P156: Phoenix Engine Update 11: Navigation, Object loading and rendering
by PhoenixGames on Mar.02, 2015, under Software and Games, Software Engines
I also spent time this week working on the games world builder. I want to incorporate procedural content into the game, and so I need to come up with a system that can render .OBJ models according to an algorithm.
I need players to be able to navigate around the world, selecting and interacting with objects. I also need to have collision detection between these objects and the player. I have not implemented any projectiles or AI characters yet.
My idea is to create structures as separate pieces, so each wall would be a separate piece, the floor and roof would be separate, etc etc. I can then build larger, more complex structures from these small building blocks using procedural algorithms.
I have created a series of data structures designed to store these objects. The most complex part of it so far is making sure that the doors between rooms match up. A door from one room, for example, must lead to another room, it cannot be blocked by a random object placed in front of it. I have solved this by storing the position and orientation of every object, and making sure that objects with gaps for doors match up with a corroborating object with the opposite facing. This isn’t done yet, but it looks to be working well so far.
I have also implemented a system which allows the player to unlock and open doors, and to prevent the player from passing through a door until it has been unlocked.
I will also have to look into procedural texturing soon, I have seen some good brick and stone textures that should work well.
