Welcome to the Average Bear’s GameDev Blog! I’m currently developing a turn-based strategy RPG game, in the vein of Fire Emblem and TearRing Saga. I’ve already been working on this during my free time for 7 months. Anyway, this the first time that progress is actually worth showing: Units can move around the map.
Yes, a beautiful test map. Forgive the MsPaint graphics, they are only placeholders until I find a way to make or commission better spritework… The “moveable” and “attackeable” algorithms to find the tiles are functional. Our magical combat horse is called Silou, and she is to be a character in the game. Unfortunately, she will not be a magical combat horse in the actual game. She has a range of 5-10 (see next picture).
Some simple tiles have been implemented, with appropriate movement costs for a magical combat horse: she gets slowed down significantly on hills. She should only be able to walk 5 tiles, but I have not yet implemented the movement limit. Godmode Magical Combat Horse.
Many other systems are actually under construction under the hood. A basic game engine is running, but it is still rather bare. I initially tried to develop this game using only C, but found that Object Oriented Programming fit my thinking better, so I switched to C++.
I later discovered the Entity-Component-System pattern, and I think it is very useful for developing games. Units on the map are entities on which we attach whichever component. The Unit also has a Sprite component, which can be used to render textures and animate them. The cursor is animated using this method. The cursor also slides from one tile to another, fast at first then slower until the position of the next tile is reached. It also accelerates if a direction is held.
Finally, just above is a picture of the rudimentary menu appearing after unit movement. It isn’t functional at all and barely displays text.
This game can be played using a controller or a keyboard. I fully intend to make touch-screen friendly controls, for tablets and smartphones, much later in the development process.
Objects currently being implemented include Unit class, Map class, Tile class, Weapon class… I think most of these classes are close to being fully implemented. I’m currently working on the asset/data system: I want to write actual weapon objects and wondering which method is better for loading/unloading. Next update will probably contain enemy magical combat horses and combat, functional menus, etc… See you in half a year or more!
Average Bear's GameDev 