FreeBuild Progress
by Thomas -elfprince13- Dickerson · 01/26/2012 (3:17 pm) · 9 comments
I've been hard at work adding a new file format to the T3D game engine, and I'm finally approaching a sense of things coming together. A fellow Internet denizen who's been modding classic TGE almost as long as I have (and who's newly licensed with T3D) kindly donated some time for character animations, and I made this video demonstrating some of the progress that's been made recently. I'd recommend watching it with annotations on, or it won't make much sense.
An image showing a slightly sexified version of the PlayerPreview gui on the main menu is here:
Comments and suggestions are welcome. The next steps will be getting the bricks to display correctly (coloring and fixing a few graphical glitches), and displaying a lot of them using some clever geometry instancing (to which this file format is very conducive). Then I'll probably work on the building mechanics, and then some in game skeletal animations tools for mech-construction and non-minifig player models (Technic models anyone?) and vehicle/player-attribute configuration GUIs. Train engine mechanics will probably go here as well.
I've also been working hard at porting over features and scripts from my old TGE based version of the game including the login/custom server query code, the script-modding interface, and the ability to name, save, and load multiple keybinding configurations for different computers/game modes.
An image showing a slightly sexified version of the PlayerPreview gui on the main menu is here:
Comments and suggestions are welcome. The next steps will be getting the bricks to display correctly (coloring and fixing a few graphical glitches), and displaying a lot of them using some clever geometry instancing (to which this file format is very conducive). Then I'll probably work on the building mechanics, and then some in game skeletal animations tools for mech-construction and non-minifig player models (Technic models anyone?) and vehicle/player-attribute configuration GUIs. Train engine mechanics will probably go here as well.
I've also been working hard at porting over features and scripts from my old TGE based version of the game including the login/custom server query code, the script-modding interface, and the ability to name, save, and load multiple keybinding configurations for different computers/game modes.
About the author
C.S. PhD student at Brown University. Project lead for FreeBuild. Administrator, Cemetech tech community. Webmaster for the Village2Village Projects and the Vermont Sustainable Heating Initiative.
#2
This is a cool concept and I look forward to you exploring this more!
BTW: I had to look up the term "strange attractor" so I did not sound too dumb using it in a math pun. However, it turns out this is really funny as it is related to fractal mathematics which is something that is used to generate randomized natural looking terrain! You learn something new every day!
01/27/2012 (2:09 am)
I have always had the feeling that TGE and T3D feels like Legos for game development. It has the nice stick the pieces together feel to it. Especially the shapebase mounting system. I am also looking forward to playing with the constructing of shapes in memory. That idea that you can define a shape based upon game mechanics and mount to a player or even replace the entire player is a cool concept. I am probably attracted to the concept because for some reason I am attracted to procedural art and components. There is something beautiful about building a nice random terrain, or an object that is affected by its surroundings and gets "tweaked" in memory. Maybe it is a strange attractor to mathematical simplicity. ;)This is a cool concept and I look forward to you exploring this more!
BTW: I had to look up the term "strange attractor" so I did not sound too dumb using it in a math pun. However, it turns out this is really funny as it is related to fractal mathematics which is something that is used to generate randomized natural looking terrain! You learn something new every day!
#3
Frank: fractal terrain is very very cool :)
01/27/2012 (8:53 am)
Joe: Lego has actually worked with the LDraw organization to ensure interoperability between the ldraw suite of tools and Lego Digital Designer. FreeBuild is LDraw based, so as long as LDD remains interoperable, it should be fine to use Lego in reference to LDD compatibility. Frank: fractal terrain is very very cool :)
#4
01/27/2012 (12:24 pm)
Nice! Looks like fun. We've been watching Roblox a lot lately...and don't forget Blockland. I think building games are on the rise.
#5
Probably my earliest Torque project (made with some friends):
01/27/2012 (12:38 pm)
The Blockland modding community is what got me interested in Torque in the first place =)Probably my earliest Torque project (made with some friends):
#6
01/27/2012 (1:46 pm)
@Thomas: Thanks for enlightening me. =)
#7
01/27/2012 (7:30 pm)
Joe, thanks for taking an interest. I know Lego can be sticky about these things, but I have to think using their name in conjunction with files that they created is fine :) http://www.ldraw.org/Article504.html
#8
That second video is epic! Really cool and the music is awesome! Did you guys make the music?
01/29/2012 (1:49 pm)
@thomas,That second video is epic! Really cool and the music is awesome! Did you guys make the music?
#9
01/29/2012 (3:25 pm)
Thanks Frank! I just wrote the AI logic, with several different modes (teams, FFA, and body-guards), and my friend (the same who is helping with the animations on my latest project) made the video. The music is a techno remix of "Duel of the Fates" from a Phantom Menace, not sure where it originated. 
Torque Owner Joe Melton
Fails At Making Games