Game Development

@AlexandreVaillancourt I have 215 spawn points, and depending on its own location id, it picks a random enemy based on the player level. So yeah, there are tons of rats and skeletons and of the sorts. Also, if the player is far away, the spawn point will replace it's enemy with one on the player's level (to make sure new areas on are par) also, spawn points with no enemy instance spawns a new one after an in-game day.

Alexandre Vaillancourt

What's the goal of the game?

The Mattbat999

1:54 AM

Well, once I actually sit down and put in the main questline, it is to stop a league of vampires from making the world eternally dark while teaming up with the Order of Light. You gotta find the Amulet (ain't got a good tagline yet) before the vampires and put it on its pedestal, where it can't be moved.

I was gonna call it the Amulet of Light, but that would be repetitive, since there is also the Tower of Light, Order of Light, and Temple of Light.

Alexandre Vaillancourt

You could find alternatives: the glowing amulet, the mirror tower, the shining order, the temple of the burning flame..

The Mattbat999

Hmmm. Interesting. I better jot those down!

Alexandre Vaillancourt

2:16 AM

My worry in an RPG to have the monsters at the same level of the player, is that if you've cleared an area with "easy mobs" which were at your level at that time, then go back there later for whatever reason, you'll still have a challenge with these monsters you though you were done with: you won't have the option to just don't care about them because you're now so strong compared to them.

(at least that's my preference :P)

The Mattbat999

@AlexandreVaillancourt well, some areas stop leveling, don't level, or are naturally easy. Like in the wilderness, you will always fight rats and wolves, in camps you will always fight orcs, and in tombs the max is vampires, so, in theory, some areas will always be easy, some will get harder, and some are always hard, for interesting gameplay!

Pikalek

@AlexandreVaillancourt what happened to the fridge?

@TheMattbat999 how do you convey to the player that if some areas level w/ the player & some don't?

Alexandre Vaillancourt

@TheMattbat999 Ah! Seems fair!

The Mattbat999

@Pikalek because hopefully all because you got tougher doesn't mean dragons and yeits just start wandering about.

Alexandre Vaillancourt

@Pikalek Well I don't know what happened, but the result is that it's no longer cold enough. Stuff in the freezer is thawing, and the beer doesn't generate condensation...

The Mattbat999

2:26 AM

@AlexandreVaillancourt yep. Never wanna them to get bored! Especially not for a while...

@AlexandreVaillancourt just keep it closed until you can get a new one. Maybe run, get some ice, and put some on the frozen stuff.

Alexandre Vaillancourt

@TheMattbat999 Yeah, good idea!

The Mattbat999

@AlexandreVaillancourt cause Skyrim gets boring pretty fast... most NPCs stand no chance against you by level 60.

Alexandre Vaillancourt

@TheMattbat999 That's too late, the ice cream has already melted. My wife tested the yogurt and it was in the 10+°C

@TheMattbat999 Haven't played skyrim :P

Pikalek

@AlexandreVaillancourt then you feast to honor the loss of the refrigerant !

Alexandre Vaillancourt

But I played Morrowind. Mainly to finish it (because I started it twice before dedicating all my time to it, so I started it a 3rd time then finished it.)

The Mattbat999

2:30 AM

@AlexandreVaillancourt grrr...

Alexandre Vaillancourt

@Pikalek Yeah, not sure what is still good in it.

The Mattbat999

@Pikalek YES

Alexandre Vaillancourt

I'll try and unplug it and replug it, and or see if I could clean the compressor in some ways..?

The Mattbat999

@AlexandreVaillancourt fun til about level 40. By then, everything is a push over except the occasional dragon, and even that isn't super hard!

Alexandre Vaillancourt

Dunno. I did not plan to spend money on a fridge (no matter how fun it seems, according to radio ads).

The Mattbat999

2:31 AM

@AlexandreVaillancourt Morrowind and Oblivion are the two best.

Pikalek

@AlexandreVaillancourt when in doubt, smell it.

2

The Mattbat999

@AlexandreVaillancourt we had to replace a mower, a washing machine, and a dishwasher in a 6 month span. It just happens.

Alexandre Vaillancourt

@Pikalek Does this work with clothes too?

The Mattbat999

@AlexandreVaillancourt I mean, you might die due to really stinky ones, but sure.

Pikalek

@AlexandreVaillancourt I rarely eat clothes, so I'm not sure if the rule hold true for that

Alexandre Vaillancourt

2:33 AM

@TheMattbat999 Yeah, it does, just gotta make sure you put money aside for it. This fridge is old, but I don't know how old...

@Pikalek :P

Pikalek

that said, fridge is an frustrating thing to have to replace due to failure, esp if you like to do research before purchasing

The Mattbat999

@AlexandreVaillancourt thankfully we usually have just enough despite very little income (Thank you Jesus!)

Pikalek

@TheMattbat999 'cause He taught you how to save?

Alexandre Vaillancourt

@Pikalek Yeah, we rarely just go to a store and purchase the first thing that comes up. There are always sales here and there, but the thing you want/need is not always on sale...

The Mattbat999

@Pikalek that and having the bills not add up in a good way :)

Pikalek

2:39 AM

@AlexandreVaillancourt sometimes you can get a deal on floor/demo models. Also when we were shopping for one, I noticed a fair number that had been returned due to cosmetic issues (scuffs, dents) & were heavily discounted.

@TheMattbat999 I had meant it as word play... Jesus saves.

Alexandre Vaillancourt

@Pikalek Yeah, we'll see what happens!

The Mattbat999

@Pikalek oh. My bad. I get it now tho!

Pikalek

@AlexandreVaillancourt our household also follows Consumer Reports - not sure if all the branding & models hold up across the border though

Alexandre Vaillancourt

@Pikalek What's that?

Pikalek

@AlexandreVaillancourt www.consumerreports.org

@AlexandreVaillancourt in addition to the online, they also put out print listings / magazines

@TheMattbat999 that's okay, I've been told my jokes are an acquired thing - similar to certain terrible diseases

Alexandre Vaillancourt

2:48 AM

@Pikalek Oh, it looks a bit like something that we have here ("Protegez-vous", which means "protect yourself"). I'll take a look before we buy!

The Mattbat999

@Pikalek ok. Let's hope that it ain't catchy (rimshot)

Pikalek

@TheMattbat999 touché

The Mattbat999

@Pikalek haha!

Pikalek

having disrupted things sufficiently, something something game dev?

buzzword problem development pattern?

Alexandre Vaillancourt

We like to place our rigid bodies slightly above ground so that if falls down on the ground when the simulation starts.

Pikalek

2:55 AM

why?

Alexandre Vaillancourt

I'd like to save the rigid bodies exactly at the correct location so that they're in their proper place when the simulation starts.

Why what?

otherwise they can get pushed out and, well, popcorn or something?

Pikalek

Why start them above the ground?

Ah okay.

Alexandre Vaillancourt

So that they fall and rest properly.

Pikalek

I've seen that happen.

But if they fall, don't they get jostled around a bit?

Alexandre Vaillancourt

But our environment files are text files. We'd have to do something binary for that. I think.

Hmm, just a bit, and it's not visible to the user.

(We hide everything until the simulation is ready to start (and the bodies have settled).)

Pikalek

2:58 AM

Why can't you save the position to txt file?

The Mattbat999

Ok. See y'all later. I am gonna rap up what I am doing now then go to bed!

Alexandre Vaillancourt

Hmm, well I'm not completely sure you can have the exact double value output to file, and properly read back as the exact value. right?

@TheMattbat999 Good night!

Pikalek

@TheMattbat999 later

@AlexandreVaillancourt convert the double to hex

it's a minor hassle, but if it's only at init / sze, it shouldn't be a performance problem

and as far as representation, it will save / restore to the exact value you had in memory

also, less digits than attempting to save the number as txt digits

but also writeable as regular txt, so no special file format is needed

Alexandre Vaillancourt

Yeah, that could be done like that; we'd have to update all of our architecture, but that could be interesting!

Pikalek

many languages have double to / from hex I/O, so you probably don't even need to write / debug the routines yourself

Alexandre Vaillancourt

3:04 AM

The only downside to all of this, is that we don't commit to a particular framerate, so it might cause issues down the road :/

Pikalek

true, if you're already committed to a different design, it's much easier for me to make the suggestion than for you to implement it

Alexandre Vaillancourt

Oh, well that's been like this for hmm, well I've been working there for more that 6 years and that part hasn't really changed.

Pikalek

Also, it's a more recent thing I needed, so that gives me a disproportional sense of value.

Alexandre Vaillancourt

@Pikalek Hmm, not sure I follow you.

Pikalek

Since it recently solved a similar problem for me, I'm more likely to think it's a good idea.

I needed a way to sift through a bunch of txt output of doubles looking for differences in output between a couple of methods.

Alexandre Vaillancourt

3:12 AM

Ah, well yeah, but still, all suggestions are welcome :)

Alexandre Vaillancourt

3:24 AM

I'm off to bed, good night!

The Mattbat999

Well, I thought I was busy but I really ain't so I am back!

@AlexandreVaillancourt good night!

Pikalek

@AlexandreVaillancourt later.

The Mattbat999

So...

Pikalek

Engaged in a game of guess the parameters with code I don't quite recall writing.

Guess correctly & it will procedurally generate magical textures.

Guess poorly & it replies with bad poetry

for instance: "IllegalStateException: cannot generate voronoi on less than 3 points"

I mean, that's not haiku, doesn't rhyme & certainly isn't iambic pentameter.

The Mattbat999

Hmmm

Pikalek

3:44 AM

At any rate, it's on me for not having documented them well enough. I think I've found the combination of things that's leading to crashing & a different combination that's making the output muddy.

I have faith that future me will either figure it out, or find something else more worthwhile to accomplish.

Opps, parenting time.

Free Internet Points

9:45 AM

0

Q: Managing different types of Actors/Entities in a rendering engine

I'm coding a simple game engine using DirectX11, and I'm stuck on how to implement a kind of ECS. Now my rendering system look like this (sorry if the diagram is not real UML, it's just for description): The architecture is really naive, I wanted to keep things as simple as possible, for learn...