Release ASCII3D Engine


Vorporeal

Yes, no, I, this is.
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So yeah, I'm moving this thread over from the GP32X forums. Old thread was located here.

More information about ASCII3D can be found on my blog at http://saucepansoftware.wordpress.com.

Sadly, finals start in two weeks, and I'm not going to have too much time to work on this. I might be able to add in a few small features here and there, but there probably won't be major progress. That said, it would be nice if we could have some discussions here about what kinds of things people would like me to implement when I do finally have time to work on this.

My list of things to implement (leaving out the obvious characters and enemies models and concentrating more on specifics):
  • A particle engine for nice spell effects.
    A scripting engine that would allow users to write mini-campaigns where NPCs could be created, quests could be made (hopefully), the randomly generated dungeon floors could be interspersed with user-defined ones, etc.
    An easy (hopefully also scripted way) to allow users to define their own type of objects, how they work within the game world, and how they are rendered on the screen.

This is just a REALLY basic list, but they're some of the things that I'd like to implement (that you wouldn't necessarily find in a roguetype engine/game). Any more thoughts? I'd love for this thread to contain discussion and not me just posting about updates (which is what was mostly happening in the other one).
 
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Wanted feature:
Some kind of map loading, with the following info:
- Glyph tilesets (so that you can replace an ASCII char with another without having to modify a whole file)
- Height-information per tile (to make 3D walls) including "hole information" (so you can create "windows" or "doors" etc)

But as I have no idea whatsoever about how you are going to structure the engine, I can't really recommend anything else.
 
Its quite nice even if its simple, maybe you can push it into 96k and release it at some demo-party to make a bit of money with it ;)
But I m wondering myself why you are not just loading more complex 3D blocks for each tile to create a more graphical impressing game?
 
JayFoxRox said:
Its quite nice even if its simple, maybe you can push it into 96k and release it at some demo-party to make a bit of money with it ;)
But I m wondering myself why you are not just loading more complex 3D blocks for each tile to create a more graphical impressing game?
The whole point of the engine is that it should be made of only ASCII characters :p
Otherwise, you'd use Irrlicht or the like anyways.
 
What this would allow for is interesting differences such as height differences between rooms on the same floor of the dungeon. Generally with roguetypes, the difficulty of the area depends on what floor of the dungeon you are on. This would allow for bridges over rooms and vertically overlapping rooms on the same dungeon level.

The idea came from Squidi's ASCII3D mechanic. It's an idea on how to move roguetypes into the modern age while still holding on to the ASCII-retro feel that made them what they are.
 
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