This week we started using a new program called TortoiseSVN. I have never used this program, but it will be used to work together as a group on building the project. It seems like it might be similar to Dropbox with how it syncs files and folders. That would definitely make the group work better with each other. So long as files don't get replaced by one another during edit.
Another thing that was brought up this week was the projects manager and his dialog. While I wasn't at class this week, it would seem one of the things added to our list was to get the manager to not tell people how to play when they are in advanced modes. This turns out quite simple because it can be disabled in kismet.
Toggle Cinematic Mode just has to send out past opening the dialog swf and past the Close GFx Movie part. What that does is skips the basic intro. Because this code is the same on all map difficulties, this works just fine. The next swf it goes to is the talking to the manager to get your first task.
This week starts some of the work that has to be done. We each have our part and we will be working on it. I have to edit the UI with flash, which i have recently been working with. Then I have to import and work with it in Unreal. Being that it's been a while since I've used Unreal, I'll have to brush up on some small things. Luckily, Unreal and flash get along fairly well. So it shouldn't be to much trouble to get working together.
For now though, the UI isn't the biggest thing for the project. With that, I'll be mostly looking up assets and working on figuring out what I might have to do. From there I can get to work later on.
This week I'm starting my senior class. We have to work on a project that was not finished for a client. So far, what seems to be left is adding another feature and some small patches to the old program to make it look and feel better.
The project has for the moment been split up into separate sections and the new feature has the most stuff to do. For now it seems I'll be taking up the UI and working with some kismet. This should go fairly well seeing as how my last project was all Flash, which the UI will need. The only part that could be hard to work with is getting the UI into Unreal. Mostly because it can be difficult from time to time to understand Unreal's kismet and other tools.
During my research on recent Smartphones, I found that there
is a handful of new OSs that are out there. The list of the OSs I've heard of
are: Linux, Tizen, Firefox, IOS, Android, and Windows. I didn't even know that
Firefox and Linux were making Smartphones. This means that in the field of
working on apps for these phones, it is important to have a good knowledge of
the different languages and interfaces. That way your app can be used on all of
the phones that are connected to the app store. This would be very important if
the app store allows different OSs to use it.
http://www.wired.com/insights/2013/01/do-we-really-need-another-smartphone-os/
During my research on 3D TV, I found that 3D TV might be
something we all will have in the future. With 3D movies in theaters, it's no
wonder why it is picking up more speed. The problem with 3D TV is that there
aren't a lot of 3D videos out there, Samsung is thinking about that however.
One of the new TV's they advertised was called 9000-series. This TV is a third
of an inch thick, 3D with a feature to turn 2D to 3D, and has a touch screen
remote that allows you to watch TV on it and has apps. This really fits in with
the future because 3D is good until we come up with virtual reality, thin is a
big future thing, and the remote is basically like a tablet.
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/01/samsungs-impossibly-thin-3d-tv-tempts-hollywood-producer/
During my research on configurable games, I found that Sims
3 and Spore are games that are big on creativity. Sims has always been about
having a character and leading them through life to be the best they can be.
This included giving them items that would make them happy and help them to
advance towards that ultimate goal. These items, as well as the people and
their outfits, can be customized to be what you want it to be. If you are not
all that creative there's an online storage of modified items. As for Spore it
was designed with a lot of customization. You could make custom buildings,
people, vehicles, and planets. The problem with these games to me was they had
very simple game play. I find it unfortunate when a game with such creative
power can be dulled by the interactions. With spore there aren't a lot of
advanced interactions until you get to the space age. With Sims it doesn't
really change and can be boring at times. One thing I've always questioned is
why there are no mini games that would make you feel like you were actually
doing something.
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2009/04/hands-on-sims-3/
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2008/09/spore-review/
This week I'm starting work on the last thing I need to do for the project. I plan to take screenshots of gameplay and put them into the tutorial. I have to wait on some of the finishing things that my team has to do, but soon I can get the tutorial underway. It should be a simple menu with forward, back, and skip buttons. The rest of it will be pictures that are shaded and have text to tell the player what things do. After that, if it's the first time they are playing, the game will start up and let them play.
A majority of the work that I had to do is finally getting completed. All that's left now is some final touches and a help menu. Once those are done, I'll pretty much be done with the tasks I have to do. With that in mind, I plan to look into areas that I can help to improve the game. One thing I noted is some of the backgrounds seem a little out of place. I plan to look into editing them in some way with Photoshop so that they seem more like they fit in better.
As well as that, there is still more modifying I can do to make the code cleaner. I may or may not do that depending on how fast this all gets together. Because we need a running version next week, I can't really do game changing modifications. It would make us recombine everything again. I may have to wait for a new completed version of the code before I can change any of those things.
Finally have all the shop assets, which is great. Now I need to just add them into the game. Because the items need to be programmed into the game by Dameon, I have to finish the shop this week. The prices don't need to be set up yet, nor all the restrictions necessarily. So I'll be working on that in a later copy.
Also on the side I have been working to reduce the lines of code that I have. It was something like 1000 lines of code because there are so many unique items and 5 different unique locations. But, because of arrays that can hold object names, I can shorten my code by at least 120 lines.
