UPDATE:
I have a huge part of the engine complete. The major framework of the application is finished. I have all the information posted on my blog: www.darkworldengine.blogspot.com
Check the last post for more details.
What is Dark World?
Dark World is a visual basic application that focus mainly on position objects in 3D space.
The new version will be more that just a world creator it will be a full game engine. Because Dark World uses Dark Basic Pro commands it will be easy to create code to plug into the main Dark World project.
A beta version will be released in a single panel will a few of the basic commands that will come with the project.
Since it is a beta you won't be able to save the projects.
Dark world will be more spread out in the final program and have several plugins for particles, collsions, and much more.
Dark World will start off with the basics later have plugins that will focus on a certain group of commands.
Dark World is created using Dark Basic Pro and visual basic. Everything is purely visual so everything will go together without being in the command window of Dark Basic Pro so much.
The final program will also come with a shelling program for loading dark basic files in with the final project for adding your own Dark Basic Pro code.
The final project is comming some time november of 2007.
Post your comments, suggestions, or question.
Screenshots:
Edit: More screenshots
Edit:
The Beta program is here!!!
The Post is at the bottom.
I have finally got it done here's what can be done with the beta.
- Load Objects
- Load Textures
- Create Lights
Position:
- Camera
- Objects
- Lights
- Rotate Objects
- Texture Objects
- Size Objects
What is included with the beta:
- One 3ds file to play with
- Five textures to load and apply
Since this is a beta you can't get the information on a dba file to edit. When the final is released it will have that possiblility.
What the final program with have:
Note: the document will keep growing as I update so this isn't the final draft.
Here's the basics:
Objects:
- Load
- Delete
- Position
- Rotate
- Size
- apply textures
- color
- Turn automatic collisions on
- Save as new object format. Storing all this information.
Lights:
- Create
- Delete
- Set Light Type
- Color
- Light Brightness
- Save as new light format for storing all this information.
Textures:
- Load
- Apply to object
- Scroll
- Strech
Designer Camera:
- Position
- Rotate
In Game Camera:
- Position
- Rotate
- Set controls to object position
- Offsetx from object
- Offsety from object
- Camera Range
- Camera Follow object commands
- Info saved to new camera information file
Collisions:
- Automatic collisions that are applyed to an object by just clicking on a checkbox. Several small parameters will be set if desired.
Snapping:
- Position by amount
- Rotate by amount
- Scale Object by amount
- Snap by object size
Project files and how to use them in the final:
In the project folder there are several files that you need to know about.
The data files will contain information about the objects, lights, particles..ect..
The exe file is for running the information in the data files.
In the tools folder it will contain a program called dba injector which is used for putting code into the main project executable.
Another tool in this folder is called the data viewer which is used to view the data in the data files and lable everything so editing it manually will be easy. This is also useful if you are not using the dark basic program and just programming it in c++.
Another tool is the code creator program which is used for creating code from a template of code in the liberty.
Another tool is the Dark Basic Pro tool plugin. One of the tools is getting the scancode and sending it to the clipboard. Another is a simple calculator that also gets into some advanced functions like a few wave functions. It will also graph data and get values based on points. It will also graph them on a 3d matrix.
There are also several other tools that will be posted later.
<edit>
snap to helper lines:
helper lines are just lines on each axis that can be moved by an amount, be positioned at a point, or snaped to matrix. The helper lines are useful if you have multiple object you want to want to position along the same axis.
In Designer collision Detections:
In the designer the object you are moving will constantly check for collisions in a 100 unit range. This is useful for moving an object seamlessly agains another. Also if an object collides with another object it will turn transperent so you can see where the object is in another one.
For Dark Basic Pro owners:
I am making several game code templates for:
Movement:
- Car
- Airplane
- FPS
- Rts
- Camera Following object
- Camera movement
- Camera collisions so camera doesn't go through objects when following object
AI:
- Desision making.
- Fps AI (move to object, stop if distance to object is 100, shoot at object....ect)
Limbs:
- Attach to Camera positions
- attach to object like a car wheel to body
Collisions:
- Explains different types and how they work.
FPS concepts of the game:
- Shooting
- Moving
- AI
- Ammo
Other Plugins:
These will be made after the final program's released.
(Depends how far I get in this project)
- Terrain Maker
- GUI designer
- Physics Engine
- File Handling programs
- Shelling Program
- Windows Plugin
or any suggestions!!!
</edit>
Note:
The program beta is just the basics and will be extended in the final project so don't judge a program by it's beta.
The final project will be more spread out and organize in a windows layout.
<edit>
New Update
My Site is finally up and running. You can check it out here:
www.darkworldengine.co.nr
I will be updating it frequently so information should stay current to a three day range.
Edit Edit: Also a new forum was set up on my site
link:
http://darkworldengine.forumup.com/
</edit>
UPDATE:March 17
Communication successful: Filemapping and parsing complete
Basic GUI setup: New look for the next beta
Started on Dark World IDE
