I'm almost about to make a prototype of Albion right now but I'm absolutely positively dreading starting it. I have every single component of the engine documented in my head, written down... somewhere and stored in files on my PC as well as a back up PC. There is one simple task that I have to do to complete it. And that is building some software that will represent particles and polygons with 3D physics and geometry in an orthographic 2D environment so that the world acts as though a 3D world but is drawn in 2D graphics. I know how to do simple objects like buildings, vehicles and a landscape but now I have to animate a stickman that will act like a posing skeleton for a more complex 3D model of a human character.
The complexity lies in understanding the parent-child relationships of the body parts. for example, the chest can be moved relative to the human's center by bending, tilting and twisting the waist. This of course changes the shoulder's position in space. Then the upper arm can move up and down, left and right and twist on its axis a little. This will affect the position of the elbow and also its rotation. The upper arm is the child of the chest parent. The problem is by moving the chest we are changing its position relative to the center of the model. To calculate that relative to it's position in the world will not be necessary as the characters and level are rendered separately and then placed together as flat 2D screenshots of the 3D.
But the upper arm has a position relative to the chest which is relative to the center. To represent the position of the upper arm relative to the center required some complex formulas to translate one relative position into another absolute position. That was just a chain of one parent-child relationship link. as well as that the forearm can have a position relative to the upper arm, which is relative to the chest, which is relative to the center. so not only is it a complex formula to make the upper arm move relative to the center, but to get the forearm relative to the center requires a complex formula within another complex formula, a nested formula.
To make matters unbearable we then have to calculate the hand's position relative to the center, the hand being relative to the forearm, which is relative to the upper arm, which is relative to the chest, which is relative to the center. This requires a nested formula like before but then this formula is nested within another formula, a nested nested formula. And if you think that's hard, just wait till you get to the fingers where the finger tip is a child of the middle section of the finger, which is a child of the root of the finger, child of the hand, child of the forearm, child of the upper arm, child of the chest relative to the center. a nested nested nested nested nested formula.
i don't have the formula yet but here is another 7 layer formula that is much simpler I will be using as an example. B = SQRT(O2 - N2 + SQRT(M2 - L2 + SQRT(K2 - J2 + SQRT(I2 - H2 + SQRT(G2 - F2 + SQRT(E2 - D2 + SQRT(C2 - A2) ) ) ) ) ) ). That of course being the age old C2 = A2 + B2 you probably learned in school. the real formula makes a monstrous 20 line long formula you really don't wanna see.
Thing number 2 to update on, since the end of 2012 I've been helping some friends of mine build an RPG called Monsterville. Be careful looking that up online because there's a phoney porn version knocking about. The real deal is not the one from InkBunny. I don't think it's been posted on any other site so you're safe as long as you stay away from that place.
It runs on a simple dating sim engine but there are items you can pick up and use as well. Whether you're able to access certain things in the game is determined by completing certain achievements and by carrying certain items in key places in the game. there's like a hundred playable characters right now so i think someone deserves a bitchslap. not that there isn't enough locations for them all or scenes to accommodate them.
Right now my job is to make buttons. It's a boring job but unless it's done we cannot progress. So everyone is making buttons pretty much and to be honest most would rather let someone else do all the hard work. but since albion is kinda far away and i'm not going to waste my time with internet it's prolly better than trying to make a whole game myself so i guess i'm doing everyone else's homework here. not that i'm a push over or anything but this is good training for me being dedicated and if moochers want to glide on my proficiency then that's their choice.
when the ponies started i was right in there with the fandom and it's only recently that ponies has hiatussed that we've slipped into a kinda slump like a good old regular fandom. the lack of push to the hype has put some ease on my mind and i'm ready to be dedicated again. it came at a good time for a pleasant distraction but the holiday's over and it's time to head home. after getting some hardcore dedication to monsterville and while helping out with some other projects i recon i'll be ready for the big guns and albion wont seem that far away.
every day the crowd demands custom artwork and for the meantime they are abated. we can keep them mellow so we can get some scenes done and hopefully finish that damned park scene and get some more German and Hawaiian holiday camp, babysitting, snack shop, mann and samson house, forest/jungle, public house, beach area, dungeon, thieves guild and outer islands scenes.
we have a selection of new cast members and the monster crew has been completely reshaped. Nom and Arc are doing stuff again but they want to do it themselves so i can't help and there are a few other games projects knocking around but right now everyone is kinda distracted with monsterville.
so i have hopes for the future and hopefully i'll be getting more stuff done on monsterville and albion now. who knows, maybe there'll be a complete game by the end of this year so i can post the update here.
'|w|' (^v^) ~chao for now //O\\ /\-/\
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