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Dark GDK / Where do I start for a 3D Space Exploration / RPG Engine?

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WickedVixen
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Location: New Brisbane, Utopia Prime, VGC GHQ
Posted: 29th Sep 2008 15:08
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I have been looking, for several years, for a near-perfect catch-all-style 3D Space Engine with RPG capabilities, and have not found one.

I am currently building an RPG engine and adding in the 3D Space Exploration, but not sure if this is the way to go...

I want to implement these effects:
lens flare for close-proximity stars (those in single and binary systems)
full ship rotation, rotating ship (as false origin) to rotate the world
Warp Engine, Jump Engine AND RCS Thrusters (Jump between planets; Warp between systems; RCS Thrusters for course correction and planetside navi)
particles are an optional effect that I am planning on implementing, but not immediately
I want to implement RPG elements based on my self-written RPG (though it is mostly text and dice, I am planning on implementing this as soon as I can figure out what I need...)

Any other suggestions?
I am planning on a 'crew component' where players can man certain areas of the ship and the pilot gains bonuses due to his 'crew' helping/assisting in the workings of the ship. If you feel like dropping into a gunnery turret, you could, to lend a hand to the pilot (so he doesn't have to pilot AND shoot the enemies, though he could...).

There are others items that I'd like to implement, but I don't want to give out all of the details... I am planning on using DarkGDK for much of this, but I'm not sure where to go with it.

Please, let me know. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[/url]
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SushiBox
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Location: Ohio
Posted: 29th Sep 2008 16:55
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Wow, this concept is very amazing, although very involved. I am not 100% pro with DarkGDK but if I could offer an oppinion, I would say first thing, find a physics lib you want to use. Try looking at the physx gdk or something similar.

I dont have time to comment on much more. Sorry, but I hope that helps if you didn't already figure this.

www.Helios-Online.net
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jezza
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Location: Bham, UK
Posted: 29th Sep 2008 22:09
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I don't actually think you need physics for this. space physics is relatively simple to program. and then you just need sparky's for collision.

this is a big project, so the first thing I would do is go about designing the layout of the project, making empty functions for everything you want to do, and then go about filling them. easy that way to get others to help, as all they need to do is make the code for the function.
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Niels Henriksen
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Posted: 29th Sep 2008 22:22
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Start with UML. Make UseCases for all the things you want to make. Not just start to code

Niels Henriksen
www.tales-of-the-realms.com
if Microsoft can sell software with bugs, so can I.
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WickedVixen
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Posted: 9th Oct 2008 01:08
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SushiBox: Thanks for the tips on the physics. I think I can use that, but I'll have to research it

Jezza: I don't know much about Sparky's collision, could you direct me to the information?

Neils: That's interesting... I've got ArgoUML that I downloaded from school... I guess I could use that... Hmm...

Thanks for the pointers...
Anyone else up for ideas?

[/url]
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WickedVixen
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Posted: 9th Dec 2008 05:14
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Sorry.
Been a while since I was here.
Got some things set, but still not working as I'd like.

Anyway, when I get more done, I'll drop a screen shot or two. It's still crashing on something that I think is just a syntax error (or a missing file)...

[/url]
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fhrozbite
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Posted: 9th Dec 2008 14:20
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bro... im jz a noob here... im also working on 3d flight simulator... its a requirement in my class but im stil cant get wat i want... my 3d flight simulator is jz a third man view dat the camera jz follows to the controller... i can now control moving forward, diving in, tilting up and left and right... i also like to put objects in my terrain..

so the question is:
wat suggestions wil u give... should i use direct x files that are created olredy and embed to my program or i shud create my own sprite...

among those two where can i save more memory space and among those two which is the best to use when i also use the sparkys collision... thnx...
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WickedVixen
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Posted: 27th Feb 2009 20:17
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fhrozbite: there are many things to consider when using sprites vs. DX objects in your game.

Sprites are 2D flat pictures that can be scaled, rotated and sized according to your needs, but can be made to look 3D with some creative color adjusting.

DX Objects can be pre-made or rendered while generating your terrain, and flown around while you're in-game. The thing with DX Objects tho, is that they will scale and rotate as you move away, rotate, fly toward, etc., much like Sprites, but are taken care of in the 3D environment that you're creating. Placing them in, then saving out your 'levels' with the Eiffel Tower and the Arch de Triomph located in Germany, for instance, would be cool, but not realistic (if your hoping for realism). [I'd love to play around in a world like that...]

I use both. The Sprites for a HUD (heads-up display) and 3D DX Objects for the planets and obstacles in the starsystems. I hope this makes sense of it all...

Anyway, there are books on DirectX 9.0c and DX10 for perusal all over the 'net and in bookshops. You might be able to locate something there, or find another approach for what you're trying to accomplish.

[/url]
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WickedVixen
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Posted: 27th Mar 2009 14:23
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I have a few things for this set in stone, but I need to make sure I'm not biting off more than I can chew...

I am thinking of making 'rooms' that the starsystems reside in, with their planets, natural satellites (moons) and the asteroid belts.
I don't want to mimic everything that CCP has done with EVE Online. (I have an account and play, but I'm not exactly a fan of EVE. The new updates are making it harder for players with lower-end PCs to play with minimum features.)

EVE's stargates look cool (with Premium Graphics enabled, and even not), but I'm not looking to implement various different looking stargates. I am looking at implementing ships with their own Warp System (using Astrogation for better mathematics calculation, resulting in a much closer landing/entry than players with low or no Astrogation).

In EVE, you get random enemies. I would not be implementing that until I have a complete test of several 'Clusters'. If you have the Cluster Map from the RPG (I'm including it in the Boxed Set), you'll have a leg up on those players without one.

I could go on and on, but I should just keep this rather short. (No dissertations or e-books, here-- not enough space...) I will have a list of things I want to make sure I implement from the outset.

I don't have a typical design document. I am using the background from my RPG for that, trying to include many of the facets that the RPG is based upon. (The Mechs I want to include wont be available for quite some time... Two reasons: Space Travel to be implemented first; RPG elements tweaked in and tested.) These two things will be the hardest to complete in a reasonable amount of time.

I am also looking for assistance, but not quite yet... Could someone find for me "Super Squadron" and it's science fiction expansion. It's out of print, and from Joseph Italiano, who lives in Australia. I used to have a copy of it. I wanted to use the star map to figure out certain distances and where specific stars lie. Please, this is something I can truly use.

Thanks.

[/url]
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entomophobiac
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Posted: 27th Mar 2009 16:47
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http://www.projectrho.com/starmapstub.html
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WickedVixen
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Posted: 31st Mar 2009 16:38
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@ Ento: Thank you for the link, but I cannot use this. I still have to correlate the data, since Earth, in my RPG, is the center of the Galaxy. (At least, it's not the Center of the Universe, like the general observers believed, in ancient times...)

Technically, it's Sol at the center.

The site is a huge step, but I think I'd be better served with a flat map (2D), since my Cluster map is a plane sliced through the Milky Way, equidistant above and below the Galactic Equator. (1 LY above and 1 LY below the Galactic Equator.)

Anyway, I'll write more about this. I have to get to work.

[/url]
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dark coder
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Posted: 1st Apr 2009 06:40 Edited at: 1st Apr 2009 06:40
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Quote: "Technically, it's Sol at the center."


Of the universe? I think not.(unless you meant in my game?)

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WickedVixen
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Posted: 21st Jun 2009 18:58
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Technically, it's Sol at the center of the Galaxy-- definitely NOT the center of the Universe...

Too much to explore had I thought about it that way! LOL

And it would be in-game...not reality... ^_^

[/url]
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dark coder
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Posted: 21st Jun 2009 19:32
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Quote: "Technically, it's Sol at the center of the Galaxy"


We're in a solar system that contains a supermassive black hole of around 4 million solar masses? I didn't notice this.

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puppyofkosh
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Posted: 22nd Jun 2009 00:07
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It must have just popped up.
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WickedVixen
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Posted: 22nd Jun 2009 00:16
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No, it's in a role-playing game that I've been writing for some time now... It's set in the far future.

"... The scientists had it wrong! The Solar System wasn't slipping out of the Milky Way, IT WAS DRIFTING COREWARD!..." --from part of a background history for "Intergalactica RPG", Rob Mussell, 1993.

Anyway, I had been thinking of incorporating the Solar System as Galactic Core; Sol being center... I have a galactic map that I created, some years ago. Though, I have misplaced it, I remember it having 101 clusters, each approximately 1 LY square. Also wanted to include the 30 core clusters in my game, though I need to have a proper starmap-- wont have one soon, since we don't know much about the galactic core nor about the stars on the far side of the galaxy.

I may just rethink my approach, and go more along what Star Trek did, and leave the Solar System where it is... lol Nothing's set in stone, yet-- thank the Stars!... lol

[/url]
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