:?
This makes like the 100,000th space game project around here huh Irrisor? 
Yeah, but that's not the reason for the emoticon - when I posted it there was only a "reserved…", nothing else, in the first post…
@EmperorLiam: as I somewhat abandoned my own space game, I'm happy to play/test yours then (or darkfrogs of course, or one of that other 99,998) 
Yep, they are a dime a dozen, whether they are ever completed or not is another story!
I noticed a lot of people spend more time talking about their game than working on it, without a storyline at all I should avoid a fair bit of useless jibber gabber.
I've decided to leave texturing for later, since I really want to go with real time procedural texturing, probably will end up using the commercial product ProFX. Anyhow, I got a lot of things to take care of before I start programming full-time, laters!
Well I ended up helping my father renovate for most of January, so basically no progress yet, got a new graphics card though. Will spend the rest of this month helping my father, but March will be my month to program.
I'm going nutz with anticipation to start full time programming!
FYI EmperorLiam I'm currently working on a Java noise library that should include a bunch of procedural texturing stuff.
Progress is certainly slow but I seem to be getting there. I'll obviously be posting on the forum once I got something worth showing off.
Thats good to hear Hal, because I really want to go that route. What kinda unnerves me is that a project to make a procedural texturing tool half as good as ProFX is really beyond my abilities and time, but at the same time I just want it so damn bad. Its too early to tell if I will be going that route or not, but I should have a better idea by the end of March. Depending on what I accomplish between then and now I'll know if I can start that project.
I've started to use FengGUI, just learning the basics. It is still missing features I'd rather wait and let them add, so I'll use it knowing that it will be changing and improving with time. Definitely a major time saver, once I'm closer to release then I'll invest in making the interface perfect.
Although no where close to implementing AI, I checked out a few opensource projects out there. My professor always had little sayings for everything, and I've heard, "no point in re-inventing the wheel," probably a few hundred times, this game will definitely be a testament to that ideal, especially if I do fork out the $$$ for ProFX.
LWJGL, jME, jMEphysics, FengGUI integrated together so far.
Next I'm working on getting FmodEX into my game, I've already done that with a LWJGL only implentation a few months ago, so that should be done soon. After that I'll pack JGN in, getting a working client and server will take me a while, I want to implement complex networking ideas I developed in college… plus lots of testing to see if my networking ideas are as good as I like to think.
others have said 'stupid'
EmperorLiam said:
Thats good to hear Hal, because I really want to go that route. What kinda unnerves me is that a project to make a procedural texturing tool half as good as ProFX is really beyond my abilities and time, but at the same time I just want it so damn bad.
Mine too, thats why I'm coding something a 1/50th as good as ProFX (assuming I finish anything at all :P )
The only reason I started was because I have no artistic skills and figured generating images would be easier. Knowing someone else might be willing to use (and help test) something for me might give to the drive to carry on... but then again probably not, so basically don't hold your breath!
Well the Java api for FmodEx was temporarily offline (got it now though), so I took a peek at JGN. Couldn't find any tutorials for it, but read the feature list, I'm absolutely pleased that DarkFrog has covered a few of 'my' network ideas already. I'm glad to say he's not the only one that thought having UDP connections spew a few hundred outdated packets everytime someones computer lags for a second, causing others to lag is a bad idea. Also, he address's the physics networking EXACTLY how I wanted to, sending data about forces that act upon an object rather than just spewing XYZ coordinates. Thanks DarkFrog, you rock!
Everyone wants to make a seemingly lag free game, to address this you can focus on the networking code, but you can also focus on the game. Things such as missiles I figure are best launched with a 1 second delay so all other computers receive the info that missiles are launching/launched at X time, then very simple AI handles how the missiles act on each computer independently with only data such as, "missile lost target", "missile hit target", "missile destroyed," communicated between them. So the missiles will appear to follow their target according to the same AI on everyones computer, but each one would be actually slightly different due to lag dealing with the players XYZ coordinates. This means that players can aim and destroy missiles and on their screen it appears they are hitting them, but perhaps on another they appear to miss, now when they are destroyed they will blow up on everyones computer, but most importantly the person actually TRYING to destroy them didn't miss because of lag, this also cuts a lot of server traffic.
I'm aiming to make space fights a more mental task, instead of others where you just turn-aim-fire all the time. I was a huge fan of MechWarrior/BattleTech, so I'll have heat management, and mainly thruster fuel management, so that its more like flying games where you have to actually maneuver, not with just two guys going in a circle or worse just staring at each other firing. I also want a lot of ship design going on, your ship design will play to your talents. Playing on a 56k modem? Just suck at aiming? Well go nutz with missiles. Got wicked aim and ADSL, get chain guns. I always like a paper-rock-scissors kind of game, bring a ship with reactive armor, anti-missile defense, with lasers; to fight an opponent with reflective armor and chain guns… don't expect to win.
Anyhow, almost done some renovations I'm doing on two rooms, just got to spackle the ceilings, caulk the trim, paint, and clean up. After that I have the weekend to program, 5 days helping my father, and then hunkering down to program for DAYS and DAYS.
I'm not using physics in Galaxies Beyond because of certain limitations that imposes that I haven't been able to get around properly.
I'm in the process of developing a dead-reckoning system in JGN that will be used for synchronization of 3D objects as well as a positional adjuster system so the game never looks choppy (if it gets an update and an object is way off course it will slide there instead of just appearing where it should be - this helps dogfighting so you aren't chasing someone and the ship just disapears because you got a lag spike).
Well so much for full-time programming all of March! My uncle bought a house nearby, to renovate and sell. So I'm helping him out, and thats pretty much eats all my time till spring, when I then add an addition to my house… then in summer I'm landscaping, possibly building a garage, renovating the upstairs of my house, and then selling it. Then once I got the money I'm starting a lan cafe…
So I probably won't have a demo at the end of March… probably not till the end of fall. Oh well… when I have my lan cafe I will run it and program then, and maybe even find others to join my project. I'll still make some progress in my free time.
The house I'm helping renovate is a 1000 sq ft house. This house is 30 years old, NEVER been repainted or even slightly repaired. Even worse, is that it was absolutely full of garbage, the upstairs was emptied out by the relator's, but the basement is FULL, wall to wall. I've pulled out 12 vacuum cleaners! Theres tires, clothes, computers, tools, oil, jarred preservatives, toys, crafts, furniture, and all kinds of junk. My backs killing me!
I'll try to have a small demo done for march though.
darkfrog said:
I'm not using physics in Galaxies Beyond because of certain limitations that imposes that I haven't been able to get around properly.
I'm in the process of developing a dead-reckoning system in JGN that will be used for synchronization of 3D objects as well as a positional adjuster system so the game never looks choppy (if it gets an update and an object is way off course it will slide there instead of just appearing where it should be - this helps dogfighting so you aren't chasing someone and the ship just disapears because you got a lag spike).
Interesting. Yeah I did this in my networking code, it basically adds a little velocity to the physics object to move it to the correct position and rotation without snapping. However, I have just about given up on this concept. It seems like by "slowly" interpolating to the correct position I've introduced even more lag than is already present. How do you intend to deal with that extra lag? To me it appears to be a battle between smoothness and accuracy.
Hi
Over a network where you have latency of maybe 250ms, you are always in a compromise of accuracy over smoothness. At those latencies, accuracy just isn't going to happen unless you replay the world at the speed of the slowest client. Which leaves smoothness. I'm also doing a space combat fighty thing, and I also interpolate the client positions, but I only do it in the rendering layer of my client, and I only give it a second to catch up.
Just my 0.02 credits 
Endolf
Hi I'm 17 years I live in South Africa I would like to do programing as a full time job once I'm out of school or once I have finished my studies after school. Guess what I want to make a space game too LOL I don't know maybe I've changed my mind by then. EmperorLiam your planning looks almost identical as my game that I planned except some minor stuff like being somewhat educational and making space much more lighter I guess that its different in that department because I don't know that much about space. One thing I know is that in space there is no sound. 
http://scar.zapto.org is my website. When I have time I zip my latest build for ppl to see how far I am. (not far XD) Erm I'll check how busy I am this week maybe I can upload my game with my new main menu… (I'm using swing now.)
After I finished renovating the house my uncle bought, I took a nice looong summer vacation. I am only now beginning to renovate my own house, to sell sometime next summer. I've also been convinced to start a flood restoration company this winter… which means no full time programming any time soon.
I will start working on my project again around January 2008, but only part time. Flood restoration is a lucrative field since my city has a major skilled labour shortage, and we just had a very wet spring and summer, so lots of flood damaged basements still waiting to be repaired. Contractors bid to do the reconstruction, which is usually just replacing the insulation, vapour barrier, and drywall two feet from the floor… repainting all the walls, and installing new flooring and trim. I was convinced by a tenant that I've become friends with, that also has the skills required as well. So I will be buying a van, some of the few tools I don't already have, and doing that as soon as I finish renovating my own house.
During my long vacation I did a lot of thinking, planning, and research. Making this computer game is very important to me, and not something that will fall to the side forever. I have decided to start a small computer game company, not sure when. I do not plan to start a traditional game company (a centralized organization with an office building). This will sound crazy, but bear with me, I'm totally serious…
Reposted from my facebook account:
"Ahem, so a few people have heard me ramble on about starting a commune. Knee-jerk reaction I always get is, "aw man, no body likes hippies." So I'll call it a 'planned community' instead. The jist of it, is to buy a quarter section or two near a national park in Northern Saskatchewan where land is cheap. Build a large luxurious concrete condominium, using a method from Asia… where you build a form that you pour concrete into, that can jack up on what it previously poured, and also act as a long term roof until its completion where the mobile form would be dismantled. So you can build a floor on top when you want, spread out over years even.
During the winter you'd have a green house in front of the building. The greenhouse would be a giant double layer plastic roll that is strong and allows light to pass through, that will rotate like a conveyor belt to remove snow. It also creates a large gap of air that will help insulate.
I would also have a high speed fiber optic cable run to the nearest internet hub, or rely on some other method to get high bandwidth internet for the planned community. This way people that make a living off an online business/job have somewhere better to live that they can afford. I think it would appeal to a large niche of young people, and maybe even the odd elderly couple.
The land would be the biggest initial expense, a quarter of land (160 acres), goes for ~$40,000."
Two photos to help you get the idea:
http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sctm/v103/18/10/573387492/n573387492_177302_2229.jpg
http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sctm/v103/18/10/573387492/n573387492_177303_9521.jpg
So once I have enough infrastructure, I'd live there with a small team of programmers making the game. I strongly beleive in game user created content, so I won't need an army of artists, but extra effort to make it so users can add content easily, and that is supervised and managed. Supervision is the key aspect that other games have never done, they have mod tools and such, but no system to make the content official game content. You need supervision to weed out the phallic shaped space ships and pictures of copyrighted material, as well as making sure the content is balanced (no you can't have your black hole gun that only costs 1 credit to make, not yours).
I'm happy that jME has continued to improve, and the community grow.
