LÖVE-based RTS

[zapwow]

I've finally settled on a long-term project to work on: an RTS built in LÖVE/lua. I expect to learn a lot from this.

Basic goals include:

• Different unit types
  Buildings
  Obstacles/pathfinding
  Half-decent graphics

Some fun ideas I'd like to include are:

• Genetic programming for units, including their structure, appearance and abilities
  Multiplayer support

... but those are far off.

I'll post my progress here as often as I can, to keep myself motivated and to keep helpful feedback coming in. I've also acquired a couple books to guide me, including one that has already been helpful,"Programming Game AI by example". I want to do this right, so I'm open to any suggestions.

This is, of course, all being done in what spare time I have after school and life. I'm supposed to graduate from uni in June so don't expect much before then.

[zapwow]

Here's what I have accomplished so far:

• Basic camera movement
  Create/destroy units with keyboard
  Select, move units with mouse
  screen-clipping, self-culling units

rtsScreen1.JPG (107.17 KiB) Viewed 11366 times

[bartbes]

Yay! Moving triangles!
I hope this turns out like a nice RTS, so.. have fun coding!

[Skofo]

Oh man, this looks really cool.

Looking forward to seeing more of it!

[qubodup]

This looks very good! The triangles are very sexy! (Self-made?)

So far I am reminded of following games: Qonk (open source), Liquid War (open source) and Homeworld (proprietary).

Ideas: 1. implement screen movement via keys 2. implement waypoints (hold-ctrl+mousepress to set them) 3. use asteroids and gas clouds that have effects like slowdown, damage or that can't be flown trough to give structure to the map

The background image is a bit problematic, it has too strong lines (they should be much lighter-colored instead) and when zoomed out, the lines create ugly effects. This could be solved by different images for different zoom levels (smaller have fewer lines).

[zapwow]

I haven't had much time this week (thesis/exams busyness) but my main contribution has been to completely rewrite every line of code that I had already done to make it more robust. Presently at ~750 lines

I also reworked the State system and add more vehicle-like motion to the units, which I'm quite happy with. I've started on some basic graphics as well.

Nothing flashy here yet, but I thought I'd post an update anyway.

[rude]

Awesome. Looks promising.

[bartbes]

Great! Selection works as aspected, auto-patrol, those graphics/animations. I look forward to playing it!

[osuf oboys]

Very nice. The middle button is perhaps not something that should be used for very frequent actions though (de-selection). In most games, selection with the left button replaces the current selection and addition is made by holding shift. Another option would be do deselection or centering with a double click or to only have scrolling with the right mouse button if dragging.

[iamah]

nice work... the first demo has that touch of happiness that makes great games...

do you use any tools for graphics?