Re: Space sim in the works

["Miguel A. Osorio" <mao@fabricadigital.com.br>]

Jiri Svoboda wrote:
> Hello!
>
> The screenshots look really nice, you probably already spent a lot of 
> time on the project!
Thanks! As a matter of fact, I've been working on the engine alone in my 
spare time for about a year and a half - I really don't know if that's 
being efficient or otherwise :).

> > For now we only have the rendering subsystem functioning, but we'll be 
> > adding networking, sound, AI, and all the other fun stuff. 
>
> Seems rather risky to me. You may soon find yourself rewriting essential 
> parts of your code or redesigning your world, just because of some 
> things you didn't think of in advance.
>    Writing the graphics engine is a lot of work. But you'll probably 
> always get it working somehow. Game logic can be much more tricky. 
> Spacecraft collisions (the effects, not detection) or AI are tricky, for 
> example.
>    I'd always start with the game logic, which is the most important 
> thing anyway. I'd use simple graphics first, and add more when whe core 
> of the game reached a more mature state.
Well, I understand what you're saying, but I've actually planned for 
that. So the current structure of the renderer in terms of "objects 
thrown at it" is pretty raw. That means that I'm not likely to bump into 
limitations imposed by the rendering subsystem, when implementing other 
parts of the engine - I really hope my planning wasn't in vain :)).

> > From your project's web page:
> > Realistic flight physics: execute complex maneuvers to overcome your 
> > adversaries.
>
> O.K., good PR is important, but... I've never seen a space battle sim 
> with even remotly realistic physics. The fact that yours is not the 
> first I can tell from the screenshots (design of the ships).
>
> That's ok. I don't mind unrealistic physics at all. I don't see why a 
> space sim should have realistic physics. But claiming it has them when 
> it doesn't is strange enough.
I get your point. Let me explain that "realistic flight physics" a bit. 
For now, the ships fly taking inertia into account, so you actually 
don't use the thrusters all the time, only when maneuvering - so you 
give it a push, and it keeps on going indefinitely, until you steer the 
ship and give it another push, so it changes direction accordingly. 
There is, however, an option to "automagically" compensate the ship's 
inertia so you can fly around to whatever direction the ship is pointing 
to, *almost* like atmospheric flight.
Do you think that this system is too simplistic for us to call it 
"realistic" ? There is always room for improvement :).

> I wish you best luck with the game,
Thanks a bunch, I really appreciate that :).


[]s,
Miguel A. Osorio.

Lead Programmer,
SomniumStudio - www.somniumstudio.com