102 replies to this topic

[fringe]

Hi,

I could be on most the time at a weekend but evenings are best, and most evenings 8pm+ on weekdays (its free for me then). Should we also have a think about what questions we will be talking about and answering,

fringe

[anubis]

vinmar : good idea, given that we don't have much time to talk i suggest that we discuss the topics of the channel chats over the week on the board and then have the meeting at the weekend.

[baldurk]

Offtopic: vimnar, I like the avatar! very classy :). Did you make it?

back on topic, I'll layout a few things I think we should discuss.

• language (C, C++, D etc.)
  
  
• Pre-made engine, custom built engine
  
  
• game genre
  
  
• goals (e.g, will there be a story/some background/anything more than action)
  
  
• etc, I'm sure we'll think of more

I'm not sure how much I'll be free on easter weekend, but I'll try and make it in

[vinmar]

baldurk said:

Offtopic: vimnar, I like the avatar! very classy :). Did you make it?

Thanks baldurk, but I have to admit I stole it from http://www.vinmar.com. But the way I see it, they owe me something for using my name, right?

Perhaps something to be discussing is, as well as _what_ we're going to do, _how_ we're going to do it. I think without proper team management being organised from the start we might as well give up now! And no, that wasn't the sound of me volunteering ;)

[Dia]

vinmar, did you get IRC to work?

meeting in the channel is good idea, this would give more opportunity to talk.

As fringe suggested, I suggest we start off with a small project that can take 2-3 months max. Then, when we get comfortable with each other, we can start with the big main game project. What does everyone think of that? It can be either a 2D or 3D game; it doesn't matter.

[vinmar]

I didn't realise mIRC wasn't shareware :( Just getting registration notices coming up now. But yes, I have managed to get on this evening through the java applet. I'm justing searching for a nice freeware download.

I think a project of 3 months max is a great idea. Anything bigger, as a virgin group, would be crazy.

I don't know anything about writing 2D games, but I'd guess this is what we should think about as surely they're simpler than 3D games by definition (hey! you've got a whole extra dimension in there!!). This can, obviously, be a topic for IRC.

Off topic here, sorry: But I've just got back from go-karting, what a buzz! I pushed my team up 3 places from bottom with a sneaky maneouvre on the second to last corner! And man, did the power steering on my car feel light on the way home after driving those little things round!

[vinmar]

I know I said we can talk about it on IRC, but I've just had a thought about what I said about why we should go for a 2D game, and how what I said might be wrong.

Because, I am thinking, the mini-project could perhaps use the same (perhaps 3D) engine as the mega-project. This way we all get experienced with the big game engine, while still only working on a little project.

Sorry if this idea was already mentioned by someone before, I have a feeling it may have been.

[Dia]

I personally prefer creating my own engine rather than using an exisiting one. However, if we are looking at time, then using an existing engine would not be a bad idea for a start.

If an engine is goint to be built, then we'll have to decide on how the engine should be designed and structured. Maybe we can host it on sourceforge or something... the details can be discussed in chatting.

Also, to finalize the chatting time, how about this date: April 28, 2002 7 PM EST? Is that good for everyone? The reason why its almost two weeks from now, is that a couple of people mentioned to me that they are busy in the coming 2 weeks due to exams and other stuff.

[vinmar]

Its not a great time for me, because I need to be into work early and fairly alert the next day (got stuff going on that week). You're talking about starting the chat at 1 in the morning here!

A friday or a saturday would be ideal if its going to be early in the morning.

Otherwise, can you just save the chat and email it to me so I know what happened!?

[baldurk]

yeh, I don't think that's a good time for everyone on GMT. Also, my exams start in may, so April 28 is a bit close to them :/

[CyraX]

I vote for working on an existing engine (GPLed Q2??).
I think I am ready with the list already:

Q2
DukeNukem 3D
Coin
FreeSpace

[donBerto]

Cyrax: welcome back! haven't seen you in quiet a while.
er'body else: as far as time, yeah - my finals begin around the 5th of may so if it's cool to postpone til late may?...

I like Cyrax's suggested list. out of all, i STRONGLY vote for FREESPACE

:yes:

[Dia]

donBerto, do you mean we use the same FreeSpace engine? I've looked at it a while ago and I was very disappointed with the way things are done. I've noticed that they do their own graphics pipline and transformation and they don't utilize hardware acceleration. Freespace graphics are done in 2D just in case you didn't know. But I must admit, that its an amazing game. What we could do is utilize and benefit from its code, like the physics stuff and some special effects which look amazing....

Just a thought...

[donBerto]

apex, no I didn't know - thanks for bringing it up.

yeah that sux how they do their own graphics*. I know you and I share a love for space sims... can we use the freespace engine and replace the graphics code? how about we "shadow" their graphics code to use DX/OGL? any suggestions?

:yes:

[CyraX]

It is always ok for us to pick up something like Q2.
Freespace - yes I did notice they use 2D rendering, its alright.
My targets right now are to get SOMETHING @least on the working. Its simple, we plan tooo much and end up with nothing (yet) ready :sigh:
Once we get some demo or SOMETHING @least ready, we would see more ppl enthu about the project and contributing.
We have not YET decided upon the game genre and the API.
Any suggestions wrt Genere - I suggest a Space sim. Reasons: There are @least 3 team members who've already worked in something similar.
Space Sims are easy to build (relatively).

[donBerto]

I second that motion.

:yes:

[vinmar]

And I third.

Also, I'd like to see us using openGL for sure.

And, if we want to do a small project first, how about something like the original asteroids?

[anubis]

anybody here that remembers liero ???
somthing similar might be nice for a first project

[baldurk]

this isn't a demand, but I won't be able to help code if we are only using DX or only using windows code, so it would at least need to support OGL and SDL or whatever.

[donBerto]

likewise.

I'm not against the idea of having a base code and then a separate win32 and a linux code that will both use the base code but I'd rather use SDL.

just a thought.

:yes: