Bay 12 Games Forum

C# actually has an included GZip routine that uses a combination of Huffman and other compression methods.  Once I get closer to a release I'll look into implementing it but for now I need the save files in a visually readable format for debugging.  It shouldn't be too hard.  There's a code example in the documentation that should plug in nicely.

I started work on generating buildings.  I got a function that generates simple, rectangular buildings with a doorway.  I'm currently working out a concept for expanding it into more complex buildings with multiple rooms.  The idea is you start with a single, large room that acts as a hub and add more rooms around it. 

It gets more complicated as you try to make the extra rooms play nice with each other so you don't end up with some weird overlap.  I may need to make an extra function that goes through and cleans up any mess that gets left over.  Or I could make it where generation fails in case of an overlap.  This will take a bit of experimenting to get it working the way I want it.

The save/load code is proving more tedious than difficult. There's a lot of variables that need to be dealt with individually. I had to make several functions to process saved data into something the game can read. Most of that is out of the way but I need to think about how I'm going to handle the save data as a whole.

Saving every individual creature, item and tile alteration would severely inflate the size of the save file, even for a single map. Currently I'm only saving creature information but that alone puts the save file at 200k. That's not too bad but I haven't even added items to non-player creatures yet.

There's several things I can do to lower the size of the save and all of them come with a catch.

First I can setup creatures and items to load all their information from a template. This would destroy any possibility of customized creatures and items and at the very least they require a position to be saved, plus stat changes for creatures. When a map is first generated this stuff gets all their information from a template anyway and modifies it. I could just save the data that gets modified but that is still a lot of data.

Second, I can let everything reset to it's original, randomly generated state when the game is loaded. This is obviously bad for several reasons. The player will have killed off a bunch of creatures in a dungeon and collected a bunch of loot, then load the game to find themselves surrounded by those same creatures and items.

The third option and the option I plan to use is a combination of the first two, except the player will only be allowed to save between maps. Much like in JRPGs where the player can only save on the world map. The catch is...well there's several.

Creatures and items will have reset every time the map is loaded. This can be good or bad depending on the player's tastes. To extend the replay value of a map I will set the majority of creatures and items to be randomized each time. For important creatures and items like non-hostile NPCs, bosses and special items, I will tag them as persistent. Persistent objects will not be randomized when a map is loaded but I will only have to save their dead/alive/picked up status. They will use the same seed the map uses to be generated. Other objects will use a random seed.

When all is said and done I should only have to save the player character's information and a few variables from each map.

I implied earlier that changes to map tiles may be a possibility. A handful of changes wouldn't be a problem but I also have to consider the possibility of the player tearing down every wall and tree he comes across. I may allow for some maps to be completely saved to the hard drive to let the player construct a home or something. That's going to be pretty far down on the list of added features so I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. For now expect any map changes to be discarded when it's loaded again.

Awesome video games...do do doo dedoo dedoo...video games awesome...

Sorry, had to get that out of my system.

Still squaring a few things away with command menus. Creatures are now dropping corpses when they die, which is essentially an item clone of themselves with some graphical modifications. The portrait gets replaced by crossed bones. I considered using a skull and crossbones but I thought that might look ambiguous with skeletons and necromancers running around.

For a little graphics enhancement I created a new GameObject array for VanishingObjects. Whenever a Creature dies or an Item is picked up it creates a graphical clone with a 1 second lifespan. As the vanishing object approaches the end of it's lifespan it's alpha value decreases making the object more and more transparent until finally it disappears. It's a definite improvement over the harsh instant transition from Creature to corpse.

Yeah, the goblin tokens did look a little dark so I went ahead and brightened them up.  I thought about doing a different color outline for the tokens but it seems that won't be necessary.  As long as I keep objects such as creatures bright and map tiles relatively dark it shouldn't be an issue.  But I may still go back and make two color options for tokens, just for variety.

In situations like this there is always a default option, even if the programmer didn't mean to make one.  If the last path checked has the same length as the shortest path, it will either choose the last one or the shortest one, depending on the way the paths are compared.  It's always one or the other, never both.  Of course a clever programmer might choose to make it choose between the paths randomly but there really isn't much point.

I'm guessing it might be a couple more days, based on the latest update.  Rebalancing the weapon damage isn't going to be easy and will need a lot of testing.  Still I'm really looking forward to the adventure mode enhancements.  Even minor additions are a welcome change of pace from being neglected for so long.