FreeGameDev

General question about platforms in Red Eclipse...

Platforms exist in the Cube2 engine (sauerbraten) but are only accesible with the single player modes, just like the door mechanics of certain mapmodels, although; RE does in fact have animated doors that can be controlled in the multiplayer modes too, which is awesome. Would it be possible to get platforms to sync between clients in a multiplayer game? Has this been tried in the past or is there a limitation of some kind?

If they could be added at some point in the future. I personally think, these could add alot more variety to gameplay, and make for some very interesting matches.
Much like the doors, they would ideally be linked to a trigger that can be proximity or action.

Most of the settings for a platform could be similar to mapmodels, although with the inclusion of something like:
"travel" - 0..100000000 the maximum amount of units a platform will travel until it stops (or goes in the opposite direction, as opposed to using clip like Sauerbraten)
"direction" - x,y,z axis; etc.



Would allow for moving walls, vertical lifts, horizontal platforms, could also apply to some ambient objects like a piece of machinery traversing a wall, or making boxes/crates have the illusion of bobbing in water.

Just a bunch of ideas really, but i would like to know if there's the possibility of them being added in the future.

This is already on the tracker, along with the shooting entity/destructibles/hurt material and others;

Yeah, this one has been on my back-burner for a long time. When I converted triggers to be multiplayer compatible, I removed everything else that only worked offline. My goal has been to always provide everything in multiplayer. I have an idea on how to do this already (server blindly controls them by using a fixed tick rate), but have not had the motivation to do it due to lack of overall interest. RE also might be too fast for trying to coordinate with moving platforms.

Maybe too fast for normal gameplay (although I'm sure there are enough creative people here who could find some interesting usecases for moving platforms), but image how fun this could be in time trial!

Well i certainly agree that waiting for a platform to arrive for ages would probably break the flow a bit... still, if its speed can be configured, a platform can be a powerful alternate path, a nice decoration possibility or an interesting time trial enhancer. We'd need some more mapmodels that would support it though i think.

I maked a model yesterday for the moving platform.
I just need to texture it and its good to go, if it's of any use.

Didn't see it on the tracker when i searched through, although that's cool to hear it's already been thought about.... destructives too.

I don't think lifts/platforms would break the flow if used correctly (quake series has plenty of good examples). They can mostly be used to compensate for a lack of cover, some maps may use pillars or struts in the walls to confuse an opponent, say; running around trying to lose them. A lift can be a quick getaway to recover some health for example. They can be a tactical advantage if you know how/when to use them.

@Sniper-Goth
I haven't seen that program before, looks simplified compared to blender (which usually does my head in). What formats can you export models with? (md2, m3, md5, obj... etc)?

unixfreak {l Wrote}:I haven't seen that program before, looks simplified compared to blender (which usually does my head in). What formats can you export models with? (md2, m3, md5, obj... etc)?

Wings3D is the name of it, very easy to work with. You can do almost everything with the right mouse button
It exports to .ndo, .3ds, .bzw, .dae, .eps, .xml, .lwo/lxo, .obj, .pov, .rxw, .stl, .wrl, .x .

unixfreak {l Wrote}:A lift can be a quick getaway to recover some health for example. They can be a tactical advantage if you know how/when to use them.

A lift could bring you to a higher layer while blocking the way for an enemy who has to take a longer way. Maybe it is usefull in some cases.

Good and fair points, I'll play around with the idea after we release 1.5.

qreeves {l Wrote}:Good and fair points, I'll play around with the idea after we release 1.5.

Double yay!

Finally decided to uv map and texture the plattform i made.
I know its not the best thing i've pulled out, but it works :v
EDIT: Tested it on the map "mist", to see how it would look, and added a zip.