Research Tree (4)

Here I am, talking about the research panel for the fourth time. Previously, I made the tree management but I wasn't completely satisfied by the rendering. It was clearly not optimised, in the code nor visually (space management). I though about a way to manage this properly. It took me days to elaborate a custom algorithm. Yeah, I did it the hard way : by my self.

I had a quite hard day at work and I didn't expected to go this far tonight. I was really exhausted! But I found some energy to work anyway. The algorithm is done and optimized, the rendering is cool, good work there. Take a look at what it looked like before and after :

Old rendering system

New rendering system

As you can see, the graph takes REALLY less space on screen. By the way, node coordinates are computed only once which save CPU during rendering.

Some important details to notice : the vertical gap between the last level nodes (on the right) is configurable, as is the horizontal gap between node levels. The player will be able to change theses values to modify the rendering as wish : player's comfort is important.

Oh and one more thing. That's not implemented yet, but the player will be able to zoom in/out to get a better view of the research advancement.

That's all for tonigh.t Stay tuned and take care of yourself.

3D management

Managing 3D models is not as easy as it seams. 3D editors use different measuring unities and even space coordinates... In Alone in Space, structures need to be placed on a invisible grid. That means they must not get too big. But they also need to fill as much space as possible.

To handle this problem, our saviour is the ratio! You can display a 3D object with a given ratio to get it bigger or smaller. However, this is still a problem as each model needs a custom ratio.

So I made a tool inside the game to play with models ratio and define the best for each one:

That's not intended to be usable in the final game but this could be handy for modding...

Stop complaining and keep moving forward

A day away from my week-end adventures, there is a note to myself i want to share :

Stop complaining and keep moving forward

I'm not a 3D artist, however i'm good at industrial design (i've done a lot during my studies). That's why i'm in search of a 3D software based on industrial design. Something like the Unreal Ed (love it, even with it's bugs) :

In my mind, the 3D representation is the result of the 2D designs. I'm used to. And that's so freaking difficult to get rid of that! I feel lost with only a 3D representation!

With help from a Blender pro, i managed to set up my worskapce with familiar view. Now, i feel better. Home sweet home!

Here we go then, i'll use Blender!