Rad Alert

[Code_Man]

This is the thread where im gonna show stuff for my game, as what you can guess from the title, is a remake of the 1996 masterpiece command and conquer: red alert by westwood.

I decided to make such a game after i got those models from https://ppmforums.com/topic-66860/various-red-alert-1-vehicles-obj/ and tried to use and they worked out of the box well.

Vehicles are in too but are badly in need of having made the proper adjustments before they are usable, they either bounce round or sink in, except for the truck which sorta works.

Some structures are somewhat functioning and have the proper models, but its still a mess in that section with textures and materials all over the place.

 

There are also 4 almost sufficiently functional game modes, one is somewhat a clone of battlefield, but without respawning at the captured points and no tickets, game ends when one team holds all points.

Next one is the classic where you must stop invading npc from entering your conquest zone and hold out for some settable time(or infinite), i plan on adding secondary objectives later on too.

Another one is a variation of the above with the twist that you get attacked in predefined waves and instead of playing for time you must defeat all waves of enemies.

Last but not least would be the classic commando mission, where your goal is to get to the extraction point, engage enemies at will, that can be played coop with settable amount of respawns(default none).

A prototype actual strategy mode exists too and it can do the most basic stuff somewhat but everything else is missing and there are quite some other problems with that, which was my original gameplay concept.

Npc code is minimal right now, they do much but they can move and shoot mostly in ways that satisfies gameplay atleast for now.

In recent times i collected quite a huge number of assorted map prop assets that i will use too, but i dont have them sorted properly yet.

I got a hold of some good aircraft and naval vehicle models too that i can very much use, but those will need even longer to get working than the rest.

Some gui leftover work needs to be done too, but i figured an interesting way to do the gui.
The lack of working animations and the incomplete levels are what is hold back a release of a demo the most for now, but i think those ought to be resolved quickly with the rest.
All in all i enjoy the npcs fights even if they are mundane.

For now i use the default soldier and some placeholder weapon assets for another game i work on, but i got the assets i need just havent bothered yet to actully get those in.

I got quite well to the part where things mostly function and i have to fill up the content and do sorting and balancing and level desing.
There has been a long delay porting from the 4.0 preview to 4.0.3 but was worth it for me and im quite enjoying the way this is going so far despite all the little stones along the way.

 

Heres a screenshot of some of the vehicles that will be featured, the angles look weird cuz i had to place em that way or they would bounce off.

Also you may notice the randomized light colors, those will obviously be normal on release.

This is about the most that is worth to show for now, but there will be more stuff coming soon hopefully.

I know you cant see all that much and there isnt all that much more to see for now, but its better than nothing for an introduction.

[fLUnKnhaXYU]

possible problems could be

the spring force is too high . check the mass in the vehicles datablock . then set the Force in the spring datablock to around 7 or 8 times the mass . that should be a usable starting point . check the cheetahCar datablocks , the mass is 400 and the spring force is 2800 .

 

[Duion]

That's rad.

[Code_Man]

It sure is rad, over the geiger counter rad.

I have been working a bit with vehicles, the good news is the truck, which as a front steering axle and two back axles for transmission is somewhat working.

Other vehicles are still bouncing around mostly, i think im getting the hang of it slightly but it still feels like mostly shooting targets in the dark.

I wanted to do some sort of system where i can replace wheels and springs on the go, but i have neither the framework nor working average values to use as reference, so il save it for later on.

 

About the vehicles included: if you follow the link posted you can see the models better, metalness, smoothness and diffuse colors have been added in the materials, so the look is still being worked on.

I have all the combat vehicles from red alert including expansions in, support vehicles will come later on aswell as extra vehicles for both sides and neutral ones.

The weapons on turreted tanks work well, they also have coaxial machineguns and some have seperate machinegun turrets on the turret too.

Vehicles have lights that can be turned on and off(maybe change colors too :)? ), so im going to bring out the nice rendering of t3d.

Turrets are not player controllable normally, i think of making some missions where you command a tank platoon from one, but that will be much later on done.

Im trying to include a few in the initial demo, but its a huge pain so i dont want get hung up on it.

Il try to showcase some of the rides some more when they are a little more cooperative during placement and the visibility becomes better.

 

[Code_Man]

Wanna post a little update to show some more and disclose more intel.

Good news is i got the ranger very nicely working and some other vehicles like the gaz for the soviets almost too.

Bad news is i still havent figured out the animations part, i might end up using duions paintball once i get it working with the script.

Im remaking the map el alamein from battlefield 1942 for comparison and because it is my favorite map, so if you played that you know where about its headed.

I havent gotten yet to test bots with vehicles, but last i tried in 4.0prevewiev5 the bots would turn the steering either 1,0 or -1 what amounted to them driving only straight, would be awesome if that was fixed.

 

For the demo i will keep things real simple and because it will take even longer to balance than to implement new stuff i will hold back on fancy gameplay mechanics.

Eventually infantry weapon accuracy will be affected by energy and energy together with recharge and repair levels affected by damage level along with movement allowances.

After that i would like to have a veterancy system to give players certain perks depending on class, similar to how enemy territory had that of sorts.

 

Here are some screenshots of some vehicles, i dont know why its so dark, but i know the lights are misplaced and still need to work on that system, glowsticks will not be included in the game.

The tanks are still flakey but getting there i think and the maps will be done quickly, its just i havent bothered to use different terrain materials yet and put in props.

Also i made a entry in the t3d games page, once its approved il put in some better looking promo content.

[LoLJester]

Great effort. Good to see you're getting the hang of how to do things in T3D. Looking forward to see how your project comes along.

[Code_Man]

Good news i managed to fix the animations, some script stuff was missing appearently, i dont care to know what exactly it was.

I also found out why stuff looks so dark, i had brightness set too low on the maps.

Just noticed too that the vehicles are too large in scale so will fix that and hope it doesnt mess up the vehicle balancing too much.

 

I am pushing forward to a demo asap, with all classes including mechanic and shock trooper each with one weapon.

The ranger and gaz will also be included and the truck, maybe the few tanks that proove not too undrivable too.

There will be a atleast two maps with each a different game mode, with (crappy)bot support, three if things go well.

 

As for the buildings and other stuff, i will try to squeeze in as much as i can for the next release, it mostly comes down to material and texture sorting and stuff.

Im just doing weapon rigging and map finalizing, also code polishing and the dreadfuil ui stuff that is basically all it comes down for now.

Theres some slightly experimental stuff i might throw in too, but usually those dont work well out of the box.

[fLUnKnhaXYU]

Good . Ill be looking forward to seeing your development .

[Code_Man]

Progress is going well, with animations somewhat fixed, there is some issue of setAnimPrefix or whatever not being a function, which i know was working in the old version.

I got weapons positions and the other node data and geometry mostly done, i still need to improvise a model for the shock gun, sadly i have no working revolver for the thief and no silenced pistol for the spy so far.

Character tweaking is going along ok too, i expect to have a reasonable balance with good but not too good movement, also some effects need working on but i have rifle soldiers and engineers done, for the demo.

I want to squeeze in another map, which should go quickly, the other maps are coming along fine too, i hope to have atleast decent prototypes soon.

There are quite a few maps i want to make, most inspired by another red alert game and with some more classic red alert stuff too.

My hope is by next week to have a playable demo done, the most i need is to fix the interface, which i hate the most.

Its also a bit poor in terms of props and assets so far, its not that i dont have them, i just dont have them on hand right now and i dont want to stall or fill up with needless props.

Bots still have some slight glitches and i want to make the code more split up to have more functionality, but im having quite fun with those so far, even if they are monotone.

Game mode code is mostly working ok too, theres some questions on my part at what to do when the game ends, but that is not essential.

Vehicles still need some meching on but i think there will be a handfull in.

Im too lazy to post screenshots but i changed the lightning on one map to dusk so the light effects are really well visible, t3d really does well with realtime lightning and effects i will certainly use that.

[Code_Man]

So after a very rainy/cold/windy/dark week i managed to have nearly all the buildings in somewhat working states.

I tried to make each material on every model unique with its own texture where possible, but i ran out of textures and patience so for now some use common materials for now.

In addition i gave every structure a unique light animation script and light datablock, im still playing with things to see in which direction i want to take it but its looking awesome so far.

Some more code cleanup is needed for structures and vehicles but most functionality is there.

Originally i planned to omit buildings entirely for the demo, but eventually when i got a handle on things i couldnt let go and i am very happy with the results.

Things are far from finished, but even so far stuff looks pretty nice given how much of it was really cut and paste and fix, i am also immensely appreciative that somehow, i dont know how i got a hold of all these fantastic assets that fit in all so nicely like a glove that i couldnt have dreamed of in my previous years really.

Im also starting to get a bit more the hang of tuning vehicles, it will still take me a while but i hope i can get them to be decently controllable.

Collision volumes on vehicles, structures and props will also need some adjustments still, but its all coming along nicely.

I hope i get to make the demo soonish, i wasnt planning on putting in so much stuff, but it will make a much better selling point, even tho the game is free.

 

[Duion]

It's always fascinating to find out that those 2D graphics from old games are actually based on full 3D models, especially since a lot of hipster developers which are also very common in the open source scene are trying to imitate those old graphics by trying to paint 2D graphics because thats so retro not realizing it always has been 3D.

I had a lot of debates where I tried to explain to people that 2D/pixel-art sucks and almost nobody does 2D graphics that way, the most common way in the industry is to make realistic 3D models and then downscale from there or even make 3D models or paint pictures in the real world and scan them.

[Code_Man]

Indeed, westwood studios were pioneers when it came to rendering/fmv/cgi/3d and sophisticated image manipulation technology in the 90s up to the 2000s, i have seen a few technical articles on the sophistication of the video technology used in tiberian sun in its day and age.

The graphics and stuff from tiberian sun is generally awesome, well everything except the crashes on some maps are.

Im offed by the fact that wine and tibsun dont mix well, there are so many great mods for it to play and i cant be arsed to dig in that filth hole.

Some time ago i discovered arduino and the world of modern micro controllers and its c++ with whatever, so maybe might well write my own damn engine too .

 

Eventually down the road i will include features from tibsun and later such as trains, veterancy, destroyable/repairable bridges, tech buildings and lots more.

Plus i want to make a system for research with a complex tree that can be used to open many strategies, i could do so much more but i dont want to overwhelm myself with bookkeeping problems, things are somewhat questionable as is in that regard.

Some time ago i even have a few weapons and classes for neutral militants that can be used for many ways, if i had assets i would love to squeeze in some civilian vehicles..

I am still impressed how great the models made by allen combined with textures from nobiax ended up mixing so great, needless to say how nice it could fit all into t3d.

Yes 3d->2d seems the most obvious way, there still is some really good 2d art stuff out there that looks better than 3d in some cases.

 

Im continuing adjusting the collision volumes and trying to get a hang on vehicles and also make explosions for buildings and try to come up with good damage values and repair values.

Speaking of explosions, does anyone know why seemingly no explosion sounds are played even tho im sure the sound data is correct, is there something i missed maybe.

I didnt anticipate including buildings this early on i must say, but im glad how smooth things went, most function too, the barracks actually "produces" the infantry and the warfactory pretty much works too, defences still have some slight bugs but those will be done with quickly.

It would be too optimistic too think i can include aircraft, but i have a few suitable models i was enormously fortunate to stumble up for those too.

Theres also some more props and level editing respectively that would go well for a release.

Heres some screens i took this morning but i didnt wanna spam but might well post em, i really love the lightning in t3d and what you can do with it and im just getting started.

[fLUnKnhaXYU]

Looks awesome Code_Man .

[Code_Man]

I worked a bit on the vehicles, most are somewhat drivable now most still have issues with steering angle and traction but its making progress.

Also started working on a generic menu system that will be used to interact with structures and maybe other things.

Once more i got a little further ahead of myself than i anticipated, some rts mechanics such as being able to order stuff and placing beacons for infantry will be done shortly.

Many improvements to base defences and other structures were made too, i hope structures will work smoothly soon.

 

I bit off more than can chew, as usual, but this time it will pay off, with rts mechanics and other interesting stuff even partway in, this game got a lot more than i thought it would.

I dont anticipate any further delays for the demo release, im trying to crush all bugs and make everything as functional as possible while stuffing in some more needed assets.

Heres some more stuff to look at, il showcase the vehicles further once i got them in more working state.

[fLUnKnhaXYU]

sweet pics . these specular , colors , lights , sky , terrain all look super . more !...

[LoLJester]

Just my humble opinion, but the pictures are a bit too dark to see what is going on. Are you going for a darker mood, or these are just showcasing the very early stages of development?

[Code_Man]

So i have been aiming to release the demo on wednesday, i had hoped i can do the vehicles but turns out this will take another few months probably and im sick of it literally.

What this amounts to is that vehicles are mostly broken, but since most structures are props anyhow its no big deal i guess.

I want this stuff out since it has lots of assets that i dont want to risk dying with me and im quite fed up with this for now, its also ironically fitting theme for present day.

Infantry gameplay is mostly good enough for it to be an entertaining fps, even with the crappy bots for a demo it has quite the playbility.

Right now i try to fix leftover ui stuff like crosshairs and chathud, plus also some leftover code and asset work, but its all minor leftover fixing and gruntwork.

It would also be great if a admin can enable my game page so i have a somewhat standard place to showcase the game, so i can reference to that page instead of this thread.

 

Since i have most of the content in, save for aircraft and navy plus props and stuff it boils down to cleanup and fixes and improvements, almost all of the server management code is missing for one.

I have models for some aircraft and navy, but they are not all that good looking as the ones i have now, but they will do the job fine.

Bits of the strategy stuff have been added, you can give orders to npcs, you cant purchase them yet since i let the game mode code order new ones from the barrackses automatically.

For the (almost)full version there will be full strategy gameplay including base building and other good stuff, i already have some ideas how to make base building work, that is the hardest part.

Lots of gui stuff will also need to be done, im not good at that but not much is needed.

There are also the issues of engine being broken in some instances, such as ParticleEmitterNode causing a crash and callGameModeFunction not being properlly usable in onAdd, also if bots were using more bezy movement when in vehicles then maybe i could have vehicles that can be commanded.

Also over time i can make many maps but i want to get more gameplay stuff in first so i can see how things play out.

There is are also many game modes and mutators i want to make, but i figure i can take my time to let things ripen.

I rather have this version available and see where it goes and take my good time to do the stuff that really takes time well, you have decent fps gameplay and stability which is good enough for a demo.

All in all just so many things to do that dont warrant a delay and i have some other t3d projects i wanna file on too.

Didnt bother to make screenshots, but i want to have it released this weekend so you can try(take stuff) for yourself.

[Code_Man]

The planned demo release fell short again.

As it turned out the hardcoded N key bind breaks the game well enough to warrant not having a chat function in, which im using as excuse to not debug the non input grabbing GuiTextEditCtrl im using as chat input.

Vehicles will take months more to properly tune and i burned out so much energy on this fruitless stuff that i just cant at this point anymore, i want this stuff out and that yesterday!

Another dissapointment is that the platform i planned to release on, which i havent logged in years, until yesterday decided that for the user safty they need to approve the machine to use the account, which means the only thing i will publish on that platform will be an angry letter.

 

Im fixing leftovers as much as i can, but there is little i can do in this short time, i dont want to sit on this stuff for years and i have other projects i would like to continue working on too.

There isnt much else i can do that i can just grind up like balance, vehicles, props/maps and gameplay features will simply need to ripen and that will take time and user input.

I will continue on trying to file the corners i can and make a release package asap and find a suitable place to upload.

[fLUnKnhaXYU]

once you get a little used to the springs and traction settings the process becomes rather jiffy quik , honestly , and adjusting to comply with your mass and then setting up your mass center become quite intuitive . and kindof fun . you can get close to the behavior that you want from your vehicle on your first attempt .

[JeffR]

13 hours ago, Code_Man said:

The planned demo release fell short again.

As it turned out the hardcoded N key bind breaks the game well enough to warrant not having a chat function in, which im using as excuse to not debug the non input grabbing GuiTextEditCtrl im using as chat input.

Vehicles will take months more to properly tune and i burned out so much energy on this fruitless stuff that i just cant at this point anymore, i want this stuff out and that yesterday!

Another dissapointment is that the platform i planned to release on, which i havent logged in years, until yesterday decided that for the user safty they need to approve the machine to use the account, which means the only thing i will publish on that platform will be an angry letter.

 

Im fixing leftovers as much as i can, but there is little i can do in this short time, i dont want to sit on this stuff for years and i have other projects i would like to continue working on too.

There isnt much else i can do that i can just grind up like balance, vehicles, props/maps and gameplay features will simply need to ripen and that will take time and user input.

I will continue on trying to file the corners i can and make a release package asap and find a suitable place to upload.

Sorry to hear you're running into rough patches with the polishing phase, though that seems to happen with pretty much any production software, alas.

For the chat function bit and the N key breaking stuff, can you clarify a bit more? That definitely doesn't sound anywhere close to expected behavior, so I'd like to get more info so we can fix that at least, if nothing else jumps out to you as obvious bugs that you feel should be looked into.

[Code_Man]

@fLUnKnhaXYU

Yeah i got a great result on the ranger which i am very happy for, the tanks at one point i almost had working something but it didnt work out later.

I will keep at it over time i will find the right values, but vehicle code and weapons and all of the sort was not close to being ready anyhow.

 

@JeffR

I retract my statment, i just tested again and the n bind is no longer an issue, however i still have no idea how make input possible, the input text window with placeholder text shows up, but no input is registered and neither return nor escape seem to be noticed, i did pop the keymap but to no avail.

 

As said i try to remain on track and push it out asap, im adding flags and flares so players have a feedback of the situation.

On the side did a quick cheap model for a missile silo, its a simple model so even when its crappy its good enough for the rest, thats one more down.

I improved some leftover colvols and did little this and thats that i can barely keep track off, but for the time being i do a feature freeze and only improve on simple things that are no brainers and no drainers.

 

I also decided i will provide post release serverside updates and maps, so i can update the game without having to push huge updates.

Its nearing the weekend again but i am fairly certain this time around its going to happen.

[fLUnKnhaXYU]

"Yeah i got a great result on the ranger which i am very happy for, the tanks at one point i almost had working something but it didn't work out later. "

what is the tank doing that is wrong ?

[Code_Man]

The tanks either bounce too much or too little, im so fed up i cant even think about this stuff for now, atleast it will be funny to watch.

Right now i work on the readme and some map improvements and other last moment stuff that may or may not bear fruit.

Dont really care about chat functionality or anything at all at this point really, it has most functionality and assets you need for a decent fps.

What irks me is that the main map i made is mostly designed for vehicles, infantry based maps would shine the gameplay out much more.

 

Its getting hot and im out of energy and have other things to do so i haul ass on this, so release date is same as yesterday, which is "yesterday".

After this is out im going to work on maps on the side and some server side modding, which in time will be released.

Another thing i conceptually work on is a program for converting red alert maps to t3d, which is odd to think about since its 2d->3d, but i have some interesting ideas.

[Code_Man]

Im somewhat confident i didnt miss anything important in writing the readme.

Theres one thing that wonders me about the copyright notice the owner and year in specific i mean, can i leave that as is or is there some whatever reason to change that?

All content is basically waivered copyright by authors anyway so its not theres any legal issues or anyone whod have a reason to sue.

Another problem i have is i dont know where to upload it, i basically will just 7z the entire t3d folder with windows and linux binaries and all content in there.

The folder is now almost 1gb uncompressed and i will just change some code leftovers and whatnot and not mess with assets and stuff.

[Code_Man]

I keep pushing the self imposed deadline since april, but this weekend it will be release ready.

Just did some playtesting and its quite good for a demo, even tho the balance is rough and there are many unfinished things, its challenging and fun, relativly average fps gameplay.

I pretty much have the readme and all other stuff ready, im just finishing up on some small leftover code stuff but all in all it quite realese ready as it gets, i just need to find a place to ditch it too.

It will be much more exciting once i get post release serverside patches and stuff done.