Sentience: VB Game (comments please)

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Gaming_World

So which sunday evening is the ETA for? This sunday, next sunday, the sunday after that, 100 sundays in the future?

---

Don't make me fly over to Oregon just to whoop yo ass! :D

This Sunday, all being well. Behemoth's coming round and we normally get a lot done when the pair of us are together.

We both have really busy lives so it's hard to get both of us together in person, but when we do - it's the highest concentration of brain power on the planet!

Well............ nearly.... ;)

Right, the latest version is uploading as I type this. Give it about another 10 minuts... :)

Things of note:

The new (half finished tech tree)*
Ranged combat
Particle engine
Monster generation
Ability to build Yetis (sort of)
Scorched Earth has been added though graphics are barely visible #

A whole herd of bug fixes (obviously)

------------------

To see the ranged combat in use, open fire on one of your buildings. The RMV has been given guns for testing - it won't have them normally.

The particle engine can be tinkered with using the scripts (sfx.ini) but we wouldn't advise this as you'll have no idea what you're tinkering with for the moment.

#The scorched earth bit means that when you shoot at a mech, the ground it's on gets damaged and becomes pockmarked. At the moment the graphics are practically invisible - Behemoth will be having a look at this soon.

*We need help with the tech tree. If you run the game at 800*600 you'll see the tech tree takes up about half the screen. It consists of 2 tech 'groups' (4 lines). There are another 3 to fit on, (6 lines) and they don't fit. How can we make them fit - any suggestions?

Upload complete.

I await your comments....

It says "File not Found"

doesn't say what file though

same

****

I'm on it...

OK, the download is corrupt and doesn't seem to contain all the scripts. Including the one that verifies the file's it's supposed to have :rolleyes:

Otherwise it would have told us which file was missing - I'll upload the new version now - sorry about that....

OK, the problem was down to ARC not storing the files correctly.

I've switched to RAR and it's done it ok, but it's now a slightly bigger download.

I've re-uploaded the file, let me know how you get on please... :)

Does nobody have any comments about the new release?

After badgering me for so long to upload it?

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Arbiter
Does nobody have any comments about the new release?

After badgering me for so long to upload it?

---

heh always the way isnt it ;)

i will be able to test and comment it tomorrow, i just installed a new freesco router here today (haven't been on the net for an entire day :eek: ) and i need to do some homework now :mad:

Ok, no probs - looking forward to seeing your comments then.

Come on people, we really need some feedback here.

What works? What doesn't work? What do you like? What can be improved? Any errors you're getting?

Ok, because u almost died without comment, here u go :

1. In the last version i tolled u about a bug in the 'slurp settings' screen (screenshot included), its still there.
discription : in screenshot
2. How much mem does sentience suck ? it sucked me dry, 0 % system resources, sorry no screenshot due to crash, i have 512 mb ram...
3. Why does Sentience respond very slow to mouse movement ?
(no screenshot), my mouse started flickering (is this english/understandable ?) and responded very slowly.
4. After 3 when i entered the 'slurp settings' screen the resolution just changed from 800x600 to 1024x768, not that it is a problem but it kinda looks strange.
5. after 4 the mouse problem solved itself and i recieved an error when trying to make a screenshot, insufficient mem...
6. SenLoader is still visable when sentience activates, i think the windows should go away when sentience starts.
7. This is getting funny, every time u put up a new version my list grows longer and longer :eek:
8. The option menu should move a bit faster (my opinion)

9. Go ahead and say u don't understand any of what i just said, i know you understand at least SOME of it...


10. Is the old 'sentience' still online ? (wanna try it on a win xp comp)

Icheb

Icheb, your use of English is fine, but sometimes, I swear you're taking very strong hallucinogens ;) :p

I have already tried the new one, and I have none of the problems you had (P3 1Ghz, 256MB Mem, 9GB HD Free, ect.). I guess that the out-of mem problem is either something else running, or a problem from having too much memory (lol:rolleyes:lol very unlikely). When did you last defrag, scan-disk, reg-clean, and virus check your system?

none ?!

Not even the one from the screenshot ?

Scandisk - About 4 or 5 days ago with system crash and reboot so scandisk from dos
Defrag - this takes more then 2 days here, haven't done this for about 4 months, but i installed sentience on a new recently installed hd
Regclean - about 2 weeks ago when i tried to make my registry a bit 'smaller'
virus check - auto detection is always online, does a total hd sweep once a week

Behemoth : i am not makeing the problems up, they really are there :mad:

detail : in the test before the resolution reset i tried that funny rendering thing again

If defrag takes 2 days, how the hell much HD space do you have?:confused:

Icheb,

I know the slurp screen still isn't fixed, most of my time has been spent on the particle engine.

I think Gaming's saying that he's had none of the technical problems you've been having (slow mouse etc).

Good comment re hiding the SenLauncher, I'll try and implement that before the next release.

Try and close down everything else running before you run Sentience. I may help your technical issues.

Gaming,

Have you got any comments regarding the game - any improvements to make? What do you think to the particle engine?

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Icheb
none ?!

Not even the one from the screenshot ?

Scandisk - About 4 or 5 days ago with system crash and reboot so scandisk from dos
Defrag - this takes more then 2 days here, haven't done this for about 4 months, but i installed sentience on a new recently installed hd
Regclean - about 2 weeks ago when i tried to make my registry a bit 'smaller'
virus check - auto detection is always online, does a total hd sweep once a week

Behemoth : i am not makeing the problems up, they really are there :mad:

detail : in the test before the resolution reset i tried that funny rendering thing again

---

I'm just joking with you, Icheb. I don't really think you're making it up. Please don't get upset. :)

this is how bored i am today...

:)

Hey, I know what you could do!

Download Sentience and play it!

The let us know what you think... ;)

I still have the problem of the splash screen showing up over top the next player screen. Other then that, I haven't played with it enough to know of other bugs. And sience I am half asleep still (its 7:30 AM,and I am getting ready for school), I will end the post soon.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Arbiter
Hey, I know what you could do!

Download Sentience and play it!

The let us know what you think... ;)

---

already have, i was impressed.

i was the one who commented about the impressive speech sound effects remember :)

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Behemoth
I'm just joking with you, Icheb. I don't really think you're making it up. Please don't get upset. :)

---

/me is not upset ;-)

Arb : What things did you exactly change on the particle engine ?
I know the 'demo' is different now, but what else ;-) ?

Yes, defrag costs 2 days here, first of all, i have loads of fragmanted space.
Second of all, i hate it so i don't do it very often.

I have 2 hd's, 1 with 20 gb and 1 with 60 gb, partitions c:\ to m:\ are harddrives :rolleyes:

Icheb

oh my god! what do you need so many partitions for???

hey what file do I have to download for playing Sentience
(last time I looked at it the thread was just a few pages long :))

Quote:

---

Originally posted by /\/\isanThr0p
oh my god! what do you need so many partitions for???

hey what file do I have to download for playing Sentience
(last time I looked at it the thread was just a few pages long :))

---

I kinda overdid it the first time i used fdisk, now i'm used to it. ;-)

I recommend downloading and starting gamedev.exe (the site is in arbiters signature)...
If you don't understand the game, i would say : 'join the club'

(no offence arb)

Quote:

---

Originally posted by darre1
this is how bored i am today...

:)

---

cmd1.click gives me the following error :
round - sub or function not defined

on office 97, nice idea ;-)
Will try on XP later

hm ok I thought so, but I did not want to take the chance of unpacking all the Files needed for development :)
well I did not exactly get the first piece I looked at, but I think that is nothing compared to what the game is now (haven't looked at it now, but I read a few posts which all tell that the game made big progress)

there is some program called Partition Magic it is made by Powerquest and is sold for little less than 50 bucks I think (was about 40€, but I am not sure anymore). That program really is worth the money! It is the fastest way to play around with you partitions without having to clean the whole thing up. It really is useful! You can just change the size of partitions create new ones delete old ones, and you wont lose any data (well if you delete a full partition...)

Quote:

---

Originally posted by /\/\isanThr0p
there is some program called Partition Magic it is made by Powerquest and is sold for little less than 50 bucks I think (was about 40€, but I am not sure anymore). That program really is worth the money! It is the fastest way to play around with you partitions without having to clean the whole thing up. It really is useful! You can just change the size of partitions create new ones delete old ones, and you wont lose any data (well if you delete a full partition...)

---

I know, i own it ;-)
But it doesn't have very much features to adapt windows to the new partition name, so i'm afraid of useing it on this computer :(

ok so how do i install this? (im not reading all 45 pagess :P) do i need all those files? if so offering an archive for download would be nice...

http://www.gibbonbash.fsnet.co.uk/GameDev.exe

alternatively, follow the link in Arbiter's and my sigs and download the file "gamedev.exe"

Quote:

---

Originally posted by /\/\isanThr0p
hm ok I thought so, but I did not want to take the chance of unpacking all the Files needed for development :)

---

You could never get the developement files out of Arbiter (except for possibly the basic partical areas, as it is Jotaf's code). PlendJ has been trying for much time know.

well noone would give out the whole code of such a big program (well there is people) but I meant development tools or graphics that are not needed for playing.
I guess they programmed some dev tools for themselves...

Quote:

---

Originally posted by /\/\isanThr0p
well noone would give out the whole code of such a big program (well there is people) but I meant development tools or graphics that are not needed for playing.
I guess they programmed some dev tools for themselves...

---

You still wouldn't get these...

If they aren't necessary to play the , Arbiter problably woun't give them out (that is if him or benoth made them).

Yeesh, I look away for 5 seconds and there's a whole conversation I missed... :rolleyes: :D

Ok, replies as follows:

Howard,

Simply click the Sentience link in my sig, download gamedev.exe, extract it and run the Sentience program from the extracted folder.

Gaming,

Just for your info - as you know I have a policy of coding every area myself (remember the whole thing about the rotating DNA strand when I said it looks great but I'd have to code it myself...?) so the particle engine isn't actually Jotaf's code. I used his tutorial though to teach me about the way his particle engines worked. My code might not be as fast, or as impressive - but it is mine...

Icheb,

Right click on your RMV and use it to shoot things (like your own buildings or whatever). The particle engine is actually fully integrated into the game now.

Misanthrop/Gaming,

The gamedev.exe contains everything needed to play the game. No more, no less. There aren't really any dev tools for the game, except an Excel spreadsheet containing the scripts (as the scripts are really only .csv files which can be easily exported from Excel).

Dev tools will be coming (map editor, proper script editor etc) but as they'd be more for others use than our own (which is a bit unusual for dev tools) they have a low priority at the moment.

I also found a bug with the firing, it is possible to shoot many times before any shot hit (by attempting to move to the location, i tried it with one of those nature thingies). I just attempted to move there about 50 times, and all the bullets just kinda waited by the mech until I was done (and I didn't notice any damage). Its not a criatal problem, just looks kinda funny. As far as I know, bulets normally don't wait for you to stop firing, and the bulets you fired later, to start moving towards the target.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Gaming_World
I also found a bug with the firing, it is possible to shoot many times before any shot hit (by attempting to move to the location, i tried it with one of those nature thingies). I just attempted to move there about 50 times, and all the bullets just kinda waited by the mech until I was done (and I didn't notice any damage). Its not a criatal problem, just looks kinda funny. As far as I know, bulets normally don't wait for you to stop firing, and the bulets you fired later, to start moving towards the target.

---

LOL..
Funny bug :rolleyes:

btw : if someone (yes, u too, arb) accually understands the game, please make a help file or something out of it for the rest of us.

(arb : i'd really like to test the game, but it would be great to know what the heck i need to do and how to do it... but your tuturial already was a beginning but we need more ;) )

[edit]
Typo and adding a smilie :)
[/edit]

Heres a good screen shot (look at those white bullets).

Due to the fact that the file is too big (and I can't get FTP to work right now), I will be uploading it as 3 zip files. Number 002 includes the program I used to split the file apart. (look at the next post for the instrutions)

Instrutions: unzip all the files, and run FileSplitter on the SDT file, in UnSplit mode. The program then should create a bug.gif file in the same folder as the SDT file.

And the final file:

Please note that the files must all be in the same folder (except the EXE).

i can't comment on the gameplay, as i dont particularly care for turn based strategy games, but it looks excellent. extremely impressive...

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Gaming_World
I also found a bug with the firing, it is possible to shoot many times before any shot hit (by attempting to move to the location, i tried it with one of those nature thingies). I just attempted to move there about 50 times, and all the bullets just kinda waited by the mech until I was done (and I didn't notice any damage). Its not a criatal problem, just looks kinda funny. As far as I know, bulets normally don't wait for you to stop firing, and the bulets you fired later, to start moving towards the target.

---

Lol, cool! I'll trap that, I know what the problem is and I should have expected it - it's a really simple thing to fix (I think).

This is why I need all you good people to test the game... :)

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Icheb



(arb : i'd really like to test the game, but it would be great to know what the heck i need to do and how to do it... but your tuturial already was a beginning but we need more ;) )

---

Behemoth and I were discussing the manual writing before. Writing a manual is a massively time consuming thing, if we begin it then it won't leave us a great deal of time for working on the game.

Also, we've been known to change how the game works at points so we'd have had to rewrite whole manual sections.

I'll try and knock something together soon though, some sort of starter guide....

Howard,

Thanks for the comments, I'm sure Behemoth will be pleased to see that his efforts are appreciated.

Gameplay issues aside, do you have any suggestions as to how we could improve the look/feel of the game..?

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Gaming_World
And the final file:

Please note that the files must all be in the same folder (except the EXE).

---

Thanks for that Gaming, it's pretty much what I imagined it would be.

For future reference, you might want to play the game at 800*600 for testing purposes (or crop the screenshot image) as the majority of that pic is largely irrelevant...

Arb : just a number of questions specially for u :

* How large is Sentience going to be when it's done ? (with media, sounds, music, ??movies?? ect.)

* Are you going to include more sounds and music ?

* Are there going to be movies (like an intro movie)
(i maybe know someone who can create this in 3d max)

* Are u going to 'launch' Sentience as a game where everyone need to pay for ect.
Better question : Are u making Sentience for the fun, the money, or both of them ?
(Just want to know how u think about it atm)

Icheb

Icheb,

Points addressed in order....

1) Sentience will fit on one CD when it's complete - that's the only constraint we've set ourselves. It might unpack itself to be a bit bigger when installed on the hard drive. There will be the option in run the movies from the CD to save space.

2) Yep. I'm discussing with a couple of people to do the voices for the in game advisors (Arbiters). You can do the voices for one two if you can speak English clearly enough. An accent isn't a problem (it adds a bit of spice) but the wording must be clear...

3) There will be. One of Behemoth's friends was supposed to be doing a movie but he appears to have vanished, so we might end up doing it ourselves....

Please do send me a wav of yourself. If you want to say a couple of the things that are already in the game, then I can draw a direct comparison.

Vanished.

If you think I'm rewriting the graphics engine then you can kiss my plums. I do have ST: Armada and I know what you mean, but I don't think it work very well for Sentience (being turn based). For Sentience II - maybe....

The FPS should be displayed just above where it tells you the current year. To enable it (and the 'cheat' menu) you'll need to run the game in debug mode - make sure the check box on the Sentience Launcher has tick in it.

Exactly why did I bother to upload the new version when clearly no-one gives a monkeys...?

Huh sorry I was downloading the new version but I completely forgot :D

So huh what's new since I last downloaded Sentience?... :)

I'll make sure and try out sentience again soon :)

Speaking of rewriting a graphics engine... I might be able to help you write a very fast DDraw engine. :)

i did give some comments...

(yeah, another useless post)

afternoon :)

*bump*

Whats happeng here ?!
Since when does Sentience needs bumps ?

Arb, ar u still alive ?

Things really aint cooking at the moment.

Ben's ok. Not very well though, but that shouldn't have stopped the progress of Sentience. i think we're both feeling a bit burnt out ATM

I'm stressing at work and Ben's feeling somewhat demotivated cos nobody's replying anymore.

Let's not let Sentience die :)

don't let that big project go down now! we need you guys to prove that it's possible to do some cool games in VB :)
well as for me I am really not involved into that since I do not like turnstrategy other than my beloved civilisation II...

I like the game, if only i knew how to work with it...

But Arb, if you would read this, come back here, don't let more than 6 (?) months work go down to waste !!

If you want, I'd be glad to help you out with sentience... I have a knack for optimization/debugging, and would be glad to do your dirty work if you're not feeling up to it ;)