Fair enough, I was thinking of the wiki as the condenced version of the countless twists and turns that forum posts take - the place where the final decision ends up.
Doesn’t matter to me though, just a thought.
Kev
Regardless of the protocol (Wiki Vs. Forum), we have a number of good idea’s discussed for theme, but we need to pick one and let a volunteer take it to the next level. So I think a vote is best for that but we need to make sure that for each vote option there is someone backing it.
So people with thematic ideas just say whether you want that option in a vote (or state a new idea) and indicate your willingness to take on the role of creative management. Err there should be no problem with people putting forward multiple ideas. Or two people supporting the same idea
I think roughly a thematic idea is: the historical context, the role of the player (if important), end game (if present) and the style of gfx (e.g. ShannonSmith’s deconstruction). Err but post what you want really.
So have you decided on a specific renderer yet, or is it going to be possible to have multiple types?
As the “RTS” will hopefully be sharing resources (models, sounds…) with the “Space trade” and if there isnt anyone else commited to the hardware rendering side of things, I wouldnt mind doing it (lwjgl). The models should be optimised for openGL anyway, due to use in the RTS.
Ultimately i do not mind what the “theme” is as long as we are able to engage the services of an excellent story/script writer. IMO a good story allows for the suspension of disbelief so that our polygonal universe is much better received by the player.
Also some voice acting would be nice 
but I guess we can rope in some friends/ acquaintances for that.
This is important - if we assume that all sensible people will click ‘no’ to all ‘do you want your dad’s machine trashed?’ security dialogs, then JOGL or LWJGL are both out (dammit!) so we have to go software rendered.
Story isn’t enough (Elite didn’t really have one) it’s ‘feel’, or gameplay.
We need something where a casual gamer can turn up, not have to register or make awkward security decisions, but they can have FUN for a few minutes, then we’ve got them! They’ll come back and then yes, we’ll need a story, but IMHO look and gameplay are our biggest considerations ATM.
I think we need a simple software-rendered framework which can support the ‘Ooo! I can fly and shoot!’ first few minutes, but which can also support the fuller backstories we create.
Q: Who here is prepared to code that framework? Names below please!
fair enough, but the first purpose of the community project, was to impress people to what java can do. IMHO Standing back and looking at what I think is the most impressive java game iv seen (not relating to what I can program), It would have to be trible trouble. and thats not software rendered.
[quote]So have you decided on a specific renderer yet,
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Yes I believe we have. JPCT for the reasons above. You get both easy applet deployment and the option of openGL for free. Models in 3DS format is the assumption I am running with.
[quote]Q: Who here is prepared to code that framework? Names below please!
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Yeah I’ll be player in that team (Collision detection & dynamics).
Yeah I’ll be player in that team (Collision detection & dynamics).
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In principle I’m up for it. But I don’t have enough of a feel for what the project really is and where it’s going to dive in yet.
Simon
So thats 2.5 coders. 0 committed writers so far…
Don’t be shy! :-*
Well, i would like to develop a alternative candidate solution for the render using ray tracing. I might start by rendering the same scene as the JPCT test scene.
I will see whether a friend is willing to develop a story/universe. However in order for him to do that some guidelines would be needed. So what shall i give him… or shall i tell him to give us different types of stories/universes?
What exactly is required of the ‘writer’? I’m working on my major in English/Philosophy here at University of Toronto in Canada. Maybe I could be of some use to you guys
Cool! Look forward to seeing something!
Since there’s not been much discussion regarding actual gameplay (controls, etc.), I thought I’d put together a rough prototype to get the ball rolling. (Source, uses JOGL, not very efficient.) Everything is controlled using the mouse (plus left button) to try and make it casual-friendly.
To be clear, this isn’t intended as a source submission, just a way of presenting some ideas. So shout out about how you feel the Community Project should differ from this prototype.
Simon
Yeah good stuff dishmoth.
I think that we agreed that combat was a top priority. My personal opinion is that mouse control is rubbish for decent arcadey combat. So I would suggest keyboard controls. As keyboard only has 2 natural axis, might I also suggest we constrain ship movement to be up/down and rotate clockwise/counterclockwise like elite. Oh yeah and thrust… maybe we constrain that to just on off to make things simple to the user?
Tom
i disagree I pefer the mouse ship-control/aiming system used in freelancer. It was intuitive and controllable.
It is quite easy to have two different control mechanisms so we can probably have both.
Yeah after a nights sleep I think that mouse control is good actually. But not click to turn the ship. The ship should just turn automatically when the mouse moves like a FPS. I prefer rotating around the Z rather than rotating around the Y like elite still.
I think perhaps the left hand can be used for thrusters forward/backward (W/S) and strafe (A/D). Not many games have strafe but I think it will make combat with small ships more interesting.
‘Free mouselook’ is very hard to get right in a browser (at least I’ve never seen it done properly!). I reluctantly had to go with ‘click mouselook’ for Bloodridge &c.
[quote]Free mouselook’ is very hard to get right in a browser
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I did wonder.
Well then I am in favor of keyboard for rotation and thrusting. You can’t do decent combat otherwise in my opinion. Mouse can be (usefully) used for targeting. In some ways I imagine that might be better anyway for when the player is in a turret he can still drive the ship.
Do you have any opinions on this SimonH?
PS can you not set the cursor position from an applet then?
You can only grab the cursor in a signed applet. :-\
It should be simple enough to have both keyboard and/or mouse controls so the player can suit themselves?
[quote] It should be simple enough to have both keyboard and/or mouse controls so the player can suit themselves?
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Thats not an opinion. Its also not casual gamer friendly.
Is combat dynamics a priority? Non-free mouse look is fine for slow paced stuff like space trading. I can’t see it working for fighting though.