Irrlicht3d.org http://www.irrlicht3d.org/index.php A blog about games, software engineering and stuff. eng Copyright 2010 2010-03-12T14:12:30+01:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Optimizing 3D Collision Code http://www.irrlicht3d.org/pivot/entry.php?id=1026 http://www.irrlicht3d.org/pivot/entry.php?id=1026#comm Im currently in the process of implementing collision and response into CopperLicht, the JavaScript 3D engine I recently released. It already works and you are able to walk around in a Quake 3 level in realtime, and it is also already possible to walk up and down stairs: The problem is that collision is quite a quite CPU-intensive task. Systems today don't have any problems calculating collisions against thousands of polygons per frame, but doing this in JavaScript is a more difficult task: JavaScript is incredibly slow. I've used several tricks already (like you can see a bit on the lower left of the screenshot, CopperLicht automaticly created an OctTree for collision as it reports with the gray text) and it works very nice already in Chrome, which has an extremely fast JavaScript VM. But in FireFox, this is still not very usable, dropping down to about 5-10 frames per second. But let's see, there is still room for improvement. 1026@http://www.irrlicht3d.org/ CopperLicht, the JavaScript 3D engine I recently released. It already works and you are able to walk around in a Quake 3 level in realtime, and it is also already possible to walk up and down stairs:

copperlicht collision test


The problem is that collision is quite a quite CPU-intensive task. Systems today don't have any problems calculating collisions against thousands of polygons per frame, but doing this in JavaScript is a more difficult task: JavaScript is incredibly slow.
I've used several tricks already (like you can see a bit on the lower left of the screenshot, CopperLicht automaticly created an OctTree for collision as it reports with the gray text) and it works very nice already in Chrome, which has an extremely fast JavaScript VM. But in FireFox, this is still not very usable, dropping down to about 5-10 frames per second.
But let's see, there is still room for improvement. ]]> default 2010-03-12T14:12:00+01:00 0 users http://www.irrlicht3d.org/pivot/entry.php?id=1025 http://www.irrlicht3d.org/pivot/entry.php?id=1025#comm Something I don't quite understand: 326 monthly active users, 18 fans, and 0 users. I'm pretty sure either I misunderstood or did something wrong. :) Pro tip: Switching your facebook language from german to english reduces the confusion a lot while developing a facebook application, because the strings seem to have been translated automatically, and in the developer section they get mixed up with english words, and you end up understanding only railway station if you know what I mean. :) 1025@http://www.irrlicht3d.org/


326 monthly active users, 18 fans, and 0 users. I'm pretty sure either I misunderstood or did something wrong. :)
Pro tip: Switching your facebook language from german to english reduces the confusion a lot while developing a facebook application, because the strings seem to have been translated automatically, and in the developer section they get mixed up with english words, and you end up understanding only railway station if you know what I mean. :) ]]> default 2010-03-10T17:04:00+01:00 Some Very Short Movie Reviews http://www.irrlicht3d.org/pivot/entry.php?id=1024 http://www.irrlicht3d.org/pivot/entry.php?id=1024#comm Shutter Island: Thrilling movie, watch it! Best film I've seen in the last few months. Don't watch any trailers or reviews before going there. The Book of Eli: Never played Fallout 3? Love stupid, braindead plots? Then you will like this. It appears they wrapped a pseudo-action film into scenes stolen from the Fallout 3 game and added a completely crap ending. Not worth watching at all, in my opinion. Alice in Wonderland: O come on. Alice fighting a dragon using a f***cking sword!? I've read the original Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and played American McGee's Alice which was very nice, but Tim Burtons version sucked from the beginning to the end. Stupid, stupid dialogs, no irony, no plot, nothing. Thanks for your attention. :) 1024@http://www.irrlicht3d.org/ Shutter Island: Thrilling movie, watch it! Best film I've seen in the last few months. Don't watch any trailers or reviews before going there.

The Book of Eli: Never played Fallout 3? Love stupid, braindead plots? Then you will like this. It appears they wrapped a pseudo-action film into scenes stolen from the Fallout 3 game and added a completely crap ending. Not worth watching at all, in my opinion.

Alice in Wonderland: O come on. Alice fighting a dragon using a f***cking sword!? I've read the original Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and played American McGee's Alice which was very nice, but Tim Burtons version sucked from the beginning to the end. Stupid, stupid dialogs, no irony, no plot, nothing.

Thanks for your attention. :) ]]> default 2010-03-08T17:36:00+01:00 Torchlight Boxed http://www.irrlicht3d.org/pivot/entry.php?id=1023 http://www.irrlicht3d.org/pivot/entry.php?id=1023#comm I just received a newsletter telling me that Torchlight is now available as boxed version in my region. I never played that game, but since most reviews I came across about this game are quite positive, maybe an idea to buy it. Also, it was created using open source software, especially a quite popular 3d engine which is not irrlicht :) (since you are reading this blog, you probably know that it's Ogre). Interesting is also that it is published by JoWooD here, one of my ex employers. Nice! 1023@http://www.irrlicht3d.org/ Torchlight is now available as boxed version in my region. I never played that game, but since most reviews I came across about this game are quite positive, maybe an idea to buy it. Also, it was created using open source software, especially a quite popular 3d engine which is not irrlicht :) (since you are reading this blog, you probably know that it's Ogre).
Interesting is also that it is published by JoWooD here, one of my ex employers. Nice! ]]> default 2010-03-05T10:54:00+01:00 Why I stopped paying Google last week http://www.irrlicht3d.org/pivot/entry.php?id=1022 http://www.irrlicht3d.org/pivot/entry.php?id=1022#comm Recently I asked in the google adwords support forum when they will support Opera again. The problem is that the first page of adwords works in Opera, but then clicking anything will open a page telling you that Opera is not supported anymore. Which is quite a shame because all other Google websites work with Opera and for adwords, I'm even paying money. I already had filled out several feedback forms but never received an answer in that direction, so I posted it into the support forum and was happy that I even received an answer from a google employee named 'Agatha': "I just installed opera and opened my adwords account and it seems to work. You probably have a old version of opera". (translated, the original answer was in german language). But of course, I always use the latest versions of opera. BIG, BIG *facepalm*. What probably happened here is that google employee Agatha simply logged into the account, saw that it works without clicking anything. She also failed to see that there is a list of official supported browsers without Opera in it. And of course, she never answered anymore to the posts in the forum. I know, I only run a very small company. But since I cannot use google adwords anymore with my preferred, perfectly web standards compatible browser, I now stopped giving them my advertising money and will start giving it to their competition from now on. 1022@http://www.irrlicht3d.org/ google adwords support forum when they will support Opera again. The problem is that the first page of adwords works in Opera, but then clicking anything will open a page telling you that Opera is not supported anymore. Which is quite a shame because all other Google websites work with Opera and for adwords, I'm even paying money.

I already had filled out several feedback forms but never received an answer in that direction, so I posted it into the support forum and was happy that I even received an answer from a google employee named 'Agatha': "I just installed opera and opened my adwords account and it seems to work. You probably have a old version of opera". (translated, the original answer was in german language). But of course, I always use the latest versions of opera.

BIG, BIG *facepalm*.
What probably happened here is that google employee Agatha simply logged into the account, saw that it works without clicking anything. She also failed to see that there is a list of official supported browsers without Opera in it. And of course, she never answered anymore to the posts in the forum.

I know, I only run a very small company. But since I cannot use google adwords anymore with my preferred, perfectly web standards compatible browser, I now stopped giving them my advertising money and will start giving it to their competition from now on. ]]> default 2010-03-04T13:41:00+01:00 Bad Reviews http://www.irrlicht3d.org/pivot/entry.php?id=1021 http://www.irrlicht3d.org/pivot/entry.php?id=1021#comm Not sure what happend, but the new version of Darkness Springs received some quite harsh and bad reviews, although previous versions have been liked very much by the majority of people. Ok, lots of people still like it, but the reactions of some people are really a bit strange. Example: Here is what I'm going to do for you [AuthorOfTheGame]. I'm going to wait for a cracked version of your game to appear, download the game, host it on every media sharing website known to man and then I'm going to delete it from my computer. Strange, hm? But there are some good news as well: Darkness Springs on Facebook has been approved and now is available in the Application/Game directory. And I also removed the need to allow the game to post on your wall, because some people didn't really like that. 1021@http://www.irrlicht3d.org/ Darkness Springs received some quite harsh and bad reviews, although previous versions have been liked very much by the majority of people. Ok, lots of people still like it, but the reactions of some people are really a bit strange. Example:

Here is what I'm going to do for you [AuthorOfTheGame]. I'm going to wait for a cracked version of your game to appear, download the game, host it on every media sharing website known to man and then I'm going to delete it from my computer.


Strange, hm?
But there are some good news as well: Darkness Springs on Facebook has been approved and now is available in the Application/Game directory. And I also removed the need to allow the game to post on your wall, because some people didn't really like that. ]]> default 2010-03-03T09:22:00+01:00 Axis Mundi http://www.irrlicht3d.org/pivot/entry.php?id=1020 http://www.irrlicht3d.org/pivot/entry.php?id=1020#comm Axis Mundi was a student project built in 24 weeks by Surface Studios as part of a final year assessment for the Bachelor of Interactive Entertainment course run by Qantm College, Melbourne, Australia. Irrlicht was the teams choice as 3D engine to assist them in getting the game done in such a short time span. Luke Di Lodovico, project manager says: "Having no exposure to Irrlicht, and being new the the world of game programming, it was a hard task to get where we got to, but found that without Irrlicht3D we would have had an almost impossible task." The game looks fun, and after I watched the gameplay video, it looks like a nice idea. 1020@http://www.irrlicht3d.org/ Axis Mundi was a student project built in 24 weeks by Surface Studios as part of a final year assessment for the Bachelor of Interactive Entertainment course run by Qantm College, Melbourne, Australia.


Irrlicht was the teams choice as 3D engine to assist them in getting the game done in such a short time span. Luke Di Lodovico, project manager says: "Having no exposure to Irrlicht, and being new the the world of game programming, it was a hard task to get where we got to, but found that without Irrlicht3D we would have had an almost impossible task."

The game looks fun, and after I watched the gameplay video, it looks like a nice idea. ]]> default 2010-03-01T17:24:00+01:00 My first Facebook Application http://www.irrlicht3d.org/pivot/entry.php?id=1019 http://www.irrlicht3d.org/pivot/entry.php?id=1019#comm I just created my first Facebook Application. I checked out the Facebook API out of curiosity, and it seems to be quite powerful. So I made Darkness Springs into a Facebook application. You can now play it on facebook, and the game will from time to time post your current progress on your wall (if you like): A bit senseless, but that's how facebook games work, I guess. :) Any feedback welcome. You can play the game here on Facebook. 1019@http://www.irrlicht3d.org/


A bit senseless, but that's how facebook games work, I guess. :) Any feedback welcome. You can play the game here on Facebook. ]]> default 2010-02-26T15:08:00+01:00 Darkness Springs Update http://www.irrlicht3d.org/pivot/entry.php?id=1018 http://www.irrlicht3d.org/pivot/entry.php?id=1018#comm After a lot of time, finally, I updated my little pet game Darkness Springs a bit. One of the notable new features is the new website, here is a comparison to the old one: Shouldn't be to difficult to tell which one of these the old website is. :) But the game itself has been updated as well, with the most requested features: There is now a main menu, a short intro explaining what is going on, an ingame map, the possibility to teleport back to the village, a realtime updated highscore list and a lot more. And additionally, I made a german version available: I sat down and translated all the texts in the game to german. Took much longer than I expected. But now, if the .swf detects if you are running on a german system, the game will be in german as well. Hope this was worth the effort at all :) 1018@http://www.irrlicht3d.org/ Darkness Springs a bit. One of the notable new features is the new website, here is a comparison to the old one:


Shouldn't be to difficult to tell which one of these the old website is. :)

But the game itself has been updated as well, with the most requested features: There is now a main menu, a short intro explaining what is going on, an ingame map, the possibility to teleport back to the village, a realtime updated highscore list and a lot more.
And additionally, I made a german version available: I sat down and translated all the texts in the game to german. Took much longer than I expected. But now, if the .swf detects if you are running on a german system, the game will be in german as well. Hope this was worth the effort at all :) ]]> default 2010-02-25T17:55:00+01:00 How to afford an indie game http://www.irrlicht3d.org/pivot/entry.php?id=1017 http://www.irrlicht3d.org/pivot/entry.php?id=1017#comm Oh no! An indie developer has decided to release his game at the unaffordable price of $15. How to afford an indie game. Read on. 1017@http://www.irrlicht3d.org/ How to afford an indie game. Read on. ]]> default 2010-02-23T17:35:00+01:00