Who is still here

[Bodsda]

I've read a lot of the stuff on AIgamedev and it is quite a good site, I'll have to check out the wolfire blog entry though, that looks interesting. As much as I hate to put a damper on things though not only do I need help with the AI aspects, what I REALLY need is help working on the code itself. For a game of the complexity of what we are hoping to do it is not possible for a single person to do all of it. There are already things I am having trouble doing in the code that a second person to bounce ideas off of/contributing code fixes would greatly improve the situation; and these issues will only become more common as the development progresses.

The code is layed out pretty cleanly and is very thoroughly documented. Between this and me helping via skype, etc I think I can get any co-developers up to speed very quickly. As i said, I hate to be a downer, but I cannot justify any further contributions of my time to the codebase without the knowledge that there will be others sharing the burden. I am fully aware that this project is too big for me to handle alone so if no one else steps up to help then I am just wasting my time (and all of yours) because we will never be able to finish it with only me coding.

When I joined this project alienwolf was the one writing the code. He disappeared and so I decided to take over the programming, and I made this decision based on the interest in the project, both in the content development and statements by people who were also interested in coding. Although many people have provided a lot of help with game content and the build system (both of which I am truly grateful for) there has been no one else working on the code itself.

I don't want to give the impression that I am unhappy with how the project has progressed, I have been continually impressed by the dedication that others have put into this project. My only concern is one of my own limitations, without coding help all of the beautiful models, gameplay ideas, and story development we have put together will be useless as I will be unable to pull all that together with the codebase by myself. I hope we can resolve this issue so the code can start moving forward again, but as I said IF the project is destined for failure than I cannot devote any more time to it.

-Buck

Hi Andrew - Everyone,

Good to see people are still here. I thought this was gonna fall over when the las forum died. Anyway, lets get back on track. If there was anyway I could contribute python code to this project, I would jump on the chance straight away. If not, then I guess im gonna have to dust off my C++ tuto URL's and get back to business. I'd be happy to help work on the code Andrew, but I am probably gonna need a fair bit of guidance and mentoring from yourself.

In the meantime I think I'm gonna carry working on the installer install-od.py and get that working.

Andrew, if you want to get in touch with me about the code, email me at bodsda at gmail dot com.

Bodsda

[qubodup]

Maybe we should try to make something like a demo for advertising. Just a very simplified but playable version of the final game, so that people can get an idea of it, and perhaps some will join the project. Digging works already, doesn't it? Then we could add some creatures which spawn automatically for fighting and a dungeon heart as the mission objective and the demo would be complete. I guess it would be similar to a hide-and-seek (and kill ) game. Creating such a demo is probably more difficult than it sounds, but easier than trying to make a playable full game version. And this could become an alternative game mode in the finished version.

A demo is always a good idea. If fighting is not implemented yet, I would suggest making the digging the center of the demo though: Dig to the hidden room, collect 1000 gold, create a 5x5 room.. those could be the objectives in such a demo. With time limits maybe.

If I recall correctly, the surface textures were sometimes less pretty than they have to be. Unless someone beats me to it , I will take a look at the latest revision and try to find/modify nicer textures in 2½ weeks.

[Bodsda]

Maybe we should try to make something like a demo for advertising. Just a very simplified but playable version of the final game, so that people can get an idea of it, and perhaps some will join the project. Digging works already, doesn't it? Then we could add some creatures which spawn automatically for fighting and a dungeon heart as the mission objective and the demo would be complete. I guess it would be similar to a hide-and-seek (and kill ) game. Creating such a demo is probably more difficult than it sounds, but easier than trying to make a playable full game version. And this could become an alternative game mode in the finished version.

A demo is always a good idea. If fighting is not implemented yet, I would suggest making the digging the center of the demo though: Dig to the hidden room, collect 1000 gold, create a 5x5 room.. those could be the objectives in such a demo. With time limits maybe.

If I recall correctly, the surface textures were sometimes less pretty than they have to be. Unless someone beats me to it , I will take a look at the latest revision and try to find/modify nicer textures in 2½ weeks.

There are a few problems with this idea already.

1) We don't have a 'correct' set of dependencies - unless ubuntu have fixed their packages in the latest release
2) This still requires many code changes

I do agree however, that it is a good idea and one that needs to be seriously considered.

Bodsda

[Andrew]

I really do need help with that aspect of it though as now we are getting into AI routines, etc, and I don't really know much about that.

My suggestion would be to go to the snake AI contest and ask for some code after the contest is over:

Although the AI is more specific towards the game snake I think it might be quite useful for your game since it also works on a grid system. Also most of the concepts are the same too. Move to an empty space, avoid dead ends, etc.

[andrewbuck]

Well, I am glad to see that most everyone is still here and still interested in the project. I have been thinking a bit about what I said before regarding the code and realize that the statement I made was a bit too strong. I do however stand by my statement that we need more than one code developer, the codebase is just going to be far too big for a single developer to handle by the time we get to a more finished state.

Because of the continued interest in the project I have finally gotten off my ass and done a bit more work on the code. Thus far it is only a few bug fixes but I have some ideas for the creation of a "digging demo" as was suggested earlier in the thread. I hope to have some of that code working this weekend, although it may take me a while to get it operational. I will be committing the bugfixes into the git repo later tonight sometime and I also see that the master branch is quite a ways behind so I think I will pull that up to the latest development version as it seems to be pretty stable.

If I recall correctly, the surface textures were sometimes less pretty than they have to be. Unless someone beats me to it , I will take a look at the latest revision and try to find/modify nicer textures in 2½ weeks.

That would be cool, all the level tiles are stored on my computer in a blender file, if you want the file or want to get me some better textures I would be happy to use them (remember the project is open source so we need either GPL compatible or creative commons textures).

-Buck

[svenskmand]

Hi Andrew - Everyone,

Good to see people are still here. [...]
Bodsda

Likewise , I hope we will spend much time working on the backstory . I will look at it again in a month tops, I am a little busy right now. Also I will make concept art as I think that when the need for developers is satisfied what we should focus on is a coherent visual style, as I think most open-source project have artwork that look more like a zoo of free textures and models than the coherent visual style there is in commercial games.

Again I am happy we are getting back on track

[svenskmand]

There has been pretty dead in here lately :S Well I will try and finish up the coding of the alignment system proposal I made, and get a jar file up so people can easily test it

[Skorpio]

I'm here. Was away for a while and now I'm kind of uninspired. I'm not sure where I should continue and how I could motivate myself.

[svenskmand]

It has been quite some time since last, yes, but nice that you are back

So what are your interests beside 3d modeling? You could help with the backstory, that would be nice, or give it at shot at making some ambient music. The music does not need to be perfect, but it would be nice to have at least as a placeholder until we make something really nice

But I think that we need to develop the backstory a bit more before we do too much modeling, unless you want to make creatures for the humans or undead, as these factions are very well know in fantasy.

When/if you decide on something them remember to update the wiki-page on who is doing what, and also state what you will work on so there is not two people working on the same thing

You could also compile a list of sound effects that need to be made. I have made 3 and have 2 pending, but after that I do not know which sounds to make. I might make the Kobold claiming sound.

PS: you mentioned that you had some music software, can you tell me the name of the software?

PS^2: how is it going with the tentacle creature? have you made some more animations?

PS^3: congratulations you are the lucky winner of post 1500 in this forum

[Bodsda]

Sorry I have been away recently guys. Got some pretty exciting stuff happening in real world. But, I am still here and will keep contributing when I have the time. I hope you guys are all still up for continuing.

Bodsda

[svenskmand]

I am always up

[Skorpio]

Hmm sound could be interesting, maybe I'll try to produce some ambient sounds or music.

You could also compile a list of sound effects that need to be made. I have made 3 and have 2 pending, but after that I do not know which sounds to make. I might make the Kobold claiming sound.

Yeah, such a list would be helpful. We also need to make a complete list for the animations.

PS: you mentioned that you had some music software, can you tell me the name of the software?

Reason.

PS^2: how is it going with the tentacle creature? have you made some more animations?

I had to redo the walk animation because I forgot to apply the rotation of the model. I also made some other basic animations and a sneeze animation. I'm not sure how it should attack, though.

PS^3: congratulations you are the lucky winner of post 1500 in this forum

Yay! I think Andrew had the 1000th post.

[svenskmand]

Hmm sound could be interesting, maybe I'll try to produce some ambient sounds or music.

I look forward to hearing it

[dyosa]

Well its my first time here. its seems that lot of people are active with this. I feel i will have great time here and meet some new friends.

[svenskmand]

dyosa: Nice to see a new face in here , please introduce yourself here, you can state what you think will be your main area for contributions, or if you are just a casual lurker (which is also fine)