Rock

Sorry, been away in England for a few days, visiting the Gadget Show Live! at the Birmingham NEC. I hoped there would be some Virtual Worlds in the Gaming Hall to write about, but the number of exhibitors was way down on what they hoped for. Only Electronic Arts were there (that I recognised).

From what I can gather about Blue Mars, it will more akin to the Private Island Regions in SL, and not like the Mainland or any of the other Continents.

Developers with grandiose ideas can create a 'City', using a 2km x 2km land mass, or above (and maybe even smaller than this, but still not decided on). On this landmass could be built a futuristic city, or a copy of Vienna, or whatever. The City could include residential property, commercial property etc, available for rent.

The developer of the City pays fees to AR in much the same way as Private Island owners do to LL. They can then sublet homes and stores, again, in much the same way as private island owners do in SL.

Tenants of commercial properties can be granted to the right to upload their merchandise, eg clothes, shoes, furniture etc.

A lot of the details of the mechanics of all this is still to be seen when the beta goes live in June.

As for scripting, I am not familiar with the LUA-based scripting AR referred to, nor about their own 'Casual Games API'. If anyone has any info on these two I would be most pleased to hear about it.

I got a reply from Will Sink (relation of Jim Sink ??) of Avatar-Reality, and attached was a copy of the NDA for me to sign and fax. He went on... 'Once we have received the NDA, we will send you a link to download the SDK.'

I faxed the signed NDA on Thursday, but have not received the link yet. Maybe on Monday.

Anyone downloaded the SDK yet? I am interested in knowing what it contains in addition to the CryEngine Sandbox (terrain editor perhaps?).

Rock

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Miriel Enfield

I got a reply a few days ago, after using the email. It was from Jim Sink. He said his associates would be sending me an NDA, but nothing yet. Hopefully soon. I'm very interested in their prices -- I'd love to make a whole region, complete with a game, but it obviously depends on how much these things will cost.

The email did hint at something like a small mainland: it mentioned a limited number of city blocks that they'd rent out to smaller creators after the launch. But mostly, they seem to be -- thankfully -- focusing on something like LL's private sims.

Rock, I don't know about their Casual Games API, but Lua is a scripting language used elsewhere. I've bookmarked a few guides to it, but haven't gotten far in any of them. None of them have knocked my socks off so far, either. Nonetheless:

Programming in Lua : contents
Lua for Beginners
lua-users wiki: Learning Lua

CaleVinson

Given people's limited time, NDAs, etc, I'm not expecting all my questions to be answered here, but if nothing else this is a handy place to park them.

OK. In addition to its Lua scripting support, CryENGINE2 also supports compiled C++ extensions - see Programming Manual

Since the C++ dlls are generally used to make fundamental changes to the world, I would not be surprised to see them only available to City Developers. It might be a tad confusing if gravity was reversed in your neighbour's store for example.

If that unsubstantiated speculation is correct, it will be interesting to see where the functionality-line is drawn between what the Lua scripts have access to, and the C++ dlls.

Miriel Enfield

Sent in my NDA. Soon there will be shinies!

Fox Stirling

I signed up for news updates and such waaaaaay back and never received so much as a peep from them I think I missed beta registration by a hair.. I signed up again when this thread popped up, but I don't think I'm gonna make the cut..

Miriel Enfield

My download link came!

Meshes! Normal maps! Shinies! NO SCULPTIES!



Now I just have to figure out how to work it...

(P.S. NO SCULPTIES!!!)

Hypatia Callisto

its different.

the SDK is like a "standalone" except you are totally disconnected and have no backend.

It's not like OpenSim - which is like hosting your own sim on your own computer, and in this aspect, if you have set up Opensim - you realise you have to set up the asset database and all - as OpenSim and SL do not really have a file format for assets (Opensim has a file format for whole sims though). The SDK is well, like any other game engine that has an editor. It lets you make the game assets. You save them as files.

You can make a level in the SDK, which is similar to making your city, but the networking and database backend is not something you have on your computer, so no it's not standalone like SL's new product or Opensim can be. On the other hand, it doesn't have to be.

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"To begin with," said the Cat, "a dog's not mad. You grant that?"

"I suppose so," said Alice.

"Well, then," the Cat went on, "you see, a dog growls when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad."

"I call it purring, not growling," said Alice.

"Call it what you like," said the Cat.

Dancien Graves

Bye SL

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FlipperPA Peregrine

Ugh, Lua. I can't stand Lua.

Having to use LuaSocket for http makes my eyes bleed... but at least it isn't LSL2.

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Miriel Enfield

Okay, so... this is me:



SL's a kiddie pool that I was outgrowing (and moaning endlessly about), but this is a big step forward. There's a whole bunch of stuff I never learned (exporting LOD levels, setting up collision and physics, animation, etc.) because SL has no use for it, and now it's all been dropped on me at once, along with instructions written only for 3DS Max, which I don't use. I'm excited and will be taking the time to learn more about Blender, one feature at a time, but those of you that want to come at this from SL, be aware that it'll probably be overwhelming at first.

Joshua Nightshade

Only 3DS Max? Not Maya? o_0

Adam Zaius

Going between any of the major 3D packages is dead simple - there are hundreds of converters, plugins and tools around the place.

So supporting only one 3D package for output isnt a complete workflow killer.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Joshua Ignore Adam, he's just a troll.

Miriel Enfield

Oh, you can do stuff in Maya, I'm sure of it: but the doc.crymod.com stuff and the super-secret official Blue Mars wiki all have their instructions for Max only, as far as I can tell. I need to get a better grip on Blender at this point, so I can figure out what it can and can't export.

Siyu Suen

I just signed up




*refreshes email twenty times*

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"Your reality, sir, is lies and balderdash and I'm delighted to say that I have no grasp of it whatsoever" -Baron Munchausen

I'm attempting to bring about the end of the world to usher in a new era of mask wielding overlords. This is how!

LoganBauer

This looks really interesting, I signed up. The AI characters, realtime ambient occlusion and shadows,ect...

In SL, if I try to make anything using physics, people can right-click the object and stop it dead in it's tracks. If you make a game there are so many ways people can cheat, between scripting, general SL quirkyness,ect... So lets say in Blue Mars you teleport to a city or node, I would assume you could have a hud automatically attached? It looks like someone could make a game within this a lot more secure, and more intuitive for people playing it, seeing that the dev tools are separated from the standard client...

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Rock

I got my link too, but the link is for a 1.4Gb download of the Blue Mars Viewer Installer. Is this what they mean by the SDK?

Rock

Miriel Enfield

Yeah, that's it.

Joshua Nightshade

Where do you sign up? The only thing I saw on the website was a email link to request information when the client is made public.

Rock

Right now it is the SDK that is being tested, not Blue Mars itself, that will be in June. The SDK will allow you to see what it will be like in Blue Mars, as it is true WYSIWYG.

To get the SDK download use this link:

BLUE MARS DEV

Rock

CaleVinson

Joshua:

I agree, it isn't all that obvious ......

Hit the "FAQ" link at the bottom of the page, the one associated with "BLUEMARSDEV". In the first question of the FAQ ("When can I start creating content for Blue Mars?"), there's a link to the sign-up page for "creator registration", and creators apparently have access to the import and preview tools, which I'm guessing is the same thing as the SDK.

I'm guessing because I'm receiving no SDK love from there myself. Would help?

CaleVinson

Ooops.

Rock's post and mine crossed.

Listen to Rock Joshua, he has some idea what he's talking about.

Joshua Nightshade

Is there supposed to be a download link there? All I see is stuff about emailing them, which I already did.

Miriel Enfield

They'll email you back with a link, Josh, if they accept you.

There's also a form you can try filling out, but I don't remember the URL. Anyway, if you've sent an email, I don't think there's much reason to try the form.

On an unrelated note, God help me, but I've been looking at 3DS Max. Too expensive, so I'm stuck trying to muddle my way through documentation that is a) never written for Blender, ever and b) sparse to begin with.

Rock

Yes, that is all I did, email them. I gave a brief introduction to myself, told them what I hade built in SL and what I hoped to build for Blue Mars, and sent it off.

They have been avalanched by requests, so just be patient, they will work their way through them. If you cannot wait, there is a Sandbox on every Crysis DVD, which is almost identical.

Rock

Rock

I am also going to go with the opensource solution, Blender. I am sure we can get the 3DS Max instructions converted to Blender instructions before too long.

Rock