Progress Report!

croxis · January 18, 2010, 10:59:05 AM

We are in that wonderful quiet phase where nothing seems to be going on. The problem with making a game, as opposed to other applications, is that it takes a bit of work to make something to show. However I do want to post what I have been working on.

The current project is the ability to found cities. Based on feedback here the distinction between city and region is a lot thinner than in SC4. This created a number of issues that are or will need to be addressed. I have been working on a number of things between the terrain prototype and something more functional.

* A regional user permission system has been added. Don't want just anyone connected to your game to restart it

* The simulation controller has been added that will automatically thread each simulation component.
* Currently when a player connects the whole region will pause so the new client can recieve the current gamestate without corruption. However I found that even on an empty map this takes way too long. Before the next prototype demo I am going to redo how this is done. The client only needs information on an as needed basis, so parts of the game state will be sent on an as needed basis. Because the client is not really running the simulation internally we might be able to bypass the full region locking mechanism.
* Gui code has been redone to be relative based (see other thread). Previous bugs in the gui code have been resolved just with this action.
* Cities can now be founded, city property is now added to the database. GUI cleanup is needed for the client side.
* If you are playing a mp game you do not want someone to login with a modified client and be able to build roads up vertical cliffs or pack power plants so tight they overlap one another. In order to do this the server will need to know the shape of things meaning it will need parts of a 3d engine. Worst case scenario is that every model will exist twice, once on the client and once on the server. This is not memory efficient, especially for single player games. Either the separate server/client architecture will have to be rethought, or alternatives will be designed. I'll post what I find in this regard.

Now for the good things!
Current TODO before next tech demo:
* Reconfigure how gamestate is sent
* Add cities database to the netcode (cityid, city name, and other basic stats for the region view)
* Broadcast new cities as they are founded
* Add chat window
* Ability to delete a city (all infrastructure destroyed), unincorperate a city (buildings/infrastructure exists but property must be re acquired), or remove a mayor of a city (city is open for anyone to claim)

JoeST · January 19, 2010, 03:38:47 PM

thats awesome news Croxis

Joe

catty · January 20, 2010, 02:25:41 AM

Quote from: JoeST on January 19, 2010, 03:38:47 PM
thats awesome news Croxis

Joe

ditto

WC_EEND · January 20, 2010, 05:19:30 AM

It feels good to know that this project is still going on

Nique · January 25, 2010, 03:55:20 AM

I registered www.citymania.info and attached hosting.. for future

croxis · January 25, 2010, 07:11:06 AM

Awesome nique

And sorry about the delay. I got everything packaged up and it works up to loading the region from the server so I have not released the prototype yet. I am going to go through and try to identify the problem.

MattyFo · January 25, 2010, 04:21:27 PM

Is this a multiplayer only game? or would I be able to just create my own "city" or "region" as in SimCity? I'm not really getting it.

Nique · January 25, 2010, 04:58:57 PM

Quote from: MattyFo on January 25, 2010, 04:21:27 PM
Is this a multiplayer only game? or would I be able to just create my own "city" or "region" as in SimCity? I'm not really getting it.

Single player also.. i know you are confused with the client/server thing, but this is how the (and many other) game internally works. Single player = you setup your own local server, and start to use it without networking.

MattyFo · January 25, 2010, 07:16:46 PM

I see!! thanks! It seems like a great idea, is it played online or is it a downloadable .exe?

Sorry for all the questions, Matt!

croxis · January 25, 2010, 10:34:32 PM

Right now there isn't much to play. If we stay with the panda engine it can be played online in a web browser or as a standalone eve.

croxis · January 26, 2010, 10:05:06 AM

On a random note, I managed to embed the game in a facebook app.

WC_EEND · January 26, 2010, 11:09:02 AM

can I see this facebook app

croxis · January 26, 2010, 11:10:06 AM

http://croxis.dyndns.org/index.php

You will need to get the panda3d runtime files: http://www.panda3d.org/download.php?runtime

WC_EEND · January 26, 2010, 12:53:33 PM

damn 404 errors

Nique · January 26, 2010, 01:19:05 PM

Be patient, hes working on it

There is a bug he needs to fix before he puts it back online.