Oolite Bulletins

So, I've been asked to talk about Oolite for a bit at Lavecon in July.

I'd like to say something about how it's continuing to develop, but realise that I've been rather out of the loop. So, what should I say about version 1.80 and what would you like to hear me say about versions 0.0 to 1.6?

Or would you rather I just stopped mid-talk and break into a few of the numbers from Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be?

And perhaps there'll be someone (anyone?) there better qualified than me to talk about Oolite's current development?

aegidian wrote:

So, I've been asked to talk about Oolite for a bit at Lavecon in July.

This sparkling oratory will no doubt be recorded for posterity - enjoy! <grins>

Giles, you can tell us how we're supposed to pronounce 'Oolite', i notice the Lave Radio podcast guys say 'oh light' surely that can't be right?!!

Well, I prefer to pronounce it like the rock 'ooh-light'. But others prefer 'ooh-leet'. Either of those two is good, 'Oh-Olly-Tay' is bad.

And I spose I really ought to listen to some Lave Radio, but I rarely have time when I want to be still and listen.

I think it would be nice to say how it all started. How you got to the decision to sit down and write a clone of Elite from scratch.

Out of personal curiosity (and that's a question I wanted to ask you when we met in London a couple years ago but totally forgot when the time came), what was the very first line of code you wrote for Oolite and which was the very first function that kicked it off? How much time did you spend planning all this and how did the Expansion Packs idea came in and the OXP system was designed and implemented - that was truly a moment of pure genius and you have my full admiration for it.

Other things that maybe could be considered:
- How the game and its community are bonded one to another and how it would be totally not the same without this community.
- How Oolite developed from being a game like Elite to practically a game engine for writing space games like Elite (and not only).
- How almost everything in this game is under user control.
- How scripting evolved from simple condition scripts to full JavaScript support, which is now to be also used fully in the core game's AI system.
- [For the geeks out there]: How its core low-level methods (like logging system, asynchronous work manager, maths library etc) could be used as-is in other projects, not even related to gaming potentially.
- How rapidly it all develops, with many cases of requested features being inserted in the game within a matter of a few hours from moment of request and several bugs getting fixed within minutes of being reported.

Surely there is much more to say about it, I'll probably get back with more later on, but that may do for a start.

Oh, and it's pronounced Oh-oh-light as far as I am concerned. Others' mileage may vary.

oh heck, i've been saying it wrong all these years, basically just saying 'elite' with the first 'e' swapped for the 'oo' out of 'woo'!

I've got to say how amazing the moddable oxp thing is, seeing my first self made oxp ship flying around in oolite was just awesome! and when the opengl custom shader stuff and normal mapping came in later it was just the best thing ever.

Was it Dizzy that used Oolite as a basis for a presentation for one of his computer classes - i remember seeing a really great slide presentation being posted up that showed how the game had evolved over time.

also, is there a generation ship hidden in Oolite?

Griff wrote:

oh heck, i've been saying it wrong all these years, basically just saying 'elite' with the first 'e' swapped for the 'oo' out of 'woo'!

So have I.. but I'm not about to change now!

Griff wrote:

Was it Dizzy that used Oolite as a basis for a presentation for one of his computer classes - i remember seeing a really great slide presentation being posted up that showed how the game had evolved over time.

I seem to remember someone doing that, but it definitely wasn't me!

As a new player i think one of the big draws is that everyones Ooniverse is coustomisable to how they want to see the game, from the basic vanilla to adding just the right OXp's for your taste in how the Ooniverse looks and plays. More ships, different HUD's, missions and all through the OXP system. and if there is something missing , well just add it yourself! the board community is the most helpful and friendly i have come across in the last 20 years of internet forums i have been part of and read. I have not seen one nasty comment , not once have i seen "do a search" or "thats been answered before go search " etc. I do feel that the community is a large part of the immersion.
Thank you for starting this wonderful experience.

True, I have been playing this game for years, and the forum has always been good for a quit chuckle and some friendly advice, would be nice if the rest of the internet was like this...

I suppose a quick 'history' of the development is in order, and nobody is better placed than you to be able to give insight into the early years in particular, and to recap the major revisions (introduction of shaders etc).
But like the others I think a mention of the community is necessary as well as it is the community which ultimately drives the development both in terms of what features are requested for the main game, and in how OXPs can 'fill in the gaps', often remarkably quickly.
And my 2Cr-worth, I think it's pronounced oo-leet (oo from who and leet to rhyme with feet).

another_commander wrote:

Out of personal curiosity (and that's a question I wanted to ask you when we met in London a couple years ago but totally forgot when the time came), what was the very first line of code you wrote for Oolite and which was the very first function that kicked it off?

It was the EQ_laser-cooling-booster code, but then something went wrong with usb stick it was on and the file corrupted

Diziet Sma wrote:

....it definitely wasn't me!

Ah, sorry Dizz, it was PhantorGorth
https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.ph ... 2&p=203157

Griff wrote:

It was the EQ_laser-cooling-booster code, but then something went wrong with usb stick it was on and the file corrupted

<Chuckles>

Oolite has some uniqueness what should metion. For example:

-Played by many middle-aged man also, especially who played Elite in childhood. So this will be a cool game even in retirement.

-More people found it entertaining just by reading the forum (like Tales from the spacelanes) or making extensions without seriously playing the game (including me ).

PhantorGorth wrote:

Here is the talk. Please note it is in LibreOffice/OpenOffice Impress format.

Nice presentation!

Where abouts are you in london? And when is the event?