I wanted to start posting more frequently about the development work that is going into Serial Link as that is where I am putting the lessons I am learning into practice. The first of course if that of version control. I have talked already about the project copying that I thought was version control and I suppose to a certain extent it is, but its cumbersome and stinks of amateur hour (as do a lot of the things I do at the moment, but thats why Im here).
So the first thing was setting up the repository which was straight forward enough. Then it was the LFS part which I found just a little trickier as it could not be set up in the GUI Git Desktop and had to be done via the Git Bash tool. If I am wrong about that and have missed something, please do let me know. I then, nervously, made the first commit. This. Took. So. Long. I started to get a little worried that all was not well in the land of Serial Link and its visit to version control but after what seemed like an age, the commit was done. I pushed it to the repo on Git and bam, first commit to a remote server. Didn’t I feel proud.
The other reason that I would like to keep the journal up to date with Serial Link is that during one of the webinar’s the conversation turned to the question ‘when should one commit ones work’. So, I thought that posting how I do things here might open that discussion up for me/us/them whoever, and allow me to explore some of the other options regarding when to commit. I have started this process at commit 4 because it did not occur to me to take proper notes until then. I am very pleased that I am taking better notes though as it is making it easier to see just how much is going into making this game!
Commit
Commit notes…
Updated the weapon base blueprint so that it can choose whether to show a E: pick up ammo UI element or a red OUT OF AMMO element instead. I solved the problem of hitting the player and the players weapons by creating an array of ignorable actors.
I set up an event dispatcher in the weapons component that is triggered every time the weapons array is updated. This keeps that array of actors to ignore up to date for the player without having to recreate the array at each tick.
This commit was focused on the UI I have been implementing so that the player can actually interact with the game space in a more predictable way. The issue I was solving was that the line trace that is looking for things in the world that it can interact with was hitting the weapon instead. This was before I know how to implement custom channels for trace responses so that may have been a better way to do it.
Hello, my name is Mike. I am an aspiring game developer enjoying a second chance at life. Sounds deep right? I know, but its true. I am from London and from 2007 I owned a clothing business selling Barbour, Hunter, Joules and so on. I didn't like it. I kind of fell into it and by the time I knew I didn't like it I was committed and needed to follow through. In 2009 I met Natalie, my Cornish maid and once our little girl came along in 2015, we decided that Cornwall would be a better life for her than London. In the meantime, the business had suffered tremendous difficulty having been burgled twice. Insurance? What can I say. I ended up suing (and winning) the broker for selling me an incomplete policy. It was hard. When I arrived in Cornwall having shut the business down and generally being in pretty poor health, stressed and disappointed, my Wife (whom I would need exist without) tried to talk me into having 3 months off! Ha, I said, I would go crazy. Well the question was 'what are you going to do then'?
Turned out that I had a HND (most of a Degree) that qualified me for the course Games Design For Industry BA Top Up. I had always wanted to make video games for a living and so I applied, got on the course, worked like my life depended on it and came out with a 1st. If you're thinking 'why d'you have to say it like that and tell us the grade you loser'? Here's the thing, that HND was supposed to be a Degree in Computer Graphics and Games but, in my youthful wisdom, I played games more than studied them and failed. Then I went back to do the last year again and just couldn't hit my stride, so failed again. Imagine getting another chance to sort that mistake out... That was not going to happen again.
Having completed that course I and a friend I met there, Ethan, have set up Sofa Ninja Studios and are working on a game that was born on the course called Serial Link. I am very proud of where we are and I cannot believe that I have the chance to do this for real. We have a playable demo and will hopefully run a kickstarter early this year. Its a mature (code for violence and swearing) shooter where the player gets to shoot and use powers gifted to him.
Have a look at one of the latest videos although there has already been more development. I did warn you about the content...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv9R5ktCiA0&t=46sLinks to an external site.
I took to the game design and logic (cant call it coding, its Unreal blueprinting right now...) very well and feel that this is where I am meant to be. I am learning C++ and would like to make the transition to 'proper coder' this year if I can. Being in business for myself taught me the value of self discipline and being intrinsically motivated and so I carry those lessons with me into my new career. With my beautiful family behind me, Im ready.
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Chronicles of a Sofa Ninja 