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James Bunting
Joined: 17 September 2003
Posts: 1308
28 October 2004 23:25 (UK time)

me_mantis and I had a chat about the above subject, it should make and interesting read...

me_mantis Said : hey!
James Said: Hello
James Said: You got your new monitor?
me_mantis Said : hi back
James Said: We need to talk!
me_mantis Said : it hasn't arrived as far as i know
James Said: Bummer
me_mantis Said : ok
James Said: I got a few things I need to run by you.
me_mantis Said : its driving me crazy
me_mantis Said : ok
me_mantis Said : now what did i do
me_mantis Said :
James Said: Firstly, sprite image encapsulation.
me_mantis Said : i think that you can use .bmp images
me_mantis Said : although they are too large
James Said: In Meteor 1 sprite images were built into the sprites. M2 references the images. What is best?
me_mantis Said : lemme think
James Said: There are pros and cons. Referencing is technically better but its complex and fiddly. I am split.
me_mantis Said : wellllll...
James Said: Don't let this swing you but if we encapsulated the images then we can support Meteor 1 sprites.
me_mantis Said : its less files with the sprite thing, but with the pcx referenced by sprites thing
me_mantis Said : its really easy to edit
James Said: yeah
me_mantis Said : could you make the sprite editor so it automatically loads all the images in a sequence into a sprite?
me_mantis Said : ie. rocket01_01 is the base and the game loads rocket01_02 and so on till the last rocket sprite ""rocket01_04?
me_mantis Said : thats a tough 1 though
me_mantis Said : there is no real advantage of useing meteor sprites exept making the game look like meteor
me_mantis Said : i think that the game will look a lots cooler, and different, if you stick with the referenced images sprites
me_mantis Said : can you make a 4th side which is "evil" and attacks sides 0.1.2 and 3?
James Said: Sorry - my dad phoned me
me_mantis Said : o
James Said: Ok so we stick with references
me_mantis Said : thats ok
me_mantis Said : goo idea
me_mantis Said : good idea
James Said: I was gonna add a side thing to game.ini so you can have loads of sides (like up to 30 or something).
me_mantis Said : that would be sweet
James Said: Now for my second thing **********************************************************
James Said: Ready?
James Said: Wait for it...
James Said: I am gonna restructure the folders
me_mantis Said : yay
James Said: Right here is the deal
me_mantis Said : (fireworks)
James Said: All allies, enemy and neutral objects will be removed
me_mantis Said : (giant brass band)
me_mantis Said : Coolness
James Said: All objects (including other things) will be categorised by aircraft, ground, naval
James Said: There will be a new object picker in the Map Editor.
me_mantis Said : n will you get a button that switches between good bad n ugly?
James Said: It works like this.....
me_mantis Said : ...?
James Said: 1) You click the button
James Said: 2) You get all the objects (but they are all on one side - the lot of them)
James Said: 3) You select a side (the objects then change colour)
me_mantis Said : allied sheep
James Said: 4) You pick an object and place it.
me_mantis Said : nie
me_mantis Said : nice
James Said: Each side will have a colour
James Said: ALL OBJECTS WILL BE WHITE!!!
James Said: Well whiteish! (not always white, only bits of them).
me_mantis Said :
me_mantis Said : cool
James Said: When the objects are drawn a transparent overlay will change the object colour for its side (like Red Alert). You with me?
me_mantis Said : ya
me_mantis Said : like the meteor1.2 mp playa coloring thing?
James Said: So one chinook for all sides (changes colour), one trooper, one hummer, enemy Stingrays - you get the idea
me_mantis Said : cool
James Said: More advanced than that, you dont actually need special pixels, it just tints the whole object.
me_mantis Said : so can you have a gun that does +1 to the objects side?
James Said: er?
James Said: Hmmm
me_mantis Said : makes them change side
James Said: meeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaby (read it slow)
James Said: There may be some complications with existing maps, however I may be able to "convert" them using the map loader code.
me_mantis Said : eeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeee sssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee (read it slower)
James Said: Well hopefully I can automatically convert all old maps seamlessly.
me_mantis Said : you dont have too many though
James Said: I don't think its too much bother.
me_mantis Said : any more radical ideas?
James Said: The folder tree will be a lot more straightforward
me_mantis Said : good
James Said: Nothing yet, but these ideas are very good?
me_mantis Said : not a huge jumble of assorted units?
me_mantis Said : id say so
James Said: At the moment we have all colours of units on all sides, its impossible to tell whos who.
me_mantis Said : ya
me_mantis Said : have you implemented these things yet?
James Said: I may publish this chat in the forums.
James Said: But not this bit
me_mantis Said : ok
James Said: No but I am about to get to work, I would like to see a new version this weekend.
James Said: I will release the Manager application at the same time.
me_mantis Said : cool
me_mantis Said : hows the net code?
me_mantis Said : or, more commonly, fire ants
James Said: Er, UDP is gonna be a problem (I am waiting for HawkNL v2). It looks like TCP just like M1
James Said: fire ants?
me_mantis Said : yep
me_mantis Said : true story
me_mantis Said : do you know what fire ants are?
James Said: As soon as HawkNL 2 is out I will upgrade it to UDP, M1 will probably get the treatment too.
me_mantis Said : goody
James Said: Burning ants of fire?
James Said: Are they ants that have been doused in petrol and walked past a naked flame?
me_mantis Said : actual bugs which lived in my yard in texas
me_mantis Said : lol
me_mantis Said : they are crazy ants which climb on to you and wait till they are in a large group, and sting you all at the same time
me_mantis Said : really nasty buggers
James Said: Groovy
me_mantis Said : they also kill animals n shout circuit electrical stuff
James Said: Well in England we have streets full of dog poo to make up for the lack of fire ants.
me_mantis Said : they dont live in minnesota thou
me_mantis Said : lol
James Said: I may leave this bit in cos its funny.
me_mantis Said : im writing an english paper about fire ants
me_mantis Said : lol
James Said: Whatever for?
me_mantis Said : for college class, and for lack of a better topic
James Said: How amusing
me_mantis Said : are you going to post this on the forums?
James Said: The main part yes but as for this bit I dunno, I will let you have the casting vote.
me_mantis Said : go right ahead, but you might want to either obscure the chat medium or the names, but i dont really care if im imed

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Assain

Joined: 02 November 2003
Posts: 979
29 October 2004 00:25 (UK time)

Looks like it was posted hehe =D. Great ideas, ive been waiting on this for a while just 1 thing:

Instead of tinting the entire unit the color (what i assume you ment) how about setting a "tint color" sorta like magic pink, that whatever that units side is, is the color filled in the "tint color".

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fuzinavl
 Official Sponsor

Joined: 06 October 2004
Posts: 287
29 October 2004 04:00 (UK time)

With Dynamic team colors on, will we be able to create different infantry / vehicle looks for each team?
The color blending technique would be useful for lazy pixel artists in an out of game editor.

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James Bunting
Joined: 17 September 2003
Posts: 1308
29 October 2004 10:55 (UK time)

I will actually be playing around with different methods of colouring the units so nothing is really decided.

The intended idea (this may not actually work out) is that:
- Neutral units will not change (this includes fixed stuff like drain covers).
- Other units will tint to their side's colour (this will not use a magic colour code as that would not shade the object, it would simply add a dot here and there).

Whatever goes I intend it to look good and convincing, I don't want to ruin the units.

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Knasp

Joined: 18 June 2004
Posts: 158
29 October 2004 17:20 (UK time)

Will we still be able to make an object sprite that doesn't change colour at all and not only in neutral?

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James Bunting
Joined: 17 September 2003
Posts: 1308
29 October 2004 22:45 (UK time)

That depends, you can make your own sides now, you can add a side that is not effected by colour. As for a per object basis I am not sure, I need to see how it turns out.

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