Intro
Last time, I told you I was getting hard at work on getting the combat code from High Albedo into Outlier. This time, I'm here to say I did it! And that isn't the only progress made since the last update. Here's some of what I've been working on.
Combat Code
As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so here's a video containing many, many, pictures as well as audio commentary. Since a lot of the action is fast, I'd advise watching at least some of the combat before continuing.
As you can see, they aren't flying like airplanes. This combat method is a 3D extension of the behavior used in High Albedo which takes advantage of the Newtonian physics in the game. All 3 dimensions are used in order to engage the enemy.
This test is simplistic, I basically told all these Sparrows to attack each other automatically. This is a proof of concept that these kinds of engagements are possible. The combat behavior is called by other AI functions, such as the trading and patrol behaviors, when fighting is required.
The sideshow to this fur-ball of jousting is the particle effect based weapon effects. These weapon effects are extremely customizable, and it is possible to create a wide variety of weapon effects for a wide variety of weapons. Almost every aspect of the engine's particle system is exposed in the weapon definition file!
Explosions
By slightly modifying the projectile effect, it was possible to create explosions whenever a ship explodes. All ships have a default explosion available at this time, but more specific explosions could be added in the same way that ships can have different exhaust colors and shapes.
You can see an explosion there! The velocity of the ship that exploded is taken into account when the explosion is rendered, so the explosion conserves momentum and has a shape based on the velocity of the former ship.
Star Map and Jumpholes
Like in High Albedo, jumpholes are the primary method of moving between solar systems before you have a jumpdrive. As you explore the universe, you will find new solar systems to go to and you'll eventually need a map.
If you ever played or even followed the development of High Albedo, this map is familiar. It is the same map as from that game. I've been able to reuse so many of these components because I wrote an interface between JME3 and Java2D that lets me draw these animated displays in Java2D and show the result in the 3D engine. This is a good thing, because these are perfectly good interface elements and having access to Java2D means that I can draw pretty much anything.
And that is what a jumphole looks like in 3D. It is also a particle effect, and has a volume so as you fly into it you'll be flying into a cloud of particles. It's very nice looking. Like in High Albedo, you have to get significantly inside of it in order to enter the next system, so accidentally coming into contact with it is difficult.
Feedback
I am always open to feedback! Feel free to leave any comments here or email them to me at masternerdguy@yahoo.com . This is a game in early development, and you have a chance to shape the final product if you just speak up.
Whoop nice work mate, looking good ;)