RIPPLE SOFTWARE

Havent posted for a while, and had a chunk of spam comments from a setting change. You know how many people found my post interesting and helpful… Lots of spammers did..

I have done a lot of work to screeb, changed and added a lot only I havent uploaded a release yet, but decided to move onto something different for a while.  One of the main problems I hit when working on Two Suns a long time ago was that I couldnt code a connection between C++ and a decent SQL Database.  So I have been working on that the last few days and I had some success tonight. Have been able to connect to and get data from SQL Server. This is a big deal for me, as it means I can now write the last library required for Two Suns.

Once I get the database library written I can start designing the data scheme that Two Suns will use to maintain everything including the universe, user accounts, items, and so on.

This means that I can then put all the pieces together with the database as the backbone, Direct X graphics engine, networking, threading, AI systems, and start building the tools needed to make the world.  Who knows how long this will take, seeing as I am also studying and working full time, but its possible I might get something working this lifetime.

Well thats where I am at… looking forward to getting the database library done.

First official business today is the release of version 1.5.2 of Screeb. Added a lot of fun stuff again, and made a whole load of stuff work better. You should go check it out, remember download link is at the bottom of the page.

Second line of business is that this will be my last update of screeb for a while, I am guessing that College will take up a lot of my time this year, and thats what I am going to focus on. Although I will try to get some more stuff done when I have time.

Third on the list is that I got the kids addicted to UT2k4 as I got it running on all the netbooks. We are now having network gib parties, and Im not always winning.. Damn kids are getting old enough to beat their old man, its not a good sign. Ill have hairy ear holes soon!! shit!!

That leads me to the last item on the shitlist. Its my berfdee this week, I really am getting old I guess. Better just accept it.

Small update here, been working on Screeb. Had to redo a lot of code to allow me to make new ships easier. Got all that done over the weekend and its working sweeet. Next is to rework the weapon code so I can do the same thing, I want to be able to make new and more interesting weapons too so that is next. At this point you wouldnt see any visual changes.

Once I have the code rework done I am going to start adding “Needs” to the AI so the ships will have to gather energy to stay alive. This should make for some very interesting behavior like ships attacking other ships and stealing energy, or fleeing and hiding if they are low on energy or health. I have also started adding in asteroids and planets. These will introduce a new steering behavior called orbit.

I have some fantastic ideas but not enough time to get them done. Got some time off work over Christmas so I look forward to getting a lot more done then.

PS. I hope you like the new site banner at the top, made that a week or two ago.. its cool.

Well I have put this one off for a while in the hope that I can add more to it, but it got to this point and now Im just sitting watching it instead of coding in more. Some of the cool things I have added in this patch are:
I noticed a crash when Screeb is minimised, I was handling some resources wrong, and now it seems stable enough to minimise and restore as needed.

One of the coolest things I added this version are the swarmers. These are small ships that group together. At this point they dont do much more than that, although they do try not to crash head long into the larger ships, and they all scatter if one of them gets shot, but I have plans for the future for them.

I also added a ship that wanders around and repairs the screen craters, got a new particle effect working with this guy too.

Ok the last but possibly the coolest things I added were animated rotating bitmaps. This allows me to animate anything now. So I added better looking health pods, and the police cruiser now drops mines instead of shooting lazers. The mines will zap the closest ship with a new effect weapon, electricity!! Its cool looking, and it kills.

So that is about it for the main fun things, if you want to read more and even download it for free, Click Here!

I uploaded a new update to screeb on the Screeb Software page. This update introduces some more work to the particle system, added particle jet streams to the ships, although Im not totaly happy with them and am still working on a new design. I have added some other extras in too but nothing much you might notice.