RF2 Questions: Release Date and Features

[MakerOfGames]

Things have been kind of hush hush around here so I was just curious if RF2 is still on track for its May 2010 release date. I am just wandering about whats going on. How close is a demo? Will it reach its target release date?

A few of my own personal questions are:
-How much will RF2 be able to do? Will it have the potential to make modern games?
-What features will be included in the first release?
-If I want to make a game for RF2 how can I best prepare for it?
-Is it possible for me to start my art for a game project? If so what file type do I need to save 3D objects as? obj, mesh, 3ds, mdl, x?
-How will actors be handled? Will there be a compilation program like Astudio or will animations be pieced together in another way?
-Audio, what format will I need to use? .mp3 .ogg .wma .aac .m4a .wav?
-What formats will be accepted as textures?: bitmap, jpeg, png, gif?

Sorry if I seem to be asking a lot of questions but these are things developers need to know if we want to prep for making a game using RF2. They probably have been answered in a few other topics, but I think these specifications should be located in one central spot, thus please forgive me for askign questions that have been asked before.

[bernie]

I was wondering about this myself. Not much has happened since last August and that's almost a year ago. Some talk a couple of months ago about scripting but nothing else. Has the project died ?

[hgt_terry]

Well the motion thing wait for Equity 6.01 i have done a motion sequencer just debugging but have loads of examples where you cut into a motion i.e. start frame end frame add motions to motion to form one motion and a good help file. You will be surprised how many new motion you can get from VIRGL It’s good.

The reason i am saying this is because i also would like to know which way RF2is going to go we have hedged our bets it was based on the OGRE Engine. So the parts for RF2 if a spec is available i don’t mean actor format but will they have weighted vertex So EQUITY can convert.

I would like us to be prepared so we can convert from rf1 to rf2 and visa versa one with weighted vertex and the other not.

I Think RF1 as a lot more millage than we think that’s why i carry on writing Equity but back to the point we need to know what direction we are going in.

I am seeing good signs from QuestOfDreams 0.80 could be on its way.

My Rant

Cheers
Terry

[paradoxnj]

I'm still working quietly on it. It is still on track for May 2010. Andy has been nursing his wrists back to health so things have been slower.

I will write up a feature set based on the Ogre engine and shell specific.

-- Actor format is Ogre Mesh (.mesh). Whatever that supports, RF2 will support.

-- RF2 will use shaders for geometry (e.g Bump mapping, parallax mapping, HDR, etc...) and post processing effects (e.g Bloom filter, Sepia Filter, etc...) via Ogre's material and compositor system.

-- RF2 will support Mouse, Keyboard and Joystick input devices.

-- RF2 will lose the notion of "Level". It will now be called a "Scene". Scenes will be saved in a custom XML format. It's just terminology. Where RF1 can only handle indoors, RF2 is optimized for outdoor and indoor scenes.

-- INI files will disappear in favor of scripts. Everything will be configurable by script. This means menus, HUDs, actors, weapons, etc... To RF2, they will all be 2D or 3D objects. You will even be able to control shell initialization to a point.

-- RF2 will have a fully functional GUI using CEGUI.

-- RF2 Audio System will use OpenAL and will be compatible with OGG and WAV files.

-- RF2 will use the standard file system and ZIP files.

-- The player object is also fully scripted. You would derive a script class from the RF2Player class and set it as the "Control" object.

-- Point and click movement will be possible as will point and click object interation. Again...this will be based on script.

-- RF2 will have network capabilities. This will not be available day one. Being that RF2 is an event driven shell, adding network will be easy (see next bullet point).

-- RF2 is an event driven shell. The objects respond to events. The responses can be scripted. For example, a health pack...if you collide with it, the shell will get the instance from the object manager, see if there is a script function called "onCollision", if there is one...it will call it using the object that collided with it as an argument. If the onCollison function is not found, it will call a generic onCollision function.

So if you want to increase the players health, you would do something like this:

Code: Select all

class health_pack : RF2Object
{
    function onInitialize()
    {
        mesh = "media/models/healthpack.mesh";
        setCollision(true);
        setVisible(true);
    }

    function onCollision(obj)
    {
        obj.health += 50;
    }
}

For more information and screens of what the Ogre engine can do...see http://www.ogre3d.org. You will love the screenshots. Have a visit to the Wiki also to see what tools are compatible with the Ogre engine.

[bernie]

I take it the animation for models will be done in the standard ogre .skeleton format also? thats why we chose the ogre xml format for equity as there is a converter for that to and from ogre .mesh and ogre .skeleton and all the major modelling programs support it or ogre mesh and skeleton directly.

[paradoxnj]

Yes sir. Nothing will be custom. It will all be Ogre.

[hgt_terry]

Hi Bernie
can i PM need to chat about Sequencer for rf2

Thanks
Terry

[zany_001]

That all sounds great! I'll probably/hopefully be coming back to game design in 2010, so it gives me time to brush off my skills and get back into things.

[jonas]

Any updates? Still on for May 2010?

[Sorington]

I hope so

[paradoxnj]

I am still on target for release. I am working on the sound system and input right now using OpenAL and OIS.

[bernie]

@paradoxnj I hope you are building against the new ogre 1.7 sdk a lot more facilities in that version now especially with terrain and we dont want to be left behind. It is pretty stable now but you have to build from svn.

[paradoxnj]

The way the code is structured, it doesn't matter what version of Ogre is used. It doesn't really matter what engine is used either. I tried to make the core game code independent of graphics engine code as much as possible. Right now, I am on Ogre 1.6.2.