Yay, more stuff finished!
by Tony Richards · 09/18/2006 (7:29 pm) · 9 comments
Last Saturday's play testing went great! Only a couple of more minor tweaks and I'l be there.
Flight control, although slightly complicated, is now easy enough for a new player to pick it up and not crash... yet it's still agile enough that an experienced player can skim the ground at 350+ kph at less than 10 meters above the ground... nerve wracking and requires a bit of reflexes, but wow it's fun!!!
This week I took a small detour, just to keep things fun (and to back away from the flight code for a bit so I don't burn out). I pulled one of the turrets in-game and hooked it up with the AI Turrret resource... pretty sweet.
The design documents are mostly done now... my mentor pushed me to get that finished, and he contributed a bit of pizzaz too... looks great.
I started getting the server compiled on my web server, but no dice... too much effort and not enough time to port it to Linux AMD64, so I'll end up getting a new Windows box in the next month or so to facilitate multiplayer testing.
I'll resume flight control tweaks in the next day or so.
Flight control, although slightly complicated, is now easy enough for a new player to pick it up and not crash... yet it's still agile enough that an experienced player can skim the ground at 350+ kph at less than 10 meters above the ground... nerve wracking and requires a bit of reflexes, but wow it's fun!!!
This week I took a small detour, just to keep things fun (and to back away from the flight code for a bit so I don't burn out). I pulled one of the turrets in-game and hooked it up with the AI Turrret resource... pretty sweet.
The design documents are mostly done now... my mentor pushed me to get that finished, and he contributed a bit of pizzaz too... looks great.
I started getting the server compiled on my web server, but no dice... too much effort and not enough time to port it to Linux AMD64, so I'll end up getting a new Windows box in the next month or so to facilitate multiplayer testing.
I'll resume flight control tweaks in the next day or so.
About the author
I am the founder of IndieZen.org, a website dedicated to the Indie 2.0 Revolution where a number of Indie game development studios and individuals collaborate and share a suite of custom built open source game development tools and middleware.
#2
09/18/2006 (7:45 pm)
Also, a concrete foundation on that structure would help tie it into the ground better I think. And a blinking light on that antenna would be really cool as well. 
#3
Most fun I ever had in -any- flight based game was dogfighting with a Reaver down below tree level in some of the swamp maps in Planetside.
I also used to have a run on one of the maps where I would fly in below the level of the base walls, pop up over the walls at full speed and rocket spam infantry in the city, flying under the catwalks, and then pop out the other side...man that was a rush!
Can't wait to see this playable!
09/18/2006 (8:10 pm)
[quote]Most fun I ever had in -any- flight based game was dogfighting with a Reaver down below tree level in some of the swamp maps in Planetside.
I also used to have a run on one of the maps where I would fly in below the level of the base walls, pop up over the walls at full speed and rocket spam infantry in the city, flying under the catwalks, and then pop out the other side...man that was a rush!
Can't wait to see this playable!
#4
I have not had fun like that in any game since.
09/18/2006 (8:23 pm)
Ha! thats it, a Reaver. I loved flying around in that game. I can remember when I would get on late at night and get in these cat and mouse games in zones with only a few people.I have not had fun like that in any game since.
#5
Or, that could be faked with some billboard "glow planes" set to full self illumination and additive blending.
Edit: and of course, really sharp work so far. :)
09/19/2006 (5:29 am)
Ah, I was going to make the same suggestion as Todd. A foundation would make it feel way more like something that was build from the ground up rather than something that just magically appeared. Also, I don't know if you have the lighting kit, but some green lights placed appropriate would do a great job of making the building pop from the terrain. Or, that could be faked with some billboard "glow planes" set to full self illumination and additive blending.
Edit: and of course, really sharp work so far. :)
#6
I am pretty sure that does not have TLK running, thats the Lava land environment from my RTS kit, and I didn't have TLK ported to it at the time.
09/19/2006 (9:20 am)
Good idea Adam.I am pretty sure that does not have TLK running, thats the Lava land environment from my RTS kit, and I didn't have TLK ported to it at the time.
#7
That definately gives it a better look... I'll make the rest of the lights the same way.
09/19/2006 (6:31 pm)
Good suggestions... just playing around, I made the left tower "lights" be self illuminating and got this result:That definately gives it a better look... I'll make the rest of the lights the same way.
#8
09/19/2006 (7:47 pm)
Cool! Does that radar dish rotate?
#9
Do you remember the Earth 21x0 series RTS games?
The night-time scenes were incredible, with dark buildings and great effects... I think that's what I enjoyed most about that game. Every building and vehicle had dynamic lights.... not sure if I want them all to be dynamic in my game, but the effect was cool, so maybe I could pull something like that off too.
I don't plan on having more than a handful of different buildings / vehicles, but maybe I could spend a bit more time on them and add some idle animations and lighting effects.
I'm still learning Blender and what I can do with it that the exporter will correctly translate, but I'm getting there. Definately keep the suggestions coming, though... :P You two will be the first on my list of alpha testers within the next month or so.
09/19/2006 (8:53 pm)
It does now :PDo you remember the Earth 21x0 series RTS games?
The night-time scenes were incredible, with dark buildings and great effects... I think that's what I enjoyed most about that game. Every building and vehicle had dynamic lights.... not sure if I want them all to be dynamic in my game, but the effect was cool, so maybe I could pull something like that off too.
I don't plan on having more than a handful of different buildings / vehicles, but maybe I could spend a bit more time on them and add some idle animations and lighting effects.
I'm still learning Blender and what I can do with it that the exporter will correctly translate, but I'm getting there. Definately keep the suggestions coming, though... :P You two will be the first on my list of alpha testers within the next month or so.
Torque 3D Owner Todd Pickens
Sci-fi wasn't exactly what I was thinking when I designed that environment. I was actually planning some charred gothic ruins, sort of Mordor looking kind of thingy.
But what you are doing looks great! Can't wait to get a chance to take it for a spin. ...we are gonna get to play right?
I loved PlanetSide just because I could get in a ..what were those things called? Raptors? and find a nearly empty zone and just skim the ground at high speed, following the undulations of the terrain.
Shooting people was nice too.