TorqueX brain recovery
by Will O-Reagan · 12/15/2007 (9:56 am) · 4 comments
This is going to be a fairly in depth / outlandish / personal, so I'm going to cut to the point fairly quickly.. Last year I spent Jan through August learning TorqueX, and XNA. I was attempting to build something awesome. And it was awesome, and continued to be awesome, and grow, and it was a magnificent project to work on. However, it eventually failed. I'm not sure why, but I think it probobly had more to do with burnout then anything else. I may have pushed myself too hard, but I made alot of progress, and I'm fairly proud of my accomplishments. But i still quit, cold turkey, and didn't touch a line of code for what has been now, most of august, all of september, all of october and november, and now some of december. 4 months of quiting time. And now I want to get some of that back. I don't know what I want to make, but I want to make something in TorqueX and XNA. The question is, where did all my knowledge and hard work go? Is it still there? Is it in my head? I think it probobly is. But right now, I have no idea what I can do, or what I want to do... I guess... Its time to set some goals.
Goals- thats what this blog is about!
Damn.. what are my goals, for recreating code archetecture, and reconstructing the code archetecture in my brain that I'm going to have to work with.. Well.. Everytime I think about goals, I keep thinking of one thing. FSM. I want to build some Finite state Machines. Something that will work with the platformer starterkit hopefully, but how do I get to that point? How do I get to the point of working on a FSM for my own game, that uses the principles of the starterkit? Well.. Its a long road ahead of me I guess... And I have to start somewhere..
I told a fib.. I have done some coding since then.. The other day I managed to work up the courage to run the 3D version of TorqueX, pro. I managed to change the speed of the Camera, and that was sort of interesting.
I also ran the starterkit on the 360, you know, the basic starter with 5 platforms, and the dragon. I jumped off the edge of the platform, and fell.. and fell... then tried hitting back, and start. Damn, I played too much halo3. This is never going to work. How am I going to debug this game, if I have to quit to the dashboard every single time i fall off a platform?
So thats where I'm going to start. Create a title screen for the game, something that will load up when my character runs out of lives, or I quit, or some such. I dont know what I'm trying to make yet, but I'm pretty sure this is the best course of action. If I can get to the title screen by pressing back, and start a new game by pressing start, I may have accomplished something. Lets not get carried away here.. I can probobly do more then that, but accomplishing just that would be an accomplishment, and thats all I'm trying to do here.
Goal: Title Screen, Gameplay transition
Deadline: Jan 1, 2008
Will-O
Goals- thats what this blog is about!
Damn.. what are my goals, for recreating code archetecture, and reconstructing the code archetecture in my brain that I'm going to have to work with.. Well.. Everytime I think about goals, I keep thinking of one thing. FSM. I want to build some Finite state Machines. Something that will work with the platformer starterkit hopefully, but how do I get to that point? How do I get to the point of working on a FSM for my own game, that uses the principles of the starterkit? Well.. Its a long road ahead of me I guess... And I have to start somewhere..
I told a fib.. I have done some coding since then.. The other day I managed to work up the courage to run the 3D version of TorqueX, pro. I managed to change the speed of the Camera, and that was sort of interesting.
I also ran the starterkit on the 360, you know, the basic starter with 5 platforms, and the dragon. I jumped off the edge of the platform, and fell.. and fell... then tried hitting back, and start. Damn, I played too much halo3. This is never going to work. How am I going to debug this game, if I have to quit to the dashboard every single time i fall off a platform?
So thats where I'm going to start. Create a title screen for the game, something that will load up when my character runs out of lives, or I quit, or some such. I dont know what I'm trying to make yet, but I'm pretty sure this is the best course of action. If I can get to the title screen by pressing back, and start a new game by pressing start, I may have accomplished something. Lets not get carried away here.. I can probobly do more then that, but accomplishing just that would be an accomplishment, and thats all I'm trying to do here.
Goal: Title Screen, Gameplay transition
Deadline: Jan 1, 2008
Will-O
About the author
I have a degree in dramatic art, and literature, from UC Santa Barbara. I've worked for a few studios, also at Animax Ent in 2008, and some smaller studios. Currently studying Computer Science at CSU Channel Islands.
#2
1 - write down all features that you can think your product should have on little stick-its. Example: hero should be able to walk around the screen with different animations depending on the terrain, hero should be able to atack with axe, hero should be able to atack with sword. Now estimate how much time you will spend implementing them and write on the stickies (this numbers may not change during the project! maybe only at first two iterations when you are still evaluating you speed).
2 - put them in order of importance (if the heart of your gameplay is to be able to rip you enemies body members, the most important stick-its should be the ones that define just enough to start ripping enemies appart.
3 - group your stickies in what we will call "iteration". I usually group them in a way that I can end all the stickies in a week or two (the quicker the better). Now, group your iterations (usually 4 iterations = 1 month) in what we will call releases. Every release is somewhat a "complete verstion of the game". You may want to have a level of your game at the end of every release, for example (although I use a different strategy, too complex to explain here).
4 - At the end of every iteration, let people play with your parcial game and provide feedback.
5 - With that feedback in mind, re-do the priorization of the items that have become more urgent for your next release. Invite your players to help you prioritize.
6 - Start another iteration.
Those are the basics, there is A LOT to explain. I hope you see the point of this methodology: to know where you are at each given point of the project, and to give you that "sense of accomplishment" you are looking for: "I just released for the first time, and people are playing it!!!". If at some point you have implemented half the features, you're half way to the end of your project. Nice huh? Let me know how this works for you! Good luck!
12/17/2007 (3:49 am)
Hi Will (and Joe). I understand your pain, and I have a suggestion. I had the same problems you are facing: didn't knew where to start, and when I did started the project never finished. Then I came across "agile methodologies". I'll describe a naive version of a agile process so you'll have a starting point:1 - write down all features that you can think your product should have on little stick-its. Example: hero should be able to walk around the screen with different animations depending on the terrain, hero should be able to atack with axe, hero should be able to atack with sword. Now estimate how much time you will spend implementing them and write on the stickies (this numbers may not change during the project! maybe only at first two iterations when you are still evaluating you speed).
2 - put them in order of importance (if the heart of your gameplay is to be able to rip you enemies body members, the most important stick-its should be the ones that define just enough to start ripping enemies appart.
3 - group your stickies in what we will call "iteration". I usually group them in a way that I can end all the stickies in a week or two (the quicker the better). Now, group your iterations (usually 4 iterations = 1 month) in what we will call releases. Every release is somewhat a "complete verstion of the game". You may want to have a level of your game at the end of every release, for example (although I use a different strategy, too complex to explain here).
4 - At the end of every iteration, let people play with your parcial game and provide feedback.
5 - With that feedback in mind, re-do the priorization of the items that have become more urgent for your next release. Invite your players to help you prioritize.
6 - Start another iteration.
Those are the basics, there is A LOT to explain. I hope you see the point of this methodology: to know where you are at each given point of the project, and to give you that "sense of accomplishment" you are looking for: "I just released for the first time, and people are playing it!!!". If at some point you have implemented half the features, you're half way to the end of your project. Nice huh? Let me know how this works for you! Good luck!
#3
It's like you entered your garage, found a really nice hammer and thought "This hammer is really cool, I think I'll buy some wood and nails, because I think I could make a nice chair" XD You don't need a chair! Halfway you will get tired to hammer and leave your nice looking chair unfinished because you never wanted it in the first place... You just wanted to play with your hammer... (lamest example ever heheh)
I guess the point is: find a cool game to make (talk to your friends, gather ideas, copy.. er.. use your imagination). If you can think on a new cool concept for a game, THEN use the process I described and THEN start studying TGX "on demand" for your game.
:)~ Good luck!
12/17/2007 (4:01 am)
And... well, I think you are working backwards: you are studying the technology and then creating a excuse to use it! This wont work (ever!).It's like you entered your garage, found a really nice hammer and thought "This hammer is really cool, I think I'll buy some wood and nails, because I think I could make a nice chair" XD You don't need a chair! Halfway you will get tired to hammer and leave your nice looking chair unfinished because you never wanted it in the first place... You just wanted to play with your hammer... (lamest example ever heheh)
I guess the point is: find a cool game to make (talk to your friends, gather ideas, copy.. er.. use your imagination). If you can think on a new cool concept for a game, THEN use the process I described and THEN start studying TGX "on demand" for your game.
:)~ Good luck!
#4
12/22/2007 (9:40 pm)
Thanks for the encouragement! Woe is me however, my computer is in the shop with an estimated return date of Jan 16th! 
Torque Owner Joe Rossi
Indri Games