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[chaosavy]

Here's an example of how "nearly everything" is nearly everything in regards to modding.

You can mod the intro screen scene. Here's how you'd do it: you'd go into the battle editor (in game tool for creating fast battles/scenarios), create a scene, and then save that scene and instead of playing that scene you'd put it into the "MainMenu" folder (in the Data folder) and voila! You just modded the intro screen scene hehe


Basicallly almost everything I can think of is read (or is going to be read) into the game via the .xml (use notepad, or notepad++ to open these, basically any text editor).

Here's what the contents of that file look like for a ship object:

Code: [Select]

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<objectType attr1="ship"/>
<name attr1="Voytek"/>
<objectID attr1="voytek"/>
<faction attr1="1"/>
<shipClass attr1="fighter"/>
<meshName attr1="Voytek.mesh"/>
<wireframeMaterial attr1="WF/Voytek"/>
<descriptionText attr1="A unmanned drone fighter with two light cannons."/>
<cruiseSpeed attr1="24.0"/>
<timeTillCruise attr1="3.0"/>
<yaw attr1="50.0"/>
<pitch attr1="50.0"/>
<roll attr1="50.0"/>
<bGravityDrive attr1="0"/>
<bBaseShipyardOk attr1="1"/>
<cockpitInitPos x="0" y="1.48" z="3.85"/>
<cockpitTransLimit x="0.12" y="0.12" z="0.12"/>
<chaseInitPos x="0" y="5.25" z="21.04"/>
<chaseTransLimit x="1.5" y="0.6" z="1"/>
<health attr1="100.0"/>
<autoRepairTime attr1="240.0"/>
<weapon>
    <weaponType attr1="projectile"/>
    <hardpointID attr1="lightPG"/>
<weaponPosition x="0.37" y="0.07" z="-2.38"/>
<weaponPosition x="-0.38" y="0.07" z="-2.41"/>
<barrelDelay attr1="0.1"/>
</weapon>
<turret>
    <turretID attr1="voytekMT"/>
<position x="0.0" y="0.0" z="0.0"/>
<turretRole attr1="defense"/>
<weaponFire attr1="secondary"/>
</turret>
<buildTime attr1="25.0"/>
<crew attr1="0.0"/>
<energy attr1="25.0"/>
<ore attr1="100.0"/>
<damage>
    <pitch attr1="0.0"/>
    <roll attr1="-90.0"/>
<yaw attr1="0.0"/>
<position x="0.5" y="0.25" z="-0.49"/>
</damage>
<deathTimer attr1="1.5"/>
<deathSpin x="1.0" y="1.0" z="1.0"/>
<explosionID attr1="1"/>
<tacticalExplosionID attr1="tacExp"/>
<propulsion>
    <sysName attr1="propulsion"/>
<position x="-0.01" y="0.01" z="1.85"/>
<_propulsionSound attr1="engine.wav"/>
</propulsion>
<propulsion>
    <sysName attr1="propulsion_fighter_lat"/>
<position x="-0" y="0.69" z="-0.12"/>
<_propulsionSound attr1="engine.wav"/>
<direction attr1="up"/>
</propulsion>
<propulsion>
    <sysName attr1="propulsion_fighter_lat"/>
<position x="0.85" y="-0.17" z="0.58"/>
<_propulsionSound attr1="engine.wav"/>
<direction attr1="port"/>
</propulsion>
<propulsion>
    <sysName attr1="propulsion_fighter_lat"/>
<position x="-0.85" y="-0.17" z="0.58"/>
<_propulsionSound attr1="engine.wav"/>
<direction attr1="starboard"/>
</propulsion>
<propulsion>
    <sysName attr1="propulsion_fighter_lat"/>
<position x="0.02" y="-0.68" z="0.59"/>
<_propulsionSound attr1="engine.wav"/>
<direction attr1="down"/>
</propulsion>
<afterburner>
<afterburnerSound attr1="engine.wav"/>
    <multiplier attr1="1.5"/>
    <capacity attr1="1.0"/>
    <recharge attr1="5.0"/>
</afterburner>
<targetPriorityList>
    <targetClass attr1="fighter"/>
<targetClass attr1="corvette"/>
<targetClass attr1="frigate"/>
<targetClass attr1="destroyer"/>
<targetClass attr1="carrier"/> 
<targetClass attr1="cruiser"/>
<targetClass attr1="dreadnaught"/>
<targetClass attr1="attack_station"/>
</targetPriorityList>
<collisionShape attr1="simple_convex"/>
<isMassInfinite attr1="0"/>

So you can easily mod an existing ship, or create a new one by supplying a different model. You can do the same to stations/platforms, bases, turrets, guns, missiles, asteroids, gates, and other up coming objects. You can mod the "main world file" that specifies the research file (also xml) and objectives file (ditto on xml).

The main challenges are this: the model itself (3d object, texturing,etc) - accomplished via 3rd party modeling/texturing software - then exported into the game engine's .mesh format (there are common exporters for Blender, obj, etc). The 2nd main challenge is positions on the model where the weapons/engines/damage particle/cockpit/chase cam position are. That's accomplished via a lil tool that lets you add the ship (or station, etc) model and then find the 3d position co-ordinates of spots - by moving placeholder objects or the camera itself (wasd to move, left click to select, drag to move, etc) This tool is fairly basic, but will be improved to be able to import the xml files and then export them, saving a bit of copy and paste hassle. That tool is called (zModel_Position.exe) and is located in the main game directory.

You can also create "scenarios" via the battle editor and then you can share them via emailing the world file (generated via the editor and saved as xml).  You basically click and drag stuff onto the screen and rotate etc.

So to sum up you can mod:
ships, stations, ammo, bases, turrets, guns, missiles,asteroids, research, objectives, tutorials, rewards, triggers, and the intro scenes - am I forgetting some stuff? oh yeah you can mod the hud, the backgrounds, the sounds, etc as well


Its really a no brainer adding this in because - my artist ofcourse wants to tweak stuff and test (both his art, and his game ideas) and this only helps development to not have to re-compile code for this. And ofcourse the added bonus of allowing everyone else to mod. Really a win win.

[chaosavy]

hah got a bit overexcited talking about modding that I forgot to address some specifics.


Plan is for modders to be able to either mod the main "Data" folder or add their own - independent/seperate directory, so that the "Vanilla" game is left alone - however this will be up to the modder and mod user to decide.


There isn't any plan to shield anything from modders, except that care has and will be taken to have the game's name and credits appear in it, so as to not have someone do a total conversion and claim as their own product. So game's name and website will be hardcoded. Because you can literally tweak the gui text/buttons/etc as well.

Certain things you can't chagne for example you can't change the ship physics having no drag and preserving momentum when rotating/turning/etc, however say that you don't like how the momentum is preserved when the ship changes direction, you could mod the ship's engine properties so that the ship compensates much faster, making the game function much more arcade like (eg: like Tie Fighter). Say for example if you made the acceleration take 1 second, then you'd see much less drift.

[Areyar]

Kewl. So basically only the world physics engine and credit titles are fixed.

Awesome dude, modders are so going to love you!
I love xml.

Drag might be a usefull thing to have for a mod though if adding nebulae for example. The void in the title would not make sense anymore, but the beauty about a mod is: if you don't like it, you can delete it.

You need some limits on modding, otherwise you'd have a 'space game construction kit'

How about behavioral scripts for objects?
The earlier snippet of shiptype code lists priority targets, this suggests a shared AI script for all ship entities?

I'll wait before asking more specific questions about sub-entities, rotation, lighting sources, etc. things that will probably become very clear once I find the time to play around with your pre-beta some. :p

ed: That positional tool is a pretty nifty thing! finding the coordinates of subitems on an object can be such a pain.  hehehe

[chaosavy]

greatorder: your attitude seemingly matches that of your bear avatar..


Areyar: interesting idea on the nebula drag.
Behavioral scripts is a tough one, this is currently hard coded, to get it to be avaiable to the outside I'd have to put in hooks for lua (which means learning it first). Most likely this won't happen - because essencially its another month or more delay, potentially for part 2 or after release.

However there may be some basic commands modding: go here, then destroy this, then go here, type of a deal. For cut scenes and missions and stuff.

AI scripts: between iter 10 and 11 I re-wrote the AI making it very modular and easy to change - for me. So there are "attack patterns" that ships do, these are heavily based on ship class (eg: fighters circle strafe, get on six, etc) and weapon type - eg: missile boats orbit the enemy and fire missiles. With ships having multi weapon systems of different types - guns + torpedos this may become an issue in the future so what may happen is specifying an attack pattern type via xml. But chances are not specifying the details of that pattern itself.

Love to modders: yeah its essencially a result of that philosophy and to make it easy on myself, that lil positioning tool arrived because I needed it, but as I was creating it I kept modders in the back of my mind, same with the xml file formats, everything is spelled out.

[BuriBuriZaemon]

Watched the video and it looks great. Posting to watch!

[chaosavy]

thanks! I think I average about one watch a day of the vid myself, keeps me motivated

[Akura]

This gets more fun with each release.

A problem though: I find it hard to give orders by right-clicking in Tactical mode. It keeps seeing it as trying to move the camera, even if I'm not moving my mouse.
I'd also like to see some means of seeing who is shooting at who in Tactical mode.

[chaosavy]

Yeah, I noticed a strange glitch there too - but seems a bit intermittened. Another pretty big "glitch" is that sometimes right/left clicking tends to select large objects too much (bases - their selection area/bounding boxes are a bit too large).

The focus of iter 12 (WIP) is tactical mode enhancements. ETA is about 1.5 months.

Currently working on issuing orders: hold this position, patrol this position (with specify patrol radius), wait (send in offensive ships - but issue wait command to marine ships - so as not to draw the initial fire), go to (right click on an empty spot), move (while keeping current target - as to better position/use turrets), clear orders, clear targets.

Will also work on: "navigation" markers - so you can re-use them for multiple ships - for staging
Grouping ships for easy access - group all the marine frigates

Individual turret control - top turret fire at ship to the right, bottom turret, fire on ship to the left etc
Combined with the move command will allow for broad sides and other neat tactics.


Thanks for reminding me about more visual/audio feedback as to what is going on while in Tactical mode, have to add that in as well. Ideally RTS player will be able to fully play the game in Tac - via crew control, order issuing and more situation awareness/feedback - with the option to enjoy the eye candy in Ship mode.

[chaosavy]

Iteration 12 is out (I've updated the first post with info), but also wanted to point out that it addresses Akura's note above on the "seeing who is shooting who" in tactical.

Here's a vid with the latest changes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZoyVhQAPNo

Again, bit more info on first post.

thanks!

[Akura]

I'll have to wait until I get home to try it, but the changelog and video are pretty good. And thanks for putting in targetting feed back in Tactical.

Also, did you change the textures? They look pretty awesome.

[chaosavy]

Thanks! In tactical the colors changed a tad to better highlight if something is selected or not (they brighten up a bit when selected).

In ship mode the textures didn't change since iter 11 (which was the big graphical overhaul). Same textures used here, they are very versatile and because of the art style we can re-use them and they stretch incredibly well to cover objects large and small.

BTW: I should mention that the "visual feedback" in tactical combat is my "programmer art" so hopefully in the final version it will be much improved

[Akura]

Some issues:

Selecting a control group with the number keys while in a menu, such as the Research menu, crashes the game.

While in spaceship mode, left-clicking on a friendly ship will order the ship you're in to attack that ship. Bad, especially if you're just trying to see how badly damaged a friendly is and if they need help.

Saved games: Build queues are not saved. Further more, if ships are ordered to patrol around an object, then upon loading the game, they will attack that object.

AI seems a bit screwy. Ordered my ships to attack one of those pirate bases, followed by Phalanxes(they were in seperate control group), and the attack ships instead went immediately to the alien-controlled gate, getting most of themselves killed in the process, while the Phalanxes, who went straight to the base, were slaughtered by the pirate defenses.

[chaosavy]

Thanks for the awesomeness!


Will fix.

Sounds like I should also put in a mouse over to see ship health so you don't necessarily have to click on the ship in ship mode (like it is in tactical mode)

Those AI issues - its actually bad map design (my bad) - so some ships will go to point C (eg enemy base) via point B (eg via gate) and some will go straight to point C. Have to re-arrange map so this doesn't happen.

[BuriBuriZaemon]

I will say it again, this looks fantastic. Are you planning to Kickstart this?

[chaosavy]

Thanks!


The thing with kickstarter and this project is this (in my opinion of course).


Its a funny situation that's both this statement : I don't actually need money and this statement: I need too much money.

I don't actually need money - I am doing ok paying token/honorary sums for the art and hoepfully soon for the sounds. So essencially kickstarter money wouldn't make a big difference. I can continue to pay out of my own pocket. Dont worry I'm not nuts to spend myself into the poor house, keeping it very reasonable on my wallet. Plus since assets are slow coming then I can spread it out ok.

I need too much money - the place where money would make a difference is if I quit my job and work on this full time (instead of nights and weekends time/life/wife permitting), to quit my job I'd need a fairly large safety net amount of money (since I make a decent salary). I don't think that there'd be enough interest in this and faith in my ability to get this, even so I'd be afraid to quit - this indieness is very risky.

So basically that's the situation with kickstarter as I see it.