Vehicle mounting system progress (video)
by Craig Fortune · 06/25/2007 (8:25 am) · 11 comments
I'm not normally one to post 2 .plans in quick succession, but as I have something to show I thought I might as well :) First off, a link to the video (excuse the bizarre art, its what I had to hand when I was scripting this up - it's hover tank utilising wheeled vehicle, its just that at the moment the wheels are visible):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsuCYEaeHmg&v
What you see in the video is several things:
1. Simply creating a vehicle on the fly
2. Walking up to it and pressing E (use) to bring up a little GUI.
3. Selecting to enter the vehicle as a driver (the D 'button')
4. Being mounted in the correct position with the correct keymap etc and a message being displayed saying what have entered the vehicle as a driver. (Displays a message like this for every seat you enter)
5. Dismounting and using the vehicle again and this time entering the vehicle as a gunner, in the gunner's seat and with the gunner's keymap.
6. Dismounting and using the vehicle again and this time entering the vehicle as a passenger, in the gunner's seat and with the passenger's keymap.
7. Dismounting and using the vehicle again and this time simply closing the GUI with the X button.
8. Using the vehicle one final time, this time walking away from the vehicle beyond the maximum mounting distance. A message pops up telling you that you are too far away and how far you are.
Things of note:
The GUI will correctly display which mount points are of what type: Driver, Gunner, Passenger etc. It will also display an X on any occupied seat and not let you select to mount the vehicle in that position. The GUI shown is just some simple placeholder art, its intention is to allow you to have an aerial image of the vehicle with the mount locations shown in their physical locations. This is fully supported, I just haven't bothered doing nice art to fully demonstrate that yet.
The GUI will only let you mount if you are within range (it checks your distance again when you select a position to enter in - so no opening the GUI and running far away and then mounting) It also times out after 10 seconds and disappears.
So What's Next?
Well primarily the next step is to hook up controllable weapons (turrets etc) to the vehicles that the gunners an take control of. This of course will mean creating some sort of tank style class that will support this (guess what? I already have this done :D just tied up inside the wheeled vehicle code) I'm also going to create a little object that will allow me to use a control panel to create the vehicles (and ultimately select which vehicles to make etc)
Obligations...
I couldn't really go another plan with no image, so for those too lazy to see the video, here is a screenshot:
Ok seriously go watch the video as this shot makes no sense :)
New Book
I got a new book in the post today, "Game Design, Theory and Practice." I haven't had a chance to read it yet but it looks like a nice little chunky book (650 pages) full of discussion with the industries big guns and plenty of differing topics. The reason I mention this is because of the big grin it put on my face when this was the first page I opened it to:
Probably cannot see that properly, so the text reads:
"You have ignited a nuclear war.
And no, there is no animated display of a mushroom cloud with parts of bodies flying through the air.
We do not reward failure.
OK"
How can this book not be excellent? :D
Bye for now!
craigfortune _at_ gmail.com
www.craigfortune.co.uk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsuCYEaeHmg&v
What you see in the video is several things:
1. Simply creating a vehicle on the fly
2. Walking up to it and pressing E (use) to bring up a little GUI.
3. Selecting to enter the vehicle as a driver (the D 'button')
4. Being mounted in the correct position with the correct keymap etc and a message being displayed saying what have entered the vehicle as a driver. (Displays a message like this for every seat you enter)
5. Dismounting and using the vehicle again and this time entering the vehicle as a gunner, in the gunner's seat and with the gunner's keymap.
6. Dismounting and using the vehicle again and this time entering the vehicle as a passenger, in the gunner's seat and with the passenger's keymap.
7. Dismounting and using the vehicle again and this time simply closing the GUI with the X button.
8. Using the vehicle one final time, this time walking away from the vehicle beyond the maximum mounting distance. A message pops up telling you that you are too far away and how far you are.
Things of note:
The GUI will correctly display which mount points are of what type: Driver, Gunner, Passenger etc. It will also display an X on any occupied seat and not let you select to mount the vehicle in that position. The GUI shown is just some simple placeholder art, its intention is to allow you to have an aerial image of the vehicle with the mount locations shown in their physical locations. This is fully supported, I just haven't bothered doing nice art to fully demonstrate that yet.
The GUI will only let you mount if you are within range (it checks your distance again when you select a position to enter in - so no opening the GUI and running far away and then mounting) It also times out after 10 seconds and disappears.
So What's Next?
Well primarily the next step is to hook up controllable weapons (turrets etc) to the vehicles that the gunners an take control of. This of course will mean creating some sort of tank style class that will support this (guess what? I already have this done :D just tied up inside the wheeled vehicle code) I'm also going to create a little object that will allow me to use a control panel to create the vehicles (and ultimately select which vehicles to make etc)
Obligations...
I couldn't really go another plan with no image, so for those too lazy to see the video, here is a screenshot:
Ok seriously go watch the video as this shot makes no sense :)
New Book
I got a new book in the post today, "Game Design, Theory and Practice." I haven't had a chance to read it yet but it looks like a nice little chunky book (650 pages) full of discussion with the industries big guns and plenty of differing topics. The reason I mention this is because of the big grin it put on my face when this was the first page I opened it to:
Probably cannot see that properly, so the text reads:
"You have ignited a nuclear war.
And no, there is no animated display of a mushroom cloud with parts of bodies flying through the air.
We do not reward failure.
OK"
How can this book not be excellent? :D
Bye for now!
craigfortune _at_ gmail.com
www.craigfortune.co.uk
About the author
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#2
The hotswapping once in a vehicle is nice and simple to do. I however dont like the "you must jump in top priority position etc" and then change seats, it annoys me somewhat. (Don't know why :D) Hence me making this GUI.
06/25/2007 (8:53 am)
Tim,The hotswapping once in a vehicle is nice and simple to do. I however dont like the "you must jump in top priority position etc" and then change seats, it annoys me somewhat. (Don't know why :D) Hence me making this GUI.
#3
Shift-e (or other arbitrary binding) = bring up the position select GUI.
e (or other arbitrary binding) = auto select by priority / selection order.
Is this going to be published as a resource? Looks like pretty cool stuff.
06/25/2007 (10:51 am)
Maybe you could have it both ways:Shift-e (or other arbitrary binding) = bring up the position select GUI.
e (or other arbitrary binding) = auto select by priority / selection order.
Is this going to be published as a resource? Looks like pretty cool stuff.
#4
06/25/2007 (10:52 am)
Ah, I see you are 'kind of' doing that already with direct function entry (D).
#5
The shift/e or just pressing e idea is great! I'll implement that in a little bit. :D
edit: implemented it, but have it so shift-e makes you get in top priority seat. Prefer it that way, just a matter of personal taste.
06/25/2007 (10:55 am)
Steve,The shift/e or just pressing e idea is great! I'll implement that in a little bit. :D
edit: implemented it, but have it so shift-e makes you get in top priority seat. Prefer it that way, just a matter of personal taste.
#6
Ah, good old Balance of Power. That was such a cool game.
06/25/2007 (11:13 am)
"You have ignited a nuclear war..."Ah, good old Balance of Power. That was such a cool game.
#7
I didn't realise someone had entered it into GGE. The book contains an interview with Chris Crawford too (dev of the game)
06/25/2007 (11:34 am)
Andy,I didn't realise someone had entered it into GGE. The book contains an interview with Chris Crawford too (dev of the game)
#9
06/25/2007 (5:51 pm)
My game doesn't have nuclear weapons in it, but I would love to have that dialog in there just for GP =)~
#10
cheers
06/26/2007 (3:03 pm)
the video is nice... is it script only.. or via source code changes?cheers
#11
06/26/2007 (3:06 pm)
100% script 
Torque Owner Tim Heldna
Can you change mount position without having to first dismount the vehicle and raise the GUI again? If not, you should probably hook it up. Seems a little too long winded to have to press a key, then interact with a GUI just to change seats.
When I'm playing an online fps game and have 32 people shooting at me I like being able to enter and exit a vehicle without the fuss of a GUI, one key press and you're done. I like the Battlefield system, press 'e' to mount/dismount, which automatically throws you in the driver's seat, and use the function keys to change position.