A drive for Overdrive

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John Luke Pack Hard
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Re: A drive for Overdrive

Postby John Luke Pack Hard » Tue May 02, 2017 2:05 pm

STATUS UPDATE, 5/2/17: I talked with my artist yesterday, and assigned him the work that would be too complex for our volunteers. Not disparaging R4V3-0N or FallenAngel, R4V3-0N has done a fine job and FallenAngel has displayed good enthusiasm, but a novice wouldn't be able to do the complex task of recreating the background art in the ship customization screen. He expects to be done by Friday. I hope to be able to train FallenAngel or NarnKarn up to par by then to tackle the job of finishing the implementation of the ship customization screen.

Currently I am implementing the Resources loading system, leaving the loading bar interface for later, as that is purely cosmetic, however the resources themselves are integral for forming the weapons and ships, and therefore, the combat system. As of this moment I'm stuck with a glitch in the animations rendering system so I'm working on the weapons interface, currently developing the assets for those personally.

The next stage will be the events system. Then, we will release into alpha stage, where I will call for testers. Testing will occur in tandem with development of Sector 8 and the campaign manifest system and the events manifest xml scripting structure. All this will happen in the scale of 1-2 weeks, likely closer to two given the pace of development, assuming nothing supernatural happens.

UPDATE: Animations are smooth and stable, proceeding to next step.
John Luke Pack Hard
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Re: A drive for Overdrive

Postby John Luke Pack Hard » Wed May 03, 2017 1:21 pm

I might have misspoke on the estimate- there's a lot of factors in play in the events system, including the combat system and the systems within the ships interacting within the combat system- but I'll try to put all my effort into implement each factor to meet my self-imposed deadline.

Systems will likely fall under the same proposed implementation as augmentations: they have unique, hard to define functions that can't be directly defined, so I will follow the same agreed-upon decision that augments were given, especially since a deadline has been imposed; I have four classes that start in three weeks. Hard-coded upon release to shorten initial release; soft-coded in later updates to allow modders to implement their own unique functionality.

In addition, there's another poll, and this time, if you're following, I highly encourage you to vote so I can get a good estimation of the overall metrics of the following this project has. In the end I intend to negotiate with the developers of Faster than Light and release Overdrive via Steam to the general populace (for free to anyone who owns the original copy), but I'd like to see who's following right now:

https://www.strawpoll.me/12885546
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TheFallenAngel359
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Re: A drive for Overdrive

Postby TheFallenAngel359 » Wed May 03, 2017 10:21 pm

Not sure how difficult this idea would be to implement, but what if you could make it so Systems operate similar to Augments, in the sense that they have dedicated slots? So you could potentially do things like increase/decrease the maximum number of Systems (and Augments) a ship could hold, or even allow Systems to be sold in stores to free up a slot.
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John Luke Pack Hard
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Re: A drive for Overdrive

Postby John Luke Pack Hard » Wed May 03, 2017 11:26 pm

TheFallenAngel359 wrote:Not sure how difficult this idea would be to implement, but what if you could make it so Systems operate similar to Augments, in the sense that they have dedicated slots? So you could potentially do things like increase/decrease the maximum number of Systems (and Augments) a ship could hold, or even allow Systems to be sold in stores to free up a slot.


I sent you a pm, you need to answer that.

Also, that answers a potential issue with the UI where if you have too many systems, they override the subsystems in the UI and take up too much space. Of course, with the current set up the level of customization that entails requires a whole new level of design, meaning we'd have to put that off. Right now we're on a tight deadline given the pressure coming from the competing product, so priorities are to implement core features of the current system. That does sound like a good idea though, so we'll save that in this thread and come back and expand on it later.

It'll probably take a little bit of expansion of the current data structures and a few new tags in the XML sheets. Since we're doing a rewrite and not a modification, our implementation is much more flexible.
John Luke Pack Hard
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Re: A drive for Overdrive

Postby John Luke Pack Hard » Fri May 05, 2017 11:54 am

STATUS UPDATE, 5/5/07:
My artist got back to me with a preliminary report: so far so good! Albeit, the layouts selection box needs to be a bit bigger to fit this project's requirements. The customization UI is only one development thread, and it isn't too high on the priorities list, so we can have that done later.

Link for those who want to see the image he sent me. It's the first picture. Note the expanded layout box, the removed achievements pane, and the removed advanced edition content selection box.

Yesterday I finished up the WeaponEntity class archetype and finished correcting an issue with the animations. Turns out I absentmindedly plugged in the frame height variable for both the frame height and width parameter, which resulted in faulty frames, that got fixed, resulting in picture-perfect frames! Tested it and the frames render perfectly! Also updated the ship customization screen so the weapons section now has preliminary weapon icons.

Also, I recruited a new trainee coder under the agreement that I train him in coding and computer science so long as he helps the team with development. Today I spent 3 hours setting him up with repository access and helping him duplicate the project. Thanks to him the repository is comprehensively complete and the code can be instantly duplicated on the computer of anyone willing to participate as a contributor.

Now to-do is to create a preliminary initial projectile-delivery firing system where the weapon renders in the weaponMount position behind the ship, slides into the proper position when activated, renders into the chargedFrame when charged, then fires and renders a projectile when fired. From the breakdown of the sentence is a multi-stage system that will take multiple functions to implement. Expect it to be done in several days, maybe one if I work fervently enough, or get a lucky break in the form of some intrepid help.

Once that's done, I'll update the parent post's download links with a new version so you can test the functionality yourselves.
John Luke Pack Hard
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Re: A drive for Overdrive

Postby John Luke Pack Hard » Sat May 06, 2017 10:43 am

STATUS UPDATE, MORNING OF 5/6/07: The artist sent back a finished product last night and an invoice. The finished product looks nice and fits our specifications! Also, it's completely different from subset games's background, meaning it belongs strictly to our team. Our policy is if you have a legitimately purchased copy of Faster than Light or are working with us, you may download a copy of the assets. Yep, policy has been updated to include those working with us, because now I have recruited two trainees from outside the FTL forums. Thankfully they bought FTL from before, so they would've fallen under the old clause.

The invoice was $300, I'm still waiting on a bank transfer to make its way in so I can pay that off. I also need to earn another $50 to make the total. I'll have to do that by performing a coding contract per my informal "internship" agreement with a contact of mine. This will delay progress by a few hours, a day at most. If the expenses continue to rack up I may have to set up a patreon to help cover costs....

Not to say I won't contribute myself. I'll probably still be the primary contributor. I'm already planning on covering the invoice myself to begin with.

Still busily implementing the preliminary firing charge and firing mechanism.

EDIT: New screenshot, note that I've added weapon icons in the ship customization screen. This should keep you updated with some proof of progress.
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NarnKar
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Re: A drive for Overdrive

Postby NarnKar » Sun May 07, 2017 1:00 am

John Luke Pack Hard wrote:STATUS UPDATE, MORNING OF 5/6/07: The artist sent back a finished product last night and an invoice. The finished product looks nice and fits our specifications! Also, it's completely different from subset games's background, meaning it belongs strictly to our team.


I'm confused. It really doesn't look any different...
John Luke Pack Hard
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Re: A drive for Overdrive

Postby John Luke Pack Hard » Sun May 07, 2017 2:29 am

NarnKar wrote:I'm confused. It really doesn't look any different...

I guess I shouldn't have said "completely", but note the layout selection box and the lack of a Advanced Edition selection box.
John Luke Pack Hard
Posts: 112
Joined: Thu Nov 15, 2012 8:45 am

Re: A drive for Overdrive

Postby John Luke Pack Hard » Tue May 09, 2017 12:31 pm

STATUS UPDATE- MORNING OF 5/9/07: We ran into an error that had to do with a mismatch regarding the implementation of the data in the weapon mounts and libgdx's implementation.

See, whatever engine Faster than Light uses sets 0,0 as its top left corner, meaning positive Y values go downwards.

Libgdx sets 0,0 as the bottom left, meaning positive Y values go upwards. As a result, while the X values in the weapon mounts were aligning, the Y values were flipped, causing the weapons to appear topsy-turvy relative to their mount positions.

I applied a little reversing logic but even then, the weapon sprites were still a little off. They required an offset of 28 pixels in order to center them all.

Most likely I will have to implement an <implementation> tag accepting a value of vanilla or libgdx based on value preferences. One will keep the original top-to-bottom Y value implementation with the 28 pixel offset, the other one will use the simple libgdx bottom-to-top Y pixel values with no offset for simplicity. New mods can take advantage of that. This will come after completion.

As of now this issue is fixed. Also one of my trainees has recruited a recruit who, while he has never played FTL, is highly skilled and experienced in programming in game development. I am coordinating with him to get him synchronized and set-up with the project so he can begin working independently with an assignment thread.
John Luke Pack Hard
Posts: 112
Joined: Thu Nov 15, 2012 8:45 am

Re: A drive for Overdrive

Postby John Luke Pack Hard » Wed May 10, 2017 9:57 pm

Gents, I have read a thread from a certain source on the internet, and it concerns me greatly:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments ... fe_please/

After having perused some of the responses of the poster, VideoGameAttorney, do know that FTL: Overdrive falls under that category, for it is essentially, at this stage, a fan-based remake, and I personally have plans to expand into new features and negotiate with Subset Game for the right to monetize the features we add in return for giving them a cut for using their IP.

However, upon seeing the potential consequences for infringement, which are potentially devastating ("I've seen homes lost, families broken up, and credit ruined for life"), especially to a person like me who in my station in life owns no assets, I am making the decision to halt all development until we clear the legal matters, both present and future with Subset Games, for I am in no position to take such risks.

Should we receive a definitive "no" if Subset Games prioritizes protecting their IP, that's fine, I'll release the community members I recruited from service, and move on with the members I recruited through other channels. I have independent game ideas that don't fit the mould of the FTL series.

EDIT: I just sent an official inquiry to Subset Games regarding this matter at their business contact email. Hope for the best, for if their response is negative, I may be forced to shut down this project, and any future endeavors. Baring rogue development, Overdrive could be shut down for good.