DevLog: January 2017 - Particle System and Menus

[StuartMorgan]

This month has been exhausting! Here are some of the things for Galaxial that were worked on in January:

• Options screen
• Fullscreen, windowed, borderless and fixed (maximised) window support
• Menu screens and most UI windows now dynamically resize depending on the screen resolution
• Save/Load game UI screens
• Saving all game objects to file (and loading them back in correctly with no errors or memory leaks!)
• Confirmation window to save the game before exiting or returning to the main menu
• Lots of rendering, math, memory and optimization improvements
• New particle system
• Planet surface colours revamped
• Switched to FMOD sound system. Engine integration is done, it just needs testing.

The particle system has been remade so that it is much faster. No more allocating/freeing memory for explosions and having too many individual draw calls. It can comfortably handle tens of thousands of particles per second now.


Full size

Throughout development, changing game settings like the screen size previously had to be done manually by editing a settings file. So its nice to finally have all of that properly tested and working from within the game now.


Full size

The loading and saving system has been a huge task and is now working great. I think I went over and refactored almost every part of the game code in the process...


Full size

This should be the start of new monthly development logs. There are still some loose ends to tie up from this months work, but hopefully in February I will be able to work on some of the more enjoyable gameplay stuff.

[Dan]

Where can I send my money?

[TuriusRay]

Damn Dan! I wanted to be the first >.<

It's great to read news from you again Stuart Nice work in the guts of the game, looking forward for new logs this year
I readed the word "testing" on this log and now I have an overdose of HYPE... tell my mom I love herrrrrrr dkdjjc...+```df

[Geach]

ALRIGHT! Monthly updates! You have been hard at work and it is much appreciated.

[Dan]

Indeed! Any chance for some gameplay videos, those are the best!

[StuartMorgan]

Indeed! Any chance for some gameplay videos, those are the best!

I could maybe include a short video of the particles in action next time, once I have finished adding the new audio system for them.

[Geach]

My birthday is on the 9th. How about a little something special for everyone!

[RDMLTRS]

Hey Stuart,
Glad to see you are still hard at work. I have the website saved to my hotbar so I don't forget about it and I check in every few weeks. I'm looking forward to the monthly updates you have planed, I think its a great idea. This game shows great promise and I think most of us are more then happy to wait for however long it takes you to make a quality product. After being bitten (time and again) by half finished, abandoned, or just plain vaporware indie (and AAA) games please take all the time you need. We'll be here when you're done, so keep on keeping on.