Work
Here is a snapshot of some of the items on my list that I am working through for you. If you feel I have missed anything critical out, please let me know!
A FEW ITEMS ON MY LIST FOR THE NEXT UPDATE:
Frame rate. Better frame rates if possible.
DAVE to write MEMORY MANAGER and integrate into DBP/Compiler source
Physics. Player physics seem to be all over the place of different PCs.
Shooting. Enemy shooting has to be sorted once and for all.
Full compliance with Win 7 and 8 (UAC)
Item limit when you place a item it increases the memory bar when you delete it its still using the memory
Map blink/screen blink I had this a few time I found what fixes it is when you load the editor wait till you see the blue screen
Jumping/flying the jumping and gravity is spot on the only issue is when the game lags it makes the player seem as if he is flying
Lag/low fps when going into buildings
Enemies Walk Into Water still the seem to fall between the land and water the shoot from under the water
Ai wont die I believe this is down to fps also as when I take out a few AI they are ok
Fps I believe it shouldn't be limited to screen refresh rate it seems to cause more problems
Selecting entities on top of other entities not working (cannot select key sitting on table)
Ability to range select within the editor to move/delete many entities at once
Ability to turn off skyboxes in SETUP.INI
Ability to specify terrain size in SETUP.INI and have terrain created to suit that size
dynamic entities fall through the terrain
In most cases the AI has no idea I am there (see HOOD1 FPM demo)
you can not place a character on top of a building
Introduce new QUAD Reducer (load time only - no modifications afterwards)
Script commands for (only if time moving, visibility, sound loop), animate, spawn
Reduce the amount of memory used in core engine and as levels are added to
Raycast terrain for enemies
Shoot raycast use geometry, not bullet polys
Shoot through transparent objects
Stop enemies from going NEAR water boundary (can be a sharp fall off and enemy drops)
Stop enemies from climbing steep hills
Blood splats on enemies some times show as dust
Stop enemies from running on spot / straf too much
Enemies to partrol if they hear a sound from distance
In combat, remove slow inertia
Collect dropped weapons from dead enemies
Enemies to look around when hearing a shot from distance or close friend killed
Enemy to react a little when shot but not dead
Player water splashes
Big entity splashes
Slider for sky scrolling speed
Reset objects in test mode
Cloud overlap issue raised by Rolfy (email send to Lee)
Old levels did not run due to old.dbo and .bin files
DVADER Issues - placing items on table / in buildings
Shooting enemies does not always hurt/kill them
Play loop sound for atmospheric start - and add script to player start to trigger it
Switch which activates(opens) a door
Stand on pad which activates a stone block to slide to one side (move entity command)
Very nice list Lee, but I don't like that "if possible" after better frame rate. This is not an option, Reloaded games should be able to run on a Dual Core machine with less than 2GB of ram with integrated Intel graph on low settings with Nvidia GT graph on medium settings. I have a Quad core CPU with 4+ GB RAM, and 1GB GTX card, and I get only 20 FPS with 0 game content. "IF" can't be an option here! Better frame rate is essential.
ReplyDeleteAlso don't like that setup.ini solution to change anything. Reloaded supposed to be an engine to make games, not a game that can be modded by changing files. Everything should be able to change by scripting or changing settings. You can easily make it possible to change settings in Reloaded and update the setup.ini as settings changed and saved.
I know, this can be a place holder only, but in my opinion if you start to add a new feature, you should complete before move on the next one. Personally I don't like half solutions. Bugs fine, can be fixed later, but everything need to be completed.
I know, you have to add new features to make the development interesting and reach new costumers, make more sales, but performance should be the first on the list, Lua should be the second, and as Reloaded supposed to be a AAA engine, an encrypt system can be a useful thing too. In my opinion everything else should be implemented along with Lua to make it possible to handle anything and everything using Lua right from the beginning. Yes it is slow and not very interesting for 10 years old kids because they already planning new zombie game and waiting for multiplayer, better AI, better physics, better compatibility with Zombie model packs, and FPSC Classic levels. But serious developers, with serious plans, can understand if you STOP HERE make performance the best, implement Lua perfectly, and implement everything else slowly along with the necessary Lua functions to be able to handle that features through Lua. I think you have to make a decision here. Do you make Reloaded for kids to make FPS games and share with school mates or do you make Reloaded for serious developers to make AAA titles to stand by others using Unreal, Source and Unity engines?
Do you want to race other AAA engines? If yes, no point to implement any new features or fix any existing ones before performance is not perfect and Lua is not ready to handle and control anything in the core engine. I know, people wants new features because they want to make games already but you need to stop doing that if you want to develop a good, profitable, determinative engine.
And everyone needs to understand, this is not Minecraft to play with, this is an engine to make Minecraft. Sorry if my comment sounds a bit offensive, this is only my opinion and suggestion.
I'm really not a fan of the who AAA term. The engines and games themselves that are developed are created by teams upwards of 500+ people. In our case its no more than 5. We got to stop throwing around the AAA term since that was not the main focus of Reloaded. Also indie games are generally as small a team as no more than 5 anyways and quite a lot of them turn out fantastic.
DeleteA great documentary to watch is "Indie Game: The Movie". You'll get a real understanding of the amount of work that goes into gaming with a relatively small group, at times solely and the stresses and anxiety and pressure that is put on the developers.
The goal of FPSC-Reloaded is to easily produce good quality levels for your game. Its as simple as that. Its not suppose to compete with anyone but its previous self FPSC-x9 and FPSC-x10. That's it. If we end up with an engine that can help us produce works similar or beyond "AAA Games" that's great. But that's not why I pledged.
Reloaded should have the capability of providing for such projects. The term is used so frequently with the engine that it makes it seem unreachable, but it's actually very little to do with that. If Reloaded provides a flexible set of features, supporting the developer without having to ask them to effectively hack the engine to get some of the more basic things, then the only thing that "AAA" relies on is the developer.
DeleteThe only time that Reloaded would be incapable of this is if Lee and the TGC follow the route of a closed, linear engine, and if it does then this whole thing would have been a royal waste of time for everyone.
Well said, Huknar.
DeleteWhen we (I) say "AAA", we basically mean flexibility and power to create AAA indie games - that is, the power to create games that are unique and can even win awards. Games like The Stanley Parable, Outlast and Antichamber are excellent examples of what I mean. All three were created by just one person each; they just made good use of flexible and powerful engines. They didn't need massive 500-person dev teams. This is all we ask for: the power to create what we want without arbitrary limitations.
Rick added 'if possible' - he has zero faith in my abilities (from long experience) ;) Your idea of focusing on performance to the exclusion of all else is tempting, but I am sure there are other pledgers who would argue just as passionately about memory issues, or basic game AI and so on :) You see my position. I have taken steps to outsource the LUA, AI and Memory work (which really just leaves performance and tweaks to me) so in a way you'll be getting precisely what you need :) I'd rather read offensive feedback than no feedback at all - keep it coming!
ReplyDeleteJust a few things,
ReplyDeleteI had a strange issues that nobody else seems to have brought up. So not sure why its only happened to me but when I'm injured, in some cases the blood splat on the screen does not fade away. This can even occur from fall damage.
Is it possible to have it so the player doesn't constantly jump when he/she holds the space button? Or is this what everyone wants? I find it a bit unrealistic when your in a tight spot and constantly are attempting to jump which sometimes makes you get stuck in geometry (same issue in x9).
Ability to turn off water?
Both suggestions get a +1 from me :)
DeleteHello Lee, impressive list!
ReplyDeletecould you add a feature? "lock time to" ability to set daytime locked to specific hour. this to prevent a night to become day (or day to become night)
thank you!
terrain smoothing tool. (im beginning to believe you dont know what this is~every other terrain editing software has it)
ReplyDeleteThe ability to change the "fall-off" of the brush would be key. That's what would control the smoothness. Basically in the editor the circle brush would have another circle inside it. The outer circle would be the "fall-off".
Deleteevery terrain editing tool has a smooth tool - which averages out the points next to each other.
Deletethey all have a raise/lower, a flatten, (both already included) and a SMOOTH. and some do have the fall off adjustment also.
Yeah add a timer for day and night loop. With option for none active
ReplyDeleteAlso the memory, entity amount and swimming x
DeleteGreat list! Sounds good to me. I agree with everyone who says performance needs to be improved, but not to be the sole goal of any update. It looks as if you have outsourced a lot of the features that if not all, many want. We need some new toys to play with occasionally to make testing interesting.
ReplyDeleteI can live with the frame rate as it is at the moment in the main. Obviously any improvements are welcome and are needed before we can work on anything properly. I definitely agree with the Lua stuff being added in. We might not be able to make huge levels, but we can start playing with ideas :) Also, the map size will be welcomed as many have requested it in the past. Lets hope with the terrain optimisations, smaller world size, and improvements you make in other areas give the next update the boost it needs!
Oh I may have missed it but objects that have been scaled up in the FPE seem to go back to their standard size on reloading levels and test builds. I've mentioned this I think, but you may have missed it.
probably a odd request but is there a chance that we could have a mini map that would load the 2d map onto it.. you could set this as a feature that could be turned on/off if you like..
ReplyDeletecheers great work so far by the way
LUA needs to be able to script everything so that automated repeatable testing can be performed. Without this, how can you be sure that the latest feature you just added hasn't broken something else?
ReplyDeleteLee just wanted to ask if it'd be possible to make a option to choose yes or no for V++ redis so i don't have to install one every time i download an update? its kind of a hassle to go and uninstall the extras every time i update the software.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean "uninstall the extras"? You can't not have the redists. They are required to run FPSCR.
DeleteIs there a way to report spam?
ReplyDelete