Level 1 is in the can!

And it only took ~8 hours!

Everything works more or less how I want it to. Obviously, I don't know how to do a lot of the cool things I had in mind, so I had to tinker/find alternative ways of doing them, duct tape and bailing wire style.

At one point I had to duplicate a significant portion of the map. Worldcraft didn't like it at all and, while the map loads up and plays just fine, a big list of warnings fills the console before hand. I've looked it up and the answer seems to be "yeah, old versions of Worldcraft will do that. F##k you", so whatevs.

I'm going to look for a texture pack to use. Right now I am using Quake's stuff as a placeholder. I was intending to just go with it, but now looking back on the finished product it is just too ugly. Muddy dark browns don't translate well to modern office motifs. I could also stand to find some prefabs. Prefabs, for those who haven't dabbled in this sort of thing before, are self contained little models/textures for use in maps. Think computers, office chairs, desks, cars, that sort of thing.

Also, the scale in Quake is wonky. For the weird and wacky world that Quake is actually set in, this is fine and really barely noticeable. But when I try to bring things into the modern realistic realm everything either looks like it is made for giants, or midgets. I can't really find the sweet spot. Oh well. Better textures should hopefully help.

Worldcrafting

I'm starting to really get into a groove with Worldcraft. My maps still look assy, but they are coming along.

I'd really love to add in my own textures at some point. My maps are set in an office/industrial theme, and Quake's default texture set doesn't really lend itself to that. Still, I am going to put off those kind of additions until after I have a basic release, and if people still care.

Slowly but surely this thing is coming together.

Also, I have come up with a name for the game. I am leaning towards calling it "The Mondays", because it is set in an office with tons of cubicles and really sterile fluorescent lighting.

Sometimes...

I wish I had a team. I like the total control that comes with working on my own, but it would be nice if I could delegate all the tasks that I hate/suck at to team members who are more competent than me in those areas. Like mapping.

I found a workaround for my Worldcraft woes. It is ugly, but it works. Still, now that I can actually churn the maps out I am coming to a new realization: I suck at mapping. Fair enough, I knew that going in, but what I didn't know was just how much it is going to impact my game. It is bad enough that the game is going to be full of programmer art, but programmer level design? Yuck.

Oh well. Hopefully I can still hit the ugly but passably fun sweet spot.

expletives

Worldcraft was working just fine. And then it wasn't. Just like that.

A compile a map two seconds later and none of the geometry is lighting up properly. And I can't FUCKING fix it! Literally NOTHING has changed from one compile to the next. The piece of shit throws no errors. All I know is that I can't produce a map with working lights, and it has singlehandedly killed my damn game.

Once again, you'd think a program this stupid old would be documented like a motherfucker, but it isn't. All the googling in the world can't find me an answer. I'm going to try and enlist the help of some current Quake modders and see if they can't set me straight. Maybe there is a better program out there than this piece of shit old version of Worldcraft.

But until then, the game can never get released.

I am unbelievably pissed off right now. I put the mapping off to the end because I hate it and suck so bad at it anyway. But now to have mapping be the thing that I am forced to pay so much attention to and grind all my development to a halt... Infuriating.

Oops

Did I say this weekend? What I really meant was "when it's done".

Which will probably be either next weekend or the week after that.

Sorry. I thought that maybe being able to plow through my work on the game all week would help me take my mind off of things (family emergency), but instead I just couldn't get motivated to start.

The Feature List

Key:

• Items in black indicate something that is already in the game and working acceptably.
• Items in green indicate something that I've already started working on and is definitely going to be in the game at release.
• Items in yellow indicate something that I haven't started working on but will hopefully be in the release.
• Items in red indicate something that I would love to be in the game, but probably won't make it.

Here we go.

Mapping:

• An intro map, with a tutorial for getting around. Characters get introduced, and the story started off.
  
• The level where shat first starts to go down.
• A middle level where the main button-hunt gameplay most comes into effect.
• A finale level.
• Custom cartoony textures for everything.

Modeling:

• A main type of generic bad guy with an SMG.
• A pistol, smg, and shotty for the player.
  
• Another type of baddy with a shotgun.
• A pistol baddy.
• A boss.
• An AI buddy.
• Some friendly AI scientists.

Code:

• AI that is generally enhanced for getting around and not getting stuck on the geometry.
• A "dynamic" spawn system for pumping in enemies at least somewhat intelligently.
• Buddy AI.
• Some non-threatening scientist AI.
• Some sort of system for allowing scripted dialogue/sequences.
  

Sounds:

• My own sounds for the weapons.
• Sounds for pain, death, jumping, etc... For the player, the baddy, and the AI buddy.
• Some scripted Left-4-Dead-esq dialogue.
  

General:

• Come up with a name for this thing.

I am aiming for a release day of the 17th of July. Testing? I don't need no stinking testing. Now, I realize that I put the custom sounds and textures in red, which means that they probably won't make the release. This means that my initial release will be as a mod and not a standalone game. I really want to see this as a standalone game, but digging out all of the original textures, sounds, and other game content is a load of work, and I'm only going to do it if I think it is worth the pay off. That is why I am going to release as a mod first, and then go standalone on a people-seem-to-give-a-shit-enough-basis. If nobody touches the mod then I won't bother going standalone, it is as simple as that.

What you will need to play the mod: You will need the two .PAK files from the original Quake game. If you don't have Quake you are out of luck. You can always buy the game, I think it is $10 on Steam or you can get it brand new and in a box from Amazon.com for less than $10. It is a classic as hell oldschool shooter and you owe it to yourself to own the thing anyways. I'll put all the relevant information on how to install the mod in a README file when I release the game.