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Programming / Re: starting a new rl as my graduation project

« on: March 07, 2012, 12:20:27 PM »

@Snargleplax
Thanks for the links.

In that sense, it seems unfortunate to me that the effort involved in making your game work as a web app will inevitably take away time you could focus on the AI aspect, leaving your project somewhat less focused than it could be, but I guess it's all a question of what your priorities involve.

You're definitely right about this. I haven't decided anything about save/load mechanisms yet, but when I do, I feel like I can use a few of Unity's tricks to make life easier for me. I didn't explore further into the subject, though.

At the beginning of the project, my project advisor acted like "I'm not interested in games so you have to show me something that I might care about.", so I decided to start an AI focused game. Right now, he's acting like "Let's just make a game, we might do something good and other students might follow you to take a game project too.". I'm encouraged by this change of mind. The game will still be AI oriented though, nothing has changed.

@corremn
Thank you for your ideas.

What kind of AI are you looking at?  Finite State Machines are generally done for AIs but I am interested in seeing other kinds. Especially learning concepts combined with some sort of multi-agent adaptability.

Will you have a blog of your progress? Upload UML diagrams etc?  AI in roguelikes has never really been taken very far.

Remember that complex AI behaviour is hard to show in a roguelike, that is, the player usually never notices it.

I'll use FSMs, but I'll try to tackle a few different kinds aswell. It all comes down to the amount of time I can spend on the project.

After the project starts to shape, I'll open a progress blog.

How far I can take the AI, I don't know for sure. I'm new to most of the AI concepts and it'll take some time to learn what I need. I do realize that complex AI behaviour is hard to show. As the game will be oriented on AI, I'll try to shape the gameplay, rules and enemy types to show the enemy behaviour as best as I can. This might lead to a non-traditional roguelike, as opposed to what I was thinking of initially.

You could also go with Java and make it a webstart app. Java's suite of data structures would be great support for AI.

That might be a good fit, but I want to stick with Unity right now as I've already spent about two weeks trying to figure it out.

UPDATE III - Right now I'm working on a school assignment and I won't be able to start working on the project until the 7DRL week. I hope to start shaping up the engine that week.

2

Programming / Re: starting a new rl as my graduation project

« on: February 16, 2012, 10:37:33 PM »

@Jo: Thanks for the useful website, but I decided on a platform already. (see below)
@The rest: Thanks for your suggestions. I'm keeping these in mind.

I decided to go with Unity Web Player as my platform. Unity has a bigger community than WebGL and better documentation right now (considering gaming, at least). One of the assistants in school directed me to this website which has perfect tutorials for getting the hang of Unity. Right now, I'm working through the tutorials. The same assistant (along with two more) will start teaching a Unity course in our department in a month, which is very good news.

I aim to get my engine mostly finished in nine weeks or so. The rest of the semester (six weeks including finals), I'll focus on the AI. I want to get a rough draft of the game finished before the end of this semester. You guys are right about stripping down the classical roguelike aspects a bit, and I'll most certainly do so.

In the meantime, I might participate in the 7DRL in March and the Ludum Dare Jam in April, to try to get experience with my engine, but this mostly depends on my midterm and assignment schedule.

I'll keep you updated with my progress, but currently there won't be much, since I'm just trying to get the hang of Unity.

I still want to get suggestions though. What would you want to see in a RL that is browser based and focused on AI?

Thanks for your suggestions and ideas.

UPDATE I - Making progress in Unity tutorials and I've learned many useful things. I'll finish making two example games (unrelated to RLs) this weekend and conclude my training, then start working on the RL.
Still have no clue about a setting for my RL but let's get the engine up and running first.

UPDATE II - Nearly finished my second example game in Unity as I feel I'm ready to start practicing on my roguelike code. Hopefully, by the end of March, I'll have a couple of things finished so I can show something to you.

Participation in 7DRL seems unlikely, but you'll never know.

3

Programming / starting a new rl as my graduation project

« on: February 14, 2012, 09:35:16 PM »

Hello everyone. I'm a senior student who's chasing a bachelor's degree in computer science. Recently, I decided to take my graduation project on making a roguelike game, so I came and registered to take some suggestions from you. The project will be year-long, but I have to show some decent progress in the first one or two months.

I know that there are a lot of tutorials around on how to start coding a roguelike, etc, but i have some specific questions.

First off, as a request from my project advisor and teacher, I have to (and want to) code the project with web browser support, therefore I want to base my project on either one of Flash (AS3), Unity or HTML5/WebGL. (As a side note, I have little information and experience on these platforms, but that's ok as I will have plenty of time.)

So far, there are not many roguelikes that are based on these technologies afaik. I can count Pitman from last year's 7DRL and also Dance of Death (unity and AS3 respectively).

Can you point out any limitations of coding a RL as a browser application instead of a desktop application? Is there any way I can use libraries such as libtcod for these platforms? I know there's a C# version of libtcod but I don't know if I can use it in Unity, haven't researched it yet. I'm hoping you can help me on this one.

The setting of the roguelike, the rules, gameplay and everything else is not decided yet, as I'm in the first day of planning right now. I think I'm leaning towards a classic roguelike, but you'll never know. This will be my first roguelike and I know it's not an easy job, so I'll try to update you guys on the progress and ask for advice on any problem I encounter.

One thing is for sure, the focus will be on Artificial Intelligence, since the project is not about making a game, it's about coding good Artificial Intelligence. I want to make smart and dumb enemies of all kinds. I'm planning on detailed animal behaviour. Smart and dumb allies are a possibility. I'm yet to discover articles on Roguelike AIs and I'm definitely planning on paying a visit to Smart Kobolds' source. More suggestions are welcome. I need to take as much information as I can get.

I also want to know if I'm being realistic. I have one year, but obviously I'll have other duties (and a social life), so it's not all about this project. Since many of you have more experience than me, I'd appreciate if you can tell me what to and not-to focus on the project in order to succeed.

Thanks in advance for any advice you give. I'll always keep you updated on my progress.