Happy Australia Day!

Happy Australia Day to all Aussies both at home and abroad!

Just to catch the blog up on my current state of affairs...

• Actors now use a lookup class for their models. Previously, each actor had a copy of the model, which was OK for a handfull of instances. But, once you get hundreds, you start reaching memory limits, etc. The tiles have always had a lookup class.
• Area15 is now completable. I would like to add enemy respawning when they die, though...and maybe a few more graphical niceities, but apart from that, the logic is all there and playable.
• When you complete a level, it is marked as complete on the level select map...plus you get a prompt to say "Map complete" and you then return to the level select map.
• Level select map now have 3 types of nodes: Locked, Open, Complete.
• Fixed a bug where if 2 actors where in the same square (say an enemy and a health pack), then the enemy wouldn't take damage if shot.
• DEMII can now PUNCH! This is a form of her contextual 'Metal' power that is always available as an alt-fire. It deals a random about of damage that is less than quarter of her current SP power. I need to add a delay to the punch (and animation...eventually) because now DEMII can deliver 60 punches per second = LMAO!

While randomly searching the net for inspiration, I came across a game from a few years back that is similar to what I am trying to achieve with DEMII. Though, a vastly different game, in practice, both are tile based and therefore the game engines are similar and face the same challenges. I downloaded the demo, and the game looks great. I can tell I am on the right track for a lot of things. The one thing that looked way better than what I am doing is the lighting. I have come to the conclusion that tile-based directional lights, while a great technical work-around, just dont cut it when compared to point lights.

The major pro of point lights: they look way better.
The major con of point lights: they require me to write a custom shader effect. Having multiple lights will mean more processing...a way to beat that slippery slope is deferred rendering, but how does that work with alpha materials, etc?

Anyway, I NEED to focus more on getting levels made, functional, and finishable, rather than tweaking the graphics.