Originally Posted by
fermi443
I have a lot of experience with the programming in Second Life, which has been around for a long time, and from what I observe, it generally isn't hard to code particles with the right type of engine.
There's a big difference between scripting in Second Life and programming with a language such as C++. The reason why it isn't hard to code particles with LSL is because in the background, that is within the source running Second Life, that has already been dealt with.
It may be easy to set up particle effects with LSL, but that's because it was designed to be so. The code set up in the background to allow for such ease, however, will be much more complex. With an engine in mind, it will allow for easier configuration of said particles so I'm not saying adding some more particle effects in Istaria would be a monstrous task, but the task of pushing particle effects past what the engine is designed for would be. (Or doing anything outside the scope of the engine, in that case)
Any new thing added to Istaria that doesn't have existing support will need to be built from the ground up, and in compliance with existing code. With LSL, while you still do build the script from the ground up, there are a lot more shortcuts given to you and a lot less management of every operation you need to do, specifically with all the llFunctions provided.
The function llFloor(); is a good example. With LSL, if you want to floor a number, for the sake of simplicity you just call the function and provide it a number: llFloor(3.75);
In a situation where you don't have a long list of functions available to you, however, if you wanted to make a floor function in C++ you would have to build the function first before you could use it, which in that case would be something like this:
Code:
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
#include <math.h>
float Floor(float val)
{
val = floor(val);
return val;
}
int main()
{
float number = 3.75;
number = Floor(number);
return 0;
}
You essentially have to make the functions you need before you can even start working on what you needed the functions for. I'm not saying that the devs would need to do this for everything, for they might already have what they need available to them, I'm just saying that it's not likely going to be as easy as getting something to work with LSL. :3
Your ideas for improving the graphics arn't bad, they would just be very time consuming and require alot of attention from the staff to accomplish. Attention that, again, is far more worth applying to improving gameplay for the moment.
Originally Posted by
Milandra
Nice rant, very constructive
I had the same discussion over the support team.
What would be the best then to you guys ?
Start a Horizons 2 project with:
-The same server technology ( Evolution on that part could be applied to Istaria)
-New gameplay,graphics ( New parts in the engine...)
-Link the two titles with some kind of transfert (The novo for example)
It would require a big amount of time for sure.
But the community could help on such a project
Any other ideas on how build this future ?
The new graphics engine would, unfortunately, be the killing point for an Istaria 2.
You essentially have 2 options if you want a new engine:
1) Buy one, for a lot of money. (Can be anywhere from $10,000 to over $500,000. The Unreal2 engine costs roughly $350,000 for example)
2) Build your own which might as well cost you just as much as buying one due to the sheer number of man hours you would need to put into building it.
Re: The FUTURE
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