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Work in Progress / MECHWARS - first pictures

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Tom Taylor
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Posted: 26th May 2005 11:14 Edited at: 14th Jun 2005 21:10
Hello, welcome to MECHWARS!

Here comes a demo and some screenshots:





Demo: http://www.vbmyadmin.com/taylor/MECHWAR/mechwars.rar (10 MB)

To increase loading time download media package here: http://www.vbmyadmin.com/taylor/MECHWAR/media.rar (2 MB)
Extract the files where the mechwars.exe is located.

Tom Taylor
TDP Enterprises
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Posted: 26th May 2005 11:20
Screens look pretty sweet
Tom Taylor
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Posted: 26th May 2005 11:21 Edited at: 26th May 2005 11:43
Feature list:
- Advanced Terrain with "Fog of War"
- Create different buildings (Tankdock, Walls e.g.)
* must be near other building
* only on "flat" terrains
* RIGHT CLICK to rotate, LEFT CLICK to build
- Create different units in buildings
* Buggy
* MadCat
- Player Money and Units/Building cost
- Unit movement (automatic path finding)
- Mulitselect (one current group)
- Unit can attack enemy building
* Units shoot rockets
* RIGHT CLICK on building
- Sky background
- 60FPS
- free cameralook
* MIDDLE CLICK or LEFT+RIGHT CLICK + mouse movement
- Some things are not finished yet and a user menu is missing, sound is not present.

BTW: all in less then 2000 lines of DarkBasicProfessional

Everything is "unlimited"! Have fun and report if you like to!

Tom Taylor
Bizar Guy
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Posted: 26th May 2005 11:26 Edited at: 26th May 2005 11:27
I'm impressed.

EDIT: I'm VERY impressed.

Currently working on BlockMan Remix
Tom Taylor
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Posted: 26th May 2005 11:28 Edited at: 26th May 2005 12:12
Thank you! I'm still going on... but I have to buy the 3D Cloths & Particles-Plugin to have nice smoke and explosions.

Tom Taylor
BF game programmer
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Posted: 26th May 2005 13:52
the screens look AWESOME!!! hope the game is ill give some feedback in a little bit!! nice job with geting everyone impressed so far tom !

james bond rules and star wars
Sergey K
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Posted: 26th May 2005 15:46
ah looks awesome.. *Downloading*

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DARKGuy
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Posted: 26th May 2005 16:07
Wow, amazing, I'm gonna download and try it for sure

walaber
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Posted: 26th May 2005 16:17
gave it a quick test-run, and it seems to work very well! the object selection, and overall interface was very smooth.

only a few suggestions:

once a part of the map has been explored, it should stay lit. right now it's only lit if a unit is nearby. unless you meant it to be that way...

also the camera gets a little strange when you get to the edges of the map at an odd angle. I think it's probably because you're limiting the camera position, and then moving a hidden point that it looks at. anyway, it rotates strage at the edges of the map, which makes maneuvering the camera in the corners difficult.

other than that, fantastic start!! great to see an RTS!

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Sergey K
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Posted: 26th May 2005 17:39
i have some error, saying "3"..

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Jonny Ree
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Posted: 26th May 2005 17:51
Thats a great start, everything seems to be working quite well!.
Now I dont usually point anything out at such a early stage.. but its just a few things to think about. The first is the pathfinding.. which I see is present by some means, but I think they are too keen on going a straight line.. they do work they way around buildings.. but its painfully the way they do it secoundly: When building walls you should keep the tool open.. so I dont have to press the main building every time.

These are just things I noted me while playing.. I'm sure they are on your to do list aleady.. thanks for a good time.

and once again, great job so far

Hawkeye
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Posted: 26th May 2005 21:58
Wow... I'm impressed! Gonna d/l it right now...

Scaleru
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Posted: 26th May 2005 22:28
The screens look very impressive, though I have noticed one thing (not certain since I haven't had the chance to download it, I've been capped). The map seems to just disappear at a certain distance from the camera. If this is actually how it is, maybe smoothing it over a bit?

All in all, a very nice project. Keep up the good work.

JW
Tom Taylor
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Posted: 26th May 2005 22:46 Edited at: 26th May 2005 23:15
Wow, nice hints from you all!

Quote: "once a part of the map has been explored, it should stay lit"
... yes, this should be like this - only if I add radar or something, the part of the map stays clear!

Quote: "also the camera gets a little strange when you get to the edges"
... yes, I have to fix that for edges!

Quote: "...they way around buildings.. but its painfully the way they do it "
... hm, but they are pretty intelligent, walk around complex building groups and ANY walls! It's done with collisions, and you can move tonns of units in a group... Maybe you tell my why it's too painfull for you like they drive.

EDIT: I dont't use any "path finging" method like A*... I just use collisions and never let something enter any "illegal" position. So every new single step is calculated again! This keeps your units "free" and let them react in - hopefully - every situation.

Quote: "When building walls you should keep the tool open"
... yes, for sure!

Thank you very much so far. I keep coding and make updates for public!

Tom Taylor
Jonny Ree
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Posted: 26th May 2005 23:32
Quote: "hm, but they are pretty intelligent, walk around complex building groups and ANY walls! It's done with collisions, and you can move tonns of units in a group... Maybe you tell my why it's too painfull for you like they drive.
"


When you repeated the word painfull, it kinda sounded worse then it was meant.. but what I mean is that perhaps you should try a different sort of pathfinding.. when I play RTS I often do a lot of things while the units are moving twards a target.. so its nice to know if they get *plays game to confirm* get there without my help.. and they do so in most cases.. but whenever they meet a wall or building.. it looks like they are trying to drill through it.. and some times they even turn and walk in the oposit direction. just walking.. and walking.. etc. in another test they started walking around the wall, looping.. as if they where patrolling.. in every case.. I placed them (five units) on one side of the wall, and asked them to go on the other side.. quite a bit far from the wall on the other side.

So it seems kinda buggy, thats all.. I'm sure you'll sort it out though.. another thing you could do, is when creating more units.. have the units that already are at the spot move.. they do move.. but they are pushed kinda.

Still, great work on this!

Tom Taylor
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Posted: 26th May 2005 23:50 Edited at: 26th May 2005 23:53
Yes, you are right! The moveing in not very accurate in this demo. I tell units to stop in a big range from your cursor. This is only for this demo, so large group behave some better

They move around like guarding, that's true. If you enter the cursor into any building, they try reaching the point, but cannot. Any units are pushed away. I can simple increase the distance they are pushed, so it looks like they drive away. Means, pushing is the same logic like driving.

I will add something like "arrangement" of units in different situations (when you attack, move, group, etc). And the "time factor" is important too. I will re-calculate movement after some time for every unit. So they stop doing stupid stuff But this "time factor" is not in the demo - yet.

Tom Taylor
BF game programmer
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Posted: 27th May 2005 01:01
after i downloaded it i ran it it gave me an erorr report i moved the midea into the folder and it just said loading for six minutes then i got tired and exited out then i copied all the midia from the folder to the file and ran it did the same thing. so what am i doing wrong i want to play it it sounds exiting to me. please tell me!!

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Baggers
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Posted: 27th May 2005 03:21 Edited at: 27th May 2005 03:30
Must say ive been looking foreward to this game since i saw the progress in the other boards...going to run it now, back soon !

Plays very nicely...the pathfinding was impressive considering there was no algroitm involved but it did seem a little awkward around some buildings. However doesnt matter too much...
Other than that not much to say as a critic other than that both the vehicles shoot at the same rate and make the same type of explosions.

Very nice work though man, keep it up !

Cliff 3degs network
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Posted: 27th May 2005 03:51
hi and lovely work i yust loved mechcommander 2.
and an tip for nice smoke untill you buy the plugin i found this when i was looking around in the code board.
have a look at it it looks really nice and all in simple dbp code.


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Tom Taylor
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Posted: 27th May 2005 04:27 Edited at: 2nd Jun 2005 16:21
@BF game programmer: Yes, i had that, too. So i added the media package. If I copy the files like that to my desktop, it loads fine.

MEDIA-MAP-terrain01.dat
MEDIA-MAP-terrain01_base.bmp
MEDIA-MAP-terrain01_detail.bmp
MEDIA-MAP-terrain01_map.bmp
MEDIA-MAP-low_terrain01.dat
MEDIA-MAP-low_terrain01_base.bmp
MEDIA-MAP-low_terrain01_detail.bmp
MEDIA-MAP-low_terrain01_map.bmp
MEDIA-MAP-TILEMAP1.jpg
mechwars.exe


Wow, this is a very nice smoke effect! I take a closer look at the code and I try to improve my explosions by that!
Thank you!!

EDIT: You gave me exactly what I was looking for! Now I attach the "particle-objects" to rockets and so on. This kicks ass!

Tom Taylor
BF game programmer
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Posted: 27th May 2005 04:57
STILL dosent work i might be doing it wrong ive taken them out of the folder and put them back in it with the mechwars on the desktop but it STILL dosent work tell me what im doin wrong!

james bond rules and star wars
Tom Taylor
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Posted: 27th May 2005 05:03
I think the function "FILE EXISTS" doesn't function at your directory. If the MEDIA\MAP\ path in there, the demo doesn't create the files (which takes long!). If "file exists" does fail, it will not load the files! Try it maybe at your root directory

Tom Taylor
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Posted: 27th May 2005 05:18 Edited at: 27th May 2005 05:30
Great start, but I've found one problem:

The camera only rotates around the that pylon you start with. I can't move it anyway where else.

Other then that it's good, although I'd speed up the animation of that walker mech you've got, it's feet slide on the ground slightly because it isn't walking as fast as it's going.

I don't suffer from insanity - I enjoy every minute of it!
Current Projects: Lemmings Remake
(Untitled) Puzzle Game for the Compo
Tom Taylor
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Posted: 27th May 2005 06:10
@Avan Madisen: Simply move your mouse to the very left of your screen and your camera moves left... Top, right and bottom is the same.

Animation speed is not FINIAL. I code first rules and laws, then the gameplay will be adjusted! Thanx for any kind of advise

Tom Taylor
Cliff 3degs network
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Posted: 27th May 2005 07:02
nice that you found it usefull are my self going to implent it to my game now.

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Tom Taylor
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Posted: 27th May 2005 12:23 Edited at: 27th May 2005 12:24
I added new smoke and explosions effects! Look at the updated picture above. It's not in the demo yet. Next post I upload new demo so you can see it in action!

@Cliff 3degs network: This is the result

Tom Taylor
Jonny Ree
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Posted: 27th May 2005 14:01
TEH_CODERER
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Posted: 27th May 2005 22:06
Woah! Where did you come from! I've never heard of you around these forums and you've got what looks like an absolutely amazing game! Downloading now!

[url]andrewneale2004@yahoo.com[/url]
http://www.elbsoftware.tk
David R
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Posted: 27th May 2005 22:14
@Jonny Ree; That's alot of missiles!

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Tom Taylor
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Posted: 28th May 2005 01:47 Edited at: 28th May 2005 01:51
All right... got the nice particles! It's in the DEMO now! Link above is updated.

@Cliff 3degs network: Look at new starting screen. YOU'll like it

Quote: "both the vehicles shoot at the same rate and make the same type of explosions"

No longer! Jeeps cannot shoot anymore... They are used later to refill units and do special stuff.

Tom Taylor
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Posted: 28th May 2005 02:42
woohoo! 2 FPS! , Oh, how i love my computer.


Im only "Apolloed" In Spirit
Tom Taylor
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Posted: 28th May 2005 03:54 Edited at: 28th May 2005 04:03
Yes, it's a HIGH-DETAIL game. The objects are not complete optimized yet and advanced terrains need fast grafix card. I had FX effects for water, too. But water is deacivated in demo for better testing. Screen resolution is fixed to 1024x768 in 32Bit colors and FPS fixed to 60.

Tom Taylor
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Posted: 28th May 2005 17:44
yes thats much better tom.
and that snippet is yust an small sample of all great code snippets at the codebase by the gamecreators.

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Baggers
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Posted: 28th May 2005 19:58
Very nice particles there...but damn they eat the fps !

Cliff 3degs network
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Posted: 29th May 2005 18:16
yes i know baggers but there is alot you can do to speed up the original code.
first is probably to shorten all the particle state names for instance so that the engine dont have that much to go thru each loop.
old
smokeParticlesVel#(currentParticle,1)=rnd(200)/1000.0-0.1
new
smkPaVel#(cuPar,1)=rnd(200)/1000.0-0.1

wouldt that help a tiny bit?
iam my self an newbie still

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Baggers
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Posted: 30th May 2005 01:12
hmmm dont think that will have any significant impact due to the fact that the drop is from the creation and deletion of the plains.
Things that have an impact are generaly: the number of particles, how often they are being deleted and created, how long they stay in existance etc.
What will be great is when the "exclude object" command is working as we can create all the plains to begin with, exclude them and then show and hide them when they are needed, this will increase speed a great deal.

Another way im looking at is to make use of the new vertices commands so that a trail of smoke can be one object rather than numerous ones. But thats a project for another time !

Tom Taylor
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Posted: 30th May 2005 03:22 Edited at: 30th May 2005 03:23
Some new models and grafix are ready included. Gameplay will be much better on slower machines now. Improved shoot, unit and overall collision detection.

* Unit "Helicopter" (very fast but weak, can fly over low buildings and walls)
* Building "Refinery" (earn money with goods and oil) This is not fully implemented, but your money will increase
* Code optimization to keep constant framerates

On the map is a small enemy base, waiting for a nice demonstration! I still work out the user menu and add the AI logic. So the enemy will -hopefully- discover the map and produces units.

But I like to here your feelings about it so far!

Tom Taylor
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Posted: 30th May 2005 05:16
looks cool, but you need to change the sky.

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SageTech
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Posted: 30th May 2005 06:51
holy crap, that's publishing material in the first screenshots! Keep up the awsome work!

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Benjamin
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Posted: 30th May 2005 08:54 Edited at: 30th May 2005 08:55
Thats really impressive dude, nice work. It ran at 17 fps for me. I do have a suggestion that'll speed things up a bit... for things that use multiple plains(such as explosions) use a single object(per explosion) and multiple limbs, it is much faster.

What are you using for the terrain? If you are using your own system that uses multiple plains, then god please use a single object with the plains as limbs, you'll get so much more speed.




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Tom Taylor
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Posted: 30th May 2005 23:50
Quote: "use a single object(per explosion) and multiple limbs"


Hm, I actually tried this before. But I don't have all commands like set alpha mapping on and fade object for LIMBs! Btw, I think fade object is mostly slowing down for particle objects. Any suggestions?

Tom Taylor
Tom Taylor
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Posted: 30th May 2005 23:56 Edited at: 31st May 2005 00:01
Quote: "once a part of the map has been explored, it should stay lit"


I did it now that way! Once you explored the map it will stay uncovered for you. Would it be nice to let the fog come back very slowly? So if you enter an explored map tile - and never move there again - after sometime it will be foggy there again...

Tom Taylor
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Posted: 31st May 2005 01:04
tom you could also trye to lower the amount of plains used for the smoke particles the default in the snippet is 50 but i my self are only using 20 that worked alright for me.
the more objects to go thru slower loop if iam not wrong?

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Tom Taylor
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Posted: 31st May 2005 01:50 Edited at: 31st May 2005 01:51
No, you are right! Because of that, I use structure like that:

Before main loop:

Within main loop:

New smoke (in main loop):


So the effect you mean, is nearly deactivated! Because I have a CONSTANT maximum value for the loop. And with the "new smoke" code, it doesn't loop anyway to find a "free" smoke. I will add into the user menu how much the SMOKE_COUNT will be, so it's adjustable for every machine.

Tom Taylor
Benjamin
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Posted: 31st May 2005 01:58
Quote: "Hm, I actually tried this before. But I don't have all commands like set alpha mapping on and fade object for LIMBs!"

Ah yeah I realised that just after I posted when I did some testing yesterday . Well that kinda sucks, but don't feel too bad because when I did some testing, the limb idea only gave a small speed increase compared to what it did before(they must have done some optimizing with objects in u5.8).


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waffle
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Posted: 1st Jun 2005 10:56
Do you have a story to go with this?
I was checking out my library the other day,
and found the book "Legion" that would work great
for a mech warior type game.

Keep up the great work
Tom Taylor
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Posted: 1st Jun 2005 13:04 Edited at: 5th Jun 2005 03:03
I do my best! But no "written" story yet. I just put together what I like. With a nice story I could make intros, in-game movies... Didn't know anything about "Legion".

Here's a screen where I attack the CPU base At present they don't shoot back... But logic for CPU building-up and unit production is ready. Got a red-skin for the CPU now. Maybe I make different colors.

Click VIEW button for UPDATED PICTURE (red colors on enemy)

Tom Taylor

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STALKER
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Posted: 1st Jun 2005 14:03
I Look forward to the new version. Keep it up.

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Mason
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Posted: 1st Jun 2005 16:09
Holy smokes, that looks awesome! You don't see RTS's in Dark Basic very much at all. It reminds me a lot of a game I used to play called Earth 2150. Good Job downloading right now

Peter H
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Posted: 2nd Jun 2005 01:45
in that pic itl ooks like the enemy mechs are pink...you might consider only coloring those "bands" red (the parts that are blue on your mechs)

as it is it looks like you took the blue texture and just did some color balance effect on the entire thing...so it ends up looking very weird

or maybe i'm confused and they are pink because they are in an explosion

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