|
|
Message of the Day:
Welcome to the Dynamix Finger Server!
be sure to check out http://www.dynamix.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------
User Name: tim.gift Plan Last Modified: 12/22/1999 11:54:28 PST
Real Name: Tim Gift
Nickname: Slacker
Job: Programmer/Designer
Project: Starsiege TRIBES
12.22.99
Doesn't seem that long ago... Last Friday was the 1
year anniversary of Tribes. We received final Sierra
certification for duplication Thursday 12/17/98 at 7:46
PM. By the following Monday the warezers were online,
and by the middle of the week there were players who
had actually purchased copies!
These days it's all Tribes 2 programming & game design.
My role on the project has changed quite a bit over
the past few years :) (a long story) Now I'm mostly
coding all the "game" part of the Tribes 2 engine.
The big items that I've been working on:
Client & Server object process management
Move processing and inter-frame interpolation
architecture Client->Server move/input
synchronization This is part of an interesting
client/server infrastructure that MarkF and I
will discuss at the next CGDC.
Spatial collision database
Architecture and basic collision methods
Extruded polytopes and other misc. clipping
routines. Tribes 2 employs polytope -> poly
collision (completely different from what I did
on Tribes 1, which was basically polytope to
BSP).
Rigid body physics class
Pretty standard stuff. Though resolving contact
friction in a reasonable amount of time always
causes me problems (Not the first time I've
written one, but I never seem to end up using
it). Will probably use this for the vehicles
this time.
Server->Client datablock architecture
Datablocks are used to transmit static object
attributes to clients.
Game base class
Overall architectural design for game objects
and their interface to the scripting language.
This base class provides a lot of common game
object functionality including datablock,
energy, damage and multi-threaded animation
management as well as Item image mounting, a
number of script interface functions, etc.
Server->client packet code as well.
Item Images
Images are items mounted on objects, such as
weapons and packs. Items now have a table
driven state engine. The states are defined as
part of the image datablock and are used to
control all animation, sound, recoil and
effects on the items in response to trigger,
ammo, loaded and timer input. I hard coded
these states in Tribes 1, but now they can be
defined on the server (by Mods) and are
downloaded to the client.
Camera Class
Observer camera (actually runs on the server
and uses the client/server move architecture).
Static Shape class
The class used for all stations, sensors, etc.
This class doesn't really do a whole lot as all
the behavior for these objects is scripted.
Item class
Basic items, both stationary rotating items, or
items thrown/ dropped by players. Includes
client side prediction for moving items, which
I skimped in Tribes 1.
Player class
Been spending a lot of time on this one
recently. I had the basic player running
around a while ago, but then went off to work
on other things. I just finished cleaning up
and finalizing all the player movement code,
stepping (over things), sliding off corners and
along creases, etc. Tribes 1 had a few
problems in this area which I never got around
to fixing. Tribes 2 is much smoother. The new
approach is cleaner, uses less code, and works
better :) The player is now almost done, bunch
of misc. stuff (including death and celebration
animations), but the only big thing left is
client side movement prediction, which I should
start on this afternoon. He currently moves on
other clients, but doesn't interpolate or
predict (this is handled differently than your
own player).
After player client prediction, some projectile code,
then the code I expect to have some fun with: vehicles.
I guess that brings me up to date. Hope I haven't
bored anyone... (kind of a long post)
Tim
|
|
GarageGames...
Also Today...
Yesterday...
Full list
|
|
 |
Copyright © Square
Eight 1998-2016. All Rights Reserved.
The BlueTracker is provided by Webdog.
We are not responsible for the content of the .plans displayed here.
|
|
|
|
|
Twitter 
