The Shining Source

Maybe I'll help develop a storyline...

Nah, I'm too absorbed in Project Candlelight.

Roger that Newts.

I haven't crossed the network bridge myself yet, although I'd really love to do so in the future.

I'm not sure how long I'll remain 'tied up' but I guess you guys could use something of an explanation. Point is that my dad will be hospitalized fairly soon, and probably for several months. I need to prepare for that, and since rather hefty times are ahead, I don't want to overload myself before all this happens either...

He knows about it himself more or less now, so I guess it's safe to post about it in public now...

I'm sorry to hear about that, Dev - I hope he'll be okay

It sounds like a collaborative effort on this is going to be necessary. I hereby offer my musical and graphical skills

OK, I'll see what I can do. As you have seen by my handsome foot example, I can make things in 3D

For a forty hour project, I think we'll use existing graphics, or make them as quick as possible. As nice as your foot is, we'd need a lot more than that to get this finished.

well, assuming it's going to be 3D, I can some models for you, if you want . ( houses, bridges, trees, fences, windmills, you name it )
Make a list of want you want, and I'll try to come up with something spiffy

cheers

Peter

Far be it from me to stamp my authority in this topic which I clearly know nothing about, but wouldn't it be simpler to make the game 2D? We already have loads of graphics available from various SF games and Shining Online etc., which would save us a shedload of time.

Like I said, it's none of my business, really. Whatever you guys decide is best

I think it would be exciting to make something in 3D, but i haven't seen a 3D Shining Force Demo yet, so i don't feel that we're at the stage where it's feasible to do anything other than 2D, especially since 3D requires more than just 3D graphics. It would just hamper an already difficult project.

I have to agree, it's surely going to be harder implementing 3D - may be a bit much for 40 hours.

However, I love your work Peter - what about using 2d images OF 3d stuff for some of the graphics needed?

Shall we do a poll on what idea to run with?

I spent yesterday playing with networking a java session, it's not so difficult for basic stuff(I managed a kind of chat).  A server and a client....   The other way of course would be for someone to host a server and all the clients connect to it to find game partners etc.  More complicated, and I get the logic behind how to do it, but it would be more comlicated and some logistics issues involved.

@ Elvenfyre: Now that's a great idea

Tell you what: Give me just this weekend and I'll make some mock-ups
from 3D-scenes in 2D.

I'm in the process of making backgrounds for Dev's B.A.B.S. project.

So it's just a matter of "making screenies". No Problemo  

Is it ok to mail them to you? Hopefully your email is in the memberlist??!!

------------- two minutes later

Ok... your email isn't in the list  
Please PM me then yes?  

elvenfyre at xtra.co.nz

Kthx  


(W00T I'm level 2  :lol:  :lol: )

I put up a page with two instances of what i have so far, side by side, so that when you do something in one it updates the other. It performs decently but there's some stuttering due to network traffic and/or a busy server which sometimes causes undesirable results, which is a pity.
I'm posting the link here only temporarily. Keep in mind that the stuttering will probably increase with the number of browsers connected, so there's no lower bound on the performance.
I think this really brings up some performance issues. How fast must a server be to overcome them? I think this is why i don't ever see multiplayer RPGs built with flash, the map scrolling causes too many updates and too much server/client traffic.
Anyway here's the link:
[edited out: expired]

That's cool how you got it to work, good stuff

I do see the performance issues you're talking about though.
Hmm.
If you're certain it's a problem with flash, and not with an amount/type of data being sent etc - then flash doesn't seem to be the best option, though it does make me wonder how online collaboration software with flash can work so laglessly when several people are drawing on the same page at the same time etc.