Flying Starter Kit
by Martin Schultz · 02/09/2007 (6:02 am) · 64 comments
Update: See a video of this right here.
(please excuse the low resolution and crappy jitter - my dev machine is too slow)
I'm currently developing as side project a flying starter kit and wanted to put up some screenshots of it and see how the reaction on this is. Just like the starter.fps and the starter.racing kits, this starter.flying kit shall give you a complete flying game example as base from where you can start developing your own projects on. The kit is nearly complete and I'm into fine-tuning the last bits on it like writing a detailed instruction etc.
The flying starter kit is developed for TGE 1.4.2 and TGE 1.5 and should also work without big modifications in TGEA (will test this). I'm planning to sell this pack around 10~20 US$ via electronic download.
What does it feature?
- Complete flying game example with source art (ok, programmers source art) :-) and a complete "starter.flying" directory to put into stock TGE.
- special flying game HUD with ammo/weapons/scoring display.
- 2x primary weapons (Blaster, Pulsar) and 1 secondary weapon (MFRL - multi fire rocket launcher) triggered by left/right mousebuttons.
- scripted simple AI state-machine based flying logic. Bots can seek for targets, auto-select weapons, fly out to re-fill weapons, do simple fly-arounds
- The kit comes with a demo mission where 20 bots are flying around and battle each other.
- Additional aiFlyingVehicle.cc/.h C++ source file which contains the AI steering behaviour.
- Kit will come with a precompiled binary (Mac, Windows) for quick testing the kit.
- Instructions which code changes need to be done in stock TGE plus some optimization tips/settings.
- Bonus royalty-free techno style music track "Fuel" from my music libary at www.Decane-Music.com
Have fun,
Martin
P.S.: The names in the screenshot are purely random... ;-)
No plan without screenshots - here they are!
(please excuse the low resolution and crappy jitter - my dev machine is too slow)
I'm currently developing as side project a flying starter kit and wanted to put up some screenshots of it and see how the reaction on this is. Just like the starter.fps and the starter.racing kits, this starter.flying kit shall give you a complete flying game example as base from where you can start developing your own projects on. The kit is nearly complete and I'm into fine-tuning the last bits on it like writing a detailed instruction etc.
The flying starter kit is developed for TGE 1.4.2 and TGE 1.5 and should also work without big modifications in TGEA (will test this). I'm planning to sell this pack around 10~20 US$ via electronic download.
What does it feature?
- Complete flying game example with source art (ok, programmers source art) :-) and a complete "starter.flying" directory to put into stock TGE.
- special flying game HUD with ammo/weapons/scoring display.
- 2x primary weapons (Blaster, Pulsar) and 1 secondary weapon (MFRL - multi fire rocket launcher) triggered by left/right mousebuttons.
- scripted simple AI state-machine based flying logic. Bots can seek for targets, auto-select weapons, fly out to re-fill weapons, do simple fly-arounds
- The kit comes with a demo mission where 20 bots are flying around and battle each other.
- Additional aiFlyingVehicle.cc/.h C++ source file which contains the AI steering behaviour.
- Kit will come with a precompiled binary (Mac, Windows) for quick testing the kit.
- Instructions which code changes need to be done in stock TGE plus some optimization tips/settings.
- Bonus royalty-free techno style music track "Fuel" from my music libary at www.Decane-Music.com
Have fun,
Martin
P.S.: The names in the screenshot are purely random... ;-)
No plan without screenshots - here they are!
#42
is it any way to use this kit in spacesim games without terrain and with skybox only? ( i mean something like "freelancer" game )
02/11/2007 (10:30 am)
Very useful kit.. awaitng to see games with itis it any way to use this kit in spacesim games without terrain and with skybox only? ( i mean something like "freelancer" game )
#43
This screenshot here was an effort of 2 minutes modifying the flying starter kit by removing the terrain in mission editor, removing the water and changing the sky to a stars one. Does that answer your question? :-)
02/11/2007 (11:37 am)
@MaximThis screenshot here was an effort of 2 minutes modifying the flying starter kit by removing the terrain in mission editor, removing the water and changing the sky to a stars one. Does that answer your question? :-)
#45
You already know most of the stuff from the Subsonic repository ;-)
02/12/2007 (10:06 am)
He he, hi James!You already know most of the stuff from the Subsonic repository ;-)
#46
02/12/2007 (3:00 pm)
was that really 2 minutes work? damn i know what i will spend my time doing this weekend. This looks great, i cant believe i just found this resource now
#47
Is it easy to add more states to the AI?
How much of the state machine is in Torque script, and how much is in C++? (either is fine, just interested)
Also, the MFRL machine gun rocks. Nice touch.
Thanks,
Colin
02/12/2007 (9:10 pm)
At 3:09 into the video, AI bot Brian does a very cool maneuver of using the ocean as cover to avoid fire. While this behavior may work for some games, there will be many obstacles in the 'sky' in my game. In fact, this is critical. I will also need teams. Do you think this will be hard to modify using your setup as a base? Is it easy to add more states to the AI?
How much of the state machine is in Torque script, and how much is in C++? (either is fine, just interested)
Also, the MFRL machine gun rocks. Nice touch.
Thanks,
Colin
#48
@The Littlest Dragon:
I just played back again the video to move to 3:09 to see what you mean. Yes, that maneuver... totally random! If I see it right at that moment the state machine of the bot got a new command and set a new target destination so the bot made a move command and turned 180 degrees around by doing such a flight maneuver. Well, it was not programed that the bot flies below the water surface - just pure random! That's the amazing thing with the state machine: The baviour sometimes looks so cool without never having programmed it to do exactly so. :-)
I also already moved ahead with the code a bit and some new features are in. If the bots fly below the water surface it has now a cool water splash effect and makes it more realistic. Looks very nice.
But to answer your questions:
The bots currently don't check for obstacles in front of them. But I'm working on this to get the bots at least thrown an script-side event if something is very near in front of them. Will see if it works out.
Regarding your teams: I wasn't sure if I should add it, but I already have and easily could add multi game-type support to the flying starter kit so that there's one game.cs for deathmatch games for example, one of team deathmatch etc. It's not that hard. Seems like there is demand for this. I guess I will add 2 basic game modes like deathmatch and maybe team deathmatch. Would that be fine with you?
State machine: No, it's very easy to add a new state. I decided to do the complete state machine purely in Torque script, so adding a new state is really an easy job (no compiling nothing necessary). For sure it's maybe not so blazing fast as in C++, but I guess for game-related code it's more easy to have this in script.
Yesterday morning I added within half an hour a new state for the state-machine that bots automatically will fly out to platforms with health patches on it if their health is below 20%. They are then immediately stopping their current behaviour like hunting or simply flying around and immediately head for a health patch to get healing. Once they got the health patch, the "fly-to-health-patch" state sets for the bot a new state to re-init and start doing his "normal job" like hunting or whatever it was intended to do.
I think the state-machine is quite easy to understand - pretty straight forward. No big magic behind. Just pure logic. But in the end, with a bit of fine-tuning, you can get some very nice results out of it.
Feel free to ask if you have further questions.
Edit: It ate my post because of the degree circly. Argh. Using now the word "degree" :-)
02/13/2007 (12:19 am)
@Anthony: Yes, I modified the water island example from the screenshots above by simply removing the terrain in the editor, removing the water, removing the trees and changing the background to a stars one. That was all I did to archive the stars screenshot posted a bit above. And done in 2 minutes :-)@The Littlest Dragon:
I just played back again the video to move to 3:09 to see what you mean. Yes, that maneuver... totally random! If I see it right at that moment the state machine of the bot got a new command and set a new target destination so the bot made a move command and turned 180 degrees around by doing such a flight maneuver. Well, it was not programed that the bot flies below the water surface - just pure random! That's the amazing thing with the state machine: The baviour sometimes looks so cool without never having programmed it to do exactly so. :-)
I also already moved ahead with the code a bit and some new features are in. If the bots fly below the water surface it has now a cool water splash effect and makes it more realistic. Looks very nice.
But to answer your questions:
The bots currently don't check for obstacles in front of them. But I'm working on this to get the bots at least thrown an script-side event if something is very near in front of them. Will see if it works out.
Regarding your teams: I wasn't sure if I should add it, but I already have and easily could add multi game-type support to the flying starter kit so that there's one game.cs for deathmatch games for example, one of team deathmatch etc. It's not that hard. Seems like there is demand for this. I guess I will add 2 basic game modes like deathmatch and maybe team deathmatch. Would that be fine with you?
State machine: No, it's very easy to add a new state. I decided to do the complete state machine purely in Torque script, so adding a new state is really an easy job (no compiling nothing necessary). For sure it's maybe not so blazing fast as in C++, but I guess for game-related code it's more easy to have this in script.
Yesterday morning I added within half an hour a new state for the state-machine that bots automatically will fly out to platforms with health patches on it if their health is below 20%. They are then immediately stopping their current behaviour like hunting or simply flying around and immediately head for a health patch to get healing. Once they got the health patch, the "fly-to-health-patch" state sets for the bot a new state to re-init and start doing his "normal job" like hunting or whatever it was intended to do.
I think the state-machine is quite easy to understand - pretty straight forward. No big magic behind. Just pure logic. But in the end, with a bit of fine-tuning, you can get some very nice results out of it.
Feel free to ask if you have further questions.
Edit: It ate my post because of the degree circly. Argh. Using now the word "degree" :-)
#49
02/13/2007 (9:22 pm)
Freaking sweet that what I was saying to myself while watching this video. Now I think I'm gonna need a new keyboard because I just drooled all over it. I also noticed that the AI avoided you from killing it at 2:34. I think when you told the AI's not to avoid the water that they do just randomly try to avoid the attacker in any available space which tuns out to be the water. When you are able to release you're source for $ or free just let us know. :),. .
#50
Actually I got the impression some think there's a giant programmed logic behind. It's not. You would laugh if you see how short the AI state machine is. But it's not a matter of how long/detailed a state machine is programmed, it's always the result that is important. If humans think it's good, then it is good - no matter how good it is in reality ;-)
My former boss at an engine company I worked for always said: It does not have to be real, it only has to look real... :-)
02/15/2007 (6:33 am)
@Thomas: Glad you like it. I checked that position in the video. So far I can see it was pure random again. The bot thought it would be easier to turn 180 degrees around by flying down and turning instead of up and turning. They are not scripted to avoid water. Maybe a nice future feature. Actually I got the impression some think there's a giant programmed logic behind. It's not. You would laugh if you see how short the AI state machine is. But it's not a matter of how long/detailed a state machine is programmed, it's always the result that is important. If humans think it's good, then it is good - no matter how good it is in reality ;-)
My former boss at an engine company I worked for always said: It does not have to be real, it only has to look real... :-)
#51
02/23/2007 (12:53 am)
Any more updates on this beast ;-)
#52
Today I'm going to send the pack to the GG guys to have a check regarding the TGE license because in the documentation I referenced a few times some lines of C++ code from the engine and need their ok to publish it like it is. I guess sometime next week it will be available.
I added also some more techno music tracks to the pack (now 4 tracks included) and polished the AI Control dialog a lot. Also the bots got a new AI state to automatically fly to health patches if they are damaged too much.
Here's a screenshot of the new AI Control dialog:
02/23/2007 (1:32 am)
He he, yes, the TGE version (1.4.2 and 1.5) is already finished and I tried to get it working in TGEA also. But my dev machine has horrible problems running TGEA 1.0 and crashes all the time so I will put a TGEA version in, but mark it as unsupported until I got TGEA working on my machine again (I think I do a reinstall). But I guess it will run in TGEA 1.0 as I have the aiFlyingVehicle class running flawlessly in TGEA milestone 4.Today I'm going to send the pack to the GG guys to have a check regarding the TGE license because in the documentation I referenced a few times some lines of C++ code from the engine and need their ok to publish it like it is. I guess sometime next week it will be available.
I added also some more techno music tracks to the pack (now 4 tracks included) and polished the AI Control dialog a lot. Also the bots got a new AI state to automatically fly to health patches if they are damaged too much.
Here's a screenshot of the new AI Control dialog:
#53
If you you want help to port the starter kit to TGEA please feel free to contact me.
02/23/2007 (2:20 am)
@MartinIf you you want help to port the starter kit to TGEA please feel free to contact me.
#54
02/23/2007 (2:33 am)
@Alienforce: Yes, will send you a mail later today when back from work.
#55
02/23/2007 (5:08 am)
@Alicenforce: Sent you a mail regarding the TGEA version of this kit.
#56
Regarding the shipping date: It will take at least until mid march until the pack gets out because it needs some verification by GG and they send word yesterday night that they're going to check it when they're back from GDC which is around march 9.
02/24/2007 (2:34 am)
Small update on this: The TGE versions for 1.4.2 and 1.5 are finished and the port for the TGEA version is beeing done by Alienforce who already did the starter.fps and starter.racing ports for TGEA. I'm happy he is on board now to do the port.Regarding the shipping date: It will take at least until mid march until the pack gets out because it needs some verification by GG and they send word yesterday night that they're going to check it when they're back from GDC which is around march 9.
#57
03/09/2007 (10:11 am)
This looks amazing! Exactly what was next on my ever-growing to-do list... Add me to the list of buyers!
#58
Some days ago I asked GG to check the pack if it conforms with the EULA and they kindly reminded me on paragraph 3 of the TGE(A) license which prohibits to self-publish any engine derived work (which FSK definately would be). I have to admin I overlooked that part in the license... :-)
One would need a written approval by GG for doing a self-publising or have GG publish it (if they like it).
So we discussed even more and found out that the visual quality of the pack is not sufficient enough for having the pack published - it looks like programmer's art, which it definately is! :-) Code-wise it would also be nice to have some more features in like homing missiles, multi-game type support etc.
So, conclusion is I need to rework parts of this to gain also a visual quality level that could compete with the other packs in the GG content store. As I'm not really an artist I started talking then to Ando (as we work also together on another project) about making the complete art and we agreed to team up and working together on this pack! Ando will start in april to completly revamp all art assets and replace them by his amazing work - so, expect a *major* visual enhancement upgrade here!
(honestly even *I* can't wait to see it! :-)
Well, to make a long story short - the FSK will still take some time until beeing completed. If Ando and me get it to such a level like the other GG content packs, chances are good that it may occure here in the content store. (well if not, we have a problem ;-)
Finally, because I received a lot of mails regarding this: Although we would love to see you guys already working with the FSK today, we cannot hand it out, even not as beta testing. We really need to first finish it, clear all legal issues and hopefully have GG publish it then. Hope you guys understand that. Thanks!
EDIT: Argh, website ate my paragraph sign... :-)
03/29/2007 (3:48 am)
Quick update on the FSK:Some days ago I asked GG to check the pack if it conforms with the EULA and they kindly reminded me on paragraph 3 of the TGE(A) license which prohibits to self-publish any engine derived work (which FSK definately would be). I have to admin I overlooked that part in the license... :-)
One would need a written approval by GG for doing a self-publising or have GG publish it (if they like it).
So we discussed even more and found out that the visual quality of the pack is not sufficient enough for having the pack published - it looks like programmer's art, which it definately is! :-) Code-wise it would also be nice to have some more features in like homing missiles, multi-game type support etc.
So, conclusion is I need to rework parts of this to gain also a visual quality level that could compete with the other packs in the GG content store. As I'm not really an artist I started talking then to Ando (as we work also together on another project) about making the complete art and we agreed to team up and working together on this pack! Ando will start in april to completly revamp all art assets and replace them by his amazing work - so, expect a *major* visual enhancement upgrade here!
(honestly even *I* can't wait to see it! :-)
Well, to make a long story short - the FSK will still take some time until beeing completed. If Ando and me get it to such a level like the other GG content packs, chances are good that it may occure here in the content store. (well if not, we have a problem ;-)
Finally, because I received a lot of mails regarding this: Although we would love to see you guys already working with the FSK today, we cannot hand it out, even not as beta testing. We really need to first finish it, clear all legal issues and hopefully have GG publish it then. Hope you guys understand that. Thanks!
EDIT: Argh, website ate my paragraph sign... :-)
#59
Well, good luck with the pack. From the responses you've received so far, it is sorely needed.
03/29/2007 (1:14 pm)
Hmm. Bummer. Content and add-on packs for Commercial licensees are often dramatically more expensive. Lately that is what has kept me from buying several nice add-ons. Well, good luck with the pack. From the responses you've received so far, it is sorely needed.
Torque Owner Demolishun
DemolishunConsulting Rocks!
Okay, thanks for the explanation, I am just interested in any solution that spawns a mission as a background. I like the concept and I think Halo2 did that. Just one of the wow things.
Thanks