Hey guys - just stopping in to type a update. I've spent a good portion of this month converting from old graphics, to new graphics. Things are starting to look a lot better lately. In terms of new features and what the means for the game, the list is as follows...
- A new a more dynamic animation system for not only the player, but the AI as well.
- Optimizations around the board, even with the graphical update I didn't loose any frames.
- Improved AI local avoidance, making them able to handle a more complex world
- Code started for AI to start fighting the player back (with fists, and firearms! More to show on that soon!)
- The 3 stage confrontation features are 80% complete, Z, X, and C are used to escalate force (shout, non-lethal, and lethal means - all coming with a verbal warning that has a chance to make the criminal comply)
- Early stage of firing and weapons handling mechanics in place (inaccurate pistol shots, graphical displays to show inaccuracy. Its going to make the player have to worry about his back-drop).
- Sound has started to trickle into the game! I've been spending my own hard earned cash to bring ambient and other sounds slowly into the game to bring it to life! (The squad car will have radio chatter, the city has background noise - more to come!)
- Added a basic main menu for the game, which was long over due rather then throwing the player right into the game (Soon you'll be able to save and load characters. Down the road this will matter once you get upgrades.)
I look forward to adding more needed animations (that are currently place holders) to arrest, move, load into the car, and for the player to open/close doors and load into the car himself in a more realistic manner. So for the next month, most attention will be on adding more depth into the animations list, and finishing out the basic AI template for it being more aggressive and giving the player something to worry about. Once these are in I'll start to implement the traffic - because right now the city feels rather dead.
