Engine

So very true, I didn't even know open source graphic engines have come that far. Hmmm, and its compatible with 3DSMAX....the one animation program i'm good with.

I've got experience in WorldCraft, GTKRadiant, C++, VB5, DarkBasic, PHP, ASP, CFM, Java, and a couple of others, ive also got a mate whos making a new programming language, and im in the process of making a HL2 bot (currentlly 16% working), i would be willing to help

How can you work on a hl2 bot?? The game isn't released yet... no?

I've got the leaked SDK + game, and started looking at the code

i noticed taht the AI doesn't actually see guns or people, it see's fixed points, so it doesn't see you it see's a spot in your stomach, so ive modified the code so that it does actually see head/legs/arms/body rather than fixed points, and it see's weapons/ammo now rather than static model.

so far ive only got it to see weapon, see enemy/ally, identify own weapon, identify enemy/ally weapon, identify own ammo, estimate enemy/ally ammo, work out distance from enemy/ally, work out best target area (e.g. head or leg/arm/body) depending on obsticles in way, but i havent got it to work out walk/run/avoid/dodge/cover yet, which is what i need to work on.

[Pierre-Marie Baty]

Originally Posted by Ava3ar

i noticed taht the AI doesn't actually see guns or people, it see's fixed points, so it doesn't see you it see's a spot in your stomach

Impressive... so if I understand right there isn't such a thing as an "entity" in the HL2 engine ? Could you elaborate on that ?

in each model there are fixed points (skeleton system) it looks at the middle point (what could be interpreted as the spine) and shoots that, also it doesnt see walls it see's material, so the thickness of a material is how it knows how thick a wall is, its complicated (but even the leaked SDK has good manuals)

[Pierre-Marie Baty]

ah ok, in fact it's not really different than what we're doing already... it's a generalization of the use of pfnGetBonePosition(), which is a good thing

The material system however was announced by the guys at Valve loud enough already, so it's also a good thing to see they did it and I'm impatient to see what its practicability is.

but we're way offtopic.

just a bit, i recon you guys could invent an engine, all you need is the knowledge of how engines work, and then manufacture one around it, plus it would mean you could license it, but if you did go for pre-made then OGRE does look damn good

Originally Posted by Ava3ar

I've got the leaked SDK + game, and started looking at the code

i noticed taht the AI doesn't actually see guns or people, it see's fixed points, so it doesn't see you it see's a spot in your stomach, so ive modified the code so that it does actually see head/legs/arms/body rather than fixed points, and it see's weapons/ammo now rather than static model.

so far ive only got it to see weapon, see enemy/ally, identify own weapon, identify enemy/ally weapon, identify own ammo, estimate enemy/ally ammo, work out distance from enemy/ally, work out best target area (e.g. head or leg/arm/body) depending on obsticles in way, but i havent got it to work out walk/run/avoid/dodge/cover yet, which is what i need to work on.

Now here, and im not defending this guy, because i was deeply enraged to hear of the events that befell the hl2 source, but listen to what i have to say:

The knowlege gained by looking at next-generation leaked code could be an advantage, if you learn how things work in modern games and even how the ai works as he points out, this is not only very interesting, but might be somthing to consider.

Also, off that topic:

I recently downloaded the Public GNU protected Quake 1, and 2 source codes to play with (and putting aside for a lil while my own game-development company which is still looking for staff, email me on that one) and noticed that they would not compile because of a custom build command called " ml " just out of curiosity, does anyone know wtf that is supposed to do and what i may need to do it? My point is, we should mess around with several engines and ultimately make a rounded engine out of experience and group-interest.

[AlphaTrooper]

while I know almost nothing about coding and anything else related to actually developing games... I can offer my opinion about certain idea's brought up at the begginning of the topic.

The thing that jumped out at me, was having more than just 2 teams, now, I have never played a FPS with more than two teams, but that could be very interesting.

Also, if you are looking into developing a game, it is a good idea to check out other games. A good game that has not been mentioned in this post, is Battlefield 1942, and it's popular mod, Desert Combat. I would urge you to check out this game, as it is so much fun to play, and many idea's could be taken from it.