Sundog style ground adventure - is this possible?

[hangar18]

I'm quite keen to get back into programing and would like to change a number of things in oolite and was wondering if any experienced programers out there could tell me if this was possible before I embark on such a task. The key changes I would like to make are...

1. Making it something of an rpg with an ability to land on the ground and walk around various space shops kind of like the old 1985 game sundog (for those of you that remember). I know someone has written a mod to land on planets but what I want to do is this. Actually being able to fly around on the planet, seeing the progression of entering the atmosphere, the detail on the ground getting larger - exactly like in Frontier / First encounters and furthermore, once on the ground, being able to walk around the starport to go into shops / facilities. Kind of an exploration exercise.

2. change the galactic charts. Maybe having just 1 chart instead of 8 but within that chart having a greater variety of planetary systems. I find it gets too repetitive flying from one side of the galaxy to the next as the combination of tech level, government type and pirate activites does repeat alot. Would rather have a smaller amount of systems with more variety than a larger amount of systems with less variety. Almost to the point of having individual planets having unique features. Additionaly having factions within the galaxy would be a nice additional - again a la frontier.

Thanks in advance

[Thargoid]

1 - oolite's rubber-ruler sense of scale, the planetary rotation plus the collision detection will all conspire to kill that one. There's no way to know the texture of the planet, so you can quite easily end up putting buildings etc in the middle of the ocean (and if you don't, the planet rotation can easily move one underneath it). Plus the building/city/whatever will just be an orbiting entity, so if it gets too close to the planet surface then the collision detection will destroy it anyway (or at least there will be a gap between it and the planet, sometimes you can even fly under it).

Eric and I did look at this idea when I wrote Planetfall, but it doesn't really work well enough with the current trunk engine. The best you can do is a "text adventure" type exploration which someone else did in another OXP to walk around a station, but that's not quite what you mean.

2 - again sadly not possible in the current set-up. The galactic chart is read-only in terms of system positions and number, although it is possible to edit the attributes of the systems (tech level, govt type etc) by scripting. And there will always be the 8 charts and 8 charts only, although I guess you could disable the galactic hyperdrive but that would just lock the player into whichever chart they happened to be in at the time.

[hangar18]

Many thanks for the response. I wonder then if its possible to...

1. Land on the planet as per the mod out there which does this (naturally then without the full visuals of getting there through the atmosphere). This would then take you to a 2D or even 3D ground screen, where you can then walk about. I can probably write the code for this (as a standalone) but not sure how to integrate it into the main game - scripts alone presumably wont suffice.

2. Give each planet/moon a unique name. I'm using a mod which creates 1-3 planets/moons per system. If I could generate names for each planet/mooon in each system then it would help make each planet unique.

3. Increase the light year capacity from 7.0 to something higher?

4. Zero out some systems. The chart wouldnt change except some systems would be "blacked out" and not able to be jumped to anymore.

5. Change the backdrop to the galactic chart - the position of systems would remain as is, just the image supporting the nebula and white dots would change.

Cheers in advance.

[Disembodied]

Many thanks for the response. I wonder then if its possible to...

1. Land on the planet as per the mod out there which does this (naturally then without the full visuals of getting there through the atmosphere). This would then take you to a 2D or even 3D ground screen, where you can then walk about. I can probably write the code for this (as a standalone) but not sure how to integrate it into the main game - scripts alone presumably wont suffice.

Probably: take a look at the Cabal Common Library.

2. Give each planet/moon a unique name. I'm using a mod which creates 1-3 planets/moons per system. If I could generate names for each planet/mooon in each system then it would help make each planet unique.

If you're just randomly generating names (as per the current system names) then I'd just go with calling the planets "Systemname-I", "Systemname-II", etc. and the moons "Systemname-Ia", "Systemname-Ib" or some equivalent method. There's not much added value (in my opinion) to more random syllables. Of course, you could perhaps use a basic naming system like the one above for most planets, but hard-code in a few unique "real" names, e.g. "Jackson's Purchase", etc.

3. Increase the light year capacity from 7.0 to something higher?

Never say never, but I think this one is bolted on pretty firmly – I don't think it's doable.

4. Zero out some systems. The chart wouldnt change except some systems would be "blacked out" and not able to be jumped to anymore.

As far as I know, the Nova mission does this to the system that goes nova ... it might be possible to "nuke" selected systems this way. It's also possible to create new galaxies, so maybe you could hand-craft one to your own specifications ...

5. Change the backdrop to the galactic chart - the position of systems would remain as is, just the image supporting the nebula and white dots would change.

Yes – see the Background Set (BGS) OXP.

[Svengali]

1. Land on the planet as per the mod out there which does this (naturally then without the full visuals of getting there through the atmosphere). This would then take you to a 2D or even 3D ground screen, where you can then walk about. I can probably write the code for this (as a standalone) but not sure how to integrate it into the main game - scripts alone presumably wont suffice.

Probably: take a look at the Cabal Common Library.

Yes, walkscenes are possible - either via Cabal_Common_Briefing or by using own functions. The next version of Vector.oxp has such a scene. examplevideos.zip (3.3 MB - Flashplayer required) shows a little bit of the possibilities. There are a few limits though and it is some work modelling this environment. The only interaction with these scenes is via missionscreen choices (atm), but the code for walking is pretty simple.

[commanderxairon]

oh oh i think you should focus on the surface flying first like in first encounters

I OFFER RX SOFTWARE AS SPONSOR FOR THE CITY MODELLING

then when in cityes you can do a text/2d browsing

by example:

SHOP LISTS>shop names>2d display of the shop>shop items
FACILITY LIST>facility names>2d display of the facility>services/missions/etc

[pagroove]

I don't know if the effort in programming is worth it. If you like planetary exploration you can basically get a copy of Pioneer (see spacesimcentral.org). Also in terms of systems.

What I would like though is a sort of text adventure style of exploration or a sort of Minecraft like world. Basically a 3d engine on flat surfaces which work in tandem with Oolite. I'm no coder but this alone would already be an enormous undertaking.

But It would be great if we could walk around the Coriolis stations and other objects and to explore landing sites and cities in a sort of Star Control 2 way.

[hangar18]

Great guys! Theres enough there for me to investigate further. Will report back once I have a better idea of what can and cant be done and the time involved.