The Chosen

Finaly I’m done with the scripting portion of the GUI. Though I’m sure that I will need to modify a thing of two as I start witting other code to interact with the GUI, but still it feels like a big accomplishment. While finishing touches on my script code for the GUI, I was also working on the cursor animation engine which is also up and running beautifully. Sadly, because the cursors are automatically removed from the screen shot, my cool animated cursors don’t appear in the picture, but I assure you they are very cool. In almost no time at all, after minimal explanation, I was able to hand off the script files to my game designer and he was able to construct his own version of the GUI as seen above. He was also able to modify the new cursors file, and using a constant code base, work with multiple new cursors and see how they looked in the real engine. Before I knew it, he had completely redesigned by default test GUI (bellow) into something that looks much yet functions exactly the same.

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Been back to work for a few days now, and everything is going fine, but it doesn’t seem like I’m getting much done. Most of what I’ve ended up working on has been little stuff, or small tests, or just cleanup work that can get old real quick. I worked on my GUI a little bit more, but spent most of my time on the new cursor system. All of the ground work for the cursors is written, and in place, including all the code to handle how cursors move over units, non selectable objects, the GUI, and even the code to show scrolling. All of this is good news but unfortunately this addition brings little moral as I have no actual cursors to use. To test most of the system i have used some dummy pictures but I seem to be too tired to enjoy my work. For now I’ll sleep it off and hope that some flashy animated cursors will arrive soon.

Despite numerous distractions, I final got my my Chat server up and running. Spending all that time one networking side of the code has really improved my confidence in the multilayer side of this project. As part of the process of getting my first server up, I also have all configuration done on my home network, meaning that the next server application I write will be a much simpler process. Also, because I picked a program that I use on a regular basis, I am able to work out all of the design problems in a less stressful environment, and will have an excellent template to build from when I start on my RTS server. In addition to my progress on the server development, I have also made some decent progress on the GUI. I believe I have the entire layout handler complete and have a complete default GUI setup, functional, and ready to go.

Whenever I start a project like this, I also try and identify all of the possible problems, and troublesome issues first. Long before I start writing any code that will end up in the final game, during the first design meetings, I isolate each issue, either mentally or in actual test code environments, and make sure that the design concept is possible, and within grasp. This project was no exception, and I wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing.

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With time to kill, while waiting for my new drive, I found myself unable to focus on a single task. I knew I had plenty to do, but always found myself working on something else or simply nothing at all. Not much has gotten done this week, but I did manage to finally put up an about page, and a general task list. I tried to keep the about page very broad, and open ended but I’m sure it will tweaked several times before this completed. On the task list page I mostly wanted to show the big picture, and overall progress of the game as a whole yet still vaguely show what will come next. The unfinished portion of the task list is a general order to show my master plan, but I’m sure, once completed, the list will rearrange its self.

After conversing with my designer on Friday, and talking him into creating a GUI script file, I got got home, and before I could start I wanted to backup my current files onto my laptop just in case something happens.  When I plugged my portable hard drive into my laptop, very quickly it was brought to my attention that a few files were corrupt on the drive. Not too concerned because of the numerous backups I happened to have, I quickly tried to delete the corrupt files. After a simple delete failed, I then salvaged what I could from the drive, and reformatted it. Sadly the reformat only deleted my files and left me without a drive.  Because I had used the drive as a main work environment for use on multiple computers, I then found myself fighting with the corrupt drive all weekend and getting no real work done. By the time Monday had come around I had completely lost my train of thought on the GUI, and I decided to take a small break until a replacement hard drive could be delivered. In the mean time I will work on some more specific planning of how the several complex pieces of the puzzle will fit together.