About the latest version of the game

Mumbling · **Reply #780 on:** January 10, 2010, 11:18:02 AM

Quote from: Sky,Jan 10 2010 on 04:37 PM

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

That's a huge improvement! Really great!
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. =/

That has happened to me before as well... I think it's a combination of the angle you held your camera and you enter the water, not sure though.

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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.

If you were flying through the NPC it's quite possible that was the issue (because you might fly from some weird angle

: )

You can always get stuck in mr. threehorn if you really want to, and tim knows that is possible but he can't fix it any better than it is right now.

DarkHououmon · **Reply #781 on:** January 10, 2010, 11:28:38 AM

I wasn't actually flying when I got stuck in the NPC. I was walking.

Mumbling · **Reply #782 on:** January 10, 2010, 12:05:06 PM

Ah, bugger, wrong guess then

It might be because the flyer model isn't there yet that the cube doesn't work too well.

I don't know... I guess only action can tell.

Littlefoot Fan · **Reply #783 on:** January 10, 2010, 12:34:12 PM

Boy what a difference the textures make now

And I thank you for fixing the camera collision. It was driving me nuts

I gotta say though, my favorite part about this update is the day/night cycle. The transition from day to night just looks so awesome, it really brings the game world to life. What I really can't wait for is background ambience, like a breeze and birds and stuff. Maybe that's something you could consider in the next update *hint* *hint*

raga · **Reply #784 on:** January 11, 2010, 01:50:03 AM

Yes! I have broken the game!

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Even over level 8000 if you're smart enough *knows the secret*

Why thank you for the complement

Your secret circle now has three

action9000 · **Reply #785 on:** January 11, 2010, 01:59:04 AM

haha, Part of the next version will be trying to secure the savegame files to make them harder to break.

I'm also playing with the idea of storing saved games on the server. I dare you to hack the files then, muahaha!

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and birds

they'll have to be prehistoric "birds" since this is a long, long time ago.

raga · **Reply #786 on:** January 11, 2010, 02:01:40 AM

Darn it! You gave away the secret!

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I'm also playing with the idea of storing saved games on the server. I dare you to hack the files then, muahaha!

Hmmm... <_< a worthy challenge

Littlefoot Fan · **Reply #787 on:** January 11, 2010, 01:50:42 PM

You're right about that

Wasn't even really thinking in those terms when I wrote that. Well even if not birds, you could have insects or whatever. I just always really loved games that payed attention to great detail with the background ambiance. It makes such a big difference.

action9000 · **Reply #788 on:** January 11, 2010, 04:37:30 PM

For anyone who may have noticed the camera collision is...less than perfect, I have some good news:

I just finished completely rewriting the camera code (again!) and I can honestly say that it is behaving very nicely this time.

I really hope this works as well for everyone as it seems to on my end. I'm seeing the camera control I've been hoping for for ages, finally working!

Mumbling · **Reply #789 on:** January 12, 2010, 03:50:32 PM

Good job there Tim!

Grungecat · **Reply #790 on:** January 13, 2010, 11:28:08 PM

Nice work.

action9000 · **Reply #791 on:** January 14, 2010, 04:52:33 PM

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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. =/

I was able to reproduce this easily.

It seems that ever since I formatted my computer, a lot of my code is behaving differently, even with no changes. It looks like I have to rewrite my underwater detection code...again!

The changes should appear in v.25. Thanks for pointing this out.

Littlefoot Fan · **Reply #792 on:** January 16, 2010, 12:20:53 PM

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It seems that ever since I formatted my computer, a lot of my code is behaving differently, even with no changes.

That doesn't even make any sense though :huh: Do you know why exactly that happened, cause I've never heard of that before.

Mumbling · **Reply #793 on:** January 16, 2010, 12:31:30 PM

Quote from: Littlefoot Fan,Jan 16 2010 on 06:20 PM

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It seems that ever since I formatted my computer, a lot of my code is behaving differently, even with no changes.
That doesn't even make any sense though :huh: Do you know why exactly that happened, cause I've never heard of that before.

Nope, it's exactly like that. He rendered the code on my computer which worked fine, when he rendered it at home it had lots of issues.

Maybe he's got a different version of the program he's writing the code in, but I don't know what's going on either.

action9000 · **Reply #794 on:** January 25, 2010, 04:57:36 AM

Wooooo!

Okay, I just rewrote my underwater code completely, using completely different programming techniques.

The result is MUCH cleaner code that is far less buggy and troublesome, while also using less memory (less data needs to be stored to keep track of things now)!

It works beautifully and seems to be unbreakable as far as I can tell! It's simple, organized and covers all the bases of:

Not in water
Wading
Swimming on the surface
Underwater

as well as data that tracks which combination of transitions you're making, so I can keep track of whether you're going from wading to on land, swimming on the surface to underwater, swimming on the surface to wading, or any possible combinations, all instantly, so my program knows exactly what's going on, I have code to handle every combination specifically, and as far as I can tell, there's no way it can be confused now.

The new and improved code also measures the depth of the water at your position, which could be fun in the future of game development.

I used to rely on measuring how fast you were passing through the surface and blahblahblah, but it was just a pain and problematic (not to mention the code was half-impossible to read). This new system I devised makes me extremely happy!

Okay, with all the problems resolved that existed in v0.24, it's officially time to work on the server!

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #795 on:** January 25, 2010, 07:35:03 PM

Does that mean multiplayer tests?!?!!?

action9000 · **Reply #796 on:** January 25, 2010, 08:01:59 PM

Soon! It will take me a little bit to write the server program and remove all the server code from the existing game, as well as make sure everything is willing to talk to each other properly, but with the release of v0.25, a live server will better-working multiplayer than ever before will be up and running!

action9000 · **Reply #797 on:** January 25, 2010, 10:34:07 PM

Step 1 complete!

My basic server program is informed whenever anyone starts up a v0.25 client and whenever anyone closes their client. I also set up a console window which I'll be able to use for admin stuff, data tracking, interacting with the game, etc.

My plan is to have the server program run a 2d console which lets me read and write text to the game engine. This will let me manipulate the game world, rescue players from bugs, start weather events manually, etc. I will also have a 3d graphical view which will let me see the same chat window as all of the players, as well as the ability to fly around the entire game world as an invisible camera.

The 3d "flying around the world" option can be turned on and off as needed so I don't waste electricity with video cards when the server is just doing it's normal server thing and I'm off somewhere else.

I want the barebones server application to use as little CPU, RAM and electricity as possible when running unattended.

action9000 · **Reply #798 on:** January 25, 2010, 11:02:48 PM

A simple step 2:
The server now knows the location of everyone connected and I am displaying one of the sets of coordinates on the screen in this screenshot.

And a minor improvement: Grouping each set of coodinates together by player (first at the top, next one to join is below), as well as showing the number of total connected players on the screen.

I will change the formatting and blahblahblah as I work on it but I'm just proving to myself that it's behaving properly.

There is no real limit to the number of players, beyond my bandwidth. I set the limit at 100 but I can change it as needed.

As you may know, I won't be allowing others to download the server program. I will just be running it on one of my computers here at home.

[EDIT]

Just got a one-way chat system coded in. Clients can send messages to the server. I will get this more complete when I have time but I have to go to work now *grumble grumble*

Mumbling · **Reply #799 on:** January 26, 2010, 02:20:59 AM

Nice job so far there tim! Glad you worked on the water too!