Prototype V0.1

Hi guys,

I was finally able to finish the first Prototype. It took a bit longer than I first thought for several reasons, but I won't bore you with the details.

So first off for clarification, this is a simple prototype, showing some of the Engines features. The game itself will probably look nothing like this prototype. Also, some features might not be used to their full potential here, as I didn't want to spend several more hours on configuring/editing this.

Ok, now to the prototype itself. You can download it here. (I guess Brian will upload it too)
It only includes the binaries as I don't think you're really interested in the sourcecode.
For some statistics, the prototype so far contains 57 files containg 4500 lines of code.

To run the "game" you will need the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 or higher which can be found here (although everybody should already have that as more or less all of Microsofts programs use that) and the XNA Framework version 3.1 (these will later be included in the installer)

So what is actually happening in the Prototype:

The first thing you might notice is the text that instantly pops up saying you entered a region. A region is simply an area (formed like a rectangle or a circle) which fires an event if something enters/leaves. In this case you will see a text telling you you've entered a region, but of cause this can also trigger anything else like a video sequence, spawning of enemies.. Currently there are 2 regions, one over the area you start and one over the white mountains you see in the distant.

Now for the input. Like usual, the character can be moved by using WASD and rotated by holding the right mouse button. Additionally you can in/decrease the movementspeed of the character by using "-" and "+" (although it might not look like it due to the size of the terrain, you get pretty fast by only pressing + for a short time. This might cause some strange behavior from the PhysicsEngine which is not a bug, you're just going really, REALLY fast )

You might also notice that there's a spider like creature running towards you instantly after you spawned. There's several things to that:
There is a rudimentary AI for the enemys. First, all enemys are idleing, meaning just standing around, waiting for something to happen. So far there are 2 things that change this state: After a random amount of time, each enemy will start roaming onto a random direction, although the movement is overseen by the NavigationMesh* making sure the enemy doesn't leave it. In both idle and roaming state the enemy will start to attack to if you're too close to it. In this state it will chase and if close enough attack you until it's dead. During this state the A* (A-Star) algorthimn is used on the NavigationMesh to determine the shortest way to the player character while staying inside the NavigationMesh.

To respond to an attacking enemy you first have to select it (which brings up its status bar). So far you have 3 skills you can use, either by pressen the keys 1-3 or by clicking on the icons at the bottom left with your mouse. The first skill has a 1sec casttime, deals 10 dmg instantly and another 10 dmg over 4 secs. The second skill is instant and deals 10 dmg and the third skills heals yourself over 8 secs. These skills also show off the new ParticleSystem, although especially skill 3 needs some more tweaking to look better

Ok so now what is a NavigationMesh. A NavigationMesh is used for Pathfinding and consists of connected Convex Polygons. Using a NavigationMesh you can run the A*-Algorithmn to find the best way from one point within the Mesh to another. The NavigationMesh in this prototype is spanned over the hill you start on, although not over the lake in the middle. This means the enemys won't be able to follow you into the lake (and they also can't leave this hill). As I already said, I didn't put unnecessary detail into this, so there is actually just a rectangle around the lake where the enemys can't get to. So if you want to try this and move through the lake, make sure you move away from the lake a bit, so you're back in teh NavigationMesh and the enemy will find its way around the lake to you.
This is actually what held me up so long and I'm still not 100% sure if everything works properly, so if en enemy gets stuck or something, make a screenshot and send it to me please.

You can also find a box, quite near to your starting location, if you move close enough to it you will be able to loot it by clicking on it.

At last, when approaching the white hills you can see a snow effect which is pretty cool, but that's it, same for the other parts of the terrain, nothing there so don't waist your time wandering around searching for something

EDIT: Known Bugs:
- Camera to Character rotation has several flaws.


Ok this post is getting pretty long, so just one more thing: What I'll be doing next.
My first thought was to implement lightmaps and another dynamic lighting for outside, a more complex skydome, some cool shader effects for models/terrain,.. to make everything look a little better so we can get at least some screenshots from it soon. Due to the release of XNA 4.0 this stuff will have to wait a bit, as major changes have been made to the framework to assure DirectX10/11 support for the future. So I won't implement any new graphical stuff until I've updated the Engine to XNA 4.0 as I might have to change these again during the updating process. The reason I don't update right now is because the new Particle System I use isn't updated yet (but should happen in the next 2-3 weeks). So for now I'll stick to improving the LevelEditors usability/AI and stuff like that.

Alright, feedback is much apprechiated.

Greez,
Duallity

awesome, i will be getting this asap! My machine is currently only partially functional, needs a quick reinstall of windows, but I'll pause that, to try this out. Will edit post for respnse

Duallity wrote:Hi guys,





Ok, now to the prototype itself. You can download it here. (I guess Brian will upload it too)


Greez,
Duallity

how did he guess? He must know how much I absolutely hate, and I mean HATE with a firey passion, HATE rapidshare, there is nothing rapid about it, at all, ever, without money.
You can find the file re uploaded on opendrive. It should be there within 15 minutes of this post.
User name-ductcha@rock.com
PW-legend

ps-that address is a bad way to get a hold of me, I check it rarely, and it averages about 100 emails a day.

But it's really rapid if you have a premium account

I'll also upload the new version of the Engine/LE today. I'll send you the URLs asap.

ok, just found two things thus far,

first, the spiders are airborn, hoovering about 1.5 men high. They cannot move or act, inspite of the animations running.


secondly, if you run all the way to the end of the world, you fall off and slowly drift along the Z axis, unable to move elswise.

Where are you actually standing there? Looks like major graphics failures. I don't know how you got the enemy up there, never had this problem

The second thing is quite easy to resolve: It a prototype, don't walk over the edge

It won't even run! It crashes!

I installed both XNA and .net but still, it will always crash.

I've got Windows 7. That's got to be the problem (you know windows haters when you see 'em!)

Duallity wrote:Where are you actually standing there? Looks like major graphics failures. I don't know how you got the enemy up there, never had this problem

The second thing is quite easy to resolve: It a prototype, don't walk over the edge

They start airborn, Im unsure as to why. I do nothing.
LOL to the walking off the edge.

seawolf512 wrote:It won't even run! It crashes!

I installed both XNA and .net but still, it will always crash.

I've got Windows 7. That's got to be the problem (you know windows haters when you see 'em!)

I run 7 too, it is a rather sizable program. Try unistalling the .net framework and all that, and reinstall, making sure to use the control panel to remove the software. If that fails, remove the program and redownload it. That may help.

I've checked it again, the program is compiled in x86 mode, so it will run on 32 and 64bit machines. I also use Windows 7, so that's not the problem either. I just saw that there is a Service Pack for the .NET Framework 3.5, maybe that helps, although if you're running Windows 7 you should have .NET 4.0

The only other thing that comes into my mind is that I'm using a lightweight version of an SQL Database which I thought is included in the usual .NET framework, but maybe I'm mistaken and you need the .NET compact Framework or even something else.

So if you have some time you could try this: First if you're running Windows 7, you should have the .NET Framework 4.0, so remove 3.5. Make sure you also haveDirectX 9.0c installed.

If that doesn't help you might try to install the compact framework I stated above.
Oh and maybe the most important thing, is there some kind of error message when the program crashes?

Sorry for the inconvenience, I'd usually test this on several machines, but as I only have my laptop with me I don't have the possibility to do that.

No change, I tried everything.
Still crashes with a typical Windows error report. The mouse moves to the centre of the screen and then the crash dialogue pops up.
I've tried every file you suggested, nothing has changed. I don't know what else to do.

I think I know what is missing. I just found out that the Compact Edition of SQL Server is not included in the .NET Framework anymore, but has it's own redistributable now. I didn't notice that as it was pre-installed on my laptop.
You can give it a try by downloading SQL Server CE 32/64 bit from here. Anyway, we will have to think about if we want to use it, as this will be an additional thing that has to be installed on the clients computer (though it's only 2.5MB large). But I think as the XNA Framework is the only other component that has to be installed so far (assuming .NET and DirectX is already installed, like on 99.9% of the Windows computers) it's not so bad to have to install something else, considering that the use of a relational database saves us a whole lot of time.

Oh and regarding Brians problem,
can you take another screen from the original camera position?
Should look something like this

... still ... nothing happens ... I tried it all, reinstalled everything.

I'm gonna start chewing on my keyboard any time soon...

Hnm that's weird..
Well I've implemented a logger to the Engine, so the next time I'm at the university I'll upload a new version of the prototype including that. This should make it a lot easier to find the problem.

Do you need a print-screen of the Windows error signatures? Maybe they'll be of some help.

Don't know if it helps but just post it, maybe it does help.

It's strange that you get a null reference exception as that mean something couldn't be loaded which is weird, because if some data would be missing it wouldn't work on any machine.
Well like I said, I'll upload a new version soon (propably on tuesday) which logs errors, then we'll know more.

several more pics of the bug, taken at multiple positions.






hopefully this helps

@Brian: Could you please download the Level Editor and see if there are the same graphics failures?
I don't really know what to say about the enemies, the most logical explanaition would be that you have a different version of the game, but I double checked the link.. I'm not sure how yet, but maybe I can implement something in the version I upload on Tuesday that helps me with fixing this.

i have the level editor, what do i need to do to run the game files in it? or are they already in the version you posted?

You mean to load a level? That's not important, only whether you get the same graphics bugs there as in the Prototype.

ok, i tried to get the critter on screen, but could not. I did this by using the object place, and mouse positioned, got something around 7000x600. tried to position the model there, and it wouldnt render. How do I manage this?

Well, you maybe haven't pressed save after you changed the position.

But I'd still like to know if you have the same graphics bugs. Don't bother with the creature, placing it in the Level-Editor and the wrong movement in the prototype aren't related at all.