Goten84's Webblog

Well, man it's been a long time since I've made a post about my SoulReaper Engine, although I'm still working on it constantly. For those that aren't aware of what SoulReaper is, it's a game engine I'm building using the BYOND DM language. Currently SoulReaper is being used to power the DBOII (Dragonball Online II) game, although in the future I wish to be able to use it for other games as well, (a good RPG would be nice). Recently I've been working hard on the GUI code and I've completed most of it. Here is a screenshot:

GUI In Action


The reason for all the radio buttons is because the GUI supports two types, vertical and horizontal layouts. I should note that the gui isn't a browser window or anything, it's using the map to render it's graphics. Also, it's using pixel coordinates and can be of any dimension. The GUI isn't completed yet, there's still more I wish to add, but it's getting close to a final version. My inspiration this entire time too has been Acheron's Awakening gui system, it looks amazing and for those who haven't seen it you should really check it out here: Acheron's Awakening

I also thought I'd provide some code to show you how simple it is to make GUI windows using the SoulReaper engine. (Sorry if my code looks weird...)

/**
 *      This class is a Test window with GUI elements.
 *
 *      @author:        Victor Holt
 *      @date:          3/05/2009
*/

SoulReaper/Object/GUI/Template/TestWindow
        var/SoulReaper/Object/GUI/Element/Window/wnd = null
        var/SoulReaper/Object/GUI/Element/Window/Button/closeBtn = null
        var/SoulReaper/Object/GUI/Element/Window/Edit/strEditBox = null
        var/SoulReaper/Object/GUI/Element/Static/strText = null
        var/SoulReaper/Object/GUI/Element/Static/spinnerText = null
        var/SoulReaper/Object/GUI/Element/Static/imageText = null
        var/SoulReaper/Object/GUI/Element/Image/testImage = null
        var/SoulReaper/Object/GUI/Element/Window/CheckBox/testCb = null
        var/SoulReaper/Object/GUI/Element/Window/CheckBox/testCb2 = null
        var/SoulReaper/Object/GUI/Element/RadioGroup/rG = null
        var/SoulReaper/Object/GUI/Element/RadioGroup/rG2 = null
        var/SoulReaper/Object/GUI/Element/Spinner/spinner = null

        /**
        * The constructor.
        */
        New()
                wnd = new()
                closeBtn = new()
                strText = new()
                spinnerText = new()
                imageText = new()
                strEditBox = new()
                
                ...
                
                wnd.create( CHARACTER_VIEW, "GUI Test", 250, 300 )
                closeBtn.create( 2, "Close", 80, 30, null, wnd )                
                strText.create( 3, "Strength:", 5, 260, null, wnd )     
                
                ...

                rG.create( 6, GUI_VERT_STYLE, wnd )
                rG2.create( 7, GUI_HORIZONTAL_STYLE, wnd )
                spinner.create( 8, 20, 30, wnd )
                
                rG.addOption( "Male" )
                rG.addOption( "Female" )
                
                rG2.addOption( "One" )
                rG2.addOption( "Two" )
                rG2.addOption( "Three" )
                
                ...
                
                GUIServices.register( wnd )
                ..()
        /**
        * The destructor
        */
        Del()
                GUIServices.unregister( CHARACTER_VIEW )
                ...

                ..()
        /**
        * This method renders the gui template.
        */
        render()
                GUIServices.render( CHARACTER_VIEW )
        /**
        * This method does a listen event.
        */
        onListen( var/userGuid )

                ...             

                ..()

Well, it's been a long time since I've posted anything as Chris-g1 noted to me today. I'm not very good at posting things..., as seen with DBOII's forum. Anyways, lately I've been trying to overcome my allergies, and these drugs I've taken have gotten me extremely drowsy... I think I'm going to skip taking Sudafed PE tomorrow and just deal with the allergies.

So, Russia is saying they're at war with Georgia (a country once part of the Soviet Union I believe)... and John Edwards is now admitting to having an affair during his presidential bid. Man, what's up with our world?

I personally think this is a foolish move by Russia, especially since Georgia is one of our allies helping us in Iraq. This was coming though, ever since Russia stopped the oil flow to Georgia tensions were just getting really high. Let's just hope this doesn't spill over into other EU countries that we all know have bad blood with Russia.

If you like Final Fantasy and you're on a date, keep it to yourself, and for god's sake don't play the game on your date! ^_^

Link: http://www.g4tv.com/e32008/videos/27086/ Final_Fantasy_Date.html


G4 did a great job explaining that one!

This summer has been pretty busy for me, with tons of work to do at home and at my job it seems like the summer is going by too fast.

DBO II Updates
----------------
Well, at this point the game has been up for a while and the team has been doing a lot of testing. We have some really good people on the team I think, and it's been fun working with everyone. Most of all, we've been doing good on the team meetings lately and making sure everyone is caught up on what's next to come. We've also completed the outline for the Earth map, which is a good thing. It's been bugging me that we've been using test maps up until now, so finally we're working with official maps in the game. This month will be a busy fix/testing month for DBO II.

Work Updates
----------------
My boss loves my work so much that he decided to give me a raise, which can only make me more productive right? Heh, work is fun as always, and being in charge makes work worth it even more. I have been working over 40+ hours though, but there's so much that I need to get done before the end of the summer. In October I'll be heading to Chicago for a conference my job offered to pay for, and if I'm lucky I'll be going to Tokyo for a conference! I wouldn't mind going there.

My mess of a work desk (Click to enlarge)