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Post by Physicscoder on Jul 16, 2004 2:23:54 GMT 1
I'm working on a 1-player 3d tank game using Walaber's Newton physics wrapper. The game is not done, but will need beta testers in a couple of weeks. Currently, there is a level editor in which you can place, rotate, and scale walls, and a place spawn points for the tanks. The controls is a simple WASD and enter for shoot. The right now the CPs attack the nearest player, if the CP and the player don't have los, the CP makes a realtime path with A* and follows it until it's in los with the player, Realtime as in, the target is always on the move, so the path is updated every couple of seconds. Also, a lot of variables are saved in an external file, which means the user can control the speed of the tanks, the speed of the missiles, the screen resolution, the way the camera follows the player, and more. This is the first real 3d game I'm made with DBPro, even though I've been programming in DBP since before it came out. The newton wrapper is used for: -Sliding collision between the tanks and the walls -Cool impact force on tanks when a missile hits them -Sliding collision between the camera and the walls -Easy physics for the tanks, just needed to add accelerate and turn functions and friction. My website (luke.dbspot.com) is updated almost daily(but won't be during my vacation next week) with the lastest stuff. Here are some screens:   As you can see, it's still very early in development. So far all the tank models I've found on the web have been in a format other than .x or .3ds, and the ones that are in .3ds don't load properly in DBPro. |
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Post by Kjelle69 on Jul 16, 2004 4:11:24 GMT 1
looking nice! I saw this project just a few days ago on your website.
are the tanks just cubes right now?
with the next release of Newton, there will be a special system for vehicles, you could probably make a very realistic\exciting tank system with it.
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Post by Physicscoder on Jul 17, 2004 0:56:24 GMT 1
thanks for the feedback
yeah, for now, but that will change.
I'm also going to change the textures of the ground and walls until I'm happy with them, so far programming the core gameplay is more important to me than making it look pretty. I might add a skybox or something else cool.
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Post by Physicscoder on Jul 17, 2004 5:19:31 GMT 1
I added fully functional health and ammo spawn points to the game. Two new screens:   I changed some textures for the fun of it. Now 28 game variables are loaded from an external text file. Check my site for more info on the updates. See ya next week.  |
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Post by Physicscoder on Jul 25, 2004 6:36:58 GMT 1
Hey I'm back from Denver, Colorado. I had a lot of free time and I just so happened to bring my laptop(it was actually by dad's idea, lol). I also had no internet access so I spent most of the time programming. Since last week the game has become fully playable, though far from complete.
Over the week cable internet was installed and it only works on my brother's computer, and not the LAN. So I can't show any screen shots tonight.
It is now easy to load a map by selecting it from a list of all the maps found in a directory. When you save a map in the editor, it automatically creates a preview screens shot which is shown when you're selecting a map(Like in Jedi Academy) You can also set the kill limit and time limit of the game and set the amount of Computer-controlled players(Like in Jedi Academy). The pause menu functions almost exactly like Jedi Academy with the buttons: About, Join(not quite functional), Profile, Add Bot(not functional), Controls, Setup, Score board, Exit. I've tried to make everything a user friendly interface(like in Jedi Academy). I ended up writing my own menu system for this game, so a button changes color when your mouse is over it or clicks it.
The player can set the controls (Like in Jedi Academy). I like WASD movement and enter for shoot, and my cousins liked arrowkeys and space for shoot. The user will be able to set any keys for movement and shoot.
You can set the screen res (Like in Jedi Academy) to: 640x480,800x600,or 1024x768; and the 16 or 32-bit depth(Though I've never really noticed the difference)
The score board is displayed almost like that in Jedi Academy, press tab or press "Score board" in the pause menu to view it. The scores are sorted with the highest score on top and the rest of the players in desending order.
The AI is far from done. Right now the AI use A* to go to and attack the nearest/weakest player and do not get ammo or health packs. Each AI is given a randomly selected name from a file; the player can set his/her name with the profile button in the pause menu. I bet you're thinking "why would anyone want to type in his name, the computer players don't care." Well, maybe it is a little pointless, but it's there, your name is shown in the score board, and the AI say your name sometimes, in the next paragraph.
The AI say things when they kill or get killed(Like in Jedi Academy). This adds realism to the AI as they can say "Ahhh!" when they die or one of the other randomly selected die messages. Also they AI can replace <other_name> with the name of the player the AI is talking to. So when you kill someone, they can say things like "I'll get you next time Luke!" or other funny things. It is easy to change what the Ai can say with because all the sayings are loaded through an external text file.
The game ends when the time limit is reach or the kill limit is reached. If the time limit is set to zero, the there is no time limit, same for kill limit. Whent he game ends, it shows the score board, after the user clicks the mouse another match will start up. If the user does not want to user the program any more or wants to play in a different level or will different end game rules, the player can pause the game and click the "Exit" button, this then shows "Main Menu","Restart Match", "Exit Program". clicking one of these will be followed by a confirmation questions and if answered yes, will be followed by the requested action.
Even though the AI is stupid, it is still hard to beat, as half the time it beats me.
Since the game is playable, as in you can easily play a match from beginning to end, I plan to release a beta-version of it by Wednesday. It is nearly ready, I just need to fix a minor, almost unnoticable bug with the AI, which should be easy. And make it so it says "You've picked up Ammo" when you get ammo, same for health packs, sort of like in Jedi Academy.
Features not included in beta:
Spectator Mode
AI difficulty settings
Ability to name each AI bot
Ability to add a new bot during mid gameplay(thinking of not having this feature at all if it's too hard to add)
Ability to turn off sound effects, just turn off the speakers if you don't like the shoot sound, though sound adds realism to the game...
Known bugs:
When you have a time limit, the timer keeps ticking when you pause the game.
When you first start the program, if you change the screen res and then start a match, the camera fov will be the normal fov instead of the user-definable fov.
And maybe with cable internet I might be able to find a free tank model on the internet,(before it was like painfully long to load a webpage)
At 800x600 it's possible to get 50fps when playing against 2 AI players, more than that at 640x480. Also the AI players run A* constently which will change to like once every 10 seconds when I start to add the real AI code(which will take planning).
So now you're up-to-date with the progress on the game.
-luke
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Post by Physicscoder on Jul 26, 2004 3:40:36 GMT 1
My website has 9 new screen shots of the game.
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Post by Kjelle69 on Jul 26, 2004 4:37:28 GMT 1
the game is looking better and better!! It's a shame I'll be out of town until August 4th, I'll miss your demo release!
I'll be sure to give it a try when I get back. ;D
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Post by Kjelle69 on Aug 13, 2004 1:52:24 GMT 1
I finally got a chance to play the (now kind of old) beta!
fantastic work!! the tank controls are very nice, and the overall presentation is superb!
Are you intending on using Newton to handle the bullet trajectory as well, or leave it as is?
I'm looking forward to the next demo with the tank models and other improvements
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Post by Physicscoder on Aug 13, 2004 4:38:33 GMT 1
Thanks for trying it . "Are you intending on using Newton to handle the bullet trajectory as well, or leave it as is?" I intend to leave it as is. The physics wrapper is great for the tank collisions and would be good if I ever make something like grenades that would bounce off the walls realisticly. I'm guessing the next beta is still a week away as there is a lot of things to be added. I want to make the AI a bit better and add a tank explosion sound and animation, cus right now they mysteriously disappear. |
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Post by wowposter on Nov 8, 2008 13:49:36 GMT 1
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