The tools I will use

Since my new project is starting and I aim to start it the right foot. The right foot being planning before jumping down in the mud. In this post I will document some of the tools I will be using during development. The list might grow and I probably will make another post in the end[sic] explaining the tools I ended up using after all.

First and most important : The very humble and well respected Visual Studio

It's simply the best IDE I've ever used. First because it is very complex (which I like) and when you get to know it it is very easy to use. The IDE really completes the programmer, IntelliSense works like a charm. You can also add extensions which can be very useful. In the screenshot above you can see I'm using ReSharper, this extension is a little manager that looks at your code and gives you advice on how you can optimize your code. It's a really good extension and really helps me when I need to refactor a piece of code or make it more readable. Check it out here, unfortunately it's a paid product and you need to pay a hefty sum to use it. I only have 8 days left on my trial, after that I'll have to get back to normal.

ZScreen, the screenshot application.

ZScreen is a very good application when you need to take screenshots on the fly. You don't need to press print screen and open paint, paste it and modify it. Just press the a hotkey and it will execute what commands you told him to do. I chose to save it automatically in a folder when I press [prt scrn] so I can browse my screenshots of the day and modify them. In the end, they probably get sent on this blog ! It's freeware so I encourage you all to give it a try.

GitHub and GitExtension

As you all probably know I usually use Git as my preferred source control provider. It's really useful to have a repository of code on projects, even the smallest ones, because it gives you an overview on what has been done and how. Having a complete history of the project's changes is awesome and being able to revert back any changes is always useful. I don't need to comment 200 lines of code just because I don't need it or might need it in the future. I can safely erase it and get it back from the repository when I need that piece of code.

Github is a host server of repositories and GitExtensions is my GUI of choice. I can see the timeline very clearly and any branches can be inspected at ease.

So there we go, those are the tools I plan on using immediately. Among them, not tools but technologies I should mention is that I am using C# now with the XNA framework. This makes creating games much easier and streamlined. Big change from vb.net I know, but it's for the best. Giving visual basic up was one of the best decisions I could have made. So keep up with me, I'll try to make the code as easy to follow as I can.

Update !

Hello, I've been working a lot on the project these days. I have implemented transitions between maps ( will make a post about that piece of code soon, I'm still working on the "Un-escapable loop" post ), and I have arrived at a point where my system began to be messy and unorganized. I have began to code a massive overhaul regarding my arrays. I can't just let them sit at the top of my class. Because of my goal of having at least 30 minutes pf content, I will probably have to make a lot of individual maps. Outside maps, indoor, inside dungeons etc. And triple that because I need to add a sprites_map and a transition_map to each of them. That could mean a couple hundred of arrays just sitting there waiting to be used.

My idea is that I would make individual text files containing the maps ( single map per file or a single big file with all maps, I don't know yet. Or even an XML file on the condition that I re-read on the subject). I now have to make a class and get the I/O working well. Every time you move to the edge of the map over a transitional tile, the matrix will change its tileset and put you in place. This is particularly rough part on me and I need to read a lot of stuff and my post count will probably drop a bit. I will try to keep you all entertained ( all two of you reading my site ). even though I'm busy as hell.

Keep looking over my GitHub page, frequent updates are to be found. For those who forgot the link, check my pages.


EDIT 10:32 24/03/10 :
I have nearly finished the overhaul I was talking about. It is a MAJOR change throughout the project. If I was to explain everything I'd have enough material for 2 weeks. Prepare for some big posts later in the week or the next.

Now on GitHub

Hello all, quick update. As you can see from last post I have now a GitHub account and I will posting my code at various intervals in there. For those who does not know, GitHub is a version control system with a website front-end. It allows people to upload their code, branch it, fork it and post it so other people can see it. You can visit my page here.


My page at GitHub will be less updated due to the fact that I will release both a vb.net 2008 and vb.net 2010 version. They both use different version of the .net framework so they are not backward compatible. So I have to downgrade my code and make modifications to it. I will try to keep everyone informed when I add major modifications on my repository.

I love the smell of burning CPU in the evening, smells almost like... Victory

Oh yes ladies and gentlemen. I have now a playable version of my game, its not much. But it is the content of all I've been doing these past 2 weeks. You can browse the code here and download an executable from this page.

And I DID solve my Un-Escapable loop problem, I'm going to make a port on this one. 


Milestone 2


After hitting more walls in my previous version of the program I decided to create another form where I would put only the code I need. To make it cleaner and more manageable. It is currently at its third iteration. But while I was looking at my code ( which was muuuch easier to read in a clean environment not chuck full of properties and classes anywhere) I though of the following logistic: I have two matrices, two arrays and 3 methods to help me put those on the form. If I followed my plan to make another matrix for the game hero, I'd have even more. So why not make it only 2 methods, one to fill the matrices, and one to show them. Simple since they do pretty much the same. And to that conclustion I said, why not have a single matrix ? Why would I need 2 layers when I could easily do it with one, and actually make this a lot more simpler and easy. The final result is that I have a single matrix of pictureboxes and two arrays with two methods to fill and stamp it. 

This is the code I used. you can see this all the simpler. 


The loop problem was caused by this: from the moment I decided to use an matrix of pictureboxes instead of images I changed from a type to an object. Do when typing 


Dim tileMatrix(15, 15) as Picturebox


What it did was to create 256 pictureboxes that are actually the SAME picturebox. Because there is no New()   I will create a subsequent post explaining this particular error but for now do understand that the problem was that every picturebox in my matrix was the same picturebox. It was a single one with 256 references through the matrix.