Sorry your browser is not supported!

You are using an outdated browser that does not support modern web technologies, in order to use this site please update to a new browser.

Browsers supported include Chrome, FireFox, Safari, Opera, Internet Explorer 10+ or Microsoft Edge.

Work in Progress / Xen the Alien

Author
Message
hexGEAR
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Nov 2002
Location: Naytonia
Posted: 5th Nov 2003 19:38 Edited at: 5th Nov 2003 19:39
Link
Just thought i'd make a post about my game's progress (alienware competition entry and the name may change), don't wan't to say much this early about what it's going to be about but to sum it up, it's kinda an action RPG. I've been working on the models and the stage editor for some time now and i guess i'll get all those done sometime mid-month, then..... the coding starts!

Heres a shot from the Editors DB window (using AM's DBVB integration toolkit), the game's gonna have a cartoon theme, can you tell? What the editor does basically is allow you:

- load a .3ds model (uses it as a die to mold a matrix)
- position a "sun" object and automatically creates normal data (can you tell where the sun is coming from?)
- texture the matrix either with tiles or fill (position image on matrix "as is").

the matrix in the picture was textured using "fill", easy to make image and as seemless as hell! more pics as i progress



Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Megaton Cat
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 24th Aug 2003
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posted: 5th Nov 2003 23:36
Link
hey thats exactly the kind of thing I'm making!
but anyway thjat editor looks nice, keep going.

p.s the sun is coming from the right.

My philosophy:
LESS CHAT MORE SCREENIES.
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Yian
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th Jun 2003
Location: Nicosia, Cyprus(the Greek half)
Posted: 5th Nov 2003 23:40
Link
I like your sig Megaton!

Jeriko The Slyz,Yian The Craft,The Mechanist,The Lost One,Master Of Dots,Bambos O Bellos,Zolos O Kolos
Back to top
Profile PM
ESC_
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 29th Aug 2003
Location: Mass.
Posted: 5th Nov 2003 23:47 Edited at: 5th Nov 2003 23:47
Link
Looks neato

"That's not a bug, it's a feature!"
"Variables won't, constants aren't."
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Wolfish King
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 23rd Aug 2003
Location: The Netherlands
Posted: 6th Nov 2003 00:43
Link
Looks great so far.
Back to top
Profile PM
Guruchild
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 13th May 2003
Location: United States
Posted: 6th Nov 2003 01:30
Link
No offense, but if all you got so far is a matrix and some textures you aren't going to be finished in time for the dec 31 deadline. Not trying to discourage you, it sounds great, but be sure you know you'll have enough time to submit this as an entry before you set out to make it for that.

I have a sign beside my door-hinge, that says nothing rhymes with orange.

Soul Defender: 75% GodMode RPG: 5%
Back to top
Profile PM Email
hexGEAR
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Nov 2002
Location: Naytonia
Posted: 6th Nov 2003 01:55
Link
thanks all!

@ megaton
nothing wrong with a little healthy competition ohh, and you guessed right!

@ Guruchild
i understand your concern and i can assure you i'll be finnished in time to hand this in at 100% besides, like i said above, i've got the modelling about 80% complete which give be about 1 1/2 months coding time (i hope)

Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Guruchild
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 13th May 2003
Location: United States
Posted: 6th Nov 2003 03:22
Link
Well then, good luck with your entry. I sure could use some competition, I mean it isn't even fair right now. Just kidding of course #1 would be great but I would be happy with a top 4 just for the great software.

I have a sign beside my door-hinge, that says nothing rhymes with orange.

Soul Defender: 75% GodMode RPG: 5%
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Megaton Cat
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 24th Aug 2003
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posted: 7th Nov 2003 07:55
Link
So I am a bit confused here guys...should I take the alienware pc now or when I win? Can't decide.
lol just joking.
Hexgear, keep working, u can easly finish it by Dec 31. (I know I will using the power of christmas holidays)

good luck

My philosophy:
LESS CHAT MORE SCREENIES.
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Van B
Moderator
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Oct 2002
Location: Sunnyvale
Posted: 7th Nov 2003 10:36
Link
Anyone who knows anything about DB competitions will tell you guys that it's the entries you've never seen before that win .

Looking neat so far Hexgear - I would suggest that you smooth it out a bit though. I just average out the matrix to sorta blend those normals - it really improves things. To average out the normals, just step through the data, but only to the second last rows and columns, like if your matrice is 64x64, and your matrix normals are stored in a 2D array, like matnorm#(64,64,3).

For z=0 to 63
For x=0 to 63
For set=0 to 2
normacc#=(matnorm#(x,z,set)+matnorm#(x+1,z,set)+matnorm#(x,z+1,set)+matnorm#(x+1,z+1,set))/4.00
matnorm#(x,z,set)=normacc#
next set
next x
next z

Give it a try and see what difference it makes.


Van-B


I laugh in the face of fate!
Back to top
Profile PM Email
hexGEAR
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Nov 2002
Location: Naytonia
Posted: 7th Nov 2003 13:06
Link
thanks for the advice Van, i'll take it into consideration!

Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
hexGEAR
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Nov 2002
Location: Naytonia
Posted: 7th Nov 2003 13:45 Edited at: 7th Nov 2003 17:33
Link
Ok, i guess this one's directed at Rich (or anyone who feels they totally understand the rules)! here's a picture of my main character in an "in-game" (not completed) enviroment, my question is, is this model ok? will i get penalised?



it's the original model, no mesh deforms, just a total texture redo (not the best texture, not the best uvmapping but hey, i'm just 1 moderately skilled guy ), i know i've asked a simillar question before but i just wan't to get a "good to go" before i proceed any further!

Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Van B
Moderator
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Oct 2002
Location: Sunnyvale
Posted: 7th Nov 2003 14:33
Link
That's a really cool looking alien you got there!

IMO Rich will probably take the implimentation into much higher consideration than changes to the texture, because your making the alien the main character, I reckon a total texture redo would'nt make too much difference - the rules do state that you can change the texture however you like, it's the mesh that is best left alone.


Van-B


I laugh in the face of fate!
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Megaton Cat
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 24th Aug 2003
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posted: 7th Nov 2003 18:05
Link
looks slick, wat did u do to get those shadows?

My philosophy:
LESS CHAT MORE SCREENIES.
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Wolfish King
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 23rd Aug 2003
Location: The Netherlands
Posted: 7th Nov 2003 18:09
Link
Wow, that looks great! Looks like Cel Shaded to me. Keep the screenshots coming! I like the Alien Ware Competition!
Back to top
Profile PM
hexGEAR
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Nov 2002
Location: Naytonia
Posted: 7th Nov 2003 19:13
Link
@ van, thanks, you renewed my confidence

@ megaton, probably the easiest way to make shadows, scale object x,0,z. Straight forward but performance intensive so it's gonna be an option.

@ wolfish, not quite cell-shading, well, the sun has a kinda cell-shading fx but the rest just have really cartoony textures (kinda hides my poor texture creating abilities )

Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
walaber
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 22nd Oct 2003
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posted: 7th Nov 2003 19:17
Link
I think the Alien looks cool- anyone who votes you down for making your own cool texture is lame

the four-wheeler looks great! I like the idea of making it look really cartoony rather than super-ultra realistic. It gives your game some style!

can't wait to see what this game ends up like.

man I need to fix up my own entry
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Hamish McHaggis
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 13th Dec 2002
Location: Modgnik Detinu
Posted: 7th Nov 2003 19:50
Link
Wow! Really nice. One thing though, the sun looks too much like a block of colour. I think you should give it more of a gradient, it'd still look cartoony but not so solid.

Do you bite your thumb at me sir?

Athelon XP 1600 Plus - Nvidia Geforce MX400 - 256mb RAM
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
GR3G0R
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 7th Nov 2003
Location: Dubai, UAE
Posted: 7th Nov 2003 20:23
Link
v. cool but maye make the shadows a bit, less dark? and the sun is still a bit too much blocky

but i love the cartoony style!

-------------------------
I'm new to DarkBasic Pro, so don't flame me :/
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Mussi
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Jan 2003
Location: Netherlands
Posted: 8th Nov 2003 22:41 Edited at: 8th Nov 2003 22:42
Link
Great job , about the sun, looks like a coloured circle now, maybe you could give it some rays or something. like the quad
and wouldn't the shadow only work for flat sufaces?

Specs: AMD Athlon 1800, 256 DDRRam 266mhz, 80GB HD 7200rmp U133, Geforce 4 Ti4400 128mb ddr sdram
Back to top
Profile PM
Preston C
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th May 2003
Location: Penn State University Park
Posted: 8th Nov 2003 23:21 Edited at: 9th Nov 2003 04:25
Link
if it only works with flat surfaces, you can use atanfull maths to rotate the shadow to the appropriate angle

Well, I'd have to say it looks quite good.


Intel Celeron 1.3 Ghrz 512MB Ram NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 128MB
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Wik
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 21st May 2003
Location: CT, United States
Posted: 9th Nov 2003 03:56
Link
That sun needs work.

It looks like it was made in <1min in paint

Sorry Had to get that off my chest


I wanted to learn C++ but then I started having nightmares.
I would scream at night, "AHHHHH!!! THE SEMI-COLONS"
Back to top
Profile PM
Bren
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 15th Oct 2003
Location: Belgium
Posted: 9th Nov 2003 05:08
Link
it's looking realy realy good, keep it up and post some more screenshots

Games don't kill ...
I do!
http://www.gamingzone.be the ultimate gaming community
Back to top
Profile PM Website
hexGEAR
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Nov 2002
Location: Naytonia
Posted: 9th Nov 2003 17:56
Link
thanks all, more screenshots on the way as i progress! the shadows are flat so yeah, i was planning on rotating them to the canvas in-game (the camera position is kinda high so shouldn't be that much of a problem )

oh yeah, by the way the sun was made in < 30 secs and with 3 primitive db spheres! it's just a replacement object though

Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Ermes
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th May 2003
Location: ITALIA
Posted: 10th Nov 2003 13:36
Link
your alien is the best i've seen here.

Free Download for a Free World
go to my www to play RAVEN, THE FLIGHT OF RAVEN and SUNDAY DRIVERS
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
hexGEAR
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Nov 2002
Location: Naytonia
Posted: 10th Nov 2003 19:17
Link
thanks ermes, better or not i just couldn't use the original alien's texture, it's too realistic, it would have clashed with my game's theme!

Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Ermes
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th May 2003
Location: ITALIA
Posted: 11th Nov 2003 10:03
Link
that is a proplem of most here.
But i think we have to use the original textures.

Free Download for a Free World
go to my www to play RAVEN, THE FLIGHT OF RAVEN and SUNDAY DRIVERS
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
hexGEAR
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Nov 2002
Location: Naytonia
Posted: 17th Nov 2003 17:59 Edited at: 22nd Nov 2003 16:52
Link
My editor's almost done, i just finnished pathfinding! Instead of doing this in-game (and loose speed) i auto-calculated in the editor (and added size). The data will be stored in the stage file so if the bots want to get from tile "a" to "b", it just checks in the path array "path(a,b)". easy here's a quick example stage i created:



the editor breaks the stage down into two parts, no-go and go zones, then finds all possible paths between the go zones. "Orange" is a no-go zones (objects blocking or to far up the mountains) and "White" is a go-zones. The green path is a test to see how a bot in-game would move between 2 tiles (18 to 590 on the pathfinding toolbar). It's not the most accurate method but suprisingly adds enough variance to make sure you can't predict where the bot's gonna go



Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
ReD_eYe
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 9th Mar 2003
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 17th Nov 2003 19:46
Link
oooh looking like a damn good editor!


GO TO THE ETERNAL DESTINY FORUMS!!! http://forums.eternaldestinyonline.com
Do it now!!!
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
MikeS
Retired Moderator
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 2nd Dec 2002
Location: United States
Posted: 18th Nov 2003 00:36
Link
Holy crap! That's how an editor should be done.



A book? I hate book. Book is stupid.
Back to top
Profile PM Email
hexGEAR
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Nov 2002
Location: Naytonia
Posted: 18th Nov 2003 02:16
Link
heh thanks! i "might" release it with my entry so you can make your own custom levels and stuff, good thing is it can be used for other types of games as well like RTS's.

I bet you can't guess what kinda game this is gonna be!

Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Megaton Cat
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 24th Aug 2003
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posted: 18th Nov 2003 09:54
Link
ummm...a fishing game?
lol just joking, looking forward to ur game.

Visit our new site! : http://www.megatoncreations.tk
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
hexGEAR
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Nov 2002
Location: Naytonia
Posted: 21st Nov 2003 21:36
Link
the game's kinda like vigilante 8 and twisted metal, only you can play on foot or in a vehicle! There's gonna be loads of weapons and vehicles to use, the quad you see up there is just 1 of them

anyways i've changed the images from geocities to another site so they should be visible now

Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Megaton Cat
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 24th Aug 2003
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posted: 22nd Nov 2003 02:42
Link

WOW!
That shot of the editor is SO SWEET!!!
release this NOW damn you!

Visit our new site! : http://www.megatoncreations.tk
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
walaber
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 22nd Oct 2003
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posted: 26th Nov 2003 04:48
Link
any chance of some in-game screenies anytime soon?
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
hexGEAR
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Nov 2002
Location: Naytonia
Posted: 26th Nov 2003 12:25 Edited at: 26th Nov 2003 12:26
Link
i'm kinda caught up in uni coursework at the moment that's why i haven't posted in a while. By December 1st i would have completed all of them and i'll resume developement and get loads of in-game screens up!

Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
M00NSHiNE
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 4th Aug 2003
Location: England, UK
Posted: 26th Nov 2003 13:43
Link
That pathfinding sounds good.....hmmm...cool

Very nice looking editor BTW

ZEDWARE website coming soon... //END TRANSMISSION//
Back to top
Profile PM
las6
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 2nd Sep 2002
Location: Finland
Posted: 26th Nov 2003 15:01
Link
sweet editor.
And I love the textures.
Very nice work..

But I think your way of calculating the sun rays is a bit odd. Doesn't look very realistic. For that kind of area, the light should be directional, not point-like.

Keyboard not detected. Press F1 to continue.
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
hexGEAR
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Nov 2002
Location: Naytonia
Posted: 26th Nov 2003 15:21
Link
not sure i fully understand could you elaborate?

Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
las6
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 2nd Sep 2002
Location: Finland
Posted: 27th Nov 2003 10:15
Link
Nothing, really.
You are using a point light there, to illuminate the area. Or is it the sun?

I first assumed that you are using no actual light but just edit the normals.
Quote: "automatically creates normal data"
But I'm quite confused now.

Just that sun is so far away, at least from earth, that it will not look like a point light. Point light works like a ray from the light to the surface. That means the angle varies between different surfaces. With directional light, you don't have this problem.

Keyboard not detected. Press F1 to continue.
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
hexGEAR
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Nov 2002
Location: Naytonia
Posted: 27th Nov 2003 16:24 Edited at: 27th Nov 2003 16:27
Link
yeah, i understand now. You "assumed" this was on earth, my bad, i should have explained the story earlier.

The game is based on a planet Naytonia, all water with a couple of islands. It has it's own sun which is located close to the planet, it all fits in with the game script. I know it may look kinda unrealistic but you have to remember it's toon theme and having the sun close to the planet not only looks good in-game (i'll get some shots up) but also fixes a lot of other problems too

Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
hexGEAR
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Nov 2002
Location: Naytonia
Posted: 5th Dec 2003 03:03 Edited at: 5th Dec 2003 03:05
Link
The editor's just about complete so i've been working on the engine and came up with some "early" in-game shots. A lot of things in the screens are subject to change (like the hud) so if you have any complaints i was probably gonna change it anyway

xen on a quad with a sniper rifle


xen on a hover board with a minigun


close-up of xen with the pistol


p.s. ignore the floating houses, it was just for a test

Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
JoelJ
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Sep 2003
Location: UTAH
Posted: 5th Dec 2003 05:22
Link
That is soooo AWSOME. im excided to see this finished. i hope the game will be as fun as it looks!

oh yes. you must reliece the editor!

=<=Pudgie Wars=>=
Game engine: 20% = Models: 25% = Textures: 1% = Sounds/Music: 0% = www.geocities.com/bigapple_entertainment
Back to top
Profile PM Website
hexGEAR
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Nov 2002
Location: Naytonia
Posted: 5th Dec 2003 12:29
Link
Thanks, the storyline involves only 8 stages, so i'll probably release the editor so you can make more

Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Van B
Moderator
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Oct 2002
Location: Sunnyvale
Posted: 5th Dec 2003 13:31
Link
Looking great, hope you get it finished in time.

Gotta love that quad, how's your controls for that?, I always enjoy vehicle control - especially in Halo, I loved how you could just jump in and out of the vehicles. Tell us about your quad and your hoverboard.


Van-B


I laugh in the face of fate!
Back to top
Profile PM Email
hexGEAR
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Nov 2002
Location: Naytonia
Posted: 5th Dec 2003 16:28 Edited at: 5th Dec 2003 16:29
Link
Here's the script:
--------------------------------------------------------------------
xen is a lost pilot, he left his home planet "Xenin" on a routine space exploration mission and was sucked into a black hole, he's now trying to find his way home. His one-man ship is low on fuel and oxygen so he was desprately searching for a planet to land on, thats when he found the planet "Naytonia".

Part I: The Haydens (the competition entry)

The Haydens are an evil alien race, they basically conquer planets, use all it's recources and move on, keeping it's occupants as slaves. You just happen to be in the right place at the wrong time 'cus thier taking over Naytonia as a soldier, you are obliged to help those in need, the catch is you have no weapons

The haydens position supplies (weapons, vehicles and items) all over the planet to aid thier troops and guess what.. you can use them too you have to battle the haydens through 8 unique areas of the planet and free the Naytonians.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

I've got about 4 vehicles so i don't want the physics to be too complex, plus it "is" a toon themed game. The game controls like max payne, the waist down acts independent from the chest up. On the quad, "wasd" controls the quad while the mouse controls xen's aiming (both y and x axis). I'll get a quick demo up for feedback soon

Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Van B
Moderator
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Oct 2002
Location: Sunnyvale
Posted: 5th Dec 2003 17:15
Link
Sounds good!.

My plot is a little similar to yours, but I don't think there's a lot of scope for more ambitious projects like this, we have an alien with no history, damn plots are more trouble than their worth!. The biggest problem for me is finding an excuse for the destinct lack of other soldiers in my game, probably gonna go for the old 'Humans are now canned goods' scenario. I was imagining a huge mothership making stops at planets to pick up supplies, and earth just happens to be on the same route. I suppose the plot for these things won't matter too much, I'm just trying not to make myself cringe when I try and come up with the plot for my game!.

I reckon your quad controls are spot on and that'll really make the gameplay stand out.

Good luck.


Van-B


I laugh in the face of fate!
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Chris K
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 7th Oct 2003
Location: Lake Hylia
Posted: 5th Dec 2003 20:36
Link
I recon this is going to be amazing.


After all, I've never played a bad game that involved the word "Xen"


...and like that; he's gone...
Back to top
Profile PM
hexGEAR
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 3rd Nov 2002
Location: Naytonia
Posted: 5th Dec 2003 21:13 Edited at: 5th Dec 2003 21:15
Link
van B:
thanks! my plot involves a mothership too, but in the long run.

Quote: "I suppose the plot for these things won't matter too much"


yeah, i just needed a reason for mindless in-game action and just came up with one.

chris:
i'd better work harder then, i'd hate to disapoint

Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Megaton Cat
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 24th Aug 2003
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posted: 5th Dec 2003 22:42
Link
hey hexgear, this game is like...wow! Alot of style to it
absolute great work on this, this game is gona kick alien ass at the compo

AWSOME JOB HEXGEAR!!!

Visit our new site! : http://www.megatoncreations.tk

If life throws you a grenade...pull the pin and throw it back!
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Back to top

Login to post a reply

Server time is: 2024-11-24 10:19:41
Your offset time is: 2024-11-24 10:19:41