| Tanx Q-Expo release |
[19 Jul 2003|07:28pm] |
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In case you missed it, Tanx 2.0.6 was released at Q-Expo. This version is reportedly very buggy. Now I'm working 9-5 I don't have much time or energy to fix the damn thing, but it shou,ld work okay on tx_3base and tx_5base in teamplay mode, because that is how I tested it.
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| A note on 'command posts' & engineers |
[30 Jun 2003|02:19pm] |
Rather than going down the Warzone2100 / C&C road, I'll keep buildings & flags as set areas of the map, so that playesr don't have to worry about building their base, just capturing them. Thus engineers will be building smaller stuff like walls, pontoons (maybe) light turrets, repair bays and the like.
Note to self: must pester LH for water-detecting code.
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| 2.0.6 progress |
[30 Jun 2003|02:10pm] |
I thought it would be nice to release a new version of Tanx for the Expo, since we're going to the effort of having one and all... so yesterday saw the following:
-almost completed round-based teamplay
-new gun: heavy - plasma cannon
-revamped gun: new effect for the flamethrowers, easier to see what's going on.
-roving crosshair shows you exactly where you're going to shoot
-engineer can build repair stations (currently very badly skinned)
-bugfix: gyroc works in non-teamplay
-one new bug added: game crashes occasionally on spawn with the Antitank rifle. I have no idea why, but it'll be patched up for the alpha 6 release.
2.0.6 uses the most recent version of Darkplaces (20030607). Unfortunately, there's a bug in the polygon sorter, meaning that objects with transparency are rendered in the wrong order. This is not my fault, and if I had any idea where to look in the DP source, I'd post a fix. But I don't. Lord Havoc is far cleverer than I.
BTW, I hear he's currently 'away' doing paid programming work, so good for him. Darkplaces is kick-ass, and he deserves the money.
What should be in 2.0.6:
-round-based teamplay
-couple of new guns/hulls
-engineers to build machinegun turrets
-possibly per-spot limited spawning (only certain points can spawn heavy tanks, helos, etc, should finally allow for static emplacements)
Watch this space.
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| Coming Soon |
[16 May 2003|05:39pm] |
What's next for Tanx? Well, I need to get the bots sorted out soon, and after that, I'm thinking of moving into RTS territory - the Engineer class will have a menu of things to build, including walls, turrets, factories, etc. If you want your team to be able to build helos, then you need a VTOL factory, which has 2 DM spawns attached to it. If you want boats or subs, then you need a shipyard, etc. The AI will require quite a bit of work, for that. Currently the bots are prohibited from building anything, but that will have to change.
I'm also thinking of making 'command posts' buildable, so players add their own flags to be captured into the map, rather than there being predefined control points... to build buildings, you first need a command post, which has a certain radius. Within that radius, you can build buildings, but if the post is captured, all the buildings switch allegiance. I dunno, it's just a thought. Kinda like C&C meets CTF, but all first-person teamplay styleee.
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| Tanx 2.0.5 Release |
[15 May 2003|03:58pm] |
Get it here.
There are now 2 helos, and I've sorted out a couple of bugs. The helicopters also tilt as you move around. Enjoy.
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[11 May 2003|04:30pm] |
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OK, so that upload didn't work. I could have sworn I'd set mode to 'bin'... you'll just have to wait until I remember to upload it again. Sorry guys.
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| Tanx v2 Alpha #4 Released |
[10 May 2003|03:14pm] |
Get it here.
What's new?
Helicopters, for a start. And some tidied up respawning code. But it's mostly the helicopters...
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[27 Apr 2003|09:28pm] |
After some 3rd party beta tesing, I've made the Gyroc less powerful. I'm currently working on allowing engineers to build more than just walls... firstly, a repair bay. Any thoughts on buildings in Tanx2? Should they be big and really tough, or small, weedy, but fast to build?
Buildings will be in .mdl format, possibly with an invisible .bsp for clipping purposes - this allows me to have correctly lit buildings. Unfortunately, I still can't rotate any buildings with doors and whatnot - you can't rotate .bsps, even if they're invisible =[
After that, I think we could all do with some very silly big guns.
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[16 Apr 2003|10:56pm] |
In a shock move, there's a new version of Tanx v2. It's not uploaded yet, because of technical difficulties, but here's a list of what's new:
ATV/Hovercraft allow transit across water.
New 'Assault Tank' hull with new weapons selection.
A whole heap of weapons:
-Light weapons: Antitank rifle / Mini-rocket tubes (like the 6-shot pack but 2x2 firing LMB/RMB).
-Assault weapons: Light cannon / dual flamer / dual machinegun.
-Heavy weapons: Double-barrelled cannon / Nuke launcher.
Skins fixed for teamplay.
Teamplay fixed for Tanx v2-specific maps.
New maps - tx_3base (teamplay), tx_halfassed (DM).
I've discovered quite a major flaw though - my FBX waypoints won't load properly. I know they output correctly, because they work in Tanx v1 (which also uses FBX) - anyone have any ideas?
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[08 Jan 2003|11:57am] |
Playtesting in Computer Science on Saturday, probably. Hopefully it'll be good fun, I need to knock up some maps beforehand.
Alpha #3 coming soon.
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[06 Jan 2003|11:07am] |
Tanx is on hold for the moment as I have exams, but I thought I'd give you a little insight as to how the gold release will look:
- Ground, air and sea vehicles
- New weapons:
- (Heavy) Combo - cannon, machinegun, rocketpods, use RMB to cycle
- (Heavy) Artillery - long range only, high damage, inaccurate
- (Heavy) Nuke launcher - guess :P
- (Heavy) Guided missile launcher
- (Assault) Assault shotguns - 4 mounted on turret. Close range high rof
- (Light) Grenade launcher - short range explosive
- Repair - for teamplay purposes
- New bodies:
- Construction - tertiary fire cycles between buildable objects, secondary fire deploys. Light weapons only.
- Smoke launcher - tertiary fire deploys smoke grenades to obscure view.
- Jetpack - like pressing the 'jump' button.
- New 'wheelbases' including emplacements, boats, helos, etc.
Gameplay will be 2-team Domination style, in which you attempt to capture 'control points'. Control points have spawn points associated with them, so you win by capturing all the control points, thus leaving the other team with no way of respawning.
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[04 Jan 2003|11:41pm] |
Progress has been made on the Teamplay mode. I'm currently adding desert camo skins but i'm really not happy with them. I don't really think the Quake palette has the right colours to do it, so they may be remade as 24-bit targas.
Next I need to make a test map for the control points.
But not until after my exams.
Alpha #3 ETA: ~2 weeks.
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[02 Jan 2003|07:52pm] |
New weapon added - Antitank rifle.
I'm considering implementing an armour / armour penetration system, so that for instance, the minigun would be useless against a tank, but the tank cannon would be less effective against trucks. The problem is that this may actually homogenize the weapons rather than add variety, because it may end up making all the weapons do roughly the same amount of damage. We shall see.
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[28 Dec 2002|12:32pm] |
I've been working more on Alpha #3 (due mid-January - I have exams, after all).
The bots work better now, especially with the minigun.
There's some new turrets for the Assault hull.
There's a new map (TX_Halfassed).
ATM I'm working on getting the amphibious craft to float properly, and to eliminate the drop-down-into-the-water effect when you are near the water's edge. Somehow I want to incorporate a sniper-rifle style weapon, probably as a Heavy weapon.
Then there's the teamplay / control point code to write.
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[24 Dec 2002|09:07pm] |
Work on Tanx v2 progresses apace. There will be a Christmas release of v2 alpha #2. You can expect:
- Slightly less dumb bots
- Weapons: Cannon / Double cannon / Rocket launcher / Machinegun / Flamethrower / Rocket pod
- Tank bodies: Light / Medium / Heavy
- Wheelbases: Wheels / Halftracks / Tracks / Amphibious / Hovercraft
Allow me to sketch some of the features I see being in Tanx v2 as a finished product:
- 2 team teamplay
- More guns
- Base building turrets / repair turrets
- Boats
- Emplacements (static wheelbase with loads of hitpoints)
- Domination-style control points - team earns points for controlling certain map zones
That's all for now. Come back tomorrow for a second look at Tanx v2.
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[16 Dec 2002|03:12pm] |
If I can be bothered I'll shove up what I've got of Tanx v2 soon. Here's a list of features, in no particular order:
- Tank bodies: light, medium, heavy
- Tank turrets: cannon, machine gun, rocket pod
- Tank wheels: wheels, halftracks, tracks, amphibious
- Amphibious mode half-working
- No bots as yet, will implement FBX when I have a moment
- Most original ID code torn out
- Observer mode
- Tank select mode (with alpha-ed rotating tanks!)
- Hardwired for engines compatible with dpextensions.qc (DP, TQ)
That's about all I can think of. Watch this space for screenshots and a cheesy pre-alpha release, coming soon.
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