Star Gauge, v0.2.2a (April 9/05)

WIP games, tools & toy projects Archived Projects
#1

Update 3 (April 9th, 2005)
New in this version:

[url=http://vorax.thebodclan.com/images/StarGauge0-2-3a.jpg]

http://vorax.thebodclan.com/images/StarGauge0-2-3a_small.jpg
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  • Missles are in! (Unlimited quantity for testing)
  • 30% boost to FPS and engine thread performance
  • Fixed a bug in the AI which made the enemy run for their lives
  • Zoom animation on the Holo-target console display
  • several other small bugs
  • right-click for missles

Webstart: Star Gauge Engine Test v0.2.2a

The main high-lites of this build are the performance improvements and missles. I left you with unlimited missles to put the odds in your favor…don’t expect such coddling in the final version though 8)

Have fun, and please report any problems (performance, oddities, etc) you have with your:

OS, graphics card, processor speed, memory

Thanks for testing!

This is the second engine test release (was formally called Exigent…may and probably will change again :wink: )

This version has several upgrades and really feels like a dog fight now…mostly because the AI is very smart and they out number you 6 to 1.

There is now a launch screen (as requested) which lets you pick your resolution and the refresh rate is defaulted to sytem value so it should run full screen or windowed for eveyone. It’s just temporary, but it does the job.

This is still not a real level of the game. It is just designed to push things in the engine. It is VERY hard at the moment, kudos to anyone that can kill all 6 enemy fighters. This is more like what it would be like much further in the game. Don’t get discouraged, I have only been able to kill all 6 two or three times. :-[

There is information screen on the startup screen that explains the new additions and ship controls, please read it…or you will probably die fast :stuck_out_tongue:

Note to Linux users: This is a multi-threaded game engine and you may experience some weird results. If your a Linux user, please let me know how it goes.

New in this version (0.2 alpha):

  • True 6 DOF control system (no more gimble lock)
  • Bank rotation
  • Asteroid collision detection
  • Advanced AI (enemy navigate asteroids, and fight like buggers!)
  • New ship model (your ship)
  • Auto targeting of closest enemy
  • Startup options screen for resolution settings
  • Several optimizations and tweaks to engine operation thread.
    Update (0.2.1a)
    - Updated to fix an AI bug, unfortunetly it is even harder for you now :slight_smile:

Please report an problems, bugs, etc you find and let me know what you think. Suggestions welcome.

Thanks for testing!!

#2

Improved since last version…but I died almost right away :frowning: :wink:

#3

Thanks, I forgot to mention anywhere that you can restart after dying by clicking your mouse.

#4

linux user here! fullscreen does’nt work gives me an error, can not change display mode, but the game does work in “non full screen mode” the game seems to run fine, just the engine fps is going mad, and it really needs sound, donno if there is sound but did’nt hear anything.

#5

[quote]linux user here! fullscreen does’nt work gives me an error, can not change display mode, but the game does work in “non full screen mode” the game seems to run fine, just the engine fps is going mad, and it really needs sound, donno if there is sound but did’nt hear anything.
[/quote]
I expected the engine FPS to go a bit mad on Linux. That’s ok as long as it still runs nicely. There is alot of room for timing errors built into it.

Good, it’s still running on Linux (at least in windowed). Not sure why full screen doesn’t work for you. What graphics card are you using? What was the error?

It does need sound badly :slight_smile: I am working on implementing missles, then sound will be next, then more scripting options for the levels, then a GUI…then I can finally start working on the actual game :slight_smile:

#6

WOW!!! :o

Frikin fast! Amazing job! Keep it up!

-Chris

#7

Works nicely for me. How can I invert the Y axis?

Cas :slight_smile:

#8

Doesn’t work on linux with GF2 - had the same problem with a recent one from Kev, I think this is a new bug in nVidia drivers, or else nVidia have fixed a bug / added a feature and JOGL/LWJGL haven’t yet patched their code to take account (I would guess the former rather than the latter…)

/usr/caches/webstart/https/Djogl.dev.java.net/P-1/DMwebstart/RNjogl-natives-linux.jar/libjogl.so: libnvidia-tls.so.1: cannot handle TLS data

#9

[quote]WOW!!! :o

Frikin fast! Amazing job! Keep it up!

-Chris
[/quote]
High praise! Thanks Chris!

[quote]Works nicely for me. How can I invert the Y axis?

Cas :slight_smile:
[/quote]
No way yet, sorry. Added to my TODO list :slight_smile:

Blah^3, I have heard of this problem with nVidia on Linux before. Try deleting or renaming: /usr/lib/tls

#10

Thanks, that helps. It’s probably either linux being crap (I did a kernel recompile recently) or more likely nvidia being dumb (if you recompile kernel, you have ot recompile your nvidia driver, using a program supplied by nvidia - which I suspect created the unwanted and useless file).

Anyway, now the game displays a window and then crashes :). But that could be as simple as an out of memory error since it did lots of swapping before dieing slowly. How much ram does this thing need?

#11

On Windows XP it tops out at 150MB from what I can tell. It is definetly a hardware pusher. I recommend anyone trying it shut down as much as possible first, both for performance and RAM.

#12

I just uploaded a fix for an AI problem that had them scarred to death of you and running very far off.

They are now much more aggressive and you will likely have 6 on top of you. Sorry…they are supposed to be this tuff. There isn’t supposed to be six of them with weapons equal to yours though. Just for testing.

You may need to clear your cache to get the new version

#13

Hey, doesn’t work on os x.3 .4 The game renders but not in any sort of coherent way

#14

[quote]Hey, doesn’t work on os x.3 .4 The game renders but not in any sort of coherent way
[/quote]
What’s your graphics card?

#15

wow, very nice and very smooth, though hard to target the nme! :wink:

#16

wow! really cool! will the source code be released?

#17

Instead, I just went and bought more RAM.

But now your site is down :frowning:

#18

Thanks for the feedback. I am glad to hear the engine is running nicely for most. :slight_smile:

I am working on a new performance enhancement that should boost FPS and engine thread performance by another 25-30%. From the sounds of it, it’s running great now, but I am a performance junky. I want this game to be one of the examples of what can be done in Java in terms of a 3D game, like Tribal Trouble and Megacorps. Something people can point to when they are faced with the “Java is slow” myth. 8)

[quote]wow! really cool! will the source code be released?
[/quote]
Sorry, the game and engine will not be available in source form. I’ll be attempting to market the finished product online.

To Blah^3, the site is up now. I think you said you had a geforce 2 at some point? I am not sure if that’ll be enough to run it at this time, but let me know how you make out…There may be a few missing extension checks in there.

I am confident it can be made to run on it eventually though, so let me know how it goes. :wink:

#19

It is so fast it almost is too tough to play. Framerate at 75 all the time when running at 1280x960 whether fullscreen or windowed. Very well done. The game mechanics are rough but that’s to be expected from an in-progress work, the engine is certainly sound though. Haven’t had any problem running it. Sure, I have 1GB of ram, that might help a bit, but still. ^^

Keep up the good work.

#20

It ran very fast and smooth on my P4 2.8GHz ATI Radeon 9200 with no glitches. Those enemy ships sure can move. Accelerating away and then turning and firing backwards helped a bit, but they still pasted me.

The planet was a nice touch.

Alan :slight_smile: