Update: AdInfinitum_b

[BrodieBrodie]

Return to project after absence. Originally got bogged down as I was mostly alone and it was getting to big. However with AI helping me with graphics I am able to get some assistance. Still slow going as AI is not great with isometric sprites, but its assistance is a life line. Re the programming, I have to refamiliarize myself to the code I wrote, some of it quite messy. I will probably have to rewrite sections. Frustrating and time consuming; please be very patient.

AdInfinitum_b.0.0.4.zip is the new download. b stands for basically a new graphics engine (and a new lease of life).

The game's home is still https://sourceforge.net/projects/ad-infinitum/

I have re written the graphics engine. Now operates with SDL2, Direct X (Direct Draw) was becoming problematic as Microsoft no longer supports. This should now allow the game to be fully operational on all Windows machines no mater the version, graphic card or CPU and does not need Direct X.

Improve graphics by adding alpha channels (transferring from BMP to more sophisticated PNG files), although I added a routine to keep BMP files (the nostalgic part of me) in some cases with their pink colour coding.

I have started the opening menu system (basic for now).

New graphics that is AI assisted (menu-portraits and some planets), check out the lava worlds to get an idea of my goals. For those of you who despise AI in games, I understand. But please be aware that it is me lonesome working on the game which is none commercial (free) and ridiculously ambitious, so I am kind of forced down this path if the project continues.

Some coding updates that are difficult to notice, i.e. I moved the "rivers" from being a node that goes through a hex to a binary node that divides the hexes, This took a lot of time (for little result) but is helping me refamiliarize myself with the code while improving the layout.

There is an bug somewhere in the code of unit nodes meeting each other that occasionally crashes the game. This is proving tricky to find (it is also the reason the game is released with the all the dll files, they are SDL and debug libraries, the game is technically running in debug mode which is more stable, although somewhat slower) I may have to totally rewrite the the node movement. But once this is found/done I can hopefully make the game "playable".