next »

[nihilocrat]

New techdemo. It involves a 1v1 against an active AI opponent. Don't worry, he is too stupid right now to shoot down your missiles, but he'll still launch them at you. Your missiles can be launched at 300 km, because of the way I coded the weapons I can't currently tell the player that when they try to fire a weapon and fail because it's out of range. Your laser has a range of 100km, and you need to target missiles with the MISL button before you can shoot them down with the M301. I didn't suspect the gameplay would be nearly this twichty (you've only got about 10 seconds between when a missile gets in range of your lasers, and it scoring a hit on you), I am probably going to increase the distances and weapon ranges even more for the final version.

Because of my gimpy object-removal system, there are still a lot of loose ends, so don't be surprised if the game crashes when you are killed or you kill the other guy.

I included all of the .dlls that OGRE brings along with itself, so it /really should/ work. If for some reason it still doesn't, then you can try to a) install OpenAL, and b) find and put msvcr80.dll and msvcp80.dll in the same directory as the game. Otherwise, I have no clue.

[Fuzz]

I included all of the .dlls that OGRE brings along with itself, so it /really should/ work. If for some reason it still doesn't, then you can try to a) install OpenAL, and b) find and put msvcr80.dll and msvcp80.dll in the same directory as the game. Otherwise, I have no clue.

msvcr80.dll and msvcp80.dll are already in the same directory as the game. Still doesn't work, even after I installed OpenAL. It's possible I don't have the right drivers/graphics card/something, though.

[nihilocrat]

Well, I guess I could look into copying over all the .pyd's as well, or properly installing Python-Ogre into my Python distribution, instead of having it as a standalone directory like it installs itself. Just like last time, I am digging deeper and trying new things, but at the same time I've got to keep developing the game.

Thanks for constantly downloading the new builds and trying them out, it's probably a real pain.

[Fuzz]

Well, I guess I could look into copying over all the .pyd's as well, or properly installing Python-Ogre into my Python distribution, instead of having it as a standalone directory like it installs itself. Just like last time, I am digging deeper and trying new things, but at the same time I've got to keep developing the game.

Thanks for constantly downloading the new builds and trying them out, it's probably a real pain.

Only when I get desperate and try things like downloading the latest DirectX and finding that nothing has changed (which I just did).

[nihilocrat]

edit: Crap. Didn't realize you could also try downloading + installing this: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=32bc1bee-a3f9-4c13-9c99-220b62a191ee&displaylang=en

Try that before the stuff below:

I guess another desperate thing to do is replicate my development environment. Obviously, I don't want to force people to do this, but hey, push has come to shove.

Install Python 2.5, Python-Ogre 1.6.1, and might as well install py2exe as well. Here are the links:
http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.5.4/python-2.5.4.msi
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/python-ogre/Python-Ogre-1.6.1-r845-py252.exe
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/py2exe/py2exe-0.6.9.win32-py2.5.exe

Install them in their default directories, and in the order presented.

[Fuzz]

Shit. I was halfway through downloading OGRE when you edited that. I'm trying it now.

EDIT: The Visual C++ 2005 installer was acting up.

[nihilocrat]

Thanks for taking my invitation anyways, .

I've managed to program a slightly hacky scene-changing system. There's now a main menu which successfully transitions into the game!



Also, I've just noticed that my method of coloring ships via materials is actually pretty bad for performance, it requires a material switch, which I think requires a seperate batch sent to the graphics card. Not too concerned for the compo version, but for later versions and especially for later games with the same engine, I need to find a better method.

[Mikademus]

New techdemo. It involves a 1v1 against an active AI opponent. Don't worry, he is too stupid right now to shoot down your missiles, but he'll still launch them at you. Your missiles can be launched at 300 km, because of the way I coded the weapons I can't currently tell the player that when they try to fire a weapon and fail because it's out of range. Your laser has a range of 100km, and you need to target missiles with the MISL button before you can shoot them down with the M301. I didn't suspect the gameplay would be nearly this twichty (you've only got about 10 seconds between when a missile gets in range of your lasers, and it scoring a hit on you), I am probably going to increase the distances and weapon ranges even more for the final version.

Because of my gimpy object-removal system, there are still a lot of loose ends, so don't be surprised if the game crashes when you are killed or you kill the other guy.

I included all of the .dlls that OGRE brings along with itself, so it /really should/ work. If for some reason it still doesn't, then you can try to a) install OpenAL, and b) find and put msvcr80.dll and msvcp80.dll in the same directory as the game. Otherwise, I have no clue.

Ｔｈｅｓｅ　ｐｒｏｂｌｅms usually are due to that the app is compiled in debug mode. While you can distribute Ogre debug DLLs there are no MSVS debug redistributables, so it won't work for someone who hasn't got VStudio installed. The solution of course is to compile in release mode.

The again, it might be something completely different...

[nihilocrat]

Debug/release doesn't enter into it, I'm using Python-Ogre, which most definitely packs Release versions of the DLLs.

Based on what I read on the Python-Ogre forums, I think the VC redistributable is the key here that I'm missing. I will include it with the game and advise people to run it before running the game. It's actually the VC 2008 redist, not 2005, so the link in my last post is probably bad, you should use this instead: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9b2da534-3e03-4391-8a4d-074b9f2bc1bf&displaylang=en

I think this package alleviates the need for people to actually install Visual Studio (which I haven't! Code::blocks and GCC, please) to use DLLs that link to the VS runtime. So, it's /sort of/ what you were talking about

Somewhat related to this, it seems that there are no recent binary builds of Python-Ogre for Mac or Linux. Putting it all together and compiling is apparently a little complicated, more complex than just untar/configure/make. If I get bored, I will look into building it on my virtual Ubuntu box. Hopefully, I don't have to compile Ogre itself from scratch, and can just use release binaries sitting around somewhere. I plan to use my codebase / hacked-together engine here for future projects, so it's important for me in the long term to support Mac OS X and Linux, I just probably won't get around to it for the compo.

[Fuzz]

It works!
You were right about it being the VC '08 redist.

[nihilocrat]

It works!
You were right about it being the VC '08 redist.

Hells fucking yeah.
If you can't tell, it drove me up the wall, I'm a little embarassed it was something so stupidly simple.

[Fuzz]

Are there any enemy ships right now? Because I can't find any.

[Pishtaco]

It gets as far as changing the resolution, and then crashes, for me. For what it's worth, I think I have the express edition of visual C++ 2008 and the IDE installed. I'm not sure what state it's in; I was messing about with installing and uninstalling things when I was trying to get that particle engine for python to work that seemed to need compiling from source.

[Mikademus]

It works!
You were right about it being the VC '08 redist.

Hells fucking yeah.
If you can't tell, it drove me up the wall, I'm a little embarassed it was something so stupidly simple.

Don't feel bad about it, I had the same problem and it took me (and my team) a bloody month to track down the problem. And it was worse since we used debug binaries, and of course, there AREN'T any VStudio debug DLL redistros, so we assumed that we should use the vanilla redistro...

[nihilocrat]

Are there any enemy ships right now? Because I can't find any.

Should be, you need to target them. You won't be able to actually see them, of course. Eventually he should start closing with you and launch missiles at you. It might crash at some point during the exchange, I'm still figuring out what all I need to do to prevent all of them.

[Fuzz]

Are there any enemy ships right now? Because I can't find any.

Should be, you need to target them. You won't be able to actually see them, of course. Eventually he should start closing with you and launch missiles at you. It might crash at some point during the exchange, I'm still figuring out what all I need to do to prevent all of them.

Oh, right, it's really hard sci-fi.

EDIT: Wait, then what were those screencaps of spaceships at the beginning of the topic for?

[nihilocrat]

EDIT: Wait, then what were those screencaps of spaceships at the beginning of the topic for?

'Cause I had fun making them, instead of just making little flying cubes. Yeah, it feels like a buzzkill for me too.

In the process of patching up bugs, I am going to experiment with 3d overlays, so that you get to see the models of the ships in your targetting display. I'll at least try to make some static screenshots to accompany the targetting screen, which should liven up the display and make it easier to distinguish various targets.

The next game I make will definitely feature visible targets. ... I've actually got three ideas, two of them would use my existing engine, but I'll worry about those after compo end and a one-or-so-week siesta.

The first one is the Gravitar-themed game I posted mockups for earlier in the thread.

The second is a submarine warfare sim... occurring in the subsurface ocean that is believed to exist under Europa's crust. Not sure if this is the greatest idea, as it would be very dark and bleak, the only likely life being the kind that requires no sunlight.

The third is basically a Privateer/Elite clone of some description, but in the form of a flight sim. Hard War is a game that basically does this, but it's much more of a Descent-style sim as you are flying through tunnels and dodging buildings and such. I would want something closer to a proper flight sim.

If I want to make yet another "hard" game, it might be set on the surface of Mars. Please correct me if I'm wrong with any of this: Jet engines wouldn't work on Mars because of the largely carbon dioxide atmosphere, and I could suspect that liquid hydrogen/oxygen for rockets is difficult to produce in mass quantities with available resources. However, solar and nuclear power would be relatively easy to create, so the flying machines of Mars might actually be electric propeller-driven planes. Combat might be like some bizarre red-tinted re-enactment of World War 2.

I'm sort of burnt out from thinking about making games realistic, so I'll probably just go for something light and fun, with combat occurring chiefly WITHIN visual range.

[Mikademus]

The second is a submarine warfare sim... occurring in the subsurface ocean that is believed to exist under Europa's crust. Not sure if this is the greatest idea, as it would be very dark and bleak, the only likely life being the kind that requires no sunlight.

Oh, I don't know Europa is under heavy stress from Jupiter's gravity which could very well cause sub-surface tectonics and volcanic activity enough to provide a nice ambience. Of course, the first early Europa life-forms that developed artificial light and rudimentary photosensors had some survival benefits, so nowadays the sub-crust oceans are swimming with huge luminescent floaters, globules and sponges, some semi-sentient, other home to diverse colonies, and some providing excellent symbiotic havens for human habitation. 

[jute]

The second is a submarine warfare sim... occurring in the subsurface ocean that is believed to exist under Europa's crust. Not sure if this is the greatest idea, as it would be very dark and bleak, the only likely life being the kind that requires no sunlight.

This sounds great.

[Will Vale]

Had time to try 0.0.4 and it all works for me (except possibly music?) I was able to maneuver and destroy one of the enemies.

Things I like:

* I was playing in a darkened environment, and when I turned toward the lightsource the darkened cockpit made the whole room feel darker. Spooky!

* The voice is a great idea.

Bugs:

* No music?

* If you fire lots of missiles the target list overflows the top left display.

* I couldn't use the mouse (laptop trackpad) to look around or to rotate the ship, although the buttons worked. I'm reasonably sure this was OK in an earlier version though.

Looking forward to updates,

Will