There's a couple of newish irrlamb gameplay videos. Worth watching if you want to see what the game is like and how devious some of the gameplay can be. For me, irrlamb is definitely one of the most exciting open source game projects around at the moment, being both innovative and challenging in it's gameplay.
Expect some really nice graphics in the next UFO:AI release. A few modelling maniacs seem to have gotten very interested in contributing, which is always good for an open source game project.
As of some time last week, an interesting major change landed in the OpenTTD development trunk - loading of 32bpp graphics and levels of zoom. It's one of the big steps along the road to getting high resolution graphics into OpenTTD. Also it provides a platform for the artwork contributors to see their art in game rather than have to paste it together to showcase it. A completely Free (no TTD required) and beautiful OpenTTD just got one step closer to reality. I'm hopeful that maybe a beta of this work might appear before the end of the year. The image to the right is an actual in-game shot! :-)
Java Classic RPG, the Eye of the Beholder & Dungeon Master inspired project, gained climates this week. If only the quality of the artwork matched the quality of the code developments! I was thinking about this, along with working a bit more on Fortress, and observing Scourge developments, and realising there are very few open source / free medieval and fantasy model resources going. Most projects with good artwork in this genre are either pixel art (like Wesnoth and Daimonin) or restricted (like Planeshift and Eternal Lands).
So, yeah, I think the scene needs a bit of dedicated medieval and fantasy modelling to happen so that all the exciting medieval and fantasy projects can pull quality artwork from a common base. Maybe there already is this kind of stuff available, do you know where? Or maybe there are people out there interested in modelling this kind of stuff. Do you know any? Spread the word!
I'll end today on a coding note. I was working on a layout engine (as part of Vexi, an open source project I lead) and came up against a problem where conversion between ints and floats and back (Java) was causing the assigned space between child boxes to be less than the parent box (box being a layout construct - don't worry about it). The solution was a bit of casting voodoo. I love it. :-)
// casting voodoo to make sure we don't have leftover pixels
diff = child.contentheight + (int)(slack+total) - (int)total;My attempts to explain that to my girlfriend were a spectacular failure! :-D
Hey, Charlie! :-) Thanks for following JCRPG! You have a keen eye on graphics, and sure there are things to improve in terms of 3D models! Yet I plan to switch in turbo mode for 3D later on. I don't think its meaningful to have coolest graphics for a dead-end project. So I am currently trying to get the logical core, the mind of the project in motion, with very rich RPG bases (AI, scripting, combat-system, ability system etc.), which will take a lot of time. Yet if it's nearing success, and not a dead-end (which I highly hope), there will be a high time for the GFX to be improved. I have some ideas and see possibilities in terms of the engine, and maybe me myself will get more tough in blender too with more practice. But yeah, if there is someone already willing to contribute in terms of low polygon, nice 3D objects, JCRPG welcomes it with great appreciation! Most common need will be surely plants and animals/humanoids! (Also I plan to have some grass effects later)
ReplyDeleteAnd 1 more thing to have a closer grip on understanding motives of JCRPG, the true inspiration for JCRPG is Wizardry 7 and partially the whole wiz series with the 8th part, and then EOB.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
P.
and yeah, OpenTTD looks cool with the new details!! I played it for a while and it was really complete long ago...yet the gfx thingy will appeal me again to have a look. :)
ReplyDeleteWell the new graphics will turn OpenTTD from a game engine that requires the original game data into a standalone game. So as well as better looking, it is better idealogically too! :-)
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