Graphics

The graphics have come a long way. The patrons are now displayed on screen so you know how many there are. At the moment, they're each little circular guys. They walk from the right side of the screen into the line to ask you a question. As of yet, there are only three different bitmaps that are displayed for a patron, one for each mood. As time runs out, the patron gets impatient. Right now, there are three moods total: happy, impatient, and mad. Smile, straight-lip, and frown. However, I have the graphics ready for walking and talking. I just have to code them in.

Coding is the least of my worries right now. It's coming along and I'm enjoying it. It's the graphics that daunt me. For some reason, an ordinary png with transparency displays artifacts when the image is resized in XNA. So I have to separate the image into an opaque picture and a mask, then combine them with directx's image tool. It's simple enough, but it gets tedious when I have to do that for every single picture. So I think I might figure out how to automate part of it in GIMP, which is the imaging tool I use. I might be able to save some time that way.

Anyway, things are coming along nicely. Thanks for reading.

clevceo

Animation, Unmanaged Content

I made some major progress on the animation code. And I'm nearly done with the code that loads the animation data from the xml file. I have the structure down solid. All I have left is some touching up before I start testing it.

One thing I think I might do is support unmanaged content. That way I won't need to recompile the game every time I change some content. Also, my boss will then be able to change the content himself. It will allow for much greater flexibility.

Anyway, that's all for now. Thanks for reading.

clevceo