Map Editor Beta!

RTS Creator MapEditor and Engine beta now available for download!

Go to the Downloads section of the website! http://www.rtscreator.net

SSAO

We've implemented SSAO into our graphics pipeline!

This subtle effect makes a big difference in the quality of the graphics. See for yourself!

Shader Implementation and Obstacles

In the last 2 weeks we've been attempting to implement shader's into the engine and the process has been both challenging and rewarding.

If you don't know what shader's are, they allow you to write code directly to the graphics card to achieve certain effects such as anti-aliasing, and motion blur.

We've implemented per pixel lighting, alpha blending(for team colors), and fast approximate anti-aliasing and the graphics are looking much better!

Our next implementation is for Screen Space Ambient Occlusion(SSAO). SSAO estimates the lighting of objects based on the position of objects on the screen and is used to achieve a certain degree of realism.

The challenge has been that RTS Creator has been developed on a laptop with onboard Intel graphics. Intel doesn't support OpenGL code in a lot ways and we haven't been able to get any implementation of SSAO to work properly.

Because of this though, we're able to draw the line of compatibility and produce a fall back plan. If a persons computer doesn't support a specific shader, we'll have multiple fall back shaders to ensure they can play the game.

Game GUI

We've added a new GUI system to the engine. It can easily be skinned and customized.

The GUI combined with scripting gives creators the ability to create in game menus that can do just about anything.

Path Finding Optimized

We're working the last of the bugs and implementing our final critiques when it comes to gameplay.

The path finding has been optimized and resembles that of the original Command and Conquer path finding verbatim. Now, a hundred ground unit objects can path find and navigate the map with a barely noticeable performance hit.

Prior to our enhancements, each unit would re-path every time it had to make a move. When you're path finding on a 300 x 300 grid with a number of obstacles this can take lots of time.

Now, the path finding occurs when the player gives the units the command to attack or move. If the unit can't move it waits, and will try to move along this path for 2 seconds before it re-paths.

This improves the gameplay and gives a much better player experience.

Delayed Deadline

I'm sorry to announce that we didn't meet our deadline of December 1st. Unfortunately with the Holiday season and our other jobs weighing heavily on our time, our progress has been delayed.

But that isn't to say RTS Creator won't be an available product within the next couple of months(or sooner). We've seen similar products and software's come and go with the promise of delivering and not pulling through. We know because we've had our own frustrations when we ourselves were looking forward to the release of a software only to find out that the project had been cancelled.

We can promise that RTS Creator will be released and soon because this has been a dream of ours to develop for the last 10 years; which is when we first started to look for an RTS Creator and were amazed to see that nothing existed.

We're not giving this dream up easily.

Map Editor Alpha Testing

The Map Editor is done!

With a total development time of 2 months, we're engaging in the final process of hunting down and squashing the last bugs.

Next we'll be working on the the primary development environment.

Here's a screenshot of the Map Editor to inspire your RTS dreams.

Map Editor Mayham

The map editor is now complete! We just finished testing the Player AI editor and even we were amazed with how dynamic and easy it is to create simple to complex AI.

Within the next couple of weeks we'll be releasing the map editor beta. 

Here is a list of map editor features:

• Place Objects(Structures, Ground Units, Air Units)
• Place Obstacles
• Player Starting locations
• Paint the map
• Specify Territory (Occupied and Unoccupied area for ground units to navigate around)
• Resources (Specify starting resources and resource quota for each player)
• Camera (Fog and Orthographic mode to create 2d rts games)
• Teams
• Player Factions
• Player Colors
• Player AI
• Loading Screen
• Start Menu (Such as an objectives briefing screen)
• End Menu (Such as a scoring screen)
• SkyDome Texture
• Sun-flare
• Objectives (Survive Mode, Timed Game, Objects to Destroy, Objects to Protect and any variation)

Our next focus is on the main editor. We have a lot left to do but we're still aiming to release the complete beta on December first. Stay tuned!

A Better Way To AI

We want to give as much control as possible when it comes to designing AI.

To make this possible we decided to rewrite the current AI interface.

Now it's possible to define precisely the logical actions of the player AI. Some examples of whats possible include:
(where X is a variable number)
- If Enemy Has X Number of Units Do Action
- If Enemy Has X Number of Structures Do Action
- If Team Has X Number of Air Units Do Action
- If Team Has X Number of a Specific Object Do Action
- If Enemy Builds Specific Object then Do Action
- If Team Builds Any Object then Do Action

Actions include
- Going to a Rally Point
- Attacking Nearest Enemy
- Attacking Nearest Specific Unit or Structure
- Defending Specific Unit or Structure
- Changing AI "Stage" or conditions to act on
- Build Structure or Unit

There's lots of variation as to what's possible and using the Map Editor designing AI is extremely simplified.

New Website

We thought we'd give a status update to those who have been following the development of RTS Creator.

In the last half a month we've been developing an entirely new website. The website has a forum, chat, blog system, and lots of other extras that make it the perfect platform to deliver RTS Creator.

The website will be up soon, and along with that, a video demonstration of what the RTS Creator map editor is capable of!

Stay tuned!

Map Edit This!

Seeing the map editor near completion couldn't have us more excited!

With the map editor you have full control over your levels. You can place structures, obstacles, specify occupied and unoccupied areas, define enemy player AI, define objectives, texture the level and more!

Development on the map editor has been moving very quickly and we've run into minimal bugs. We believe we've nailed the perfect balance of flexibility and simplicity with the design of the map editor.

Map Editor Menus

Development for the Map Editor has been progressing! All of the menus are now and place and all that's left is to add the remaining functionality.

The Map Editor is about 80% complete, once finished we'll be focusing on the Creator Development Environment, which is the last component to be completed before the initial release of RTS Creator.

Map Editor!

With the Engine currently undertaking beta testing, it's time for us to progress to the next step! The map editor!

The previous map editor gui was based on an internal opengl rendering system that was slow if the user was working with more the a hundred objects. The new editor uses the systems(Windows, Linux, Mac) UI to render the controls.

Because the new map editor has the same functionality as the old map editor, development should be relatively fast.

Tightening the Bolts

As we're getting closer to the Beta release our focus has primarily been on tightening the bolts; making sure things run smoothly and as expected.

We have big plans for all of the features we plan on implementing into RTS Creator but we don't want "feature creep" to delay the initial release. Not only do we want lots of features, we also want the "right" features, which means keeping an open ear and listening to what the users want. 

At the end of this month we'll be releasing the first "Game" made with RTS Creator. The game is very much a prototype and example of some of the capabilities of RTS Creator. 

Its taken us 2 years to get to where we are now, 35,000 lines of code later this has turned out to be a much larger project than we initially anticipated, and coming upon the first release we couldn't be more excited.

Programmable AI!

The past couple of weeks we've been trying to find a way to create programmable AI that's both simple and flexible. And we believe we've found the solution! The code is simple but exemplifies how the AI will be created.

(The GUI will simplify this even further)

There are basically stages, conditions, and actions. If all of the conditions are met the computer will perform the specified actions,

It will only check for certain conditions and perform a certain actions based on what "stage" it's in,

Ex: Structure could be attacked and the computer could attack the player with all units, and then change its "stage," then playing an entirely different way.

There's lots of dynamic control with this structure.

Missiles

We can now create missiles with some of the new weapon properties!

Particle Engine

The latest enhancement to RTS Creator engine has been a custom built particle engine.

The particle engine was written from the ground up in OpenGL and contains functions that provide the developer with precise control over scale, color, velocity and gravity.

This has greatly improved the appearance of explosions, see for yourself...

RTS Creator Progress

So far, we've had a lot of requests for the currently in development RTS Creator, and because of this I thought I'd update the web site and inform those who are interested of our progress.

Our primary focus over the past few months has been on the core RTS framework, which includes the common RTS features such as ground units, air units, technology, bases, base construction etc.

The concept of RTS Creator is quite simple, though creating it has certainly had its challenges. The ultimate goal of RTS Creator is to have a tool that allows anybody with minimal computer skills to create their very own real time strategy game.

Many gamers today are becoming inspired by the games they play and often times want to create their own games in their very own way. For the average gamer looking to produce their own game, the typical game developers path just isn't practical. It takes years of learning and practice to program a game.

What we want to do is fast track the inspired gamer, remove the typical learning curve, and allow them to start creating their dream game.

This has produced certain challenges, such as where to draw the line between simplicity and flexibility