Server? What server?!

Well the game has now reached version 0.7a - it's "playable" in that you can drive around the map, firing projectiles at things (mostly towers, the floor etc..) and it detects collision damage a lot more accurately than the last version did. There are no enemies to shoot at yet - see later in this blog post as to why.

So now the floor has a texture - actually there are two floors - one is placed slightly lower than the other, but the upper one is transparent (a bit) so you can see the one beneath. This gives the effect of parallax scrolling while moving, without actually having to write any scrolling code :)

The "Towers" as they are now known, also have textures and the projectile knows if it's hit one, or the floor, or gone off the "gaming grid". An appropriate explosion or sound effect is generated depending on what has occurred.

I have tweaked the Tank attributes a little too. It now drives a bit faster, but I still need to look at the turning circle. The damage meter is more accurate now, and if too much damage is taken then the game ends. At the moment it just ends with a message as to why you died, but the plan is to put some sort of routine in there. It is also possible to die if you go out of bounds now (or "off grid" as I call it).

Various sounds have been added as well as the explosions. There is an effect for when the Tank has no ammo and thus is unable to fire, and there is an effect for when a projectile is fired "off grid" or falls down the (intentional) gap between the edge of the grid and the surrounding "walls".

Earlier I mentioned enemies - as in, there are non yet. Now I have to make a huge (in coding terms) decision here, and that is whether to go down the multiplayer route, or turn this into a single player game. Both have advantages and disadvantages. I know how to code neither :(

Single player obviously won't require me to learn how to create netcode - and trust me, I don't know where to start.

Multiplayer won't require me to learn how to create AI code (Artificial Intelligence) - and trust me, I don't know where to start.

The other thing about Multiplayer - I will need to write a hosting server. WRITE ONE. There is no download available for this. As you know, the game is completely original and written from the ground up. If I want a hosting server, I'm going to have to code one. From scratch. But multiplayer can be amazing fun and well worth the effort, and it will give me some coding knowledge I can (hopefully) use in future projects.

Not that AI programming isn't just as important. Even multiplayer games have NPC's (non player characters) that rely on AI routines to give them life.

So I'm at a crossroads right now. I think I'm going to attempt to write the MP server code and see how I get on. If it is above my ability - and I fully expect it to be - then I might have a crack at AI. Though that is probably above me too.

One thing is certain though, without either Multiplayer/Server or AI, there will be nothing to shoot at. (Apart from Towers....)