The Lupercalia Engine / News: Recent posts

Yes, this project is still going!

Development was slow during the past 16 months. Quite a bit was going on in my life - challenging software releases at work, marriage, etc. :-)

I've checked in a version of the latest C# client, map editor, and related assembies into CVS. The engine currently has a dependency on the "Furcadia" game system (downloadable from www.furcadia.com).

The plan is to use Furcadia's maps and resources to make sure the engine has the basic features required before developing more advanced file formats.

Wow! It's been awhile since my last news item - I haven't forgotten about the project!

I've been rewriting it in C++ instead of the original Delphi code base. The code is cleaner, faster, and fully documented!

I should have a nice demo soon.... It's going to blow all the other free RPGs out of the water, and possibly some of the ones you pay $14.95/month for :-)

I've been busy - reprogramming large portions of the system.

* Completely overhauled the way maps are rendered. They are now rendered as diamonds instead of a 'staggered square'

* 80% complete the collision detection system. Collision detection is optimized using axis sorting and sector techniques.

* Completely removed the delphi windowing code from the main game binary, and wrote the entire 'core game loop' using raw Windows API. It's a LOT faster now! ... read more

Latest changes:

* Entities are now children objects of maps, and not the game itself. This will allow for larger, multi-map worlds later.

* Improved the 'SpawnEntity' code to be more object-orientated and much more efficient. The function no longer has hard-coded property assignments, this is all done through the descendant 'Assign' classes.

* The terrain module now handles map & entity rendering, instead of the display (screen) module. This allows the code to have less cross-dependencies.... read more

I uploaded the current source code and binaries for the Lupercalia project. The code should compile but the game is not 100% operational yet as I am currently half done writing the collision-detection code.

You should be able to create maps with ground tiles, then walk around them in the game client (if you create resource graphics, that is)

The PNG module for Lupercalia now should support just about every type of PNG, including:

* Palette images with or without alpha or transparency
* RGB images with or without transparency
* Grayscale images with or without transparency
* Alpha RGB images
* Alpha Grayscale images

It has features like:

* Alpha masks
* Transparency masks
* Color keys

The game engine itself doesn't handle the alpha values (only transparency), but most image types should be able to load now. ... read more

The new website has been launched. It's simple for now, but it will be expanded over time.

We now have our first music track for the game, donated by Alex Wallbank! Go to our home page and look for the link to download a preview.

I've been working quite a bit on the "static object" system - objects that are stored in maps like trees, walls, buildings, that sort of thing.

I've completed initial work on the sorting algorithm that significantly improves performance for rendering objects! I've also added the ability to "stack" objects/statics on top of each other multiple times (this will let us do things like build complex structures and multi-floor buildings). More news soon!

The first test of the large tile rendering system was a success! The map editor can now place large tiles, and they are rendered in the game client!

I also cleaned up the rendering order so it should render perfectly now. Two minor things I still need to clean up - Need to fix tile-selection previews in the map editor, and the character frame editor in the resource editor.

I've been working like crazy on completing a new modification to the tile rendering engine. It should allow the engine to run "large" sized tiles without rendering errors.

If you've ever seen Ultima Online with "InsideUO", you'll see each little tile is the same shape, which makes level development difficult. The goal of the new system will be to use the same sized tiles, but splice them together into a "super tile" for editing purposes.... read more

Lupercalia has reached #17 in the top 20 most active games on sourceforge!

http://foundries.sourceforge.net/games/

The Lupercalia Engine was given it's codename today, and sourceforge account was set up.

Team development is going to start!