I've benn working on a couple, completed maybe 50% of them, and i dont think i've done more then one in the same language. It's usually my method of learning a language... Currently i'm working on Win32 and DirectX programming. but that's been a project of mine for a while.

I'm currently trying to get a sound engine for a game i'm designing down. But it's a pain in the butt.

It's truthfully my first major project in C++ even though i've been studying it for about 2 years now

Don't feel too bad - I feel I've just got the hang of C++ and I've been working with it for nigh on 10 years. Maybe I'm just a slow learner, but I think that even though I'm using the same language, I'm not using it in nearly the same way I was 7, 5, or even 2 years ago.

Let it soak in a bit, and learn tricks from other programmers.

C++

...A minute to learn, a lifetime to master.

My major project for this term was to utilize DirectX 9.0c and create either a game or a simulation out of it. I decided to make my life the final semester of college a living hell and attempt an online FPS. Well after 8 months of developement (solo minus my partner doing mesh animation) I managed to present something to the class that last day of school that allowed us to run around and shoot the snot out of eachother with 5 weapons and a hell of a lot of ammo :D. Thanks to FMOD though I really didn't have to worry too much about the sound engine except in regards to server prediction (and attenutation of the sound so as not to waste network bandwidth) and translating of 3D sounds. As far as levels go, I decided rather than designing my own level format and editor I just "borrowed" the Quake III BSP format and tailored it to DirectX as opposed to OpenGL which really wasn't as much work as I thought it'd be (thank god for mesh vertices and index buffers :D).

After reading Game Coding Complete it has opened my eyes to the vast majority of architectural issues as well as a number of other problems the game contained, but I've begun writing another engine from scratch with only parts of the common framework (I don't like device enumeration AT ALL :P) to guide me. Can't wait for the second edition to come out even though I just finished reading the first one a little over a week ago.

Permafried-

You have 8 month semesters? That's crazy.

Sounds like you did a good job, wanna post it here for us to take a look?

Yeah dood - or at least post a link where we can check it out?

Heh sorry no my semesters aren't 8 months long, I was on co-op from April - August and then in school from Sept - Dec (and holy crap after 3.5 yrs I gruduated :O). I decided to take the time after work every nite to slowly put code together, look at existing architectures (mainly Quake II) and play around with both Winsock and Direct Play until I was comfortable with what I was going with.

The main portions of the game really came together over the four months I was in school, though due to time constraints I was forced to use the common framework and GUI as my basis rather than going totally from scratch (which I've started once again.....go DLLs :D!)

As for posting it, I've been looking for places I can post it and not have to worry about bandwidth limitations, but I have some issues. Namely, being a school project, all of our level textures and music (and sounds) are "borrowed" from existing games, therefore I gotta be in breach of SOMETHING if I post it online without prior authorization. That said, the MSI (sans source) is approx 9.8MB due to all sounds and music being included.

Maybe you guys can clear this up for me and let me know whether or not I'd be infringing on any copyrights if I were to post it, and if I was I could maybe go through and disable the links in my code (namely remove 3 objects from my main module which handle the sound "events" and music (go FMOD go :D)) and post it here...though unfortunately you would only be able to play it over a home network I never had time to implement prediction on the server (though I did on the client) and you don't even wanna go down that wonderful road of packet loss :(.

Let me know...don't want any lawyers banging down my door but I'd be more than willing to post both the original MSI to install the game, as well as put one together containing the project source as it was upon submission...I've been putting time into a new engine rather than patching up the game since Digital Extremes is only 5 blocks down the road from me and they like to see demos :rolleyes:.

Permafried-

yousendit.com/whyyousendit.aspx

Well - if you borrowed some music, textures, and whatnot you probably would be infringing on someone's copyright. The question is, whether they'll come get you, or come get whoever hosts your download!

Or you could try to get permission - but that may be tougher than just asking for forgiveness later - especially if its a student project.

I can't believe you said that... rock on!

I had gone over copyright laws etc. last night since my g/f who is in law, and while I would be infringing on their rights, the fact that the games are going on 5 years old or so (can't exactly remember) would definitely reduce the impact on the company, especially since they've already sold their titles and moved onto (and released) newer ones.

As well, as you mentioned MrMike....it was a school project and I can't imagine it worth a publisher's and/or development firm's time to go after a 22 year old fresh out of school with a compiler and PC being the only thing to his name just because I borrowed music, sounds and textures from games which are no longer in production to my knowledge *crosses fingers* :D.

That said, I'll start by posting a couple of screenshots this evening to give you all an idea of what it looks like (please don't laugh at our awesome gun models we're not artists!). As well, I'll keep on searching for sites to host the download long enough for a few of the people here in the community to get a hold of it (and Gerry I'll take a look at the link once I'm out of work ) :).

Peace,

Permafried-

How big is it?

If I remember correctly it's about 10MB if not slightly less. I haven't looked at the MSI since I submitted it but that size seems to ring a bell. I'll double check that when I get home tonite and update this post to let you know.

Permafried-

Hey, as promised, I checked the size of the MSI, it is 9.013MB which as I said includes everything but the source. As well, I have taken four screenshots (sorry none of the mesh animation need to borrow roommates PC for remote client ;)).

Hopefully you don't mind MrMike but I'm going to spread them over 4 seperate posts. If it's a problem feel free to clean it up and remove then :).

Just as a bit of background, this game used the DirectX 9.0c common framework and GUI system as a basis. The map format was Quake III's BSP so I made use of the lightmaps included in the file and enabled two texture stages blending them together. As well, the placement of the items was read out of the level file and it was all built using the QERadiant naturally which also included the title of the song and name of the map. The entire HUD (including pickups notifications) used the ID3DXSprite interface and each number is an individual texture, the three of them only being updated when required to save on some processing. There is a UDP Winsock layer which drives the network connectivity which has a reliability layer wrapped around it should it be required. All models were exported to a raw text .x format which allowed us to resolve the path to the textures without them being hardcoded into the exe, as such they were actually part of the mesh.

Anyways, let me know what you think, I'm sure it'd be better if the MSI was in your hands but one step at a time....again sorry about the multiple posts, I won't be insulted if you remove them :).

nt

nt

nt

Woah, that looks hell sweet!!! I just wanna shoot that AK.

Yeah make sure you check out that site. I haven't used it myself as I have never had the need, however I have a few mates who used it regularly to distribute much larger files.

Looks good.

If you want to email it to me at larrik at gmail dot com, I can throw it on my website for a little while.