[projectx] Project X update

[Ben C. <cro...@ne...>]

Comrades,

I've started playing around with Lua, and hopefully I'll have it hooked in
to Striker by the end of the week (fingers crossed ;)).  Since we're all
idling around waiting for something to happen, it's time for assignments.
They're in alphabetical order (by first name), in case you were wondering.
;)  If any of you have any questions at all, e-mail me.  We can't sit on
our haunches forever, guys.  Besides, this'll probably be the 4th term
grade for a few of you.  Have fun:

Cristian Moreno: 
  Some video footage of people walking around (from a top-view, so you'll
  need to get on a roof or a tall car or something).  We'll need them in
  all eight directions.  Once you have that, get it into computer format
  and chop it up into frames (we don't need all of them -- just eight or
  nine frames for each direction, at the very most).  If you want to get
  some sword slashing type stuff too, go ahead.

Don Jordan: 
  A rewrite of the networking class as soon as possible, with a
  post to the list of the source code.  If you can also write a short
  tutorial of the basics of the wrapper class (i.e. "This is how you
  initialize a connection, this is how you send data...", etc.), that
  would be good.  Comment the chat program, and we'll use that as a form
  of documentation as well.

Jon Cuevas:
  Find out how to do the generic input device in Allegro.  You'll need to
  read Vivace, and possibly search the Allegro mailing list archives as
  well.  Write a test program (or several) *with* comments.  We need input
  from the keyboard, mouse, and joystick.  Most of what you need *will* be
  in Vivace, so study that as much as you need to.

Matt Davis:
  Try to get SeeR working and hooked into Striker.  I'll work on Lua for
  the time being (as it's more...interesting ;)).  Once you have it in and
  set (hooked into Striker means that most, if not all, of the Striker
  functions are accessible through the scripting language), write some
  test scripts.  We need to find out which script language will work best
  for our purposes (which is full extensibility).

Mike Reynolds:
  Research game networking.  We need to find solutions for a handful of
  issues: Synchronization.  Each client needs to stay synchronized so
  weird things don't happen (you understand what I mean, of course ;)).
  We need to be able to send the map data in chunks to each client, so
  you'll need to find out how to do that.  Also, if you can look into
  having clients connect/disconnect at any time, that would be good too.
  Mainly just look into real solutions for these problems (which will be
  real problems shortly).

Nate Newell:
  Put all of your AI ideas down on paper (well, textfiles would be
  better).  We need pseudocode (gasp! shudder! ;)) on all of the
  algorithms, so that we'll be able to transfer them almost directly over
  to scripts once we reach that stage.  For the time being, since the game
  structures still aren't in place, just act on a more general level (i.e.
  instead of "player.x_vel += 50.235", put "player moves right by
  50.235").

Scott Burton:
  Get Striker compiled and running on Visual C++.  Now that we have the
  compiler at school, it'll be quite easy.  Once it's working, everyone
  can see the progress we're making, which will (hopefully) stimulate and
  inspire work.  Make sure that Carto and all of the utility functions
  work as well.  Take notes of what was required to get it working (we'll
  post them on a website once we get to that point).

Tom Ouyang:
  The game logic needs to maintain a constant frame rate (i.e. 60 fps),
  while the graphics loop will only draw when it gets free CPU cycles.
  This will keep the game synchronized to a large extent.  However, this
  doesn't happen magically, and it's your job to figure out how to do it.
  There are quite a few messages in the Allegro mailing list archives on
  it, so you'll need to do some digging and write some test programs.

Everyone:
  Get Allegro installed.  Get Striker installed.  Get cracking. ;)

Yours truly: 
  Write Striker tutorials, work on the design, and set the stone rolling.
  And get Lua hooked in.

Listen, fellows.  Nobody's replying to any of the messages on this list --
while not necessarily evil (okay, it is, but that's beside the point right
now), it's not helping very much.  I want this to be a team effort, not a
one or two person project.  Start checking your mail more frequently (once
every two weeks doesn't quite cut it), and *reply* to messages.  We've
had, what, two or three messages on the list from people other than me in
the last three weeks?  Come on...  If you're too busy to help right now,
but would like to later on, then let me know.  I need to know who I can
count on (right now is the part that matters most, and if I can't count on
you then you may as well wait until later).  I'm sorry if this sounds mean
or rude in any way -- it wasn't meant to be.  I want to see this project
succeed, and I need your cooperation.  Thank you.

Later,
Ben

--
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort 
and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." 
  -- Martin Luther King, Jr.