Defining Awesome

I’ve hit a point where most people decide to quit. 3 days of pain and no results. I’m really struggling with making the netcode work good. There is just too much detail in this game, especially the animations and movement system. But I’m gonna plow through it and make it work, sacrificing my health and sanity.

I’m having weird desynchronizations on the client. I checked everything and finally stumbled upon the timing routine. At first I thought it had an error which would be bad since Soldat uses the same one. But it occured I just didn’t use a precise computer time measure. I should use QueryPerformanceCounter. Is there a linux alternative?

Spent the day testing client-side prediction mechanisms for smoothening your players control. I’m not happy with any technique so far.

Compiled the master server on Linux. I’m glad that’s over; I haven’t done anything on Linux in years. It will be a first step to compile LD in a non-Windows OS.

Link-Dead master server more or less works. Player authentication, game server registering and server list downloading. The master server is part of a bigger system originally designed by me and FliesLikeABrick years ago. It uses LDAP for holding player accounts and authentication. This means that there will be one account for everything related to MM & Transhuman Design. You can use your soldatforums.com or devlog account and once it’s done, Soldat Portal account to play Link-Dead. Servers list use mySQL/PostgreSQL and can be easily integrated with the current Soldat server web browser. JRGP is currently working on making the browser work for both games. That’s finally a little info about the backend of LD, more to come.

I’m coding the authentication and master/lobby server.

Fixing bugs today mostly collison & climb bugs. They were getting on my nerves cause they distract me from feeling what the game plays like.

Here is the current list of gun attachments. I am implementing them right now. Each attachment will have an advantage but also a disadvantage. The careful pick of these attachments will determine your playing style and effectivness.
Attachments: Silencer, Flashlight, Telescope, ACOG scope, Laser, Reflex sight, Bipod, Barrel extender, Folding stock, Cheek pad, Duckbill, Foregrip, Bayonet, Forcefield, Talon, Shotgun

I added realistic aiming including recoil, aim lag to simulate gun heaviness and all sorts of wobbly effects that affect the aim during movement. The result is fantastic, combat is MUCH more interesting. I’m adding more weapon variables today.

I fixed bots yesterday cause they weren’t working with the new stuff like ladders and different angled slopes. They still don’t work fully but I got a chance to play a bit on the new map. I have some mixed feelings right now. I shouldn’t write about it but maybe my thoughts will clear out in the process of writing.

This is about the deathmatch/teammatch gameplay not about the RTS idea. Long story short: I’m not making the RTS idea since when working with Victor we got better ideas. I haven’t done anything in the RTS direction so it was just something I wrote on my blog. I still think it would be cool but as I said I have better ideas. So Link-Dead currently is heading in the normal player-controlled driven game. A couple points:

– The 2.5d aim point shooting which I described a couple posts earlier is removed. It feels weird, that’s all. I thought it would introduce a new challenge but there are countless other challenges which the player must face in this game. Aiming should be straightforward.

– Encounters with enemies are very systematic. Meaning, they are like a process which steps can be predicted. For example:

Player meets Enemy. Both are under cover. If they have equal weapons and health – none attack. They either use grenade or wait for team member to help. If any of the players feels more skilled then they might attack but winning in a situation like this is more of a game of chance.

In a situation were players are not equal in equipment or health, or one is behind cover and the other is not of course the situation is easy and the outcome predictable.

It’s like a chess game – a decision game. Mainly because you can’t dodge bullets due to slow movement. Your only defense is your mind – you must predict situations; assess your dangers, surroundings, enemies and make decisions instead of going Rambo and spraying bullets. Aiming skills for winning are needed like 10% in Link-Dead now. This is not bad per se because this is exactly as I have designed it and thought it out in my head. I am proud to have achieved this.

My mixed feelings come from knowing that if I would make it more like Soldat were movement isn’t so restricted it would be instantly more fun.

So why not do it like this? Because I get more hooked on games that are not jump ‘n shoot. I will have a lot of fun in 15 minutes in Quake 3 but I won’t play it for weeks. Whereas Day of Defeat takes longer to have fun but I will be hooked for weeks and I know a lot of mature players are like this too. The fun is more mellowed and spanned on a wider range but with a couple moments that are immensely satisfying.

These mixed feelings also come from the fact that the game mechanics aren’t fully developed yet. Right now it is still a mix of the arcade and tactical approach. Aiming doesn’t have any recoil, bink or nothing. It’s just point and shoot. Introducing more variables to the tactical gameplay will bring more choices. Stuff like different weapons (not only guns but bombs, mines, traps) and attachments, more weapon variables, injuries, medkits etc. Finally I was thinking of going totally to the realistic/tactical side and introduce RPG elements: soldiers would have skill points like marksmanship, agility, speed, health, strength, luck(?). This would bring down monkey-gameplay down to near 0 (aiming would be like 0.1% of the game since whether you kill an enemy or not would be decided mostly by all of the variables and the decisions you made before actually pulling the trigger).

A lot to think about. It would be really easy to make another Soldat at this point and it would be great but I really want to make something better. I want to make a game that isn’t on the market yet. What I described is a game that does not exist that’s why the idea excites me. I just have fears that it will be too difficult, that players are more acustomed to arcade games and that’s all they want; or that I myself won’t even like it! I don’t know since I never played a game like this before.

In situations like these I always recall how much doubts I had when making Soldat. This is what happens when there is nothing to copy from – you are stepping into unknown territory. I really thought Soldat would be boring and pointless cause all you would do is run at each other and shoot. Well that’s what you do finally but people seem to love that simplicity. I hope my doubts with Link-Dead are of the same caliber. I really need to release the alpha as fast as possible and play with real people.

Discussion is very much appreciated.