Final Salvation

Programming Day 34

2010-02-06T23:56:00.000-08:00

Hello future Final Salvation testers,

I am currently in the process of working on the game, due to an increase in graphic production from my artist. Still in school and the workload is hectic, so I work on it every change that I get.

Latest updates have involved formating the editor around a bit and fixing some bugs. Syncing the editor with the game and making test maps using new graphics. The new GUI is coming along nicely, and will not only look great, but allow the game to be played in fullscreen mode. 640x480 screen resolution.

The game is currently in build 1.34a and will turn to 1.0b upon release of the first testable beta build. Upon which improvements will be made until the final release build.

I will be making a video after the finishing of the new GUI related ordeals, which will provoke the first testable beta build.

Till next time -- The Final Salvation Dev. Team

December 19th, 2009

2009-12-19T20:18:00.000-08:00

Almost Christmas around and college semester is over. 3.43 cumulative average. Not really pleased with it, but oh well. Game will progress in due time, although lately I have been stuck on Guild Wars. Trying to max out lots of titles prior to GW2 launching.

Waiting for graphics artist to do some work for me.

Will finish up the game editor whenever I get some inspiration to do so.

November 28th, 2009

2009-11-28T04:43:00.000-08:00

So we are coming near the end of November and to be honest, I really didn't expect this project to take anywhere remotely near the amount of time it is taking.

I blame college, new ideas and lack of willpower for the most part. Although, I will make sure this game gets out in due time.

As for updates, I have definitely been programming in my spare time, but not on the actual game itself. Rather, I have been working on the entire game's editor for the content developers. I have been trying to make this editor as user friendly as possible for them. The editor as it stands currently is near fifty percent completion.

In other news, I have recruited a very fresh pixel artist, who will be creating art for me upon having time. She blew me away with her sample pixel art, and immediately got the job. As the style goes very well with my sprites as well as gives the game a sense of originality.

So expect updates as much as I can push them out in between work for college. I hope every follower had a fantastic Thanksgiving, and prepare yourselves for a possible test build soon.

Programming Day 33

2009-11-19T23:49:00.001-08:00

Today was rather short, most of the day was used towards fixing the buggy GUI system, which now works flawlessly. After that, I began working on the editors for the game as well as clearing up a few bugs that were plainly visible with the current NPC AI system.

Other than that, not much was done as I was experimenting with another language and developing things with a friend of mine for a portion of my day.

Tomorrow will be solely for my research paper thesis/outline tomorrow and if possible, a quiz, as well as my accounting homework.

For the next few days I may be booked with homework, so let's hope that perhaps I will have time in the future to work on the game.

Programming Day 32

2009-11-19T00:30:00.000-08:00

Today was an overall good day in my opinion. As some updates were made, I went ahead and implemented a buggy movable GUI system for user friendly customization. I will of course have to go back and fix this, but for now it's roughly working.

I will not be able to work on the game for the next couple days with homework crashing down on me again. So a build release will not be for a few days.

After the GUI system is complete, I will begin working on the following features/necessities. (Taken straight from my to-do list)

Finish game editor
Create particle system
Remake Tempest Engine and use as the graphics engine
Created node based pathing system for NPC's
Create skill system
Create more intelligent NPC AI

With these tasks being complete, I will feel that the game is as prepared as it is going to get for content development. Which will then lead to quick progression of the game and hopefully a sooner release.

Programming Day 31

2009-11-17T23:55:00.000-08:00

So today marks the first day of the new development month. Build 3.1 arose this evening with a brand new look. A new sleek and beautiful design which will be a fabric in the games quilt of creation.

While slightly incomplete, the new layout will lead to the beginning of the new features to be implemented in this top down 2-dimensional medieval dungeon basher. Upon given the chance, I will return back into the source and finish up the new GUI. Making it user-friendly of course and editable by the player.

New screenshots were uploaded via google picasa and can be seen in the small thumbnail to the right hand corner of the blog. This shows a small sneak preview in regards to the newest design.

Keep stopping by for more updates. With the college semester coming to an end, and winter break slowly creeping forward, you can expect this game to take off the ground at a very rapid rate soon enough.

Programming Day 30

2009-11-07T19:16:00.000-08:00

With the age of a new solid build coming along, what could be better than to complete rework how the current game is already done?

For the past six or so hours, I have modifying the source to be more object oriented.

Not only is it a cleaner source to work from now. It is overall more efficient, and a much less of a hassle to edit/modify in the future (especially when those new features come around).

I honestly don't think I could have ended the last day of the development month with a better end. With the new team members recruited (keeping them secret for now), and much progress essentially being prepared to be made in days to come. Expect some updates in the near future whenever I have time while not getting massacred by college APA research papers.

Programming Day 29

2009-11-01T08:09:00.001-08:00

I will be cutting today's development short.

This being due to a few reasons:

I haven't slept in about 16 hours now, and am pretty tired.
Have been working for almost 6 hours straight on the project, working on rewriting it.
I have a lot of work for college classes that need to be done.

The good news is, that within those 6 hours, while wasting 3 trying to get re-acquainted with my source, I was able to begin my rewrite and get quite a bit of work done.

Why am I rewriting? Well, mainly for organizational purposes. By doing so, when I get further into the project and can begin work on the online portion of the game, it will make it much easier to progress through that.

Another big news is that, I have begun a lot of work on my own DX8 graphics engine which I will release to the public upon completion. In the meantime, I have just updated Giaken's DX8 class module to allow non-textured polygons, which will be very useful for a basic particle system.

I went ahead and rewrote the entire player module into a player class module, and the only things left to really rewrite are the items and npc's. Other then this, there is not much to go over. I will finish the rewrite portion by the 30th programming day, and hopefully have the source cleaned up to the fullest of its potential. This will allow me to progress in the project much easier and hopefully we can see some cool new features.

October 22nd, 2009

2009-10-22T08:39:00.000-07:00

So, yeah~...

Maybe I let myself slide a bit on the not working side. Especially since I cant quite seem to remember the last day I worked on the project itself. I do remember though that I am currently working on a new DX8 Engine for the game to be more efficient and not be as limited as it currently is.

After getting that completed and testing it to work correctly, I will be beginning to rework the game itself again. Rewriting things with class modules instead of modules. The fact that things were object oriented, while slightly slower, really meant a lot to me due to the organization it gave me. So, As things roll around, perhaps I will show off the DX8 Engine and its capabilities as it reaches further completion.

As of now, the DX8 Engine currently supports:

The rendering of untextured polygons
Very large texture amount limits

Programming Day 28

2009-09-29T08:09:00.000-07:00

- Updated sub Target_NPC(X, Y) to work with new scrolling maps

- Updated sub Consider_NPC(X, Y) to work with new scrolling maps

- Updated sub Player_Move(Direction to update camera coordinates when moving

- Fixed sub Render_NPC to work with new scrolling maps

- Fixed sub Render_Player to work with new scrolling maps

- Edited Properties_Type to work for the maps

September 26th, 2009

2009-09-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to let you all know that I have not dropped this project and that I am just being swamped with quite a bit of class work, as well as freelance programming work.

Going to keep this update short as I need to get back to writing a paper that is due tomorrow and I am most likely going to be up all night working on it. So I will talk to anyone following the project in due time.

P.S: Hopefully I will be able to release a test client soon with a nice big map for you guys to wander around on and kill stuff on.

Programming Day 27

2009-09-18T21:05:00.000-07:00

With a little bit of time to work on the game, I think I pushed myself a little bit to get some progress done for you guys. You can expect a new video sometime soon most likely, as development today encouraged me to try and get more work done in class so that I can work on the project a bit more.

As for the updates, below is what was performed on the game:

- Added Declarations

1. X_Offset (Byte)

2. Y_Offset (Byte)

- Added sub Load_Map_Files(Map_Num)

- Added sub Change_Map(Map_Num)

- Updated function Is_Blocked_By_Tile(Direction)

- Updated function Is_Out_Of_Boundaries(Direction) to support new dynamic maps

- Added function Is_Over_Damage_Tile(Direction)

- Updated sub Player_Move(Direction)

- Added complete Render_Map sub routine

- Fixed camera issues with dropped items in sub Render_Drops

- Changed sub Render_NPC to display hp bars only on enemies.

- Fixed camera issues with npc's in sub Render_NPC

- Created User-Defined Type, Properties_Type

- Created User-Defined Type, Map_Type

- Removed User-Defined Type, Keyboard_Settings_Type

- Removed User-Defined Type, Windows_Settings_Type

September 10th, 2009

2009-09-10T07:05:00.000-07:00

It has been a bit since I have done a new update on this project. Well, I have been addicted to many MMO's as of late. Mainly Aion's open beta; due to the fact that I will be playing that upon release.

I still plan to work on this project, but due to the fact that there isn't much in regards to inspiration for me to steadily work on this project other than my own willpower, it may take some time.

Just thought I would let those who follow the project know of what exactly is going on.

September 1st, 2009

2009-09-01T19:00:00.000-07:00

Starting up with the second week of college, tests overflowing me, and lots of classwork, I am slowly getting done some more things with the editor.

I finished up all of the map related things, from ground tile laying to masked tile laying, as well as tile properties.

Later in the day, I began work on the npc editor part of the game editor. In which you can visible see the spawn points of the npc's on the map, and soon by right clicking them, you will be able to edit their database file, save the file, and reload the npc data.

August 25th, 2009

2009-08-25T18:40:00.000-07:00

With my second day of college rolling around, time to work on the game is limited mainly towards in class time... (I dont like working in class because I am usually ahead of everyone else).

So with that being said, this update shall not count as a programming day, due to the fact that no progress was made on the game itself, only on the game/map editor.

In between classes, I was able to make a few tweaks to make the editor not crash from various things. I implemented dual tile sheets, one for ground tiles and one for the mask tiles.

There are two layers to the map, and each layer has properties.

The following properties are as of now:

None

Blocked

Trap

Heal

...

Soon the warp and climb properties will be added to each layer, and hopefully a sign and/or chest property.

Soon following that will come the NPC layer, which will make it very easy to place npc's on the map, and to decide where they spawn and wander.

Programming Day 26

2009-08-25T18:28:00.001-07:00

Build 2.6 was nothing more than a few minor fixes on the game, while alot more work is still progressing on the map/game editor.

The following updates for build 2.6 are the following:

- Added sub NewDoEvents, a DoEvents update by JokeOfWeek

- Added error handling to sub Load_Item_Files

- Added error handling to sub Load_Merchant_Files

Programming Day 25

2009-08-25T18:25:00.000-07:00

Big Update, mainly due to the fact that work has been started on dynamic sized maps as well as the map/game editor. While work was done on that, I am not documenting the work on the editor as I am for the game, so the update will seem a tad smaller than usual.

The following updates for build 2.5 were:

- Removed the sub routines for user gui and keyboard customization

- Added error handling to sub Load_NPC_Files

Programming Day 24

2009-08-25T18:24:00.001-07:00

Minor update for build 2.4...

The following updates on the build were:

- Made a small tweak to sub Purchase_Item

- Fixed a bug in sub NPC_Lose_Hit_Points(Amount, Index) that caused all npc's to become hostile to the player, regardless of AI_Type

- Fixed a bug in sub NPC_Move(AI_Type, Index) that was working in collaberation with the previous sub routine.

- Fixed an issue with sub Render_Merchant_Window

Programming Day 23

2009-08-25T18:17:00.000-07:00

Version 2.3 Released with a new video, major update due to graphics compression.

The following updates within the build were:

- Added sub Decompress_File(Source, Destination)

- Fixed a bug in sub Drop_Inventory_Item(X, Y)

- Optimized sub Click_Merchant_Item(X, Y)

- Fixed a minor error in sub Equip_Inventory_Item(X, Y)

- Fixed a minor error in sub Click_Inventory_Item(X, Y)

- Optimized sub Render_Drops to perform more efficiently

- Optimized sub Render_Player to perform more efficiently

- Split up sub Render_GUI to create the following subs:

1. Render_Vitals_Box

2. Render_Hotbar

3. Render_Adventure_Log

4. Render_Merchant_Window

5. Render_Inventory_Window

Programming Day 22

2009-08-18T01:04:00.000-07:00

Hello "Soon to be players of my game",

First I would like to say that I have completely stopped recording the time on which I program, and decided to just document the updates and fixes from within the game source itself. Not that this really matters to you.

What you really wanna hear are the updates, those would be:

- Items are able to be picked up off the ground

- Items can now be equipped and unequipped

- Items can now be dropped

- Mouse input was added for everything in the inventory/equipment/statistics window

- Equipped Items show up on your character

Programming Day 21

2009-08-16T21:16:00.000-07:00

Didn't log the time that I programmed today, so we will just round it over to about 62 hours flat.

Most of the updates were spent trying to implement the new inventory window. Working on the mouse input and getting the merchant window to wrap around to the inventory window. Programming in the purchasing system as well as the item grabbing and dropping systems.

There is a viewable experience bar in the inventory now, where you can see progress on your level.

Items are stackable from within your inventory up to an amount of twenty.

I removed the scripting engine as i have big plans for the new editor of the game when I finally get around to making it.

Stick around, there should hopefully be a build tomorrow that will be playable for you guys, with the finished merchant and the generic grassy map with some npc's and a merchant to buy gear from.

August 14th, 2009

2009-08-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I am not dead...and neither is this project.

About nine or so days prior to this date, I was sucked up into grinding in a game to make the top three players in the US server (currently #4). Why? That would be because I like being amazing at the things I do.

I start college in ten days, so until then I will continue grinding away on this game, and no updates will be produced. Upon college upcoming, I will begin progress with the game again most likely.

Prior to me gaming, I was working on a project with another friend of mine, as well as beginning the process of porting this game to C++ using SDL for multi-platform functionality.

When I begin process on the game again, I will be continuing to work on the current VB6 version, and complete a stable version of that, before I begin my process of working on the C++ version.

Pixeling Day 7

2009-07-30T01:48:00.000-07:00

In: 2:10pm

Out: 3:40pm

In: 4:10pm

Out: 4:45pm

In: 5:10pm

Out: 6:35pm

In: 7:30pm

Out: 8:00pm

Running Time: 17 hours 35minutes

- The Following Graphics Were Created:

Leather, Chainmail, and Platemail Gloves
Leather, Chainmail, and Platemail Boots
Paperdoll for all gloves
Paperdoll for all boots
Bone Chips (Trash Drop)
Brown Bunny Hide
Snow Bunny Hide
A "Disable" texture, for when things are unable to be used.

Programming Day 20

2009-07-29T09:13:00.000-07:00

In: 11:20am

Out: 1:00pm

In: 1:35pm

Out: 2:55pm

In: 3:00pm

Out: 3:35pm

In: 4:45pm

Out: 5:15pm

In: 5:25pm

Out: 6:20pm

In: 6:30pm

Out: 7:40pm

In: 7:55pm

Out: 8:05pm

In: 8:20pm

Out: 10:15pm

Running Time: 57hours 45minutes

frmScriptEngine.frm

Created commands for wrapping all editors to the script engine
Created commands for reloading any data during runtime

modConstants.bas

Added Constants
1. Drop_Max
2. Merchant_Max

modDeclare.bas

Added Declarations
1. Selected_Item(11) (Boolean)

modFileIO.bas

Created sub Load_Merchant_Files
Fixed a loading error with Load_NPC_Files
Fixed a loading error with Load_Item_Files

modItems.bas

Created sub Purchase_Item

modMouseInput.bas

Added sub Click_Merchant_Item(X, Y)

modRender.bas

Created a quick fix in regards to getting all items to be displayed that the merchant has for sale.
Created a blue glow effect on the outside of the item that is selected upon clicking on it
Created in the rendering sequence so that the item selected shows up in the selection box next to the purchase window

Programming Day 19

2009-07-29T09:03:00.000-07:00

In: 11:40am

Out: 11:50am

In: 12:15pm

Out: 2:25pm

In: 4:00pm

Out: 5:15pm

In: 5:30pm

Out: 6:15pm

In: 6:50pm

Out: 7:50pm

In: 8:20pm

Out: 9:30pm

In: 9:40pm

Out: 10:00pm

In: 10:10pm

Out: 12:00pm

Running Time: 50hours 30minutes

The following progress was made:

Removed the alpha values from the window settings and updated sub Create_Default_Window_Settings
Began work on mouse input for the merchant window
Created sub Consider_NPC which if used on a merchant, opens up the merchant window
Created subs to animate the rollover effect of the buttons on the merchant window
Fixed a few bugs with npc's sub Find_Target(Index)
Fixed a bug with displaying the vital bars correctly
Updated sub Render_GUI to display all gui items at a constant 200/255 opacity level
Updated merchant window rendering to take coordinates from its respective file
Updated sub Render_GUI to display all text in regards to the merchant window
Began work on displaying the items that the merchant will have for sale
Created User-Defined Type, Merchant_Type(Item_Index(11)) which holds the items that the merchant can hold

Concept Art Update 1

2009-07-25T22:22:00.000-07:00

Took some time to create a quick concept art drawing of the main game gui (slightly bloated up).

Shows the HP/SP bars, adventure log and skill hotbar.

Pixeling Day 6

2009-07-25T22:18:00.000-07:00

In: 1:00pm

Out: 1:15pm

In: 1:25pm

Out: 1:35pm

In: 1:55pm

Out 2:25pm

In: 2:40pm

Out: 3:40pm

Running Time: 13hours 0minutes

The following was done:

Creation of Inventory Window Texture
Creation of Statistics Window Texture
Creation of Equipment Window Texture
Creation of Experience Progress Window Texture

Programming Day 18

2009-07-20T18:49:00.000-07:00

In: 7:35am

Out: 8:30am

In: 9:40am

Out: 10:05am

In: 4:00pm

Out: 4:25pm

In: 4:30pm

Out: 5:10pm

Running Time: 43hours 35minutes

The following was done:

Creation of some item functions
Beginning of loot system
Layer for dropped items started

Pixeling Day 5

2009-07-20T18:41:00.000-07:00

In: 4:25am

Out: 5:50am

In: 5:25pm

Out: 5:40pm

In: 6:35pm

Out: 6:55pm

In: 9:20pm

Out: 9:40pm

Running Time: 11hours 5minutes

Performed the following:

Repixeled skeleton npc
Redid paperdoll to fit the new sprite style
Created the merchant GUI texture
Finished paperdoll for all available items

Pixeling Day 4

2009-07-20T01:11:00.000-07:00

In: 2:45pm

Out: 3:00pm

In: 5:50pm

Out: 6:40pm

In: 6:50pm

Out: 8:00pm

In: 8:10pm

Out: 8:20pm

Running Time: 9 hours 45minutes

Created the follow:

Rework of outline on all sprites
Creation of 13 item textures
6 paperdoll texture

Programming Day 17

2009-07-20T01:08:00.000-07:00

In: 8:35am

Out: 8:50am

In: 9:05am

Out: 10:00am

In: 10:05am

Out: 10:30am

In: 10:40am

Out: 11:05am

In: 11:35am

Out: 11:55am

In: 12:05pm

Out: 12:30pm

In: 1:00pm

Out: 1:20pm

Running Time: 41hours 0minutes

Rewrote the game using modules vs class modules for the increase speed boost

Programming Day 16

2009-07-18T19:31:00.000-07:00

In: 10:00am

Out: 1:00pm

In: 4:00pm

Out: 6:30pm

In: 7:40pm

Out: 8:00pm

In: 8:20pm

Out: 9:15pm

In: 9:35pm

Out: 10:10pm

Running Time: 37hours 55minutes

Big Waste Of A Programming Day:

Failed to implement Exclusive Or Encryption on the npc files
Failed to implement ZLib Compression on the texture files
Began working on player text input

Programming Day 15

2009-07-17T11:12:00.001-07:00

Previously: 30hours 0minutes

In: 11:00am

Out: 12:00pm

In: 12:15pm

Out: 12:35pm

In: 1:15pm

Out: 1:30pm

In: 1:35pm

Out: 1:40pm

In: 1:45pm

Out: 2:05pm

In: 2:40pm

Out: 3:15pm

In: 3:55pm

Out: 4:45pm

In: 5:00pm

Out: 6:45pm

In: 6:50pm

Out: 7:05pm

In: 7:10pm

Out: 7:45pm

In: 8:30pm

Out: 9:00pm

Running Time: 32hours 35minutes

modFileIO.bas

Updated Create_Default_Window_Settings to support new window size
Updated File_Exist(Directory, File_Name)

modRender.bas

Updated sub Render_GUI
Updated sub Render_NPC
Updated sub Render_NPC to support the npc sprite numbers
Updated Render_Map to support new screen size

modTypes.bas

Created User-Defined Type, Adventure_Log(Text, R, G, B)

clsNPC.cls

Updated function Is_Out_Of_Boundaries(Direction) to work for new window size
Created function File_Exist(File_Name)
Added User-Defined Type Saying_Type(Saying, Keyword)
Updated sub Move(AI_Type) to where wandering npc's can only wander within their respective boundaries
Updated sub Move(AI_Type) to now support guards, who will kill npc's that come into range of them
Created function Return_Hostile
Updated function Return_Saying(Index)
Added NPC Wandering Boundaries
Added Original Spawn Points and AI to wander back to them upon loss of target

clsPlayer.cls

Updated function Is_Out_Of_Boundaries(Direction) to support new window size
Changed sub Update_Combat_Log(Text) to Update_Adventure_Log(Text)
Created function File_Exist(File_Name)
Updated sub Update_Adventure_Log(Text, Red, Green, Blue)
Moved User-Defined Type Adventure_Log(Text, R, G, B) to modTypes
Removed function Return_Adventure_Log(Index)

clsScriptEngine.cls

Added Preprocessor "open:"
Added Command "npc editor"
Added Preprocessor "reload:"
Added Command "npc data"

clsSkills.cls

Added function File_Exist(File_Name)

Pixeling Day 3

2009-07-17T11:11:00.001-07:00

Previously: 6hours 0minutes

In: 7:50am

Out: 8:10am

In: 9:25am

Out: 9:35am

In: 9:50am

Out: 10:20am

In: 12:00pm

Out: 12:15pm

In: 1:40pm

Out: 1:45pm

Running Time: 7hours 20minutes

Created the following sprites:

Skeleton w/ short sword
Skeleton w/ hatchet
Skeleton w/ dagger
Skeleton w/ scimitar
Skeleton w/ club
Skeleton w/ staff
Skeleton w/ halberd

Pixeling Day 2

2009-07-16T12:53:00.000-07:00

Another day of pixeling sprites... It is starting to feel as if the pixeling will never end.

The following spriting was done today:

Remade base player sprites ( All six of them )

Aaron Bartlett - Lead Developer

Pixeling Day 1

2009-07-16T12:34:00.000-07:00

Over the course of the day, I have been pixeling basically non-stop. By the time it was late in the night, and I was ready to sleep, I had created quite a few sprites ( working on spriting before everything else ).

The following were made:

Two extra player base sprites ( White & black shirts )
A giant snow bunny
A baby snow bunny
A giant brown bunny
A baby brown bunny
An Insect Swarm
A Skeleton

If you are wondering why my posts may start seeming relatively different. This will be because I am going to becomming more hardcore in my updates and stuff, not really making as much of an unprofessional approach as I usually would.

Aaron Bartlett - Lead Developer

Programming Day 14

2009-07-16T11:52:00.001-07:00

Surprise, surprise! I ended up still being able to work on my game even though I had to help my friend Netwatcher with our collaberative project by creating a few graphics for him to use. Even though development time was somewhat lacking today, I still got a few things done.

I am going to inform you though, that no programming will be done for the next few days. This is because I am at the point where I cannot program very much without the necessary graphics. Meaning I am going to be spending the next few days creating my custom tiles, items and more sprites.

So until then,
Aaron Bartlett - Lead Developer

Programming Day 13

2009-07-16T11:51:00.000-07:00

While todays updates seem small, there was actually a lot more in the fabrics of the design that I could not really document very clearly for the viewer. I hope the documentation as well as the included screenshots on the screenshots page is enough to show what all I did.

Although, tomorrow I will be off from developing from this project. I have been called upon from a friend to collaborate with him in a group project. More information on this project will be available via my portfolio in the coming days. My job for the project is to perform the role of a pixel artist. Not many graphics are needed, so I should be done within the day.

Be back soon,
Aaron Bartlett - Lead Developer

Programming Day 12

2009-07-16T11:50:00.000-07:00

Tons and tons of work was done today, believe it or not. I worked for about, fourteen hours or so on the game. I am quite pleased with todays update and I really hope that you (the players) will be as well.

The UI is now somewhat customizable and the settings pane is user-friendly for setting that. Your settings are saved upon changing them, and when you log out and want to start playing again, they stay as they were when you last changed them. You can easily restore them to their default position and opacity level as well.

I have yet to implement the keyboard settings but that it currently in the progress and can hopefully be completed by development day thirteen.

Non-player characters are now loaded from their indexed ".Data" file, making it so now you can have multiple non-player characters all over the world of the game.

Although, the biggest would be the built in scripting language that I am creating from scratch by using a class module and commands from the script engine to invoke certain effects. This is currently in prototype stages, but you call a preprocessor and then the command you wish to use, and any parameter that the command may take.

The following available preprocessors are: "clear:" and "get:"

The following available commands are: "player_bios" and "npc_bios, #"

Until Tomorrow!,
Aaron Bartlett - Lead Developer

Programming Day 11

2009-07-16T11:49:00.002-07:00

It seems like everyday my updates get smaller and smaller. Finally am able to produce a few more screenshots because I went ahead and did a few updates that are actually graphical. The ability to stealth and be poisoned were added to the list of features that the game can now offer. Although, you should be seeing quite a bit of interesting things being produced over the next couple development days. So keep an eye on the project for sure.

Time to buckle down,
Aaron Bartlett - Lead Developer

Programming Day 10

2009-07-16T11:49:00.001-07:00

So it has been a few days since I have updated. I've been doing many other things in regards to mainly website development. Although today I finally took the time to iron out a lot of things and bring to you the tenth development day update for this project.

With the marking of the tenth development day, not only was quite a bit of foundation added to the games engine, but there will be a small playable executable file downloadable from the downloads section of the web site. I am also going to be cutting much sleep out of my sleep schedule in an attempt to get the engine and possibly even the full game developed before college starts in the fall semester.

Wishing for the best,
Aaron Bartlett - Lead Developer

July 3rd, 2009

2009-07-16T11:48:00.001-07:00

After a days worth of running around doing certain things that needed to be done, (Depositing money into my savings account, balancing check book, ect...) I decided to go ahead and rewrite alot of the games website. While the site may look exactly the same, I went through the Cascading Style Sheet and removed alot of things as well as rewrote the things that I thought should have been done in a better manner. Due to this, updates should not take nearly as long as they did before.

This is definately a good thing, and will be very helpful to show that I have good working habits within the web development portion of my portfolio. Although due to the circumstances of today, clearly no work was done on the actual game itself. I guess this is in a way, kind of a downer. Although, you can expect some updates for the game to be either tomorrow or the next day. As well as a release of a test client due to the project being under its first tenth development day.

Until the next update,
Aaron Bartlett - Lead Developer

Programming Day 9

2009-07-16T11:45:00.000-07:00

Well its been quite a few days since I have put in any actual work on this project. Sorry for the lack of updates once again. To be honest, I am quite addicted to Anarchy Online at the moment. Although, while waiting for a friend online to catch up to me in levels, I was able to get some work done on this project.

Although the slim updates are not only because of the fact of my addiction, but due to being brutally mauled by a virus on my laptop and trying to troubleshoot to get it out of my system for about two hours. Inevitably I gave up and decided that I would lose all work I had done today, as well as all the work that I had backed up on my laptop, along with educational books and what not.

So within the last hour or so I had been working to not only fix my games website, which was acting up on some browsers for some odd reason, but also recreate all of the updates that I had done today. Luckily as I said earlier, they were pretty vague.

In other news, I have decided that upon every tenth development day of this game, I will release the compiled client for people to experience what is happening within my game over time. You will be able to find that downloadable client under the downloads section of the games website.

Ready to program for you once again,
Aaron Bartlett - Lead Developer

Programming Day 8 (Old)

2009-07-16T11:44:00.000-07:00

While today's updates were fairly slim, this is because of a few little things that went on in life. So do not think that I didn't do what I could to work hard today even if I did decide to call it early tonight. Instead, I took the time to run somewhere in real life to work towards finding employment. After that, I took an hour or so to teach Keith, a member of the boards, a few things about Visual Basic 6. Then took some time to play Anarchy Online with him, as well as write up all that I taught Keith into a single post on the forums.

Sorry for slacking,
Aaron Bartlett - Lead Developer

June 23rd, 2009 (Old)

2009-07-16T11:38:00.000-07:00

Today was my day off from programming the actual game. Instead, I decided coming up with some statistics for the possible requirements of the game. While the tests were done on the client at the point in time where as it is no where near completion, I still feel that they are relatively close to what they will be in the long run. You can find those specifications under the, "About The Game" page.

I also took the time to create in my mind, what I feel is a very plain and generic banner for the site. Also I decided to work on updating some of the sites CSS and XHTML. This is all there is for an update today though.

Until next time,
Aaron Bartlett - Lead Developer

Programming Day 7 (Old)

2009-07-16T11:31:00.000-07:00

The basic layout for Final Salvation's site has been created. Development on the game itself has been slightly slower than it normally would have been. An update post has been made on the forums, giving specifications as to what exactly has been updated and or created. I hope that with this update everyone will be slightly satisfied. Enjoy the new site, and lets keep this game rolling with updates.

Until next time,
Aaron Bartlett - Lead Developer