About the latest version of the game

Chiletrek · **Reply #500 on:** August 09, 2009, 10:59:56 PM

Hello:
It is awesome that you have proper models for almost all of the Gang now. Can I ask what program did you use to make the models for them?
Keep it up!

action9000 · **Reply #501 on:** August 09, 2009, 11:09:01 PM

Razzie, one of our members here, is kind enough to make the models for us. He works in a variety of programs but does much of the actual modelling in Poser, I believe.

Chiletrek · **Reply #502 on:** August 09, 2009, 11:13:42 PM

Hello:
That is cool indeed. I use Milkshape3d to make my 3d models and I want to learn some of 3ds max.
I don't know how the characters have been made, if they move, I was thinking that they may need a kind of skeleton, and I have seen those in programs like Blender, that is why I asked. Cool models though, I hope they are low-poly enough to make life waiser for all pcs

.

action9000 · **Reply #503 on:** August 09, 2009, 11:16:23 PM

They are pretty low-poly. They don't have bones and animations yet but it's part of our plan to give the models bones and animation someday!

Chiletrek · **Reply #504 on:** August 09, 2009, 11:28:47 PM

Hello:
Well, I know Blender can make bones for models, that is a free program so that could get to be an asset for the game

. I wish I could offer something for the game.

action9000 · **Reply #505 on:** August 10, 2009, 12:17:16 AM

I think Razzie has a plan for what he wants to use to make bones/animations.

More updates! Anyone who has helped me test multiplayer before remembers how weird the chat window worked. Names were cut off, the second line was a mess, blah blah blah...

well no more! It's nice and pretty now, though I think it might be a little squished together. I may make the chat window a little larger to deal with the larger text, but as you can see, every player's text shows up properly now.

Oh...I also want to improve the "letter wrapping" code and turn it into word wrapping eventually so words don't cut off halfway but I'll leave it for now.

Alex · **Reply #506 on:** August 10, 2009, 12:50:18 AM

Looks like it's coming along great. =]

Grungecat · **Reply #507 on:** August 10, 2009, 01:35:26 AM

Wow, very nice game you guys have made. I must say, action9000, you are a very skilled programmer.

Mumbling · **Reply #508 on:** August 10, 2009, 02:21:28 AM

Awesome job on fixing the models in multiplayer

Text is kinda squished together indeed but I'm sure you'll find something for that

Belmont2500 · **Reply #509 on:** August 10, 2009, 11:05:43 AM

nice job,Action9000

action9000 · **Reply #510 on:** August 10, 2009, 03:44:28 PM

Mumbling and I just tested multiplayer with the latest fixes and it's looking like it's good to go! It's working beautifully except for a couple of complaints about the backspace key not being very friendly, but I'll work on that at some point.

Anyway, multiplayer is fully functional and life is good. I'm just going to make a few more changes and add a new feature and then I'll post up v0.21

Belmont2500 · **Reply #511 on:** August 10, 2009, 08:08:27 PM

the backspace key not being very friendly? what the heck happened there?

Alex · **Reply #512 on:** August 10, 2009, 08:17:51 PM

Go go go. I wanna do multiplayer!

action9000 · **Reply #513 on:** August 10, 2009, 08:36:17 PM

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the backspace key not being very friendly? what the heck happened there?

Unfortunately, creating our own chat system means that I need to code a word processor from scratch, basically. The program doesn't automatically know that I want the Backspace key to work like it does for text in Windows; I need to create that functionality from scratch.

It sort of works but if you hold the Backspace key, instead of erasing text quickly, it completely kills the ability of the backspace key to do anything until you send that message. The only way to remove a character you've typed is to tap the backspace key once for each character you want to remove...and even then it's a bit finicky.

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Go go go. I wanna do multiplayer!

I'm happy to invite you to try multiplayer as soon as I post up the next version. I just added some music and a sound effect to the game so I want to make a Sound Options menu before I release the latest update, so you can adjust volumes, turn sound/music on/off and things like that.

Belmont2500 · **Reply #514 on:** August 10, 2009, 09:24:32 PM

nice to know that sound will finally be in the game I hope alot of the music will be from the 1st film and the early sequels.

action9000 · **Reply #515 on:** August 10, 2009, 10:48:33 PM

Some slightly more detailed plans about background music are discussed here

http://z7.invisionfree.com/thegangoffive/i...?showtopic=5062

I will be composing the soundtrack to the game myself. As for now...I am using temporary music and sound effects for testing purposes. Version v0.21 will include this temporary music. The final music will be based on the atmosphere from the early LBT films as I love the soundtracks in them as well.

I'm not allowed to just grab the music exactly, nor do I think it would work well in a game setting (long periods of time spend in a similar location in a game world compared to short clips and ever-changing themes that exist in the soundtracks). I will adapt that style to suit a game like this one.

I just finished the sound options menu and all my sound testing is complete. Things are working beautifully. I could post up v0.21 at any time now, I'm just debating what else I want to include in this release.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #516 on:** August 10, 2009, 11:29:45 PM

Cool! Can't wait!

action9000 · **Reply #517 on:** August 10, 2009, 11:51:25 PM

Ah, know what? I'm thinking it's time to release the next version!

I apologize for the loong wait time for this version. I don't have a really good excuse except for being stressed about life but I'm feeling a lot better now and felt like programming again!

First things first, the latest version can be downloaded here!
The Land Before Time Online RPG v0.21

To install: Extract all these files into a folder and run LBT RPG to play!

New stuff in this version:
1) Multiplayer works again! (I'm trying to avoid ranting about how much of a pain this was to get working...

) Longnecks, threehorns, swimmers and spiketails will work online with up to 100 players in one game (in theory). Flyers and Fastrunners don't yet have 3d models and will not work properly online right now. I will fix that as soon as I receive these models from Razzie!

2) Fixed the disappearing Mr. Clubtail bug

3) Fixed the Goodbye button missing from chatboxes.

4) Improved the fog effects when you're underwater. The effect now comes on when the *camera* is underwater, rather than your character. The effect is also a bit more subtle and (in the opinion of Mumbling and I) prettier.

5) Fixed a bug in the chat window where the 2nd line of text got copied to every message after one was written.

6) Fixed a bug in the chat window where clients (connected players) were missing the first 4 characters of every message they sent or received. I had to cheat a bit to fix this bug.

It just wouldn't be squished!

7) Added 1 sound effect to the Resolution Choice menu (before the game starts). There is now a *click* sound when you click on anything on those screens.

8) Added 2 music tracks to the game: One for the main menu and one for in-game.

9) Added functionality to the "Sound Options" menu, including music and sound volumes, as well as the ability to mute or unmute all audio in the game.

10) Increased the size of the game's text.

11) Moved the NPC chat text into txt files. This allows us to easily add new languages to the game.

12) Fixed the bug where you could see the ! cursor on the fullscreen map if there was an NPC behind your cursor.

13) Cleaned up the code that displays the character stats.

14) Improved the chat window so text goes right to the edge of it before wrapping to the next line.

15) Reduced the maximum speed of the Mouse Sensitivty sliders in the options.

16) Fixed the green sky bug that occurred when changing your view distance.

Have fun, everyone! Comments are much appreciated!

Grungecat · **Reply #518 on:** August 11, 2009, 12:14:09 AM

Hmm, I want to test the multiplayer, but I need to type the IP address of someone hosting a game? A list of hosted games (or indication if none are being played) would be desirable.

EDIT: Upon testing the game, playing as a Spike, when jumping while underwater and reaching the top he did not fall back down, kinda just kept going half above water until I jumped again. Could be him swimming (ignore me if it's just the absence of animation throwing me off). The ability to play the game in a window would be a good addition (if an option like that doesn't exist, maybe I'm just not seeing it).

action9000 · **Reply #519 on:** August 11, 2009, 12:21:27 AM

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A list of hosted games (or indication if none are being played) would be desirable.

That's actually virtually impossible using the multiplayer engine that I am. The code demands entry of an IP address. The *only* way I could do something like this would be to create a 'favorites' list of everyone we know who could potentially be hosting a game and automatically attempt to connect to all of them, report back which ones connected and which ones failed, make a list and let you choose one.

While this is technically plausible, it would take 1 to 5 seconds for each connection and we would need to assemble a list of computers that could possibly be hosting a game.

In other words, we'd still be entering IP addresses, we'd just automatically be typing in the addresses one at a time from a prewritten list and recording which ones succeeded and which ones failed. This is very time-consuming for the player because if there are even 50 people on your favorites list, that's suddenly 3-5 minutes of your time to search for all the existing servers...plus the time and effort to create a list of all your 'favorite' servers.

What I do want to do is let players create a 'favorites' list so you can just click the name of your friend or something and connect that way, rather than having to type in their IP every time. I can't just create a "lobby" of all the active servers in the world though, unfortunately.