Messages

16

Games / Re: Blockland-Inspired Project

« on: October 29, 2017, 10:10:49 PM »

My event idea is in it's very early stages and i am by no means a graphic designer so Tristan's is going to look and feel way better, as well as just be a better design for people who are new to these kinds of logical event systems. also there are ways around vectors, although vectors aren't hard for a 10 year old to understand if he actually cares, i speak from experience, like just having a direction node, and being able to pick from a drop down list of directions.

Also the game wouldn't be targeted directly at younger people, the game is targeted for people who want to play a lego based block building game; and while many of those people are going to be young, a lot of them are also going to be teens or adults, I'm 20 and I want to play this. It's not just for younger kids who wanna doodle around, which is what the more simplistic, picture based, colorful Basic system would be for, its also for people who legitimately want to use this as a medium for creating their own functioning game, or do other impressive things, which is what the more flexible, adaptive, dynamic Advanced system would be for. Also I wouldn't anticipate a scripting based event system, if you want to script events, you can make an addon or a mod; the design of the advanced node based event system would be as powerful as directly coding, just, instead of typing characters, your using an expandable, basically modular visual interface.

I really do love Tristan's interface, the only problem is that it's basic and limiting;
I really love my own interface, the only problem is that it's complicated and disconcerting;



Many many things in modern software have a basic and advanced setting, why is having that in the event system not such a good idea?

17

Games / Re: Blockland-Inspired Project

« on: October 29, 2017, 07:43:25 PM »

Ok, I finished my own mock up; here's how i imagine the advanced system, which would be completely focused on being dynamic, adaptive, and flexible, as apposed to being focused on being easy to use.

So there are varying types of logic based nodes, specific events and actions are selected on a per node basis. For example, if you want to detect a player collision, you would put down an "On Event" node and select Collision, and then specify that you want the specified collision to be with a player.

Like in Blender, each node has a number of color coded connectors, which i'm calling plugs, the different colors represent what nodes are compatible, due to the differences in data and uses that the plugs have.

So to explain the nodes and Plugs in the coming example, lets start with the plugs. I only needed a few in the example, but i'm sure there are one or two to come.




The event plug is what connects the logic. Chains of these create the spine of the event system, at their most basic they act as sort of a trigger to activate the next logic in the chain they're connected to.
Every brick has this plug, to make logic work, you simply plug it into the first node in the network. You'll see what I mean in the coming examples.




This transfers raw data from a brick or event to have specific information extracted. It's everything that there is to know about the brick or event it's being pulled from.




This transfers a single clean variable to be tested, used, or have logic applied to it in some way.


Now for nodes:



The Brick node is used for any and all references to bricks, the name field is important, because if it has a name applied to it, it will reference all bricks with that name, if there is no name applied, it will only reference the single brick that the event is taking place on, both with data output, and event logic. This is incredibly powerful, because a talented eventer could have a huge build, with loads of stuff going on, (My old tycoon for example) but all logic (events) is being done in one brick, as appose to being all over the place.
And holy crap, if i could have only done that in my tycoon build, I had SO many 1x1x1f plates just because i needed logic relays, not to mention literally every single brick in every single tycoon having events, and tons of events going on in the admin room; I wish that was all handled by one brick per tycoon.




The On Event node would have something like a drop down menu to select actions, this would be akin to the input section of the legacy event system.
As long as it's getting a signal, when the event occurs it will output a signal for as long as it's occurring. For example, a brick activation would output for one frame, but a player collision would output for as long as the collision is happening.




The If Then Else node will take 2 variables and compare them if they're compatible. If it output's true, the Then plug will fire, if it's not, the Else plug will fire.




The Extract Data node will extract the selected information and pass it on as a usable variable.




There are many logic nodes, but Switch does exactly what it looks like, every time it gets a signal, it will switch which output it will transfer the signal to. The graphic displays which way the next signal will go next.




This one needs more work. Basically the Action node will do whatever action is selected to whatever item who's name/id is provided by the variable plug. If nothing is provided, it will only effect the bricks connected directly to the logic network via "Event Start"


So here's an example:

I want to make a light switch that lets me and only me turn a light on and off. I name the brick acting as the light switch "Light Switch" and the brick acting as the light "Light". I enter the light switch's event system and make this:


Keep in mind that i could have kept the "Light Switch" reference name empty, and it still would have worked, because the events are taking place inside the Light Switch brick, and if there is no name applied to the brick node, it will only reference the single brick that the event is taking place on.

This is powerful, I mean, imagine that i connected Event Start on the Light brick reference, to the On Event node, now that logic would also take place when i activate the light brick too, even though that brick has no logic of it's own.

Now there are contradictions and flaws in this example, like for example, getting information about what player is activating the brick from the brick itself as apposed to the On Event node, but this is just a first draft, still working everything out, but that information would come from the On Event node, not the brick itself.

Questions?

18

Games / Re: Blockland-Inspired Project

« on: October 29, 2017, 03:08:29 PM »

how good will the mod support be

For the game in general or for events specifically?

19

Games / Re: Blockland-Inspired Project

« on: October 29, 2017, 01:46:06 PM »

the eventing system in blockland works well enough, but it could definitely use some more things like if-else logic and input event parameters

having input->target->effect->(effect parameters) is a good, simple system for people who aren't looking to do anything too complex, but having some more advanced features would be nice

Exactly my thoughts, I was thinking maybe a Basic/Advanced tab that changes around the style of node editing.

By the way i forgot to mention how absolutely beautiful that mock up is. Like holy crap that's music to my eyes.
This would be the easy to understand "Basic" version, and i imagine the "Advanced" version to be something more akin to Blender's node editor.

20

Games / Re: Blockland-Inspired Project

« on: October 29, 2017, 12:59:04 AM »

21

Games / Re: Blockland-Inspired Project

« on: October 28, 2017, 10:34:33 PM »

snip

I love it, perhaps multiple processor and effecter nodes can be strung together as well, based on subsequent detector nodes that are used.

I agree, it is a simplistic system that people will be able to grasp pretty easy and it is pretty dynamic in nature, I would suggest having a more simplistic "Basic" mode like this, and a more complex but dynamic "Advanced" mode.

I imagine a node system more akin to the one Blender has. One where there are various types of nodes again, each one with a little circle on each side, these would act as plugs and outlets, color coded to demonstrate what information can and can't be passed to various inputs. I'm working out what the system would have, I'll show off an example when i have one.

22

Games / Re: Blockland-Inspired Project

« on: October 28, 2017, 02:30:55 PM »

this is just blocklands playertype system, you realise?
Like its literally exactly what we have already. If you don't like the default player in Blockland, you can just make a playertype for yourself. If you don't want to animate it, you can give it the same node names and bones as the default model and reuse the animations.

Oh snap, really? I never looked into it, I just on the spot pitched something that seemed like it would be the easiest from the Add-on creator's pov... I guess if it ain't broke...

Since we're on the topic again, I would make the player model and player stats different mods, maybe if someone really wants to have them both together they can make it a third thing.

So a PlayerModel Add-on would just be the new player model, animations, ect. It could be changed from the avatar customization. menu
a PlayerType or PlayerStats or whatever Add-on would just be the stat changes. And would have to be changed ingame like how you have to change in Blockland
and a PlayerMode Add-on would be both together. And would have to be changed in the game.

Also want to say that when i post an idea for a system on a forum, i'd deliberately leaving out a lot of steps and logic so that A: I'm not typing all day and B: So that people who have no idea how to code will still get the idea with little to no effort.

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Games / Re: Generic Sandbox Game

« on: October 27, 2017, 08:22:50 PM »

New video for tonight posted:
https://youtu.be/BYZSTR6JBoc

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Games / Re: Land of Dran (Video added today October 27th)

« on: October 27, 2017, 08:20:40 PM »

what game engine does this use?

I believe he's using a mixture of Bullet and just his own he's making from scratch as he goes.

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Games / Re: What game should I get?

« on: October 27, 2017, 08:18:35 PM »

I highly suggest Warframe. I have 2000+ hours in it, super addictive super fun, super active, tons of updates and content from the devs, not to mention they just dropped their biggest update ever, better then a squeal, all for free.

Just two things to note:
1. Do the Natah, Second Dream, and War Within quests ASAP, and do not look up anything Warframe online until you do, they add some features to the game that are so often used that it's impossible to avoid and its super SUPER story spoilers

2. Warframe is not pay to win, it's pay to be impatient. anything you can get in game that isn't completely cosmetic can be gotten from farming and crafting. Also, the premium currency, Platinum, can be traded between players for goods. So you can even farm FOR the premium currency.

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Games / Re: Blockland-Inspired Project

« on: October 27, 2017, 04:38:52 PM »

That reminds me of the programming interface from Lego Mindstorms.

Thats interesting, can you share some screenshot or something?

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Games / Re: Warframe Megathread - warframe confirmed path of exile

« on: October 27, 2017, 03:35:33 PM »

Idk what it is about a Warframe thread on the Blockland Forums, its such a mindforget.

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Games / Re: Generic Sandbox Game (Poll)

« on: October 26, 2017, 11:06:46 PM »

make enough dots and it'll look like a line.

Yeah but that's kinda unoptimized, it's a good temporary patch but it's not a real fix.

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Games / Re: Bricktopia

« on: October 26, 2017, 08:15:51 PM »

Yeah, that seems good, but what about jetting? will you just be unable to jet when using the spraycan?

Well i haven't thought of a control scheme yet, but i wouldn't tie them to the same controls.
My first thought is Primary fire for an item on LMB, Secondary on MMB, and Jets on RMB.. thoughts?
Usuly in FPS' or, really anything where your using a gun with a secondary fire, the secondary fire is either MMB or Q or something, because zoom is almost universally the RMB

30

Games / Re: Bricktopia

« on: October 26, 2017, 06:42:36 PM »

you made this game for yourself, not for other people.

This is exactly what I assumed you were completely overlooking until you said it, and even then i think your forgetting it with most of your argument. Because that's exactly right, above all else I'm making this for me, not for everyone else. When this actually gets to a usable state I will be distributing it, i'm not saying I'm going to keep this for myself, But I am doing this for me, not for anyone else. I posted it here because i wanted to talk about it and get input about it for want it is. At the end of the day idc if someone doesn't like my project for X Y Z A B C D E F G reasons, especially if some of their main points rely on the fact that they know exactly what the game is going to be like when i've gotten it to the point that i've always imagined it. Yeah, your still making assumptions of what the final game is going to be based on something i'm calling a pre-prealpha, and general things i want to add in the future-distant future. You have no idea when, where, or how i'm going to implement them. I do appreciate your insight, but i wish you would wait for me to actually make the mistakes your assuming i'm going to make, and actually get to know me and what i actually think about the topics you discussed, before you, frankly, lecture me about them. I never once said that fancy graphics was going to be a main selling point of the game, or that anyone, myself included, cares at all, all i said is that they're going to exist; Unity has the capacity for great graphics, I figure why not use it.

adding features liberally 'just because' isn't going to make your game any more attractive. It's something called 'more is less' and it's the reason why blockland did so good on its own-

Well thats the thing with life, it isn't always as simple as less is more and more is less, in a lot of cases it is, but in game design, you need a precise balance, a really good Feature : Implementation quality ratio. See, there's a drastic difference between what i think of as "Features" and "Items/Graphics/ect", When i mention features, i'm referring to "tools to build and create", and just because there are more options to do so doesn't mean that the game is going to be bloated. Bloated implies that the game is going to be bogged down, the user experience is going to be of a lower quality due to the number of features. And if implemented badly that's exactly what these features can and will do, but if implemented correctly, you can add many a feature before things start getting bloated. Especially if said features are to help you do X Y and Z in different ways, as apposed to give you toys to play with. Different people prefer different methods.

Also, keep in mind that a lot of the features and tools I'm adding to my game, I always wished was in blockland, I, as a consumer, wanted those features, but was either not possible, or noone wanted to make an addon of it.

And just to reiterate.

Your project lacks meaningful design.

It's in pre-prealpha. Any project by any dev ever that is consitered in a state where it's not even pre alpha, let alone in pre alpha itself, is always going to lack meaningful design, because the dev has barely started yet.
To make an over simplified example, It's like a chief says he's going to make some Meatloaf, so he starts chopping an onion and people start complaining because "That's not meatloaf" "That's nothing like meatloaf"

I just started. Give me some time to actually get something to a point that i would call done, because right now, literally nothing is.

If you want to continue this conversation I'm fine with it, but please do so via PMs, I want this topic to be as drama free as possible, Like you i'm not mad or trying to be offensive, but this is turning into a PM conversation