Yearly update!
I've been slacking tremendously but the project is still moving forward.
- 3QG9t6R.png (119.75 KiB) Viewed 785 times
Major changes:
Ship equipment interface to change equipment quickly.
You can now load and fire weapons using the interface rather than just hotkeys.
Weaponry and modules can now load various types of ammunition.
Added a speed indicator which also displays the sectors heat level behind it.
Dynamic lighting from stars and projectiles.
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11076
Sound no longer just eats memory.
Networking much improved. Still a bit of de-sync here and there with fast ships but it's acceptable.
Time-dilation system for managing the gameworld completed. I should probably throw half a million ships at it to make sure it is really performing.
Added an options menu to alter starting conditions and also a control help panel.
I've made a whole lot of improvements to performance, to ensure the game never becomes unplayable no matter the situation you get into. Bugs are also now more-or-less extinct.
FPS averages around 300 on my laptop, and 200 in small scale battles. So performance wise things are looking great.
Unfortunately adding the aforementioned dynamic lighting may have excluded lesser machines like netbooks from running the game. The lighting will likely be a toggle-able option, but right now it isn't.
Here are two videos to show off the new lighting. Keep in mind it's a very subtle effect as I wanted to avoid over-saturating ships. It will probably change some more, but the current effect looks great in motion; even with my poorly normal-mapped textures.
Three minute engagement in a cruiser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBfLwsakJSI
Short skirmish using a battlecruiser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg4E5kuUa20
My current goal is to add strategics and economics to the AI. Barring that, I really need to be working on making content for the game.
Hopefully this year I'll get a bit more done!