Week #11 update

What I've done this week##

Cut-scenes are finally completed, monk AI is progressing nicely and the UI overhaul is just about done.

Editor

  • Nothing!

Game

  • rewrote support for monks to wait on each other when travelling horizontally (monks can't run past each other like heroes can)
  • this is not 100% as per the original, but in my opinion, works much nicer
  • vertical still on the go
  • a couple of AI tweaks to try and match the original Mad Monks' Revenge
*Monks can't run past each other like heroes can*

General

  • the mouse cursor is now hidden when watching a cut-scene or video
  • vastly improved the speed and performance of the code that handles the Presage audio data
  • ensured the puzzle preview texture in the puzzle viewer dialog is a power of two

I finished my RIFF AVI player this week. If you look at last weeks update, you'll see the nice YouTube video of what went wrong with decoding the original cut-scenes. For those of you who don't know or didn't read last week's update, Astro and Reef Worlds + the Mad Monks' Revenge ending scene are not in the proprietary Presage format, rather plain RIFF AVI using a 1992 era Microsoft spec.

Fast forward a week and voila!

*Beware of murky water!*

I still don't know why the two extra themes + ending scene do not follow the original Presage format. It is not like The Legend Returns and The Mad Monks' Revenge were decades apart. Odd, it is. On the other hand, I imagine it is far easier to use AVI files than modify videos into a custom format.

Some features;

  • 100% Visual Basic code; no external libraries, no API calls, and no DirectX
  • audio stream is streamed
  • threaded
  • <1,000 lines of code for the complete player (a little more when you include the AVI and Bitmap structures from MSDN)

What I'll probably do next week

  • monk AI; this is the key to the game being accurate as possible
  • UI overhaul integrated with main project
  • monks waiting when falling vertical
  • save game format deciphered or some headway made