How to easily re-format an XML document to use tabs

For anyone else who might be interested, since it took a while for me to find a good way to do it.

XMLLINT_INDENT=$'\t' xmllint --format ./input.xml > ./output.xml

A new version is out, which fixes some serious issues with the network protocol.
You now also get skilllpoints back when decreasing a skill tree level, if a technique becomes unavailable.

To download it, please use the new launcher: http://neommo.ath.cx/downloads/launcher.tar.gz
It’s still only 32-bit, sorry, still didn’t get a new GPU.

The launcher will make sure that your game is always up to date.
Next version will be released on monday.

(WIPUP had some problems, so this post goes here for now)

While everyone else spent their weekend celebrating easter, I’ve been on a coding marathon.

There has been a lot of bug fixes, and a few new features.
My goal was to release an alpha that was, although lacking features, near bug free.

Some of the new features:

• A few new techniques (spells), that are actually based on ideas composed by friend of mine.
• A castbar, and server and clientside casting time.
• Cooldown indicators, and server and clientside cooldown calculations.
• A lot of improvements to the scripting interface to support the new techniques.
• Tooltips for techniques in the trainer and the power book.
• A messaging system (notifications, local and serverside).
• Chat channels, although only general channel is working right now.
• Network protocol improvement.
• Many more small fixes and lesser features…

Some notes about the alpha:

The binary uploaded is 32-bit only.
The GPU of my primary computer died, and while waiting for a new one I am stuck with my laptop.
32-bit libraries for Ogre, MyGUI and OIS are bundled, and can be used by starting the game using the launcher script.
The rest of the dependencies are fairly generic.

No Windows binary, I don’t own a computer using Windows.
Later on I might manage to compile a version at work where we use Windows.

The world data bundled with this release is nothing spectacular, just some basic terrain to show what my custom world format is capable of.

The only class with techniques is the Neuromancer, so that’s probably the class you want to try

Getting the alpha:

The binary is hosted here: http://94.254.68.117/stuff/Neo/Neo.tar.gz
Just untar, chmod +x ./neo.sh and ./neo.sh.

You need to register here: http://neommo.ath.cx.
The same details can then be used to enter the game.

Known bugs:

• The tooltips can get stuck.
• Spent skillpoints are not returned automatically when decreasing the level of a skilltree and a technique becomes unavailable.

Some debug commands that can be handy:

/fps
Shows your average FPS

/train
Opens the trainer window where you can spend points in skilltrees or techniques.

/setLevel X
Sets your level, replace X with a number.
Good for giving you a few extra points to use in the trainer

/setHealth X
Sets your health, replace X with a number.

/setStats X
Sets all stats, replace X with a number.
These stats influences your max energy and health, can be good for testing the spells.

If you find any bugs, or have any questions, feel free to ask them here.
Good luck!

Status updates moved to wipup

All future status updates have been moved to my new project page on wipup.

Follow me here: http://live.wipup.org/updates/view/311/

Object splitting in Blender

So, I am now working on turning Blender into a full-fledged world editor for Neo.
Because of that, I needed a script to split the grid containing the world geometry into smaller (10×10) objects for export.

If anyone else need this feature, and can stand my ugly code (first time ever using python…), check this link: http://pastebin.com/Ymp9mCpk

Long time no see

I haven’t posted much lately, because much of the work done has been under the hood, and what would a blog post be without fancy screenshots or screencasts?
So, what have changed?

• A total refactoring of the shared classes
• A loading screen (http://neommo.ath.cx/files/LoadingScreen.mpg)

• A new, unified GUI framework:

  

• A party system:

  

• You can now level up, see the XP required for the next level and receive XP for enemy kills.
• A paging terrain system, where the heightmaps and the map objects are loaded as you walk in the world.

• All spells are now scripted using QtScript, instead of just chosing between a list of predefined modifiers and setting a value.

  if( caster.energy > 100 )
  {
       target.health -= caster.energy * 0.2;
  }

  This is just one example of what can be done with this new system.

• Spells now have 2 more properties:

  Requires no target

  With this option ticked for a spell, the target will always be set to the caster, for buffs or spells that requires no targets.

  Can be cast on corpse

  Implemented for the sake of revival spells.
  With this option ticked, you won’t get a message saying "This skill can’t be casted on a dead target".

• Many more changes, mostly to the code structure and various bug fixes.

I hope to get back to you soon again with some more interesting news!
Have a nice summer everyone

World progress

More progress has been done on the world development.
1 picture says more than 1000 words, so here you go:

More work has ofcourse been made in other areas too, especially spell casting and performance improvements.
You will now get a selection indicator when selecting allies or enemies, several bugs have been fixed and the skill creator can now define range and casting times for skills that will then be used in-game.

That’s all for this time!

More improvements

A lot of the changes done the past month have been under the hood.

The game client is more stable than ever, I made a few adjustments to the code to make it compile for Irrlicht 1.7, some GUI changes, a particle effects editor, etc.

The most visible changes would probably be those to the spell casting system.
It will now take into account spell casting time and cooldown.
The implementation still has a few rough edges, but I am working on it.

No we’re not dead yet! :)

The past months I had no motivation to work on Neo.
A few minor design problems in the code kept me from implementing the spell casting system.

The last 2 days however, I have refactored parts of the code to share some classes between the server and the client to ease future development.
This also motivated me enough to take the last steps needed to implement spell casting!

A picture says more than 1000 words, and a video says more than 1000 pictures:

A lot of GUI improvements and further implementation of the spell system

Because of school and lack of motivation I didn’t do much development lately.
The last 2 days however, I’ve done quite some work.

I will now try to summarize all changes since my latest blog post.

Skills can now have tooltips in the spellbook and all skills can be dragged to the skillbar.
There are currently 4 skillbars (no restrictions, so support for more skillbars can easily be added in the future) which can be switched between using your F1-F4 keys.

Here is the skillbar showcasing 2 placed skills, and the tooltip of my wonderful self-constructed skill

We’ve now got NPCS in the world as seen by this picture.
This is also a great opportunity to tell you about the various GUI changes/improvements.

For example, you will see boxes above all heads stating the name of the NPC/Player, and holding TAB will show all names of the players/NPCS currently nearby.
Clicking on either on the character model or the visible nameplate will open up information about the selected player/NPC.

If the level of your target is equal or less than yours, it will be displayed, else you will only see a red arrow.

Ofcourse there are also other improvements under the hood, like improvements to the networking protocol.
That would be it I guess.

Stay tuned for more info