Front Ends

Posted by oddbob on May 8, 2008 · Lovingly Filed Under Development Log
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VI Reboot Front End

Like pulling teeth it is. I don’t think there’s any other part of writing games that quite has the ability to bring me out in hives as trying to construct a front end. I’ve still got 90% of a mental block on how to construct the G-Force one but at least that’s not under a deadline…

So today I’ve spent most of the fucking day tearing my hair out trying to get something nice and consistent to slot into VI:Reboot. Having done the title screen first before I’d even considered pushing forward with the idea, I already had something pretty to work from as a baseline. Pretty stars. I like pretty stars. Which is lucky because by the time I’m finished with this I’ll never want to see another pretty star in my life. I think my next game will be set in a pitch black tunnel with no lights at all…

Anyway, the main gist of the work I’ve done today is to set out the starmap. VI:Reboot is set across 5 different planets, 4 of which can be visited in any order with the 5th remaining locked off until you’ve cleared 3 of the other 4 planets. The furthest to the left on the star map being the easiest and increasing in intensity the closer to the final planet you get. So I needed a pretty map. I now have a pretty map, but… ah nuts, I’m going to need some GUI elements too. Oh, the tedium. It’s not that it’s especially difficult or hard going, just far too dull for my liking. I ended up hunting down some handy photoshop brushes rather than spend my time drawing out different planets and generic tech elements just to make it slightly less painful.

This is what you get when you’re trying to make sure you have every single asset you’re going to need for the game well in advance so you don’t hit your usual brick walls. Mine, as you might have guessed, being front ends.

Ach, at least it’s done now and out the way. Next up, controller stuff. Although trying to find a wired 360 controller in this godforsaken town is proving a task and a half - Mrs Bob is off on a hunt for me tomorrow a little off the beaten path so fingers crossed that if Mrs Bob can find one, we’ll have some XInput controls supported in the game too.

In the meantime, I’m done with devving for the day (morning as it is now!) and I think an hour of gaming is in order before nodding off. Bigger pic of the starmap over on my tumblr.

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5 Responses to “Front Ends”

tim on May 8th, 2008 1:07 am

looking good. effort well spent.
oddbob on May 8th, 2008 3:06 am

Ta matey! It’s a bit more “cut and paste stuff” than I’d originally planned but after about 4 hours of fucking around I realised it wasn’t happening without a momentous amount of time invested.

If I’d had a bit more leeway timewise (rather than what, 2 months-ish to do everything?) to fudge it all properly then I’d likely be a bit more relaxed about it.

Mind you, it’s fupping hot here today which probably goes someway to explaining my “feh, grrr” attitude about it :p
gnome on May 8th, 2008 12:55 pm

Oh, I wouldn’t worry about it being hot over there, when it’s bloody boiling here and -despite that- I’ve been coughing like crazy for 10 days or so. Still, nice frontend. No, really. Like the pretty colours And stars.

(coughs away, leaving a nice bloody trail behind)
Richard Phipps on May 8th, 2008 5:37 pm

I don’t like it.. think you should do it again.
Dudley on May 9th, 2008 11:17 am

I had this problem too (wired 360 controllers).

If you have a semi-reasonable sized Blockbuster, try them.