Hurray! Another multiplayer clone project. :)

[CrypticNekoFTW]

Well i could work on this mod, for art, but I do suck at music or sounds, Ive got a condenser mic so we can test some stuff?

Just a sum quick pictures of my crappy "art"

I sliced this ship, it took me like an hour or two


This ship is called "D-14" I made this one from scratch but theres still a lot of things to work on:


SOoo yeaaaah! Beh....

[kcd.Spektor]

I could (and would ) help you with code but I am really bad at music and art.

About me: I have used Java professionally in the last five years and also tried libGDX for a small desktop game about two years ago. My last "project" using libGDX was a small android app / game for an open source browser game called Dark Destiny at the end of 2014.

Hi.
Thanks for your help offer!
Problem is that I've been working on this project for over 2 years now, and the code was written without thoughts of several people working on it.
Meaning it will take another year to either explain it to someone else, or to rewrite it to be multi developer friendly.
Also the code is shit in most places.

Nevertheless, there is still a way you can help.
In the (not far) future I will be adding mobs and npcs.
This means AI
You could work on that.

For example here's what I need:
Simple AI code for just moving around the map(pathfinding).
The level that the mob is moving around is a double array of integers
0 is a passable cell, 1 is a wall.
You can create an entity that navigates through the level, finding shortest paths from 1 cell to another.
Just put the pathfinding method in to a helper class and I will be able to use it.

[kcd.Spektor]

Well i could work on this mod, for art, but I do suck at music or sounds, Ive got a condenser mic so we can test some stuff?

Hi, And welcome!
I have no Idea of what can be done using a condenser mic.
So that already makes you more proficient in sounds and music than me
Can you give an example?

Just a sum quick pictures of my crappy "art"

I sliced this ship, it took me like an hour or two

This looks good.
Only thing I would suggest to improve - are those sharp corners.
I've noticed that all(or most) of the ships in FTL don't have any sharp corners - they are smoothely rounded.
If you could roud those too - I think it would look just right.

This ship is called "D-14" I made this one from scratch but theres still a lot of things to work on:

This is great!
Needs some engines I think.
Would sure like to see the end result.
(Just keep in mind the sharp corners)

[kcd.Spektor]

Restructured the todo list.
Check the second post in thread.

There's now Alpha ETA.

[kcd.Spektor]

Latest update:

1. Finished refactoring the ship editor
It is accesible from the main menu


It looks like this:


Once the aplha is out I will make a ship editor guide.

2. The game is now modabble!
I will make full modding guide once alpha is here.
But here's a quick overview of what is modabble:
1) Ships
You can take a ship image, use it in the ship editor to create a ship model layout.
Then you just place the image in the client data folder, and the model file in the server data folder.
And now you can play with your new ship.

2) Systems
You can create your own versions of systems for all available system types.
For example you can create a new Laser cannon that shoots 7 projectiles, and requires minimum energy to charge, but has very high miss chance.
You just create a text file with specified parameters and put it in to the server data folder.
For weapon systems you also will need to have an image file that you will need to put in to the client's data folder.
NOTE: You can NOT create new system TYPES.
Here's a full list of system types as it is right now(might change in the future):
SHOP, CAPACITOR, REACTOR, ENGINES, HYPERDRIVE, PILOTING(BRIDGE), SHIELDS, MEDICAL, DOOR_CONTROL, DRONE_CONTROL,
LASER_DEFENSE, PLASMA_WEAPONS, MISSILE_WEAPONS, SHIPYARD, SENSORS, WEAPONS_CONTROL, OXYGEN.
These aren't in the list yet but most probably they will be: CLOAKING, TELEPORTATION, BEAM_WEAPONS

3) Projectiles
For example you can create your own missile or plasma ball and make a new plasma cannon that will be shooting those balls.
Projectiles are the hardest(compared to others) to create.
You will need to provide a text model file for the server, an image for the client, and also a text file for the client with animation parameters.

4) SFX
Remember that plasma cannon that we created?
That shoots those new plasma balls we created?
Well you can make an exclusive explosion for that plasma ball
For that you need to provide an image and animation parameters file for the client.
Nothing for the server.

5) Custom server parameters:
Ammount of level types
Starting level type
X and Y of the starting sector in the universe
X and Y of spawn position in the starting sector
The size of the universe
The size of the sector map
Time in seconds spent in hyperspace per 1 traveled sector
Raw % of stars in universe during generation
Default oxygen consumption speed
Additional miss chance when ship has no weapons control system or it's broken

6) Level BG images and star map icons(stars)

What can NOT be modded:
RACES, SHIP CLASSES(basicly just a text line used for ship sorting),

Although It might be possible that later I will make RACES also moddable.
It mostly depends on how I will implement quests and universe generation.
And I haven't really thought about it much yet.


3. Made lots of tweaks and changes.

4. And as usual - fiexd a bunch of bugs.

[jrb00001]

Hi.
Thanks for your help offer!
Problem is that I've been working on this project for over 2 years now, and the code was written without thoughts of several people working on it.
Meaning it will take another year to either explain it to someone else, or to rewrite it to be multi developer friendly.
Also the code is shit in most places.

It can not be worse than Dark Destiny. For example the space battle system: A very complicated algorithm (because of performance), ugly, no comments and even at least three different versions (loaded using reflection)! And if you have been working on it alone for two years it should not be that big (at least two developers for at least ten years). I can not get to know everything in a week but I do not see a problem if you give me a task where I do not have to know everything.

Nevertheless, there is still a way you can help.
In the (not far) future I will be adding mobs and npcs.
This means AI
You could work on that.

AI can be a very difficult task if you want more than an AI moving characters around. Think about an AI for all the small fleets and also an AI who has to fight a war against another instance of itself. And it is not only federation against rebels, it is also humans against mantis for example.

For example here's what I need:
Simple AI code for just moving around the map(pathfinding).
The level that the mob is moving around is a double array of integers
0 is a passable cell, 1 is a wall.
You can create an entity that navigates through the level, finding shortest paths from 1 cell to another.
Just put the pathfinding method in to a helper class and I will be able to use it.

Pathfinding sounds like a really easy task. I will do that later today. But I have a question: Why an array of integers? Wouldn't it be better to use an array of booleans if you only store 1 and 0? Or an array of objects (for example enums) if you want to store more than just wall / not wall?

[kcd.Spektor]

... if you give me a task where I do not have to know everything.

Exactly the problem - to make any changes you need to be aware of the whole thing.

AI can be a very difficult task if you want more than an AI moving characters around.
Think about an AI for all the small fleets and also an AI who has to fight a war against another instance of itself. And it is not only federation against rebels, it is also humans against mantis for example.

We should start with something small, like a mob that just moves around, that knows how to get from one point to another.
That's why first thing is pathfinding.
Later that AI can be improved for NPC combat(boarding).

But I have a question: Why an array of integers? Wouldn't it be better to use an array of booleans if you only store 1 and 0? Or an array of objects (for example enums) if you want to store more than just wall / not wall?

The actual map is not an array of integers, but an array of GameLevelCell class, which has booleans: leftWall, rightWall, topWall, bottomWall, leftDoor, rightDoor, topDoor, bottomDoor, and a lot more things.
I just gave you an example. If you could write a helper class that has all the pathfinding logic, then it would be not too hard for me to modify it to work with my actual environment.


Also you can help me if you can give me any ideas on how to implement moddable Quests with multiplayer.

[kcd.Spektor]

Enyone has any ideas on how the game should start?
Same as in FTL - you start from selecting a premade ship?
or You start on a space station with some cash and can go either buy a ship or join someone as crew member?
Any other suggestions?

Also any quest ideas are welcome.

[kcd.Spektor]

I've tried out how the new version of the ship editor works, and just thought I share the result.
Think it looks quite nice.
Although it did take some time to resize the ship image to fit right.

[personman61]

Enyone has any ideas on how the game should start?
Same as in FTL - you start from selecting a premade ship?
or You start on a space station with some cash and can go either buy a ship or join someone as crew member?
Any other suggestions?

Also any quest ideas are welcome.

Premade ships will help with balancing the game, but custom ships will fell special to each player and play through. Also think about which one will take the least amount of time and cause the least amount of bugs.