TFIV Rebirth dev thread

[wondersonic]

The sources here.

[Makoto Sei]

And now a procedural thunderstorm...

is this still for stage 3 ? if so, that`s very cool and dramatic !!

I can imagine while on the orbit, the planet are look`s so calm, but when STYX decent trough the clouds, thunder storm are waiting....VERY COOL !!!

[wondersonic]

And now a procedural thunderstorm...

is this still for stage 3 ? if so, that`s very cool and dramatic !!

I can imagine while on the orbit, the planet are look`s so calm, but when STYX decent trough the clouds, thunder storm are waiting....VERY COOL !!!

Yes that's for level 3, this is indeed the way the stage is going to be, calm at first then... the chaos!

[BPzeBanshee]

Looks nice!

Is there going to be an option to turn all this fancy stuff off for lower performance PCs?

Even better, it will be automatic! If your video card doesn't support opengl 3.0 then low performance PC is assumed

So all this new weather stuff is OpenGL 3.0-only?

[wondersonic]

Looks nice!

Is there going to be an option to turn all this fancy stuff off for lower performance PCs?

Even better, it will be automatic! If your video card doesn't support opengl 3.0 then low performance PC is assumed

So all this new weather stuff is OpenGL 3.0-only?

No, this is opengl 2.0 but on the old video card I tested, the driver never implemented opengl 3.0 (too recent).

[BPzeBanshee]

Even better, it will be automatic! If your video card doesn't support opengl 3.0 then low performance PC is assumed

So all this new weather stuff is OpenGL 3.0-only?

No, this is opengl 2.0 but on the old video card I tested, the driver never implemented opengl 3.0 (too recent).

I think I'd personally prefer a option switch for it - most doujin games that like to have super fancy graphics have some option to turn off the unnecessary junk off that I know of anyway. Real considerate ones like Minecraft are a good example of a Java program that tries to improve on performance while still looking good and using good effects. In Minecraft you can either set the graphics to Fancy/Fast and/or implement fog at distances ingame.

[wondersonic]

Again why not And I'll add a message to alert of the possible performance problems!

[wondersonic]

Start of third level: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5H18Pt1GAM

[BPzeBanshee]

Start of third level: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5H18Pt1GAM

Hey guys, it's me! I've been busy.

I LOLed. Are we gonna see a "Hi Honey, I'm home!" or a "Ahh, Jeff mate, we left some prawns on the barbie for ya!".....or better yet "The Erath is saved. Tacos!".


A few serious notes though:

- graphics really are excellent, but can we have something besides that weird purple stuff going around the gate? Or are they just placeholders till you texture them, because currently they look a little out of place.

- The message thing is probably more appropriate on the bottom of the screen, or away from the center so you can see Styx exit from the portal. Most games usually have their dialog like that on the bottom.

[wondersonic]

Yes, the text is just there in fact to tell the pilot is in contact with the GF HQ. Uf you have ideas, please propose

About the text in the bottom: ok

About the colors, I just wanted to reproduce the colors of the space gate; something like GF "logo colors".

But I can change that of course. What about black and red (instead of purple)?

[BPzeBanshee]

Yes, the text is just there in fact to tell the pilot is in contact with the GF HQ. Uf you have ideas, please propose

About the text in the bottom: ok

About the colors, I just wanted to reproduce the colors of the space gate; something like GF "logo colors".

But I can change that of course. What about black and red (instead of purple)?

Its not the colour itself, but in it's bland unshaded form doesn't really suit. Maybe make a texture like what you already have on the rest of it, 'purpleise' it and give it some glow.
Black and red seem fitting for Galaxy Federation colours, but I get the impression the purple things are part of the machine itself, not just some logo advertisement junk.

[Kaiser]

The text should be as follows.

"Warning! An unidentified ship is coming through a warp gate. Identify yourself intruder to avoid gunfire"
"GF HQ, I am *pilot name* and my division is *name of the division* and my ID goes as follows: 4R7016."
"Unbelievable! Commander *his name*! The *pilot name* is alive!"
"This is commander *his name* speaking, *pilot name* respond if you're indeed alive"
"Yes I am commander and i'm back on a duty. I'm coming back to headquarters, ETA: 7 hours"
"Come back safely soldier! Good luck!"

[wondersonic]

Wow one year without news...

Having 2 babies took/is taking me a lot of time!

However know that I'm always thinking about it!

Having been blocked also by my lack of knowledge regarding FX development I've finished making a pause...

But now, I'm back (with far less time) but with a new tool to help me.

I'm currently rewriting the game with some new technologies and I'll let you know about it!

Happy new year!
WS

[wondersonic]

Hop:

Remake test

(Download HTML file then open it)

[BPzeBanshee]

Nice to see you're still alive wondersonic!

Is the test page supposed to do anything else other than show the title page with internet-quality music? It wasn't doing anything else besides that, and when I decided to try fullscreen it just went downhill from there (haven't been able to see any of it in windowed since).

[wondersonic]

Nice to see you're still alive wondersonic!

Is the test page supposed to do anything else other than show the title page with internet-quality music? It wasn't doing anything else besides that, and when I decided to try fullscreen it just went downhill from there (haven't been able to see any of it in windowed since).

Hello BPzeBanshee, glad to hear about you

This is just the beginning, I'm learning the development environment (very neat!) since 1 week.

I just corrected the music quality (not uploaded yet) but you should have seen that deployment is now far easier
(at the cost of Linux portability ).

However, the issues I've been through with the languages being used so far are now gone...

[BPzeBanshee]

Nice to see you're still alive wondersonic!

Is the test page supposed to do anything else other than show the title page with internet-quality music? It wasn't doing anything else besides that, and when I decided to try fullscreen it just went downhill from there (haven't been able to see any of it in windowed since).

Hello BPzeBanshee, glad to hear about you

This is just the beginning, I'm learning the development environment (very neat!) since 1 week.

I just corrected the music quality (not uploaded yet) but you should have seen that deployment is now far easier
(at the cost of Linux portability ).

However, the issues I've been through with the languages being used so far are now gone...

Honestly with this online Web-based form I'm a little concerned with performance and video issues (like there wasn't enough in the old engine right? ). But I guess we'll have to wait for the stages to be ported over to see for sure. This is still in Java right?

[wondersonic]

Honestly with this online Web-based form I'm a little concerned with performance and video issues (like there wasn't enough in the old engine right? ). But I guess we'll have to wait for the stages to be ported over to see for sure. This is still in Java right?

You are right about the previous engine, there were numerous issues with regressions ; mainly because of my lack of knowledge regarding openGL pipeline development and OS support.

Now this is completely managed by the new engine.

FYI, the language being used is C# and Nvidia Cg

[BPzeBanshee]

Honestly with this online Web-based form I'm a little concerned with performance and video issues (like there wasn't enough in the old engine right? ). But I guess we'll have to wait for the stages to be ported over to see for sure. This is still in Java right?

You are right about the previous engine, there were numerous issues with regressions ; mainly because of my lack of knowledge regarding openGL pipeline development and OS support.

Now this is completely managed by the new engine.

FYI, the language being used is C# and Nvidia Cg

Oooooo, interesting. I have next to no idea what Nvidia Cg is but considering Nvidia's a graphics card manufacturer I hope they don't go biased so that this eventually only runs without issue on Nvidia cards - I've seen that happen before, albeit not for shmups besides MAME.

You know I'll definitely keep my eyes peeled for some gameplay-related stuff. Don't get too nutty with the visuals like before and I'm sure eventually we'll end up with something better than TF VI for sure.

[wondersonic]

Oooooo, interesting. I have next to no idea what Nvidia Cg is but considering Nvidia's a graphics card manufacturer I hope they don't go biased so that this eventually only runs without issue on Nvidia cards - I've seen that happen before, albeit not for shmups besides MAME.

FYI:

"Cg provides developers with a complete programming platform that is easy to use and enables the fast creation of special effects and real-time cinematic-quality experiences on multiple platforms. By providing a new level of abstraction, Cg removes the need for developers to program directly to the graphics hardware assembly language, and thereby more easily target OpenGL, DirectX, Windows, Linux, Macintosh OS X, and console platforms such as the Xbox. Cg was developed in close collaboration with Microsoft Corporation and is compatible with both the OpenGL API and Microsoft's High-Level Shading Language (HLSL) for DirectX 9.0.

Cg stands for "C for graphics.""

Source URL.

You know I'll definitely keep my eyes peeled for some gameplay-related stuff. Don't get too nutty with the visuals like before and I'm sure eventually we'll end up with something better than TF VI for sure.

I'll try my best

[wondersonic]

For the very first level, I've something cool regarding the starfield!

[wondersonic]

Remake of the very first stage starfield available in the download section.

Available archives:
- win32
- win64
- Mac OS X
- web

Anyone to test the web, MAC and win64 downloads please?

What should be seen:
- title intro
- when [RETURN] pressed, next stage being loaded displaying a starfield

TIA
WS

[BPzeBanshee]

I just tested the Mac version, appears to work fine. The menu that popped up with the various graphics AND input settings was excellent too, by the way. I guess that's another feature of this new engine you're working with?

As for the actual starfield, it looks nice, but in-game I imagine that bright-ass background is going to seriously irritate the player's eyes - and though I realise this was a test, the actual background image should scroll just a bit too.

EDIT: Tested the Web version, The title pops up with no "Press Return" text at all and nothing happens when I press ENTER.

[wondersonic]

I just tested the Mac version, appears to work fine. The menu that popped up with the various graphics AND input settings was excellent too, by the way. I guess that's another feature of this new engine you're working with?

Exactly! Although the input settings are currently the default ones (not the future ones related to the game).

As for the actual starfield, it looks nice, but in-game I imagine that bright-ass background is going to seriously irritate the player's eyes - and though I realise this was a test, the actual background image should scroll just a bit too.

You are right,, I was thinking about it just after releasing it. The background must not distract the player!

Also regarding scrolling of the background, I'll think about it as it is currently what is being called a "skybox" so just moving upward or downard will make it move with a perspective effect.

EDIT: Tested the Web version, The title pops up with no "Press Return" text at all and nothing happens when I press ENTER.

An other thing I discovered 2 days ago... you must clear your browser cache to get the updated version

I'll certainly add a release version number in order to avoid this problem in the future.

Thanks for testing!

[wondersonic]

Small update:

(clear your browser cache before clicking)

web

+ 3D model
+ asteroid field remake
+ collision engine rewritten

[BPzeBanshee]

Collision engine? I ran straight through many rocks and very few actually registered as hitting and disappeared.

As for the 3D model, is it meant to just be the cockpit and a little bit or the actual ship? If the latter, I'm not seeing anything past the cockpit and some white/red bits.

[wondersonic]

Collision engine? I ran straight through many rocks and very few actually registered as hitting and disappeared.

Indeed, the web build was not in sync with my current work It is corrected now.

As for the 3D model, is it meant to just be the cockpit and a little bit or the actual ship? If the latter, I'm not seeing anything past the cockpit and some white/red bits.

The ship of this first level (remember TFIV end) is meant to be an escape capsule...

[BPzeBanshee]

Had another go at it again. Didn't need to clear the cache (running Google Chrome in Windows in case anyone cares).

I feel really uncertain between these updates as to what I should be looking for, so I apologise if I'm covering something that's already obvious (ie. "why is there no stage 2? because it's not made yet duhhh").

Firstly, at some stage, the inertia has to go. Secondly the wobble scrolling is quite weird, it just clicks in three places (though that's a considerable improvement over what was in the last test so I presume it's still a WIP like the rest of the game).

Out of curiosity, you say that it's the capsule only, but do you have a full 3D Rynex model? Would it look any good if it was converted to 2D sprites per say? I've seen someone make a 3D model and do just that but he seemed to get the "turning left" frames unparallel to the "turning right" frames.

[wondersonic]

Had another go at it again. Didn't need to clear the cache (running Google Chrome in Windows in case anyone cares).

I didn't know, as I test with firefox, thanks for the hint!

I feel really uncertain between these updates as to what I should be looking for, so I apologise if I'm covering something that's already obvious (ie. "why is there no stage 2? because it's not made yet duhhh").

No problem, since it is a complete rewrite of the previous Java/OpenGL version. And since you are a "new" eye, you'll see things that maybe I didn't

Firstly, at some stage, the inertia has to go.

Sure, but let me know your impression in more details. Why do you say so? (because the configuration set for controls doesn't seem to allow inertia).

Secondly the wobble scrolling is quite weird, it just clicks in three places (though that's a considerable improvement over what was in the last test so I presume it's still a WIP like the rest of the game).

Good point. I'll review it next week... as:

- HUD for score, weapon, lives
- Lives implementation
- Game over inplementation
- music loop at the right position
- weapon
- asteroids scale
- scoring system
- golden asteroids
- planet and pirat asteroid
...

as you can see this may take 2/3 weeks!

Out of curiosity, you say that it's the capsule only, but do you have a full 3D Rynex model?

Indeed, I have and more surprises to come! => 3D models are far easier for animation

Would it look any good if it was converted to 2D sprites per say?

Don't know, have to try. BTW as mentioned above, I prefer to animate static 3D models than 2D sprites.

I've seen someone make a 3D model and do just that but he seemed to get the "turning left" frames unparallel to the "turning right" frames.

I don't understand what you mean by "unparallel".

[Ixranin]

Firstly, at some stage, the inertia has to go.

Sure, but let me know your impression in more details. Why do you say so? (because the configuration set for controls doesn't seem to allow inertia).

It did feel like the ship had some acceleration/deceleration, which made it tough to squeeze between asteroids as it would take a moment to speed up.

The collision detection seems a little off too. Sometimes I could fly through parts of the asteroids unharmed, and other times so much as scratching them would count as a collision. Hard to tell with the asteroids' unpredictable spinning though.