[rayne2]

Ok, but how will we be adding lighting, entities, shaders, optimization and so on.

Every game has it's own set of tools used to develop the environment, so regardless of max/maya/blender capabilities we still need a world editor in which we'll turn the geometry into an actual map.

[FS Frankie V]

rayne2, on 19 March 2014 - 04:37 PM, said:

Ok, but how will we be adding lighting, entities, shaders, optimization and so on.

Every game has it's own set of tools used to develop the environment, so regardless of max/maya/blender capabilities we still need a world editor in which we'll turn the geometry into an actual map.

Well the world builder and the necessary tools to make it all work is on it's way but are rather secondary as to what is required to make a functional map.

A bit difficult to get ones head around but the magic is being done by converting our asset and content pipeline from proprietary formats and tool sets to a nice big fat FBX development pipeline.

This will take a bit of an explanation so forgive me if I do get a bit verbose but FBX is not just another file format it's a fully implemented DCC (digital created content) wrapper that maintains the integrity and necessary design elements from one edit environment into another.

In short anything that supports FBX can be used to either build assets or be used as a world builder as a host application and the target application only has to extract from the wrapper what it needs or what you put into it to make use in another application that adds to the functionality of the host.

For that matter most times you don't have to worry about how it gets from here to over there if the application you are using can host a FBX service and if you are using a recent version of 3ds Max you can see this service in action under “file > send to” so if an application can connect to the FBX server then the content migration is handled by FBX.

So in the case of “learning” a application like 3ds Max one can focus on building their map design, in full, and not worry about where and how materials and textures are applied and once done just select what you want to “send” and off it goes either via the FBX service or through the export API.

So in the end it really does not mater what real time, event driven, application we use as our game platform, as there are many to select from, if the application you are using supports FBX that converts what you are working on into cloud based data. ;) In other words forget about having to maintain texture paths as an example or even where the textures are stored or how materials are made.

[[Sk&Bh]Txc]

Frankie V, on 18 March 2014 - 10:54 PM, said:

As mentioned more than once is the ideal would be to remove the old engine and replace it with something new. (just restating a fact ;) )

The need for an engine replacement, more than anything, at this point in time is to avoided obsolescence by design and if left as is 4.2 would be the last version and update to the game and interest would die over time as to secondary consideration.

Good example is a “simple” engine switch, even if our objective is to first establish a on-par replacement to 4.2, would put Steam on the table where it's not even something to consider under current conditions.

Other was meant , but you know unpleasant things are hard to be heard ;) .
No point of saying me anything about it now , you said it - HD will come soon .
Besides I don't believe , I suggest .

Is it 100 % sure that it will be on Steam ?
Before it was said that Steam limits the freedom of the developers .
Is it a desperate measure ?

What about the AC and passport ?
YOu haven't switched to Source engine for better compatibility with Steam , or have you ?

Speaking of that what happend with your own fstech1 entirely made from scratch engine
? You know that engine that you started creating after id disallowed you for unknown reason to use idtech4 for Urban Terror HD after they allowed you few months / years before . (Or at least your version of the story.)

[rayne2]

So the new world builder essentially will just be a simple tool to add entities such as spawns.

[FS Frankie V]

Txc, on 19 March 2014 - 09:29 PM, said:

Other was meant , but you know unpleasant things are hard to be heard ;) .
No point of saying me anything about it now , you said it - HD will come soon .
Besides I don't believe , I suggest .

Is it 100 % sure that it will be on Steam ?
Before it was said that Steam limits the freedom of the developers .
Is it a desperate measure ?

What about the AC and passport ?
YOu haven't switched to Source engine for better compatibility with Steam , or have you ?

Speaking of that what happend with your own fstech1 entirely made from scratch engine
? You know that engine that you started creating after id disallowed you for unknown reason to use idtech4 for Urban Terror HD after they allowed you few months / years before . (Or at least your version of the story.)

Well Steam for 4.2 is not an option due to rather strict GPL licensing and asset copyright issues as to fair use that came along way before Steam was even introduced as an option. If Urban Terror had come along “after” Steam then it would be a completely different situation where the main obstacle now is trying to read between the lines so to speak as to what would be lawful.

At the moment I can not say 100% for sure that Urban Terror HD will be on Steam but we have looked into it and Steam does “not” limit what the game developers can or can not do and some games even have their own game API that works in conjunction with steam so as far as player services goes as to the needs of our community it's a non-issue. As I mentioned above some place Steam is just a no brainier that we will consider when the time comes and is now an option.

The fstech1 engine design more or less crashed and burned when terms and conditions where changed at the last moment. In hindsight as to what we want to achieve it was just another dead end but where it helped a lot was to develop all of the necessary content that is now the “property” of Frozen Sand.

As for desperate measures that something that will not happen as we are not your typical AAA games development company where the value of the game is based on a ideals that best suits a commercial product. Frozen Sand is just a bunch of guys who love to work on this game and even if no one played it we would still be happy to continue to work on it just for the fun to be had.

Rayne2 things will be clear as a bell in short order as we are only in a restructuring phase at the moment but it will happen. It has to.

[thelionroars]

Frankie V, on 19 March 2014 - 10:03 PM, said:

Frozen Sand is just a bunch of guys

I hope you give him a nasty tongue lashing for this one Bladekiller :P

[Ronaldlee]

Frankie V, on 19 March 2014 - 10:03 PM, said:

Well Steam for 4.2 is not an option due to rather strict GPL licensing and asset copyright issues as to fair use that came along way before Steam was even introduced as an option. If Urban Terror had come along “after” Steam then it would be a completely different situation where the main obstacle now is trying to read between the lines so to speak as to what would be lawful.

At the moment I can not say 100% for sure that Urban Terror HD will be on Steam but we have looked into it and Steam does “not” limit what the game developers can or can not do and some games even have their own game API that works in conjunction with steam so as far as player services goes as to the needs of our community it's a non-issue. As I mentioned above some place Steam is just a no brainier that we will consider when the time comes and is now an option.

The fstech1 engine design more or less crashed and burned when terms and conditions where changed at the last moment. In hindsight as to what we want to achieve it was just another dead end but where it helped a lot was to develop all of the necessary content that is now the “property” of Frozen Sand.

As for desperate measures that something that will not happen as we are not your typical AAA games development company where the value of the game is based on a ideals that best suits a commercial product. Frozen Sand is just a bunch of guys who love to work on this game and even if no one played it we would still be happy to continue to work on it just for the fun to be had.

Rayne2 things will be clear as a bell in short order as we are only in a restructuring phase at the moment but it will happen. It has to.

Steam is an option if you port Urt 4.2 to Source. That will be a lot of work, but it can be done.
Lots of options with Source, and the good thing is that SourceMod will come into play, which is really nice for the administration end of the game.
I would have liked to see the Unreal engine but then that would not be a free game, but with Source that game can remain free, much like the way that NMRiH is free.
You guys should put up a Kickstart page to get some infusion for time spent porting, and if you do I think that many of us will support it.

[FS Frankie V]

Ronaldlee, on 20 March 2014 - 04:12 AM, said:

Steam is an option if you port Urt 4.2 to Source. That will be a lot of work, but it can be done.
Lots of options with Source, and the good thing is that SourceMod will come into play, which is really nice for the administration end of the game.
I would have liked to see the Unreal engine but then that would not be a free game, but with Source that game can remain free, much like the way that NMRiH is free.
You guys should put up a Kickstart page to get some infusion for time spent porting, and if you do I think that many of us will support it.

Money is not an issue. What we need is AAA talent.

We toyed with the Kickstarter idea as a way to advertise the game but once money gets into the mix things change.

[pwnie.saint]

Have you started to recontact each developer that left because of the previous engine ? We talked about one earlier on that thread.

Anyway, good to hear about Steam. Do you guys have any plans after doing the basics ? I mean, after importing physics, assets, models, gametypes, etc. Will you think about some matchmaking system or anything else ? As far as it seems to be a real great engine, I'm sure you guys are excited about doing something "new" for your game :)

[FS Frankie V]

saint, on 20 March 2014 - 08:44 AM, said:

Have you started to recontact each developer that left because of the previous engine ? We talked about one earlier on that thread.

Anyway, good to hear about Steam. Do you guys have any plans after doing the basics ? I mean, after importing physics, assets, models, gametypes, etc. Will you think about some matchmaking system or anything else ? As far as it seems to be a real great engine, I'm sure you guys are excited about doing something "new" for your game :)

Well for the moment lets just say it's Christmas and we already have dev's looking at were we can pick up the slack.

Personally I've volunteered to mentor 3d party mapmakers as well I'm very interested in the development of broadcasting tools and features to make shoutcasting easier.