Blog for Mike Pearson at GarageGames.com

New in-game multi-protocol messaging and lobby system

Mike Pearson — 2007-07-02T13:51:13+00:00

Hi All,

It has been a while since my last blog. That's primarily due to the fact that we have been working like crazy on n-Node.

What is n-node you say? In short, the n-Node Communicator client is a fully featured, stand-alone, 2D chat client that connects to multiple instant messaging services without the need of running multiple clients and for the first time allows end-users to communicate in real-time with 3D virtual worlds like Second Life. Plus, with the addition of our 3D in-game client, users will be able to continue their conversations while playing popular 3D games like Half-Life.

Primary features of the Communicator client include:
Chat and Instant Messaging with AIM, YIM, MSN, Google Talk, Xfire, ICQ, MySpace Chat, Second Life and n-Node
In-game messaging
MS-Widows, MS Mobile, web and Blackberry client support
Group chat
File transfers
Real-time presence information for if and where your friends are online
Voice communication (VoIP) with other n-Node users

Now with that being said we are working on some really cool, Torque specific, integration features.

Master Server: manages the available game servers and allows clients to host matches, query for available matches and join an existing match.

Authentication Server: manages the authorization and authentication of an individual logging in to the game, their status while in game and their disconnection from the game. Security and licensing are also features that should be considered in the Authentication Server.
Community Server: manages the in game lobby, friends management, chat, news, user-generated content, etc.

Out of the box (even including the available community resources), Torque really only provides a basic framework from which to build out these services. It leaves it up to the developer to not only flesh out the User Interface and the necessary Torque Script to access these services but it often leaves the server side functionality up to the individual developers to implement as well. While this provides flexibility, there is a large overhead in developing these features for each new game project and as each module may use different communication mechanisms (HTTPObject, TCPObject, custom TorqueScript wrappers), it adds significant complexity to the code and the subsequent maintenance effort for that code.
With the n-Node in Torque technology, we have fleshed out the missing pieces from the out of box Torque experience, unified the protocol and code base for providing all 3 services, and extended the capabilities of Torque to provide a superior online game environment.

ModMaker Update and Free Weapon Sounds

Mike Pearson — 2007-04-19T14:03:44+00:00

Well our first products as independent developers are out the door and I want to take a minute to thank everyone involved in making this happen. Special thanks go out to Tim Aste of Garage Game for helping us through the publishing hurdles, Matt Huston for the great programming work, Scott Vangordon for Alpha and Beta testing , to our beta testers and finally to my loving wife Emilia for putting up with me.

As with most products not everything got done 100% the way we wanted it and we missed a few things in QA. Namely, for some reason the weapon sounds didn't make it into the final build and there are a few naming problems with some of the models when trying to get them to work in the ModMaker Editor.

Fix number one: This is an easy one and we decided to make it available to the community at large. Please click on this link to download all the weapon sound files. This is totally open and free so use it as you wish!

www.netgeos.com/Sounds.zip

Fix number two: To get the weapons to work in the editor do the following:

1. Copy the entire dir of the weapon to "Your Path"\ModMaker Weapon Editor\MMWeaponsEditor\data\shapes\weapons
2. Some of the file names were too large to work in the editor so you'll need to rename them. For example if you want the M4 to work you'll need to change it from m4_red_dot_scope_animation.dts to m4_red_dot_scope.dts. Basically remove the "_animation" from each file including the dsq's and everything should work fine.

Finally, some are requesting the models files in other formats. We will handle this on a case by case basis. Please email me directly at mpearson@netgeos.com

Thanks again and look for more to come from us in the near future.

Cheers,

Mike Pearson
President and Executive Producer
NetGeos LLC

Weapons Pack Update-Cool Hands

Mike Pearson — 2007-03-12T16:08:55+00:00

Hi All,

We have finished our final testing and submitted to GG so we should have a ship date any day now.

One of the really cool features that we were able to incorporate is the use of high quality hands in the first person without the need to mod the engine or to use any additional resources.

That's right, let me say it again. With our weapons models you DO NOT need to change anything to get the hands to render in first person but not in third person!

Here's the pics to prove it. The following are from stock TGE 1.5 with the Official Solder Pack.

Look Ma... no hands (well, other than the soldiers!)

Oh and BTW I really like the Official Soldier pack. We use it in our test levels. Do you like the goggles? I made them by moding the gasmask that came with the pack;)

Coming Soon to a GarageGames Store Near You!

Mike Pearson — 2007-02-16T16:49:19+00:00

Hi Everyone,

It's been awhile since our last update but I'm pleased to announce that NetGeos has signed a distribution agreement with GarageGames for our up and coming ModMaker Weapons Content Packs for Torque.

Speaking of our content packs... We have finished our beta and are getting ready to ship. I don't have an exact date yet but very soon I promise.

Two new additions to our contents pack are that we are giving you the option to use hands in the first person view and we are including our ModMaker Weapons Editor for free!

And now the obligatory photos.

Happy Holidays Everyone! FREE Weapon Model

Mike Pearson — 2006-12-18T17:20:02+00:00

Happy Holidays Everyone!

We have been busy little Santa helpers here at NetGeos and in the sprit of the holiday we are making one of our weapon models, from our soon to be release content pack, free to the Torque community. To get it please surf over to our store at www.netgeos.com/ostore/ and click on the FREE M16a1 icon.

You will need to create an account and in order for this to be free you will need to select "Check or Money Order" as the payment type. Don't worry this is not a hoax it just my way of getting you to help test our e-store;)

Oh and BTW our new forum is up and running. Please provide us feedback at www.ModMaker.net

Cheers for now,

ModMaker Weapons Editor - Beta!

Mike Pearson — 2006-12-01T16:01:50+00:00

Hi Everyone, we have been hard at work on several development projects and our first has now gone into beta! ModMaker Weapons Editor for Torque is a stand alone application designed to give the end-user the ability to edit specific attributes of a weapon model for the Torque Game Engine. Entirely written in Torque Script, the editor includes several key features to make your life easier. These include:

General Weapon editing:
Ammo/Projectile editing
Predefined animation scripts
Model View and First Person View
Select Fire Modes
Change the loaded texture
Select which crosshair to use
Select which scope overlay to use
Select which sound files to use
Add model accessories, i.e. scopes, silencers
Adjust the XYZ coordinates for the Eyepoint Offset for the first person view
Preview animations
Set the state delay or rate of fire
Set the Projectile Data, damage, velocity clipsize
Adjust zoom level for sniper mode
Automatic generation of all needed scripts to make a fully functional weapon in TGE
Designed to work with ModMaker Weapon Packs

Assault Rifle Weapons Pack nears completion

Mike Pearson — 2006-11-28T17:36:40+00:00

Good News! Our first content pack, ModMaker Weapons Pack 1: Assault Rifles, is almost ready to ship. This is the first truly plug-n-play weapons pack of its kind for Toqure. Click on this link for more details and high-res pics.

ModMakerTM Weapons Pack 1: Assault Rifles

Hello World

Mike Pearson — 2006-10-16T17:19:26+00:00

Wow! That's an old line!!! Anyway, hello all. My name is Mike Pearson and this is my first of many blog entries. I've never been much into blogging but since my new company, NetGeos, is in the process of developing some great new tools for the Torque community I thought this would be a good way to get the word out.

Let me start by telling you a little bit about me...

This is my first endeavor into the game industry but I have been running or managing technology startup companies for most of my career. Some of the companies that I have either started or been a key member of include: ScannerX, DigitalStakeout, Linux Labs, ISS and SecureWorks. As you might glean from this list of companies, most of my career has been in the information security space.

I have been an avid gamer since my first TRS-80 and pretty much from the first time I played a game I wanted to change or make modifications to it. Consequently, modding has been a passion of mine for many years and I was delighted the first time I came across TGE. I thought to myself, "Finally I can make my own game", but after several hours of reading and hacking through code I realized that, although TGE is a great platform and toolkit for making games, it's still not for the non-developer. That's when I decided to start making tools that will allow anyone to get up and running fast in the Torque environment.

As I said before my new company is called NetGeos, www.netgeos.com, and our product brand is ModMaker, www.modmaker.net. I don't want to give out too many spoilers just yet but suffice to say you're gona like what we have.

That's about all for now but I'll be posting some development snapshots soon. mpearson@netgeos.com