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Dark GDK / RTS Games with Dark GDK

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bobba
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Posted: 9th May 2008 03:07
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Greetings and Salutations,

I am currently making an 8 player RTS game with C++/Dark Gdk. I have almost finished the basic engine and have overcome many of the initial problems.

Some of the problems I have solved are:

SUPCOM style Zoom and camera control.
Drag selection of units.
Unit AI, i.e. units attacking things in firing range.
Keeping computers in sync across a network.
Networking Protocol (Lockstep system based on what MS used in AOE)
Way points (i.e. shift command stacking)

If anyone would like help with any of the above in their game or wants to discuss making RTS games then post away.
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jason p sage
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Posted: 10th May 2008 03:47
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Wow.. You've been busy! Good Job Bobba! Any Screenies?


http://www.jasonpetersage.com/?PAGE=ironinfantry&SECTION=ironinfantry
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bobba
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Posted: 10th May 2008 07:53
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I could make some but I only have 2 units so far, factories and fighters. The factory’s are just squares and the ships are triangles. So in short screenshots would do it no justice.

I will have to look at making a video so u can appreciate the zoom and other features.

I saw your video of the windows thing; it looked impressive although to be honest I still don’t know exactly what it was. If you can recommend a video recording program to save me some goggling that would be appreciated.

I will send u a demo when it’s at a playable stage too. It’s called Genocide Wars. In short it will be an RTS based in space. I intend to keep the graphics very simple to give the game a retro feel as well as maximising the possible number of units in play.

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jason p sage
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Posted: 10th May 2008 08:00
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Quote: "FastCapPro is a cool PC game utility for you to real time record OpenGL and DirecX games, perform benchmark and capture game screenshots! Looking for a game recorder to create your own machinima masterpiece? Want to Show new tricks and techniques to help improve game play? Come and use FastCapPro!"


that should be adequate google fodder


http://www.jasonpetersage.com/?PAGE=ironinfantry&SECTION=ironinfantry
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bobba
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Posted: 10th May 2008 08:02
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im looking, thanks
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Core2uu
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Posted: 10th May 2008 08:17
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Gamecam and Fraps are always options too. 'Specially cuz they are free...

~~It's not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you.~~
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jezza
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Location: Bham, UK
Posted: 10th May 2008 16:36
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when you find out how to do drag selection of units tell me
I'd really like to make an RTS. ill help if you want
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bobba
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Posted: 11th May 2008 08:10 Edited at: 11th May 2008 08:17
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Drag select hey.

The first thing you need to do is get the screen coordinates as the left mouse button is held down.

MouseLeftX1 = dbMouseX ();
MouseLeftY1 = dbMouseY ();

Then why it is held down update a second set of points:

MouseLeftX2 = dbMouseX ();
MouseLeftY2 = dbMouseY ();


Then adjust them so they are the right way round:

ie, x1 are the top left and x2 is bottom right.

Then use the dbLine command to draw box.

The tricky bit is converting 2d screen coordinates into 3d game or world coordinates; I used dbPickScreen and the x y z things that go with it. But this will depend on what style your game is ie 2d, 3d, tilting view, etc.

Then when each unit has its turn it can check whether it is inside or outside the box by comparing its location to the 2 points which represent the top left and bottom right of the selection box.

Check this thread too:

http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=44248&b=6

it’s a very good starting point for beginners.

ps i had a go at making a video with that program but the smallest file I could get was over 2 gig! I will have a tweak at the settings and try again when I get a moment.
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Core2uu
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Posted: 11th May 2008 08:39
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Quote: "ps i had a go at making a video with that program but the smallest file I could get was over 2 gig! I will have a tweak at the settings and try again when I get a moment."


WTH??? Are you encoding it in uncompressed frames??? Use a codec dude... Try Divx or Xvid for compression... And even with that lower your bitrate and compression quality... If you still get a really high file size then re-encode to a smaller size with something like SUPER...

~~It's not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you.~~
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bobba
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Posted: 11th May 2008 23:32
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Hear is a little video of the work in progress, there is not much to see. Unfortunately due to the low res you cannot see the drag box very well.

The ships (triangles!) do not attack each other in this version, they did in my original version but I started again from scratch and decided to get the network bit going before I put in the combat.

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jason p sage
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Posted: 11th May 2008 23:52
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I don't get it.... looked really black with a couple "dragged" bounding boxes.. ... I saw a few sparkles...

I guess a Close up might be nicer to the "recorder" maybe. Can you Zoom?


http://www.jasonpetersage.com/?PAGE=ironinfantry&SECTION=ironinfantry
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Core2uu
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Posted: 12th May 2008 00:28
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Yes do zoom in... And what codec are you using?

~~It's not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you.~~
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bobba
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Posted: 12th May 2008 03:10 Edited at: 12th May 2008 03:13
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It was done in mpeg. I think it looks bad because the screen res was very high and the recording res was set to minimum.

I did say there was not much to see at this stage. The little flickering moving things are just little triangles for now but will be ships (well that’s the plan)and they dont flicker in the game - just the video.

I hope you can at least see they follow way points.

Unfortunately most of the work thus far cannot really be seen in a video such as the sync, networking and other inner worky bits.

I have tested all the components individually but am still in the process of putting it all together. If it all works it should not tack long but most likely there will be a few glitches along the way. I will make another video when there is something actually worth looking at.

And yeah - I should have zoomed in more, will do in the next vid.
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jason p sage
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Posted: 12th May 2008 03:58
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don't misunderstand - anytime I see a program running without crashing its cool... when its running so I can see littel animations and things.. like yours... its cooler... I would like to see your progress regardless.

Building games to me is like mechanics... the term "engine" is perfect.. though loosely defined.. its easy for me to see why we are always calling things "engines" because its like an engine .. many moving parts... any of which gone foul could hose the whole thing...

Keep up the good work... (Networking I know is a pain.. once you nail it though... its a beautiful thing!)


http://www.jasonpetersage.com/?PAGE=ironinfantry&SECTION=ironinfantry
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Core2uu
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Posted: 12th May 2008 04:06
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Quote: "It was done in mpeg."


Use Xvid or Divx instead, you don't have... although they are my personal preference...

Quote: "I think it looks bad because the screen res was very high and the recording res was set to minimum. "


Try and find that perfect optimum between the two, however those two things are of course independant of each other...

~~It's not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you.~~
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bobba
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Posted: 19th May 2008 04:58
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A quick progress update in case anyone in interested:

I have the network bit working in game. I just have to tweak my way-point system to work in the 2 player version then the basic engine is cranking.

If enough people are interested I was also thinking about making a DLL for implementing RTS networking. It would include functionality for the host/join menu as well as time sync, ping, a user input component (to enter the info u want sent) and of cause the sending bit. It would basically do all the complicated networking and sync stuff for you.

So if anyone is interested then post away.
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Juggalo Memnoch
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Posted: 19th May 2008 05:16
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I would definetly be intersted in that
Especially the time sync
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bobba
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Posted: 24th May 2008 06:45
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Another update,

I have put most the components together now. I have uncovered a miner problem in the user interface. It is due to the throttling of user inputs. I should be able to fix it though.

Regarding the time sync, it seams to work so far but I have only tested it on a local network. Once I have fully tested the system I will consider making a time sync dill in preference to a networking dill as it would actually be a lot easer to implement and less complicated for others to use.
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