BotBuilder beta 1 [in need of a better name]

http://starmanta.googlepages.com/BotBuilder.html

Here it is. I'm not sure what the limit on bandwidth for Google Pages is, so don't be too surprised if the download conks out.

Controls are, really, whatever you want them to be. There are instructions in small print for the different functions (full screen is recommended).

In construction mode, you can select, create, move, and delete (although moving doesn't work reliably); they should be relatively self explainatory. When creating, you can select one of 3 types of pieces for now: Rocket, Camera, and Spotlight.

When you have a piece selected, you can change its trigger (if it's a rocket) - rockets with no trigger fire automatically when a surface is near, which is how the hovering rockets on the bottom do their thing. If you hold spacebar, these autofiring rockets fire harder. There's one on top of the robot, too, which can be used to right yourself if you flip over. Default buttons are WASD.

Click the Start button to enter arena mode. There are 3 cameras to choose from (more if you've added cameras to your bot) which are all accessible either by clicking or via the keypad. Clicking the mini construction window will return you to construction mode.

The level isn't much for now, but it's enough to play around with.

My todo list so far:
- A narrative/instruction set to replace all that text up there
- more/better textures
- more pieces to build with
- actual models for the robot, parts, etc.
- flesh out the level create an objective

Let me know what you think, report bugs, and tell me what you'd like to be added!

EDIT: just updated it to allow for disabling the glow effect, making it much easier on many graphics cards. While developing I'd forgotten that most of you aren't on 3-month-old iMacs like I am ;-)

EDIT AGAIN: Due to a bug I don't quite understand that only happens in the player, the GUI is now not showing up when the game first starts. Hit = to switch to arena mode, then - to switch back. The GUI will reappear.

 

looks cool - the rocket effects are excellent. i think the physics you set up work quite well too, there's a very convincing "weight" to it.

i'd definitly work on the camera more - i think it would be better if it were more standard 3rd person distance (alot closer - kinda over the shoulder but still far enough to see the whole rrobot). the effects movement would have much more impact.

nice start ; )

 

I never figured out how to do anything. Where is the start button?? I don't see it. How do I move things? I am confused.

 

See my second edit - there's a player-only bug I haven't figured out yet. Press "=" to enter play mode, then "-" to return to edit mode - the GUI will show up.

drJones: Thanks! The feel of the physics was one of the most important parts I was concerned with.

As for the camera, I'm trying to go for a "remote control" experience, and a standard third-person follow camera wouldn't be conducive to that. On top of that, in my early tests, I did have such a camera, and all the flipping and bobbing and such actually made it very difficult to see what was going on.

Maybe there's another solution, though. What if a camera was on a "rail" or a track and stayed near the player? Do you think changing the camera's zoom (namely making it zoom in closer) would help?

 

Is this what I am supposed to see? I can't tell what is going on and I am getting about 5 frames per second.

 

That's...definitely not what you're supposed to see. What video card do you have? If you disable the glow effect with the button beneath the start button, does it still happen?

 

Yeah, disabling glow has no effect. It is just that my graphics card can't hande bumpmaps I bet.

Radeon 7500

 

ahh, kinda like robot wars then?

was your 3rd person camera attached to the robot's rotation? i was thinking more like a standard setup in that it would stay level (no pitch) at a constant height - maybe 2-3 meters back 1-2 meters up - and would always smoothly stay in that range. i didn't know you were going for a remote control feel so your setup makes more sense now (it'd still be cool to have a 3rd person type view option IMO).

 

I get something similar to Yoggy, except I can see my bot and I get about 1 FPS! >_< Damn this old computer.

 

Uploading a new beta now.
-Track movement added for cameras and spotlights
-Fixed a bug where deleting a camera in fullscreen mode causes it to freeze
-Properly scale the displays at the top to allow for many cameras

Let me know if the track movement helps. I may try the "follow cam" again, but I'd like to try these alternatives first before I decide there's enough demand for it.

That must be it. Now that I look at it, anything that has a bumpmap is apparently not rendering for you. I'll look into writing a shader to remove bumpmaps if the hardware doesn't support it. Has anyone out there done this? Is it even possible?

If your game is really slow: first try disabling the glow (there is now a switch next to the start button). If that doesn't help, check activity monitor and see if it's maxing out your CPU; there are a lot of script actions going on, and they do seem to eat CPU for breakfast. Maybe increasing the FixedUpdate time for slower computers would help?

 

I've got a hunch on that one... I'll change something about the maps in the next update, let me know if that fixes your bug. (Though I doubt this will improve your framerate)

 

I'll let you know.

 

Fun to play with!

Looks fine to me - I see the Start button etc.

 

looks good, but when placing new rockets they dont seam to act as well as the original ones, btw if you pickup one of the rockets that were there to begin with you cant place it again, it just fals to the ground

(btw a usefull function for building the robot would be some sort of snapping, (make it something you can toggle on and off) that way you dont get problems like if you place 2 rockets on the back, one to the far left and one to the far right, but they arent 100% compared to the middle of the robot so it turns slightly when you try to move forward, btw the whole robot is very unstable and sometimes starts spining around.

 

That's because the default power level is 1, as opposed to the rockets that are already present, where it is 5. (When the tutorial/narrative is added, this will be explained)

Yeah, I'm aware of this issue and haven't figured out just why this is happening yet.

This is planned for a later release.

User error ;-)

 

(with the standard unedited bot) i bumped into the wall not even hard enough for anything to break off, and it suddently started to rock from side to side somwhat violently