Bronze Age reconstruction

[Arianna]

Hi!

I am working on a small multiplayer RPG that has as setting a Bronze Age reconstruction (and partially, show also how the place has been during the excavations of the site).

The idea is to use PS engine, with obvious modifications.

The status is that the model is practically finished, what I miss is:
- a playerbarrier, for avoiding avatars "jesus-style" walking over the river
- a dynamic light, that represents the sun
- some .spr object with a better texture (just one, instead of multiple)
- generic work over the avatars

I have encountered two little problems that I haven't yet solved:
- The portals are not always visualizing correctly what they should. I am afraid it is because they are too small or there is some z-buffer render issue
- The relight of all the maps, alltogether, give segmentation fault. But, I haven't personally tried this so I have to see if it happens also to me (quite probable)

Today I will start to try to put my "world" into PS code, even if I have encountered those problems above.

All the screenshots I have done are at http://www.reflex.lth.se/culture/images/ where all the pictures with name screenshot are screenshots (some is reproducing some problem I got).

The generic page of the project is at http://www.reflex.lth.se/culture/disabilities/, but the page is definetely to be updated.

Ary

[dirkk]

wow, the screenshots look very nice. This sounds like one ambitious project!

Unfortunately I can't help with the problems you encountered (not yet, at least, but I am gaining speed).

Two questions: what is this interesting looking device in screenshot #13?
And, did I understand correctly, that you are using the planshift code as a start for this project?

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the compliments!

Don't worry for the help, today I have just solved the playerbarrier one

The object in screenshot #13 is a digital stationary machine, used for the detection points over a landscape. It is used in archaeology as well in other disciplines.

Yes, the idea is to use PS code!
ary

[Arianna]

The guest above was me, I was thinking to be logged in

Ary

[LadySilvanna]

Hey Arianna! Nice to see another female in the game.

I see your project involves NPCs and Quests very similar to a MMORPG game. How is Crystal Space working out for that? Did you have to do any coding to make that possible? Where does Crystal Space end and your coding start to get where you are today? Could someone, like me , without programming experience use Crystal Space to make an online virtual environ that had all the interactivity of a MMORPG but be more social in nature than hack and slash?

I am intersted in what you have done. Your project Looks like one of the most advanced one so far, though I admit I just started looking through the forums. Is your project a non-profit organization? Maybe I can assist. I am a modeler, graphic artist, web designer and avatar skinner.

Theresa Johnson

[Arianna]

Oh, great, I discovered now that somebody replied to this topic. I am such a disaster.

Well, sorry for the delay, and now after 5 months I will try to answer the questions:

My project doesn't involve NPCs and Quests, Planeshift uses them, but Virtual Annelöv (the Bronze Age reconstruction) no, since the "quests" are people driven and not code one and are associated directly with the game itself. What I mean is that the quests are more on a conceptual level and that the people gather in game for doing a quest, which goal has been expressed in an email.

Planeshift has a quite good support for NPCs and Quests, but it could be better CS itself doesn't have this, but through CEL as far as I know it is possible to invent whatever you have in mind. I remember Jorrit working on a questmanager, and I guess NPCs are handled as entities.

What I did implement those days, when I was working on VA was more "interaction" between the user and the game, especially actions connected to the Bronze Age life. For example, I implemented a command for burning a pyre, or the possibility to dig a grave.
What I did was basically to take PS source code and see what I thought it was totally useless and I commented that away (especially when certain things were visible to the user, e.g. magic windows), but then I had to implement things for what I had in mind (e.g. the possibility to moving objects that could not be picked up, like a cow or a sheep).

I don't think it is possible to make through CS a virtual environment without knowing a little of coding, and that would not happen neither if you would have liked to use Planeshift, since it is a rather complex application.

Thank you for the compliments The good thing of my project is that it relies on Planeshift which is - I believe - one of the most advanced projects developed using Crystal Space. I have done little, but certainly, I have learnt a lot.

My project itself is not a non-profit organization, while Planeshift is handled by such, Atomic blue (www.atomicblue.org).
I think you would be more than welcome, Theresa, to join Planeshift (I have finished my project in June, if I knew it before I would have beg for your help ) and if you need more information about it, please, just contact me!