Bits and bobs about the development of the free and open source game inspired by RollerCoaster Tycoon
Saturday, 5 January 2013
We're in business!
Today, you can open a shop, and have guests buy things from them. The video demonstrates it :)
(At 3:05 and 4:17.) The recording program had some trouble around 3:38 apparently, the delay and speed-up was not at the screen.
Thinking of how much still needs to be done just makes you want to quit, so I don't think about that. Instead, I just do one step at a time in a sort of random direction. One day hopefully I run out of steps to do :p
As for adding new things, it becomes more work (since the number things you have to take into consideration is larger), but easier. Previously, there was mostly nothing, I had to build everything. Slowly some parts just start to work now, so I can just use or extend them. For example, adding a new string to display is now a few minutes work instead of weeks thinking about how to handle and store strings in the program. Basic GUI stuff like creating a new window is another example. I can now just define a new window instead of having to first a few new widgets before I can display the things I want. Also, I am starting to understand some subjects. guests walking on paths is now basically a solved problem. Terraforming and adding foundations (the vertical walls) is understood now too (it is still not completely working, but now I know how it is broken, and what must be done to fix it (it is mostly a matter of finding a some time to do it).
If I may ask, why you do this? Are you have any help? Also, are you able to analyze the original RCT code and do some stuff from that?
Unfortunately I have no idea how the OpenTTD (and their team) grew like that. It is very popular alternative for TTD players. Are you want to achive something like they did, or it is just more like a hobby?
Well, I played every RCT, I own every copy of this game. I played as much as I could when I were a kid, now I rarely even remember about this game. All I ever dreamed of is to build park in Coop or play with few friends in multi (every one have own park) and compete with each other.
Sorry for bothering you with those questions. As a gamer, I often (more like always) don't have a chance to talk with designer/programmer :P DAMN YOU CURIOUSITY
We are doing it for fun! And for the chance, in the future, to be able to play a game a bit like roller coaster tycoon, but improved! Everything we are doing is from scratch, including all the coding and graphics. Copying anything directly from roller coaster tycoon would be illegal.
Your dream to have multiplayer theme park gaming is one of ours too, though it'll take a long time to get to that stage. Having built FreeRCT from scratch will help with that though.
And don't worry about asking lots of questions, it's great to have people interested in what we are doing.
First of all, I'd like to say thank you for putting all this hard work into this. I have been a big fan of RCT since my early years (well I'm only 19 years old...) but ever since I've owned a mac, playing RCT 1/2 (because those are my favorite) have been such a pain. I haven't played in a couple of years and when I remember the fun I had playing this I really miss it.
My friends and I used to try making this multiplayer by just competing over the 'better' park and things like passing turns on the PC but this just has so much potential, I love it.
I also would like to compliment you on your design skills! I got really excited when I saw your content and now this video and an idea came up in my mind. Maybe, you can have fans, like me, design a shop or anything and then you pick the best one and recreate it? That would be awesome and I would most definitely enter.
The aim is to allow anyone to create a shop all by him (or her) self. If you look at http://code.google.com/p/freerct/source/browse/trunk/rcd/shops.xml , that are the properties of the current shop. Line 18 refers to 4 sprites (one for each side), and you have to provide some other properties, like what the shop sells, and how expensive things are. (look at the name="..." value="..." things, and ignore most of the other clutter)
The current shop is mostly just a demo to test the underlying code (drawing shops in the screen, open/closed state of the shop, guests visiting, exchange of goods and money, proper counting of sold items)
Make the People move faster! They should move at the speed the guests in the original first or second game where moving. Its one of the things which broke rct3 for me that they where soooooooo slow!
Currently we are still building functionality. Proper configuring numbers like speed of animations, loan rates, monthly costs, speed of a day, and so on, comes later.
In other words, now we are happy that people move at any non-zero rate when they are supposed to move, and that we pay monthly costs for a shop, and get paid when a guest buys something.
Deciding on 'good' values for all these things can only be done when you have everything, so you can play-test the entire game, and get it all balanced against each other (hopefully).
Very nice, thanks!
ReplyDeleteAll I want to say is that I admire you work. I don't know where is it going or how hard it is to add new things at this stage, but I wish you luck.
ReplyDeleteThinking of how much still needs to be done just makes you want to quit, so I don't think about that. Instead, I just do one step at a time in a sort of random direction. One day hopefully I run out of steps to do :p
DeleteAs for adding new things, it becomes more work (since the number things you have to take into consideration is larger), but easier. Previously, there was mostly nothing, I had to build everything. Slowly some parts just start to work now, so I can just use or extend them. For example, adding a new string to display is now a few minutes work instead of weeks thinking about how to handle and store strings in the program.
Basic GUI stuff like creating a new window is another example. I can now just define a new window instead of having to first a few new widgets before I can display the things I want.
Also, I am starting to understand some subjects. guests walking on paths is now basically a solved problem. Terraforming and adding foundations (the vertical walls) is understood now too (it is still not completely working, but now I know how it is broken, and what must be done to fix it (it is mostly a matter of finding a some time to do it).
If I may ask, why you do this? Are you have any help? Also, are you able to analyze the original RCT code and do some stuff from that?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I have no idea how the OpenTTD (and their team) grew like that. It is very popular alternative for TTD players. Are you want to achive something like they did, or it is just more like a hobby?
Well, I played every RCT, I own every copy of this game. I played as much as I could when I were a kid, now I rarely even remember about this game. All I ever dreamed of is to build park in Coop or play with few friends in multi (every one have own park) and compete with each other.
Sorry for bothering you with those questions. As a gamer, I often (more like always) don't have a chance to talk with designer/programmer :P DAMN YOU CURIOUSITY
We are doing it for fun! And for the chance, in the future, to be able to play a game a bit like roller coaster tycoon, but improved! Everything we are doing is from scratch, including all the coding and graphics. Copying anything directly from roller coaster tycoon would be illegal.
DeleteYour dream to have multiplayer theme park gaming is one of ours too, though it'll take a long time to get to that stage. Having built FreeRCT from scratch will help with that though.
And don't worry about asking lots of questions, it's great to have people interested in what we are doing.
First of all, I'd like to say thank you for putting all this hard work into this.
ReplyDeleteI have been a big fan of RCT since my early years (well I'm only 19 years old...) but ever since I've owned a mac, playing RCT 1/2 (because those are my favorite) have been such a pain. I haven't played in a couple of years and when I remember the fun I had playing this I really miss it.
My friends and I used to try making this multiplayer by just competing over the 'better' park and things like passing turns on the PC but this just has so much potential, I love it.
I also would like to compliment you on your design skills!
I got really excited when I saw your content and now this video and an idea came up in my mind. Maybe, you can have fans, like me, design a shop or anything and then you pick the best one and recreate it? That would be awesome and I would most definitely enter.
I can do better than that :)
DeleteThe aim is to allow anyone to create a shop all by him (or her) self. If you look at http://code.google.com/p/freerct/source/browse/trunk/rcd/shops.xml , that are the properties of the current shop. Line 18 refers to 4 sprites (one for each side), and you have to provide some other properties, like what the shop sells, and how expensive things are. (look at the name="..." value="..." things, and ignore most of the other clutter)
The current shop is mostly just a demo to test the underlying code (drawing shops in the screen, open/closed state of the shop, guests visiting, exchange of goods and money, proper counting of sold items)
This is awesome!
ReplyDeleteBut please do this one thing:
Make the People move faster! They should move at the speed the guests in the original first or second game where moving. Its one of the things which broke rct3 for me that they where soooooooo slow!
Currently we are still building functionality. Proper configuring numbers like speed of animations, loan rates, monthly costs, speed of a day, and so on, comes later.
DeleteIn other words, now we are happy that people move at any non-zero rate when they are supposed to move, and that we pay monthly costs for a shop, and get paid when a guest buys something.
Deciding on 'good' values for all these things can only be done when you have everything, so you can play-test the entire game, and get it all balanced against each other (hopefully).