The ship editor in action:

This video demonstrates the initial drag/drop ship editor interface in action. It shows that each ship component has a number of slots that can be used to attach either other structural components or weapons.

This video starts after the two wing elements and one of the engines have already been added (due to FRAPS time restrictions) - you then see the addition of a couple of power generators, which provide increased power recharge rate and power maximum (which is consumed by firing weapons), a missile launcher and a couple of standard energy cannons.

The angle of any of these components may be changed by dragging with the right mouse button, so you can create rear-facing/side facing weaponry as desired. As development progresses, there will also be computer-controlled turrets that will auto-target enemies.

Juggernaut Ship Editor Demo Video from Darren Myatt on Vimeo.

More ship upgrades!

OK, I've gotten quite a bit further with the ship editor now, and have gone as far as implementing a couple of new ship components in order to increase the variety of test configurations available.  One of the important things that's changed is the addition of a proper engine type.  Up until now, the main weapon component also served as a thruster for simplicity's sake.  There's also a new structural wing-type element (which looks much better than the old strut type), and I've redrawn the generator type to fit into the new graphic scheme more effectively. 

The screenshots only show two weapons: the standard cannon and basic laser type.  One of the things I need to do in the near future is create a proper ship weapon that implements the lightning weapon in a specified arc (rather than hitting absolutely everything as the test implementation did).

That laser effect still needs some sexing up.  It's on my todo list.

After a bit of improvement of the spawning framework I have once again gotten the laser weapon to leave a set of custom explosions at the point where it intersects the environment. 

The white lines that you can see between certain Scourge spores are for debugging some of the swarming algorithms, and obviously will normally be invisible.  I plan to redraw that turret weapon as well, it no longer fits in with the new ship parts that well.

Example Ship Configurations

Now that the ship editor is actually functional, I can post a couple of screenshots of example ship configurations.  They're not particularly varied, as I've only bothered to make a minimal set of ship components at the moment, but it should be informative, at least.

The two weapons shown here are the basic energy cannon (which was the first weapon implemented) and the laser cannon (a straight line instant hit weapon).  As work progresses, a lot of other weapons will be implemented, and upgrades will be generated for existing ones.

This first configuration places two laser cannons on the back of the ship, thus providing some all round firepower.

The second configuration concentrates all the firepower to the front, allowing more effective frontal assault of a swarm.  Having a power generator exposed on the back probably isn't a great idea, though.

Feeling all GUI.

So far this week I've been continuing work on the main GUI system, and have certainly now churned out enough code for a fair number of simpler games than Juggernaut.  For example, if I ever need to do some kind of drag-and-drop 2D puzzle game I'm now pretty much set!

Although the GUI system is completely custom, I've based the layout fundamentals on Windows Presentation Foundation in terms of split panels/stack panels because, although I grew to hate WPF with a manic passion, the layout system was pretty good.  It would have been easier just to hard code all the panel positions for the ship editor, but bothering to do a passable layout system will make subsequent GUIs (such as the main menu) much simpler.

Just for you, even though it's still early days, I thought I'd post a screenshot of the early version of the ship editor, since it's been a while and I know how much people prefer a picture:

A first look at an early version of the ship editor, with a list of components on the right hand side that may be dragged on the main playfield and then attached to the ship.  Note that the background textures and title are just placeholders, and will be replaced by something much more sexy.  The basic layout is likely to stay pretty much the same, though.

Anyway, once I've finished off the most basic functionality of the ship editor (which should be today or tomorrow), I'll probably go back to the world editor and allow distribution of ship components throughout the environment that you can find and then bolt onto your ship.

Current Juggernaut code base size: 1.25 Megabytes.  Great Expectations by Charles Dickens weighs in at about 1 Megabyte.