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XCOMUFO & Xenocide

I Wanna Help


-Og-

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Greetings,

 

You guys have done great work with the tactical side of things, Just letting you guys know that during the next few weeks im gonna familarise myself with the source for UFO 2000.

 

Me and a friend or two are gunna have a shot at starting the process to create a multiplayer Geoscape. Judging by the poll in a different thread it looks like most people want a Geoscape that acts and looks like the one in the origional xcom enemy known (defence), I (we) will keep that in mind during the development (being an avid x-com fan its what I want aswell so...).

 

It may take a while to get our first patch out, however I do know (and like) Sarge's ethos on frequent but steady releases, and I will attempt to get a first patch out for the comunity to try out asap. Below i have detailed my rough ideas on how development should progress:

 

I beleive the first step should be to get a spinable/zoomable planet with time (daylight etc) and time speed controls. this would be the first release.

 

after that a version where two (or possibly more) players can connect to a 'game' and both have their own veiw/control over the same planet (of course a shared time system - probably where the slowest set speed between all the players is the one that takes preferance). this should be the second release.

 

then a version with objects with reference to where on the map they are, and a couple of dumby items that both players can see (probably make a couple of them moving objects - should be no biggie).

 

the version releases might get be a bit fuzzy around this area, need to make it so that mouse clicks can identify where you have clicked, and probably release a version where by each player can control a object on the map with mouse clicks. Next stage should proabably have multiple objects on the screen, mouse clicks should identify which object a player clicks on, and allow that player to then direct that object.

 

after a polishing release of this (allways need to do this after a while), we would have good control over the geoscape at the code level and be able to use the geoscape in a flexiable maner, be able to add or remove objects and move them around at will It would be time to start thinking about gameplay, base management, research, aliens side managment. and a millions of other things that would be silly to start thinking about now.

 

Anyway me and an old friend of mine are gunna work on this, I hope the community will like what we do, and hopefully aventually we'll get our code into the main release.

 

Wish us luck,

 

-Og-

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Sounds better than designing the entire system from scratch, which was the previous discussion regarding this topic. Good luck

 

I just had an idea: after you are done with those steps, would it be possible to use the Geoscape as the mission planner screen?

 

A player could have its own base, clicking on it would make appear his units. Or to pick a terrain for the fight. Something like that.

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I just had an idea: after you are done with those steps, would it be possible to use the Geoscape as the mission planner screen?

 

A player could have its own base, clicking on it would make appear his units. Or to pick a terrain for the fight. Something like that.

 

Are you talking about making a 'flashy' Lobby in which players can find other people online to pick a fight with?

 

or are you talking about a step towards the MMO style of play?

 

Well either way if everything goes to plan the geoscape system would be flexiable enough to be used for any number of situations and I see no reason why multiple game styles could not be incorperated.

 

I should probably point out however, that after the Geoscape system has been created I will probably use it to create a 2 player system that mimics the origonal x-com ufo enemy unknown game (with base construction, research, funding etc)

 

But as I said there is no reason why the Geoscape system that I plan for, couldn't be used at the same time for other systems. Infact a Geoscape lobby system could be quite easy so once its up and running (a long time yet) be sure to ask me to try and implement one

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  • 3 weeks later...

It's about time we start moving toward the geoscape. Everybody will appreciate you and your friend's work. Good luck.

 

As for the mission planner, it is not a lobby. Mission planner is when both players are in a game and they are setting everything up.

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As for the mission planner, it is not a lobby. Mission planner is when both players are in a game and they are setting everything up.

 

Aye, well what I envisioned hobbes to be talking about was a system where each player in the lobby could place their 'base' somewhere on the geoscape. each player could configure their own teams for their base, and then each player could challenge another base, and then the rest of the game would be configured and the bettle would begin.

 

Well anyway anything like this could be acheived, but were quite a way away from that yet.

 

Just a little update; currently looking for a decent algorithum to map a 2D texture onto a 3D sphere. The best one so far has been the one that was here before I started. I made some changes to the code to allow for Night/Day phasing and rotation and zoom (almost everything we need) however I beleive that this method of creating a illusion of a sphere dosnt allow for vertical rotation.

 

I also looked at implementing AllegroGL and using its mathmatical functions to make the sphere, however I have given up on that for two reasons; I was having difficaulty intergrating AllegroGL into the current code base, and Serge sujested that we dont use it cause it could break compatibility with devices which cant make use of OpenGL.

 

Recently I had a shot at another method that I found on an old allegro forum, this one does allow for rotation on both axies but unfortunatly the mathematics seem to rely heavly on the texture being 255x255 and also seems to generate occasional unsightly graphical annomilies. This leads to a sphere of a lower quality than the origional x-com.

 

I'll have to admit my knowledge of this level of mathmatics is limted but im confident I can find a solution to this.

 

Anyway thanks for the luck,

 

-Og-

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  • 2 weeks later...
Why does it have to be an actual sphere? You could just use a 2D texture that you rotate, scroll and zoom into. Cut off the parts you can not see, I do not think xcom used real 3D.

But then again maybe real 3D is simpler these days, I do not know.

 

The origional x-com used a mapped sphere made up of polygons, which is I suppose real 3D. And i am going to go for the same aproach.

 

Just to let you know, we now have a fully rotatable/zoomable planet with which to play with, I'll see if i cant get the thing rotating with the use of the mouse, once thats done i'll see about making a release.

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