Alpha.8 Build Notes

Saving Player Position
* (Add) The last position of the Player is saved and then on loading the Player will be back at that place.

Select Player/Game
* (Change) Browses are now sorted in by Last Loaded / Saved in descending order.
* (Add) Double-clicking with the left mouse button now selects.

Creating
* (Add) Brick, Marble and Steel Recipes + Blocks added. They can only be Created, not Harvested.
* (Add) “Create All” button added.
* (Add) The total products that can be created is in brackets next to the Recipe name (when greater than zero).

Recipe GUI Enhancements

Now you can see how many you can make

Block Placement
* (Change) Only Created blocks (Brick, Marble and Steel) can be placed.

Bricks and Marble

Now you get to create Bricks, Marble and Steel to place on the ground

Character Screen
* (Change) Font size of Recipe browses increased from 10 to 12.
* (Add) Double clicking with the left mouse button on a Recipe will make it (if possible).

World Generation
* (Change) Ores are now placed based on a rarity percentage check, rather than pure distance (which can change depending on size of world).
* (Change) Ore rarity percentage values adjusted.
* (Fix) Blocks surrounding the Player position on loading Game are cleared correctly.
* (Change) Pathways (in Cave biome) now are worked from Min/Max equates (rather than (2,4)).

Camera
* (Fix) If Player was at the edge of the world on loading the Camera now aligns itself correctly (before it was only aligning on movement).

Lighting
* (Add) Radius around Player which everything (at night and when other checks are met) outside of is black. The radius can grow or shrink depending on time of day, torches or other light sources.

The default Cave light radius

Uhhh, anybody there?

Loading Game
* (Add) A loading window now appears when the game is .. loading.

Loading the Game

No more boring waiting .. A Load Screen!

Unloading Game
* (Fix) Memory free’d twice error was cropping up because of a wrong “dispose” call in the Build_Inventory routine in CharacterWindow.

Alpha.7 Build Notes

Character Screen
* (Update) Background (colors) added to the Stats sections. Text made white. Will see how it goes.

Pinkeyes
* (Add) The first enemy (aggressive mob) is in! The Pinkeye! Not actually aggressive (move toward the Player) yet, and doesn’t actually attack the Player .. yet.

Action
* (Fix) When single-clicking the left mouse button on something actionable (like a Pinkeye), TWO hits were being made. I’d forgotten about putting a “Do Action” function call in where the Input is checked AS WELL AS in the Heartbeat. Lame.

System
* (Change) Instead of creating separate .clw files for each class function (so lame, what was I thinking?) have grouped them together. Reduced number of files in dev folder drastically, and the C8 IDE has nice function folding for navigation niceness.

Alpha.6 Build Notes

System
* (Change) Shifted most resources and data (getting ready for saved games) to CSIDL_COMMON_APPDATA.
* (Add) Added in FileManager3 in preparation for dealing with TPS files that will be used for Saved Games amongst other things.

Program Start
* (Add) Create and Select windows (and logic) added for Player and Game.

Create a new Player!

Creating a new Player is very easy

Create a new Game!

The Kingdom of Serenity needs You!

Save/Restore
* (Add) Initial implementation has gone into the game. Save Game and Player information. Basically at the moment this is the Player Inventory.

Sheep
* (Add) Sheep!

Sheep!

There be sheep about!

Stats
* (Add) “Stats” tab added to Character Screen. Looks at totals of Harvested Blocks (typed), Harmed Sheep and Killed Sheep. More on the way!

Stats are your friend

What? You hit sheep! Shame shame shame

Seeds and Pseudo Random Number Generators

It’s a brave new world.

KFC is no longer “Fried”.

Maccas has something called a “Frappe”.

(Yes yes, this is old news. But I’m at least 35 now. I remember tape drives.)

And I’ve discovered that you don’t have to save Terrain, you just need to PSUEDO generate it.

So I’m right now desperately trying to change my code from using random(low,high) to Get_Random(low,high), where the Get_Random function uses a Seed value to generate what is wanted.

As far as I understand at this point (which is not very far) the Seed value is the random value. It’s the ONLY value that is generated from a “random” sense.

Seed Value for PRNG

You can do more with Seeds than plant Trees!

This Seed value is stored in the Game file, which then remains the same every single time you load that Game. So although the Seed is random, it is only within the sphere of Games that this randomness is seen, not within a Game itself.

I haven’t yet made it work, not nearly. I’m nowhere smart enough to just “get it”. Have to work away until stumbling over the answer.

But so far, it’s positive movement for Ballikin. Being able to “save” games and load them back up in the same state, well .. that would be grande!

Writing Game Marketing

The best thing about coming up with something great to say about your game is that you get to think big, but crazy at the same time.

Let’s take what is on the frontpage of Ballikin.com.

“Ballikin is a game that takes the best bits of games like Minecraft, Diablo, Terraria and World of Warcraft to bring you something very special.”

Obviously that’s very subjective. What are the best bits? Well, to me they’re one thing (which is why I can say that statement above and it’s true, because I’m making the game from stuff I love to do in games). But to someone else, that might be complete hogwash.

The best bits?

3d graphics?

Massive multiplayer online?

Funky character creation?

Nope. None of the above.

Like I said, to me the best bits of those games are one thing. To you they might be another.

Hopefully, at some point, our best bits overlap and you can find in Ballikin something you like!

Welcome to the Ballikin Blog!

Dear Visitors from every people and planet,

Welcome!

Ballikin is a new game, forged from the best bits of other games.

We’re (actually it’s just me at the moment) very happy to be able to bring Ballikin out into the light of day. As of today it’s been a long and exhausting time since starting development .. 3 long years months weeks. Ahem.

The Alpha testing will begin soon. There are a number of components I’d like to get in before then, hopefully that won’t take too long.

Anywho, it is with great joy that I write this first post (well, apart from Build Notes) to you all.

Beware the Demiware!

Alpha.5 Build Notes

Interface
* (Change) “Make Stuff” tab removed, Recipes placed into the Inventory tab.

Actions
* (Fix) “Action 2” logic enhanced so that when the Inventory item (only thing that can be selected as Action as of right now) is deleted, because none are left, the Selected Action is pointed to the “Nothing” object.
* (Update) The logic for picking up things from the ground now checks if the Selected Action is “Nothing” as well as if there is no Selected Action.

Alpha.4 Build Notes

Recipes
* (Update) The Flyswat can now be made, when you have the correct ingredients. It is placed in the Inventory (no use for it yet).
* (Add) “Campfire” recipe added. Once built can be selected as an Action and placed on the ground (grass or floor).

Object Class
* (Change) Removed the image cache and (astring) path fields out of the Object. Didn’t free up as much memory as hoped (only about 7 meg). So we’re down to 60 meg now.
* (Change) Took the Image functions out of here and placed them in the World class.

Animation
* (Change) Some changes to animation due to the removing of image fields from the Object. Not very good at the moment, needs a fair bit of work.

Artwork
* (Change) Tree Trunk changed in appearance because for some reason the block wasn’t the full perimeter of the square (i think had something to do with the icon files being corrupted in Axialis Iconworkshop.

Alpha.3 Build Notes

Action
* (Add) If no Selected Action, the first block picked up is selected as the Action.

Input
* (Fix) Right-clicking the mouse while moving could result in continuously placing blocks even if the right-click was upped.

Objects
* (Change) Removed the “Item” class. The Object class now has three image paths, Base, OnGround, Inventory.

Memory Issues
* (Fix) Removed a lot of clutter out of the c:Object class, so that the memory usage dropped from ~500meg to ~67meg.

Recipes
* (Add) Recipes are added in, with Ingredients and Products. They are shown in the Character Page, but you can’t actually make them yet.