Pimpage: Tank Universal
Community Forums/Showcase/Pimpage: Tank Universal
| ||
| Hey ho, another weekend and time for a little more pimpage. Have added a second level to the demo while I get the funds together for an upgrade, and the screens are from this level. The demo is on the way but it might yet be another month or so. Don't want to release crippled.     |
| ||
| Really looking forward to it. Looks great as always. |
| ||
| I have a question about the controls. Does it have gun turrets that rotate independently of the tank's base? Do you use keys for movement of the tank and mouse for aiming and shooting, like in a typical FPS? It would be funny to be able to drive in a given direction and in the meanwhile rotate the turret left and right to shoot at enemies. Looking at the pictures (including the radar and the way it displays tank heading and field-of-view) this seems to be the case! It looks great, I also like the slopes in the terrain, they stand out because of the grid-graphics. |
| ||
| Foppy Yep, non-frustrating/confusing control in a game is paramount. In TU the turret is independant of the tankbase - so the turret won't turn if the tankbase does. And keys control the left/right/forwards/back motion of the tankbase while the mouse controls rotation of the turret and (with the rmb held down) pitch of the gun. This works pretty well. I haven't set it up on these screens, but the radar will show the location of walls/pits so it'll be possible to drive with one eye on the radar while the turret's pointed elsewhere. I want to make the controls as easy to pick up as possible and avoid the player using the direction of the tank to aim the gun. |
| ||
| I can't wait to see the demo : when will it be available ? |
| ||
| Looks awesome :) |
| ||
| Wow... Everytime you show off new screens, I keep expecting to see Bruce Boxleitner somewhere... I really get that 'TRON' feeling... |
| ||
| double post. |
| ||
| Tron tanks - cool! I always thought a tank or light cycle game would be cool - but do you think you'll get any copyright problems? Because clearly this is looking like a game to be published by Idigicon/Binary People or shareware. Oh, and will it be able to run in high res (1280 X 1024 for eg)? To really give that sharpness the film had (pre-rendered then of course). |
| ||
| >Tron tanks - cool! I always thought a tank or light cycle >game would be cool - but do you think you'll get any >copyright problems? The tanks doesn't actually look like the 'tanks' from TRON, and the environment is also different, so I don't see how that could be a problem. Pictures and everything TRON related: http://www.tron-sector.com >Because clearly this is looking like a game to be >published by Idigicon/Binary People or shareware. And I will most likely be buying the first copy :) |
| ||
| Buying - only if it runs at 1280 X 1024 ;-) "The tanks doesn't actually look like the 'tanks' from TRON, and the environment is also different, so I don't see how that could be a problem." Yes neon glowing tanks on a large grid with abstract backgrounds - nothing like tron at all - and a Tron 2 game about to be released - no problem at all. Let's hope not eh? |
| ||
| Andy/Steve My thinking on the (Tron-copyright) issue is that; Tron hasn't a copyright on the idea of a virtual world inside the computer. It's not unreasonable to use a grid pattern for the game area and TU's models/level graphics are original - if I'd used a recogniser/Tron tank/lightcycle I'd be in trouble. I've also been doing some background 'world' design that heads off in a different direction to the film, and which should help further highlight the differences. One of the main reasons I went for the abstract look is so I could have max flexibility in design and 'focus' the player's attention through the contrast of bright colour/light/movement vs subdued/blue/grey/mysterious backdrops. I also want a sense of scale and to achieve this, I needed to simplify the graphics considerably, further 'bending' them towards a Tron look. I understand much of the original Tron look was borne out of the tech limitations of the times. (incidentally I began this game before I knew about the new Tron game) The characters and story will be not be based on Tron (my main character is actually going to be a 65 year old male) and although he'll be 'in the computer;, it won't be through having been 'zapped' in. The gameplay/control is original (or at least closer to UT than anything). Won't involve discs, lightcycles, recognisers, gamegrids. Other games often include a level with a Tron look, or much more explicit ref's- I think one of Rob's games has just such a level. Finally, if a publisher did think it a problem, I suspect I could simply replace the grid pattern and it'd be much less Tron like for most people. Thing is though the grid pattern gives a very strong, direct visual impression of depth, scale and perspective... Steve 'Buying - only if it runs at 1280 X 1024 ;-) ' I expect so - I have noticed some resolutions are at different ratios (to say, 800x600) and that screws up my interface, so may need to block those from use. I have also implemented 'extended fx' - this involves vertex lighting of the tanks and blended light circles on the landscapes (including a sort of quick and dirty shadow casting). Looks very tasty, also slows my machine (p3 600mhz) to a crawl - so would need something better for those (although my vid card is a big part of the problem here). Finally, just a big 'thank you' to Mark for putting this sort of coding back within reach of the hobbyist again. |
| ||
| Tron style? I wouldn't worry about it. I'm sure you'll be fine. Use the cameraviewport command to make sure that your screen always retains the correct ratio... CameraViewport cam,0,(graphicsheight()-(graphicswidth()*.75))/2,graphicswidth(), graphicswidth()*.75 |
| ||
| >Yes neon glowing tanks on a large grid with abstract >backgrounds - nothing like tron at all I just went through my collection of computergames and found several that fit that description. >MadJack< I have been waiting for this game since I saw the first pics, and if you ever need a betatester with my PC specs, then don't hesitate to contact me. Celeron 1400MHz,512MB RAM, Geforce256DDR, Windows ME. Andy |
| ||
| Well like I said I hope it won't be a problem - and a few people seem to think it'll be OK. "and if you ever need a betatester with my PC specs, then don't hesitate to contact me." Same here. Pentium 4 1700Mhz, 256Mb RAM, Geforce 4 4600 TI, Windows XP ps I love the abstract/grid look with these type of games. |
| ||
| Love the look - I wouldn't worry about Tron copyrights. And yes, add me to the possible beta testers - I'd love to have a go at it. :) Athlon 1000 128MB, Windows XP, GeForce2 |
   |