Dakota Humphries (Project Lead)Thomas Impellitteri (Tech Lead)Daryl McGhee II (Design Lead)

Keith Rosier (Asset Lead)

Supernova Blindside

• Turn Based Strategy Game• 3 Grids to Strategize and Attack• Complete Objectives• Capture Planets for Money• Customize Ships for Added Strategy• Travel through space and progress storyline

Gameplay

Scout FighterGunship

Battleship Cruiser

Gameplay (cont’d)

• Buy ships from shop• Objectives are given at the level start• Do what you must to win– Destroy planets– Destroy stars– Capture planets for currency– Upgrade ships using currency

Dakota HumphriesProject Lead

• Scheduling• FMOD Sound– 3D Sound

• Collision• Combat System

3D Sound

• What is 3D Sound?– Emitter vs Listener– 2D vs 3D Sound

• Basic 3D sound update

2D vs 3D Sound

2D Sound:

2D vs 3D Sound

3D Sound:

2D vs 3D Sound

3D Sound with 2 Speakers:

3D Sound

• Updating Emitters & Listener– 3 Easy steps for updating• Update the position• Calculate the velocity• Send the information to FMOD

Current Position

Old Position

Time

3D Sound

• Updating Emitters & Listener– 3 Easy steps for updating• Update the position• Calculate the velocity• Send the information to FMOD

Thomas ImpellitteriTechnology Lead

• AI– Path-finding– Decision Trees

• Integration• Picking • Lua Scripting

Path-finding

• Path-finding– Start to Goal– Simple Distance Checks

Path finding, How its done

• Alone, lost in goals

Decision Trees

• Decision Tree– Brain of the Operation– Decides all options for path-finding– Finds who to shoot

Decision Tree, helping hand

AI finds its way

How its doneNodes with function pointers

Daryl McGheeDesign Lead

• Menu System• Shop and Upgrade System• Camera• Object Creation and Management

Object Creation and Management

• Composed of Two Parts:– Object Factory• Creates all objects such as ships, celestial bodies, and

bullets used in the game

– Object Manager• Arranges objects and deletes them properly

Object Factory

Object Manager

Object Manager

• After objects are no longer needed:– Recycled for later useOR– They are deleted

Keith Rosier Asset Lead

• Rendering• Effects System• Render Engine• Texture Manager

Death of a Star

• Have a defined start and end• Figure out the major steps that will get you

from here to there• Figure out what tools (Art, API, Systems) you

will need to generate the desired effects

Death of a Star

• Start with a model• A “model” is a collection of vertices• These vertices form triangles• Triangles form the model’s surface

Death of a Star

• Texture the model (in this case a star)• Texturing wraps a “skin” around a model to

give the appearance of complexity

Death of a Star

• Add particle effects for extra detail• Particles first implemented in Star Trek II: The

Wrath of Khan• Used to generate visuals for things without a

defined surface (smoke, water, fire)

Death of a Star

• Change particles and textures to generate a dying star

Death of a Star

• Employ the use of “quads” for blast effects• Quads are two triangles used to generate a

square

Death of a Star

• Replace the old model with a new one• Add more quads and particles to generate

new effects• Stretch and rotate quads to achieve the

desired visual

Risks

Risk: Affected Resource: P C RF

Camera transitions are currently not fully working in the game. Sometimes the orientation is messed up after the enemy takes their turn.

Daryl McGhee, Camera

Response or avoidance:

Mitigation1. When it’s the player’s turn, either transfer

back to a set position and orientation or transfer to the player’s next available ship.

Backup Plan 1. If the transfer is not finished a week before

Final, then just reset the camera to a set position, no transfer.

Risks (cont’d)

Risk: Affected Resource: P C RF

Billboarded particles are not working and any other methods are not working for rotating the particles correctly.

Keith, Particle Engine

Response or avoidance:

Mitigation1. Seek help from Wendy the Direct X

teacher.Backup Plan1. If billboarded particles are not

implemented by a week after Beta then use point sprites.

Risks (cont’d)

Risk: Affected Resource: P C RF

Alt-Tab is currently not implemented in the game

Team

Response or avoidance:

Mitigation1. Ask Chris Moore from Candlelit Coding

Co. Backup Plan1. If not done by Final then disable Alt-Tab

functionality and list in the Read-Me

Risks (cont’d)

Risk: Affected Resource: P C RF

There are still a lot of assets that were requested for models and time and resources are running out to get them into the game.

Keith, Models

Response or avoidance:

Mitigation1. Find out how many we can get. Request

for ships that have already been made.Backup Plan1. If ships are not in a week before Final,

then use the models that we have received and ask for new textures.

What Was Learned

• How to deal with losing a team member• Learning something new during a project is

much more time consuming and adds to resources

• Gameplay is more important than technology, when tech is done, gameplay should be right after.

• Modularity is much more important than it seems

Questions and Answers