Awesome!

I may not have a contract at CryTek already (something some others may have hoped for), but I have gained a lot of experience, and knowledge.

I enjoyed each and every lecture I took, had some great chats with some real developers.

And if the GDC showed me one thing it is that I need a card.

Some volumteers even made it that way: "Hello, my name is " *hands over card* *asks question*. What is quite a bold move, I think. Especially if I think about my native reaction to such a 'hello': *take card* *throw card, quite visibel, away* "Hello" :)

Another thing I found out is that companys most of the time want stuff to see from someone, a port folio. ... My port folio is quite empty ... which means that I have to fill it. Which means that I have to contiue on Hexamat.

The problem here, is actually not a problem, but a pile of work. Last week I have changed the data-structure, and I still have not change all that methods that have to work with the new struture.

Ergo, what I learned from that is: Always make a good and solid plan before you start something, later changes can be a pain in the ass.

Greg

Up, Up and Away

Everything is packed, hotel booked, and train goes in 3 hours.

As far as I know I'm ready for the GDC-Europe and following that the Gamescom.

First I will have a 11 hour train raid to Cologne. For that I have one book, one GamePro and one GameBoy DS in my backbag, only waiting to entertain me.

I will arrive at around 5:45, which gives me 7 hours I can spend to see Cologne before I can check in the hotel. Once I have unpacked my laptop and my clothes, I'm already on my way to the orientation meeting in the Kölner Messe.

There I will first meet my fellow volumteers and get instructions about what to do when, where, why, how ofter, etc. This is supposed to take till 16:30, after that I finally will have a few hours to spend in the hotel room, taking shower, relaxing. Because at 20:00 there is already the next event on my timetable. This is when the speackers of the GDC meet in the so called Haxenhaus (German appearently don't know what a 'Haxen' is ...).

On the next three days I will be one of the guys with a GDC-Shirt standing in a corner, or walking though the halls, looking for people I can help out. .. can't wait :D ...

Then I'll have one and a half days time to enjoy the Gamescom. Wallking around, taking pictures, playing games, taking give-aways, talk to developers, ... you know just taking stuff.

On Friday my train goes at 14:00 back to Austria.

So Long,

Greg

Reinventing the Wheel

Till yesterday I had a problem, with my Levels, about how to delete a section of a Level while every section holds a number for identification. And all numbers had to work together ... well ... it WAS a problem.

Thanks to the greate community at creators.xna.com I found a solution. Instead of useing Lists where you have to know where the asked section is (the number), I now use Dictionaries.

But why stop with the levels? Why not use dictionaries everywhere where they fit? Actually not a bad idea ... if I would not have to rewrite the entire code ... :(

But I will still do it just because they also are a solution for my futur scripting problem, as I now make the basic tile grids not with integers but with strings, if I now add a additional grid, I can store in it tile based scripts.

Brilliant, am I not? :D

Well, yes, its not written down, nor tested, but in theory it looks much better then before. Everthing looks so simple now. :)

Greg

New Blog

Hey, I have a new blog.

I had to close down my old one, because I don't use the E-Mail address it was connected too anymore.

Further more will I use it to start over, with the stuff I post here. Before did I also post some post about me (what I will continue), but I will try to focuse on my projects, like its now: "Off Planet".

Lets start right away.

Ok, the last few days I did not that much, but not because I still have probelms with the C# (I reinstalled it, and now it works), but simply because it was weekend. ;)

Today I woun't be doing anything either, ... a friend has invited me to play through the Halo ! campaign, would you have said no?

Anyway. Once I'm done with lazzing around I will be confronted with the WorldEditorControl. My Save/Load code works fine for weeks now, the ProjectManagerControl starts to have its affects too, so I now can start to work on the Worlds.

A world is like a Level, with the only difference that its supposed to be HUGE. So that it will be splitt up in different 'part' or 'screens', where you later can move from one to another. After that I will start to work on the LevelEditorControl. I know that level is not the right name for it, but I will come up with something.

That what realy bugs me is that I sooner or later will have to figure out how to place stuff you can interact with, or better how to scrip them ... but I still have time till then.

Greg