Vapourware Codexian Game Development Thread

[shihonage]

Yeah, the reason I abandoned this guy's code is because even if I isolated it to X iterations per frame, it would still get stuck or even crash with memory allocation sometimes.

Now I'm just doing it using fixed memory structures, making it as quick as possible, and definitely distributing load over multiple frames.

 

[adrix89]

1- Do you restrain mechanics because the ai is unable to consider them?

You do not have to restrain it but you should think about how an AI can utilize the system better.
Make it more accessible to an AI by making available more information.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Yeah, it is shit. Even before you consider multiple aspect ratios, resolutions, and pixel densities. It's one of the main reasons I moved back to XNA (where I have a good homebrew API).

Gotta keep trying, eh. I'm not much of a coder, and Unity seems like the most powerful and easy solution to me.

I know the pain. I'm going the other route and attempting to teach myself texture painting. 2015 is my year to stop fiddling around in the engine guts and start producing something acceptably pretty that I can show people.

Get Werkkzeug and ease the pain, it'll be of good use if you don't like the idea of painting basic stuff by hand.

 

[r3jonwah85]

Gotta keep trying, eh. I'm not much of a coder, and Unity seems like the most powerful and easy solution to me.

Get Werkkzeug and ease the pain, it'll be of good use if you don't like the idea of painting basic stuff by hand.

If I were to recommend something it would be to change to the new UI system found in Unity 4.6 and upwards. I do not really love it since I liked writing the GUI stuff purely in code and the new one seems to be designed more for use in the editor, but the old system really messes up performance and will be obsolete pretty soon. I am in the process of converting everything I have done in the old GUI, takes time and you really need to reset your way of thinking but in the end I think it will be worth it.

 

[Copper]

I have to ask the Codex about the fonts.
I've been looking for free fonts that resemble some sort of handwriting (as if written by a brush). I've picked 9 fonts that at do the job in a different manner. I need to drop the most shitty ones, and leave at least one good font (preferably one more for 'pen' handwriting).

So, here is an example:

Spoiler

Help me out, please.

It all depends on your font size, to be honest - script fonts are best used for display (short & big), good script fonts are rare, and anything that tries to emulate joins between letters is a big pain in the ass. I would say eliminate 1 - 7, they're either weak as handwriting or just bad. 8 & 9 aren't perfect, but they're the only ones I can visualise being good for long text - just keep your line-length short if possible, and the font as big as possible.

More here, for example: dafont (EDIT: whoops, sent you to the school fonts - here's more general handwritting)

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

It all depends on your font size, to be honest - script fonts are best used for display (short & big), good script fonts are rare, and anything that tries to emulate joins between letters is a big pain in the ass. I would say eliminate 1 - 7, they're either weak as handwriting or just bad. 8 & 9 aren't perfect, but they're the only ones I can visualise being good for long text - just keep your line-length short if possible, and the font as big as possible.

More here, for example: dafont (EDIT: whoops, sent you to the school fonts - here's more general handwritting)

I'm not planning to have a wall of text on the screen. Not to mention that some of the most popular fonts on the linked page are either unreadable or tiring to read.
I'll try to pick a few more fonts, just to make sure. Thanks, brah.

 

[J1M]

If I were to recommend something it would be to change to the new UI system found in Unity 4.6 and upwards. I do not really love it since I liked writing the GUI stuff purely in code and the new one seems to be designed more for use in the editor, but the old system really messes up performance and will be obsolete pretty soon. I am in the process of converting everything I have done in the old GUI, takes time and you really need to reset your way of thinking but in the end I think it will be worth it.

I am familiar with their new GUI system. It was one of the things I was holding out hope for when using Unity 4.5. You can find some of my thoughts on its failings here:
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/unity-megathread.93927/

It is easy to get something on the screen for a prototype but a pain in the ass to build something production quality.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

If I were to recommend something it would be to change to the new UI system found in Unity 4.6 and upwards. I do not really love it since I liked writing the GUI stuff purely in code and the new one seems to be designed more for use in the editor, but the old system really messes up performance and will be obsolete pretty soon. I am in the process of converting everything I have done in the old GUI, takes time and you really need to reset your way of thinking but in the end I think it will be worth it.

My 'gaming' rig is busted right now, and the current replacement barely handles Unity 3.5, while Unity 4 crashes, burns, begs for Win7 and more.
As a plus, I have to really put more effort into optimizing stuff, because I want it to run at least at 30 fps on this PC (dual core CPU, 2 GBs of RAM, integrated GPU which barely handles Tomb Raider: Legend).

 

[Copper]

I'm not planning to have a wall of text on the screen. Not to mention that some of the most popular fonts on the linked page are either unreadable or tiring to read.
I'll try to pick a few more fonts, just to make sure. Thanks, brah.

Yeah, to be honest, picking a pro font is my recommendation, but with prices starting at 250$ for mobile app integration, good luck. (And yeah, most handwritting fonts are hipster / wedding trash)

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Yeah, to be honest, picking a pro font is my recommendation, but with prices starting at 250$ for mobile app integration, good luck. (And yeah, most handwritting fonts are hipster / wedding trash)

I've picked a few fonts that look better to me, will post a new example later.
I'm not interested in mobile development at all (at least for now), at best I'd make a port/spin-off if I'll be in that kind of desperate need of money. Right now my goal is to develop a small game for windows and release it before I graduate from the university (I still have at least 2 years), since I hate to work for anyone.

 

[Copper]

Well, best case scenario would be the same license covers other software as well (price could go up though). Anyway, stick to the free fonts, and test them on different people to see what response you get.

 

[baturinsky]

You can also take an open source font and tweak it with Font Forge to your need. From my experience, it happens often that some font fits quite right, except annoying glyph or two...

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Took me a while, but I can finally turn my music into tracker format without rewriting the song from scratch. Takes a while to make a proper MIDI export, process all instruments, etc, but in the end I get the same track, only way smaller and somewhat worse in quality. There is also a way to remove that 'worse quality' problem by simply rendering separate patterns and simply filling the module with C5 notes where it's needed, but that method is simply meh and rapes the basic idea of tracker music.

But hey, at least I can put a long tack into a small file without compressing it, plus have a midi file to drool over.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Another font test. Summoning Copper, Jaesun, Abelian.

Spoiler

I'm unsure about the last one, but eh, English royalty is supposed to be annoying and over-the-top, I guess.

 

[vonAchdorf]

The last one is more like elementary school than over-the-top. But a lot of English royalty in the middle ages was probably illiterate.

1 and 2 look too modern, back in the time, people just didn't have the tools to write like that, both look like a modern ink pen.

Finding a script / handwritten font which feels (more important than looks) authentic, but is still readable, is really hard.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

The last one is more like elementary school than over-the-top. But a lot of English royalty in the middle ages was probably illiterate.

1 and 2 look too modern, back in the time, people just didn't have the tools to write like that, both look like a modern ink pen.

Finding a script / handwritten font which feels (more important than looks) authentic, but is still readable, is really hard.

I'd explain why I'll go with 'too modern', but that will spoil a huge part of my idea (and I don't want to spoil it until I have something to show).
Going to replace the fourth, though.

 

[vonAchdorf]

Skyrim had an o.k. font for its notes, but of course not "modern", so it's not the direction you could look to.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Skyrim had an o.k. font for its notes, but of course not "modern", so it's not the direction you could look to.

Again, you'll find out about why I chose 'modern' font when I either announce the game or release it.

 

[Copper]

Spoiler

I'm unsure about the last one, but eh, English royalty is supposed to be annoying and over-the-top, I guess.

1 is okay - something about the a and u pisses me off, too big/bad angles to be convincing as someone's hand.
2 is nice for what it is, not trying too hard to be a Sushi sign
3 is a bit too minimalist for my taste, and the default kerning between letters is pretty bad
4 Agreed, 4 isn't hitting the right note - could be good for short notes, certainly not names/UI

 

[Abelian]

zwanzig_zwoelf, I like the first one the best. Like you said earlier, the brush-like thicker font of #2 might be more appropriate for ideograms.
I also agree that the cursive one looks a little grade school-like since the letters are slanted at different angles.
If you want a fancy cursive font, check out Spencerian script (though it can be hard to read to those unused to it).

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

1 is okay - something about the a and u pisses me off, too big/bad angles to be convincing as someone's hand.
2 is nice for what it is, not trying too hard to be a Sushi sign
3 is a bit too minimalist for my taste, and the default kerning between letters is pretty bad
4 Agreed, 4 isn't hitting the right note - could be good for short notes, certainly not names/UI

zwanzig_zwoelf, I like the first one the best. Like you said earlier, the brush-like thicker font of #2 might be more appropriate for ideograms.
I also agree that the cursive one looks a little grade school-like since the letters are slanted at different angles.
If you want a fancy cursive font, check out Spencerian script (though it can be hard to read to those unused to it).

Alright, that does it. I'm keeping #2, and seeking replacements for #1, #3 and #4. If I won't find a good replacement for #3, then I'll keep it.
Also, I'll probably pick another font for UI, then use #2 and replacements of #1, #3 and #4 for dialogue.

 

[baturinsky]

Don't make decisions about font before you see how it works in action, i.e. with font size, text rendering angine, layout and amount of text that you'll have.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Don't make decisions about font before you see how it works in action, i.e. with font size, text rendering angine, layout and amount of text that you'll have.

Good advice. I'm testing fonts in wz before deciding on them. They look pretty much the same in Unity (at least accoding to some minor tests).
But it's a good point about the amount of text - I'm still deciding about that.

 

[Copper]

Even just using them for names might be enough - I can tolerate 'wanker with an illegible name' more than 'what the hell am I reading'.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Even just using them for names might be enough - I can tolerate 'wanker with an illegible name' more than 'what the hell am I reading'.

Good idea. I've been thinking about simplifying the language proficiency skills to the level of proficiency in one common language, so just using those fonts for names makes sense.