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Buildings that connect to one another

by Jay Ellsworth · in Artist Corner · 02/28/2006 (1:54 pm) · 4 replies

Hello everyone,

We at Fat Kat Games are just getting started on a new project. We have decided to make an RTS game and we've decided to use Torque to do it.

I'm sure this is the first of many but, this question has come up:

If it's even possible, how difficult would it be to create certain buildings that would automatically connect to one another with walkways or bridges if built within a certain proximity?

Being the lead mapper, it r my job to find the answer to this question

Thanks,

Jay Ellsworth
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Torque 3D Owner Todd Pickens
#1
02/28/2006 (2:51 pm)
Jay,

Welcome!

Glad to see another RTS developer coming to the community.

I have not done specifically what you are referring to in Torque, but I have done it in published games in other engines and the concept is pretty simple.

If the shapes are .dts shapes (torque format), as they probably should be in this case and the interaction between the unit and the structure are relatively simple. Then the it is very doable.

Since you are talking about an RTS, you are not talking about a unit walking around inside a complex interior, but rather a unit walking around a balcony on a tower, or bridge between towers for example.

You will need a coder to support you because what you are talking about would require some custom work, but that is a given, and some of the resources may already be available in the community. If you purchase a license for the engine, do a search the private forums as well as the RTS forums and you will find lots of useful stuff.

I am an artist, so I can't help with the code side of it, but if you need any in put on the art side implementation, fell free to email me or post here.

Robert Stewart just released a resource for A* path finding which will be a big help for you. Here is a link to his post www.garagegames.com/index.php?sec=mg&mod=resource&page=view&qid=9815

Check the community resources for his code release.

Geom is working on his own pathing and A.I. if I am not mistaken. Here is a link to his post.
www.garagegames.com/index.php?sec=mg&mod=resource&page=view&qid=9750

Christophe Canon just released his pack. It is fantastic, check it out here www.garagegames.com/mg/snapshot/view.php?qid=1144

I released an RTS Environment pack a couple of weeks ago, you can see the details on it here www.garagegames.com/products/82

I am sure there have been some other recent RTS related things, but I can think of them at the moment.

Hope this helps.

Torque 3D Owner Todd Pickens
#2
02/28/2006 (2:53 pm)
Almost forgot,

look here for a lot of useful stuff, including the exporters you will need to get art into a torque friendly format
www.garagegames.com/developer/torque/artist/

Jay Ellsworth
#3
02/28/2006 (5:38 pm)
Thanks for the tips and the links Todd, much appreciated. Looks like I'd better get reading =)

Torque 3D Owner Todd Pickens
#4
03/01/2006 (9:12 am)
Jay,

I forgot to mention the World Domination Mod--all script based, provides example (working) functionality for, creating buildings/units, collecting and managing resources