Post MekaWars: Small RTS

Well, why should we limit the range of possible applications of the programming-game concept to the examples given in the past days? Other possibilities are available, such as the genre of Real-Time-Strategy games.

The paradigm harvest-build-attack is simple enough to be mastered by our intelligent bots, also known as agents. Your possible objection may be based on the number of the units: if one has to assign a virtual CPU to each unit, their computational power must be very limited. In this case, however, I have in mind something different: each player will program the AI of his army as a whole, then the computational time has to be shared among several units. This means that a single thread, the general, will command a number of units and receives feedback from them, leaving some of them, during time consuming activities (harvesting), in a sleeping status. The working unit will awake only for short periods, for example to control the nearby environment for threats. The approach may seem complex, but it's not as difficult as some programming-games are and... no general says that an army is easy to master.

Post MekaWars: SoccerTactyx

As a final example of projects that are going to benefit from the MekaWars development, let's consider the very-long waited Soccer Tactyx (ST). If you have been reading this blog since the beginning, you remember that ST was planned on occasion of the European Football Championship. Now I think that a more realistic release will be on occasion of the... Football World Cup!

Delays apart, also very common in professional games, you must consider that all the code behind MekaWars is also very useful to ST as well. In fact, if you look at the 2D viewer of the recent MekaWars preview (MekaWars.zip), you can easily imagine to substitute the space-fighters with soccer players and the resources with a ball. After this imaginative effort, you can immediately recognize the soccer mode of Gun-Tactyx when seen in 2D mode. The view is more suggestive and realistic in 3D mode, of course, but the viewer is independent from the simulator, once the rules of physics and the soccer players' behaviors are set.
In conclusion, in Soccer Tactyx the units are not fighters and harvesters, but soccer players. The enviromnent is not outer space, but a soccer field. The players will program the AI of their team, and watch them play against teams the AI of which was written by other players.
It's a long way to Soccer Tactyx yet, but the programming behind MekaWars will be useful even in this very different field.

Post MekaWars: GunTactyx2

You may know that MekaWars, the game currently in a heavy development, is a spin-off of Gun-Tactyx (my CROBOTS-like QUAKE3-style programming-game) and long before of JRobots (my Java CROBOTS-like game with online tournaments). You also may know that I planned long ago a sequel to Gun-Tactyx, that is GUN TACTYX 2.

The occasion to develop MekaWars has delayed the GUN TACTYX 2 development a lot, but all the code behind MekaWars can be applied to GT2 as well. Effectively, if you look at the 2D viewer of the recent MekaWars preview (MekaWars.zip), you can imagine that those dots may represent different kind of objects other than space-fighters and space-harvesters. This means that a lot of code will be easily recycled.
Thus in GUN TACTYX 2 the units are not fighters and harvesters, but soldiers. The enviromnent is not outer space, but indoor or outdoor spaces. The players will program the AI of their team of specialists, each with his own different weapon, and watch them fight against soldiers whose AI was written by other players. Much more complex than MekaWars is, because of the articulated environment, but also worth a try and very beautiful to see.
It's a long way to GUN TACTYX 2 yet, but the programming behind MekaWars will help a lot even in this challenging environment.

Post MekaWars: City Racing

If you have read the last posts, you know that MekaWars is currently in a heavy development phase. You can also discover the concept behind MekaWars playing with the recent preview (MekaWars.zip).
MekaWars is a game set up in a outer space environment, but the genre of "programming-games" can be obviously applied to worlds subject to other rules. For example, let's consider a few long waited APOCALYX demos starting from City Racing.

In City Racing, the units are not fighters and harvesters, like in MekaWars, but racing cars. The enviromnent is not outer space, but the streets of a town. The players will program the AI of their pilots and watch them race against pilots written by other players. Not as tricky as MekaWars is, but since the pilots' management is simpler and the action more fast paced, the game may result even more involving.
It's a long way to City Racing yet, but the programming behind MekaWars will help a lot even in a so different environment.

Particle System

The particle engine implemented in APOCALYX simulates the movement of textured particles in a frame rate independent way. Each particle moves along a path that is a superposition of two kind of movements: a quadratic path (characterized by an initial position, speed and acceleration) and a circular path (built from a radius and an angular speed). As usual, those parameters are linearly interpolated according to the life of the particle, together with its color, alpha transparency and size.

Fire and smoke

Smoke trail

Dragon's fire

MekaWars official site (II)

I couldn't resist and show a few screenshots taken from the new MekaWars site that is going to appear at www.MekaWars.com. More detailed instructions, more demos and full featured forums: the real game apart, what could you ask more? Stay tuned!

Total War

Just a screenshot