Worklog for S_Seth
Worklog 1
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Yeah, its been awhile since I've posted on here. But I want everyone to
know that I have been working on this project more and more lately, as
now I have an entire class period devoted to its programming. I have gotten the tanks to explode when they die now, and also am working on getting a text messaging system back into the program. It works great on LAN, and I am pondering beginning online beta testing again. Hopefully soon I will have a full version to show for. |
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I've gotten the health system, boost system, and a round-based gameplay
system incorporated into Mongi. Now all I gotta do is cut out certain
areas of lag, and re-import all of the old weapons. The way I've coded it this time is so much easier for upgrades in the future and for far less lag in the game. I'll get some more concrete evidence out soon... |
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Unable to support my own server, I've made a return to the old
peer-to-peer system so I do not have to host all the servers. Progress
is going very well, as all I have to do is re-instate the health system
and the respawn coding and then I will release the "next" version. |
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In a final (hopefully) entire re-conding of the Mongi3D engine. This
time I'm doing the code into a "Block" format, so in future upgrades all
I will have to do is upgrade these "blocks" instead of re-writing the
entire thing. Progression thus far includes a menu, and lobbies completed. I'm finishing up on the integration of the splitscreen play, and will soon re-integrate online and network play. |
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| Unfortunately I havent been able to post in awhile due to a trip onto the far side of the Earth :p However I have since decided to patch Mongi Online and Mongi3D Solo Play into one fully functional version of Mongi. USers can choose to play on a off line, and may features have been improved. The options screen has been re-edited and made with more advanced features such as antialiasing. Eventually (very long range) I want to make themed skins for the menu, and who knows, maybe evetually let people import their own into the program. More to follow! |
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I finally finished up on the weapons and will be uploading Mongi Online
v1.0 fairly soon. Into this version I've also incorporated simple
coding that will alert and give the player a url of a new Mongi version
is available. So now the weapons in Mongi Online v1.0 will be normal lasers, machine gun, flamethrower, missles, mortar cannon, GU Ball, and mines. Hopefully these should keep players busy while I work on future versions. There will be more weapons in the future, as "Gun Buddies" were a recently suggested idea. For those who never played "BattleTanks" a gun buddy is an automatically targeting cannon that a player can place anywhere on the battlefield. This could make CTF matches even more chaotic. I'll let you all know when I have uploaded the new version. :) |
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I've gotten most of the clan coding done now, and soon will begin
testing on it. I've had a few school assignments that have been slowing
me down with Mongi progress lately, but hopefully tomorrow proves to be
fruitful. What I hope to get done tomorrow is coding fro a Pre-Game lobby, that would separate in-game play from the main lobby. In this lobby the players would divide onto teams. After this coding is done with the lobby, I've been neglecting the finishing touches upon the machine gun. The machine gun will be my final weapon installment for awhile. Capable of high fire-rates, the machine guns is not the most accurate weapon, buts its range is fairly decent, with a decent amount of ammo as well. I hope to have all these done into Mongi3D Online v1.0, and released within about a week and a half, before I leave for two weeks. |
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Today I picked up a new program for level making. It lightened my
wallet but I feel that it may be useful in the long run. I've gotten to
work on a new primitive map that I call the BoomBox. Its basically a
hollowed out cube with a few doodads in there. However, being that it is
a more cramped map, the chaos will be more immense. There's nowhere to
hide in it. As for clans, I'm wrapping up on coding to get it set into place. At this point in time a player can make a clan for his/her self, but they cannot invite any new members into it, making kinda pointless at this point. I hope to have this "invite code" done by tomorrow. |
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Today I finished up the flamethrower. It is devastating at short range
use to the other tanks. Its fuel supply is pretty good, so a player can
get a pretty good burst of flame off upon an enemy. There is one
drawback however, this weapon is pretty rare to find on the map. But
this is a screenie of it. I'm going to be adding in two more weapons, the machine gun and mortars, then turn my attention back to the server and client programs to upgrade the lobby more visually and organizationally than anything else. Then I want to get clans up and running, then maybe host a giant Mongi tournament. |
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Ok tonight I introduce you to two new weapons, the GU Ball and mines.
These are not the only new weapons I am going to include in the new
version, so expect more to come soon. First off, the mines. Coming in clips of four, these mines can be laid anywhere on the map, mines deliver a serious blow (usually a kill) to the enemy's health. The problem, they are bigger mines so it is easy for enemys to see them. But if you either put them in strategic locations and/or force enemies near them, they can turn the battle in your favor. Here's what you do not wanna drive over on the battlefield.  Next is the wonderous GU Ball. What does it do you ask? Well, the answer to that is who knows? Doing a range of random attacks the GU Ball could either inflict serious death or just blind your enemy. Being as the attacks are random, you never know which one is gonna come next, so may chance be on your side....  Well that concludes the new weapons for today. Tomorrow I will have more of them done. See ya then. |
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Well one challenge gives way into another. I have managed to get the
Mongi version with a lobby up, however next I need to get a stable
Server running for the program to work. However with our whiny DSL modem
and a tough Wireless router, it has been hack trying to poke enough
port holes. Well if bad comes to worse I could just wire it in tomorrow.
Either way, tomorrow I will have the server up. As the work on a stable online system is nearing an end, I'm now beginning to focus on the development of gameplay, in other words : weapons. With more weapons, come more chaos, and with said chaos, comes entertainment. The next weapons that I am currently programming into the game are a flamethrower, machinegun, Armour Buster cannon, mines, and the odd GU ball. What does each weapon do? Who is to say? I will most more info and pics on each of these weapons tomorrow, AFTER I get the server up. |
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OK, a skeleton version of the lobby is basically done. The personal
profile and clan options are not coded yet, but a person can enter the
lobby, chat, and create/join a game to play. However, as there currently
is only one map incorporated into the code, a player does not have a
choice at this point on what map they would like to play. Next on the cooking plate is tomorrow I will be testing my Server and the lobby system on the internet. This should go smoothly and uneventful. This version will then be the foundation for the rest of my online upgrades. If I can get a stable online system running, I can then turn my attention to adding more to the gameplay (aka maps, weapons, etc). This should keep players interested. Until tomorrow.... ^_^ |
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Ok, tonight not much has been going on except the elimination of a few
bugs in the lobby code. Now turns the task of making it so other players
can player with each other upon joining a game in the lobby. This task
is mostly done as players can now join the same room but I just have to
finish importing the movement code and working out the kinks. Then a
'barebones' version of the lobby system can be released, but I am
thinking for waiting until I have more done with the perepheral options
(clans, friends, profile, etc). Tomorrow I go straight to work on the clan's option. As many shooter games have clans for competition, friends, whatnot...so will this game. I also want to eventually get a standings listing done. Until I can get more progress done, tonight I grace upon you the newest screenie of the lobby system I'm working on. As you can see it is basic but for the most part functional, which at this stage I feel is more important.  |
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On the production of the 'Lobby' program for Mongi, progress is holing
at a nice steady rate. Though school has now started, I still find
myself with much freetime during the day to continue work on it. So far I
have finished the basic lobby system: Players join, see who is on, and
can join a game on the server. At this point the test game has been
permanantly placed on the server, while I am adding the option for
players to create their own games on the server. Another addition to add
into the program would be a simple chat system. While in the lobby,
players would be able to text chat with other players also in the lobby,
then join/create a game from there. With the development of this online lobby comes a new awesome feature : clans. I hope that the addition of clans would generate more interest in playing Mongi Online and forge alligances b/w clanmates. However, with more activity will be more misconduct, as I will have to develop a means of IP banning a player that is breaking the rules of proper conduct. When is the massively awesome update coming? I would have to say at least a week. I need time to get some more coding done and test it throughly before uploading the new version. Also in the new version will be the urban map FULLY textured. I will get some screenies of the map and lobby system up in a few days. |
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OK, now I've finally been able to upload a version that allows for more
than 2 players to play together in a server. I have not tested the max
amount of players in a game yet, and I guess that only time will tell.
The engine is moving from peer-to-peer to more server-client based. The next step is to develop coding for a 'main lobby' that would allow players to see currently active games and chat with current players in the lobby. I've got about have the coding half done. It currently lists the active players and servers, but now I just got to finish adding coding for players creating and joining the servers listed. I hope to have this done in a few days, after which time I will begin converting a comp to a dedicated server to run the lobby program. |
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Okay, sorry for the delay I just had a few side projects that I had to
get done. Anyway, I have run a test on the new engine I'm making and it
does seem to work, with just a few minor tweeks now to be made. Also, I've been working more on texturing the Urban map with help from a friend. You know who you are, and thanks for your help thus far. Anyway, I hope to get a completely working engine up tomorrow. That's my goal. |
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I'm still working on this issue of converting Mongi to a many player
game. I did manage to isolate the problem of why the LAN code would not
work online. However, due to the structure of the code it is best to
redesign the networking engine to fit for online capibilty. I will have
the first test ready tomorrow, and I'll let you know how it goes. |
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I've had a few problems with converting the current peer-to-peer
program to using types to allow many players to potentially play
together. However, I do believe that I am now on the right track, as I
have gotten a 2-4 player system set up for local area play. All I
believe I have to do is convert a few commands to fit with online
instead of LAN play, and then it should be working. Also, I have been working to allow for team battles, with 2v2,3v3,or else a free-for-all mode. Also being integrates is some weapons that are located randomly on the map, and can be picked up and used by a player. |
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I am continuing work today on moving from the peer-to-peer system and
more towards a server-client(s) system. The main thing that I have to
convert is the Loading of players from global variables into the loading
of players into types. This process first met with some frustration but I am now doing considerably well. The main thing that I have left is to finish the connection code, or the first crucial initial packets sent between the server and the joining client. Besides from that, not much else is going on today. I hope to finish up with this new multiplayer version by tomorrow. |
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Yesterday I finished up on some respawn code and a system that monitors
the kills/deaths of each player. If you get this screen, well, do what
it says. Next on the list is allowing more players to battle together, how many yet is undecided. |
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Yesterday we successfully acheived online status. Two friends of mine
we're able to connect and play each other. They reported a little lag,
and thus I am tweeking the networking code today. I thought that I'd
give you guys a walkthrough b/c this program isnt the most user
friendly. Step #1: Host Or Client :  This screen is basically what is says. If one of you hosts, the other is the client, even though the coding of Mongi Online at this point is peer-to-peer. Organize this with your buddie before you start the game. Step #2: Enter Destination IP :  This screen can be a little difficult to understand at first. If you read the requirements you would see that a static IP is required at this point. The screen prompts you here for the destination IP, hence, the IP you are connecting to. Example: Person A enters Person B's IP, and vice versa. If you do not know your Internet IP, many sites can check it for you. Just google 'Whats My IP' or something like that. Note: 192.168.___.___ is not an internet IP, it is a LAN IP and will work only for LAN games. Step #3: Play : Does this really need an explaination? Controls are default set to WASD (movement) with Mouse-Look and Left Click Firing. |
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Today was a busy busy day. To start off, our online code test was a
success, as you computers were able to connect online and send each
other messages. Now the process begins in converting this success into the Mongi program, which I am diligently working on. I made a change today in the coding, I convert the control of the Tank to be the gaming standard : WASD and Mouse Look and Fire. This conversion met to great elation. |
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I'm now working more on the actually gameplay of the engine. I finished
an importer that would allow for an individual to load their own meshes
into the game as maps and play them. This makes multiplayer more
enjoyable with custom maps. I thought that I would allow you all to feast your eyes on a screenie of Mongi.  Mongi3D is a multiplayer 3D game that puts your tank against the opponents in LAN (hopefully soon to be online) action. I'm not a huge graphics man, my friend usually handles that, hence the map is about 90% untextured. I have two other maps that I am integrating, which are textured. Though the maps are primitive, the gameplay will more than make up for it. With perspective LAN modes being CTF, FFA, or team deathmatch, the battles can get very chaotic. The big step remains to be taken however, online. With a half-successful test the other day I am running programs to determine where it went wrong, and what measures need to be taken to correct it. If anyone has any internet programming experience in Blitz, let me know. |
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Today I was mostly working on polishing up the LAN multiplayer coding.
This LAN engine is much more basic that its splitscreen counterpart,
however it possesses much more potential as with a few modifications can
lead to an online game. I'm going to release this basic LAN engine within 24 hours. It uses the Blitz3D v1.9 UDP coding. |