Gestalt - Mouse Picking

Added in mouse picking, which means you can now pick up axon chains and fling them around. I've put up a short video here .

More Update

Long break due to Bethan getting ill, meaning I've been home pretty much continually. May continue for a little while, as it's half term. Progress is still happening in fits and starts, however. Axon leg joints now work perfectly, including torque. Am now implementing the "spasming flex" movement, and the fusing of legs that contact with each other.

Gestalt Update

Got the physics working absolutely perfectly. Then realised I needed to implement rotating joint motors, so added joints in. Broke the physics again.

Gestalt Update

Nearly there. Legs are in place, IT ALL WORKS OMFG. Moving towards having an actual game at quite some pace.

Gestalt Update

Node ownership done. Axon spawning (and ratios) done but not fully tested yet. Custard level checks done. Update cycle implemented. Axon physics implemented but completely and utterly broken.

Once Axon physics is working, I'll prettify what I have so far a bit and release some super-early screenies and vids.

After that, here's the tasklist to first demo release:

- Axon joins - creation of Yellow chains, Blue definitions, Red assemblies

- Mouse picking and live control of Axons

- Red auto-assemble

- Red assembly templates

- Clickables on the node screen

- Paradigm Screen

- Feed in paradigm output already calculated

- Unlocking mechanism

- Create 3 or 4 demo paradigms

- Axon structures on the Node Map Screen

- Animation of defensive structures

- Travel along node lines

- Demo enemy Gestalt

- Node possession

- Yellow dump

- Red defences

- It won't expand or produce Paradigm for upgrades

- Frontend improvements

- Updated intro screen

- Music

- SFX

- Higher quality UI elements

Optional demo tasks:

- Throbbing/Electrical arcing effect on connected Axons

- Invasive enemy AI

- 3-Axon

Progress, of a sort

Well, I got Box2D integrated. Which was amusing, as it shares some typedefs with ProtonSDK. It's kind of amusing that the B2D guys went to the trouble of naming everything b2 and then put a base header with some highly generic defs like int32 in there.

It's not quite working at the minute, the renderer's getting a weird-ass fixture list. I think I'm missing something. Will be at it today. Once it's working, axons should start dropping into nodes.

Gestalt - Concept Part II

Paradigm and Evolution

The Gestalt is capable of improving itself via its Blue Axons. As mentioned in Part I, Blue Definitions (geometric structures of Blue Axons) produce a resource known as Paradigm. This represents the Gestalt's slow modification of its own nature.

These modifications are handled via the Paradigm screen. On this screen is a list (with visual cues to the right, just before the Custard Bar) of different possible developments, each marked as an Evolution or a Paradigm (and highlighted in green-blue and darker blue respectively). One can be selected at any time and this will fill at a rate related to the amount of Paradigm resource produced, however all of the entries on this screen will very slowly fill over time regardless of being selected or not.

Once a requisite amount of Paradigm resource has been gathered, the result differs.

Evolutions unlock instantly, allowing some new possibility for the player - examples include 3-legged Axons (called 3-Axons), new Assemblies for Reds, and so forth.

Paradigms, on the other hand, remain on the Paradigm screen. They must be selected again to become "Active", in which case they begin to have an effect. Once this occurs, they turn steel-grey and can no longer be deselected. However, once this occurs, a new Paradigm will appear that has the capacity to reverse the effects of the previous one.

Paradigms act as selectable "powers" for the player. The player may decide to leave a number of Paradigms charged and ready to be activated if needed, and several Paradigms will be designed around that role (Survival Mentality Paradigm is a classic example).

While most Evolutions provide only simple incremental improvements in the player's capacity (in a manner similar to Tech Trees in other games), Paradigms serve to allow us to almost entirely change the way the game is played based upon the player's decisions.

Enemy AIs

Enemy AIs in Gestalt currently come in three forms:

1) Gestalt

Other Gestalt can come into existence, and these will generally be the most common enemies. They operate in the same way as the player's Gestalt, including Axons, Paradigm and so on. Much as with the player, they can only be defeated by destroying their Yellow Axons.

2) Virii

Rapidly moving enemies that piggy-back the natural data packet traffic on the network (represented by occasional pulses of brightness along the link lines). They slip by most defences, steal resources (which can cause Axons to die), and then flee before they can be attacked.

3) Deus Ex

Monolithic intelligences can arise that are based in a single conscious process on a single Node. These opponents are extremely difficult to directly take on, but have limited ability to affect the network beyond their home Node. They can take over the processing of other nodes and weaken them, and can with great effort move their entire selves to another Node to gain better strategic position.

Suggestions for other kinds of opponent AI are gratefully received. Variation in this will be key.

Play Modes

The simplest play mode is called Conquest Mode. The player is let loose on a network and wins by dominating every Node. There will typically be a number of enemy AIs of the three kinds mentioned above.

Slightly more complex is Singularity Mode. This presents the player with a couple of wrinkles on the basic structure laid out in the Conquest Mode. Firstly, many of the Nodes in the network will have some oddity or special property that might help or hinder the player, and secondly, the game will be accompanied by a relentless red ticker counting up as the game progresses. After a pre-defined period, counter-actions will be taken by the humans running the network; deadly viral counter-agents and worse will be released into the network, and Nodes will begin to disappear. The player can prevent this by controlling certain Nodes that will allow the player to keep the human watchdogs away from their own network.

Multiplayer is intended to be effortless and seamless. If it is enabled in the options (which it will be by default), the game will permit other instances on the same local network to connect to it silently and without mentioning the fact to the player. The game will only stay actively able to host for a few minutes after a game is started, however all games will perform this check on game start.

The maps of players in Multiplayer are connected at their edges, so when the player explores outside of their starting area, they will eventually discover their Multiplayer opponent.

It will of course be possible to whitelist, password control, or turn off this feature entirely.

Progress Again

So, interim map generating and rendering fine. Scrolls around OK, have set up correction for position in the click detection. Floating text and other elements work fine, both under and over, which means the Custard Bar will be a doddle. Something's wrong with the node selecting though, I'll fix that this weekend, then we can move into the Node Screen. Not gonna do zooming until later.

Definitely warming to Proton SDK. Takes a while to get used to (lots of boost, ClanLib and so on) but it's good stuff.

edit: Fixed the node selection in the middle of the night while panicking about family stuff. Suffering for it the next morning, though.

Progress

Finally got the scrolling functionality from Proton SDK working right, which was nice. And selection works fine and hands the map a co-ordinate correctly, so drilling down into a node will be a piece of cake. Will have to adjust it later to make it work with scaling, though, especially for the phones.

The node map generator (now it's rendering) is not producing maps to a standard I like. I'm currently using a "path around the area and then connect any close ones" approach. I'll try a different algorithm tomorrow - maybe a space-fill and then connect? That should reduce on the amount of intersection cases I seem to end up with. Or maybe fill the centre then spread outwards?

I'll post up some screenies once I get results I'm happy with.

Gestalt - Concept Part I

The currently active concept I'm working on at MCG is currently named Gestalt. A Plushie Axon will be winging its way to the first person to figure out where the direct inspiration for this concept comes from.

(There are no illustrations yet, as few exist outside of sketches on pads. As this game is almost entirely code-side, I haven' t really involved the art team at all. I will add piccies when the demo is ready.)

Screens

The game opens on the Map Screen; a scrollable view of an abstracted network. Nodes, represented by circles, are connected by blue-white lines. Pulses shoot along those lines, representing packets. One of the Node circles has a highlight around it. We click on this Node, and we find ourselves in the Node Screen.

Within the Node Screen, at least to begin with, we find a rectangular "bucket", and a large mass of yellow, in the rough centre of a few areas clearly representing the connections out of this Node. Every so often, the yellow mass moves and wriggles and a new Axon drops into the bucket - a circle with two short lines coming out of it.
There are 3 kinds of Axon available at the beginning of the game: Yellow, Blue, and Red. Three sliders next to the yellow mass (known as the Yellow Core) permit the player to choose which of these colours is preferred. This is important, as each of these colours has a different yet essential role to play.

Yellow

Yellow Axons contribute to the "consciousness" or general self-motivational capability of the Gestalt. They naturally connect together in long chains, which pulse and throb in colour at a rate connected to the activity level of the player. So if the player is making high-speed clicks in the game the Yellows will flash and flicker rapidly, while if the player is taking their time and considering their moves carefully the Yellows will throb slowly. If for any reason they remain unconnected to at least one other Yellow for more than about 30 seconds, they die.

To the right of this screen (and indeed all screens once in-game) is a large meter showing a yellow bar and a smaller greenish indicator line. At this stage of the game both the indicator and bar are quite low down the screen. This is the Gestalt Meter, and indicates the "mental health" of the entity you represent within the game. The Gestalt Meter throbs at the same rate as the Yellow Axons, indicating the relationship between them.

To keep the Gestalt's consciousness intact, the player must keep the number of Yellow Axons above a certain quantity, indicated by the green line. This quantity is determined by a combination of the total number of Axons in play, and the number of Nodes you currently control. If the number of Yellow Axons falls below this level, first the player will begin to lose control of the Gestalt, then outlying Nodes will begin to fragment and their Axons flee back to core Nodes in an attempt to restore the Gestalt's balance. This process will continue until only a single Node is left, and if the Yellow Axon level remains below the green target line, the Gestalt "dies" and the player loses the game.

It is therefore clear that management of Yellows, and attacking enemy Yellows, is central to victory or defeat in this game. (My colleague Ian refers to the Yellow Bar as the "Custard Bar" and came up with the tagline "The Custard Must Flow.")

Blue

Blue Axons contribute to the Gestalt's ability to think and evolve, to rationally examine itself and its surroundings and modify its own nature to suit. In order to function correctly they must be connected into geometric shapes called Definitions. If left together they will generally connect up into simple Definitions, but they can be guided by the player (by clicking and dragging with the mouse on the Axon's body to move the whole of it, and on one of the legs to force it to connect with another Axon) to form Definitions of their choice. Blues not connected into Definitions give no benefit, but do not eventually die like Yellows.

Once formed into Definitions, a crackling electrical effect is seen across the blue Axon links and the Definition begins producing a resource called Paradigm. Paradigm is used on the Paradigm screen to drive the Gestalt's evolution. More geometrically complex Definitions produce more Paradigm - so a pentagon produces more Paradigm than a triangle, while a kite-shape using more advanced 3-Axons produces more than either.

The player can pull Definitions apart, but as with Red Assemblies (see below), destroying a structure will randomly destroy some of the Axons within it.

Red

Red Axons are specialised elements of the Gestalt's being devoted to its attack and defence. Reds form special geometric structures called Assemblies. Red Axons make no attempt at self-constructing, instead waiting to be told what to form, and do not die if left unconnected. It is not necessary for the player to hand-construct an Assembly - all currently available Assemblies (depending on the player's Paradigm and Evolutions) are shown as floating icons near the Axon "bucket" inside each Node.

Clicking one of these Assembly Icons expands the icon into a large "frame", onto which Reds will automatically travel and assume the geometric form indicated. These will then float into the area surrounding the Node's structure, orbiting near the Links. Clicking one and then clicking on the link will either send the Assembly out along that Link or deploy it for defence on that Link, depending on its type.

If during the course of its life a Red Assembly is broken apart entirely, a portion of the remaining Red Axons will die and the others will disconnect and attempt to flee to a friendly Node.

Next up - Paradigm & Evolution, Game modes, and more!