Flight Game Example (fomerly FSK)
by Martin Schultz · 05/16/2007 (8:11 am) · 31 comments
(the screenshots are below the long text ;-)
Just wanted to give a quick update on the progress of the Flight Game Example (FGE), formerly named Flying Starter Kit (FSK). I renamed the FSK after I got a hint to re-read the TGE license and as I own only an indie license, I found out that the license doesn't allow to publish anything other than a game (who reads licenses? :-). And as I then continued and read the commercial TGE license I found out that publishing so-called starter kits wouldn't be allowed either (see paragraph 3).
I began wondering what the difference is between a starter kit like the starter.fps and the starter.racing and any other game or game example. Is there really a difference? Or is it just a definition? Does anyone know?
So I thought it'll be best to rename the whole thing to something that sounds more TGE license friendly and call it a flight game example that includes all art and script sources. Saying this it automatically means I couldn't include any custom C++ class (again TGE license restriction) which led me to the idea to make the C++ aiFlyingVehicle class available as public resource once the FGE will be out.
Anyway, I got sidetracked. The blog is about the FGE, not license stuff. If you remember the previous blog with first screenies from the FSK you might also remember it's ugly look. I heard the critics, sat down and began re-working the art in the game and hope I got now a look that is more satisfying and does not create instant eye cancer ;-)
On the feature side I added some new things like:
- a out-of-mission-area notification to the players and health drain as long as you stay outside the mission area
- new tropic island style mission
- all new terrain / water textures
- reworked ship controls to be _way_ better controlable now
- better weapon balancing
- complete new GUI look with transparent style
- Main menu with auto-changing backgrounds to give the menu some "life"
- Reworked the options dialog and added the option to invert all necessary game axis like ship left/right and up/down as well as keyboard left/right inverting.
- Added VMPlayer resource - the ultimate Torque music player (aka the Torque iPod) and now the 3+1 techno music tracks that are included in this game are played back like a charm!
- in-game steering help menu
- Max 7 compatible source art
- all 2D art assets for Photoshop 8
and lots of other stuff that doesn't come to my mind while writing this. :-)
I still have some to do's open on my list I want to have in like multi-game types and stuff so I guess it might take still some days until all is completed. From all the mails I got I know some guys are really waiting on this thing but I hope they forgive me that I tweak this game example a bit more until it gets released. I think the waiting will be worth it.
Oh btw: I used to experiment and tweak the UI in the game using this Gui Color Tweaker which I submitted as resource some time ago. With this control you can modify in realtime all colors of the gui incl. alpha values in realtime to see what color scheme you like.
Well, I hope you had some fun reading this and please enjoy now the screenies.
Have fun,
Martin
New GUI look with changing backgrounds (not visible in static screenshots ;-)
New start mission GUI.
Same for options dialog.
And the loading screen.
New tropic island style mission.
Water transparencies allows to view the underwater ground structure.
Top-down view.
Just wanted to give a quick update on the progress of the Flight Game Example (FGE), formerly named Flying Starter Kit (FSK). I renamed the FSK after I got a hint to re-read the TGE license and as I own only an indie license, I found out that the license doesn't allow to publish anything other than a game (who reads licenses? :-). And as I then continued and read the commercial TGE license I found out that publishing so-called starter kits wouldn't be allowed either (see paragraph 3).
I began wondering what the difference is between a starter kit like the starter.fps and the starter.racing and any other game or game example. Is there really a difference? Or is it just a definition? Does anyone know?
So I thought it'll be best to rename the whole thing to something that sounds more TGE license friendly and call it a flight game example that includes all art and script sources. Saying this it automatically means I couldn't include any custom C++ class (again TGE license restriction) which led me to the idea to make the C++ aiFlyingVehicle class available as public resource once the FGE will be out.
Anyway, I got sidetracked. The blog is about the FGE, not license stuff. If you remember the previous blog with first screenies from the FSK you might also remember it's ugly look. I heard the critics, sat down and began re-working the art in the game and hope I got now a look that is more satisfying and does not create instant eye cancer ;-)
On the feature side I added some new things like:
- a out-of-mission-area notification to the players and health drain as long as you stay outside the mission area
- new tropic island style mission
- all new terrain / water textures
- reworked ship controls to be _way_ better controlable now
- better weapon balancing
- complete new GUI look with transparent style
- Main menu with auto-changing backgrounds to give the menu some "life"
- Reworked the options dialog and added the option to invert all necessary game axis like ship left/right and up/down as well as keyboard left/right inverting.
- Added VMPlayer resource - the ultimate Torque music player (aka the Torque iPod) and now the 3+1 techno music tracks that are included in this game are played back like a charm!
- in-game steering help menu
- Max 7 compatible source art
- all 2D art assets for Photoshop 8
and lots of other stuff that doesn't come to my mind while writing this. :-)
I still have some to do's open on my list I want to have in like multi-game types and stuff so I guess it might take still some days until all is completed. From all the mails I got I know some guys are really waiting on this thing but I hope they forgive me that I tweak this game example a bit more until it gets released. I think the waiting will be worth it.
Oh btw: I used to experiment and tweak the UI in the game using this Gui Color Tweaker which I submitted as resource some time ago. With this control you can modify in realtime all colors of the gui incl. alpha values in realtime to see what color scheme you like.
Well, I hope you had some fun reading this and please enjoy now the screenies.
Have fun,
Martin
New GUI look with changing backgrounds (not visible in static screenshots ;-)
New start mission GUI.
Same for options dialog.
And the loading screen.
New tropic island style mission.
Water transparencies allows to view the underwater ground structure.
Top-down view.
#2
05/16/2007 (8:25 am)
wow. very impressive progress i see here ^__^.... 
#3
There is a lot of room for basic working game starter kits in my opinion, and this is a good example.
As an artist, being able to get something that has all of the basic code and feature in place and requiring me to only replace art in order to get a good working concept of my game idea up and running is a massive benefit.
Great work Martin.
05/16/2007 (9:27 am)
Well, I would buy it!There is a lot of room for basic working game starter kits in my opinion, and this is a good example.
As an artist, being able to get something that has all of the basic code and feature in place and requiring me to only replace art in order to get a good working concept of my game idea up and running is a massive benefit.
Great work Martin.
#4
Great work on art.
What about alienforce porting of FGE to tgea ?
@Stephen Zepp (just some constructive critics :-)
About licensing questions is sometimes very confusing, some definitions in the license terms would help our low bugdet indie TGE developers;
In license terms you can read:
"Licensee may not: (i) create any derivative works of the Engine, including but not limited to translations, localizations, starter kits, technology add-ons, or game making software other than Games;"
I think a better definition of what gg mean for "games", can help.
Another question about "game making software", please consider this scenario:
1. I make a game a FPS for example (I agree with license)
2. I make it free and redistributable (I agree with license)
3. I make to player the option to mod my game with World editor, creating new missions (I agree with license, think).
Someone download my game a made some new FPS missions, and/or characters, art etc.
He can sell this missions packaged with my game, eventually stripping off missions devoleped by me.
The seems to resamble the definition of "Game making software" but I don't make a step without license agreements.
What do you think about ?
P.S. Stephen, sorry if I waste your time
P.P.S. Martin, please excuse me I write far from FGE topic...
05/16/2007 (10:00 am)
As a fan of FSK (...ehm FGE) looking forward for release.Great work on art.
What about alienforce porting of FGE to tgea ?
@Stephen Zepp (just some constructive critics :-)
About licensing questions is sometimes very confusing, some definitions in the license terms would help our low bugdet indie TGE developers;
In license terms you can read:
"Licensee may not: (i) create any derivative works of the Engine, including but not limited to translations, localizations, starter kits, technology add-ons, or game making software other than Games;"
I think a better definition of what gg mean for "games", can help.
Another question about "game making software", please consider this scenario:
1. I make a game a FPS for example (I agree with license)
2. I make it free and redistributable (I agree with license)
3. I make to player the option to mod my game with World editor, creating new missions (I agree with license, think).
Someone download my game a made some new FPS missions, and/or characters, art etc.
He can sell this missions packaged with my game, eventually stripping off missions devoleped by me.
The seems to resamble the definition of "Game making software" but I don't make a step without license agreements.
What do you think about ?
P.S. Stephen, sorry if I waste your time
P.P.S. Martin, please excuse me I write far from FGE topic...
#5
05/16/2007 (11:03 am)
@Martin: very gooood! 8-) 
#8
05/16/2007 (1:21 pm)
We need more good starter kits like this... get this into the GG store ASAP!
#9
@Stephen: Will send a mail to Joshua. I already talked to James Wiley, but stopped further discussion as the project went through a depressive phase - but not it's back on track and I'll send you guys updated info soon plus a new demo version.
And thanks for the license clarification. But I was pointed to the TGE license sentence "no engine-derived work allowed" by a GG employee - that was the reason of all my efforts to get license-safe :-)
@Todd: I totally agree. Starter kits is something that got too much uncared and is so much needed by many people.
@Gianfranco: Alienforce will do the TGEA port once the TGE version is completed. The version above seen above is pure TGE 1.4.2. Will also showcase a TGE 1.5 version. And no problem because of the license stuff. It's something what keeps me thinking and occupying too :-)
@Tom: Thanks dude. Well, yeah, will talk to GG again regarding if it's interesting for them to have it in the GG store.
05/16/2007 (2:23 pm)
Hey guys, thanks a lot for the nice comments.@Stephen: Will send a mail to Joshua. I already talked to James Wiley, but stopped further discussion as the project went through a depressive phase - but not it's back on track and I'll send you guys updated info soon plus a new demo version.
And thanks for the license clarification. But I was pointed to the TGE license sentence "no engine-derived work allowed" by a GG employee - that was the reason of all my efforts to get license-safe :-)
@Todd: I totally agree. Starter kits is something that got too much uncared and is so much needed by many people.
@Gianfranco: Alienforce will do the TGEA port once the TGE version is completed. The version above seen above is pure TGE 1.4.2. Will also showcase a TGE 1.5 version. And no problem because of the license stuff. It's something what keeps me thinking and occupying too :-)
@Tom: Thanks dude. Well, yeah, will talk to GG again regarding if it's interesting for them to have it in the GG store.
#10
Can't wait to see more!
05/16/2007 (4:15 pm)
I came across the original demo video of this on my HD the other day and remember thinking that it was a good example of a flying game starter. It's good to see you're still working on it, I think it shows a lot of potential and you've done more than a few things that people are always asking about implementing.Can't wait to see more!
#11
05/16/2007 (4:40 pm)
@Martin - I totally need this FGE - this will get me started on my space shooter. When you do you think it will be available for purchase? I wouldn't mind a beta either so I can start working with it - but I'd need the TGEA version, so eta on that would be appreciated. Nice work. 
#12
05/16/2007 (5:29 pm)
Great work Martin :0) There does seem to be a little confusion and different opinions regarding the EULA...
#14
I cant be sure but I would imagine that the section you quoted from the eula is referring to the development of products which may compete with torque. I think this is attempting to protect GG from people using the engine as a basis for another commercial game engine, game making tool, or development platform which is prohibited no matter how much the engine may have been modified.
05/17/2007 (12:57 am)
Gianfranco -I cant be sure but I would imagine that the section you quoted from the eula is referring to the development of products which may compete with torque. I think this is attempting to protect GG from people using the engine as a basis for another commercial game engine, game making tool, or development platform which is prohibited no matter how much the engine may have been modified.
#15
05/17/2007 (12:58 am)
nice work btw. this would be perfect if it included heat-seeking missles. :)
#16
Regarding the release: I'm developing this on a TGE 1.4.2 version and once feature complete, I'll re-port it again to 1.5.2 and TGEA (with Alienforce). So yes, you will get a TGEA version! :-) But to be honest I can't precisely say when it is done. Sometime beginning of June I think/hope.
@Leroy: Hehe, yes, it seems there is a need for more clarification what is allowed / what not regarding the licenses. It seems people think way different about it. Funny! :-)
@Sean: Hmm, yeah, but even at GG there seems confusion. I got a mail from one GG employee that explicit pointed me to the license and that engine derived works and starter kits would only be allowed if published by GG itself. At that time the FSK didn't look quite something that would fit into the GG store (way too ugly). It's getting to look way better now and who knows, maybe it shows up in the GG store, maybe I do a self-publishing - we will see :-)
And yes, I'm (still) thinking about seekers too. I have them ready here, but without client reticle stuff which would require heavy engine changes and so I'm thinking to include those missiles in a simple form that they seek the next target in front or so.
05/17/2007 (5:19 am)
@Andy: You brought a good idea up. I could include a space level easily. Regarding the release: I'm developing this on a TGE 1.4.2 version and once feature complete, I'll re-port it again to 1.5.2 and TGEA (with Alienforce). So yes, you will get a TGEA version! :-) But to be honest I can't precisely say when it is done. Sometime beginning of June I think/hope.
@Leroy: Hehe, yes, it seems there is a need for more clarification what is allowed / what not regarding the licenses. It seems people think way different about it. Funny! :-)
@Sean: Hmm, yeah, but even at GG there seems confusion. I got a mail from one GG employee that explicit pointed me to the license and that engine derived works and starter kits would only be allowed if published by GG itself. At that time the FSK didn't look quite something that would fit into the GG store (way too ugly). It's getting to look way better now and who knows, maybe it shows up in the GG store, maybe I do a self-publishing - we will see :-)
And yes, I'm (still) thinking about seekers too. I have them ready here, but without client reticle stuff which would require heavy engine changes and so I'm thinking to include those missiles in a simple form that they seek the next target in front or so.
#17
05/17/2007 (5:35 am)
Very cool Martin ;)
#18
05/17/2007 (6:27 am)
@Martin : Sounds good to me. I have some space code already. I need ground hugging shooter technology!!!
#19
but i was wondering, it never worked with me but how do you make an island 0.0
i tried so many times, but i never works, :( how did you do it?
05/17/2007 (8:36 am)
lookin greatbut i was wondering, it never worked with me but how do you make an island 0.0
i tried so many times, but i never works, :( how did you do it?
#20
05/17/2007 (11:05 am)
@Florian: What do you mean by "island 0.0"? 
Torque 3D Owner Stephen Zepp
You are reading a touch too much into the EULA by the way--you can publish source code publically as long as it doesn't contain any GG copyrighted source (which is rare, I admit), but more importantly you can certainly publish resources that are protected for license owners only, including source--since we mark it as "must have TGE to view", the source code distribution issue is covered that way.