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Re: A drive for Overdrive

Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2017 6:19 pm
by John Luke Pack Hard
I'll list your name in the credits then when the time comes.

R4V3-0N wrote:For the ship selection screen, do you wish the two buttons for 'scrolling through' per ship, or a section on the side for the entire page of vehicles much like how we got buttons to switch between type a, b, and c layouts?

Also, the current UI has a 1x2 section for the crystal and lanius separated, you want me to remove that divided section?


What I have in mind is this behavior for the ship selection screen. The two buttons will go on the bottom below the 12 ship selection icons, and when you click either one, the art in the selection icons will switch to the next 12 icons. If this description is too vague, I can draw up a mockup.

And yes, I want you to remove the section dividers. There will be no division in the 3x4 ship selection grid.

Re: A drive for Overdrive

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2017 3:20 pm
by John Luke Pack Hard
Can I get an ETA on the art assets, R4V3-0N? I will be assigning the task of upgrading the customization UI upgrade to my newly recruited partner-in-training.

Re: A drive for Overdrive

Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 3:23 pm
by John Luke Pack Hard
R4V3-0N, check the imgur link. I've got another assignment related to my branch of work, which is the combat system. I'll need you to duplicate those components before I'll be able to fully finish the inter-ship combat system.

https://imgur.com/a/YIrzw

Re: A drive for Overdrive

Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 5:00 pm
by TheFallenAngel359
I've been following this topic for a while, as I've been following Overdrive (and its failed successor, Operation Clonebay) for a while now. Both rewrites of the game were influential in the design for my mod, FTL: Otherspace, so I'd like to contribute to the project.

Unfortunately I don't know any Java, and likely won't learn any until after this summer (I'm in the CompSci program at my school), but I can help with both visual assets and testing. I'm going to attempt to create some of the assets you need as per the imgur link over this weekend, but let me know what you need as far as testing is concerned.

Re: A drive for Overdrive

Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 6:14 pm
by John Luke Pack Hard
TheFallenAngel359 wrote:I've been following this topic for a while, as I've been following Overdrive (and its failed successor, Operation Clonebay) for a while now. Both rewrites of the game were influential in the design for my mod, FTL: Otherspace, so I'd like to contribute to the project.

Unfortunately I don't know any Java, and likely won't learn any until after this summer (I'm in the CompSci program at my school), but I can help with both visual assets and testing. I'm going to attempt to create some of the assets you need as per the imgur link over this weekend, but let me know what you need as far as testing is concerned.


R4V3-0N is doing the customization UI assets (funny though, he hasn't reported back for a while). Can you scroll to the bottom and do the combat UI assets I requested?

As far as testing goes, download the most current available version (link on the first post) and see how many player-modded ships you can add to the sample program without breaking it. It should take infinite classes and 3 ships per class. Or in normal terms, infinite ships and 3 layouts per ship.

Once R4V3-0N finishes the buttons, 27 layouts will be possible.

To add a ship, add the ship's assets to the proper folders and modify the ship_list.xml file in the data/ships/player folder.

Note that my new design of FTL Overdrive uses a new unified ship.xml format. Manually unifying the three ship documents, ship.xml, ship.txt, and blueprints.xml will be a hassle, so I made an app that does it for you, although the app itself is not well formatted, as its buttons are not well spaced out.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1TDF ... m1iakhnSTg

Also note, my FTL Overdrive program uses StaX XML parser, which demands neat XML scripting. All starting and ending tags must match, all attributes must be properly spaced, and only one root element at a time. First of all, use the link in the parent post of this thread to FTL Overdrive.zip, it contains pre-unified and pre-bugfixed ship.xml files. Second, double check the unified files after you've unified them.

As a further aside, depending on how much free time you have, I'm willing to train you. I have many plans for FTL Overdrive beyond the initial version of cloning Faster than Light and opening up the base to modders. I'm more than willing to turn you into a fully functional asset to the team.

Re: A drive for Overdrive

Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 3:38 pm
by John Luke Pack Hard
For those of you who have been following, I'd like your opinions. Please answer the poll at the bottom after I explain the situation.

Based on behavior, FTL:Faster than Light uses simple transfer mechanics when it comes to its oxygen system.

In the meantime, I've been consulting my friend who is a Physics major and he's referred me to several resources, namely Bernoulli's principle, in calculating realistic fluid dynamics and transfer of air in various situations. The result is I can implement more realistic transfer of air mechanics.

Don't worry about development time. The difference will most likely be negligible.

What this will most likely affect is gameplay. Maybe the difference will be negligible and you won't notice it when playing FTL:Overdrive. Directly speaking, the transfer of oxygen between rooms will speed up when the pressure difference is high and slow down when the pressure difference is low.

https://www.strawpoll.me/12801523

EDIT: If you have an opinion or rationale behind your vote that you'd like to share, please feel free to post. It'll help inform others who decide to share their input before voting.

Re: A drive for Overdrive

Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 3:27 pm
by John Luke Pack Hard
Alright, it's been almost a week and R4V3 hasn't replied, either to this thread or my PM. I'm assuming he got cold feet and decided to drop out. I'm shunting his work to a professional artist. I'm reaching out to my contacts and gathering who has the best rate and consolidating my assets.

FallenAngel, you also indicated you'd have a response by the time the weekend rolls around. I also said I'd be willing to train you. Please respond. Clock is ticking and I'd like to keep the project rolling.

Also: so far, the poll is edging towards simple oxygen transfer system. Understandable, but that's no fun. :|

UPDATE: Implemented hull bar UI. It is working properly, however I have not implemented the combat system, so the hull UI is not hooked into that system yet. That also means, I have built the hull bar UI assets myself and won't need those from you, FallenAngel.

Re: A drive for Overdrive

Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2017 1:11 am
by NarnKar
I have a healthy interest in this project, and I check this thread daily. But I won't be able to seriously commit my time to this until summer break rolls around. Though my preferred languages are C++ and Python, I should be able to apply principles of OOP and good code to Java. (And I do know Java, though I'm not nearly as proficient in it.)

I voted for simple oxygen system because in games, realistic does not always mean better. Realistic can become too much of a hassle when not everyone knows the underlying "real" laws. And I personally think that abstraction is what makes video games interesting--creating and exploring the abstraction between "game" and "reality" is what makes play happen. In this case, I think the simple oxygen system is a great abstraction that already works quite well.

Re: A drive for Overdrive

Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2017 1:52 am
by John Luke Pack Hard
NarnKar wrote:I have a healthy interest in this project, and I check this thread daily. But I won't be able to seriously commit my time to this until summer break rolls around. Though my preferred languages are C++ and Python, I should be able to apply principles of OOP and good code to Java. (And I do know Java, though I'm not nearly as proficient in it.)


Java is pretty similar to C++, it just lacks certain features like pointers, which I can name off top of my head.

Let me know when your summer break starts. If you're still in high school, I'm guessing that will be in late June. I can train you and get you started. Or if you have time to spare right now, I can get you set up with the project and train you in the ways of libgdx development.

Re: A drive for Overdrive

Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2017 1:04 pm
by John Luke Pack Hard
R4V3 just got back, that clears him.

Anyways, to update our situation, I got a call from my current partner-in-training, and he pretty much told me with his current situation he only has 4 hours per week to spare for the project, and that can be iffy at times given that he has to go out of town sometimes, so good timing with the volunteers I guess?

With the oxygen system, when the time comes to implement it, I'll go with a simple fractional exchange system. A little on the realistic side, but simple enough to understand.