Discuss Carps game here

[Malmer]

Glad you like them.<br><br>The units in the screenshots are just test units. We haven't built the real ones yet. But the screenshots do give away some of the cool stuff of the map engine. Like notice how the shadow from the flying ship is shaped by the curves in the ground. We'll give away more features as the game development progresses. Oh, the game isn't just pixel goodness. Carpediems AI is getting better and better for each day. <br><br>...and we'll probably have a website soon.<br><br>// Fredrik<br>

[Moose or Chuck]

I like being in the loop... err something. NM!<br>*whistle* *whistle*

[Matt Keys]

Hey Carp, when you are ready for the website portion of your game contact us. Matt@PocketMatrix.com or Chris@PocketMatrix.com.

[alex]

well the only thing that voxel will bring to your game is inacuracy and chopiness <br>i advise you to think twice about that option..<br>

[CARPEDIEM]

Alex:<br>Choppiness?<br>didn't you see the framerate on the screenshot?, it's working very good and accuracy is not a problem so don't worry.<br>:)<br>

[Jaybot]

obviously a well-informed, veteran opinion.~<br>I believe Nova Logic would disagree.

[Jaybot]

i was referring to the other guy, not you carpe. <br>

[randall]

Alex may be referring to the Chopper Alley voxel engine. I don't know how it runs on ARM, but Mips was a big disappointment. But not all voxel engines run that choppy.<br><br>I have alot more faith in the Argentum voxel engine, especially since it doesn't have to worry about view distance.

[Robotbeat]

Holy Cow. That is totally sweet!<br><br>That is like Command and Conquer 2 for Pocket PC! I guess Pocket PC games skipped the pseudo-3d look of StarCraft and going straight into the newest technology! <br><br>Hmmm... I just downloaded the Nova Logic DF:LW demo last night... And I recognized it uses voxels because the first experiences I've had with voxels were on my Pocket PC .<br><br>Holy cow, I love these devices!!!<br><br>30-60 fps with voxels on an early version!!!

[Gods Gift]

Hiya Guys.  WOOOOOW !!! Looks like we're all in for a fun ride on the PPC !<br><br>Carpedium's gone from PQ Genius (mine's an E115 and, Carp, I'm eternally grateful) to RTS Genius.<br><br>Now we know why he was so quiet.<br><br>Any idea when a beta will be ready ?

[Malmer]

A beta version...hmm...hard to tell. Some mayor things remain:<br><br>*** AI ***<br>First Carpediem has to finish the AI (which is looking very nice). Like right now the enemy units doesn't have a Master, but only individual AI. The code for the Master (or God as Carpediem calls it, even if I don't like it ) shouldn't be that much of a problem though.<br><br>Then there are all these minor things, details that has to be handled in the AI. Details always takes time <br><br>*** Gameplay ***<br><br>We don't have the code (interface wise) for building new units and the interface code isn't totally finished either (even if it has come a great way).<br><br>*** Graphics ***<br><br>The graphic-code of the game (which is my area) also needs work. The landscape you see is all fine and dandy, so I shouldn't need to work anything more on the voxel landscape. But, the unit gfx code needs a little more work. Like right now a unit is either flying on a fixed height or on the ground. I would like things like missiles to have an adjustable height above the ground, so that they can be fired from an air unit to a ground unit and have a shadow like the air units, but change in height gradually as it approaches its target.<br><br>Also, right now none of the units has any animation, and all the directions are each one image. I would like to build that into one class, and add animation to it. That will require some work too.<br><br>As for things like z-buffering and units moving over hills it is all finished. So if a unit goes behind a hill the z-buffer will make sure that the part of the unit that is behind the hill isn't seen.<br><br>Then we have the unit graphics (will be pre-rendered). We havn't built them yet. What you see in the shots are just test units. We will need nice looking units before releasing anything.<br><br>*** Graphical Special effects ***<br><br>We (me and carpediem) want our game to be nice looking, so we will have to have some special effect like nice explosions, lasers and stuff like that in the game. That will require coding of things like images with an alpha channel (for nice transparency effects) and preferabbly we would like to have some kind of effects layer where we define what effects are currently playing and at what frame and a couple of other properties. To make that run at good speed will require some work.<br><br>*** Other ***<br><br>Then we have all the other stuff such as game menus, sound effects, story, ingame dialogs and things like that. We might also )NO PROMISES AT ALL WHATSOEVER) create some kind of cutscene system.<br><br>Hope this satisfies your crave for information <br><br>Be well!<br><br>// Fredrik Malmer <br>of the "Argentum" team<br><br>PS. As for speed. The fps (frames per second) you see is from my Casio EM-500 (Not overclocked. Running at default 150 MHz). The reason why the fps is low on one of the images is because the mainbase is in view, and I think there are some things not fixed with it that are causing it. But that's Carpe's part so I won't comment too much on it. Anyways, the game generally stays above 50 fps, and usually stays around 60-70 fps. Oh, and if anyone has a spare iPAQ we will gladly recieve it so that we can test, and implement a little secret we have in mind... DS.<br><br><br>

[suchiaruzu]

Hi Carpediem,<br><br>will you compress the bitmaps somehow? They are pretty large!<br>And have you thaught 'bout using Terragen for the landscapes? I think I'll try to make my own map today. If it's good I'll send it over to you, okay?<br>Shape

[Malmer]

Eike Schwarz:<br><br>It seems you just missed something. The landscapes aren't a single bitmap anymore. They are voxels, built from a heightmap and a texturemap. And I promise you, noone needs to worry about compression. <br><br>So you don't need sending anything to carpediem. We'll give instructions on how to create your own maps (and MODS!!!) once the game is released.<br><br>// Fredrik<br>

[W3bD£v1l]

I thought that 'Battle 'Mech' was copyrighted by Fasa corporation or is it?<br>and if it uses voxel, why not just use a similar engine to C&C/Red Alert? and hey, i could get youse guys arested for useing copyrighted material for public performance without asking the origianl author/publisher (or did you?)<br><br>i just don't want to get into any legal situation if i get the game, ok?<br><br>Oh, nice game Fredrik, but i still think that 3 levels per zone is better as it would be less tedious if you kept on dying. and did you get that e-mail i sent you about Weeboo's mission on finding his lost arms?

[W3bD£v1l]

i meant using those Starcraft graphics which is illegal unless you contaced blizzard software