FreeGameDev

I hope fr1tz continues this thread

For today:


Really like the purple ocean

A little experimentation with slightly different CAT looks:


Some experimentation with weapon aesthetics:

I LOVE the first and the last weapon.

Awesome This is turning out even better than expected with the graphics update. Anything you need a hand with 3D model wise?

Anything you need a hand with 3D model wise?

Basically everything

I'm leaving the CATs alone for now, but all the weapons are up for grabs (including adding new ones).

Also models for the environment would be neat. Both structures on which actual gameplay happens as well as stuff meant to be visible in the background (for example towers like this: http://www.planetvideo.com.au/blog/assets_c/2010/11/Tron-thumb-450x208-2900.jpg)

Julius {l Wrote}:Awesome This is turning out even better than expected with the graphics update. Anything you need a hand with 3D model wise?

I believe fr1tz hinted at allowing people to choose from variety of different player models, though I could just be speculating.

fr1tz {l Wrote}:Also models for the environment would be neat. Both structures on which actual gameplay happens as well as stuff meant to be visible in the background (for example towers like this: http://www.planetvideo.com.au/blog/assets_c/2010/11/Tron-thumb-450x208-2900.jpg)

Yeah something easy and static to start with would be nice. However for those back-ground towers: I don't believe Torque3D has 3D skyboxes support at the moment.

Etherboarding:


Skidding:

Hmm... the skidding effect looks a bit like broken glass. I guess I'd have to see a video of it to judge. I thought the old skidding effect was just about perfect mind you.

As for the etherboard, it looks great, but personally, I think the trail is too strong an indicator that a player is etherboarding. Coming from RotC, I typically associate lines that trail players with the virtual form of the cats. Ideally, the trail behind players in virtual mode and the etherboard trail effect should not be very simliar.

The etherboard trail is only when boarding close to the ground. Should be hard to mistake for an etherform trail, but I guess we'll see

The skidding should look like broken glass If you listen to the skidding sound in ROTC you'll hear glass being grinded.

from the distance the vertical effect is most important imho.
a big glowing ball under the feet seemed like a good idea to me

So I've been working on a deathmatch map experimenting with the spawning process...

This shows the "heap" (blue), where players spawn and the entry to the arena (yellow):


Players spawn as CAT, fall down and get funneled through a small tunnel that can be used to have them automatically pick up some starting items:


At the end of the funnel the CAT is being "compressed" into a packet and sent down a "pipe" into the arena (the pipe is not yet visualized):


The ride down the pipe:


At the end of the pipe the CAT gets "decompressed" and the actual game starts:


CAT posing for the camera:

Started work on per-object palette-based colorization:

Looks great! Does it allow for pulsating or morphing colors?

By the way: I kind of liked that hexagon textured terrain and I am also not so sure about the extreme low-poly look of it in the latest screenshots. Smooth rolling hills are cool for a fast movement game

With the current implementation pulsating/morphing colors are possible but a little heavy on the bandwidth.

The lack of smooth rolling hills is just for this particular map. Plus the surrounding "eyecandy" terrain has to be low-poly for performance reasons.

fr1tz {l Wrote}:With the current implementation pulsating/morphing colors are possible but a little heavy on the bandwidth.

Well, if it's on the player models it would just be client-side, right? No need to trasmit it over the wire.

Evropi {l Wrote}:Well, if it's on the player models it would just be client-side, right? No need to trasmit it over the wire.

There is currently no way to animate it without using quite a lot of bandwidth because there's no client-side palette-animation interface, meaning every change to an object's palette would force the entire palette to be re-transmitted to the client.

Messing around with bots:

Movement trails:

Linux version now uses the portable menu bar & file dialog. These two are implemented mostly in script with a bit of engine glue. File dialog doesn't work properly yet, but the menu bar seems to work ok.

Throwing up random screenshot because I haven't posted anything here in a while.


I've been sick the last week, but development should pick up again now.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a disc!

Porting the zones went smoother than expected so far. The rendering currently still suffers from clipping issues, but they work

Started work on first Ethernet map. Looks kinda familiar

Just a few improvements/tweaks later and things already start to look surprisingly decent: