Saturday, February 21, 2015

Finding the Path

Pathfinding! It's what makes units go around obstacles instead of through them, and it's something that is now in the game.

I used something called the A* algorithm to implement pathfinding. It's a bit complicated, but basically it calculates the shortest walkable route between two points. The algorithm itself is generic, of course, so I had to figure out how to implement it specifically in Unity. Unity does include a built-in navigation utility, but word on The Internet is that it doesn't always work very well. Plus building it myself gave me a much better understanding of how it works and how I can customize it to my needs.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Laying the Groundwork

Progress continues erratically. I'm taking a learn-as-I-go approach, which means that I often have to go back and change some previous work to reflect new knowledge.

I've been spending most of my time following a tutorial about 'traditional' real-time strategy games à la Age of Empires. I've implemented camera controls and a lot of background code laying the groundwork for players, units, buildings, traps, and other world objects, as well as a basic UI. Right now, the game knows when you select something and can tell you what is selected:

Sunday, February 8, 2015

What's This (Dev?) Blog About?

I've never had a blog before! And I'm not really sure exactly what this one will be about. I know for a fact that it will contain words. Maybe some pictures. If I'm feeling really ambitious, a video or two.

There will be (semi-)frequent updates about a game I'm developing with my brother. And probably some thoughts on games and gaming in general. And books. And music.

But I'm gonna go ahead and call it a dev blog. That sounds important and makes me feel like a real game developer!