Turning On The Final Stretch

With the completion of the Radar Pack, I was pretty well suited to just bring the final pieces together into a closing of the pack, however as you've all read already, there's still one more big piece left in the pack and one smaller, and still "important-ish" part as well.

That WAS the original notion, however, this is changing for something even more exciting. First however, I've got some more "numbers" to share with everyone since you guys are still awesome. I mentioned in a prior blog, I forgot which one about my intentions regarding pushing my own projects along and my needs to do so and I also mentioned that AFPSK in general was a great concept idea and probably my best option for doing so, and I have to say, I'm thinking this has been a great idea so far. :)

So, numbers! To date, the following Single items have gone as follows:
Model Pack: 8
FPS Design: 5
Radar: 8

Doing some pretty basic math gets me to around ~300 in terms of total pack sales at the moment, which for me is good, things are going slow but smoothly in terms of what's being served out, and I can't thank you guys enough for hopping on the train and grabbing these pack pieces.

But enough of my yapping, let's get onto the purpose of today's blog, which is regarding the final pieces of the pack. The first one will be coming out on Wednesday, and it's the Team Game Pack with a full CTF Sample to get you moving along in the right direction with team based game modes. This is going to be the smallest piece of the pack, and rightfully so will only sit at $5 for the purchase price. It's small, but a really helpful package that will provide you with some insights on how to make good team based game modes as well as giving you a few template options to work with.

Now, this is where my big "announcement" of sorts comes into the equation. The last piece of AFPSK, the Advanced AI Player is now being broken into two parts (in a way). Now, before you start freaking out let me explain what's going on here. I actually to my surprise, finished all of the groundwork and code for the AI today. And unless I made some really silly error, I'm pretty sure it's already in a releasable state. My release calendar however, states that the AI pack isn't due out until the 29th. So I thought for a minute or so my options regarding this. My first option was to simply release it all on the 19th and send the full pack out next week, but instead, I've got something cooler in mind.

Enter the AI Pack Split. And I'm actually going to do exactly that above, release everything on the 19th, including the now named AFPSK AI Lite. This is going to contain my new Advanced AI Player class, which migrates your standard AI toolkit into the engine with functions such as target detection and movement code. It also has the Recast path built directly into the C++ code so no more annoying broken TS references, just simply send the move command to the bot and let recast and the AI code handle the rest. This AI also has a small built in event planner class which allows you to create named events with priority levels and to let the bot figure out what needs to be done. This right here, was the original concept behind my new AdvancedAIPlayer, a very easy to use AI solution that actually would fit nicely into the many released AI Solutions here on GarageGames. This package also contains my re-introduction of the SeekerProjectile from Tribes 2 (Thanks go out to numerous resource writers and some needed hours of code fixing) with a targeting overlay gui to give you targeting capabilities for this new projectile. All of this above here is going to be packaged up in the form of the $15 AFPSK AI Lite pack which will be released on March 19th. I will also at the time be opening up full sales of AFPSK Lite which contains all four of the prior AFPSK releases and this AFPSK AI Lite for $45 and the launch of PGD Super Bundle which contains AFPSK Lite, MAP, and DWP for $60 (which is $15 less than buying all three separately).

Now, after that's done, I've got one final little "surprise" for you guys in the form of AFPSK AI Full. This package, while including all of the features in AFPSK AI Lite, will also include some additional features and engine operations to do even more advanced AI functioning. This version also includes:

* AI Core Class with examples to show you how to set up numerous different AI Playstyles (CQC, Sniper, Assassin, Ect.), this will also include examples to wire in events with the team based game modes.
* Weapon Details Class to grant AI new functioning in combat determining functions (Such as weapon choice, combat outcomes, and threat levels)
* 5 AI Difficulty Levels that are fully customizable in C++
* AI Squad System to allow AIs to work together with other AIs and Players
* Event Detection (With full examples for audio detection and shot detection)

This release will take the place of the original AFPSK AI Release time period on March 29th. As of the current moment, I'm debating whether or not this will fit in the $25 or the $30 price range. I will determine this towards the release date of this pack based on factors such as the complexity of the needed code for this AI versus AI Lite, and a few others. A subsequent AFPSK Full will also be sent out at this time completing the Release of the Advanced FPS Kit in my eyes at which point my programming development will turn towards updates to the pack and work on my own projects.

Either way, I've had lots of fun over these past few months devising this project, and actually completing and delivering the numerous pack elements to you guys. I hope you find everything I've brought useful and I can't wait to send out the last bits and pieces of this pack!

See you next time!