2.24.2005
Menus!
Tonight (i hope), I'll do a last revision on the main game loop before starting to add ObjectBase and a simple version of Level. What's the status of the menu right now? The menu class is created as generally as possible as to accomodate a textual menu or image-based menu. The title screen and the menu that can be accessed in the middle of the game will take advantage of this class.
Additionally, v.00001 has been upgraded to v.00002 because the thing is more functional now. So what's next? We need sounds and images for the menu and title screen. Other than that, I hope that the revision of the main game loop will make the loop easier to understand... damn I wish we had a repository.
for Feb 28
February 28 is our first deadline. What are we trying to achieve here? The point is to create a playable prototype that demonstrates the game mechanics. Although our game is pretty simple, there is no way we could represent it on pen and paper. So we are left with the only options of coding this stuff together.
It's not too bad. Everyone's doing their thing, and doing it right. We're still in a bit of a relaxed mood, but that will change on Sunday. I would say the goal right now is to get the game running without animation. Just one image that jumps, runs, slashes, etc. Once we're done with that, implementing animation should not be a problem.
We're going to have a array of documents due in week or so, mainly the Milestone document and the Functional Spec. The Milestone document should not be too difficult to conceive. It is pretty clear that we are going to be progressively gaining more levels, implementing the RPG elements, items, etc. All of this will come together, and I think that one we have an actual prototype, we will have more confidence in what/how/why stuff works.
As for the Functional Spec, I have had a tech spec running around for a while now, which is on what we're currently basing the prototype code. What we would need to do is outline the different classes we have, describe them, and create a nice UML document for each. I'm not familiar with any UML tools, so I downloaded one of the first free ones I ran into. Proxy Designer was my choice. It's pretty cool, and great for creating UML.
There is progress going on in all aspect of the game. The Menu/Title Screen and the main game loop are coming along very well, and all I'm doing is minor changes and helper functions. For example, say we have a menu. The best thing to do would be to make each menu item a oool looking image. So I wanted a function that automatically adds all the menu items, given just an array of images in a certain order. ObjectBase (the superclass of almost everything on the screen) is also coming along well. Level design is progressing and so is artwork. We are in good shape.
