Bitgap: Plans for the near future + CCK / DTSViewer bundle
by Konrad Kiss · 07/28/2010 (9:58 pm) · 41 comments
The Cliff Construction Kit - July Bundle!
The Cliff Construction Kit is a lightweight solution to create realistic cliffs and overhangs in your terrain.
It includes 15 base cliff shapes and 55 materials resulting in over 800 different cliff bases. Top this with the possibility to pour any kind of material over your cliff - a feature we call material accumulation - and your scene will look very very pretty. Really.
Check out the CCK video about what it can do:
If you get the Cliff Construction Kit now you receive a copy of the DTSViewer.
What else is cooking?
Once Torque 3D's 1.1 release is out, Bitgap Games will be launching a new product called SAHARA. Sahara is a tool that is built right into Torque 3D's material system and lets you use material accumulation on anything. Why would you still want to get the Cliff Construction Kit? Because Sahara will cost around $60 or more. Existing Cliff Construction Kit licensees will get it as a free upgrade, however.
We are working on other neat features that are still waiting for the 1.1 release. One such example is an inventory system entitled STAX that you can use for both MMOs (it doesn't trust the client) or single player games. It is a very versatile system that lets you mimic the behavior of most RPG inventories. This inventory system will be seeing many small addons, such as icon packs, item generator toolsets, and similar features. There's no ETA for these, however.
Finally, probably the best news about what's cooking is that we're finishing up a new kind of master server that will not only manage your server instances, but it will be able to control Amazon EC2 cloud instances - and launch new servers on demand. Right now, we call it THE OVERSEER, but that might change later on. It is a very complex self-balancing system that still needs a lot of testing - but this is something we want to push out as a Torque module in the coming months.
Again, here's where you can get the Cliff Construction Kit & DTSViewer Bundle.
Thanks for reading. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!
All comments are very much appreciated! ;)
-- Konrad
@konradkiss
KonradKiss @ GitHub
konradkiss.com
About the author
http://about.me/konrad.kiss
#2
07/28/2010 (10:21 pm)
exciting blog update Konrad. I was just about to start work on an inventory system for my mmo game, although Stax sounds interesting and may wait to see what yours does over mine to sway my vote :) I was planning on going down the XML route with multiple web servers (primary and secondary). Also looking forward to the cliff upgrade once 1.1 is out. Keep up the good work on this. 
#3
You further stoked my excitement when you mentioned the Overseer master server -- looking forward to hearing more about it.
07/28/2010 (10:48 pm)
Quote:Oooo, I want it! That's a rockin' concept. The material accumulation tech was the most exciting aspect of the CCK to me when you first premiered it.
Sahara is a tool that is built right into Torque 3D's material system and lets you use material accumulation on anything.
You further stoked my excitement when you mentioned the Overseer master server -- looking forward to hearing more about it.
#4
Oh no... I went to your website to plunk down the CreditCard#'s but i keep getting;
07/28/2010 (10:51 pm)
I have had this nagging impulse to purchase the Cliff Construction Kit for weeks now. It have always been your genius material accumulation system that intrigued me, more then the Cliff part of it. Oh no... I went to your website to plunk down the CreditCard#'s but i keep getting;
Quote:Your registration failed. Please check the registration form for more information.The registration form will not tell me anymore information. I tried this many times...
#5
07/28/2010 (11:23 pm)
Great stuff K-bomb! 
#6
That's blackmail!
... ahhh ... you've got me ... *starts diggin down the side of the sofa for loose change*
07/29/2010 (12:14 am)
Quote:
Why would you still want to get the Cliff Construction Kit? Because Sahara will cost around $60 or more. Existing Cliff Construction Kit licensees will get it as a free upgrade, however.
That's blackmail!
... ahhh ... you've got me ... *starts diggin down the side of the sofa for loose change*
#7
07/29/2010 (2:51 am)
Want. 
#8
07/29/2010 (2:56 am)
sounds interesink.
#9
Looking forward to the updates and new products :)
07/29/2010 (6:24 am)
nice work Konrad, i already have Cliff Construction Kit license and the DTSview :)Looking forward to the updates and new products :)
#10
@Christian: Yeah, I definitely didn't know about that Stax - but I guess it will stay now. :)
@Julian: Thank you. This also uses XML when receiving data from the data provider. It's a rather big system, and I'm unsure yet whether the data provider itself should be a part of the package. A working example or two will be demoed, but the data fetching itself will probably not be a part of this, since almost all the games have a solution for that already.
@Michael: Thank you! :) Truth be told, I am the most excited about the Overseer. Having your servers scale as needed over Amazon's computing cloud is pretty cool imho.
@Caylo: I'm sorry - it must have been something that was overlooked. If you send me an email address and a login name that you'd prefer, I'll set your account up. You can then have the system generate you a new password via the "Forgot your password?" feature. Let me know if I can help you more.
@eb: Haha. Thanks, EB!
@Steve: Well, I would have traded this for any book by Darles Chickens. (that's a very hazy Monthy Python reference, actually)
:) Many thanks for picking this up!
@Bryce: Cool. Thanks. :)
@Daniel: Thank you.
@Hans: Thanks for the comment, Hans - especially since you already own the kits!
07/29/2010 (8:42 am)
Thank you very much everyone for the nice comments!@Christian: Yeah, I definitely didn't know about that Stax - but I guess it will stay now. :)
@Julian: Thank you. This also uses XML when receiving data from the data provider. It's a rather big system, and I'm unsure yet whether the data provider itself should be a part of the package. A working example or two will be demoed, but the data fetching itself will probably not be a part of this, since almost all the games have a solution for that already.
@Michael: Thank you! :) Truth be told, I am the most excited about the Overseer. Having your servers scale as needed over Amazon's computing cloud is pretty cool imho.
@Caylo: I'm sorry - it must have been something that was overlooked. If you send me an email address and a login name that you'd prefer, I'll set your account up. You can then have the system generate you a new password via the "Forgot your password?" feature. Let me know if I can help you more.
@eb: Haha. Thanks, EB!
@Steve: Well, I would have traded this for any book by Darles Chickens. (that's a very hazy Monthy Python reference, actually)
:) Many thanks for picking this up!
@Bryce: Cool. Thanks. :)
@Daniel: Thank you.
@Hans: Thanks for the comment, Hans - especially since you already own the kits!
#11
07/29/2010 (10:50 am)
You got me interested. Some MMO tools is always a welcome sight. 
#12
07/29/2010 (5:02 pm)
Konrad ... you blokes rock. Need to dig out my username and password for the Cliff Construction Kit stuffies again ... damn moving countries is such a chore. :( 
#13
I picked up the CCK a short time ago and it works perfectly and looks great under TGEA 1.8.1!
I know this a bit of a longshot but do you have any plan to add a formal release of CCK for TGEA 1.8.2? I was surprised when I tried to drop it into my project and couldn't get it to build.
07/29/2010 (5:03 pm)
Hey Konrad. I picked up the CCK a short time ago and it works perfectly and looks great under TGEA 1.8.1!
I know this a bit of a longshot but do you have any plan to add a formal release of CCK for TGEA 1.8.2? I was surprised when I tried to drop it into my project and couldn't get it to build.
#14
07/29/2010 (6:11 pm)
Thanks Konrad, I will send email later today. It most likely IS something i am doing wrong. All my higher education and I still cant seem to fill out a form correctly. Your registration form, is embarrassingly enough, not the only one that rejects me.
#15
@Quinton: You're going back to England? You didn't even unpack! :) Let me know if you need help with the un / email. I can't help with the pw, since we only store hashes to keep you safe. ;)
@Patrick: Well, I've been thinking about a 1.8.2 version - it shouldn't be too hard to make. I just wasn't sure if there was a need for it. I'll try to set some time aside and add that to all the available versions. It should be available from under your account's My Products on Bitgap.Com within a week or so, hopefully.
@Caylo: Well, it still should at least give you some basic information about why it rejects your registration. Which it does for most problems. Can you let me know what you were entering exactly in your email, so I can track this one down? Many thanks in advance.
07/29/2010 (7:34 pm)
@Shaun: Cool! Actually, there are only a very few tools explicitly developed for MMOs - such as Ted Southard's Magnitude Editor. Let's hope there are even more coming!@Quinton: You're going back to England? You didn't even unpack! :) Let me know if you need help with the un / email. I can't help with the pw, since we only store hashes to keep you safe. ;)
@Patrick: Well, I've been thinking about a 1.8.2 version - it shouldn't be too hard to make. I just wasn't sure if there was a need for it. I'll try to set some time aside and add that to all the available versions. It should be available from under your account's My Products on Bitgap.Com within a week or so, hopefully.
@Caylo: Well, it still should at least give you some basic information about why it rejects your registration. Which it does for most problems. Can you let me know what you were entering exactly in your email, so I can track this one down? Many thanks in advance.
#16
07/29/2010 (8:09 pm)
Thank you for making Sahara a free upgrade for CCk owners. Wondering if DTS viewer has been upgraded to include a back and forward arrow to enable viewing of all DTS'es in a directory without exiting. Also wondering if STAX will include any object selection capabilities.
#17
It's in my best interest to have more and more games use Sahara - plus I always valued every single customer - walking in the steps of Alan James' awesome support for his packs. He's a good model to follow. :)
The DTSViewer does not have that option - but it can be set up to quit when losing focus - so going through the models in a directory should be fast and painless. Of course there is a lot more that could be added - but my intention was not to compete with either the Object Editor in Torque 3D nor any other products. It is meant as a very fast means to open and show a DTS file anywhere on your hard drive by double-clicking it. With that said, I'm still planning to push updates for it sometime, although it does not have a high priority with so much on my plate.
STAX is pretty versatile. It lets you plan game logic for skillbars, loot and merchant inventories, spell books, the traditional player inventory, etc. It lets you plan any kind of inventory (ie. even Mass Effect like lists or WoW like more complex logics) except tetris inventories (where item icons are of different sizes).
The part where you'd select a merchant to trade with is not essentially a part of STAX, but I'm sure the demo will include this - much like you'd find this in the Yack pack.
07/29/2010 (8:23 pm)
@Steve:It's in my best interest to have more and more games use Sahara - plus I always valued every single customer - walking in the steps of Alan James' awesome support for his packs. He's a good model to follow. :)
The DTSViewer does not have that option - but it can be set up to quit when losing focus - so going through the models in a directory should be fast and painless. Of course there is a lot more that could be added - but my intention was not to compete with either the Object Editor in Torque 3D nor any other products. It is meant as a very fast means to open and show a DTS file anywhere on your hard drive by double-clicking it. With that said, I'm still planning to push updates for it sometime, although it does not have a high priority with so much on my plate.
STAX is pretty versatile. It lets you plan game logic for skillbars, loot and merchant inventories, spell books, the traditional player inventory, etc. It lets you plan any kind of inventory (ie. even Mass Effect like lists or WoW like more complex logics) except tetris inventories (where item icons are of different sizes).
The part where you'd select a merchant to trade with is not essentially a part of STAX, but I'm sure the demo will include this - much like you'd find this in the Yack pack.
#18
So if I bought the CCk today I would get the viewer for free? Guess I bought the CCk too soon!! ;)
07/30/2010 (4:23 am)
Excellent news! And yes, thank you for making Sahara a free upgrade. The CCk is a fine tool so I'll have to get the DTSview as well. So if I bought the CCk today I would get the viewer for free? Guess I bought the CCk too soon!! ;)
#19
Now if only my connection would quit timing out on me - but at least I can play with the DTS Viewer -- had been wanting that kind of quick view functionality for a while.
Brilliant combination of enticement and marketing strategy ;)
07/30/2010 (5:32 am)
Ok, had to quit being a holdout and become a customer :DNow if only my connection would quit timing out on me - but at least I can play with the DTS Viewer -- had been wanting that kind of quick view functionality for a while.
Brilliant combination of enticement and marketing strategy ;)
#20
Konrad, if you want you can add them to the BGcliff kit package. No strings.
07/30/2010 (7:50 am)
Here are 3 Arch shapes you guys can use..click image to download zip.Konrad, if you want you can add them to the BGcliff kit package. No strings.
Torque Owner Christian S
Oak-Entertainment
PS: StAX made me grab my cuppa and give a Java smile...
NOW CAN WE HAVE THAT T3D PLZ!
(looking forward to 20012-13)