Posted the new build. Finally got everything working (just about around the time I always seem to get things working, 5am here ;)) I think there may be a memory leak introduced somewhere, so beware...

I figured on having both single and multi-player, seeing as how I have to do all the work of single in order to do multi anyways. Plus it lets people run their own plugs if they want.

About the codename; I think it should be unique, since it is an entirely new code base.

Oh, I added a (not-so)blackhole way out in the middle of nowhere going really fast with a wierd orbit. If you guys want to play around with slingshot effects, this would probably make it more fun. If you get caught, you won't get out though...

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The blackhole is really a nice addition. It will make for many different tactics (trapping a following ship in a blackhole). I take it that weapons will also be affected (given). But maybe, a 'gravitational dispersion weapon' will be needed. Getting stuck in a blackhole during combat is risk, but permantent stranding isn't good. Maybe a flak weapon that does NO damage, costs a whole lot, and a giant blast radius and will blow a ship out of everything but the most intense gravity fields, thought it would need to be used fast to avoid gravitational damage. Back to systematic damage, I think gravity should cause irregular turning or acceleration. Just a (long) thought.

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“There is no need, to
run outside for better
seeing, nor to peer
from a window.
Rather, abide at the
center of your being; for
the more you leave it,
the less you learn.
Search your heart, and
see if he is wise who
takes each turn: the
way to do, is to be.”
- Lao Tzu

The planets are kinda far away from each other.. Would it be possible to add a fueldump type thing? Or just a cheat mode that makes you go uberfast.

Also, what with the planets being so far apart, perhaps a map zoom option?

-Skunks

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Enginners can actually hear machines talk to them. The rattle in the car's engine teases softly, "I'll bet you can't find me." The computer hums an approving tune when the enginner writes an expecially briliant peice of computer code. The toaster says "Not yet, not yet, not yet." untill the toast pops out. An enginner who is surrounded by machines is never lonly and never judged by apperance. These are friends.

I agree with Skunko7, but maybe hyper spacing would be the travel between planets. A turbo-after burner that can almost reach the next planet very quickly before overheating and stopping. Jump-gates (B5 style) could be used to travel between systems/galaxies/servers.

Eytee

Don't worry about getting out of blackholes ;). Once I get Skunko7's hull integrety done, you probably wouldn't be able to live long enough to worry about trying to get out... If you have a mega-ship that can survive long enough, I guess you'd be able to jump out.

I'll see about creating intersystem jumps. I thought it would be pretty cool though if you had a colony way out on one of jupiters moons getting attacked by pirates. Imagine being a pirate, knowing you have only a minute or two to finish your raid and jump out of the system... Adds some depth and suspense to the game.

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Posted next build. Two updates in one day :).

Have weapons support now (one seeker and one normal). They're supposed to look the same (I didn't bother to create two diff. graphics) Primary is mapped to the space bar, secondary is mapped to the f key.

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In the kBuild 9, I noticed the weapons were not affected by gravity fields, even from a blackhole. It just seems that if they act as sprites moving through space the same way a ship does, the engine would automatically work to change their flight path.

And what the difference between the primary and secondary fire besides speed?

Eytee

(This message has been edited by Eytee (edited 05-25-2000).)

Target another ship using the tab key, then fire off a secondary shot...

I've actually got a build with gravity effects on weapons... I can UL it if you want. The problem with it is speed... Already, doing two vector calcs per ship per spob creates 300 vector calculations per frame JUST for gravity effects on a ship. Now add 200-300 weapons and it really starts getting out of control. If we all had G4's with vector execution units (Altivec :)) then it wouldn't be much of a problem, but I doubt that many of us have G4's.

Don't worry though, it's REALLY easy for me to add in. Right now, it only requires me to uncomment two lines of code.

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I would like to see a version of kBuild (my name for it) with gravitaitonal effects on weapons. It would be pretty interesting to try on the school G4.

My PC friend (who thinks Mac OS was derived from Windoze and Linux) saw me playing around with this and I let him try it for a minute and he fell in love! Keep up the good work kberg!

Eytee

Posted the new build. Haven't bothered to link it up on my web pages, so here's the direct URL:
(url="http://"http://www.sfu.ca/~kberg/Downloads/Build_10.sit.hqx")www.sfu.ca/~kberg/Downloads/Build_10.sit.hqx(/url)

Eytee: The version called Altivec is compiled specifically for G4's, and has all the gravitational effects enabled for both ships and weapons.

Next goals are to finish off the structural integrity support, and then work on the sprite support.

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Nifty! Using Build 10, I found an apparent bug in the gravity handling. When I'm near a planet (say, the moon nearest the sun), the gravity draws me in towards the center like it should. But, every so often, on reaching the center of the planet under gravitic influence alone, I "bounce" backwards as though there were a solid rubber-like object at the center.

Also, how can I easily find a planet? It'd be nice if, in addition to the target ship auto-aim, there were a target planet auto-aim as well. Or have I just failed to notice the already present?

Finally, it'd be nice if the readme could contain a complete listing of active keys and their function.

Keep up the great work!

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“If a little knowledge is dangerous, where is the man who has so much as to be out of danger?” - T.H. Huxley

Right now planet aiming works just like it does in EV/EVO. If you have a planet selected as a target with NO ship targetted, then the aim key will align your ship with the targetted spob. I'm also thinking of adding in a modifier key that would cause the aim key to target the spob even if you have a ship targetted; so holding down shift-a or option-a would automatically align to a targetted spob. A complete key listing can also be found at the bottom of the included readme. Oh! Also, targetting spobs is handled by the < and > keys. The > key cycles forward through the spobs and the < key cycles in reverse.

The bouncing you experience is caused by my trying to make it easier to hover over a planet. I'm still working on the algorithm, trying to make it as smooth as possible.

Thanks for the encouragment!
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(This message has been edited by kberg (edited 05-26-2000).)

Build 11 is posted. I've got blackhole working on sprite support while I finish off engine details...

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Kberg, I just noticed. Your builds are PPC-only, correct? That's too bad, but understandable.

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God. Root. What is difference?
-Pitr

AIM: obormot345

So far everything's been PPC only. I can try and compile a 68k version still at this point if people want, but I'm sure you'd find it pretty slow

Also, is anyone out there running this on systems with Rage128's? I've had one friend using a Rage Orion card already report a bug involving the quickdraw portions of the engine. If there are artifacts on the edges of your screen, let me know. I need to find out how widespread these issues are with ATI's cards...

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Quote

Originally posted by kberg:
Also, is anyone out there running this on systems with Rage128's? I've had one friend using a Rage Orion card already report a bug involving the quickdraw portions of the engine. If there are artifacts on the edges of your screen, let me know. I need to find out how widespread these issues are with ATI's cards...

I have artifacts and Rage 128.

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OpenGL Avara!

AIM: EVAndrewM

"I haven't seen myself lately, AndrewM."
— GreenYO, #ev

Really quick and easy justification for top speed limits:

All ships come out of the dealer with a predefined v(elocity)-cap. The v-cap is a reccomended top speed by the ship's manufacturer. Under normal circumstances, you'll never exceed the v-cap, but you could include a special emergency key or combo to remove the restriction. The penalty for that is that your hull's structural integrity is stressed a little bit every frame that you exceed the reccomended limit, more so when you're greatly exceeding the v-cap than just barely. (You can leave what exactly would cause this structural weakening up in the air, at leasts its a bit less mysterious than a v-cap for no apparent reason.)

To add a nice touch to the game, illegal ships might not have v-caps, making them hazardous to fly in addition to being desirable purchases for top level fighter pilots.

-reg

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"Now, Mr. Mirnas... start at the beginning."

-The Interrogator

I'm with regulus on the v-cap. Sounds like overclocking. maybe taking weapons hits while exceding the standard limit would damage hull integrity even with shields up, and more so with them down (besides the constant drain).

Eytee

(url="http://"http://cr441186-a.lngly1.bc.wave.home.com/~karl/Downloads/Build_12.sit.hqx")http://cr441186-a.ln...uild_12.sit.hqx(/url)

New build there, temporary (outdated) site. My regular site (AND email!!! :mad: ) happened to be purged by some overjealous idiot who somehow managed to get admin status at my school. What's there is a very old back-up.

Emailing me at this point is a little useless until I clean up this mess and can actually log into my account.

This is most likely my last public build. Features a whole bunch of stuff that makes life more interesting.

The V-cap concept is already implemented. Going over the V-cap is the same as using your afterburner, though damage is caused by greater then rated acceleration rather than speed. Structural integrity damage can be caused by various things, from using your afterburner to gravitational forces (even when your shields are up).

Try tricking AI ships into the sun, you'll get to see them explode...

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The new option of being able to die and damage another, along with the systems slowly going down, is so awesome. It adds so very much to kBuild 12, but it is incredible easy to die. I'm sure everything will be balacnced with the ships/gravity/afterburner in the next build or two.

Someone got you loggin? That SUCKS! Now sounds like a good time for me to get to work with finals over, so maybe I'll start on a site for this project.

Last public? By that, do you mean no more new builds will be posted on your website, or you'll actually start closed tests?

-Eytee