Fifteen months on...
by Netwyrm · 07/10/2012 (7:03 am) · 9 comments
I've iterated many times since my last post, which I think took place during the era of T3D B3. In the intervening time, I decided to stop porting and porting when T3D 1.1 finally shipped, and have made some considerable measure of progress since. I mean, don't get me wrong, I learned a very great deal starting with TGEA and then through each version which succeeded it, and I enjoy the heck out of the process of hacking at this crazy stuff, but I have to remember I got into this with an end in mind and that was to make a game.
And so I tossed the crufty monster codebase I'd been dragging forward in January, starting completely clean and reimplementing all code and resources from scratch again, after once-and-for-all separating everything needed into dedicated server and client forks.
Over the last year I've largely grown out of creating models in DIF, as Medieval4d came out and has proven a much better tool for someone of my limited modeling experience. I've also put a lot of time into learning MilkShape, getting quite a bit of help from Rex of BrokeAss Games straightening out my human figures this Spring, which I now understand were an absolute mess (thanks Rex!!!). And I have a working non-biped monster character now thanks to Deepscratch.
I have at this point got zoning between twelve persistent maps working reliably. Characters and retrieval have been offloaded to a database for storage, and I have a functional--if pretty lumpy--inventory system put together. Mostly, I have just been keeping my head down and assembling *infrastructure*, and then building on that for higher level systems--just this past weekend I finally was able to get the spawning system layered in, which was a pretty complex mix involving the UAISK, Java, MySQL, and TorqueScript, but the darn thing works, so I'm pretty happy right now.
Here's a very short snippet of video I made showing an experiment in stairclimbing--I know, how exciting, but it took me a while to get everything scaled just so to make it smooth (link is 4.8 m4v, which works directly in my Mac browser, but seems to need VLC under Windows). This was actually shot in April, but it was the smallest one on hand, and another thing I don't know much about is video (in fact, I was only able to capture this because I read Ahsan Muzaheed's post which explained the trick):
www.worldofantra.com/2006/mini_teezs/EyelineTest.m4v
Obviously, my GUI elements could use a little bit of polish!
Things I need to really work on? I'm dreading having to try to work out *arrows* again soon... my first attempts failed pretty badly--I can't get a projectile to work to save my life. I'd really like to figure out how to start a drag in a text list and wind up with a graphic element. And I'd like to know how to simulate sunbeams in atmosphere, as I don't even know where to begin with that. Shad-er-zz? Derp.
All in all, it's been a pretty productive year. I've learned a lot from hacking, and even more from reading the Torque forums (sometimes over and over and over until I get something)--I'm still really struggling with vocabulary in the technical discussions, but I have a much better grasp of where things are and no longer feel quite so much like I'm drowning just trying to figure out how (or where) to add a script.
And so I tossed the crufty monster codebase I'd been dragging forward in January, starting completely clean and reimplementing all code and resources from scratch again, after once-and-for-all separating everything needed into dedicated server and client forks.
Over the last year I've largely grown out of creating models in DIF, as Medieval4d came out and has proven a much better tool for someone of my limited modeling experience. I've also put a lot of time into learning MilkShape, getting quite a bit of help from Rex of BrokeAss Games straightening out my human figures this Spring, which I now understand were an absolute mess (thanks Rex!!!). And I have a working non-biped monster character now thanks to Deepscratch.
I have at this point got zoning between twelve persistent maps working reliably. Characters and retrieval have been offloaded to a database for storage, and I have a functional--if pretty lumpy--inventory system put together. Mostly, I have just been keeping my head down and assembling *infrastructure*, and then building on that for higher level systems--just this past weekend I finally was able to get the spawning system layered in, which was a pretty complex mix involving the UAISK, Java, MySQL, and TorqueScript, but the darn thing works, so I'm pretty happy right now.
Here's a very short snippet of video I made showing an experiment in stairclimbing--I know, how exciting, but it took me a while to get everything scaled just so to make it smooth (link is 4.8 m4v, which works directly in my Mac browser, but seems to need VLC under Windows). This was actually shot in April, but it was the smallest one on hand, and another thing I don't know much about is video (in fact, I was only able to capture this because I read Ahsan Muzaheed's post which explained the trick):
www.worldofantra.com/2006/mini_teezs/EyelineTest.m4v
Obviously, my GUI elements could use a little bit of polish!
Things I need to really work on? I'm dreading having to try to work out *arrows* again soon... my first attempts failed pretty badly--I can't get a projectile to work to save my life. I'd really like to figure out how to start a drag in a text list and wind up with a graphic element. And I'd like to know how to simulate sunbeams in atmosphere, as I don't even know where to begin with that. Shad-er-zz? Derp.
All in all, it's been a pretty productive year. I've learned a lot from hacking, and even more from reading the Torque forums (sometimes over and over and over until I get something)--I'm still really struggling with vocabulary in the technical discussions, but I have a much better grasp of where things are and no longer feel quite so much like I'm drowning just trying to figure out how (or where) to add a script.
About the author
My adventures in T3D are chronicled at http://www.worldofantra.com. Please be aware the subject is sword-and-sorcery, and the occasional bloody or bare body part may be in scope.
#2
Fifteen months refers to my blog in April of last year--I never have been too sure what a "plan" is--but the time between 2001 and 2006 was developing my own 2D MUD engine, a surviving part of which has now been incorporated into my T3D project as a logic server (that's the Java bit I mention above).
As far as arrows go... I'm not to the aiming part yet... I'm still, um, failing to get a new projectile to work at *all* I do thank you for the link, and will put it in my bookmarks for when I advance that far! :P
07/10/2012 (10:19 am)
Ah, Master Acaster, I'm sorry about the confusion. Joining the site, and purchasing the software to work with, are not synonymous in my case. I created a forum login in 2001 while pondering TGE, but I didn't take the plunge and buy a license to the software until (checks again to be pedantic) 07/13/2008 (7:26 am). Fifteen months refers to my blog in April of last year--I never have been too sure what a "plan" is--but the time between 2001 and 2006 was developing my own 2D MUD engine, a surviving part of which has now been incorporated into my T3D project as a logic server (that's the Java bit I mention above).
As far as arrows go... I'm not to the aiming part yet... I'm still, um, failing to get a new projectile to work at *all* I do thank you for the link, and will put it in my bookmarks for when I advance that far! :P
#3
Here's an ancient TGE resource on making your own weapons (yay for me bookmarking everything useful that I've found over the years), it might help.
www.garagegames.com/community/resources/view/9230
07/10/2012 (11:15 am)
You poor people who have "real lives". ;)Here's an ancient TGE resource on making your own weapons (yay for me bookmarking everything useful that I've found over the years), it might help.
www.garagegames.com/community/resources/view/9230
#4
07/10/2012 (6:45 pm)
T3D 1.2 has sun rays built in - in the post effects editor. Have to double-check 1.1....
#5
@Steve--Real life? Is that a new Will Wright title? No, seriously, real life sucks, but it provides the means to pursue my game worlds so I try to keep up. Thanks for posting your link--I know you have a real good grasp of the engine, I'm waiting for your book (hint hint). I'd definitely read the chapter about how you got such a nice neat hex grid on your terrain!
OK, I'm off to go pour light-rays over everything--then I'll move it to a laptop in the morning and be horrified, I'm sure (anything that cool has got to have a major impact on frame rate, right?)
07/10/2012 (9:29 pm)
Oh, that looks terrrrrific! Thank you Richard--I had forgotten entirely about the PostEffects Editor. It's at the bottom of the Edit menu in 1.1, so it is hidden from the normal editing interface, and I haven't thought of it in ages. *Now* it looks like moonlight... @Steve--Real life? Is that a new Will Wright title? No, seriously, real life sucks, but it provides the means to pursue my game worlds so I try to keep up. Thanks for posting your link--I know you have a real good grasp of the engine, I'm waiting for your book (hint hint). I'd definitely read the chapter about how you got such a nice neat hex grid on your terrain!
OK, I'm off to go pour light-rays over everything--then I'll move it to a laptop in the morning and be horrified, I'm sure (anything that cool has got to have a major impact on frame rate, right?)
#6
ended up trotting out to my favourite country pub for a great gammon steak and a few small ales so all ended well
The hex grid was just a good old fashioned maths function, work out the spacing required and then increment x and y according to lines.
07/11/2012 (9:27 am)
Real life does indeed suck ... I went to parade this morning (local Regiment back from Afghanistan) then couldn't find a pub open to have lunch in ... I mean what the hell!? It was lunch time! Oh the humanity!ended up trotting out to my favourite country pub for a great gammon steak and a few small ales so all ended well
The hex grid was just a good old fashioned maths function, work out the spacing required and then increment x and y according to lines.
#7
Well, it looked very sharp in your pictures, and it put me in mind of old product like Judges' Guild--just the thing for a wilderness campaign game in the old style.
07/11/2012 (5:26 pm)
@Steve-Well, it looked very sharp in your pictures, and it put me in mind of old product like Judges' Guild--just the thing for a wilderness campaign game in the old style.
#8
07/12/2012 (3:20 pm)
Cool stuff! Although... your guy looks about 1 foot tall. Either that or those buildings were sized for giants. =)
#9
Oh, I fully agree. Scaling is a huge issue. I spent a full week in the stair-climbing routine in code, adding console print statements, and tweaking the values involved up and down by fifty steps in either direction (one-tenth of a step at a time, recompile, relaunch, log in, test, etc.), trying to figure out how the *OK, climb/OK, block* decisions were being made, and I just could not find a combination that let me scale the figure models up to more than 1.2 or down below .8 (if I recall correctly, it's been some months) and still climb a set flight of stairs.
Now, I am really simple-minded, so my conceptualization of how to approach the problem was probably wrong from the get go, but that is why the figures appear so out of scale to the doors.
I decided to leave it until I felt I'd gotten a better understanding at some future date--it is only truly grating when you come up to a doorjamb and the player's head is at knob level. Stepping away *ten feet* or so and it becomes much less noticeable, and, well, I don't know how to fix it yet.
But I totally agree with your observation.
07/12/2012 (4:57 pm)
@Kevin,Oh, I fully agree. Scaling is a huge issue. I spent a full week in the stair-climbing routine in code, adding console print statements, and tweaking the values involved up and down by fifty steps in either direction (one-tenth of a step at a time, recompile, relaunch, log in, test, etc.), trying to figure out how the *OK, climb/OK, block* decisions were being made, and I just could not find a combination that let me scale the figure models up to more than 1.2 or down below .8 (if I recall correctly, it's been some months) and still climb a set flight of stairs.
Now, I am really simple-minded, so my conceptualization of how to approach the problem was probably wrong from the get go, but that is why the figures appear so out of scale to the doors.
I decided to leave it until I felt I'd gotten a better understanding at some future date--it is only truly grating when you come up to a doorjamb and the player's head is at knob level. Stepping away *ten feet* or so and it becomes much less noticeable, and, well, I don't know how to fix it yet.
But I totally agree with your observation.
Associate Steve Acaster
[YorkshireRifles.com]
... and only 1 blog between then and now.
May I suggest www.makehuman.org as a great reference for 3D human models, though hotpants man looks okay from the back from here.
Regarding arrows, there's a resource by Bryce for getting Ai to do accurate aiming for ballistics. Here