Sunday 13 January 2013

Recent Updates #3

Quick update with a few things I've been working on recently.

The past few weeks have mainly been spent cleaning up and re-writing large chunks of code including the ship AI and transitioning everything over to the new window interface system.

Colour Banding

I added some dithering/gaussian noise to hide the colour banding thats noticeable on some gradients in the game. The sector backgrounds and galaxy map screen were particulary affected by this. I was quite reluctant to do this as when you zoom in you can clearly see the noise, which really doesnt go with the 'smooth gradient' visual style of the game.

I will perhaps make the dithering/noise optional so you can turn it off if you want. (for 30-bit colour monitor users!)

Interface Windows

I have been improving the layout and design for many interface windows, it involves lots of trial and error to get everything pixel perfect. The screenshot below shows the new ship orders window.

(Click for fullsize)

Ships with a transport order can now (optionally) load cargo at the second waypoint if you dont want them to return empty.

Music

I am also looking to license a unique soundtrack of over 4 hours of atmospheric/spacey electronic ambient music for the game. Theres still a few more details to finalise so cant provide any samples here yet.

The next few weeks I'm going to start working on some of the more gameplay related stuff as I'm rather sick of user interface programming at the moment. It's so time consuming.

9 comments:

  1. Looks nice and clean.

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  2. I've just read about your game at Space Sector, it seems very promising and the graphics are really cool and refreshing.

    You are doing a great job with it, i'll be expecting the release data.




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  3. This game looks awesome! Any new videos to be released soon?

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    1. It wont be really soon, but I will be working on more combat and gameplay related features next so hopefully a new video wont take too long.

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    2. Can't wait, wish you great success with the game!

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  4. Looking good Stuart, are you planning on a 2013 release or are release dates to fuzzy for now?

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    1. Yes, I am aiming to release it sometime this year.

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  5. hey well done really i am playing Multiplayer strategy game nowadays, but i also need your game to play, as i am amazed with various comment for you.

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