Slowdive's Little Daily Blog

[slowdive]

Fog of war will work like it used to with black tiles covering unexplored squares. I will adjust the zoom in/out and panning to be limited to the map edges. I’ll have the panning by click + drag and keyboard as well. Maybe zoom could have a keyboard key as well.

[slowdive]

I finished importing all the scripts from IB to the IB unity version. Maybe I'll call the Unity version IB2 or IBu? I am going through all the imported scripts one-by-one and commenting out the parts that will need adjusting (draw and animation stuff mostly). So I have a lot of "TODO" parts

I just have the "CommonCode" script left to go through. I'll then start tackling one screen at a time starting with the launcher screen and then the title screen. So overall some good progress has been made with the limited time I have.

[Dorateen]

Looking forward to see more examples of Unity IceBlink.

I think we had an IceBlink 2 version at some point. IBU could work, almost reminds me of an academic institution.

[zach_holbrook]

This does sound exciting. How much revision would a Unity version of IceBlink require on the builder's end?

[slowdive]

This does sound exciting. How much revision would a Unity version of IceBlink require on the builder's end?

I’m coding the Unity version so that it will not require any changes from the builder. That is the plan. It should only create new options. The only parts that may change are some of the trickier code additions that Karl added that I can’t figure out how to convert (maybe the lighting system, but that should have a good Unity option to use).

[zach_holbrook]

Sounds great. I'm eager to test things out and play around with new options -- school ends next month, so I'll be working on Malkin a lot again very soon!

[slowdive]

Some more slow progress here as I try to learn Unity. Unity works very different from the way IB does for handling game loop and game object stuff so it is taking me a bit to get accustomed to the new way of doing things. So far I have the launcher screen working (the UI is mostly prototype and will need some IB specific style) and the title screen comes up. On the title screen, I have the exit and load saved game mostly working. I'll probably work on handling all the trigger, fog of war, and movement blocking stuff next before returning to the create character and party builder screens for "new game" option on title screen.

[zach_holbrook]

Nice! Sounds like good progress to me.

[cartons]

Taking a break from building after finishing the first major dungeon in my game, but just piping in to say that I TOO am excited about this IBU!

[slowdive]

Quick update. I have been able to get some more work done with IB v204 (which will be using Unity). I have the area transitions working and area loading happens on demand instead of all at the start of the module. This means the module will load up very quickly (I still need to clean up some additional repetitive loading code first). I also have FoW working and started on a settings screen. I'll be adding some more settings menu features that are shown in this video: https://youtu.be/YOaYQrN1oYQ

Here is a quick video to show where I am at as of today (much of the UI are still placeholder stuff):
https://youtu.be/78oxEmLy7iw

[zach_holbrook]

Exciting stuff. The main menu and UI look fantastic. Zooming is so nice to have too. This is gonna be so great!

[slowdive]

Just a quick update:
I’ve been busy at work with IB in Unity. I will post another video once I finish up the main map screen UI work (which is almost finished). Most of the button don’t lead to actual screens yet and I’ll work on those one at a time. I do have the conversation system and screen mostly working at this point and area transitions.

[zach_holbrook]

Excellent! Looking forward to seeing the video!

[slowdive]

Here is a quick video to show some of the items I have been working on the past week or so.

https://youtu.be/vvg2g6g0gBk

The main map UI only has right clicking on portraits (doesn't actually change the party leader or switch tokens yet), journal button, and party button working so far. The log panel has an issue with gaining and maintaining focus as well as a couple of other bugs to figure out. The UI art and text style is still placeholder-ish. Any thoughts or suggestions are most welcome.

[Dorateen]

Everything looks so smooth! I like the new layout of the journal and the character sheet, that was impressive.

One thought: when pulling up item information, would it be possible for the information box to open in the center of the screen, instead of on the right side? It would mean covering the character portrait, but I think might look better.

Also, not to put any pressure on you, do you have an approximate time frame when build 204 might be ready?

[zach_holbrook]

Looking great! The character sheet is much more user friendly now.

[slowdive]

I'm not sure exactly on the timeline for v204. It depends on how quickly I can get everything working in Unity. It will also need some testing by module authors to verify that their modules are still working correctly. I'm trying not to change any of the underlining systems code and try my best to replicate the graphical systems in Unity. So in theory, all existing modules should not need any changes and should work out of the box. There may be some differences with the weather and map elevation system, but I'll try and keep as much as I can working with Unity. Right now I'm working on implementing all the different screens and then I'll go back and polish the graphical systems. I'm getting faster with each screen as I learn and understand more about Unity and how best to implement IB systems into Unity.

I was hoping to have the "tooltip" type box with the item info be more connected to the mouse position with an offset, but I had issues getting it working well in local/world space with different screen resolutions. I'll revisit that at some point, but for now, I'll just have the box show up in the middle as suggested.

[slowdive]

Messed up my back last week so didn't get much done. Started working more on the inventory screen this week and have some parts working. I still need to address the tooltip item info location so that it is closer to the mouse location. I plan on having the party tokens on the right side of the screen and toggling them will select a player for comparison info. So when you hoover over an item, you will have two tooltip boxes next to each other, one with the item hoovered over and the other will be the equipped item of the selected PC that has the same type. For weapons and rings, you would get both ring hands and both weapon hands I guess. Anyway, it is a working thought and I'm not sure if it will work well or not. In the video below, you will see that the items are in a scrollable box instead of pages. The filter buttons are there, but not coded yet. Thoughts?

https://youtu.be/xzpVVNVxO34

[cartons]

All of quality of life changes welcome! I like the idea of a comparison for equipable items.

[Pongo]

Looking good! Tooltips will be much more user friendly, especially with a comparison option with what you're wielding. Look forward to testing it!

[slowdive]

I am thinking of doing some recurring live streams of coding sessions as a chance to connect with the IceBlink community and also to keep me on a coding schedule

I'll try and do either Saturdays or Sundays at 12:00 Arizona time.

Tomorrow's stream: https://youtu.be/rM7kETVl3K8

Feel free to drop by for a few minutes and say hi if you get a chance. You can also watch after the fact, but coding is pretty boring so probably not worth watching

EDIT: I switched the starting time to noon.

[slowdive]

I posted a quick update to show where I am at with the IB Unity Inventory Screen and get some feedback:

https://youtu.be/caNVeWIxZxU

It isn't a lot of progress since the last stream, but it is some progress

[Pongo]

That inventory looks a lot more modern and intuitive. I like the way it easily brings up the comparison with the equipped weapon - makes life so much easier.

[slowdive]

I like the comparison toggle as well. Next up is to make all the UI elements load up the images from the module's "ui" folder and use those instead of the default ui images (assuming the module has a replacement image with the same filename). I will also need to think about using the builder's MainMap and CombatMap UI layout file that describes a custom layout, etc.

[slowdive]

To celebrate the 10 year anniversary of IceBlink Engine (yes, it has been a decade already ), I thought I would try and do some streams on Twitch of me playing some of the modules. Maybe I'll play some of the earlier modules first.

I'll be streaming on Sundays at 1PM Arizona time (I'm the same as Denver right now).

https://www.twitch.tv/slowdive_fan

Drop by and say hi if you get a chance

[Dorateen]

Sounds good! I can't believe it has been ten years already, but that's right. The Kickstarter for IceBlink was funded back in November 2012.

[Dorateen]

slowdive, I was able to watch yesterday's stream of Raventhal a few hours afterward. It was great to see the 3D view in the iceblink basic version. Looked like a lot of fun with the fans following along.

[slowdive]

slowdive, I was able to watch yesterday's stream of Raventhal a few hours afterward. It was great to see the 3D view in the iceblink basic version. Looked like a lot of fun with the fans following along.

It was a ton of fun! I posted it on YouTube so that you and Pongo could check it out. I think I will continue the adventure this Sunday at the same time for about an hour or so (live on Twitch) and then post again to YouTube. I stream and record at the same time since Twitch doesn't keep videos for very long. Happy to hear that you were able to watch a bit and that you enjoyed it.

IB ten year anniversary celebration EP1:
https://youtu.be/4XAmL8dE_XQ

[slowdive]

some WIP of IB3D in Unity https://youtu.be/gWUu3ot0Ig4

[Dorateen]

I just saw this... pretty amazing. Good to see more IceBlink development!