TopDown3D [Instant] status

[Petr Schreiber]

Hi,

just to inform you - sources survived :)
I am now making the game more compact + adding some features to make it look more profi ( no MSGBOXes, improved splash screen mechanism ). Now I am re-orienting in the source and I hope to release Alpha 3 in 2 weeks at maximum.
New ships are so nice...


Bye,
Petr

[Michael Hartlef]

Looking forward to it :)

[kryton9]

Thanks Petr, glad the new ships are working out OK.

What else do you need from us in the meantime? Since you are testing it and developing it you might say, oh this would be neat if we had it etc. Let us know.

[Petr Schreiber]

Hi,

#1 is to cleanup the source. But thats my job :)

But if you have time, it would be nice to:

Have some nice but unique BMP font for text
Think of how lives/score will be displayed
Model ultra low poly shots ( will be transparent in engine), as flat 2D shots look silly now :)


I am also thinking of making ship files like INI file ( sections [Engine], [Gun*], ...), instead of current weird fileformat.


Thanks,
Petr

[kryton9]

Petr, the way bmp fonts are handled don't seem standard to other systems. I understand how your way makes sense, but I went through some tutorials and they are different. I did clean up the existing bmp font as I noticed artifacts on some characters, I don't know if you noticed the new ones don't have any.

I will work on some as the format is now.

I didn't understand about the low poly comment? Can you clarify?

The ini files work really well. I am all for using that everywhere!!

[kryton9]

Guys I found this great free font site tonight.
http://www.thealmightyguru.com/Games/Fonts/Fonts-AE.html

I decided to work on a program to make bmp fonts from true type fonts.
But thought I would wait to see if you guys thought we need that? tbgl has a font command to convert true type font to bitmap.
Can we use that to export out to a bmp, or just simple print out to a 2d screen and then do a bmp save as tbgl has?

The only thing wrong with Petr's existing font code is, he uses the whole 0-255 character set. In a 256x256 texture, this means each letter gets 16x16
pixels. By going with less characters as other game font programs do, we can do 64 characters at 32 x32 and hence get a nicer look to the fonts on the screen.


I will wait till you guys comment on all of this.

[Michael Hartlef]

Nice font site. Bookmarked it right away. Of course a Fontmaker prog is allways welcome. If you could ad effects like outline, then it would be really cool.

[Petr Schreiber]

Hi,

thanks for your replies :)

kryton, I use one free czech program to generate fonts for me. I know you don't want to learn Czech language right now ;D, but interface is very easy.

Get program here: http://nehe.ceske-hry.cz/download/programy/texture_font_creator.rar

[-F-] icon allows to select font
[-S-] to cast basic shadow
[-+-] ( grid icon ) adds grid

To save result, just use menu "Soubor/Uložit jako"

Reasons why I use full 256 characters are multiple, but you can for example use some characters as tiles for GUI...

I have planned to create similar program during summer holidays, as it is very important tool for TBGL. PowerBASIC has some nice functions to make my work easy. And I am writing outlines on wishlist :)

The site you posted link to is great, I need to explore it deeper !

Regarding low poly shots ... its just about modeling the shot in 2D using as low number of polys as possible to look good. Just something like ellipsoid with "flamy" tail or something similar. Regarding texture I am not sure if to use fixed one, or let it be "animated" using environmental mapping.


Thank you,
Petr

[kryton9]

Petr, first thanks for the link and explanation of how to use it. I will give it a shot.

Since you have other plans for the bmp fonts besides just being used as fonts, I understand why now you went the way you did and not follow the other standards I have seen.

I think we are on 2 hills and you are shouting in one direction and I am on the other hill facing the other direction. I still don't understand about the low poly you need?

The ships are all pretty low poly as are the space stations, except for maybe the one, but it still was not too bad. Do you want me to render them in high quality as I can in Blender and then make them like sprites?

[Petr Schreiber]

Hi Kent,

I'm sorry I speak weird :-[

Current TopDown - shots are just sprites.

Future TopDown Instant - shots to be polygonal objects to not look so flat.

So I don't want anything to change on ships or on stations just new shots ( = lasers / bullets / projectiles - thats what ship shoots ).

I hope it is clear now :-[


Thanks and sorry,
Petr

[kryton9]

He he he that is funny. Actually you wrote it well, I just took shots meaning another way (like shots in a movie or scene, the overall look) and you meant it as actual weapon shots :)

Oh that will be fun to work on today. Thanks.

I love that font making program. I am ready to move the czech republic now, I know the language. Well enough to use that great app :)

Here are some common but easy to read fonts that look like military could use too that I just made with tfc.

[Petr Schreiber]

;D

thanks a lot kryton, good you know the language now like that :D
I must go offline now, but see you tommorow !


Thanks,
Petr

[kryton9]

Petr, I tried doing a low poly model and exporting it, it worked, but the material is assigned to the model and if you make a display list, the material doesn't change.
That is what I tried first.

So then I just used a tbgl sphere and made small bmps for it.

Let me know if this is what you were thinking?

This is just a test program.

c changes the colors, just 3 for now
spacebar changes the shape
esc to exit.

At that scale I think all 3d will look 2 d? You can tweak the program or write a new one maybe to show if you were thinking something different.

[Petr Schreiber]

Hi kryton,

I think this is good, textures are nice.
I can always reduce LOD for spheres, so when in trouble with speed this can be arranged realtime.

Thanks a lot, I think this is enough for now,
Petr

[kryton9]

I can add many more colors if there are any you would like or maybe more contrast, let me know.

[Petr Schreiber]

Hi guys,

I will not be on the net till Sunday ( tommorow I am out already ) :( but I hope good message is that topDown [instant] Alpha 3 will be released next week.

Alpha 3 will contain few changes, not all critically important but I think there are details which can improve feeling from final game. Download should be smaller than till now.

My next plan is to release Alpha 4 which will run on the almost final engine config ( 100% arranged ship and level formats ).


Bye,
Petr

[ErosOlmi]

Thanks for the update Petr.

[Michael Hartlef]

Thanks for the news.

[kryton9]

Thanks Petr, will be neat to see what you have come up with to inspired us!!