It’s Daniel’s last week before heading back to school for a final year. He has finished up implementing AlienFx lighting into the spells and environment systems. Thomas has been busy working on heuristic algorithms to make the dungeons fun. Placement of locked doors, levers, monsters, all in smart interesting places that make sense.

Things are really coming together!

In this special 100th episode I’m joined by Neil of Pixel Light Games. Today I reveal some of the bigger things that have been in the works since April and how the hiring of Daniel fits into a larger plan.

This week’s update is the presentation I gave at CGDC in Portland, OR Jul 18 2019. I dive into the unique design constraints of Archmage Rise’s procedural dungeons, the prototypes and processes attempting to meet those requirements, and how, now, the technology differs from other algorithms of the past.

This week we show off the new lighting, texturing, and interaction of the 3d dungeons. This is the baseline from which we can now expand into new areas of interaction.

Someone asked in a game dev facebook group: How do you approach complex programming logic before you begin?

I throw on my systems analyst hat and describe the process that has been helpful to me over the years.

Since the last update, I celebrated my 20th wedding anniversary and Daniel completed his training regiment. Daniel then started working on integrating the 3D dungeons tech into the main game while I focus on content for the dungeons. A pattern we hope will continue!

This week Nic and I dive into how the 3D dungeons are coming along, and specifically how the game AI will decorate and display rooms based on Theme and Purpose.

Meet Daniel. The first full time local team member on Archmage Rises. Daniel is here to write code and chew bubblegum. And he’s allllll out of gum.

Last update I had the notion of hiring a grad to help out on the programming. I’ve talked with various government agencies and interviewed several candidates.

In this update I cover three important topics: First, putting to practice some of the realizations from the break. Second progress on the 3d Dungeon Generator. Third, progress on the Lore and fantasy in the world of Vaelun, the setting for Archmage Rises

Joining me this week is longtime friend and follower of Archmage Rises, Neil!