Spawn points and more networking

Networking has received yet another performance boost. I discarded Panda3D's network classes in favor of Python's sockets. I also switched to a single-threaded, non-blocking system that performs significantly better and clears up the messy Panda3D threads that were acting very strangely. I also improved the connection process; both the client and server now send packets to each other while connecting, in an attempt to punch through even the most draconian of NAT schemes.

Update

Not dead... just really busy. Been doing a lot of network debugging and optimization; I added zlib compression to the network packets, which cut down network bandwidth by about a fourth. I also streamlined a few network issues, added a simple network performance logger, and implemented simple client-side interpolation; everything moves much smoother now, even if there is a slight delay. It's basically a fact of life these days in online games; as long as hit detection is still accurate, a small delay is practically unnoticeable.

Gameplay trailer

Finally got sound working in these videos, yay! New features in this video include the aforementioned shadow mapping and reloading, a brand new three player map called Orbit, and heavy modifications to the original Impact level.

I really cannot wait to get the multiplayer up and running, and get people playing the beta. Next on my to-do list are a few standard online features: basic match-making, in-game chat, etc.

Without further ado:

Reloading, shadow mapping

Thanks to the Panda3D 1.7.0 shader generator supporting shadow mapping, and the awesome new BuildBot service set up on the Panda3D website, A3P now supports basic shadow mapping! Actually, the sun is just implemented as a giant spotlight with a 2048x2048 shadow buffer. Definitely not the most efficient or high-quality method, but certainly the easiest, and the results are acceptable.

Also new in SVN is a reloading mechanic. The shotgun, chaingun, and sniper rifle all have to be reloaded, with varying clip sizes and reload times. Of course, reloading units are highlighted as vulnerable, and they also beep furiously to make it perfectly clear they need to be shot at.

Schedule delays

It's time to face the facts. While the game is progressing at an incredible pace, it's not going to be ready by January 9, or even the end of January. So, I guess I failed to meet my deadline.

But! I'm not giving up. I'll still be releasing regular updates, and especially once the multiplayer lobby server is set up, things will start getting a lot more polish. My new goal will be to finish the game before school lets out for the summer. Of course it will be online and playable well before then, but I won't consider it "finished" until I'm satisfied.

v0.5a released

That "a" stands for "not quite ready yet". This is sort of an intermediate release that focuses mainly on online multiplayer, which is largely functional, but needs more testing. Aside from polish and bug fixes, the only other things I'm going to add are more weapons and special abilities. And maybe a new level. We'll see.

This release went much smoother than the last two, as I used Panda3D's built-in packpanda to make the installer. I also cut the installer size down by scaling images, deleting unused files, and resampling music and sounds into the Ogg Vorbis format. It's incredible what Ogg Vorbis can do; without sacrificing any quality at all, I cut down the music size by about 20%. With a bit of downsampling, it was about 50%. The final installer is 80 Mb, a far cry from the 176 Mb v0.3 installer!

New name: A3P

Goodbye Stainless, hello A3P. I spent a good chunk of time creating new A3P material and switching everything over to the new name. Unfortunately, SourceForge's UNIX rename feature is down, so I created a new project for web hosting purposes only. The code and file releases are still on the Stainless SourceForge project. Which, to be extra confusing, I renamed as well, but again, I couldn't change the UNIX name.