Old News

Krepticor · Post by **Krepticor** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 5:54 pm

Hey Luc can you have a model of McGyver in the game...

We all kinda idolize him here....

Especially g-force...

Funny people mispronounce my name and call me that but whatever

G-force · Post by **G-force** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 7:39 pm

Aw, heck yeah! A 3D model of MacGyver would be something else to see. If you would consider it at least, that would be great. Not sure how to fit him into the game story line though... What if he was a ghost (y'know, the spirit of inventism or something..), and he would pop up whenever ben needed help making something inventive, like that crazy cool thumbstick on the A800 lappy.

Krepticor · Post by **Krepticor** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 7:54 pm

no g-force he is the opening guy who give you the tutorial on how to make the portable out of left over scrap....

hows that?

Nicholai · Post by **Nicholai** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 8:19 pm

G-force wrote:Aw, heck yeah! A 3D model of MacGyver would be something else to see. If you would consider it at least, that would be great. Not sure how to fit him into the game story line though... What if he was a ghost (y'know, the spirit of inventism or something..), and he would pop up whenever ben needed help making something inventive, like that crazy cool thumbstick on the A800 lappy.

MacGyver sure loves his Santa Hat.

Krepticor · Post by **Krepticor** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 9:42 pm

Is there any music in mind for this project?

Electric Rain · Post by **Electric Rain** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 12:02 am

Yeah, I was thinking about music, too. I have the talent, and probably the creativity, but I don't have the software or the patience.

soundwave · Post by **soundwave** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 12:08 am

I think Triton is working on some muzak.

cennar · Post by **cennar** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 1:32 am

well what eva kids its still going to be sweet

MM007 · Post by **MM007** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 8:15 am

While I like what I'm seeing, I'm a bit concerned by how the characters look...

They aren't bad, but the feet look extremely tiny, and I think their bodies are too broad. I can't really distinguish a waist line where their bodies are supposed to get slightly narrower, as much as there the T-shirt ends and where the pants begin.

It is by no means bad for a low-res model, but is there a way the basic body structure can be improved without adding too many polygons?

Post by **marshallh** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 11:31 am

Thanks for pointing that out... Oftimes I can't see what is wrong even though I know something is wrong. I think I could add more definition to the waistline for the price of a few polygons...

Just to let everyone know, the engine is going slowly but fine; I've got the tiles definition file done as well as the loader code. I plan on rendering a night scene for you guys first; here's a question:
Should I integrate street lights and signs etc into the game tile models, or add them as seperate objects? I'm probably going to go the seperate object route, just because collision detection would be easier. What do you think?

Radon199 · Post by **Radon199** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 2:07 pm

I think they should be separate. With them separated you can also add them at your leisure, and the city won't look as, for want of a better word, tiled.

Post by **gannon** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 3:23 pm

Seperate seems easier in the long run.

Electric Rain · Post by **Electric Rain** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 5:03 pm

^ Agreed.

MM007 · Post by **MM007** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 5:09 pm

Yeah, The biggest problems with the current bodies are waist definition and perhaps broadness and foot size. The boradness would me much more exagerated and obvious on female models.

Also, go the Seperate route. Why? Well...

I'm not a pro programmer, but I AM logical, and I can tell you what I think. I could easily be wrong, feel free to correct me.

If you have moving traffic, you'll have to manipulate the traffic lights on set intervals, the same throuout the game. Also, The streetlights have to click on or off every time you switch between day and night

If you incorporate the lights into the tile system, the entire set of tiles that contain said objects will have to refresh when a change is needed. wasting precious resources.

Instead, if they are seperate, they can be stored in a different file, be refreshed without refresshing the connected tile, and reduce the processing power and RAM needed. This is especially true when many changes happen at once, say day goes into night or vice versa.

With them incorporated into the tiles, every tile with a light might, depending on if the light sourcing is coded into the object or not, have to be refreshed. When day turns to night or vice versa, the street light will all try to change at once. That many tiles refreshing simultaneously could result in obvious lag, or even make the game crash on a border-line requirement system if its bad enough.

You have several sources of action here.

1. Tile based lighting. Better collision detection, slower light changes, and more processor intensive.

2. Seperate entities. Fast, lesser collision detection, better lighing.

3. Tile-based structures with lights programmed seperately.

In this case, you could make the structure of the lamp post or traffic light into the tile, but do not code any timing or light system. What you do is construct the brunt of the light's physical structure in tile, epecially the lower part that needs solid collision detection, and have the light and maybe part of the structure close to it (like the top of the lamp post, traffic sign, or walk/don't walk sign) as a seperate object. This would take even FEWER resources to refresh every time a variable changes. Only problem there is making the integration between tile and seperate object as visually seamless as possible, which might be difficult, depending on just how you handle it. Also, if you plan to drive cars off buildings, there could still be collision detection inconstistancies with the tops of structures where the lights are.

That is just my best guess though. I am not really a game designer at all. But I do know that lights and physical entities need not be as linked in the game's coding as they appear.

Making lighting and physical entities seperate would also make defining the properties the game will run at easier. The attributes for what each will do in any sort of low-res/high-res/(no) dynamic lighting configuration needed on the host computer could be far easier to control if treated seperately.

HotDog-Cart · Post by **HotDog-Cart** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 6:58 pm

I should just stop trying.. I wont be in the game......