Alright! Material scripts are functional! Now it’s time to test the fur idea I had.
I want people who create games using this engine only have to share a single file when they want other people to play their game. For this, all assets are compressed into an archive, along with an XML script (see below). The XML script is what controls the game.
You can pack an infinite amount of missions (here: "scenario") into this file, with infinite types of units, scripts, music, etc. etc. The only limiting factor will be your graphics card and memory, and engine limitations.
It will also be possible to create games with multiple outcomes using this layout.
The parser I used for the XML file is the Boost::property_tree library. It was quite a pain to get working, because it’s not intuitive, but once you get the hang of it, it’s very powerful.
Boost::property_tree sits on top of rapidxml. If you choose to interface rapidxml directly, the downsides are you lose a layer of abstraction, and you won’t be as flexible. The upsides are you’ll parse the files faster, and will use less memory.
http://www.xbdev.net/directx3dx/specialX/Fur/index.php
I was thinking about giving the ponies fur. We’re going for a more realistic style with this game, so it will be interesting to see how this turns out.
It’s quite heavy on performance, but the units are also far away, which will allow some corner-cutting and speed things up.
TheComet