vBonsai -Video Tutorial at the Bottom!
A menacing looking vine grown on my phone from an algorithm I wrote for my next android app:
Here is the same algorithm with branches, texture, and leaves!
I drew the leaves in Microsoft Paint, but the bark is real bark from a picture edited in Gimp for the shadow, seamlessness, and color(And you can't see if from here but the bark of that tree was covered in cicadas). Note the draw function knows when to 180 the shadow in the right direction so shadows aren't on the top of the branches.
Not all of the trees look this good. Many are scraggly or unbalanced. Meh, it's a work in progress!
YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST! Got the gameplay mapped out.
You will grow your tree from a seed and care for it and shape it to your whim using real(virtually) bonsai techniques. Watering and feeding schedules will be determined based on seasons and whether or not the tree is in training(stress) and health, etc
Whew! The trimming algorithm was difficult!
...well not the trimming part but rearranging the database after removing tree cells from it to make room for more to grow. My phone starts to lag when the database has more than 5000 cells so I made that the limit on which the total allowed biomass is calculated.
Watch for a demo video in the next few days.
Clipping demo is still in the works, but the schedule menu is almost done- and some sound effects. Health and stress coding is next and after that, game menu or wiring functionality and music. I have decided there won't be background music per se, but rather one or two chords on a koto during growing.
I built the health gauges last night and made a video showing trimming. Tonight, I will make leaves die based on the health of the tree working ultimately up to the dramatic death of the tree(should the player neglect it)
Now, when the gauge goes outside desirable parameters, dead foliage appears and I have built a small help file. An online leader board is in the works where you will be able share your tree and see the trees of others. Several categories of leaders will be included. Save image function has been added and is working just fine! It saves an image of your tree centered without all the game play graphics such as the buttons, score, etc.
Here is a 300 year old tree I grew today:
Here is a before/after of a tree's death:
!
It's been a while since my last update because BlackBerry had a port-a-thon I participated in. I cranked out 6 more apps for Black Berry 10 last week so I didn't have much time to work on this project.
However, tonite I added some koto music and it gives a nice feel to the growing sequence- a far cry from the disturbing deathscene. Only a few more things on my to do list and this sucker will be done.
I had quite a bit of difficulty getting my leaderboard working. This one shows the name of the player, their score, age of the tree and the picture of the tree. You can see a nuts and bolts page here. The final page won't have much more on it, but what what you see there is live and gets updates when my phone gets a high score.
A poor video of a cool effect doesn't do it justice without sound but here it is:
I'm setting the release date atFriday January 18th, 2013. Monday January 21th, 2013
Search for it on Google, BlackBerry10, and Amazon.
Hall of Fame- needs repair.
I drew the leaves in Microsoft Paint, but the bark is real bark from a picture edited in Gimp for the shadow, seamlessness, and color(And you can't see if from here but the bark of that tree was covered in cicadas). Note the draw function knows when to 180 the shadow in the right direction so shadows aren't on the top of the branches.
Not all of the trees look this good. Many are scraggly or unbalanced. Meh, it's a work in progress!
YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST! Got the gameplay mapped out.
You will grow your tree from a seed and care for it and shape it to your whim using real(virtually) bonsai techniques. Watering and feeding schedules will be determined based on seasons and whether or not the tree is in training(stress) and health, etc
Most recent emanation:
Whew! The trimming algorithm was difficult!
...well not the trimming part but rearranging the database after removing tree cells from it to make room for more to grow. My phone starts to lag when the database has more than 5000 cells so I made that the limit on which the total allowed biomass is calculated.
Watch for a demo video in the next few days.
Clipping demo is still in the works, but the schedule menu is almost done- and some sound effects. Health and stress coding is next and after that, game menu or wiring functionality and music. I have decided there won't be background music per se, but rather one or two chords on a koto during growing.
I built the health gauges last night and made a video showing trimming. Tonight, I will make leaves die based on the health of the tree working ultimately up to the dramatic death of the tree(should the player neglect it)
Now, when the gauge goes outside desirable parameters, dead foliage appears and I have built a small help file. An online leader board is in the works where you will be able share your tree and see the trees of others. Several categories of leaders will be included. Save image function has been added and is working just fine! It saves an image of your tree centered without all the game play graphics such as the buttons, score, etc.
Here is a 300 year old tree I grew today:
Here is a before/after of a tree's death:
It's been a while since my last update because BlackBerry had a port-a-thon I participated in. I cranked out 6 more apps for Black Berry 10 last week so I didn't have much time to work on this project.
However, tonite I added some koto music and it gives a nice feel to the growing sequence- a far cry from the disturbing deathscene. Only a few more things on my to do list and this sucker will be done.
I had quite a bit of difficulty getting my leaderboard working. This one shows the name of the player, their score, age of the tree and the picture of the tree. You can see a nuts and bolts page here. The final page won't have much more on it, but what what you see there is live and gets updates when my phone gets a high score.
A poor video of a cool effect doesn't do it justice without sound but here it is:
I'm setting the release date at
Today!
Search for it on Google, BlackBerry10, and Amazon.
Hall of Fame- needs repair.
This is pretty cool!
ReplyDeleteHow did you determine the mathematical algorithm for growing the tree?
Thank you! I like it too and it is fun to play.
ReplyDeleteI track the location, angle, source, and number of new cells that cell has fathered. Based on those numbers, I decide if a new cell will grow and which direction the new cell will grow.