GameTorpedo.com
Quick Links
Project Information
Login
Random Game
Submission Genres
RSS Feed
Home » Projects » ExoterraWelcome, Guest | Register

What is Game Torpedo?

Game Torpedo is a site where indie game developers can easily promote and test their games and projects. Game Torpedo aims to take indie game development to a new level and best of all - It's completely free! Click to join »

Exoterra

Exoterra
Download Game
N/A out of 10
Submission by: Zuka
Bookmark and Share


Exoterra is a mature MMO project that's been fully planned out by Zuka alone, and is now in the implementation stage. It runs on a custom game engine called Exoterra. The engine itself is readily cross-platform and uses OpenGL for rendering.

The game itself takes place in a vast galaxy based on Hoag's Object, a ring galaxy in the constellation Serpens Caput. This galaxy contains approximately 8 billion stars. Each and every star can be visited, and each one has it's own system of planets, asteroids, and other objects. For realism, not EVERY planet has planets, but a lot of them do, and they're up for grabs.

It started as a small project on a game called Roblox, where you can create your own personal places and play with other people in them, online. Zuka soon realized that Roblox couldn't handle what he had planned and he decided to learn C++ and make it himself. That was in early 2008. Now, Exoterra is almost ready for a closed alpha and Zuka is looking for some dedicated playtesters.

If you're interested, send Zuka a message on Xfire. Add "zyi", no quotes. But remember, this is a serious project. You'll have to deal with chatroom invites late at night calling for a group testing session. Prepare to be bombarded with messages and files.




Development Log

Yay for ResourceManager. It is quite awesome.

RM->Add(RT_Model, "yo momma");
RM->Add(RT_Image, "yo mommas butt");
RM->Add(RT_Script, "how yo mommas butt jiggles");
RM->Add(RT_Text, "explanation for immaturity");

The resource manager collects all this info and goes through it. It sorts it by priority, which goes

Image
Model
Script
Text

Where Image is loaded first. Then it loads the model - so on. But wait! What if we set textures in the model? TOO BAD. FIGURE IT OUT ON YOUR OWN.

Nah, just kidding. The development suite I've been working on has it's own formats. It just doesn't work like that. :D. Each resource is actually two files. One is a configuration file and one is the actual data. The configuration file is loaded first and treated just like a normal resource script (in that it dynamically adds resources to load), so any dependencies are taken care of. The actual data file just uses the name of the texture - if it doesn't exist, too bad. You get a pretty placeholder texture! :D
Ugh. School has really been slowing me down. On top of that, I've been sick (NOT the swine flu), so progress has been slow.

However, I've worked on the server a bit - it can do a whole grand total of... LOGGING YOU IN AND CHANGING THE AMOUNT OF MONEY YOU HAVE! OH MY GOSH! :D
Hm. Well, I haven't really gotten anywhere on the demo... not that you can see. However, if you manage to hit ~, then the console pops up. :D

That's not all, either. I've got RakNet fully integrated - I'm adding some basic functions such as Login, Chat, Logout...

The meta-server doesn't have RakNet integrated, yet, though. Don't worry though, it will soon. It reads from the site's database, too. If you made a username on VSDWeb, then you have a username in-game as well.

I'm going to add some stuff later on (and I really do mean later on) that will allow you to browse the forums in-game. Basically, the game will send an HTTP request to http://vsdweb.com/ for forums-ingame.php, with some GET variables for retrieving specific threads and stuff. There won't be able styling to it, just plain text for the game to format.

Maybe I'll have ExoTML. That is, Exoterra Text Markup Language. Basically, a modified version of XHTML. Not hard to do, the most difficult part is the layout engine (which I can handle as well.)
I've been working a bit on the website. We're one step closer to having player-created corporations!

http://vsdweb.com/?p=Corporations
More ramble:

The meta-server will handle all player connections and link them up with the many physical servers.

These physical servers will connect just like clients (except, over LAN so it'll be pretty fast), and the meta-server will act as a relay between the actual clients and the physical servers. There'll be around 5 physical servers initially (if everything goes to plan), so the game should run just fine.

The real servers aren't allowed direct database access. They have to modify the player data via network messages that call a console command on the meta-server. For instance, a shop would do something like this:

Net->Send("additc(" + userid + ",-500)");

And that'd take away 500 ITC (Interstellar Trade Currency) from userid's on-hand money.
Just working on the meta-server. I'm implementing the Player class and adding some helper functions for modifying their money and stuff. The meta-server connects to my site's database and works off it. Just kinda hoping it's fast enough.
I've uploaded something to play with. Read "readme.txt" in the "test1" folder for instructions.
Well, the scene graph works and everything. I'm just trying to figure out this rotation crap so I can release a flying demo.
Ramble time -

Since I'm using a scene graph, making characters "stick" to the inside of their ships shouldn't be a problem. It also makes physics easy, as I can just have a plain up-and-down scene, then when I render it, I just transform the whole scene by the ship's transform (or more specifically, put it under the ship's node.)

All ships will have gravity generators (except fighters where you can't get out of your seat and walk around), which cancel out external gravity. So, if you land in a station, you can fly in upside down, but nothing changes inside the ship - until you turn off the gravity generator. Just for gameplay's sake, I won't allow people to turn off the generators unless they're right-side up. That would just be chaotic...

There'll also be inertial dampeners. As far as coding goes, it just means that if you accelerate, nothing inside "feels" that. So, if you hit something, everything won't go flying off the table in the crew quarters.
Of course, before I make a scene graph, I need to make the model loader.

But what format?

Psh. I'll just use D3DX's built-in functions. Who gives a crap if some kid sifts through the files and thinks it's unprofessional? :D
I've been testing out some Lua stuff. It only took me about a minute to realize I would need to completely re-write that section all over again. No worries, though. I'm prepared for it.

I'm going to start on the scene graph soon. I already have a base node class ready, I just need to make some stuff inheriting from it. I'm really trying to avoid virtual functions...


Comments

WOW, this looks like a promising idea for the game I've always wanted, but I'm sorry to say that it's nigh impossible to make an indy MMO.
Developer Comment
Wouldn't you rather have a popular indie MMO over a popular published MMO? Indie developers can do anything with their games, and they usually know what's best for them. Publishers don't. Look at Star Wars Galaxies. Great game until Sony stuck their noses in.
Really interesting, you have come really far with this project. I cant wait for the flying demo. I did notice that artists and 3D modeling persons are needed, unfortunately the models I make you would consider "cartoonish".

Anyways, I'm glad that I found this, I truelly know you know what your doing after seeing this.
Rating: 8 out of 10
I can tell, this is going to be

I can tell, this is going to be


1337, please dont spam large pictures. We could have simply enlarged the small one you posted to get the idea.
Hey if ya want to make your person a little better use blender 3d! it is the best FREE modeler i've ever known,just use some tutorials,they are easy to find them,just google it
(no i am not an advertiser)
Developer Comment
Um, I'm not an artist, I'm a programmer.
Awesome. Sounds like the game concept came right out of my own head. I would love to see this thing progress.
So... has this died or has the website just not been updated in a while?


Leave a comment

Please log in or register to comment/vote.