Level node connections

I now have a registered VS 2010 Express and it's cool. I really like the real time error check which shows errors in red underline. You don't have to compile the file to see obvious errors.

I used same kind of level connection routine that I made for Teemu, but instead of connecting themes I used level nodes which I actually programmed earlier. I wasn't just sure how to do the connecting until now. It may sound odd, but this thing was bothering me for a long time and I was unable to navigate through the dungeon, but now it's quite close. I still have to write a complete save and load routines for Level class, because there is going to be only one level in memory. I made that kind of decision, because then I don't have to worry about the size of the dungeon which is going to be gigantic. Of course modern computers could in theory keep all levels in memory, but why stress the computer with that, when the game is going to use one level at a time anyway.

I'm really happy with the current situation. The source code is becoming cleaner and I know what to do. Just wait and see, it's going to be an end of damerelling me about this game.

Project recovered

I think I found all files of Kaduria. There were of course more than just tiles, like fonts and misc. graphics. I remember that there was external data only for the precalculated light maps. The latest source files were recovered from a single source, that was exciting. The previous sources were stored month earlier. I don't know what I was doing, but now I'm going to make backups to everywhere I can. I think the latest source was really the latest and I don't have to do anything again, like I have to do with Stile where I was able to recover only the release version (0.82) sources while I had continued it later.

Now I have to wait what happens with VC++ registering which failed, because M$ registering message doesn't get through. They should fucking mail it as a real paper letter. I just need the registering code. Meanwhile I installed Code::Blocks but it's a temporary solution. It's a beta/alpha project and even years older DevC++ seems to be more stable. One of the great mysteries is why they didn't continue the development of DevC++? Just couple of tweaks (better search options like 'find by reference' and internal book keeping of source files) and it would be a great IDE. What the hell  have the developers been doing all these years?

Tiles recovered

I always make backups from the source code, but in case of Kaduria I didn't make frequent backups from tiles unless I changed them. Luckily I had just recently copied all tiles on my workplace's computer for some minor adjustments so the latest tile set was recoved from there. Also, I didn't make backups from static data, but that also remained unchanged and can be found from somewhere, I think...

Refactoring dungeon generator

I have a new idea how to create good navigation options in the dungeon layout. Navigation logic is important when you create something more sophisticated than just random rooms. I'm also starting to have an idea how to combine all types of dungeon features seamlessly together. Not all features are needed in all level thems so it must be possible to remove a feature without confusing the level generator.

When I get that working it's time to add plants which are the next logical step in the dungeon generation. I already created a system for plants that are used both in creation and real time plant reproduction. The idea is let plants grow and take their place, possibly struggling with other plants. Light conditions and the type of soil would affect the plant growth. I'm interested to see if it actually works.