Mainline Focus

Bee-line to the target my roguelike (from Josh Ge - how to make a roguelike)

start -> character -> maps -> fov -> pathfinding -> monsters -> combat? -> items -> gui -> saving -> myRL

Keep focused on getting to a proof of concept, core mechanic. Only build what is necessary to explore the core mechanic. Iterate until fun. Only then, branch out building on top of it.

Core Mechanic Vision Statement

Provide visceral combat to the player that mixes skill with hack and slash.

• Hot bar to switch between Melee & Ranged weapons (or magics).
• Click on/near enemy(s) to engage
  • Melee
    • auto dash (w/in range) to an optimal attack location / orientation & attack
    • secondary clicks progress through attack combo
      • enemy can interrupt attacks and/or counter attack.
        • If attacking a group w/ arcing attack, if any in the group block your combo is interrupted
  • Ranged
    • (single target) auto aim to intersect target's current movement
    • (area affect) auto aim (w/in range) to optimal intersection of nearest mobs
    • but target(s) can still juke or dodge as ranged attacks aren't instant
• Combo chains allow for continuous disruption of the enemy but can be interrupted
  • an attack from a combo chain disrupts your next action, meaning their next action will hit
  • however, you can use your disrupted action to prepare to block, the following action
    • attacker : --(c1)-->(c2)-->(blocked)
    • deffender: --(hit)-->(schedule block)-->Block
• Dodge gives a moment of invulnerability (duration of dodge), only performable if you're not in a combo chain
• Block mitigate damage from attack, breaks combo chain
• Parry a timed block that interrupts the attacker. Can't be performed if you're a victim of a combo chain
• It's possible to defeat (much stronger) creatures than yourself w/ skill (evade/block timing)

brainstorm

• Player ingenuity leads to crafting of awesome gear
  • is it too similar to mage guild where you can mix any two items and get a logical result
• Player explores a world teeming with procedurally generated narrative(s)
• Player influences world level faction based conflicts
  • inspired by dice wars
  • player actions result in hold/attack adjacent regions, result is dice roll based on region resources
• Player unfolds origin of a worldwide conflict (through lore discovery) and works to resolve it (performs some ultimate action)
• Visceral combat
  • attacks that interrupt/impact the player
  • combos (but can be interrupted)
  • snap attacks: auto aim ranged and melee attacks to connect action meaningfully
  • snap attacks can be evaded w/ dodge action
  • button mashing works, but purposeful pressing dominates
• Player imbalances region factions by helping or attacking faction grunts
  • think league of legends/dota grunts that follow paths to opposite base.

Progress

TODO Mainline Dev

• character
  • npcs
  • hero
• maps
• fov
• pathfinding
• monsters
• combat
• items
• gui
• saving

entity template

A template is a descriptor of an entity archetype. It allows specification of components as well as the properties of components either as raw values, or value factories. A value factory is a function (optionally parameterized) that generates values. Templates should be composable.

A sample template:

components:
  - type: Health
    properties:
      current: 10
      max: 10
  - type: Name
    properties:
      given: !Fn.randomName()
      surname: !Fn.randomFamilyName()
mixin:
  - mobs/ghost.yml
  - ai/patrol.yml 

Pathfinding

• whitepaper on grid & polygonal world pathfinding https://cs.au.dk/~gerth/advising/thesis/anders-strand-holm-vinther_magnus-strand-holm-vinther.pdf

Simulation methods

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnes%E2%80%93Hut_simulation
• inspiration for simulating eco-systems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_It_X7v-1E

performing unions on sets

if we used components as sets and did set operations to get lists of entities that was the result

• simple set operations https://2ality.com/2015/01/es6-set-operations.html

ECS optimization references

• article on archetypes and implementing them in code https://ajmmertens.medium.com/building-an-ecs-2-archetypes-and-vectorization-fe21690805f9
• where do you put containers (ie quadtrees) in an ecs? https://gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/175023/entity-component-system-where-do-i-put-containers
• quadtree tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJxEcs0w_kE

ECS Loop optimization idea

What if we could reduce the number of entity traversals to 1?

• system.update passed iterator that gives them a chance to subscribe to the next iteration
• iterator.each(filter, callback);// call callback on each entity matching filter
• iterator.collect(filter, callback); // call callback w/ set of entities matching filter
• iterator executes, looping through all entities and calling each callbacks on entities matching registered filters, or collecting entities matching registered filters and passing the set to the collect callback?

// if your system can operate on one entity at a time
class FooBarSystem extends ApeECS.System {
    update(delta, iterator) {
        iterator.each({all:['ComponentA', 'ComponentB']}, entity => {
            let a = entity.getOne('ComponentA');
            let b = entity.getOne('ComponentB');
            a.foo = 'bar';
            a.update();
            b.biz = 'buz';
            b.update();
        });
    }
}

// if your system needs to work on the set of entities (for cross comparisons, etc)
class ColliderSystem extends ApeECS.System {
    update(delta, iterator) {
        iterator.collect({all:['Collider', 'Position']}, entities => {
            // do collision checks between entities
        });
    }
}

Resources

• library to add sounds https://github.com/kittykatattack/sound.js

• library for 2d collisions https://github.com/kittykatattack/bump

• library for pointer and buttons https://github.com/kittykatattack/tink

• sprite utils (specifically text to sprite) https://www.npmjs.com/package/pixi-sprite-utilities

• how to make a roguelike https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jviNpRGuCIU&t=1027s

• discussion about ECS from AGE devs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGLJC5UY2o4&t=349s

• patterns to use instead of ECS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxI3Eu5DPwE

webpack-babel-boilerplate

Thanks to https://github.com/sweetcoco/webpack-babel-boilerplate.git for providing a simple (and great) boiler plate to get dev-ing. ES6 with polyfill for async await, Webpack, dev server with hot-module-reloading. Spicy 🔥

Dev

yarn run dev

Build for prod

yarn run build