Mr. Project DX

[Kurinn]

If you had somehow managed to come across my posts in "More earth-based scenarios?" a couple of months ago or so, you may have seen my attempts at creating exactly that. (If you haven't, then go take a look at that thread to see some earlier screenshots and development.)

Well, it's been a while, and I've been working on and off with this, sometimes working a little more than I should, and at other times not touching it for at least a week or so.

Since I have now amassed at least one collection of textures, and have fooled around with styles enough to create a scratch-up of what I can do here, I am officially bringing this thing into the light as an official project.

As such, I present to you:

Mr. Project Deluxe, Super Edition with Additional Interactive Gameplay (Experimental)


This is intended to become a total conversion, with high-res textures, and entirely new aspects to gameplay.

Currently, there are about 28 new textures, including unfinished switch textures which are looking promising.

There are also a good two scoops-worth of 3d objects, including lighting fixtures, a terminal-like control panel thing, furniture, an interactive vending machine (works via Lua), and some seemingly-2d objects which are just flat 3d objects given texture (ie puddles, posters, decals, etc...)

I have constructed one ridiculous level which was used to test all of these items on the go, and it looks like a piece of crap, but I have learned a lot about what I want to do and how I will do it. I doubt I will release this level, but I will construct a reasonable demo, and release it when appropriate.

No demo, but I do have some limited and vague screenshots to show you from the aforementioned ridiculous level:

[attachment=2567:01.png]
[attachment=2568:02.png]
[attachment=2569:03.png]
[attachment=2570:04.png]

Now, you may note some overlays on these screenshots. All the while I have been fooling with textures, 3d stuff, and mapping, I have also been spending an ungodly amount of time teaching myself all about the wonders of Lua, and have made a crude and awful script to show off my results. You may be thinking "Oh man, not another poorly implemented RPG-esque shoot-em-up...", and your fears would be right, but only if I knew enough about Lua to implement that kind of abomination.

Yes, there are some RPG like features, but nothing worse than say, Deus Ex, or any of the games before it. Unless I am able to magically create a lot more items instead of just altering them with MML (and somehow create a navigable inventory with items to be used on demand), I won't be able to create a real RPG-esque conversion, and the overlays provided in Lua are not quite up to the task either. As it stands, the closest I will get would be to add a kind of slapdash Rogue-like inventory and interaction system to the game. (Not that such a thing all by itself isn't tempting...)

But, moreover, I have used the power of Lua to add another layer of interaction on to the original model of Marathon-style play, and allow for a host of actions to take place while the player is not holding a weapon. Similar to Visual Mode's use of the microphone key to switch modes, hitting the mic key now disarms the player, and engages the secondary action mode. In this mode, there are two status displays which indicate the current actions possible with either of the player's two hands (and possibly a third status overlay for the player's 21'st appendage, should we include a Hot Coffee mod...). In secondary action mode, you can hit the weapon switch keys to switch between modes, and then when you hit the microphone key again, you will have your weapon return to your hand again.

I also figured out how to make the vending machines vend a specific item (later I will try to figure out a way to make it work more like a real vending machine, giving a variety of choices at different prices...) in the right place, regardless of what direction it is facing. Trigonometry actually is useful kids, study hard!

I implemented a better use for extravision, namely by creating a fictional high-grade synthetic drug which will fuck the player up for some time.

I even went so far to include a scheme to award the player XP for killing various monsters, which isn't hard with Lua at all. If I could master the wonders of tables, it would all fall together perfectly and in less lines, but unfortunately I am still learning, and have not the skill with Lua which some developers in our community have.

Here is the complete experimental Lua file, zipped for her pleasure. You can use it as is, (I've included the shit() cheat in there so you can play around and see how things work), or just take it apart and remark upon how shitty it is. Many aspects are dependent on a bunch of MML I have made to support certain features, and I will iron out what goes where when I write a clean version to go with the demo map.

Lua File: [attachment=2571:kurinn01.lua.zip]

In any case, I really could use some help making this thing happen...Textures: I have been having fair success with this myself, but am not entirely confident in all aspects of my technique.3d Models: Not all the software or skill required is present within myself.Scripting: Well, figure that out for yourself after looking at the Lua script above.Mapping: It's slower than molasses in January.Sounds, Music, etc: I have no fucking clue what I am doing. Yay!Expect me to post more material in the coming days, including a preview of the textures, some more ideas/discussion on Lua scripting, and the complete unauthorized biography of a Potato Anus.

[Shadowbreaker]

I absolutely love the name, not even TGI: Beyond X: the Next Revolution with a Vengeance can match up to it.

I could help you with some textures if you like... though I probably wouldn't feel comfortable making anything larger than 1024x1024. I might also be useful for making some maps. I am gonna be busy until Thursday this week though...

[treellama]

Most impressive. How are you at creating bump maps?

For interactive inventory, how about this: make square photos of the various inventory items, and use the Lua texture palette to select them. You can say how many slots you want, set the collection and texture for each slot, and even highlight one slot.

Lua can spawn monsters, projectiles, scenery, items, and effects. What more do you need?

[Dauta]

Holy shit.

This is awesome! I remember the Japanese-themed map you made in the old thread. Are these from that same map?

[JohannesG]

you sir.. are a genius.
I will be keeping a close eye on this project of yours.

god luck and good speed.

[Kurinn]

I absolutely love the name, not even TGI: Beyond X: the Next Revolution with a Vengeance can match up to it.

I could help you with some textures if you like... though I probably wouldn't feel comfortable making anything larger than 1024x1024. I might also be useful for making some maps. I am gonna be busy until Thursday this week though...

Glad you like the name. I had figured on "Insert Reference for Eventual Coda Here", but decided against it at the last moment when I hit my head on the toilet after falling down whilst attempting to hang a clock in the bathroom.

I really would appreciate your help on the textures, it's taken me a good amount of time to get as far as I have and even now I am not entirely satisfied with everything. Having a second point of view in terms of style would also help to make things more realistic in terms of heterogeneity and such. I'll look forward to discussion on or around Thursday, and work on making the textures I have available to peruse and play with by then.

QUOTE(Dauta)Holy shit.

This is awesome! I remember the Japanese-themed map you made in the old thread. Are these from that same map?

I appreciate your positive assessment. This is not the same map, but is also Japanese-themed to some extent. I was thinking about altering it to make it suitable for network play, in which case it would be called 'Yakuza Summer Retreat', if that gives any hint to just how Japanese themed it is. I also have the shoji screen texture, and it looks good in .dds, too. Look forward to the demo!



QUOTE(Johannes Gunnar)you sir.. are a genius.
I will be keeping a close eye on this project of yours.

god luck and good speed.[/quote]

Thanks! Good god, and speedy luck to you too!

[effigy]

Excellent. One more thing to be excited about.

Thank you, sir!

[goran]

I really like your innovative spirit in regards to lua and map effects. It's inspiring. I'm looking forward to the demo.

[treellama]

I am having some trouble with getting terminals to open with Lua.

You've got the right idea. I'm guessing this is what's wrong:

find_target() uses the engine's collision detection system, so it won't find any scenery that isn't solid, since it's not part of that system. So, you need to make "pistol clip" solid, and give it a decent radius, in order for it to work.

Do you understand the difference between function arguments and function parameters? I'm guessing that's the reason you're still using "o" everywhere--and the lack of descriptive variable names will make your scripts difficult to read.

[Kurinn]

You've got the right idea. I'm guessing this is what's wrong:

find_target() uses the engine's collision detection system, so it won't find any scenery that isn't solid, since it's not part of that system. So, you need to make "pistol clip" solid, and give it a decent radius, in order for it to work.

Do you understand the difference between function arguments and function parameters? I'm guessing that's the reason you're still using "o" everywhere--and the lack of descriptive variable names will make your scripts difficult to read.

I already went through that with the MML when I added a 3d object to replace the pistol clip. Got the 'ping' sound, but nothing else.

As for the argument/parameter thing, thanks for pointing that out to me. This part of the script was essentially the first thing I wrote, and I was picking up on how it works from looking at other scripts. I'll go over it and see if I can't clean that up to achieve some results. Aside from the sloppy nature of my code, I am not sure what else is making this not work...

[Kurinn]

I really like your innovative spirit in regards to lua and map effects. It's inspiring. I'm looking forward to the demo.

Hey, it was your work that always inspired me in the first place. I am even thinking up ways to achieve a more realistic snow effect and shoehorn it into this project! Of course, it doesn't snow much in Kyoto, but whatever, it would look interesting. Shame there isn't some kind of particle rendering in the engine's 3d. Sure there are other ways to do it though, and even if it's just using your technique and then adding very carefully crafted maps and replacement textures...

[treellama]

I already went through that with the MML when I added a 3d object to replace the pistol clip. Got the 'ping' sound, but nothing else.

Oh, ok.

Re-reading, are you trying to match object indexes with terminal indexes? You can set the latter when you generate a terminal script, but you have no control over the former. So, I don't know how you would line those up.

[L'howon]

Judging by your incredible interest in this matter, I'm sure whatever you produce will be of superior quality.

On a slightly related note to lua terminals, Does anyone know the method Marathon: RED used to make different sprites terminals (I.e. When you tab Ian in game, and a terminal pops up). It seems somewhat related to your own problems Kurinn, but I'm fairly certain Lua wasn't prevalently in use with Aleph One at the inception of RED.

Ir-regardless, This is one of the neater and more refined projects I've seen around.
I still want vending machines that give me radioactive panties though. Gotta include that.

[goran]

I can answer the marathon:RED question. In case it might assist Kurinn.

Ian is using one of these techniques:

T1: Hiding terminals in the floor and ceiling. You raise a polygon floor and lower its ceiling. Texture the sides with terminals. Then you restore the floor and ceiling. This works wonderful, but has some limits in architecture, since the terminals are only accessable during certain height differences between the floor and ceiling.

T2: The terminal texture is a complete transparent texture that is attached to the sides of polygons.

I personally think LUA can go beyond these two techniques if it can trigger terminals out of events. E.g. you pick up a weapon,and a terminal is activated describing the weapon.

[Crater Creator]

Most impressive. How are you at creating bump maps?

I'm intrigued. Are you or Loren making progress on a Crystal Space renderer? Don't leave us in suspense .

[treellama]

Let's try and keep this thread about Mr. Project DX.

http://www.pfhorums.com/viewtopic.php?t=4458

[Kurinn]

Let's try and keep this thread about Mr. Project DX.

http://www.pfhorums.com/viewtopic.php?t=4458

Wow. If that ever gets mainstreamed, this is going to kick ass. However I do think I might wait to start making bump maps for all the textures until I have ALL of the textures I will need. Still, if it pulls off the ground, I think I might just be happier than a pig in excrement... gold-plated excrement.

Oh, and in other news...

I got bored this morning and scripted something for multiplayer games involving everyone having their heads surrounded by a perpetual cloud of smoke.

Code: Select all

Triggers = {}

function Triggers.init()

    for p in Players() do
        smoke_monster = Monsters.new(p.x, p.y, .8, p.polygon, "possessed drone")
        smoke_monster:damage(500)
    end

end


function Triggers.player_revived(player)

    smoke_monster = Monsters.new(player.x, player.y, .8, player.polygon, "possessed drone")
    smoke_monster:damage(500)

end


function Triggers.idle()
    
    for p in Players() do
        smoke_monster:position(p.x, p.y, p.z + .8, p.polygon)
    end

end

[attachment=2573:Picture_14.png]

I'm considering including this in the project, for the Amsterdam level, of course...

[Kurinn]

The demo of the demo is still in the workup, and I will post a texture preview later today.

I was thinking of a few concepts earlier, mostly centered around using projectiles.

If I included an invisible projectile moving as fast as possible...

What if we scripted for a 3-d object which looks like a lamp, and told it to spit out a bunch of invisible projectiles in "every" direction.
We figure the distance by recording the game ticks at which the projectiles hit, and dividing them by the speed of "light".
Then the distance figures with a constant given to the lamp (master brightness) to give each surface a good light setting.
Each side is averaged with it's neighbors so that nothing looks too abstract.

What if we told a weapon to spit out a constant stream of these projectiles, and then put a red dot object wherever they hit?

I guess what I am saying is, can we use projectiles as protons? Has anyone tried this yet?

[L'howon]

I believe that is somewhat similar to the mapping method Aleph One uses to draw the map you can pull up in-game.

It's an interesting thought, and has some potential, but I also must wonder if it would slow down the game too much? This is something more to Treellama's expertise though. Just some thoughts.

[treellama]

There's a limit to both the speed of projectiles, and the number you can have. Paintball weapons have been done, and could be done easier using Lua. But, a lamp? Are you crazy?

[Kurinn]

There's a limit to both the speed of projectiles, and the number you can have. Paintball weapons have been done, and could be done easier using Lua. But, a lamp? Are you crazy?

Sorry, I guess I wasn't very clear in putting across my crackpot ideas...

I'm not thinking of using projectiles as photons, or suggesting that they (the projectiles) should travel at the speed of light.

What I am saying is that having the lamp switch states would shoot out a bunch of these projectiles at once in multiple directions, but only at that time. Once.
We're not talking about using projectiles as a lighting medium, but as a way to emulate that behavior assuming certain conditions.

The whole "lamp" idea was just a notion I had for a tool that would take the guesswork out of lighting maps. Put in a specific scenery object in each place you want lit in such a manner, and the engine + script will take care of the rest, then you can fine-tune with Visual Mode lua or whatever you see fit to do.

As for the laser pointer idea, I forgot that find_target() will give me co-ordinates suitable for that anyway. Now, if I wanted to build a real laser?..

Need more coffee...

Oh, and for those who are interested, I have scraped together a playable demo for my vending machine. It spits out nasty nasty gumballs of doom. Sorry, no radioactive panties yet. In any case, it shows how it works, and is fun to play with. Feel free to mess with it, maybe make a better skin for the 3d object if you want to. I haven't gotten around to doing anything really high-res and final for it anyway. The lua script and mml is provided separately, as opposed to being merged into the map itself, for the very purpose of examination and experimentation, of course.

Vending Demo: [attachment=2574:RPVM.zip]

[ukimalefu]

I can see it, but the machine doesn't do anything. (The terminal does work)

[Kurinn]

I can see it, but the machine doesn't do anything. (The terminal does work)

Well, that sucks... I take it you've got the Lua file selected under your Environment prefs? Using latest version of A1? In that case I am not sure what to tell you other than "I fucking fail it".

Sorry about the un-aligned textures there too. I am ashamed of such shoddy workmanship... then again I did align everything without using enhanced textures, so that explains it away neatly. No frills, amigo.

Any ideas as to why this is not working? Anybody?

[goran]

Well, that sucks... I take it you've got the Lua file selected under your Environment prefs? Using latest version of A1? In that case I am not sure what to tell you other than "I fucking fail it".

Sorry about the un-aligned textures there too. I am ashamed of such shoddy workmanship... then again I did align everything without using enhanced textures, so that explains it away neatly. No frills, amigo.

Any ideas as to why this is not working? Anybody?

It works for me. I think ukimalefu forgot the select the script or place the mml script in the mml folder.

This vending machine is going to become a relic. LOL. good job!

[L'howon]

Yeah, I had that same problem. It seems my default folder A1 looks for scripts in deep in ~user/library/application support/
Perhaps that is Uki's problem also? If I remember right, this has been for every version of A1 by default.

If so Uki, just hit the up button until it gets back to your home directory, and you should see familiar folders/locations.

Anyways, very cool. I played with dodging the bouncing grenades until I got owned by the scantily clad ejaculations :C.