Dev Update : AI going rogue

I've let run the latest development build a whole day in the fastest "real-time" mode available. And here are the results. This post will also explain various major changes which are going to happen in the next versions.

Also, I know there's a few coders reading this blog, so I guess you'd love reading about this "new" path-finding algorithms (read it, seriously) which have the same advantages as the good old A* with a 10x speed factor. That's something I may give a try as my pathfinder algorithm is basically my biggest bottleneck in terms of performances. The second one is especially interesting given how easy it is to implement, but it can't manage a weight for each node (meaning that it's a no-go for GRA but others should find it very very useful). The first one could be a winner, but it requires way more changes in my current code. Don't forget to read the PDF linked by the article as they are the real stuff.

Anyway, let's talk about GRA !

Dev Update : Next Goals

With the first "dungeon" nearly ready for release, even if a few things are still missing in that domain, I think it's time to explain what I am going to do next. As you will see Monday, the dungeon part in 0.6 is purely hard-coded (not moddable), so, as a result the next release will introduce ways to add / customize dungeons using the in-game modding tools. But when I am done with that (which should be relatively trivial as the whole logic behind the dungeon system is more or less ready to be integrated), I am going to explore new areas. Here is a very long post regarding this subject.

Design : Artificial Intelligence - Part 2

The first part is available here.

Regarding the improvements made recently to the AI system, I think it's a good time to write another design post explaining how my NPC deal with the environment. Except specified otherwise, it concerns the 0.3.0 version of the game (currently in development). And as usual, this is a design document, containing technical stuff with random ideas thrown in that may or may not be implemented in the long run.

Released : Grand Rogue Auto 0.2.5 [Test Build]

GRA 0.2.5 has been released !

You can grab it in the download section of this website.

This new version adds a large amount of features, most of them are related to the economic system and the NPC AI. I won't explain here all the changes because they are too numerous to list in a single post, but there's a (massive) changelog at the end of this post for those who are interested. However I will detail here the major highlights of this new version.

Dev Update: OMG Zombies !

Yeah, zombies! I added a new game-mode to demonstrate the flexibility of my little engine (only 30-50 additional lines of code required to include the option). As you can see in the screenshot above, it's a zombie apocalypse scenario. 5% of the population spawn as zombies. People killed by zombies immediately respawn as another mindless undead. They are very tough, and regenerate health quickly. Your starting pistol is no match against them and you'll have to get a shotgun or rifle quickly as they will definitively conquer the whole city in a few hundred turns. On the bright side, money will be laying pretty much everywhere by that time. Before you ask, no I am not gonna do a Rogue Survivor 2.0, it's just a dumb fun survival scenario. It also allowed me to test the combat routines at a large scale and fix a rather large amount of potential bugs which would have arisen with the 'faction' tree of the roadmap.

But that's not all, many other changes were made.
And I have an approximate release date for the next version.

Dev Update : economics, Items, and AI

Or the weekly development update I nearly forgot to post.

I'm posting a bit less frequently than usual, mostly because the economic part is a bit tricky and takes a fairly large amount of my time without having much to show for in the meantime. However, I made several improvements related to items/effects and the NPC AI. And I fixed most of the bugs reported so far. It will probably take a little less than a month for a release including a working economy, with another release in between.

Dev Update : Bugs, Gangs and Items

Yes, I am a bit late, it was a busy month. And, while I am here, a warm welcome to the Dwarf Fortress fans coming from a link on their board (and no, I am not the one who put the link).

Anyway,

First things first, the good news. I will release a v0.2.1 soon, probably Sunday. It will add the much needed elements to make the game playable in Police State mode: Health Packs, food and energy drinks that will be available for you to buy in hospitals, restaurants, and the new general stores. It also fixes a few small bugs and annoyances found in previous release. I may be able to put a few gang members in the city, but it's not sure yet given the amount of issues generated by NPC vs NPC fights. We'll see soon enough.

And for more detailed info, it's below.
(there's also a couple of interesting comments in previous posts).

Dev Update : Fun with Inventory

Hi there,

First of all, thanks to the 150 people who downloaded the test build. Be sure that the future public versions will be much more advanced than this first draft. I also want to thank whoever linked to this blog on Reddit; it was well timed and provided a hell lot of new visitors.

Anyway, coding has resumed. I'm currently implementing how items will be handled by the game and how modders will be able to add all sorts of new items into shops. This is also the first step toward the economic system (as, of course, we need items for the factories to produce something). I am afraid it will be a fairly technical article, so feel free to skip if you're not interested in the work behind the game itself.