[Xsera] Other Xsera

10 Pages
←
1
2
3
4
5
→
Last »

You cannot start a new topic
You cannot reply to this topic

[Xsera] Other Xsera Read, discuss, and be merry.

#51 prophile

A Sad Panda

Group: Members
Posts: 5,717
Joined: 24-October 03
Gender:Male
Location:Aiur

Posted 02 December 2008 - 05:23 PM

There are no current plans to have 3D support of any kind within Xsera.

"I'm against human cloning. Also against identical twins." -mrxak

"We don't live to work. We live to live, work is just something that we have to do to live." -Chamrin

#52 adam_0

Bi-winning

Group: Members
Posts: 3,445
Joined: 04-July 04
Gender:Male
Location:Time And Relative Dimension In Space

Posted 03 December 2008 - 12:47 AM

I just added a lot of questions from this topic into the FAQ. Enjoy!

... my other ride is an Ishiman Heavy Cruiser.

(x)enos. Awesome in a can. Without the can, though.

#53 Grenth

Member

Group: Members
Posts: 86
Joined: 19-July 06
Gender:Male
Location:Over There

Posted 10 December 2008 - 02:27 PM

prophile, on Dec 2 2008, 02:23 PM, said:

There are no current plans to have 3D support of any kind within Xsera.

Just thought I'd ask to see if there are/were any plans down the road for in game 3D modeling , or would that rendering

.

One more question i have is this , will there be an increased object maximum in game? Because the current limit is a bit low for some of the missions with asteroids in them , say chapter 17 for example , after a while there are to many asteroids to build any more ships or shoot anything for that matter , or in some 3rd party scenarios where a huge fleet of ships jumps in.

The secret is that Ares is only as small or BIG as the individual's creativity.Now you can modify Ares' built in scenarios, play scenarios made by other Ares fans, even create your own custom scenarios for Ares! The universe is limited only by your imagination! SC2 Star Battle-Armada Online-Allied-Command

#54 LNSU

Forum Pun-dit

Group: Members
Posts: 4,066
Joined: 02-June 05
Gender:Male
Location:a McMaster University Library

Posted 10 December 2008 - 03:59 PM

We are recoding xsera from scratch, not using the old ares code at all. The entity limits will be set later on in development once we have an idea of what various hardware will support.

VXI

#55 Dark.Revenant

Member

Group: Members
Posts: 14
Joined: 04-May 07

Posted 13 December 2008 - 08:41 PM

On anything more than a Pentium 3, there do not need to be limits (but, to be fair, there has to be a limit at SOME point - 5,000 would seem reasonable) unless the game goes 3d. Honestly, how would the average dual-core be bogged down by something so undemanding?

#56 adam_0

Bi-winning

Group: Members
Posts: 3,445
Joined: 04-July 04
Gender:Male
Location:Time And Relative Dimension In Space

Posted 14 December 2008 - 02:27 AM

Dark.Revenant, on Dec 13 2008, 05:41 PM, said:

Actually, you'd be surprised. I don't have the actual numbers, but prophile has run tests and the limits would surprise you (assuming that you want 30+ FPS).

We'll see how things go, but with the upgrades we're giving this thing, I wouldn't be surprised if it has system requirements.

... my other ride is an Ishiman Heavy Cruiser.

(x)enos. Awesome in a can. Without the can, though.

#57 redsteven

Member

Group: Members
Posts: 69
Joined: 18-September 08
Gender:Male
Location:New York

Posted 14 December 2008 - 12:33 PM

Dark.Revenant, on Dec 13 2008, 09:41 PM, said:

Honestly, how would the average dual-core be bogged down by something so undemanding?

I'm also guessing that there won't be any SMP (multi-processor) support, right guys?

#58 Lord Commander Anic

Member

Group: Members
Posts: 853
Joined: 27-September 00

Posted 14 December 2008 - 01:59 PM

The entity limits for a scenario appeared to me not to have anything to do with the capabilities of the computer, but to be more a product of the game engine itself.
This goes along nicely with a few other interesting little quirks that old Ares has.

Oh, so it is another bug hunt then...

#59 Dark.Revenant

Member

Group: Members
Posts: 14
Joined: 04-May 07

Posted 14 December 2008 - 02:31 PM

All I'm saying is that I really hope Xsera runs better than what my computer can pull off when it emulates Ares.

Also, on a completely unrelated note, I can do various effects, such as explosions, shields, and weapons/projectiles for this project if you need them. Several years ago (obviously, I have a lot more experience now), I made the "Shields" and "Explosion Revamp" EV Nova plugins, if you guys are looking for something of a portfolio.

This post has been edited by Dark.Revenant: 14 December 2008 - 02:35 PM

#60 adam_0

Bi-winning

Group: Members
Posts: 3,445
Joined: 04-July 04
Gender:Male
Location:Time And Relative Dimension In Space

Posted 14 December 2008 - 03:11 PM

Lord Commander Anic, on Dec 14 2008, 10:59 AM, said:

The entity limits for a scenario appeared to me not to have anything to do with the capabilities of the computer, but to be more a product of the game engine itself.

We're planning to "unlimit" this game, meaning that the only hindrances to having 80 people on one multiplayer game will be your hardware. Hopefully. Of course, that's easier said than done.

... my other ride is an Ishiman Heavy Cruiser.

(x)enos. Awesome in a can. Without the can, though.

#61 zamzx zik

Black man in the White house

Group: Members
Posts: 1,392
Joined: 04-July 02
Gender:Female

Posted 15 December 2008 - 05:08 AM

adam_0, on Dec 14 2008, 08:11 PM, said:

We're planning to "unlimit" this game, meaning that the only hindrances to having 80 people on one multiplayer game will be your hardware. Hopefully. Of course, that's easier said than done.

That is extremely sexy sir- I wish more people did that when making games.

this will be excellent

Have I reached the stupid quota?

#62 Captain Bob

Member

Group: Members
Posts: 1,666
Joined: 15-January 00
Location:Illinois

Posted 02 January 2009 - 10:55 PM

'prophile' said:

Now the fairly major change: I've split Xsera into two parts, the actual game Xsera and an independent game engine called Apollo. Apollo contains nothing specific to Xsera, and can be used as a separate game engine for other projects. In fact, I'm going to do exactly that.

This carries some major advantages. Multiple projects using the core engine means it gets far more in the way of updates to keep it running efficiently and with plenty of features for us happy developers to use. The engine is called Apollo, and, incidentally, if any of you are thinking of making a game any time soon, it's there for you to use!

Whoa, this is major. I had my doubts, but building Dawn of Infinity on top of a separated Apollo engine might actually work. I heartily approve of going in this direction. I should check out the IRC room sometime.

Dawn of Infinity | Online Portfolio

#63 adam_0

Bi-winning

Group: Members
Posts: 3,445
Joined: 04-July 04
Gender:Male
Location:Time And Relative Dimension In Space

Posted 04 January 2009 - 11:22 AM

Captain Bob, on Jan 2 2009, 07:55 PM, said:

Yeah, come sometime. Also, you can download the latest build (although it's not stable at the moment) from github, link in the FAQ.

... my other ride is an Ishiman Heavy Cruiser.

(x)enos. Awesome in a can. Without the can, though.

#64 Lord Commander Anic

Member

Group: Members
Posts: 853
Joined: 27-September 00

Posted 04 January 2009 - 05:24 PM

Nice to see Xsera is comming along nicely.
Looking forward to the demo.

Oh, so it is another bug hunt then...

#65 Sundered Angel

Invigilator

Group: Moderators
Posts: 7,372
Joined: 25-January 00
Location:New York, New York

Posted 05 January 2009 - 09:03 PM

Captain Bob, on Jan 3 2009, 03:55 AM, said:

Agreed. Having a generic "space combat engine" is a great idea. Given how many people like writing space warfare games, I can see it becoming a font of fun. Particularly if EV fans like Captain Bob write up a "space RPG engine" that adds onto it, allowing EV-style projects to be easily created. Hell, I can see people writing up a "space strategy engine" (a la Star Control I) which then make use of the combat engine to give people direct control over battles...

Sundered Angel,
The One and Only

Ares Webboard Moderator, and all-around Nice Guy

#66 zamzx zik

Black man in the White house

Group: Members
Posts: 1,392
Joined: 04-July 02
Gender:Female

Posted 06 January 2009 - 11:08 AM

Sundered Angel, on Jan 6 2009, 02:03 AM, said:

Hell, I can see people writing up a "space strategy engine" (a la Star Control I) which then make use of the combat engine to give people direct control over battles...

Empire at war meets ares?

Have I reached the stupid quota?

#67 KGB

Junior Member

Group: Members
Posts: 99
Joined: 31-October 00
Gender:Male
Location:Portland, OR

Posted 14 January 2009 - 09:43 AM

zamzx zik, on Jan 6 2009, 08:08 AM, said:

Empire at war meets ares?

What I always loved about Ares, and missed greatly in Empire at War, was the ability to take direct command of any vessel on the fly. In EaW, the ships don't always behave like they are ordered to, often breaking formation to go on personal vendettas/suicide runs. I don't appreciate their overzealous enthusiasm, especially when they go 1-on-1 with their DIRECT counter and are quickly annihilated. I often wish i could take over for myself. Ideally, the player would start at the helm of the most powerful ship in the fleet, just as the "fleet commander" units already do.

Then again, I'd be happy just having a group of people to play against. The Petroglyph mac community is nonexistent.

"In times of stress, be bold and valiant". -Horace

#68 adam_0

Bi-winning

Group: Members
Posts: 3,445
Joined: 04-July 04
Gender:Male
Location:Time And Relative Dimension In Space

Posted 21 January 2009 - 12:57 AM

New progress post. Enjoy & discuss.

... my other ride is an Ishiman Heavy Cruiser.

(x)enos. Awesome in a can. Without the can, though.

#69 redsteven

Member

Group: Members
Posts: 69
Joined: 18-September 08
Gender:Male
Location:New York

Posted 21 January 2009 - 01:16 AM

Great to here some news. I'm gonna have to ask Alastair about the shaders. Does that mean that the "no significant graphics changes" policy is changing? Also, does shaders mean that the GPU is going to be utilized?

I'm certainly no expert here... I just don't want to end up with performance issues on computers with relatively weak GPU's. I suppose the shaders could always be optional though.

I have faith in you guys

#70 prophile

A Sad Panda

Group: Members
Posts: 5,717
Joined: 24-October 03
Gender:Male
Location:Aiur

Posted 21 January 2009 - 02:51 AM

Shaders aren't necessarily complicated. In fact, under virtually all drivers now, the fixed-function pipeline is essentially emulated using shaders. Combined with the ARB_point_sprite extension it'll allow us to do some neat effects with particles - by offloading all the computation onto the GPU, which, even old old system, is fast, it'll mean we can do all sorts of neat little effects like smoke coming out of damaged ships, clouds of dust from destroyed asteroids or photorealistic fire, a la GPU Gems; I'd also wondered about using some kind of distortion mesh (if supported!) to essentially "warp" space in front and behind the player's ship if they're using warp.

"I'm against human cloning. Also against identical twins." -mrxak

"We don't live to work. We live to live, work is just something that we have to do to live." -Chamrin

#71 adam_0

Bi-winning

Group: Members
Posts: 3,445
Joined: 04-July 04
Gender:Male
Location:Time And Relative Dimension In Space

Posted 21 January 2009 - 10:01 AM

redsteven, on Jan 20 2009, 10:16 PM, said:

The policy is "no significant changes on the graphics for the original remake", which still holds true: there will be a button (read: really big red button) that will allow all preferences and settings to default back to Ares-like settings (or something of that sort) - hopefully for a very authentic experience.

... my other ride is an Ishiman Heavy Cruiser.

(x)enos. Awesome in a can. Without the can, though.

#72 LNSU

Forum Pun-dit

Group: Members
Posts: 4,066
Joined: 02-June 05
Gender:Male
Location:a McMaster University Library

Posted 21 January 2009 - 02:03 PM

I've got exams (or at least mad studying) until tuesday, then I should have time to finish the blowfish encryption stuff, and start on RSA to swap blowfish keys.

VXI

#73 redsteven

Member

Group: Members
Posts: 69
Joined: 18-September 08
Gender:Male
Location:New York

Posted 21 January 2009 - 06:05 PM

Good to hear, good to hear.

I don't have anything against adding optional spiffy graphics - it would be pretty cool, actually.

So what do you guys think about implementing actual missions and stuff? Once the Engine is up and running, is adding in the original campaign going to be a cakewalk (relatively speaking, of course)?
Or is it going to take some serious effort to find out all the triggers and stuff that were in the original campaign and port them over?

#74 adam_0

Bi-winning

Group: Members
Posts: 3,445
Joined: 04-July 04
Gender:Male
Location:Time And Relative Dimension In Space

Posted 21 January 2009 - 09:05 PM

redsteven, on Jan 21 2009, 03:05 PM, said:

Here's what I'm imagining (and this is not something I've collaborated with everyone else, so it's easily subject to change): after the first demo, major overhauls will go underway to allow for the usage of all the ship and weapon data, allowing us to rapidly import them using Pallas' data (in fact, I've been working on getting this ready in between working on other things). As soon as that system is in place, the second demo will be released (with lots more features than the first). After that, AI and triggers should be the biggest items on our plate.

... my other ride is an Ishiman Heavy Cruiser.

(x)enos. Awesome in a can. Without the can, though.

#75 gavin83209

Satu

Group: Members
Posts: 173
Joined: 22-July 05
Gender:Male
Location:Yuuzhan'tar

Posted 21 January 2009 - 11:37 PM

prophile, on Jan 20 2009, 11:51 PM, said:

...by offloading all the computation onto the GPU, which, even old old system, is fast...

How old would something like this work on? My PowerBook's Radeon 9000 (64 MB)? My G3's Rage 128 (6 MB)? If this is what I am imagining, my 1 GHz PB might struggle a bit.

Github won't let me download anymore. It says "This repo is too large to generate a tarball. Our new download system is in the works. Sorry about that." Zip didn't work either.

"Examine all obstacles carefully. With a little ingenuity, they can often be turned into levers." -Grand Admiral Thrawn
"Reality doesn't care if you believe it." -Boba Fett

Ares X