The Gang of Five
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About the latest version of the game

action9000 · 945 · 110094

action9000

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I made quite a few improvements to the game's physics engine today.  I was able to improve the feel of falling down steep slopes, as well as the control in and around water.  Overall, the movement in the game feels more polished and I'm happy with the progress. :D

I also improved the "load game"screen by displaying the character name next to the portrait.


Belmont2500

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action9000

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We just wanted to let everyone know that we've started making some great updates to the LBT game.  Some of our latest improvements are hugely improved terrain graphics and a camera that will collide with the ground as expected.  Beyond that, we're having great success with improving lighting, saving and loading games and other fundamental updates that make the game feel more complete.  We're just waiting on our map designer to finish the Great Valley.  Once that's complete, we will be able to quickly develop a lot of game content.  Until then, we will be improving the game engine and working on setting up the server/client functions.  Great stuff coming soon everyone, stay tuned!


Sky

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That sounds great! A good new years start.  :lol:
Sorry for being so inactive to this project. If you need anything from me, just tell me and I start working as soon and as fast as I can. ^_^


action9000

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Hey all!

I just need to finish a little bit of coding and I'm ready for the next release!  If I get time, I'll have it finished by the end of the day today.  Depends what I get dragged out to do today, but we're very close! :D


Belmont2500

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Ptyra

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Lol, uninvolved Ptyra is uninvolved XD !

I think this is an awesome idea. It would be a nice break from the Activity Center that came out after 3. Yaay, cheesy graphics...but cool coloring book.
I wonder if any of the producers would come across it?


raga

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Well it appears you got busy Tim, then again you're a few hours behind me.  I'm glad I'm going to get a chance to see another version before returning to college, then again I'm still here another two weeks.


Sky

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I haven't tried the previous versions yet. >_<
I think I'll just wait until the newest version is out.  :)


action9000

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Hey everyone!  
It's officially time for v0.24!  This is an extremely exciting version for me because we've managed to solve a lot of old problems, including low graphic quality and the camera being able to move through the ground. :D

 v0.24 can be downloaded here:
http://lbtserver.2myip.net/Members/Action9.../lbtrpgv024.zip


New Stuff:

1)Completely new terrain graphics, MASSIVELY improved over any previous versions!  
We have moved from using single textures stretched over the entire map to mapping high-resolution textures to the 3d terrains.  The result is..well, try it and see for yourself!  :D I was so happy to finally get this working!

Known issue: The edges where the textures blend together aren't quite blending properly yet.  You'll find these parts can be transparent.  I know what I can do about this, but I'm waiting for Malte's new maps before I re-render my maps from my terrain editor.

2) Improved camera code, including intelligent sliding along the around and collision with the ground.  The changes will also let you look up in the air, even on flat land, without your camera passing through the ground.  Try walking and turning the camera while around a hill and you'll see how this works! :D

Here's another fun one...
3) Introduced a day/night cycle! You will be able to see the sun traveling around the terrain at a fast rate.  Observe how your dinosaur and the world around you have their shading adjusted in realtime based on the position of the light. :D

Known Issue: The sky does not darken or brighten.  We're still deciding exactly how we'll handle this transition.  I also don't have "night" textures or other sky textures so we can't do much with it yet.  I'll make some later on. ;)

4) Added collision detection to NPCs (both the shapes and Mr. Threehorn).  You can now hit them without passing through them.

5) Greatly reduced the load time of the sky texture files (which were the longest part of the load times). You should see extremely fast load times now, especially on higher-end systems.

6) Added a functional "Delete" button on the "load character" screen. Graphics thanks to Mumbling. :p

7) Added "Next Page" and "Previous Page" buttons to the "load character" screen.  It will show up to 10 saves per page.  These Page buttons have information text that appears when you move your mouse over them.

8) Made it possible to level up again.

9) Reversed the shadows effects on the dinosaur models. They used to be dark where the light hit them and light where there was no light. :p They're correct now.

10) The Fastrunner is disabled for now. We have no model for it and we're still working out exactly how we want add that type into the game, since oviraptors technically shouldn't be living in the valley.  It's still under debate how we want to handle this.

11) Disabled Sprinting while strafing/sidestepping. This is because we just didn't believe this to be physically possible or realistic.

12) Added the character's name and level next to the portrait on the "Load Game" screen.


Mumbling

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It's officially time for v0.24!
Awesome :D

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Completely new terrain graphics, MASSIVELY improved over any previous versions!
Now I want more trees and foliage :angel

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Made it possible to level up again.
Even over level 8000 if you're smart enough *knows the secret* :!

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Graphics thanks to Mumbling. :p

You're welcome :lol


action9000

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Awesome biggrin.gif
I know! :D

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Now I want more trees and foliage dino_angel.gif
Go yell at Malte. :p

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Even over level 8000 if you're smart enough *knows the secret* dino_exclamation.gif
Shh..! :p

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You're welcome dino_laugh.gif
*hugs* :D


Mumbling

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:P:

Anyway, seriously! Great job on releasing it so fast Tim! And awesome job on finally fixing that camera code.

I'd love to work together with you in real sometime soon again. Even though you might think I was bored to death 2/3rd of the time, I really enjoyed seeing the improvements and giving my personal opinion and input on how things went.


action9000

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Thanks for all your support with everything, this version had a lot of painful coding to get working.  You're awesome :D

That would be a lot of fun to work with you again, Iris! :D  I'm glad you had as much fun with it as I did.  :yes


landbeforetimelover

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These versions are just getting bigger and bigger.  How large do you think they're gonna get?  If it goes past I'd say 100mb, I don't think a lot of people would be able to download and use it.  Have you thought about using a package installer in the final version?  It would definitely bring the file size down at least for downloading.  

BTW, sweet graphic textures.  It's getting much better. :smile

EDIT:
Oh, and I'm not concerned about downloading because of my server.  I'm thinking in general.  100mb or more is a pretty big download for some people.


Ptyra

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*is playing* I appear to be a Cubeosaurus! And how do I make my "Cubeosaurus" fly?


action9000

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:lol  :lol
The Cubeosaurus can fly by pressing F while you're on the ground!  Pressing F launches you into the air.

While you're in the air, press and hold the spacebar.  Release the spacebar to stop "flapping your wings".

If you hit the ground, you have to press F again to restart the process.

Have fun :D

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How large do you think they're gonna get?
By the time we get more maps and textures in the game, we'll easily hit 1+GBs.  I agree that we'll need a way to better compress the data into an installer in the future.  Do you know of a free installer we could use to do this?

IN the future too, we'll be using a server to handle small-scale updates so updates don't require a redownload of the entire game but will only replace the updated files and add new files.


landbeforetimelover

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Do you know of a free installer we could use to do this?

I used to have a REALLY good one, but I can't remember the name.  It had a purple icon though.  If you come across an installer in your searches with a purple icon, scrutinize it carefully.

If you want to use an sfx archive, that would be your best option for now.  You can make one in the advanced menu of WinRar.  The only thing you can't specify is your own custom icon, but I know a little hacker-created program that can easily change the icon of any app or package with the click of a button (yeah, it's GUI).  Contact me via PM or whatever and I can send you a link to that program if you want.  The sfx might actually turn out to be a viable option.  You can tell it to extract the contents to the program files folder on the hard drive and put a shortcut on the desktop.  Of course, you need an icon before you can do that though. :p


Sky

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This one: Install Creator? Not quite sure... but it has a purple icon. :p

That's a huge improvement! Really great!  :o
I figured, when you go to the water, the "Air" window shows up. But when I go a few steps back until the window disappeares and go forward again, the window isn't showing anymore. =/


DarkHououmon

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That issue didn't happen for me. The air bar appeared every time I was in the water.

I did encounter a problem myself though, but I don't know if it's a real glitch or if it was because I was playing as the flyer, which is still a square now. I was able to pass through one of the NPCs (the large one near Mr. Threehorn) and was stuck inside the NPC, unable to move, for a while until I strafed to one side and was able to get out.