Plan for Mark Storer
by Mark Storer · 06/08/2005 (11:07 am) · 5 comments
I've begun poking around at the FPS demo, taking the first baby steps towards making it into a tailgunner/beach head style game.
1) Take away the ability to move.
This was remarkably difficult (for a Total Torque Newbie). Just removing WASD-SPACE from the moveMap was easy enough, but there were some Undesireable Sideeffects. Specifically, the various world editors use the same action map to move the camera. Not being able to move the camera renders the editors somewhat difficult to use .
2) Ditch all the spawn points save one.
Not a big deal once you can MOVE THE CAMERA. *sigh*
3) Stick that one spawn point above the village.
Easy stuff. Moving stuff around by clicking on the appropriate axis is hardly rocket science, though it doesn't always behave the way I'd expect it to. Huh.
4) Create a zero-G zone around the spawn point so the player doesn't fall.
A bit more difficult. Creating the physical zone was fairly easy. Tweaking it to "0 g" forced me to learn the wonders of that little "apply" button. :\ Streching the zone out to a useful size was Interesting. ctrl+alt-drag. Sheesh. Double-meta keystrokes are Hard To Find.
5) Tweak the crossbow to be more Point-defense-ish
Easy stuff. Doubled the muzzel velocity, cranked the reload animation down to 0.1 seconds, and removed the ammo use. Instant machinegun, though I'd like to modify it to use energy.
6) Spawn a bunch of orcs to shoot at (5).
This one's been giving me trouble. Calling the same spawnOnPath function N times creates a pile of orcs locked together as a single mass. Not good.
I tried messing around with "schedule()" a bit, but didn't get the results I wanted. I ended up spawning a bunch of orcs, one per node on the path (5 total)... but now they're all running to node 0 before following that path. Irritating. Poking about in the AIPlayer.cs, I see references to "currentNode" and "targetNode", but my blind tweaking hasn't gotten me the results I wanted.
Next Time: I'll actually figure out how the starter.fps AIPlayer works, rather than just poking at it with a stick in hopes of getting my target behavior.
What do orcs running in a circle have to do with a sci-fi battleship "sim"? Very little. But you have to start somewhere.
1) Take away the ability to move.
This was remarkably difficult (for a Total Torque Newbie). Just removing WASD-SPACE from the moveMap was easy enough, but there were some Undesireable Sideeffects. Specifically, the various world editors use the same action map to move the camera. Not being able to move the camera renders the editors somewhat difficult to use .
2) Ditch all the spawn points save one.
Not a big deal once you can MOVE THE CAMERA. *sigh*
3) Stick that one spawn point above the village.
Easy stuff. Moving stuff around by clicking on the appropriate axis is hardly rocket science, though it doesn't always behave the way I'd expect it to. Huh.
4) Create a zero-G zone around the spawn point so the player doesn't fall.
A bit more difficult. Creating the physical zone was fairly easy. Tweaking it to "0 g" forced me to learn the wonders of that little "apply" button. :\ Streching the zone out to a useful size was Interesting. ctrl+alt-drag. Sheesh. Double-meta keystrokes are Hard To Find.
5) Tweak the crossbow to be more Point-defense-ish
Easy stuff. Doubled the muzzel velocity, cranked the reload animation down to 0.1 seconds, and removed the ammo use. Instant machinegun, though I'd like to modify it to use energy.
6) Spawn a bunch of orcs to shoot at (5).
This one's been giving me trouble. Calling the same spawnOnPath function N times creates a pile of orcs locked together as a single mass. Not good.
I tried messing around with "schedule()" a bit, but didn't get the results I wanted. I ended up spawning a bunch of orcs, one per node on the path (5 total)... but now they're all running to node 0 before following that path. Irritating. Poking about in the AIPlayer.cs, I see references to "currentNode" and "targetNode", but my blind tweaking hasn't gotten me the results I wanted.
Next Time: I'll actually figure out how the starter.fps AIPlayer works, rather than just poking at it with a stick in hopes of getting my target behavior.
What do orcs running in a circle have to do with a sci-fi battleship "sim"? Very little. But you have to start somewhere.
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#2
Perhaps if I knew what a tailgunner/beach head was I wouldnt have been so lost.
Anyways. Those are nifty changes you made... Good luck with... whatever it is you are building.
06/08/2005 (11:20 am)
I had no idea what you were talking about until i got to the end and read something about a space sim ... Actually, I still don't really know what you were getting at with this planPerhaps if I knew what a tailgunner/beach head was I wouldnt have been so lost.
Anyways. Those are nifty changes you made... Good luck with... whatever it is you are building.
#3
great plan, I like to read other people's "thinking out loud" as they're trying to get stuff working. stick with it!
06/08/2005 (12:44 pm)
@Chris: http://www.fusiongames.com/Store/Beachhead2000/index.htmlgreat plan, I like to read other people's "thinking out loud" as they're trying to get stuff working. stick with it!
#4
06/08/2005 (1:23 pm)
ah... I reread the plan... makes a lot more sense now. Thanks Josh
#5
Our idea is that your ship will be so slow that you really can't dodge anything. Your only options will lay in whatever active defenses you might have. We're planning on having a number of different "weapon stations" on your ship. The player will control one, while AI will direct fire from the rest. Each station will have a variety of weapons at its disposal... from phalanx-style point defense on up to missile tubes, Really Big Guns, and so on.
The player takes the role of a colony ship's AI (all the humans are on ice for the Long Trip). Some portion of the way to its destination it receives a recall order, along with a number of technical specifications to help convert itself from civilian craft to battleship. Plowshares to swords as it were. The player will be able to research and construct various modifications based on the data it receives. You'll also be able to open up new paths of research by capturing the wreckage of your attackers... much like the X-COM series.
Lots of plans, very little code or art (yet). I understand the artist-types are working on concept sketches... hopefully we can get something other than the default starter.fps art in at some point. Shooting orcs with a crossbow in a sci-fi game isn't going to go over very well.
EDIT: tailgunner screen shot: http://www.verrando.com/arcade/shots/tailg.html
No school like the old school!
06/08/2005 (3:47 pm)
Sorry... I assumed people would know what either Tailgunner (OLD coin-op game... black-n-white vector graphics as I recall), or beach head (relatively new game, same idea).Our idea is that your ship will be so slow that you really can't dodge anything. Your only options will lay in whatever active defenses you might have. We're planning on having a number of different "weapon stations" on your ship. The player will control one, while AI will direct fire from the rest. Each station will have a variety of weapons at its disposal... from phalanx-style point defense on up to missile tubes, Really Big Guns, and so on.
The player takes the role of a colony ship's AI (all the humans are on ice for the Long Trip). Some portion of the way to its destination it receives a recall order, along with a number of technical specifications to help convert itself from civilian craft to battleship. Plowshares to swords as it were. The player will be able to research and construct various modifications based on the data it receives. You'll also be able to open up new paths of research by capturing the wreckage of your attackers... much like the X-COM series.
Lots of plans, very little code or art (yet). I understand the artist-types are working on concept sketches... hopefully we can get something other than the default starter.fps art in at some point. Shooting orcs with a crossbow in a sci-fi game isn't going to go over very well.
EDIT: tailgunner screen shot: http://www.verrando.com/arcade/shots/tailg.html
No school like the old school!
Torque 3D Owner Matthew Langley
Torque
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