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Geat_Masta

Geat_Masta



  2/8/2017

The norn looks to scale with the world to me, and the call buttons are scaled down because they have a line in their script that sets them to half size.

The program adjusts so that the lift is 1.75 inches tall, if it isn't 1.75 inches tall then it's wrong. Is the lift 1.75 inches tall?

I think that it is scaling correctly, but you have a high DPI display so you're used to seeing it smaller.

 
Bifrost

Bifrost



  2/8/2017

The background looks as big as the background image (which is twice the normal size). Everything else seems to be scaled with it. To me, this looks a little too big, but that might just be a matter of personal taste.

Is there a way to turn on gravity and make the norn move? It'd be great for when I'll test the overlays.

 
Geat_Masta

Geat_Masta



  2/8/2017  1

I can't do anything about collision not working until I can get the debugger to actually function, but I can't step through the code currently.

I think I did come up with a way to have parallax layers, though, in the case of a looping world you would just break the parallax layer into segments, so it never has to deal with being in the renderer twice.

 
Geat_Masta

Geat_Masta



  2/8/2017

Bifrost wrote:
The background looks as big as the background image (which is twice the normal size). Everything else seems to be scaled with it. To me, this looks a little too big, but that might just be a matter of personal taste.

Is there a way to turn on gravity and make the norn move? It'd be great for when I'll test the overlays.



You can make the norn animate using:

Shift+Ctrl+C
"GameObjectInternal::ron().sprite().setAnimation(<animation name> ) ;"

where <animation name> is a value from the "Gait List" array in Catalogue/pose-list-en.catalouge.

He won't move forward when he animates because the collision doesn't work on windows.

go into Burrows/main.jc in notepad++ and look for:


if(GameObjectInternal::ron() != null)
{
GameObjectInternal::ron().movement().setPosition(buro, {2600, 240}, null);
// GameObjectInternal::ron().sprite().frame = 1;
}
else
{
EyeBall eye_ball = new EyeBall(buro, {2600, 300} );
}


change it to:

if(GameObjectInternal::ron() != null)
{
GameObjectInternal::ron().movement().setPosition(buro, {2600, 240}, null);
// GameObjectInternal::ron().sprite().frame = 1;
}
// else
{
EyeBall eye_ball = new EyeBall(buro, {2600, 300} );
}


That will create an object with physics.



 
Soliloquy

Soliloquy



  2/8/2017

This is great.... I have no words for how impressed I am!!
In the future, I think it would be great to have an option to see at double size or at "normal" (C1/C2/C3-DS) size, so we can choose scale based on preferences.

 
Bifrost

Bifrost



  2/9/2017

I'm working on the overlays now. It's going smoothly, but it's a lot of work, and will take some time.

Will the engine allow for several metarooms, like the DS engine does? I'm hoping to be able to add the Purple Temple and a few other places as well in time.

 
Geat_Masta

Geat_Masta



  2/9/2017  1

It's not C3/DS size or double size, the "normal" size is the size that C1 would be on an average monitor in 1995. C3/DS are smaller now because monitors are better. I'll see about adding a scaling parameter.

Yes, I said before each metaroom has it's own coordinate system. You can have an unlimited number of them, until you run out of RAM.

Also cameras should be significantly faster, so you should be able to replace the purple mountains with cameras pointing at the metaroom, and see the norns in the distance.

Updates:
--added parallax layers, it doesn't correctly determine if the layer is on camera or not, but they parallax correctly, adding them limited the number of layers behind the background to 4096, sometimes at higher values (>3000) it glitches out and just doesn't render them (seems to be a problem with the number of bits in the depth buffer, which is hard coded into the graphics card).
--The way it was done means that I can now have water surfaces where you can see the surface of the water based on your perspective, rather than looking at it straight on, so probably best to replace water with transparency.
--I'm closer to finding the bug in the collision, I know it's in the broad phase (not correctly getting the list of collision geometry to collide with).
--I found a bug in texture loading code, but I'm having a hard time pinpointing it, regenesis is a 367mb background, transversing the whole thing so that the whole background was in memory at some point increases RAM usage from 26 mb to 32mb, this shouldn't happen.
--Probably I should add fog between parallax layers, tell me if you think this is a good idea, as it wouldn't be volumetric fog.

 
Bifrost

Bifrost



  2/9/2017

Will it be possible for the cameras to not capture the skies in the PM background, so that it won't get any square outlines where the PM sky ends and the main ReGenesis sky begins? Also, if I add the mountains in a parallax background, will it be possible to attach the camera viewing from the PM to that, so that it moves with it when you see it from different angles?
 
Geat_Masta

Geat_Masta



  2/9/2017

Bifrost wrote:
Will it be possible for the cameras to not capture the skies in the PM background, so that it won't get any square outlines where the PM sky ends and the main ReGenesis sky begins? Also, if I add the mountains in a parallax background, will it be possible to attach the camera viewing from the PM to that, so that it moves with it when you see it from different angles?



You can set the sky object to only show up on the main camera yes. Also in the original screen within screen didn't work, here it will, each camera keeps track of the last frame rendered, so it doesn't have the infinite regress issue CL was trying to avoid.

Rendering is done with 32 bit truecolor, so it the rendering should have an alpha channel.

Any object placed behind the background parallaxes, and it does so according to the camera that is currently rendering, so because the camera watching the purple mountain meta room doesn't move, the objects in shot don't parallax.

 
Geat_Masta

Geat_Masta



  2/9/2017  1

Updated MapEditor to run SuperXbr on imported creatures backgrounds and export parallax layers. Parallax layers are more memory efficient than sprites for big images, but they can't animate.
 
Bifrost

Bifrost



  2/9/2017

How do I make a parallax layer? It should be wider than the actual background, right? To make it scroll slower around the same area.
 
Geat_Masta

Geat_Masta



  2/9/2017

Fixed collision, added parallax, improved texture loading times.

Bifrost wrote:
How do I make a parallax layer? It should be wider than the actual background, right? To make it scroll slower around the same area.



No it should be smaller than the actual background area, if it scrolls at 20% of the speed then logically when you scroll 100% of regenesis you only scroll 20% of the parallax layer, so you only see 20% of the parallax layer, so it should be 20% the size.

In the map editor you can export a file as a parallax layer if it has no foreground/cutouts/rooms, save it in the backgrounds folder, say we call it 'regenesis-sky.plx'

make a script file Common/parallax.jc and put this in it:


import all;

class ParallaxLayer extends GameObject
{
method initialize(Builder self)
{
self.addMovement(1);
self.addRender(2);
}

method ParallaxLayer(const Anchor anchor, const Point2F offset, int drawOrder, const string background) extends GameObject()
{
billboard().file = background;
billboard().drawOrder = drawOrder;

movement().setPosition(anchor, offset, null);
}
}


Next to the top of Burrows/main.jc add:


import Common.parallax;


and to main(), (assuming you haven't renamed the buro variable) add:


new ParallaxLayer(buro, {3000, 700}, -255, "regenesis-sky" ) ;


To whoever is in charge around here: can you make text stop becoming emoji when it's in a code block?

 
Geat_Masta

Geat_Masta



  2/9/2017

Also to answer what will probably confuse you bifrost:

The blue rectangle around objects represents where the camera thinks the object is, so the parallaxing object is disappearing because that rectangle is going off screen. (Working on it).

 
saintrowfan2

saintrowfan2



  2/9/2017

this sounds cool

 
Geat_Masta

Geat_Masta



  2/11/2017

I'm not sure how to define the boundaries of a fluid. Any ideas?
 
Bifrost

Bifrost



  2/12/2017

Won't they be defined by the terrain around?
 
Geat_Masta

Geat_Masta



  2/12/2017

Bifrost wrote:
Won't they be defined by the terrain around?



No, I thought it would be a big square thing, so because the boundaries would be inside walls it would effectively be defined by terrain, but in places like the C2 dark ocean that wouldn't work with the thin glass.

Then I thought I could make it like a series of rooms, but that would make raising and lowering the water level rather difficult.

Imagine defining a fluid as the boundaries of a container in the C1 small ocean, the water would occupy the container until it's water level is even, so it would go up past the submarine bays.

Furthermore even then, it still has to be defined as a big square thing that the water can't go past. Basically all objects are rectangles with some subsection of them being the object, this makes it much easier to tell if a creature is touching the object or not.

 
Geat_Masta

Geat_Masta



  2/12/2017

Updates (not released yet):

-- Changed neurons to summing type from firing type after talking to steve grand, did not fix the problem with the brain going to fast, but a bit more stable.

-- Replaced rendering code with open GL 4.5 compliant code

-- Moved texture loading to another thread, now instead of lagging when trying to render something not loaded, it just renders nothing and shows it correctly the next frame.

 
Bifrost

Bifrost



  2/12/2017

Could we define areas in the room mapping as "able to hold water"? Like add blue colour to where pools of water (oceans, ponds etc.) can be?
 
Bifrost

Bifrost



  2/12/2017

Another option could be to add airlocked areas that stops water from entering.
 
Geat_Masta

Geat_Masta



  2/12/2017

Now I quite like those ideas. Decisions, decisions: why not both?

I'll need to change the bak file format a bit though, which would be a good time to add some compression to the images. (BTW the lighting shader doesn't work on baked images, which is why the cutouts only have the option for a baked image).

 
Bifrost

Bifrost



  2/12/2017

What kind of compression do you have in mind?
 
Missmysterics

Missmysterics



  2/12/2017

Strike me interested, I'm not really sure what's going one here so I'd like to ask a couple of things.

What is the engine is Kreatures is using? Might it be possible to run the other creatures games on it?
I take it since there's transparency we're talking 35 bit graphics here?
Will c3/DS genomes be compatible or convertable?
(you mentioned selling it, I guess it might be possible to sell your work to Big Ben but other than that not really, I'm sure a lot of us would be willing to donate in lieu of a purchase)

What are donations going towards currently? More of a case of "Please pay me for my work so that I can spend more time on this thing" (which is of course quite reasonable) or are their resources you need?

 
Geat_Masta

Geat_Masta



  2/12/2017

Bifrost wrote:
What kind of compression do you have in mind?



DXT5, There's only 5 kinds of compression where the images will stay compressed on the graphics card (also improves rendering speed). To decrease artifacts it turns out I can only store non-color data (i.e. rendering data) in 2 of the channels, so I've expanded the background files to take 5 kinds of images in each slot to deal with that.

this is an explanation of the kind of rendering used:
https://www.marmoset.co/posts/physically-based-rendering-and-you-can-too/

It's very common in modern games so it shouldn't be too hard for me to find some implementations I can use once I get the input data right.

Missmysterics wrote:
What is the engine is Kreatures is using?



Custom, I designed it from scratch explicitly for this purpose.

Missmysterics wrote:
Might it be possible to run the other creatures games on it?

no.

Missmysterics wrote:
I take it since there's transparency we're talking 35 bit graphics here?


you mean 32 bit. When you talk bits it's always in powers of 2; yes but only when the lighting engine is going too slow; then it switches to 32 bit rendering rasterizing, yes.

Missmysterics wrote:
Will c3/DS genomes be compatible or convertable?


No.

Missmysterics wrote:
(you mentioned selling it, I guess it might be possible to sell your work to Big Ben but other than that not really, I'm sure a lot of us would be willing to donate in lieu of a purchase)


I contacted a lawyer about it today, I'll see what happens in the consultation.

Missmysterics wrote:
What are donations going towards currently? More of a case of "Please pay me for my work so that I can spend more time on this thing" (which is of course quite reasonable) or are their resources you need?



I'm currently unemployed, I started this project so I could have something to put on my resume when I found work, and it's been a year. I basically work on it 9-5.

If I'm ruder than usual it's because I started dinner late, nothing towards you specifically.

 
Missmysterics

Missmysterics



  2/12/2017

No worries at all! Thank you!
 
BaffleBlend

BaffleBlend



  2/12/2017

Question. If you do manage to successfully acquire the Creatures IP, as you're talking about in that other thread, is this going to turn into a canonical series entry?
 
Ghosthande
Prodigal Sock

Ghosthande


 visit Ghosthande's website: Breeders Beware
  2/13/2017

It couldn't become part of the official Creatures canon. The creature types, game art, and all of the other canon Creatures stuff is still (c) Gameware. Selling a game that uses these themes would be a really blatant violation of their copyright (and would risk all of the retaliation that kind of activity implies). That's why older attempted projects like Lifandi came up with their own creature types etc.


 
Papriko
Peppery One

Papriko



  2/13/2017  1

I mean, it's not like the original games used names which are particularly unique to the series and not from somewhere else...

Lets play plants! Photosynthesis... Photosynthesis... Photosynthesis...
 
Geat_Masta

Geat_Masta



  2/13/2017

If I can't acquire the IP then I can't package norns with it, but if i released a tool to import norn sprites, those formats aren't patented, so I couldn't be held responsible if someone decided to put norns in it.

If you want to put albia in it, that's your prerogative. Not my responsibility.

The issue is with the look and feel of the kits and interface. Not the trademarked things.


 
Bifrost

Bifrost



  2/13/2017

Kits and interface can be tweaked into being similar enough to other games to pass for generic interface solutions.
 
BaffleBlend

BaffleBlend



  2/13/2017

No, no, my question is IF Geat_Masta is successful at purchasing the IP from Spil / Gameware like he's trying to do. Is this what's planned for it if that works out, or did you have something else in mind?

Not talking about if it doesn't work. Just if by some miracle it does.

 
Geat_Masta

Geat_Masta



  2/13/2017

Yes that's what's planned.

Testing compression with regensis shows that the png currently on the website is compressing down to a .bak file of 71.6mb, smaller than the .png. However it is lossy compression.

Sprites aren't compressing properly for some reason, so the update won't be up yet (the same code is used for loading sprites and backgrounds).


 
Brynn

Brynn



  2/13/2017

So, I wrote up a giant post about possible kit UI layouts, but I wanted to clarify what sort of kits you were thinking of using. This seems to be mostly based off of Creatures 2, so will the kit functionality in Kreatures be similar to that installment? (I don't know how much changed between games, and I know C2 the best and am basing my suggestions off of that.)
 
Geat_Masta

Geat_Masta



  2/13/2017

Only C1 and C2 had kits, and C2 had many improvements, though they still weren't very good, so I basically just copied them directly, (because I don't know jack about GUI design).

So currently the layouts are mostly the same but most of the functionality hasn't been programmed yet. I would appreciate any input!

 
Brynn

Brynn



  2/14/2017  1

This is just me throwing ideas out there (and using Maya way too much nowadays), but why not have a kit UI laid out like the workspace of an art development program?

In Creatures 2, we have a toolbar that has kits in it. Each kit has tabs. But do we really need to display all the kits at the same time? Maybe I'm not a player who does enough mad science to the game, but half the time when I open up a kit I click on the wrong icon and it's a kit I never use (Ecology Kit is nice and all, but once I see the general biome trends once, I don't need to see it again.)

In Maya/Illustrator you have layout tabs that put different tools on your toolbar - "Animation" will put things that manipulate keyframes to the front, while "Sculpting" brings out sculpting tools, etc.

Why not put content that used to be inside of a kit tab inside of individual windows that can be popped up/down through the "kit toolbar" that you control with your "layout" options? That way, you can have two tabs from the same kit open at the same time - say, chemical trends/distribution and organ health from the Science Kit, as well as the brain firing tab from the Neuroscience kit. Being able to control the sizes and always-on-top status of individual tabs/pages would also be neat. You would also be able to build a "Custom Toolkit" that has all your favorite tabs close at hand.

If any of this isn't clear, I can make a mockup image of it.

 
 
  replies cannot be added because this thread has been locked.

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