Mathpudding.com

Since i have nothing better to do and i was asked to put up some developer's log stuff i decided to write this little log entry, hope you find it interesting, feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts about it.

So, i coded a simple 3d model loader for the game, the original purpose was, to test if 3D cars would be any good, well it turned out that it wasn't such a good idea, the cars render a lot slower than ordinary sprites, and altrough they look absolutely fabulous with proper lightning, i'm going to probably have to save this for the next game.. but ofcourse it could be just that i did not use write a very optimized renderer, so after i optimize the renderer i will see weither they are here to stay or they will be cut for cars, but they will be certainly used and have a smaller role as random 3d objects like trash cans, bridges, special smaller buildings, statues, etc..

I got a new beta version of Newton Game Dynamics, and implemented it in the game, Julio is doing a awesome work on new version, which is alot faster than the previous public and work-in-progress developer releases, the new features and optimizations are really nice, and show in the game very good, i experimented with stacks of cars and various objects, and with a proper cpu i believe it can simulate A LOT (i mean 500-1000 and more) objects in real time like a piece of cake, this would be used on servers ofcourse, not on clients, since a single server will be authoritative over the physical body simulation which will cut off most of potential cheating that would involve teleporting and other similar tricks.

The character controller got improved a bit, when the actor body was earlier sliding when you turned, it now no longer slides, as if it has perfect contact with the floor, this is used in most arcade games, and gives running & firing a whole new feeling, with a lot more precision and feels more responsive.

I still haven't decided if i want to have players strafing, generally in real world if you ever tried to strafe like in games i guess you had some real trouble with it, it's just not real, while moving sideways slowly is normal, running, etc.. isn't (if you think different, go video yourself while running sideways and put it on youtube).

I have made up a simple way of implement slow strafing so close-up fights and dodging bullets behind a wall would be possible, but no running, so it is a kind of compromise.. the most trouble with full strafing would be that it would be just silly when you have players jumping around like in Quake or UT games in a top-down game.. so this way players will need a bit more skills, and will think twice before engaging a target on their plans, which means players should have a lot of room for strategy.