Procedural Generated Games

GreatPass

Can they be done in GameSalad? How can they be done in GameSalad?

***Procedural Generated Graphics***
To my knowledge, I believe that the only real way around this is making tons at images for everything and changing their images to a random version of the same image every so often.

***Procedural Generated Layout***
For this, our only options again are moving actors to random places before they appear on screen again? How does one make it seem so flawless (Like Tiny Wings).

I was just wondering if anyone could help clear these two things up for me.
Thanks

Reference: Tiny Wings

old_kipper

On the graphics question- you can build quite complex graphical effects in GS by combining alpha values, blending modes, the original art with mixed levels of alpha, masking and layering of objects. You do not have control of variation of vector shaping or drawing shapes within one frame by moving a single pixel to form a shape (think of a laser drawing a picture on a wall at night). You really have to get to grips with combining what's possible/feasible on the fly and build up from there.

As for generative layout of levels. Yes it can be done. Here you again have to workout how fine a level of detail you want to control with your in game mechanics, and how much will be preformed objects (that may have variables within). When the game is played the dev has to structure a system to build out the layer but also to take feedback and effect the generative. This way you structure the game and feel. It is also very useful to structure a tweaking system that allows you as a dev to vary things at quite a global level and trim the gameplay in test. This may as simple as a game attribute that is referenced for speed by actors who then use it as a multiplier.

It's all a slightly different way of thinking and offers real rewards. It can also be a black hole for time, so it's worth planning out on paper your goals. Procedures do not have to be complex and if you find something that is working for you it can (like any other mechanism) be a wondrous thing.
Play with it.

Hope that helps. The area fascinates me. I've been working on a game with an animated actor and a single block which builds the environment around the actor and interacts. It clones itself, moves relative to its parent, is influenced in movement by 4 variables, and when you look at the game in the editor there is just a simple block and a man, but when it runs it becomes a full environment. it's taken months to do, and is not driven by the want to do procedural graphics and design, but a single idea the occurred to me for a game during the last totb contest. Now I have just got probably another month/year to make it all work the way I see it in my head, and on top of that work for other...

Good luck kipper

HoneyTribeStudios

old_kipper said:
I've been working on a game with an animated actor and a single block which builds the environment around the actor and interacts. It clones itself, moves relative to its parent, is influenced in movement by 4 variables, and when you look at the game in the editor there is just a simple block and a man, but when it runs it becomes a full environment. it's taken months to do, and is not driven by the want to do procedural graphics and design, but a single idea the occurred to me for a game during the last totb contest. Now I have just got probably another month/year to make it all work the way I see it in my head, and on top of that work for other...

Good luck kipper

Sounds interesting. Is this going to be your first release? I was wondering when your game(s) would come out. Show us some preview pics/vids when you think it's ready to be shown.

@GreatPass It sounds like you're new to GS? If you look down the list of variables on a new actor you'll see what you can change from within GS. Width, height, colour, alpha, rotation, blending mode etc. So that should give you some ideas of what you can and can't do. Also you can change scene properties like the size and camera movements.

A lot of these you can change mid-scene but some you can't. Currently blending modes and physics settings can't be changed in-game so you'd have to have duplicate actors to get around that.

old_kipper

HoneyTribeStudios said:
Sounds interesting. Is this going to be your first release? I was wondering when your game(s) would come out. Show us some preview pics/vids when you think it's ready to be shown.

I am not ready to show it publicly yet but drop me a pm if you're interested.

GreatPass

Thank you so much Kipper & Honey. I've got a lot to think about now.

Any place I can find an example of how the blending modes can be used to alter the view? I know how its done in Photoshop, but It still confused me in a game.

old_kipper

Think the easiest thing to do is to import several pieces of art work and drag them into the actor window to turn them into actors and then drop them into the scene and play with the blend modes in the actor attributes.

There are a couple of other techniques that are worth playing with for foreground and background actor/objects.

You can 'eat' areas of image alpha away in the original artwork in program's like photoshop. This is particularly useful if you want to use white objects that you can effect by changing the colour values on the fly and want to give them texture and detail. In the case doing a background like the hills in tinywings you could create colour combinations by overlaying 2 hill objects that overlay each over and change each actors colour values on the fly while using blending modes to create more complex mixes. You might actual have the art for sky in front of the hills so the shape of the hills was defined by the edge line of the sky art. There is one problem with blending, which is if you're tracking art through the scene the joins on repeats are often visible. This is fixed with standard blend by overlaying a couple of pixels but with semi transparent or additive blends the joins are visible.

Kip