Email: mikeprosser@gmail.com
News - SF Project - Overview - Download - Specification - Schedule - Source
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Email: mikeprosser@gmail.com News - SF Project - Overview - Download - Specification - Schedule - Source |
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6-15-2004 Just a quick update: I got a gmail account and have updated the email links accordingly. You can now contact me at mikeprosser@gmail.com. 11-06-2003 I have made a few updates, and released Arabian Flights 1.3. The biggest improvement is the manual, but I also added limits on how many spiders (10) and firestalks(30) you can have to try to fix a bug. You can get the new .jar file here. 10-14-2003 Arabian Flights is now officially Open Source. I have set up a SourceForge account. This webpage is now located at http://arabian.sourceforge.net. The project summary is at http://sourceforge.net/projects/arabian/. If you want to help out, go on over to sourceforge and sign up. The .jar file is no longer hosted on this website. It can be gotten from SourceForge through this link. 10-11-2003 I'm done. I've completed release 1.1, including the wizard AI, and I'm opening the source. I'm going to GPL the project, and I'm working on getting set up on SourceForge.net. It is fully playable, with randomized maps for maximum replay potential, but there's still lots of stuff that can be added, including multiplayer. As of right now, I have spent a grand total of 152 hours working on this. That's equivalent to just under four weeks of full-time work. Actually, I think its quite impressive for only a single man-month worth of work. It is also just under a year since I started the project. Here's the 1.1 jar file, and here's the 1.1 source code: arabian_src_r1.1.zip Read the Download section to get set up with Java3D!
9-27-2003 Due to popular demand, I have updated the jar file to allow for randomized maps. Hopefully this will increase replayability. Here's the updated jar file. 9-13-2003 1.0 RELEASED! The game is now fully playable! Ditch is the best map. Spiders and tessel are also playable. Blank is just silly: one gold mine, and one of each monster. Here's the 1.0 jar file, and here's the latest source: arabian_src_r1.zip Read the Download section to get set up with Java3D! lots of new screenshots:
9-3-2003 I have abandoned multiplayer. I want to get this project done, and multiplayer is just too much work right now. I'm going to concentrate now on making a 1.0 release which will be fully playable, but will not include enemy wizards. Later, version 1.1 will include the AI controlled enemy wizard, and 1.2 will include a full campaign of multiple maps linked together, and also the ability to save and reload your game. When 1.2 is released, I will stop work on Arabian Flights and release it under the GPL licence. Maybe someone else will add multiplayer. just for the record, here's the latest jar file, and here's the latest source: arabian_src_xii.zip 7-20-2003 I have finished stage eleven: pre-multiplayer. I have done many small tasks: A pregame menu for loading worlds, better smoke, smarter spiders, a screenshot button (p), and performance optimiztions. The physics now run in a seperate thread, and collisions are only checked every 50 ms. This allows the framerate to be higher. I also included a profiler for performance tuning. On my system, 90% of the work is done by Java3D behind the scenes, so there's no more optimiztions that I can do at the moment. Here's the new jar file. See the Download section if you don't have the Java3D plugin. Also, I've uploaded a new set of source code: arabian_src_xi.zip
5-17-2003 I have finished stage ten, and now the gameplay is complete. In the new jar, there is a fully playable map. Start my choosing a location for your castle, and casting the 'Castle' spell at it. (Note: you can't build too close to the gold mines). Then, claim a gold mine and watch as the baloon goes and collects some gold. When it returns, you should have enough gold to upgrade your castle. There are five levels, and each one costs more gold. You know you have enough when the orange indicator is visible at the top of the lower left corner. Each level grants more spells and a bigger castle. If you cast the castle spell and there is not enough money for an upgrade, a repair will take place instead, which will restore any dead baloons or crane nests. Here's the new jar file. See the Download section if you don't have the Java3D plugin. Also, I've uploaded a new set of source code: arabian_src_x.zip 5-17-2003 I have finished stage nine. I have implemeted a 'building' system that is used for the castles and will also be used for the gold mines. Buildings are 3d objects that change the height of the land so you can float over them. I have also implemented the castle, with five stages. To start a castle, fire the 'castle' spell anywhere at the ground. You can make your castle anywhere. To upgrade your castle, fire the castle spell again. The spell will head towards your castle's flag, and when it hits, it will upgrade the castle. The level two castle has four crane nests, resulting in twelve cranes which will guard your castle. The level four castle adds eight more nests for a swarm of 36 cranes. Also I changed the sky to the day sky for some variety. 2-24-2003 I have finished stage eight. I made all the spells, and I also fixed some other things to improve performance and code readability. I made a nifty smoke system, and many of the spells make good use of it. In this version, all the monsters are enemys, but you can summon some monsters of your own to fight the wild monsters. At the top of the screen, it shows which spells are available. Each spell is represented by a character, which becomes the crosshair in the center of the screen when that spell is selected. The first screenshot shows firestalks shooting firebolts at you. Notice the smoke trails. The second screenshot shows a fireball heading towards the aforementioned firestalks. The fireball will kill it instantly. The third screenshot shows a firewave spell heading towards the group of firestalks. I moved the camera after throwing the spell so that the screenshot would show the massive smoke trail better. If you stay stationary, the massive amount of smoke obscures your vision. The final screenshot shows a meteor just after impact. You can see the smoke trail above the impact area, and you can see the shock wave emminating. The meteor is different from the other spells in that it obeys gravity. It is thrown from the camera like other spells, but you have to aim up so that it curves like a basketball onto the target zone. Note, the large area of damage means that you don't have to be very accurate with this. 1-26-2003 I have finished the monsters, and I am quite happy with them. Right now, each spider and firestalk is randomly assigned to one of two teams, so as soon as the game starts, there is a big battle. I have also improved the sound system so you can hear the battle going on around you. They blue monsters are on the player's team, and the purple monsters are the wild monsters. Once again, there's new screenshots and a new jar file. These screenshots show monsters fighting each other. Also, the third one shows the big minimap, which shows almost all of the world. Notice how the colors of the dots show which team the monster is on. 1-23-2003 I have finished the basic monsters. There's more I want to do with them, so I expanded the schedual to include additional stages. All of the monsters are fully functional, except for the targeting AI. In future versions, they will be assigned to teams, and will target any enemy. Right now, they only target the camera. I have added detailed descriptions to the monsters and spells in the specificationsection. Once again, there's new screenshots and a new jar file. 1-18-2003 I have spent the last week changing the landscape to by-reference geometry and texture, so that morphable terrain could be a feature of the game. However, this cut the framerate by 75%, (four times as long for each frame) so I spent the last 10 minutes reverting back to the original static geometry and texture. Oh well. However, now the minimap shows entities on it, using geometry-by-reference for the dot geometry. There's no new jar or source, since so little has changed, but I did add a bit to the schedual to show the time I spent going down this wayward path. Now I know why no game since Magic Carpet has had morphable terrain! 1-7-2003 I have completed stage V. Look at the pretty new Heads-Up-Display. In the center is the 'speed' spell crosshair. Each spell has its own symbol, which is used as the crosshair when that spell is selected. Since you can't change spells yet, you can see the 'speed' spell crosshair in the center. All the spell symbols are shown at the top. In this version, you can touch the big bots and the demons to get money, loose health, and spend mana. You can't touch the little ones, since you fly right over them. You can use the speed spell by holding down the left mouse button. 12-3-2002 I have completed stage IV, so there's a new arabian.jar file and some new pics. Collisions are detected and sounds are emmitted. In this version, the 8 big bots will go out to the 8 different pics of the demons, and when they touch, they will rise into the air. The 8 little bots will spread out from the center. Anything you touch that isn't already rising will squeak and start it's ascent. I guess the objective at this stage is to run over all 8 of the little bots. The Demon sprites are photographs of a Diablo action figure from Blizzard Entertainment's 'Diablo II'. The bot sprite is a photograph of a Lego Bionicle. Just like last time, you can't see the stars in the screenshots because they were taken at a higher resolution and scaled down. 11-30-2002 I have completed stage III, so there's a new arabian.jar file and some new pics. Preliminary tests indicate that it can handle up to 500 particles without slowing down on my machine. Thats plenty for this game. Also, it was able to make 3000 particles before running out of memory. I'll probably have about 100 for monsters and their effects, 100 for player spell effects, and maybe 100 for environmentals (trees and such). That should leave plenty of CPU room for monster brains, game logic, and all that stuff. In the screenshots below, and in the jar file, an entity list file defined 16 moving particles and one big stationary one. They all start at the origin (same as the camera start location) and move outward in the 8 compas directions at two different speeds. The particle system is capable of much more, but I'll demonstrate that in the next stage. You can't see the stars in the screenshots because they were taken at a higher resolution and scaled down. 11-03-2002 I have completed stage II, so there's a new jar file and some new pics. (the night sky shots are in a higher resolution so you can see the stars) 10-27-2002 I launched the website. I have completed Stage I. I am very excited. See the pretty pictures!
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