Alpha Test 0.0.5
by Tony Richards · 10/08/2006 (11:56 am) · 7 comments
Finally, the flight controls are almost perfect.
The terrain following algorithm is still a little bouncy, and it will still let you hit the side of a hill if you're going too fast and the hillside is too steep. I'll probably make the improvements to this later, but I need to see if new players really need it or not.
This week I worked primarily on fine tuning some of the vehicle effects and adding some GUI elements for customizing controls.
The engine compartments glow, and the thrusters shoot out blue flames.
Over the course of the next few days I'll be concentrating on multi-player aspects of the game. I don't have any GUI implementated for hosting or joining a game and that needs to be created. I'll also need to check to make sure I've not done anything stupid to break the multi-player mode.
The terrain following algorithm is still a little bouncy, and it will still let you hit the side of a hill if you're going too fast and the hillside is too steep. I'll probably make the improvements to this later, but I need to see if new players really need it or not.
This week I worked primarily on fine tuning some of the vehicle effects and adding some GUI elements for customizing controls.
The engine compartments glow, and the thrusters shoot out blue flames.
Over the course of the next few days I'll be concentrating on multi-player aspects of the game. I don't have any GUI implementated for hosting or joining a game and that needs to be created. I'll also need to check to make sure I've not done anything stupid to break the multi-player mode.
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
10/08/2006 (12:30 pm)
SO...when do I get to play? 
#3
Anyway, I just read through your most recent plans and was getting excited about the concept and progress so I had to chime in. Keep up the great work and the updates!
Edit: spelling
10/08/2006 (6:47 pm)
Wait, wait, wait! I actually think (just conecptually, of course not having played it) that slamming into a steeper hill because you're going too fast for the ship to compensate could be a nice feature. Perhaps there are ships that can handle it, but have some sort of trade off. And of course the opposite, too; ships that can't handle it have something to compensate for that fact as well.Anyway, I just read through your most recent plans and was getting excited about the concept and progress so I had to chime in. Keep up the great work and the updates!
Edit: spelling
#4
Sounds interesting, but in my opinion and based on my experience, I would caution not to mistaken a game with a simulation, it happens way too often in the game business. Do what is fun rather then frustrating to the player.
10/08/2006 (7:55 pm)
@ Don,Sounds interesting, but in my opinion and based on my experience, I would caution not to mistaken a game with a simulation, it happens way too often in the game business. Do what is fun rather then frustrating to the player.
#5
10/09/2006 (1:16 am)
looking good!
#6
Tony's blogs and the descriptions of Planetside 'racing' from yourself and Stephen certaily set a great tone for getting swept up in the idea and spirit of the game, so it's easy for me to visualize my suggestion! Like you however, the developer side of me knows the dangers of both feature creep and how hard it is to walk the line of fun and, err, the pseudo-real. =)
10/09/2006 (4:39 am)
@Todd - I agree absolutely, if something like that were a feature, it would have to be handled 'just so' for it not to be really annoying. I'm definitely not a sim gamer, the only flight game I can say I ever really enjoyed was Crimson Skies - because it was so forgiving. Tony's blogs and the descriptions of Planetside 'racing' from yourself and Stephen certaily set a great tone for getting swept up in the idea and spirit of the game, so it's easy for me to visualize my suggestion! Like you however, the developer side of me knows the dangers of both feature creep and how hard it is to walk the line of fun and, err, the pseudo-real. =)
#7
10/09/2006 (7:35 am)
I remember reading in the forums awhile back that high speed objects would often be found slipping through the terrain. It might be a related problem. I don't know if anyone has come up with a decent fix for it, but you might want to look around, you might save yourself some time.
Torque Owner James Thompson
Keiouu Studios