MegaCorps Online - Java FPS with realti

[Tomas]

We have had problems with the CG on Linux. We have not been able to webstart it without a CG environment pre-installed. Download  CG from NVIDIA and run /sbin/ldconfig

The pre-requisites for runnig Megacorps on Linux is available at:
http://www.megacorpsonline.com/downloads/

Have Fun
// Tomas
CTO Agency9

[erikd]

Wow, great engine
Everything runs fast, smooth and sweet and those shadows look sooo cool (they even seem to work a bit better than in doom3 where they look a bit fake-ish at some points)

Some little remarks:
* It seemed a bit strange that I can't look straight up or down. It feels a bit restricted.
* In comparison, the bullets look way too cheap.
* And yeah, upside down "Loading" is just weird
* Dark alleys are pitch black, which looks fake when there's light so close by.

You guys have made great progress! Best java based engine I've seen so far.

[Tomas]

Thanks  

The upside down loading screen is merly an accindent  

The text writer was written for left handen coordinate system (orthogonal screen coordinates) , and the loading screen for a right handed, D'OH!

// Tomas
CTO Agency9    

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[selendic]

Ok, got it working on Linux, after RTFM. Nice and smooth, 50-80 with level 3 graphics quality (3 ghz machine, NVidia FX 5600). However, it crashes after half a minute. If you are interested, I could send you that nice verbose err log Java5 creates. Oh, and yes, no sound.

Other than that small annoyances (heh), great work guys!

[Tomas]

However, it crashes after half a minute. If you are interested, I could send you that nice verbose err log Java5 creates.

Please do. You can mail me at karlsson@agency9.se

BTW No sound in this realease.

// Tomas
CTO Agency9

[selendic]

Sent.

[Evil-Devil]

Nice rework. The new version runs really smooth. Got 40-70fps. And none artifacts
But the level designer has to be kicked Very odd level design...

[Malohkan]

bahh my video card can't even load it.  The game just locked up when I tried to host.

[Hauk]

I tried hosting the game and got "Driver component mis-match. Exit is the only option", any ideas what to do?

Hauk

[swpalmer]

I found the mouse tracking very was bad.  Mouse look stuttered and snapped all over the place (2 steps forward one step back kind of thing)

Other than that it looked pretty good.  Though the shadow of my weapon was missing, making it kinda funny looking to see a shadow of a guy running around "pretending" he had a weapon

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[ap_kelly]

Plays fine on my machine WinXP SP2 FX5200. I managed to get around 30FPS.

I did have one comment, the shadows seem to suggest that I'm not holding a gun, or at least when I look at the shadow my hands look empty...is this a bug?

Looks good though, keep up the good work.

Andy.

[Tomas]

I did have one comment, the shadows seem to suggest that I'm not holding a gun, or at least when I look at the shadow my hands look empty...is this a bug?

Andy.

Nope. It's work in progress

// Tomas

[whome]

Nice screenshots, but unfortunately cannot testrun due to my great Matrox G400 card :-)

Does graphics engine use lwjgl, jogl or custom-made .dll library for native opengl calls?

[Tomas]

AgentFX 2 is plug-in based and can use virtually any binding, and renderer.

The AgentFX project started before both JOGL and LWJGL. In the first incarnation we used our own set of bindings, since this was prior to the happy days of java.nio we also shipped our own version of NIO buffers called LockedBuffers.

With the release of JOGL and  java.nio we have switched over and currently run everything on JOGL but that might change in the future.

Cheers
Tomas

[Tomas]

New updated of megacorps Online is available. This time it is a small update contaning:
     
   * Improved error detection
   * Pre-requisit check for Linux-environments
   * Improved camera control
   * Animations have been tuned a bit
   * Dynamic skeleton effects have been tuned
   * Tuned gravity
   * Improved dead-recognition

Cheers Tomas

[swpalmer]

Is the "Loading..." message supposed to appear upsidedown?

[Tomas]

The upside down loading screen is merly an accindent  

The text writer was written for left handen coordinate system (orthogonal screen coordinates) , and the loading screen for a right handed, D'OH!

// Tomas
CTO Agency9    

[Tomas]

MacOS X support now included  !

A new update of Megacorps Online libraries is now available. This new update includes libraries for handling Cg-environment on Apple's Mac OS X systems.

We don't have a OSX system so if anybody gives it a go,
please let us know the result at...

http://www.agency9.se/developer/community/viewforum.php?f=10

...so we don't cludge/spam this forum

Cheers
// Tomas

[Hauk]

Any chance of some Capture the Flag? That engine would do it nicely by the looks of things.    

Hauk  

[Tomas]

It's realy hard to say since Megacorps is our ref. paltform where we stress test new features before we include them in AgentFX. Therefore MCO is not released according to a specific schedule.

Our current highest priority is a offical game server and searchable database with public servers.

Cheers
// Tomas

[Hauk]

An official game server would come in handy for your guys rep. I look forward to playing that game and helping you guys along with it.

Hauk

[khashayar]

Hi everybody,

Some happy news for the Java community.

AgentFX 3D engine and Megacorps Online, received a bronze position in 2004 years Golden Polygon Awards.

The Golden Polygon Awards recognize excellence in Real-time & interactive 3D contents. More than 150 3D contents were submitted to the Golden Polygon Awards 2004 Edition. The members of the organization selected 20 nominees in 4 categories.

I'm proud to say that Megacorps Online was awarded with a bronze position in the category for Rich Media / Entertainment.

Take care and play on

/Khashayar

[khashayar]

New update is available. This March 30th update was showcased at Game Developers Conference and includes a new self-re-charging laser gun, particle effects, smoke and some other features.

Have fun

/Khashayar

[Vorax]

nm...see below

[cyberyoyo]

The demo is good but you really need to hire a couple artist guys to add some punch to it. For example the lack of sound might be an handicap if you want to convince of the validity of your engine.
If you go to one of the "modding communities" out there (unreal tournament or quake something) you could find some people able to  build you a handful of good impressive map in a short time and maybe work on the sound or particle effects (which could be tweaked a bit ).

Good work nevertheless.

[Vorax]

Looking good!  

It is definetly getting to the stage where it needs sound though.  

What I like:

- The shadows are nice
- The bump mapping and rendering is nice
- The smoke particles are nice
- The collision detection is pretty good
- The lighting when you fire your weapon (Reminds me of mine )
- The textures

What can be improved (in no particular order).  Take these with a grain of salt, I realize you are still developing it:

- Can't crouch
- Can't change speed
- Laser effect
- A flashlight, light switch or something toggling lighting (sparks, flickering floursent light, etc.) would be nice in the dark areas.
- Needs more weapons
- Interaction with environment (knock things over, destroy certain things, open doors, etc.)
- Level design needs work
- More levels
- More polished status information (health, bullets, etc.)
- Sound:  footsteps, background music, gun fire, background sounds
- Animated shader/texture effects, flashing consoles, changing screens, reflection, etc.
- More textures
- The FPS was a bit low considering I was the only one on the level, ranging from 22-48:  AMD2600+521MB, Geforce 5500/256MB

Despite that list, it's very impressive and is a good example of what can be done with Java.  Keep it comming!

[Tomas]

Appreciate the input

[Evil-Devil]

If you go to one of the "modding communities" out there (unreal tournament or quake something) you could find some people able to  build you a handful of good impressive map in a short time

Have you ever done any Q or UT maps? For MCO building a map might don't take that much time like for Q and UT, but i mention their map editor isn't that powerfull either.
High Qualitity Q and UT maps take round about one month starting from the first scratch until the final release to the community. THis shall not be a comparission to industrie dev time, where a map mostly have to be done in two weeks...

Does MCO even have an editor for creating maps?

[Tomas]

Does MCO even have an editor for creating maps?

To create a MCO map you can use any tool that supports .obj.  The map is created from a set of sections connected through a portal system. Both the portals and sections can be loaded form a regular .obj file. Special features such as lights, shadows are added with XML. Most of the artist that we've worked with uses Maya but any tool that supports .obj and .mtl should be usable.

If anyone is intressted in developing a map for MCO just let me know and I'll guide you through the process.

Cheers
// Tomas

[cyberyoyo]

Have you ever done any Q or UT maps? For MCO building a map might don't take that much time like for Q and UT, but i mention their map editor isn't that powerfull either.
High Qualitity Q and UT maps take round about one month starting from the first scratch until the final release to the community. THis shall not be a comparission to industrie dev time, where a map mostly have to be done in two weeks...

Does MCO even have an editor for creating maps?

Yeah, although I don't have "a name" there, I spent several years designing maps and coding UT mods.
I was talking about a mapper, ready to adopt a new engine and to try new methods of working for an experience, and who would know the how-to to make a good couple of deathmatch maps to start. That would be a good way to take the engine tests to a new level.

We are talking about the engine demo, I don't think agency 9 really has time constraints, a couple of month of mappingwouldn't hurt them.