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Work in Progress / BT Games - 2 Full Games and a Racing POC - Development Blog

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TheSquid
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Posted: 18th Jan 2007 04:19
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Not sure whether this goes in Program Announcements or WIP, so I'll guess and put it here. The title pretty much says it all, 2 full games, a development blog, and a WIP.

The 2 full games are Connect 4 and Still No Escape. These are old projects - you may have seen them in the program announcements board. In retrospect, I probably should have waited until now to post, sorry for that everyone.

The WIP is a racing game Proof of Concept. I just wanted to see if I could get a human player and a cpu player lapping around the same track at the same time. Now that I've done that, I'll be doing a development blog on my current progress. This will end up being the basic engine for the racing game that I've got on paper.

Anyway, here is a screenshot, to show what I've got so far.



I'll update this thread as I go. If you're interested in my site or development blog, follow this link. I've attached the demo exe if you're interested as well. The controls are tough because the track is too small.

http://www1.webng.com/btgames/index.html

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TheSquid
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Posted: 20th Jan 2007 21:06
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First update!

I have added borders to the track and implemented sliding collision using Sparky's collision dll.

More details can be found on the site (later tonight or tomorrow). I've included a screen shot and a new .exe file. Enjoy!

http://www1.webng.com/btgames/index.html

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TheSquid
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Posted: 24th Jan 2007 05:56 Edited at: 24th Jan 2007 14:55
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For those who care...

I've added the ability to count laps and keep individual lap times. And, you can't cheat by running circles around the starting line. Finally, I've started to implement a ranking system. It's not perfect yet, but it's a really good start.



I'll be able to improve the ranking system after I adjust my waypoints. Currently, I'm using small plains. I'm going to change it to very wide plains and use ray casting to see if the CPU cars have passed it.

More details on the site in the next couple of days.

EDIT:

Development blog updated. Here's the link again:

http://www1.webng.com/btgames/index.html

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Crazy Ninja
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Posted: 24th Jan 2007 09:51
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Good start and good luck to you! Hope it comes along well.

Man i need to get back to coding soon...

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Don Malone
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Posted: 25th Jan 2007 01:53 Edited at: 25th Jan 2007 02:08
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I am always interested to see how a racing game comes out. I'm looking forward to more progress reports from you.

One question about the rails vs object size difference. Are you going to scale the rails down or the vehicle objects up? really not that important, just curious.

Don

<Edit - I get a could not load image at line 15 error with your latest demo>
redownloaded and still get the same error.

Making nothing for the third straight year.

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TheSquid
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Posted: 25th Jan 2007 03:38
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Regarding the rails, I'll scrap them entirely. This is just a test track, for proof of concept purposes. When I actually make a game out of this, I'll model something that looks a little better and is proportionate.

Regarding the error, I forgot to the two images to the packaged exe file. I've fixed it and added a new one. The second demo wouldn't have worked either!

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Don Malone
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Posted: 25th Jan 2007 04:10
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Good speed. Waiting to see what you do with this?

Good luck
Don

Making nothing for the third straight year.

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TheSquid
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Posted: 25th Jan 2007 14:50
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My plan is to make it into a shell that can be easily translated into full games. I'm making a track editor program to go along with it, where you can input any track and place your waypoints anywhere you want. That much is done already.

My goal for that program is to allow you to select input models and place them as "wall objects" along the track. Right now, it only places plains for the walls.

Also, it will allow you to select "hazard objects" along the way as well. This isn't started yet at all.

This program will write an output file that the main program reads for each track. Wall objects are placed in one collision group (thanks to Sparky's Dll), hazard objects placed in another, and car objects placed in yet another. The collision action will be different based on which collision group you are hitting.

I'll probably package and release the shell to anyone who wants to use it, and I've got an idea in the works (that I'm keeping to myself for now) for my first implementation of it.
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TheSquid
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Posted: 31st Jan 2007 14:26
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It's been a week since my last update, so here's what I've been up to.

1) To fully implement raycasting for the waypoints, I had to extend the waypoints fully between the boundaries that were set up. This had had a negative drawback. The x,y,z position of the waypoints did not follow a straight line, so my CPU controlled car would go haywire, turning in circles to line up with the next point. So...

2) I modified the way the CPU car drives around the track. Instead of going directly toward an x,y,z position, it now does raycasting in advance. As a test, I now cast a ray 500 units in front of the car. If the first collision is within the waypoint group, keep going straight. If the first collision is with a wall, turn left. With this type of logic, the path around the track isn't set in stone, and looks more human.

3) I modeled a quick hazard object in blender, just as a starting point to verify the export settings.

4) I modified the track editor program to allow scaling of the waypoints and objects. I can now bring in models and load them onto the track (but I haven't written the saving or retrieval yet).

TO DO

1) Create types in the track editor program, so I can keep track of what model is used for the walls and hazard objects. Use these types when writing the save file.

2) Create the saving/loading functionality for the models loaded in the track editor. This is done in a small file, included in both programs.

3) Once the hazards are loaded to the game itself, make sure the cars not only drive on top of the hazard, but also have a "slow down" effect.

4) Once the hazards are loaded to the game, make sure the CPU car avoids them when running around the track.

5) Implement vehicle to vehicle collision.

6) Create an array of CPU controlled cars

No screenshot for this update, as the graphics are mostly unchanged. The rails are smaller now, that's about it.
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TheSquid
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Posted: 5th Feb 2007 06:33
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Quickly, here is this week's update. I'll be posting a demo to the website in the next day or so.

From my TODO list above:

1) I added types to the hazards, as they are the only ones accepting models right now. Now I can keep track of which model belongs to which hazard.
2) I added file saving/loading for the hazards.
3) Didn't do this yet
4) Done!
5) Not yet
6) Not yet

I did add a couple of other nice features. I added Goga's dll to my track editor, making it much cleaner to load and save the track file, as well as select the hazard objects to load.

I also got sick of having squares running circles around the track, so I added some motorcycle models instead. Don't get too excited though, they don't lean or anything like that.

The only other "cool" thing I've been working on, was that I toyed with the idea of having shadows. They worked great with the boxes, but knocked me down 20 FPS on the motorcycles.

Anyway, here is a current screen shot.

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Xenocythe
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Posted: 6th Feb 2007 01:33
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Looks awesome! Try finding a few free cars or new bikes that are lower polies

-Mansoor S.

(Formerly Xenocythe)
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TheSquid
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Posted: 15th Feb 2007 16:51 Edited at: 16th Feb 2007 03:38
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It's been over a week since my last post, here's what I've been up to:

1) Added TYPES to the waypoints, they now provide direction to the computer controlled vehicles regarding steering direction and speed control.
2) Added saving and loading for the waypoint TYPES. Directional control based upon the waypoint instructions becomes a TODO.
3) I still haven't bothered with the "slowdown" effect of the hazards
4) I have partially implemented vehicle to vehicle collision. Now, if you rear-end an opponent, you will slow down but they will not. I have built in the structure to determine the type of collision (front to rear, right to left, etc) and have a sort of bouncing effect based on the collision.
5) I converted the program to accept an array of vehicles. The program can handle up to 9 computer controlled opponents. Their driving is too uniform right now, so I had to randomize their top speeds and turning radius. Otherwise they remain a uniform distance apart and remain on the same line.
6) I've beefed up my track editor some more, using Goga's dll. It's much less clunky now, and I'm really starting to like the direction it's headed.

On top of all of this, I've been messing around with a real track. I've been able to successfully model and export a track in Blender, though I still need to touch up a few spots where the slopes are too steep. It's a rather large track, it takes me about 40 seconds to make it all the way around. The textures are no good, as I picked them from the DB Pro media on the CD, and I whipped up two others in MS Paint. It's fully UV mapped, with multiple maps successfully applied and exported to direct x format.

The trick is scale. Blender models will export very tiny in DB Pro units. I started with a plain then scaled it by 10. I model in this scale, then save it. I take that model, scale it by 10, then by another 10. I save this model separately, as it's too large to work on in Blender. This is the model I export using the native Direct X exporter. It works beautifully.

Anyway, that's about it for now. I'll be working on cpu vehicle avoidance and the "bouncing" collision effects between now and my next update. Check my website for screenshots in the next day or so. I'll include a couple shots of the track.

http://www1.webng.com/btgames/index.html

EDIT

Website has been updated with more info and images of new track! Check it out! One of these images is attached.

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TheSquid
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Posted: 20th Feb 2007 15:47
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Brief update time.

I'm in the process of modifying the computer driving logic to accept direction from the waypoints as to which way to turn next. The problem I'm running into is that they'll turn and stop correctly, but their angle will be too steep or too shallow afterwards, so they'll either be pointing off the track to the left or to the right. I'm trying to add in correcting driving logic, but finding that it's really tough to tell which way they need to turn. Getting the corrective steering working is imperitive to the vehicle avoidance logic.

Here's what I came up with this, and I'll try to implement it tonight. If I put all of the odd numbered walls and hazards on the left side of the track, and all of the even numbered ones on the right, the computer will know which way it's going, and consequently, know which direction to correct itself. I'll have to re-edit my track, but it's worth it.

On the side, I've been messing around with Blender and bone based animation. I was attempting to animate the old "alien competition" model, but ran into nothing but problems with it. I found a site with a brief tutorial and sample .blend file, and the exporter works successfully. I honestly think it was an issue between this model and Blender.

If you haven't already done so, be sure to check out my website for some images of the track I created. Here's the link:

http://www1.webng.com/btgames/index.html

Thanks for reading! Once I've implemented the new corrective steering, I'll upload some screenshots and a new .exe file. Hopefully in the next day or two.
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TheSquid
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Posted: 22nd Feb 2007 05:53
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Success!



I modified my track, placing all even numbered hazards on one side and all odd numbered hazards on the other. Now the computer can tell which way it's veering off course, and can adjust accordingly. This has one side effect...

All of the effort I put in to give direction to the waypoints was wasted, as the cars can tell how which direction to turn without this input. I won't remove this logic, it may come in handy later, I guess.

The cpu cars my weave like they've been drinking a bit, I'm still ironing out the turning radius and collision range check values.

As you can tell from the attached screen shot, I modeled a race track wall in Blender, UV mapped it and exported it. It's an FPS hog, and I'm not even sure why. It's only 128 polys.

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