Demon model (Blendswap)

[charlie]

http://www.blendswap.com/3D-models/characters/demon/

[Danimal]

Nice, but i think its too high poli, and getting it to a usable model would be a lot of work. And that is exactly one of the main problems of this project, an almost lack of dedicated modellers, who update the graphics from time to time and search for usable models around to add. So any model you may post will most surely sail their way to oblivion.
Yes, im being very critical, i know code is more important, but without anything "shiny" to show around, you wont be getting many new collaborators nor fans, just look at WFTO, they can varely move around their diggers, but it is far more known than OD. And as i said once before you cant see code lines while playing, and if you dont like what you see, you wont be coming back.
So while the project may be advancing a lot (normals and stuff) you only show up 3 or 4 decent creatures and a really ugly lava texture.

No offense, but as you can see, if only one person of the dedicated team lose its interest (like Skorpio, to some extent) the project becames stagnant in that field. OD needs a facelift urgently.

[oln]

Ideally, we need some work done so people can test models in the game without having to change the code. (Or rename model files.) We barely started on definition files for the creatures, we should also consider making other models configurable in some way, but I know that at least I am not going to be able to work on any code for quite a while (my arms are totally ruined at the moment, it's painful just to write this post), and it seems Stefan and svenskmand are quite busy as well. (Basically we could use a new programmer.)
At the same time, as danimal is saying, we don't have a whole lot to show off, so it's hard to get contributors. So we are kind of stuck in a bad loop at the moment.
Though what we can do is at least alter the default level file, and if we happen to find some nicer looking models, replace some of the current ones, maybe we could make things look a bit nicer. (Unfortunately, setting normal maps is still hard-coded.)

[svenskmand]

But even if we had modelers we do not have any tasks to give them, since we have not decided on the majority of creatures at all. And we do not have any concept art to give the artists so they know what to make. I think that is also one of the reasons why Skorpio have not been so active lately. If he makes something there is very low probability that we will use it since we are undecided on which creatures we want and how they should look. For WFTO they have allot of concept art that is done and a very gifted modeler making models from the concept art. But on the other hand as you says they lack allot code-wise. Also what good is it to have something shiny if it justs sits there looking at you without doing anything interesting, when people realize that they just move along.

So what do we need to move forward:

1. Decide on the creatures for every faction
2. Make concept art for them
3. Decide on attacks and spells for the creatures
4. Give them proper stats (health, damage, etc.)
5. Make models from the concept art
6. Animate the models
7. Implement tools in the engine to
   
   1. See animations
   2. Sync audio to animations
   3. Adjust audio volumes
   4. Place lights in the game

So how do we achieve all this? Well I have a list again:

1. Decide which creatures to have
2. Decide which attacks and spells they should have
3. Find concept artists
4. Make concept art for them
5. Find modelers
6. Make the models from the concept art

Along with that we need to also work on the code to get all the stuff, mentioned in point 7 of the first list, implemented, and for that we need more coders.

Deciding on which creatures to have is the first thing, and we can begin that now. Likewise for deciding on which attacks they should have. Then we need to recruit concept artists. I can draw concept art, and make it look pretty good (in black and white at least, I do not have much experience with colors), but I am not very fast at drawing, since I do not do it much.

I am in this project because I would like to see a FOSS Dungeon Keeper/Evil Genius like game and because I would like to learn more about game development. So therefore I would also like to learn new stuff, some of them is to be better at drawing concept art (and doing it faster) along with making 3d models. Also I would like to get some familiarity with C++ on a large scale project like this. I can program Java, but since I am doing theoretical computer science I do not code on a daily basis and I do not have much exposure to C++. But I now how to do software architecture and how to design code well (I have had courses, but not been working in large projects).

[StefanP.MUC]

Yes, currently I'm rather busy. Additionally I'd first like to find this thread bug (or whatever it is). Currently I can't play the game. Only the map editor works. We definitly could need some more programmers. Maybe we should revert the refactoring for the time being and release the binary before the GameEntity refactoring (and then try refactoring in smaller steps that allow better and more detailed testing).

I think I also can find some time in the next days and write some more on the new website. We should switch as quick as we can to the new site. Then we can write some blog posts (FGD Planet! ) and tell the people what we need.

About the graphics I sadly can't help (I even have a slight color weakness). But I find the current graphics rather good (except the lava texture, this is ugly).

[svenskmand]

Even though your colorblind (have a color weakness) you can still make concept art in black and white, so if you have an idea for how a creature should look then try to make something and post it. Then at least we know what your think the creature should look like, and then we can also begin to work on that. But for the time being I would prefer if you work on the code as you have been a tremendous help in that area

Later tonight I will try and see if I can find an idea to work around the problem with the borders.

[StefanP.MUC]

You don't want to see my concept art, believe me. Even stick figures would be better to use as a sketch for 3D models. And with coding I have much more fun, anyways.

[oln]

Yes, currently I'm rather busy. Additionally I'd first like to find this thread bug (or whatever it is). Currently I can't play the game. Only the map editor works. We definitly could need some more programmers. Maybe we should revert the refactoring for the time being and release the binary before the GameEntity refactoring (and then try refactoring in smaller steps that allow better and more detailed testing).

It seems this might be the only option unless we can find the issue. Though still, it wasn't a large change, I still don't understand what can have caused this issue.

[svenskmand]

Could you shine some light on what "The Thread Bug" is? Is it a concurrency problem?

[oln]

viewtopic.php?f=45&t=1984&p=20278

Basically, stefan is getting a crash after starting a game, but it seems to not happen in the same place every time. I am not getting the crash.
I would suspect that it could be from the render manager trying to access the creature objects at the same time as the creature AI thread is using it (or vice versa.)

[svenskmand]

Does one or both of the render manager thread or the AI thread change the creature object? It sounds like a concurrency problem. I am guessing it will go away in the new thread model. But right now it is of course a problem :S

[StefanP.MUC]

Maybe this is even a platform dependent bug (because not everyone has it)? I use Win7 64 Bit.

[oln]

The render thread (main thread) isn't changing the object I think. The ai one is though.

[svenskmand]

But even though just one is changing the object that might still give trouble. Say the AI thread deletes a resource that the render thread has a reference to, then it segfaults.