[Divunal-list] I thought this list was awful quiet...

[Glyph Lefkowitz]

I wasn't subscribed to it! :-)

I felt I should respond to the message.

>[Disclaimer: If you want a purely technical answer, this isn't it. Should
>still be useful, though.  :-)] 

> We've talked about this a few times, but it's nothing that we're
> 100% certain of doing any time, as far as I know.  I'm personally a big
> fan of computer graphics, but I question whether going graphical would 
> be in the best interest of Divunal.

Yeah, Dave & I have been sketching plans for a 3D version of the TR API (A
remarkable amount of stuff in TR is actually re-usable for 3D objects --
almost everything, actually) in our copious spare time :-) but I think
that it's best to focus on the here and now at least until Divunal is
really running (or at least somebody else takes TR and runs with it)

> A while ago in a much much earlier version (so much earlier that it
> was labelled 1.0FC1! Haha FC1, that was a year and a half
> ago...anyways...), there was a feature that let you set an image in
> place of the text in the main description panel. That got taken out
> for some reason (probably because it wasn't working or something) I
> personally would like to advocate putting it back in a future version,
> along with Quicktime integration on platforms that support it (mac &
> windows). This would allow you to play QT movies to the player upon
> entering a room, or perhaps set a Quicktime VR panorama movie as the
> picture for the scene and let the player look around. All this is not
> a very tough extension to add to the server (a little harder on the
> client though. :)). One thing pictures would be really useful for is
> maps (ie from a map dealer). A textual map is just annoying...

Agreed -- some things are better represented graphically.  The biggest
problem I see there is the ability to actually get the images to the
client.  I suppose we could use a webserver ... but then we'd need more
bandwidth, etc, etc... I guess if we're going to get images into the game
we just need to deal with that. *sigh*.

> The question about dynamicism are important however. Even though I
> know it will happen, whenever a description changes all by itself when
> i'm just sitting there I'm impressed. The completely dynamic
> (EVERYTHING can change at runtime, including code) nature of this game
> is the best part, and should be preserved at all costs. It is not
> particularly feasable to have completely dynamic pictures. This game
> isn't a 3D walkaround, and I don't think it ever will be. So, I think
> the best way to compromise is to have objects have both a description,
> and an optional picture/movie. That satisfies both the image-hungry
> consumers and the gamers. :) I believe background music and sound is
> also planned, which can be accomplished with either QT sound routines
> or another sound plugin. Anyways, none of this will appear until after
> the first release, if we keep adding features, it'll never get
> released. :)

Well, with a little bit of editing, it would make a *wonderful* soundbyte.
:-)

The sfx and soundtrack stuff might be delayed a bit beyond the 1.0
release... just because I think it's ready for 1.0 right now...

I would like to set some sort of release-schedule for twisted.reality,
possibly move trask's site from www.tinaa.com over to
www.twistedmatrix.com/reality once we've got that site set up... I really
think it ought to be release 1.0 by the first of august.  I mean, enough
already with the 1.0 prereleases... the software is stable.  SPEAKING of
stable, everybody should take a look at the root page of divunal.com
tonight, I'm going to post an interesting little programming story about
fixing the last known crashing bug in the Pump...

Anyway, I'm off to be the wizard now... later

  "Reality ... is just software.   |  Glyph Lefkowitz
   The hacker is our savior."      |  Code Gardener
   -- The New York Times           |  Twisted Matrix Enterprises