overhead DM
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- cowsmanaut
- Moo Master
- Posts: 4378
- Joined: Fri Jun 30, 2000 12:53 am
- Location: canada
overhead DM
yes, it's a real screenshot from a real engine.. and we have working doors, monsters attacking.. dying, dropping screamer slices, picking up and dropping stuff, teleporters, pads, and a few other things.
It's a gradual work in progress.. we are thinking the good test will be choose your fate. So, we'll have a playable level so people can see how it works.
Now, what is cool about this beyond the top view, is that it will be possible to play cooperatively and online. So for those of you far away from me, I can join a server and chat and play DM with you..
we'll see how it works out.. this engine was not orriginally intended for this, but it's a starting test to see how it all works..
I'm sure we'll have some comments.. haha
moo
Nooo waaaaay. Nice one Cows.
Seeing those little screamers just brings a warm feeling to my heart. Chopping them up will bring a full feeling to my stomache.
I wreckon it will feel like one of those old SSI (Stratetic Simulations Inc) games, yet be in it's own mould. Keep up the good work, and I want to see how/why you implement Magic Footpruints!!!
Seeing those little screamers just brings a warm feeling to my heart. Chopping them up will bring a full feeling to my stomache.
I wreckon it will feel like one of those old SSI (Stratetic Simulations Inc) games, yet be in it's own mould. Keep up the good work, and I want to see how/why you implement Magic Footpruints!!!
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH
OK, I'm done
So, what are all the actions? You have pick up, examine and attack? Or are they simply the eight slots for four sets of hands or a full party?
How many poeple do you control, and is the visible eight slots all you can carry? How do you intend to handle things like lighting for multiplayer, and will there be spells if it's actually a different engine? And how will food/etc work?
Tell us more! *bounce*
OK, I'm done
So, what are all the actions? You have pick up, examine and attack? Or are they simply the eight slots for four sets of hands or a full party?
How many poeple do you control, and is the visible eight slots all you can carry? How do you intend to handle things like lighting for multiplayer, and will there be spells if it's actually a different engine? And how will food/etc work?
Tell us more! *bounce*
- cowsmanaut
- Moo Master
- Posts: 4378
- Joined: Fri Jun 30, 2000 12:53 am
- Location: canada
Well, as said. Currently we just have the basics done. You control one of the heros. We are currently thinking about interface options. What you see along the bottom are action icons to the left, and storage icons to the right. The plan is to have a proper back pack and one has already been designed based on the orriginal. also thinking about the changes of some of the puzzles to account for the angle of view. Ie the Matrix. Which incidentally would be a good place to use the magic footprints.. perhaps there might be others.. The one spell that might be useless until we limit view from inside rooms is the hole in wall spell
Anyway, No real animation has been done yet, but everything moves. The monster do their standard DM attack and you hear them walk and screech. You see doors go up and down with the kachunk kachunk kachunk. And movement is based on tile to tile but it's been smoothed out a bit. Operational teleporters are ready to go . We are working on altar VI now to bring on the wonders of resserection.
The client to the game is also the editor (if you are granted edit permission), so you can create new objects, build onto existing ones, create/modify/delete scripts, change the game graphics, all while you and others are playing the game.
So in terms of editing it offers something no one has really done before and it's options at the moment seem almost limitless. What you don't see in this screen shot is the chat window which shows up much like a MSN window showing what people have said as well as information about what you've done... and allows for the input of scripts. there is a hot key to go to the tile editor which allows you to upload or replace tiles (again while the game is in action) as well as pick tiles you wish to place.
anyway, I can keep talking about it, but I suppose it would be better for specific questions. I'm going to share one thought though... ZYX given edit controls as you play... may god have mercy on your soul
Anyway, No real animation has been done yet, but everything moves. The monster do their standard DM attack and you hear them walk and screech. You see doors go up and down with the kachunk kachunk kachunk. And movement is based on tile to tile but it's been smoothed out a bit. Operational teleporters are ready to go . We are working on altar VI now to bring on the wonders of resserection.
The client to the game is also the editor (if you are granted edit permission), so you can create new objects, build onto existing ones, create/modify/delete scripts, change the game graphics, all while you and others are playing the game.
So in terms of editing it offers something no one has really done before and it's options at the moment seem almost limitless. What you don't see in this screen shot is the chat window which shows up much like a MSN window showing what people have said as well as information about what you've done... and allows for the input of scripts. there is a hot key to go to the tile editor which allows you to upload or replace tiles (again while the game is in action) as well as pick tiles you wish to place.
anyway, I can keep talking about it, but I suppose it would be better for specific questions. I'm going to share one thought though... ZYX given edit controls as you play... may god have mercy on your soul
- cowsmanaut
- Moo Master
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- Joined: Fri Jun 30, 2000 12:53 am
- Location: canada
the scripting language looks like a strongly typed JavaScript
Sample of the teleport script.
Also the scripting engine runs scripts in parallel.
So you can have one script opening a door and another one of someone attacking both running at once.
Code: Select all
entrypoint void Teleport(int collider, int collidee, int fStepOn)
{
if(!fStepOn) // Stepping off of a teleporter does nothing, so return
return;
int target=Object_GetPropertyInt(collider, "Destination");
Object_Teleport(collidee, Object_GetX(target)+1, Object_GetY(target), Object_GetZ(target));
PlaySound(Object_GetX(collidee), Object_GetY(collidee), Object_GetZ(collidee), 5);
}
Also the scripting engine runs scripts in parallel.
So you can have one script opening a door and another one of someone attacking both running at once.
- Sophia
- Concise and Honest
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Wow, that is pretty neat, though it of course makes the scripting inherently more difficult-- everything has to be re-entrant and behave as if it were in a multithreaded environment-- throw in network latency issues, and I don't envy you one bit.cowsmanaut wrote:Also the scripting engine runs scripts in parallel.
For example, suppose something happened that destroyed the "collider" or the "collidee" betwen the time the teleport function was invoked and when those variables were needed...
In terms of scripting being made difficult it's yes and no. Many people like writing scripts like this:
DoAction1();
Sleep(1000);
DoAction2();
Sleep(1000);
DoAction3();
Which only work properly if you can run multiple scripts in parallel, since otherwise the game hangs on every sleep call.
The game's roots are from a mud/muck style system where users could write their own scripts and they had to run in parallel to prevent one user from doing a while(1) { } loop. If only trusted users could write scripts they could all be made synchronous and use timers.
It's still an experiment to see what it can do and how easily. I have other ideas to try based on what we use in it.
And your example of deleting an object being worked on, well if you did that the script will just abort with an invalid object. It's your own bug if you pull the rug out from under yourself
DoAction1();
Sleep(1000);
DoAction2();
Sleep(1000);
DoAction3();
Which only work properly if you can run multiple scripts in parallel, since otherwise the game hangs on every sleep call.
The game's roots are from a mud/muck style system where users could write their own scripts and they had to run in parallel to prevent one user from doing a while(1) { } loop. If only trusted users could write scripts they could all be made synchronous and use timers.
It's still an experiment to see what it can do and how easily. I have other ideas to try based on what we use in it.
And your example of deleting an object being worked on, well if you did that the script will just abort with an invalid object. It's your own bug if you pull the rug out from under yourself
- Sophia
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You're right that it can make the scripts simpler, because people don't have to worry about using timers or anything, anymore, they can just write the code as though it had its own thread to run in-- but that also requires that the users have some idea of "thread-safe" scripting, which is also not the easiest concept for novices to grasp.Ryan wrote:Many people like writing scripts like this
It seems a bit of a balancing act and I wish you luck in it, it sounds neat.
In a multi-user environment with multiple scripts running at any given time, someone else could just as easily have pulled the rug out from under me.Ryan wrote:It's your own bug if you pull the rug out from under yourself
- cowsmanaut
- Moo Master
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- Joined: Fri Jun 30, 2000 12:53 am
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Altar of rebirth was done, had to make it a platform due to the angle of view, but it's a platrofm in DM2 so it's not anti DM I guess. It was funny.. we were resurrecting ham which then turned into a hero.. which ofcourse did not move.. because it was ham but worked wonderfully for real hero's who died
"Damn it Halk!! I said go resurrect STAMM not HAM!! I swear.. sometimes I just don't know about you!"
fun fun
"Damn it Halk!! I said go resurrect STAMM not HAM!! I swear.. sometimes I just don't know about you!"
fun fun
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- cowsmanaut
- Moo Master
- Posts: 4378
- Joined: Fri Jun 30, 2000 12:53 am
- Location: canada
I'd say we are at least a wee bit different than that
new image, just showing some new items done..
We have fireball launchers added, the mummy is our first 4 way moving monster so it can move and turn and attack and all that.. before we had the screamer which of course has only two images. Rock pile is mostly done now too. Making some changes to how doors work and made fireball turners.. not shown here.. but a new blue haze was made for that. hmm what else was done today.. Ryan made several bug fixes.. always important.
several new decorations made as well..
new image, just showing some new items done..
We have fireball launchers added, the mummy is our first 4 way moving monster so it can move and turn and attack and all that.. before we had the screamer which of course has only two images. Rock pile is mostly done now too. Making some changes to how doors work and made fireball turners.. not shown here.. but a new blue haze was made for that. hmm what else was done today.. Ryan made several bug fixes.. always important.
several new decorations made as well..
I love the fountain... Good to see it used elsewhere than DMJava.
Seeing the VI altar look like that gives me a smile. It should only have a 'half' depth, though? Maybe you can approach it from both sides in this engine, eh?
The pit appears to be 4 squares, rather than 4 small single squares, which is good!
Yep, keep up the good work. Looking forward to poking around in this one.
Seeing the VI altar look like that gives me a smile. It should only have a 'half' depth, though? Maybe you can approach it from both sides in this engine, eh?
The pit appears to be 4 squares, rather than 4 small single squares, which is good!
Yep, keep up the good work. Looking forward to poking around in this one.
- Ameena
- Wordweaver, Murafu Maker
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Out of curiosity, are grouped monsters restricted to remaining in their groups, as in original DM (well, Atari at least, dunno about other versions), or are they permitted to wander away from each other, as in RTC?
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Ameena, self-declared Wordweaver, Beastmaker, Thoughtbringer, and great smegger of dungeon editing!
Ameena, self-declared Wordweaver, Beastmaker, Thoughtbringer, and great smegger of dungeon editing!