Total Annihilation Zero

[FLOZi]

Undiscovered terrain is currently difficult, and I see no need for it. But speak of the devil, Kloot made some recent changes (extratextures can be updated with a callin) this last week that make pretty fog of war possible. Using it nicely is on my TODO list for BA:R this week.

Yes, but there isn't even a way to get the LOS-map from the engine. If you find a way, then pray tell us. Only way I can think of is to probe each map position and see if that is in LOS. But that must be expensive to do in real time.

But painting the FOW is not the real challenge, imo the best option is to just make stuff in black and white. But if you want it to be useful, things must respect the FOW. That means changing how stuff like nukes and other projectiles, and also lights work. And some more stuff. And also make it work on minimap.

I think most agree that unmapped stuff isn't needed.

You don't know what you're talking about.

[TaShadan]

No offense... but this thread is not about FoW.

[Beherith]

tashadan, spring supports vanilla 3do models and cob/bos with only minor modifications. i do like the unit design in taz though, very clean and consistent. you are doing a great job despite the limits of the old engine!

[smoth]

you would need to do some adjustments to your textures when you convert them as well. Teamcolor is done with the specific color of: ||||||

[PicassoCT]

Such a beautifull red

[Jools]

No offense... but this thread is not about FoW.

No, it's not, but imho the fow is connected to the camera mode. It's a lot harder to do fow in 3d than in 2d.

Other than that, spring engine supports lua which makes it possible to customise many things. I like this fact, but it also brings some compromises and one is the fow thing. But apparently some other people consider themselves bigger authorities in this field.

[Forboding Angel]

I asked him and he thinks its too much effort to retexture all the models and rewrite the scripts.

He wouldn't need to. Spring will read 3do models and textures.

You can write a gadget limiting the camera and "pesto" (magician with a harelip), you have your game in spring.

Of course, there is the issue of stolen IP...


*****

What did you expect when you posted a game using another engine in the forums for a different engine?

Nice work btw!

[knorke]

Retro Overload!!

http://springrts.com/phpbb/viewtopic.ph ... 72#p549306
+
http://springrts.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=31097

[TaShadan]

Well i guess that would be too retro for TA Zero :p.
BTW if someone wants to convert TA Zero to SpringEngine (Voh wont do it) i could ask him for permission and provide the needed data.

[CopyyyCattt]

This seems like something i could get into.
I am very tired of the overbearing approach to the connection between lua scripts keyshortcuts and gameplay in the TA clones running on spring.
I would happily play a carefully designed TA like game that does not require me to download and sort through scripts and hidden over powered command key shortcuts that are not flushed out, thus being only accessible to long timers.
In projects that do solve some of these problems, like zero-k, I find the departure from the TA gameplay framework to be off-putting.

I want a ready to go TA like game either with key shortcuts that are flushed out properly or none at all.
I dont want to mess around with script and i want as least hard counters as possible while having a diverse unit and map selection.

to the OP:
1) to what extent do you use the possible characteristics units can have?
for example are some units very heavy and slow while others flimsy and fast?Are some only useable if repaired but still viable?
does the unit balance and map variety allow for a lot of extremes in terms of unit properties?

this might sound overly particular for someone who has not played your game but i have played spring TA clones for years and i know what i like.
What sounds a bit worrisome is that you write that every unit has a "specific role".
I do not personally like hard counters and consider TA to be the antithesis to the blizzard "armor types" and unit specific, player triggered, abilities.

[TaShadan]

I guess you could compare it to broodwar (iam a former broodwar player with over 10 years of experience on high foreigner level). Some units have hard counters but most of them are softcounter and the use of terrain and micro is very important. But you should try it yourself. With proper micro you can shoot down anti air aircrafts with a bomber if the opponent is not microing himself (for example CORE Aurora vs GoK Spectre).

[CopyyyCattt]

What about unit control?
I cant imagine playing with and microing TA units without something like custom formations or at least a line move command.

[TaShadan]

I dont fully understand what you mean,but i guess you mean unit response? Heavy units have a slower response than smaller/light units. You can dodge enemy fire with fast/light units but will have a hard time with heavy units, but its still possible depending on the kind of enemy weapon. The pathing in general is improved, atleast compared to OTA. If you have TA you should atleast give it a try or watch some replays. In addition i could try to record some gameplay next week and upload them on youtube.

[CopyyyCattt]

No.
In Spring most or all games use a script called custom formations.
Here is a video showing some of it's capabilities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRNxdbEx6v8

The bare minimum needs to allow a player to take X units and give them a movement order that lines them up towards a specified direction that the player chose.

[TaShadan]

Interesting feature, but that is not possible in TA. You have to place them yourself if you want a concave or something else. But they will more or less end at the destination in a similar positioning after issuing a move order.

[smoth]

It is a "widget" meaning unless you black list it via code in your port, people will use it all the same.

so in spring you have to chose to allow the community to possibly advance your game or end up having to personally vet each and every widget that possibly could work.

I don't know still what you are doing/want so I cannot tell you one way or another. However, you will never have a 1:1 of ta in spring because the things like pathing etc work differently.

[CopyyyCattt]

I feel like not having something similar is like going back to the stone age of the RTS genre.
It's a sad fact that unit control has advanced little in the past 10 years in mainstream games.

[smoth]

well, if it is his desire/the desire of the person he is asking on behalf of that is such.

I agree with you but it is not my project.

[TaShadan]

This is a mod for TA not for Spring. So its limited by the TA engine.
With the TA engine you have to place your units in a concave (or whatever formation you want them to be) first and hold shift + move command. The units will try to be in the formation you put them before and will end at exactly the same postion when the move order is done (except there is an obstacle). It might be not as advanced as the widget you showed in the video but you can still play with formations. Just needs a little bit more APM.

[smoth]

so you are not looking at porting this to spring? That clears a lot of confusion.