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Welcome to Code Like a Dragon

 Hello. C J here. I’m heading into a week of video game design and novel writing on occasion. My main project is Dragon Engine this week. I’m documenting the steps to make Dragon Engine here so thoroughly for a reason. I’m going to package them in a small Quantum Expansion, Code Like a Dragon. The entire process of setting up Dragon Engine will be turned into cards with Quantum spells on them.

I might have cards to make or customize a region map card, make items, or add to a character’s colour. The set of cards will be set in Ascala and use the code language Ascala uses, Square. The software used as an example is fictitious and is called SquareBuild. It will strongly resemble GDevelop to the point that I might need to make fake UI elements and screenshots of SquareBuild. Everything depicted will transfer over to GDevelop and other generic game making software one to one.

The Code Like a Dragon Expansion is part of a series of Expansions aimed at presenting technical skills in an approachable, modular way. The other Expansion in the series I’m working on, and have been for a year or so, is Draw Like a Dragon. Draw Like a Dragon explores the craft of art for mostly a digital art environment. It contains basic cards for tools and techniques, advanced cards for art styles and genres and legendary cards about monetizing art in a modern day, internet based environment.

It is still being worked on and there is a small ebook version out for download. This ebook was my first attempt at making the product before I realized everything I wanted to write would work better as a card game. These two projects are turning out to share a lot in common. Most art these days is in 3D render, as are most video games. The assets from one can easily do the other job and I’ve recorded some of the basic spell components as a new list of Sapphire gems in its own document in the Books download link. The video game contains an art making Creator mode where you can arrange and animate the character models, customize them and take screenshots to your liking. See more about Creator mode in the page about the game.

The question I’m wondering as I go into a week of 3D modelling and texture sorting is whether these digital items can be used in a real life spell. Can a 3D asset do witchcraft things? If so, does it matter what colour it is? Do I need to sort cards by the asset’s colour? I know how to represent the reptile head asset I made yesterday using Sapphire gems. It’s two spheres for the head and nose, two cones for the ears, a cone for the neck and a square for the nose. This is easily put in the card game but what does that do? I’ll learn as I go.

C J Mcpherson







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