Please Stand By

Has it really been nearly seven months since I posted? Damn. Game currently isn't a priority, real life has taken the centre stage at the moment. However, I'm still ticking away, getting everything ready to start back up again. Bear with me. - Rob

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Procedural (Side) Missions

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It's been a while since I last posted, a lot of things have changed in the interrim. Not to the game, just my general situation. First of all, I've moved down south, so that was a biggie. I've been waiting to start a new job so that had been killing my energy, I was just waiting to start so I would lounge around all day just existing in this weird limbo mood. I've been doing artwork for an indie title, which has been a priority. Also, XCOM2 War of the Chosen came out, which didn't help either.

What I've been working on, on and off, is a form of procedural level generation for AGGRESSOR.

Hear me out. I originally wanted to hand craft every level, in fact I thought it just wouldn't work if it wasn't. But after doing a few missions I realised how much time and energy it took to create just one mission, and given how little time I will have to work on the game.. I needed to either have a very short game, or get creative and work smart. My solution, thus far…
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Teaching a potato to think - A.I Update #3

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I wanted to include a video with this update, but Fraps doesn't handle Game Maker very well :C Ah shucks.

Anyway, today I tore apart (not really, more just pulled apart) the enemy A.I and started to rework it. Basically, it overlapped too much, and that was causing problems. Now I'm going through system by system, making all the necessary changes.

Firstly, and arguable quite importantly, was making the A.I turn to face the player, rather than snapping. It's a simple thing on paper, but it's more difficult than it sounds. Remember that 0" and 360" are the same, and that to a computer the fastest route from 5" to 355" is to add rather than subtract. That one was a bugger to solve.

Next, I made sure the enemy only turned when he could see the player, and only within a certain cone. If you stand in his periphery, he will see you, but if you're out of sight he'll be oblivious. When oblivious, he'll either fidget (change direction occasionally…
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Stunlock

Tonight I've been working on stun lock for enemies. Damage freezes enemies for a set period of time, melee more than ranged. During this time the enemy can't move, fire or turn. They'll display a damage animation when I do the art pass. This enables melee focused players to get in on an enemy and finish them off, and allows a ranged focused player to take on groups of enemies without being swamped.

I think.

Anyway it's a feature, one I've been meaning to implement. I'm going to polish it up tomorrow, but after that I'm going to work on melee knockback and kicking.

These are features that have been broken by the AI rebuild, so I'm retreading old ground. Still, progress.

I've also been thinking hard about the theme of the game, and made some ground there. No notes for now, haven't settled on anything solid yet.

Chao!

- Rob
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