Health Bar demo

I just finished the code to display the health bars in my current
project (a squad-level, turn-based strategy game - currently in
month 2 of a 2 year dev cycle).

Written with VC++ 6.0 and DirectX 7.0. You'll need DX 7 to have
to run this (sorry I haven't included a DX version check/update
yet).

Pretty simple right now. You control the health with the up (more
health) and down (less health) arrows. The color of the health
bar changes as the health increases or decreases, reprenting the
overall health status a little better. Of course, in the final game
the health will be controlled by the troopers combat results, the
arrow key is just used for debugging right now.

All the graphics were done in POV-Ray (version 3.1), which is a
great freeware ray-tracer written in C/C++.

Oh, and I realize that the health bar is REALLY big compared to
the trooper (robot, in this case). This is VERY early alpha artwork.
The health bar will be reduced to a more realistic size in it's next
(actual Alpha) incarnation.

Comments?

The original background graphic is a grass tile, but it's 800x600 and even at 16 color and zippped it's still larger than the maximum allowed attachment size. Because of this I had to go with an 800x600 1 color b/w bitmap for the background.

Actually enough the graphics are pretty damn good, IMO. The character looks really cool. Yes the power bar does need to be smaller, but the graphics still look good. One suggestion I have is to add orange as another color, so it would go like this:

green (1/1...)
yellow (3/4...)
orange (1/2...)
red (1/4...)
black (0/0...)

To me that is a lot easier to depict your health than:

gree (1/1...)
yellow (2/3...)
red (1/3...)
black (0/0)

Also, what are your plans for the game. You said it is going to be a TBS, but what is going to be the concept of the game and how will it play out? :)

The graphics have a professional quailty. I'm impressed :)

I've included another zip that has 2 more test renders. Thanks for the comments on the art. One is a concept side-view of another of the enemies ( robot ) and the other is a test render of one of the troopers ( before I added his head! ) running ( 6 frame anim ).

Quote:

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To me that is a lot easier to depict your health than:

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Thanks for the suggestion. I noticed that it changed kind of abrubtly and I wanted to "correct" it but I didn't quite know what I wanted to do to it.

Quote:

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Also, what are your plans for the game. You said it is going to be a TBS, but what is going to be the concept of the game and how will it play out?

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Here's about as much as I can say without posting my whole design doc online... :) :

The game will be a 2d Iso squad-level TBS game written in C++ with the graphics done in DirectX ( after the first release I'm going to rewrite the graphics engine in OpenGL, for both portability and to get some experience with OpenGL ).

You control a squad of escaping US POWs who are fighting their way out of an enemy War Prison. Your troops will have a lot ( so far 20, more to be added ) of characteristics from age/height/weight to how far/accurate they can throw/shoot, as well as ( at least 2 ) additional skills that can affect their standard skills. Age for instance can affect how fast they can move, or how tired they get if a round of combat goes on too long.

The game is inspired by the classic X-Com series. Unlike the X-Com series I am currently planning on using Hex tiles ( like the old Avalon wargames, instead of standard iso rhombuses ).

Also, unlike X-Com, your squad will be limited to a pre-set points cap ( which increases as the games progresses ). So if you want 3 troops with heavy weapons you will only be able to have a 3 man squad. The enemy AI ( so far no plans for multiplayer ) will use the same type of point system, so even though the enemies will be randomly selected each time you start a new game it will still be fair ( ie: no chance of encountering an entire squad of heavily armored ScorpBots all on one level ).

The GUI will look a little more like a RTS than a standard TBS.

I also finished writing my random name/character trait generator yesterday so each time you play the game you will have a "new" experience.

I'm planning on releasing the game with 4 pre-made levels and a random level generator. Also, maybe a level editor/designer for gamers to make their own.

Pretty damn good!

If i didn't know better i'd say thats a commercial game in its developing stage.
good work!

Sounds (and looks) like obnoxious amounts of fun!!!! :))))