My hours of use in leadwerks 3 is already counting up fast and along the way i thought i would share some of the things ive found so far. Which no doubt means this will turn into a small rant about the features i wish leadwerks 3 had in its current version I am not going to talk about bugs as we all should expect them in new software and trust they get resolved as soon as Josh can get around to them, what i am going to talk about are a couple of (to me) significant issues with the "current" lea
The last few weeks have been interesting as we've been figuring out where Leadwerks 3 fits into the game development landscape.
The good:
The feedback from the Leadwerks 3 users has been more positive than anything I've ever seen. People love using it. All the care and attention to the tools has really paid off. The return of constructive solid geometry is a huge win.
At the upgrade pricing, we're doing a lot of sales. Leadwerks 3 makes more in a week than Leadwerks 2 made in a mont
An in-depth look at a basic Third person camera.
Script.target = nil--Entity "Target"
Script.distance = 5--float
Script.debugphysics = false--bool
Script.debugnavigation = false--bool
Script.pitch = 35--float
Script.angle = 180--float
Script.pickradius = 0.5--float
Script.verticaloffset = 1.8--float
Script.smoothness = 30--int
function Script:Start()
if self.target==nil then return end
--debug functions for viewing physics or navigation in game
self.entity:SetDebugPhys
A tutorial for creating map with a goblin that has third person controls and a third person camera
1. Create a new project.
Inside the LE3 editor open up the leadwerks project manager click File->Project Manager
Once open click "new" select "Lua" project, add a title, and click "Ok".
Select your newly created project and click "Ok"
2. Create a platform for the goblin to stand on.
In a 2d viewport drag-out a box to be used as a platform.
3. Add a material
That was one crazy weekend! Things were hectic at times, but we managed to process all orders and get people started with Leadwerks for Android. Well, everyone except YouGroove. I've got to do some tests on a clean install of Windows, so I will figure out exactly what JRE to install, since that part can be confusing.
I uploaded new builds for Windows, Mac, and Android just now with performance improvements. Darkness Awaits is playable now on my Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, though I know I can
For those of you who are more familiar with C style syntax here are a few oddities that initially threw me off:
The not equals in lua has a tilde
self.entity ~= nil
if you want to "not" a boolean you have to use the keyword "not"
if not self.target then
All "if" statements you have to do include 3 keywords if, then, end
if self.stunned==true then return end
While loops have 3 keywords while, do, end
While x < 10 do x = x+1 end
This is what a for
Well, starting with leaving my iMac's power cord at home, this has been a chaotic day, but we're getting it under control. Leadwerks 3 is a much bigger step beyond Leadwerks 2. We're no longer confined strictly to the PC platform, we've now got a C++ code base that can be used in many ways, and our new tools are really nice to use, if I do say so myself. It's also nice to sort of reconnect with our origins in the CSG editing tools. The feedback on this has been very positive, and I think it
Developing a failure sucks. You spend hundreds, sometimes thousands of hours on a project only to find out that it's a complete flop and nobody wants to use or play it.
As independent game developers we have a unique situation and challenge. Our resources are limited and our conditions are that of extreme uncertainty.
Acquiring certainty of the success of a project by collecting feedback early on is great way to determine whether to continue, change course, or drop the project. You'll wa
The Leadwerks community project "Midnight Salsa" was one of my favorite things that came out of Leadwerks 2. Watching the videos of everyone collaborating across the globe was really interesting, and with Aggror's leadership they did pull off what they set out to do: Make a playable zombie FPS. However, there were some weak points that showed me where I could put effort and have it be the most useful.
When you go through the first set of doors, a carefully placed light above the door shin
A couple weeks ago I replaced the Object::SetHook() function with an Object::AddHook() function. The difference is subtle but significant. SetHook() supported a single hook function but AddHook() supports multiple hook functions for each hook ID, that will be called in sequence.
Syntax
AddHook(const int& hookid, void* hook)
Example
#include "App.h"
using namespace Leadwerks;
App::App() : window(NULL), context(NULL), world(NULL), camera(NULL) {}
App::~App() { delete world; de
I've spent the last few days writing simple examples for every single command in Leadwerks 3. Not only does this make the documentation more friendly, it also acts as a final test to make sure all the commands work the way they say they should. I make the C++ example and then Chris converts it to Lua (and tells me what I did wrong!).
I didn't realize it at first, but this really showcases the strength of API design of Leadwerks. Since you get full control over the execution and flow of a
I got the editor documentation written pretty quickly. It was hard to start, but once I figured out how I wanted to lay out the information, it all started flowing pretty easily.
Documentation in Leadwerks Engine 2 was a weakness, especially in stuff other than the programming reference. This is unfortunate, because I have come to see documentation as the final product. Everything in the development cycle leads up to the ability to write good documentation.
Good documentation starts w
Time invested into a game doesn't determine it's sales.
This is an important fact to acknowledge if you decide to enter the wonderful world of independent development.
If I had to do things over again I would create a simple game and focus on addicting game play and mechanics.
The real question I've been asking myself these last couple of weeks is what do people buy when it comes to games? And how can I incorporate these into a game the would only take a few months to create.
Wha
Hello all,
For a change, no images this time. Those will come in a later blog, so don't panic.
We all like music, right? Some are into Jazz, others love house, and some (like myself) love metal.
Music is another way to express feelings/moods, and most games have music that matches the game/level somehow.
In the previous blog about Seventh Crystal Of Theia, there was no sound in the video, and that was a shame, because there are already a bunch of environmental sounds and music in the
Development of Leadwerks 3 was (theoretically) completed today. We still have a lot of testing and bug hunting to do, but all features for release are written.
This is where it started:
http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/blog/1/entry-500-day-1/
In this blog I'm going to explain the evolution of the entity and physics system in Leadwerks 3.
In Leadwerks Engine 2, physics bodies and character controllers are both separate entity classes. If you want a model to be physically interactive, you parent it to a body entity. If you want a model to walk around with physics, you parent it to a character controller body.
In Leadwerks 3 I decided to give physics properties to all entities. This means all entities can use commands like Ge
Today I added the visible guides in the editor for point and spot lights. I also tested out the new FBX converter, recompiled with the 2012 FBX SDK. It works. (There are no file format changes in the 2013 FBX SDK, so this will load everything.) Our character models still have to be rescaled, so I added a resize option in the model editor. That way models can be resized and the model file saved, so you don't have to rescale a model every single time you place it in the editor. Having models
Hello everyone,
First of all, a Happy New Year to you all, a good health, lots of game creation, and all the rest you might desire!
It seems that altering/perfectionizing is a human nature, which also happens to be mine.
S.C.O.T. has gone through more changes since last time, and I can happily say, that these changes have made it soo much better. Finally got the right atmosphere/mood settings for the way it loox on screen.
Roland has done a tremendous job getting the game mechanics and
I spent the day manually setting entry categories in the new documentation database. This was needed to make the docs actually use the nice breadcrumb bar in the website header. Our content management system doesn't exactly support hierarchical pages, so some clever PHP scripting was used to make it work. The whole point is simply to make navigation easier, and it works well. I also wrote some PHP code that does a search and replace with class names, so class names are always links to the pa
While I should be finishing my game and engine a notable epiphany has hit me like a ton of bricks, the kind of epiphany that's worth writing about so the next time you decide to dedicate 3 years of your life to a programming project you don't forget what you learned the time before.
My project has consisted of 3 sub projects - The Engine, the Level Editor, and the IDE.
I've been working on "RTS Creator" for awhile, and it's a full suite of tools to make your own Real Time Strategy game w
Here's something I've been thinking about. What do you think?
Apple
Locking down OSX.
No optical drive. The Mac software shelf at Fry's is now obsolete.
Mac App Store.
Gatekeeper only allows "signed" applications, by default.
[*]Miniaturization of computer hardware, at the cost of graphical performance.
[*]Move to non-upgradable hardware (glued-in memory).
[*]Moving away from file system access (iCloud).
[*]Hardware is expensive, and will always be a luxury item.
W
I hope everyone is having an awesome Christmas week. I'm taking a break from coding to show you our new office we moved into in November at the Sacramento Hacker Lab.
All decked out for Christmas:
Chris is pretending to work, but he's not fooling me:
So we changed the arrangement to make a reverse mullet. (Party in the front, business in the back):
The kitchen provides energy, both in the form of food and alcohol:
The common area:
The room-temperature beer flo
SCP
