6 replies to this topic

[karg]

Description
PPTactical (Pure Power Tactical) is an engine for real-time strategy/real-time tactics game, released under LGPL.

A short feature list:
* compiles with a variety of compilers (bcb6, msvc, borland builderx, g++) on various platforms (windows,solaris, macosx, linux)
* various unit classes, both ground and air: infantry, tanks, artillery, recons, transporters, fighters, helicopters, dropships
* huge buildings with masks for pathfinding and altitude
* scripts that control the missions, the group behaviour (battlegroups) and are used to implement AI on a per-unit basis
* highly customizable with lots of tools (map editor, unit editors)

The 0.9.6 version has several small improvements over previous version (0.9.5):
* ecosystem generator for the map editor
* curve editor, used for the ecosystem generator and the particle system
* customizable view and fire points for each unit class
* battlegroup scripting (with two maps showing boids and formation movement)
* MacOsX port

And, finally, a fully scripted and playable mission is available, just to show the engine capabilities.

Links:
PPTactical at Sourceforge
PPTactical Home

[haxorphreak]

Looks great, and has nice features. It kinda reminds me of Starcraft, which is a good thing. A few buddies and I are planning a Halo-style RTS with this engine. *happy thoughts*
I don't see any networking support though, but I'm sure it'll work with a good 'ol networking sdk.

[karg]

indeed, there is no network support for now but maybe in the near future i may consider adding it, depending on the spare time. it should be pretty easy to add it, given the architecture, and one of the SDL_net, raknet, directplay, libsdl or hawknl libs could be used.

good luck on your project haxorphreak, let me know if you manage to pull something off the ground :)

[Methulah]

I like the lok the engine has, and I wouldn't mind making a quick prototype of a futuristic RTS on this engine. IT would be nice to know what sort of features it has (e.g. in physics, textures, shaders etc).

Thanks, and very nice work on the engine.

[karg]

the engine is full 2D and all rendering is done using 2D (SDL and DirectDraw), so no textures and shaders are available.

everything you see are sprites. they do come however from 3D meshes modeled in truspace and rendered with lightwave. alpha blending exists in the SDL version, but being internally done by SDL is quite slow and usable only on certain areas.

an opengl renderer is in on the workbench, but it will take some time before it will be released. this will probably be the first step toward bringing the engine to the 3D world.

there are no physics in the engine. although a heightmap exists and is used for projectile collision detection and for pathfinding (units have a maximum slope they can climb/descend), although there are ballistic trajectories, there's only "hardcoded" physics. with the transition to 3D, probably there will be integration with ODE or other free or GPLed physics lib.

[Mihail121]

Very nice engine is should say and what makes it even better is the fact that it's 2D! I would really love to play with it so.... HURRY UP AND MAKE ONE!!! :)

[haxorphreak]

It even runs nicely on my low-end system (32 MB Intel "Extreme" graphics card, 128 MB SDRAM). But I'm upgrading soon for the project (256 MB GeForce FX 5200, adding a 256 MB stick o' RAM).
Speaking of the project, I've appointed myself Lead Programmer and gathered a couple of close friends for art and design. Not much progress so far, but it's a start.