About the latest version of the game

action9000 · **Reply #740 on:** December 06, 2009, 11:07:40 AM

Quote from: Paradise Bird,Dec 6 2009 on 06:01 AM

Alright then. Is this editor made by all of you or was it provided? Actually I know of a few ways we can do this faster but I'm pretty sure it will be costly not because of the software but the rights to use it in the construction of the game.

I looked into buying a game engine a few times. While it would speed things up, the cost would be a minimum of $150 and up to $1500 for the engine I would prefer to use that doesn't have stupidly high system requirements. As a result, I'm just sticking with making my own.

What's hurting me is my lack of knowledge..not with my terrain editor but with programming pixel shaders manually. The only way to blend multiple textures on a 3d object (such as a terrain) is to program a shader to handle the textures. This is why our terrain is not very pretty right now: I pre-blended the textures because I can't figure out how to write a shader to blend them in realtime. The result is the need of multiple large single textures that lose detail quickly when stretched over the terrain, which is exactly what's happening.

Game engines tend to either have really high system requirements, be very expensive, lack the features we need to make them worthwhile, or all of the above.

If money was no object, this would be the ideal engine for our game: low system requirements, beautiful graphic potential, but a $1500 price tag
http://unity3d.com/unity/
A bit brutal considering my financial state and the complete lack of commercial potential for this game without a massive remake to remove all LBT references.
The free version lacks some critical tools, such as water effects and shadows.

action9000 · **Reply #741 on:** December 06, 2009, 12:57:38 PM

Mumbling was kind enough to patch a bunch of images for me, as well as write up a v0.23 of the Readme file!

I just need to make a few more changes and I will release a more polished version of v0.23. I apologize for the last version. I didn't even think about a lot of those things that were wrong with it, I was just happy my terrain appeared as expected and my savegames worked.

Belmont2500 · **Reply #742 on:** December 07, 2009, 08:42:19 PM

that's okay the last version is great,it just had a few flaws,that's all.

Kor · **Reply #743 on:** December 07, 2009, 10:39:48 PM

It looks like an ok release. I didn't play long so didn't notice if it has any flaws or not.

Paradise Bird · **Reply #744 on:** December 08, 2009, 01:09:23 AM

You can look around for programmers that are interested.I know a few that may be looking for a game maker to help but they might not be interested in LBT.

JitteryDragon · **Reply #745 on:** December 08, 2009, 03:23:09 AM

It might have been asked before (if so, my apologies), but what language is this written in, and what engine does it run on?

Mumbling · **Reply #746 on:** December 08, 2009, 08:02:24 AM

It's on the FAQ on the website:

Q. What engine do you use?
A. None, we build our own engine completely from scratch using the DarkGDK C++ code library. Everything is written one line at a time though.

Paradise Bird · **Reply #747 on:** December 08, 2009, 09:42:25 AM

I wish all of you the best I maybe able to get someone but he is in the middle of a marriage so yeah.

action9000 · **Reply #748 on:** December 08, 2009, 01:59:38 PM

I guess DarkGDK could sort of count as an engine, but it's so barebones, I really don't think it counts.

It's just a little package of code that lacks a ton of features so a lot has to be done manually anyway.

Anyway, I'm using it because it keeps system requirements down, it's still DirectX9 and it's free.

It has some pretty big problems and limitations, we just don't have the budget for a decent game engine.

Though I must admit, I'd rather make a game than a game engine..so having a decent one would be pretty sweet!

Anyway, I'm not interested in getting another programmer. I do have a forum I turn to when something comes up that isn't explained in any documentation that I have, but other than that, I'm enjoying working on the code and struggling my way through it; it's interesting.

No new programmers please.

action9000 · **Reply #749 on:** December 08, 2009, 03:52:28 PM

Alrighty, here's the brand new shiny release of v.23...cleverly known as v0.23b

It just cleans up some things, as well as trying some experimental stuff regarding savegames.

http://www.lbtserver.2myip.net/Members/Act.../lbtrpgv23b.zip

Here is the full list of changes:

1) Makes the red boxes around the character portraits on the Character Select screen invisible.

2) Removed the tree since it was just floating in the air

3) Included the .23 readme file. Thanks Mumbling for writing this!

4) Changed a lot of the images used in the game. Updated images thanks to Mumbling!

5) Always....hmm, nevermind.

6) Sound is turned on by default now.

7) The "Join Game" button on the main menu is completely disabled now, since that feature doesn't exist at the moment. It will be back, full force and then some, next version though

8) Fixed the bug where both the NPC interaction cursor and the Normal cursor are visible if you press ESC while your mouse is over an NPC in range to interact with.

9) Fixed the "floating" treestar appearing at the top of the Game Options menu.

And this next one, I really need your feedback on!
10) Put a small pause as the game is closing down, to give the program plenty of time to properly write the savegame file. I'm hoping this will prevent a bug where games don't always save. Please let me know if your characters are not being saved, as this is a very serious issue, naturally.

I'll look into ways around it as needed.

Also, I removed the savegame that came with the last release. You won't have any savegames included this time.

Littlefoot Fan · **Reply #750 on:** December 08, 2009, 05:28:10 PM

Can't see how putting the pause in could hurt. I actually had to do something similar in the BYOND game I'm working on. I found out the hard way though, when all of the players' save files that contained all the equipment they stashed in their houses was corrupted. Let's just say I had some explaining to do...

action9000 · **Reply #751 on:** December 08, 2009, 07:13:42 PM

OMG...okay everyone, I am going to make you take a look at this.

Because it's freaking awesome.

After doing enough begging on my game development forum, I finally received some help with regards to blending multiple textures on a terrain. I've had help before but I've never had any success, with nothing but blah nothingness showing up.

But things have changed....AND IT FREAKING WORKS!

Check this screenshot out, everyone, and prepare to officially drool! This is basically the finalized graphic quality of the game's landscape, after months of research and beating my head on my keyboard! FINALLY! We have the quality I've been striving to achieve for the entire duration of this project and I wanted to share it with everyone!

Yes: This is an actual screenshot! Yes - it ACTUALLY WORKS!

As of v.24, this will be the graphic quality of the LBT RPG, with the possibility of higher and lower-resolution textures in the future, to improve performance or graphic quality on different computers. We are currently using 512x512 textures, at a scale of 256x256 tiles on this terrain.

.....IT WORKS!

Belmont2500 · **Reply #752 on:** December 08, 2009, 07:20:22 PM

woaaaah that looks nice, by the way when are you going to add the Great Wall.

action9000 · **Reply #753 on:** December 08, 2009, 07:21:06 PM

Malte is working on the detailed design of the Great Valley. I will be adjusting this 3d landscape as Malte completes various sections and gives me his detailed maps.

Belmont2500 · **Reply #754 on:** December 08, 2009, 07:25:29 PM

the screenshot looks like another fine day in the valley.

raga · **Reply #755 on:** December 08, 2009, 08:15:49 PM

Wow! That looks wonderful!

Paradise Bird · **Reply #756 on:** December 10, 2009, 02:35:08 AM

I wish you good luck in it. If you are looking for anyone I can give a try.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #757 on:** December 14, 2009, 04:13:43 AM

Sorry I've been gone, I got a new computer for college and didn't want to clog up my new fast computer with large files

not to mention I don't feel comfortable playing a Land Before Time game when my roommates could come in at any minute.

I'm home for the next few weeks, so I have time to download the newest version and participate in any upcoming multiplayer tests. Are any scheduled?

(BTW that final screenshot is frickin sweet. I never thought the game would look that good)

action9000 · **Reply #758 on:** December 14, 2009, 12:07:23 PM

No, there won't be any multiplayer tests scheduled for the next few weeks because, well..actually I'm leaving the country for Christmas.

Also, I am converting the game to a completely new multiplayer system which involves a permanent server. This will take a lot of recoding but it will be more powerful and stable than ever when it's complete!

Alex · **Reply #759 on:** December 17, 2009, 01:33:40 AM

Lol. Coming along pretty good.

Edit: Downloaded, played. Pretty nice. I miss the tree. You're definitely gettin' better at the whole coding thing. Still lacking in 3D modeling, but that's some hard stuff.