Rebellion 2 in the making?

[JanDeis]

Is there a team working on Rebellion 2 right now? If not, I want to attempt to start up my own Reb2 project. If there already is a team, I want to see if I can join and help out.

 

Anyone know of anybody, or if everything is dead?

[SirLoin]

I would like to help. I havn't made a game from scratch but I have had some modding experience with the Quake (PK3) engine. I am willing to be an active member of the group and I have allot of time on my hands.

[JanDeis]

...but I have had some modding experience with the Quake (PK3) engine.

 

Have you ever modded Jedi Outcast by any chance? It runs off of the Quake 2 or 3 one.

 

Anyways, if nobody is working on it, that explains the inactivity on this part of the forums. So I guess I might as well start recruiting! Check out http://www.freewebs.com/deisgames/index.htm for my team site.

 

Right now, my team consists of......me.

I need help with that don't I?

[nordwindranger]

Hey guys.

Over the last couple years, there have been a lot of Reb2 projects.

I believe they are all dead however.

 

Most of the projects failed because people underestimated just how much work goes into making a game like this.

 

However, I think the number one in creating REB2 is that quite simply you aren't LucasArts and therefore don't have any legitamite claim to the Star Wars intellectual property. It can be argued that what your doing falls under the category of a "fan game", and therefore should be ok. But it would really suck to get a "cease and desist" letter after putting a lot of time into your game.

 

If your interested in seeing what I did with my REB2 project before bailing, check out my website:

http://

http://nordwindranger.com/idoe.aspx

 

 

There is one active project, although it is more of a general space-sim than a rebellion sim. If your interested, here's the link

http://

http://terrastrategy.sourceforge.net/

 

[JanDeis]

It can be argued that what your doing falls under the category of a "fan game", and therefore should be ok.

 

Then that is what we will do. There isn't a rule that says fan games have to suck compared to an original is there?

 

If no, then Reb2 is on its way!

 

By the way, my website is up. Its just a freewebs thing, but it gets the job done. http://www.freewebs.com/deisgames/index.htm

[SirLoin]

Love the ambition, as long as you don't sell something commercialy LA can't really do much. The websites cool and if the goal of Deisgames is to do digital work for no profit you'll be fine.

 

ps. Could you add a members/resume section to the site for people who want to describe themselves, their skills, or their interests.

[JanDeis]

ps. Could you add a members/resume section to the site for people who want to describe themselves, their skills, or their interests.

 

I can. I think I'll put that piece up in the forums. Should be up in just a minute...

[JanDeis]

Ok! The forums and the rest of the site is up!

 

See it here: http://www.freewebs.com/deisgames/index.htm

[Moribundus]

Hi,

 

it's great to see someone else is interested in active development of Rebellion 2

 

As Nordwindranger mentioned, my project (Terra Reconstructed) is still alive. It's main goal is to provide framework for a space RTT(B)S game (much like Rebellion). I decided only to make the engine and to leave the actual game content up to someone else. Besides my knowledge of the SW universe is limited to the movies and wookiepedia, so I suppose that there are better people for this.

 

So if you'd like to work together (which would be nice, unless you decide to use some other more finished engine), just let me know.

[JanDeis]

Well, what programs are you using? Will it be 2D (like Rebellion) or 3D (like Empire at War?

[JeZuS]

Get a good structure and plan laid out. Let people know how to help.

 

Don't worry about time frames or anything like that, but if the shell of the application is available and modular enough, then people will find it easy to help you and join in.

[Moribundus]

Well, what programs are you using? Will it be 2D (like Rebellion) or 3D (like Empire at War?

 

The core of the engine is written in C++/OpenGL and sripting is done in Lua (it includes even the scene graph management). it's supposed to be full 3D, not pseudo 3D like EAW, but more like homeworld (and Ascendancy for the startegic part). However the framework should be flexible enough to allow multiple approaches to be built on top of the same engine. Modularity is most important. So it will be what you want it to be

 

I'll give you an example. The game tree (you might call it a scene graph) consists of Entity objects and each object has a Form (model instance and/or graph), a set of States (describing the entity) and some Actions (and other children Entities). If the entity is told to react to some event/action, it looks the events name up in it's internal association tables to see, whether it has any Action object associated with it (whether it knows what to do). If it has, it executes that Action object, otherwise it ignores the event (ie. battleship wil react to the "draw" event, while AI controller will not). Actions can of course check for certain values/parameters contained in entity's states and react according to them. I hope this will make the engine flexible enough even for development of games like Reb2, which might contain two or three fundamentaly different "subengines".

 

Terra currently uses Microsoft's X file format fror models and XML for materials (and GLSL for shaders). The only modification to the X files is that you have to use the EffectInstance tag to define which xml material to use. MS effect files are not suported.

 

However it shouldn't be so hard to modify blender's .X exporter (which is written in python) to do this for you.

 

Maybe you could work on the Rebellion mod (Rebellion Reconstructed...hmm?) while I would simultaneously work on improving the framework

 

Get a good structure and plan laid out. Let people know how to help.

Hmm, maybe i should start a mod wiki or something. I've never been good at organizing stuff (and advertising )

 

Edit: Huf huf, I managed to put together some kind of mini-wiki

here's the link: http://terrastrategy.wiki.sourceforge.net

[JanDeis]

Well, if I wanted to work with your engine, what programs and experience would I need? I can do nothing when it comes to coding or scripting (yet ). But I can do cheap 3D models. Yesterday I made a Trade Federation Battleship using about 10-12 simple shapes. The only major edit was cutting part of my torus off and capping the holes. I am currently learning how to work Blender and how to use the python coding. I can use Blender to a small extent, just basic modeling. But I prefer to do my modeling in other programs (I use Misfit Model 3D, but I want 3ds Max).

 

By the way Mad, I think my torrent sucks. It wont even connect. Could it be because of my wireless connection?

[Mad78]

@JanDeis: Try using FrostWire.

 

I can help with the project but only on the modelling side.

[Moribundus]

Well, basically any 3D editor that can export .X files (with bones) and text editor for writing Lua scripts will be enough

 

I want to write a lot of scripts for Terra, so you will be able to reuse them and enrich them with better graphics. Maybe you'll like the templates I have some nice ideas...

 

You might also want to contact Lord La Forge and the Reloaded team. They probably have lots of artwork for the Thrawn era you might find useful.

[Mad78]

So how is developpement of Terra going?

[Moribundus]

Slowly, but I'm making progress. I changed the structure a bit to "decouple" renderer from the actual engine. Model rendering is basically done and now I'm working on scene graph organization (spatial subdivision, it's abstraction and such). Next is GUI and input subsystem

[JanDeis]

As for working with the Terra Reconstructed thing...

 

I don't have any programs that can mess with, import, export, or anythings else with .X files. I also don'r know anything about C++, open GL, or Lua.

 

How easy is it work with any of those three?

[SirLoin]

Impossible. You can't do it. It's a feat beyond your capabilities. Give up.

 

I don't know exactly how to work it but this road starts with a speed bump so I know it's hardest at first. Other than that I don't know how to start from the beggining with a project. I wish there were better turorials and clear software that could explain this process. Strangely enough I havn't been able to find too many sites that give a simple and complete guide to using C++ programing and what you need to run a full application properly. If the members of the project wants more people to get involved this should be made more available, unless it isn't at all.

[Mad78]

Slowly, but I'm making progress. I changed the structure a bit to "decouple" renderer from the actual engine. Model rendering is basically done and now I'm working on scene graph organization (spatial subdivision, it's abstraction and such). Next is GUI and input subsystem

If you need a hand just say so.

[Moribundus]

Impossible. You can't do it. It's a feat beyond your capabilities. Give up.

 

Who? Me, or JanDeis?

 

I don't have any programs that can mess with, import, export, or anythings else with .X files. I also don'r know anything about C++, open GL, or Lua.

 

How easy is it work with any of those three?

 

AFAIK Blender can export models into .X files (it's one of those python export plugins). Lua documentation can be found on it's official site - http://www.lua.org/. And you don' have to know a thing about C++, or OpenGL. It's being used only for the engine core, not for the rest of the game.

 

Lua is quite minimalistic, but very powerful and flexible. Like other scripting languages it has garbace collection and automated memory management, dynamic types and so on.

 

You can go with Blender if you wish, but it won't be any easier. Terra doesn't have nearly as much documentation as Blender, nor has that much features (yet), but you can relay you wishes/question directly to it's creator (me ). Besides there are certain things Blender doesn't do for you (and which Terra or I will ), like networking or AI and you'd have to make those from scratch, which might a problem for some people without deeper knowledge. And if something is hard to make it just work, it's even harder to make it work properly (no exploits, no cheating in multiplayer etc.)

 

If you need a hand just say so.

 

Ok, I will I just have to finish this scene graph first...

 

Edit:

I don't know exactly how to work it but this road starts with a speed bump so I know it's hardest at first. Other than that I don't know how to start from the beggining with a project. I wish there were better turorials and clear software that could explain this process. Strangely enough I havn't been able to find too many sites that give a simple and complete guide to using C++ programing and what you need to run a full application properly. If the members of the project wants more people to get involved this should be made more available, unless it isn't at all.

 

There might not be many tutorials on this, but there are lots of books covering this topic and this is also the stuff they teach at university However I can tell you that projects stars with lot of thinking (this phase is called analysis). You take a paper and a pencil and write down all the things you want the program to do. Then you try organize things a bit and think about possible pitfalls and implementations. In the end you might even find out that you've wasted several notepads and pencils

 

And this is also what I'd like you to do. Leave the engine specific questions for later and instead focus on the actual game itself. Not just settings and factions, but on all the mechanics (resource management for example, even differences between multiplayer and singleplayer), then on the GUI, units and so on. Once you really know what (and have a rough idea how), then you can start thinking about implementation. You might consult Terra's design document for inspiration

[JanDeis]

Hmm, I can't find that AFAIK thing. Could you point me in the right direction?

 

Also, as of right now, I can't work with anything but basic 3D modelling in a limited variety of file formats. Is there anything I can do to fill the gap while I try to learn how to use Lua?

[Mad78]

3d Exploration is a brilliant program for 3d file conversion.

[Moribundus]

Hmm, I can't find that AFAIK thing. Could you point me in the right direction?

 

Also, as of right now, I can't work with anything but basic 3D modelling in a limited variety of file formats. Is there anything I can do to fill the gap while I try to learn how to use Lua?

 

Chmm, it should be in the export menu among with the other formats (File->Export->DirectX) Python scripts are easily recognizable in Blender because they have green snake icon with them. If you don't see these green pythons anywhere then perhaps you don't have the plugins installed (although it should be by default by most distributions).

 

And few tips about making models for computer games: focus on low-poly models and texturing. If you want to have hundreds of ships firing at each other at the same time on the battlefield, it's obvious that every extra polygon rendered slows the framerate down a bit. So try to eliminate coplanar or invisible polygons (polygons that got somehow inside the model), the tiniest details (details that won't be visible most of the time, or that can be emulated by good texturing - like bumps on the ship hull) and focus on the most visible parts of the ships. There are many ways to do this (you can make a big detailed model using curves and boolean operations at first and then simplify it or you can make it like a sculpture - start from a cube and then shape it). Just look at any strategy game to see what I mean

 

You can also check out http://www.xwaupgrade.com/. They have some nice tutorials on texturing starships.

 

Also if you have any questions just ask and I'll try to help you out.

[Lord_La_forge]

Aren't there any useable game-makers anymore?

 

Rebellion is basicly a card-game, maybe it can be reconstructed in such a software with adding some 3d design.