downForce

It is now no longer known as my driving game but rather "downForce". Catchy huh?? I was making good progress on it on the weekend, had a semi swanking menu system which included rotating vehicle models but me effort on the actual game mechanics last night proved very futile. The stupid camera wont track behind the vehicle!!! Not just that but I cant get the stupid camera to move fullstop!! Camera movement was working fine in my modelviewer (I will make that available soonish) but now it just doesnt want to do what I want. Still trying to figure out the best way to do my physics and collision system. I have a pretty good idea I just have to work out how to implement it. Im also uncertain as to whether my ideas for better performance are actually necessary as there seems to be no noticeable drop in framerate despite loading all 3 vehicle models at the same time. Then again they are not exactly poly heavy models. It'll be interesting to see what happens when I load a decent size track with a fair amount of detail.

Anyway Im probably not making any sense but I have to have some kind of driving game done by the 30th October (yes I dont have much time). Im doing a kind of Wipeout clone and hopefully it'll turn out alright.



So the ship/vehicle looks a bit dodgy, I know. I havent textured it yet and I just needed to whip something up quickly for testing. If I had enough time I wouldnt mind implementing bumpmapping in the game and then trying to add a bump map to the model. Now that would be nice.

I figure I be a hermit for the next two weeks and if I can complete physics/collisions and general game mechanics this week. Then next week I can look at shadows, particles, 2D bitmapped fonts, overlays and other nice looking stuff. Plus some time to polish it up nicely. Oh and I guess I gotta make a track and some textures at some point too.

If only I had another 2 weeks annual leave available. :(

Also thought I might mention that currently textured models wont work in windows. Same goes for the modelviewer. They work in Linux tho!!!

GTR2 and Steering Wheels

Was playing a bit of GTR2 over the weekend (highly recommended) and realised that the humble keyboard does not do this game justice. It does not help when you are coming out of a corner in a lamborghini and you pretty much have your foot flat to the floor (stupid digital keys). Without all the driving aids included in the game it is a guaranteed spin. Hence my need for analog controls.
Now there is a new controller out, the Logitech G25. Looks awesome with a price tag to match -$500. So that begs the question, how hard would it be to make a cool steering wheel, pedals and gearbox combo out of the real parts and maybe a cheap gaming controller. And while we are it, lets throw in a seat and a bit of metal piping for the full experience.
Oh, why do I have to work? I wanna go home now and get all this happening in front of my projector!!!

Busy or just Lazy...

I know its been ages since I have posted anything but really its not like anyone is reading this anyway. Quick summary of what has been happening. Moved into an apartment in town above the david jones carpark, about to move out again next month (only got it for 3 months). Bought a projector - Panasonic PT-AE900. Its pretty cool and hooks into my HTPC pretty nicely for some large scale HDTV. Ill do a bit of a project summary of my HTPC and the whole home theatre setup a little later.

In other news I have now been contracted out to Saab so im out there doing all defencey type stuff which is cool. Also doing a decent amount of openGL and C++ programming. As part of my work education I have had a few assignments. One being a Model viewer that loads 3ds files. It works pretty good at the moment but Im looking into adding texture mapping, shadow volumes and also bump mapping support. Hopefully I should have all that done by the 4th October cos then Ill need to bury myself in the final assignment which involves creating a driving game. I have a bit of a plan of what I am going to do. Already started a simple 3d model of the vehicle so I might upload some images of that later. I should be able to use my model viewer as a basis for the game and then add physics, collisions and other goodies to make it a bit of fun. That needs to be done by the end of October so it is a pretty tight schedule but it will form a great basis for a much larger game project that I am working on and deosnt have any particular constraints, especially time.

Oh and in other news I am going overseas in december for a month to visit vietnam, laos, cambodia and thailand (if everything settles down over there).

More CSS, Sliding Doors and Drop Downs

Last week I had a bit of a disaster at work and lost a new menu system that I was working on for a client. Today I can say that I have pretty much finished what I lost and also improved it further in the process. Im currently working on improving the Defence Teaming Centre (DTC) webpage and I took the opportunity to upgrade the tab-based menu system at the top of the page. If you have a look at the current page - DTC - you might notice that each tab uses 2 images, one normal one and one for when the mouse hovers over.

Ive modified (havent uploaded modified version yet) the tab-system so that it uses sliding doors and retains the drop-down menu as well. If you want a great tutorial on how to use sliding doors check out A List Apart. My system should be uploaded to the server soon once we have approval of all the changes so if you are interested in seeing how I got drop downs to work with the sliding door technique then check back in a little while.

3D drop pod

Working on a 3D drop pod model at the moment. Inspiration from starship troopers and alien(s). Done most of the back and side and working on the wings at the moment. Im thinking I might create a nice animation for it or I could work backwards and use it as a high-poly reference for a game model. Too many possibilities. Still a fair amount of work to go, but it's taking shape.

Back-end showing wing, hatch and assorted detail.