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Old March 5th, 2004, 03:31 AM   #1
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Default Freeware game coming up.. but I need some help ..

I'm writing a Battlestar Galactica game ..
you will control/fly a viper in several ( hopefully a lot) missions..which follow the
original storyline starting with the peace conference ( saga of a starworld)

the game will be 2D but with nice graphic effects like shadows and translucent explosions/lights.. and even the posibillety to send messages/orders to other craft/wingmen

the engine already works .. and it works fine

BUT...

I'm a CODER (programmer) not an artist..
so I need some help..

Anyone can participate and any Ideas are welcome....
but I really need:

Pixel artists
3D artists ( the game is 2D but you can do nice things with 3D rendered images)
sounds/Music...
speech
and a fellow game coder would also be nice ( I use C++ and Allegro)
and someone who can make an intro movie / cutscenes

the game will be absolutely free for everyone to download.. but I still have to make the website..

requirements:

Windows 98 or beter ( It should be possible to port it to any OS but I have no experience with that)
P200 or better..(wild guess)

So please . help me .. and we will all have a nice BSG game for free


if you want to see a first tech demo with some graphics I took from internet..
please mail me: Ariesnl@yahoo.com

and also mail me if you want to help...
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Old March 5th, 2004, 10:54 AM   #2
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Oh this sounds wonderful! Could you give us a hint as to what it looks like? How big is the file?
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Old March 5th, 2004, 01:07 PM   #3
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This is really cool Aries! And welcome to Colonial Fleets!!!
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Old March 6th, 2004, 10:53 AM   #4
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Is this based on a game engine, or you're writing your own from scratch? Wow ...
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Old March 8th, 2004, 12:20 AM   #5
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I'm writing it from scratch .. ( I'm a real programmer )
but I use ALLEGRO for sound/graphics primitives..
I'll put up a first tech demo tomorrow...so you can see what the idea is...
and hopefully some of you wil want to draw some things for the game ..
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Old March 9th, 2004, 01:23 AM   #6
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ok here's the tech demo:

Techdemo


unzip and run setup
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Old March 9th, 2004, 01:48 AM   #7
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Oh that was FUN!

Game gets stuck after the viper dies. But it looks very good sofar.
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Old March 9th, 2004, 02:45 AM   #8
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did you read the readme file..
I think it doesn't get stuck .. .. press escape to end the game..
there's no game over screen yet.. ( I first need to make a menu.. load .. save ect..)

ow and I need those drawers.. / artists.... so I can make the vipers & raiders roll when they turn for example ..
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Old March 10th, 2004, 01:10 PM   #9
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Maybe I can help. I do all the graphics here including the icons.


BTW-Here is the read me for idiots like me who missed it.

Quote:
This is just a first tech demo of my upcomming BSG game..
so don't expect too much

controls
Steering ---------> mouse
Accelerate ---------> W
decellerate ---------> S
Target ---------> T
Ajust speed to target ------> D
Fire ------> left mouse button
Add raider to engine -------> R

Escape is exit game !!!

The radar/scanner will represent raiders as a triangle..
the bright green circle represents the range of your targetting system

TIP: .. fly slowly over the galactica and see my schadow effect..
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Old March 10th, 2004, 01:32 PM   #10
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This is quite cool Aries! Nice work!
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Old March 10th, 2004, 03:53 PM   #11
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Hi Aries,

I might be able to offer some help if you like. I have lots of C/C++ experience in games (both PC and console). At first I thought it was 3D, (which I've done but it's a bit hard for me), but since it's 2D that's no problem at all. I also have done music for video games (in fact I still have some tunes I never used). Haven't used Allegro, but am sure I could pick it up quickly enough. Can't help in the art area, unless you want shapeless blobs chasing each other .

Only thing is I got a ton of stuff to do at the moment, (piles next to my desk in fact), so if you are interested I can help a bit down the road, if that's okay.

Looks like you've already got a great start!
Cheers!
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Old March 11th, 2004, 12:34 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Muffit
Hi Aries,

I might be able to offer some help if you like. I have lots of C/C++ experience in games (both PC and console). At first I thought it was 3D, (which I've done but it's a bit hard for me), but since it's 2D that's no problem at all. I also have done music for video games (in fact I still have some tunes I never used). Haven't used Allegro, but am sure I could pick it up quickly enough. Can't help in the art area, unless you want shapeless blobs chasing each other .

Only thing is I got a ton of stuff to do at the moment, (piles next to my desk in fact), so if you are interested I can help a bit down the road, if that's okay.

Looks like you've already got a great start!
Cheers!
Muffit

I just started out learning openGL so it's a bit a too big step to make a 3D game..
If I ever make a 3D bsg game it 'll be a 1st person shooter.. ( a flight sim already exists..)
But you'll neet a lot of art work for a 3D game ..

if you want to help ..
I use DEV-C++ ( couse it's free) and Allegro 4.0 for development..
if you can't find them I could try to send them to you .. it's not that big..
what can you do .. well..

you could..:

look at my code.. and see if I did something stupid..
work on a level editor..
Improve the collision detection .. but beware if you go pixel checking .. the sprites rotate !!!

depending on how much time you have...

I wat thinking of a level editor like the one used for the first Xwing game..
you can place ships in a map.. and tell them how to behave and/or what path to fly.. and objectives to reach..

mail; me if you want.. Ariesnl@yahoo.com
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Old March 11th, 2004, 01:00 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thomas7g
Maybe I can help. I do all the graphics here including the icons.

BTW-Here is the read me for idiots like me who missed it.
OK .. those helmets are nice...

what can you do ..

Rolling ships:
as you can see in the demo .. I only have a topview shot of the ships..
To make them appear miore real .. it's nice to let them roll when they rurn..
to do that I need a top view shot.. but at an angle of .. let's say 45 degrees to the left and one at an angle of 45 degrees to the right.. ..if you put more bitmaps in between the rolling will go smoother .. but 4 is the limit I think .. you won't see any improvement if you put more in.

Drawing of pilots/aliens/ect:
so you can choose a picture that represents you ..
and maybe some for your wingmen.. and of other species..

(animated) drawings for mission briefings..
Adama in front of a chart .... pointing to it with something.. talking..
the chart itself should only have standart markings.. the rest will be drawn onto it according to the mission.. ( see Xwing , tiefighter, Xwing alliance for an example)
ow and the chard should have a nice size .. radius 100 or 200 is good .. 129 is bad..

Drawings of medals and gifts..
if you do sonmething verry good there should be a reward..
not only medals .. but a can of ambrosia for example.. ow and a locker to put all your stuff in ...flight jacket.. (no medals ON it, so I can put them on it in the game if you earn them ..)


well see what you can do ..
Happy drawing..


ow and I would like to have a small picture of everyone who participates .. for a nice credits screen..
I saw a nice effect with crossfading images in another game..
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Old March 11th, 2004, 12:31 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Aries
if you want to help ..
I use DEV-C++ ( couse it's free) and Allegro 4.0 for development..
if you can't find them I could try to send them to you .. it's not that big..
what can you do .. well..
work on a level editor..
Improve the collision detection .. but beware if you go pixel checking .. the sprites rotate !!!

I wat thinking of a level editor like the one used for the first Xwing game..
you can place ships in a map.. and tell them how to behave and/or what path to fly.. and objectives to reach..

mail; me if you want.. Ariesnl@yahoo.com
The level editor sounds cool. Done a bunch of those! Also have done col-detection. My favorite compiler is MSVC but no problem with using yours. Can also do a scripting engine if you need one, if you have lots of levels and need quick turnaround of scenario changes (of course I know some tools can be overkill if the game doesn't really warrant them, so you may not need that). I will try and check out the first XWing game (do you know the name?) so I can see what kind of interface you would like.

Talk to you soon!
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Old March 29th, 2004, 03:54 AM   #15
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can't find the editor anymore on internet..
it was freeware so would be nice as an example..

the idea is a graphical user interface so you have a grid map where you can put the units (ie ships) and when you click on a ship symbol .. you can change things like ,ID number ,type, friend or foe,AI behaviour,waypoints,ect..

By the way if you want to make the level editor .. you can do it in your favorite IDE
we just neet to know the file format from eachother..

I thought of something like this:

#define WPA_NOTHING 0;
#define WPA_ATTACK_FIGHTERS 1;
#define WPA_ATTACK_CAPITAL 2;
#define WPA_DOCK 3;
#define WPA_ATTACK_ALL 4;
#define WPA_ATTACK_PRIMARY 5; // ship attacks ship with target_ID
ect..



struct TUnit
{
int ID;
int type; // viper,raider,shuttle ect.
char name[10];
int x_start;
int y_start;
int waypoints; // no more than 20
int waypoint_x [20];
int waypoint_y [20];
int waypoint_action[20];
int target_ID; // for docking or atacking one ship as primary goal
}



VERSION <versionnr>
MISSION_NAME <name>
MISSION_BRIEFING <a path / or text >
UNIT1
UNIT2
UNIT3
ect.


got it ??
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Old March 29th, 2004, 04:00 AM   #16
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hey dude, I was working on the viper the other day. i got it to look more like the viper in the old show and I added one turning shot. Do you think one turn state is good enough?
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Old March 29th, 2004, 04:18 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thomas7g
hey dude, I was working on the viper the other day. i got it to look more like the viper in the old show and I added one turning shot. Do you think one turn state is good enough?

hmm it depends..Í'll need one from top .. ( as in the demo) end ome in a 45 deg roll to the left and one to the right.. the more you put in between the smoother it will look . maybe I can flip the sprites .. so you just need them for one side..

But I think I can always put more frames in if I write the code a bit flexible ...
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Old March 29th, 2004, 02:24 PM   #18
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That sounds fine Aries . I must apologize for taking so long getting around to this. I have been taking advantage of my extra free time to do something I have been putting off for a dozen years - porting and archiving all my code from other platforms. I thought it would only take me a week - unfortunately, I keep running into stumbling blocks and waiting for ancient hardware replacements in the mail. All of my old machines refuse to work, so I have to fix them first so I can port stuff.

It is so sad that obsolete software and obsolete machines are so avidly protected by copyrights and whatnot. All that does is bury a wonderful and colorful history that our children could cherish along with us. I have had to workaround this by trying to remember how to write in "ancient" assembly languages, zero page allotments, etc, etc. I gotta laugh - I had to write a nullmodem xfer program to run in --- are your ready for this? -- 4k!!!

Ah, the good old days...
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Old April 2nd, 2004, 01:10 PM   #19
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Default Some suggestions

I made a top down game using DirectX two years ago. A couple of things you can do are:

1) Just attach the 2D image of the viper to a face on a cube and rotate the cube. That way you don't need multiple angles drawn of a viper. The opengl code handles it for you.

2) My source code is freely available at the following site. It was my first try at DirectX programming and I used it to help me get into the game industry. which I have since left to return to the better paying and more stable field of electrical engineering.

http://mods.firstones.com/sector87/
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Old April 2nd, 2004, 04:36 PM   #20
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Welcome to Colonial Fleets, NamtarLives!
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