Omni C# Engine Update, Added Template for Dedicated Full FPS

#1 What's with this XML in the scripts? Also, I'm interested at the reasoning for having a separate server template. If you need to create a client that connects to the server, why not have them in the same codebase? Yes, I know what a dedicated server is for, and yes you should distribute the server and client separately if that's your plan. But why have two separate projects for the one game?

Also, in the PDF manual, 'foreward' should be 'foreword'

#2 @Dan,

Fixed the spelling mistake :)

Hmm, why I created the dedicated server...

Well, the scripts can get pretty tangled between the client and the server. In this template I untangled the code so that it only shows what is necessary to run a dedicated server.

Something that I didn't know was that even in dedicated mode you need to create a canvas object (of null type). Well that code was actually in the client code.

Also, for our game we need a build w/out the client code and I will be releasing a dedicated client soon. So in this case the code will be mutually exclusive.

It all boils down to the fact that our goal is to start cranking out templates that give people options and plenty of code samples. The biggest difference between successful engines and not so successful engines seems to be all in the documentation and code samples.

Vince

#3 Fair enough, it's a good code sample to have! That was my goal behind t3d-bones so I get where you're coming from.

#4 First Person Template - No networking, no third person, no game related stuff, just the minimal required code to have a working first person camera/character with recticle. Run, jump, crouch, etc.

Third Person Template - Same as above, just third person.

I know you're thinking, whats the point in these two templates if we have the fully featured FPS sample? It's too bloated. It's a lot of stuff to trim away to start making a game if you aren't planning on doing a multiplayer FPS. This is an opportunity to show users a good place to start from if you wanted to make a non-shooter first person or third person game. You've given them two extremes, a fully featured one and a bare-bones (but not TOO bare bones as to say 'make it all yourself')

Racing Template - No networking, just a working vehicle as the control character, no soldier or any extra crap. Maybe a few minor camera controls, and a dead simple little track to go around. Not large, not involved, just a simple little track.

Flying Template - You know the theme, minimal as possible. Spawn a plane in the air (no landings) and let the user fly it around.

Side-Scroller Template - Take third person template and adapt camera code to make it function as a side-scroller. I did this in T3D at one point and it was ~2 hours of work to get it working correctly.

Those are the ones off the top of my head. This is enough variety that the majority of new users looking for a place to start will see a similarity between one of their templates and their goals and deem it a good place to start.

#5 Does anyone have an example of the side scroller template handy?

#6 I used threads like these:

www.garagegames.com/community/forums/viewthread/119069
www.garagegames.com/community/forums/viewthread/126969

And kind of pieced together a working version. The biggest issue I had was with the sound of the gun shots being left behind at the spawn point. It was a weird issue but I resolved it here:

www.garagegames.com/community/forums/viewthread/138313

Between those it shouldn't take too long to piece together a sidescroller template. Would be nice if you could either a) replace the soldier character with something more lightweight or b) put the soldier files in a common spot shared among the templates. I always found it really annoying having to generate all the cache files for the soldier every time I load up a new copy of the template.

#7 @Daniel, the XML is for the live script compiling, it's explained in the manual. Something about telling the engine what scripts to compile and load into memory.

#8 Just curious is verve going to be added?

#9 Its been translated and prepared from what I understand. We haven't added it because its not been tested.

#10 Hey Vince (or whoever the webmaster is) - just wanted to let you know the link to Walkabout on your features page is incorrect. You should probably link to the github repo. Also that capital A is just wrong ;P.

#11 I would like to see a MMO and RPG template. Not sure if one is already included. We will be using 3rd person cameras in a MMO context.

I am excited to start using OMNI.

Mike