Galileo (Space mining n shit) [Images]

[Skype]

Since my thread got blasted into the outer reaches of #000, I'm remaking it. A better entrance this time since I've been working on some eye candy. I also didn't include what I'm calling it last time.

Galileo

So I've been working on a game, if you could call it that, and it's finally in a state where I can show people. It's real time (ish), and operates in your browser (more on that in a bit).

Galileo is set in space and the aim of the game is to grow your empire through colonising planets, gathering and trading resources, building economy and interacting with other players. Or at least, I'm hoping it will get that far. That's what I'm aiming for, it's fledgeling at the moment.

Instead of being a fully interactive game, where you are actively controlling a character, it's browser/click based real time. The best comparison is FarmVille- you queue up actions and return in X hours when it's finished.

By using an X Y Z coordinate system, the game space is unlimited*. Planets are currently randomly generated when a new set of coordinates are accessed. Planet generation includes size, name and 'nodes'- points where resources can be tapped.
* It's technically unlimited, but I'll probably end up restricting it.

So far I have a working inventory system, task queuing and planet generation.

I've paused development to work on some visuals since I got tired of looking at a grey box on a white background. Now that you can do something I thought I'd treat myself and whip up a UI. It portrays the direction I want to go in but I'm not sure on it's execution. Still, beats a grey box.

Here are some shots:

Dashboard


Inventory


Travel


Orbit


Mining


Did I mention it'll work on a phone as an app too?

[tuna]

awesome! :)

[Juke]

I do apologize for that actually Skype, you had a lot of info on that thread.
Sorry for the inconvenience but we cant do anything about it now.
The design does look quite nice and simple. Easy to navigate aswell. One thing I'm not mad about is the box borders, they seem rather clunky and chunky and I just don't think it fits. I'd much rather it a bit skinnier and sleeker but that's just my opinion.

[Josh]

God damn you did a good job on the layout, is all of that just CSS?
Good shit.

[Gary]

This sounds and looks cool so far man. I'm looking forwards to the final outcome.

[Will]

i would like to play this

[Kev]

looks a lot more polished now. are you going to add a subtle parallax effect that follows your cursor? it looks like you have a static background right now but that'd be pretty interesting

[robotmayo]

Sounds like fun. I like the effect you are going with the ui, though not a huge fan of the current borders. I could see myself burning time playing it. Although im more interested in your tech stack :^).

[Skype]

God damn you did a good job on the layout, is all of that just CSS?
Good shit.

Yup all CSS. Just some skewing- the skewed UI is the effect I'm going for to make it look like a hologram tech interface. The skewing is the one thing that will definitely remain. It might need a slightly different approach as it messes with element rendering.

looks a lot more polished now. are you going to add a subtle parallax effect that follows your cursor? it looks like you have a static background right now but that'd be pretty interesting

Possibly. The background image is just a placeholder. Realistically there would be a different background for each view. Finishing touches like that will be decided more towards the time as I haven't put any thought or effort into how it'll look yet.

One of the things I want to do is use GD to create image representations of the generated planets. This will then be displayed on the dashboard/orbit pages.

Sounds like fun. I like the effect you are going with the ui, though not a huge fan of the current borders. I could see myself burning time playing it. Although im more interested in your tech stack :^).

It's just a standard LAMP setup. I've written an MVC PHP framework as a base.

[Daniël]

I honestly didn't expect it to look this good so soon. That's very impressive man.

Since you're working on a phone version, are there also plans for iPhone?

[Skype]

I honestly didn't expect it to look this good so soon. That's very impressive man.

Since you're working on a phone version, are there also plans for iPhone?

Thanks.

I'm not working on a phone version per say. Updates to the HTTP protocol and Android allow web developers like me to make "apps" using web technologies. At the moment you have to elect to add the page to your homescreen but then I have control over how it behaves (the best example being not to show the address bar so it's more immersive).

iOS has a similar function where you can add web pages to the home screen and I can designate an icon.

Google will be pushing an update soon where if the website supports a mobile app version it will prompt the user to save it to their homepage. Presumably Apple will follow in their footsteps.

To actually answer your question, there are no plans for iPhone's/iOS. It hinges on Apple providing this update.

An example of how it would work is you land on my website, sign up for an account, then you are prompted to save it to your homescreen to access the game.

[Kev]

how are you going to go about generating planets?

[Skype]

Technically, right now the generation is basic.

Planet

Code: Select all

   protected function create($coords)
   {
      $this->locX = $coords['locX'];
      $this->locY = $coords['locY'];
      $this->locZ = $coords['locZ'];
      $this->size = rand(1, 10);
      $this->life = rand(0, 1);
      $this->name = $this->nameGen();
      $this->params = json_encode(array('type' => 'planet'));
      $this->new = true;

      $this->dbo->insert('g_planets', Funcs::getObjVars($this));
      $this->id = $this->dbo->lastInsertId();

      $nodeHelper = new NodeHelper;
      $nodeHelper->assignNodes($this);
   }


Name gen is just a random merge of 3 arrays containing military and greek alphabets and roman numerals. This will definitely need more work since it's currently possible (although low chance) that 2 planets with the same name are generated. Realistically, not that much of a problem since planet renaming will be a feature, but I'm doing it for me.

Node generation is also simple. I have a table of usable nodes and the node assignment counts all of these and uses simple maths using stats of the generated planet to assign saturation and node count.

If you meant visually, I'm going to use PHP's GD library to layer template stencils to create a planet. A base layer, then continent shape, some cloud form/orbit ring, then debris. These stencils can also be subject to colourisation and masking to help create more variation.

I'm not sure how far I'm going to go with the visuals. Technically however, planet generation is going to be a lot more in depth. I had an idea for a persistent evolution value of a planet. This is a measure of age for the planet and the user can use the planet to either speed up or slow down the "clock". A slow clock means a long, fruitful planet life where as a fast one will lead to disaster quickly. Old planets have increased disasters and negative effects before eventually going boom. This is to combat lots of passive revenue being made without having to play. The key will be getting the monetary output balanced with the length of time it takes to make it worth it, as well as the lifetime of the planet.

It'll be interesting to code, to say the least.

[Pistol]

Can't you just shove in an if statement saying if there are two planets of name "X" name the new one "X 1" or just rename it? Shouldn't be hard in theory depending on how you've done it so far.

[Skype]

That's just plain lazy.