DotG looking for contributors

Lesser known clone projects or isolated news items about rare or unusual clones.
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bhagabhi
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DotG looking for contributors

Post by bhagabhi »

You might remember this clone Damnation of the Gods that I managed to release some stuff with quite some time ago. After a long break from it I have started working on it again. Previously I used the graphics from the Dungeon Master Java project, but now I would like to get graphics for this project that I can release under an open license, GPL or similar. If this suits you - feel free to contact me! There is a download availibe / source + windows executable package, but much of the graphics there needs to be replaced. The important thing is that you can imagine releasing the stuff under an open license (I am not an expert on what licenses are suitable for graphics and artwork though, but the sourcecode is GPL.) The project is in an quite early stage, so there is quite some room for suggestions and ideas, even if coders would like to take a look and help out it would be most welcome.

More info on homepage:

http://dotg.sourceforge.net
email availible on that site.
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ian_scho
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Post by ian_scho »

I've stepped through Adam Berfield's DMJava code a little and realise that this is a big baby to do! I bet you have got lots of ideas, just transforming them into code is going to be a pig. What version of Java are you using?
I wish you luck.

Muuuulltiiii uuuusseeerrrr
bhagabhi
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Post by bhagabhi »

Oh, this isn't a Java project, all code is in C++ and LUA. I did just use the graphics from the DMJava one, with a totally own codebase (and am working on replacing the graphics too.) Check out the homepage for the source.
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Trantor
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Post by Trantor »

Hm, so your clone is written in C++ and LUA? Isn't Sophia's clone Dungeon Strikes Back (DSB) similarly structured? I'm sure of the LUA thing and remember talking her about C++ as well, so you might want to look there for help, or maybe you could join forces or whatever. No idea actually, but from my next-to-non-existant technical knowledge, it sounds like the two projects have a lot in common.
bhagabhi
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Post by bhagabhi »

Oh, wasn't aware of that clone actually, thanks! Looks like really nice stuff! Will definately take a closer look!

The target of DotG has shifted a bit though towards making everything opensource so that I can release it under an completely open license - hence the reason to replace (most if not all) graphics. Don't know if that suits the DSB project though...
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Sophia
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Post by Sophia »

Yes, please have a look, I'd hate for us both to be reinventing our respective wheels.

For DSB, I used graphics ripped from DM's own graphics, mostly because it was expedient and easy.

This is not to say I'm opposed to graphical replacement-- Kelly was doing something like this with DSB a while ago, and I definitely think it could be worthwhile.

I've noticed that you're also using Allegro for graphics. Handy, isn't it? :D
One thing I'm curious about, though, if you don't mind a bit of constructive criticism-- why are all of your graphics pre-scaled and pre-shaded? Allegro makes this kind of thing really easy, actually (stretch_blit, draw_lit_sprite, and so on), and that way you need a lot less graphical data.
bhagabhi
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Post by bhagabhi »

I've noticed that you're also using Allegro for graphics. Handy, isn't it?
Absolutely!
One thing I'm curious about, though, if you don't mind a bit of constructive criticism
Absolutey no problem :)
--why are all of your graphics pre-scaled and pre-shaded? Allegro makes this kind of thing really easy, actually (stretch_blit, draw_lit_sprite, and so on), and that way you need a lot less graphical data.
Not all is but some sure is, thats true - I havn't actually done any of the code for light-levels in the dungeon - and also - while Allegro has quite a lot stuff needed it lacks some combinations of mirroring, stretching and putting light-levels on a bitmap - while keeping good speed (Meaning you'll have to draw the resized bitmap to a new one, and then mirroring that one in turn and so forth). I do have thought of going fully to openGL at some later stage, making all this a piece of cake. I do have taken a look at the Allegro polygon functionality for this, but when starting with stuff like that it seems more logical to go fully OpenGL really.
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Sophia
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Post by Sophia »

bhagabhi wrote:I havn't actually done any of the code for light-levels in the dungeon
Hehe, that can be tricky, though Allegro letting you define your own blender functions works pretty well. I got a pretty good effect in DSB, though I had to write the thing in asm.
bhagabhi wrote:while Allegro has quite a lot stuff needed it lacks some combinations of mirroring, stretching and putting light-levels on a bitmap - while keeping good speed (Meaning you'll have to draw the resized bitmap to a new one, and then mirroring that one in turn and so forth).
Yes, sometimes two (or even three) steps are required, but I think you're overestimating the speed hit that you'll suffer in doing this.
In the case of DSB, scaled bitmaps are done once and cached, and then they're flipped and lit dynamically-- it's not as slow as you might think.

bhagabhi wrote:I do have thought of going fully to openGL at some later stage, making all this a piece of cake.
Sort of, using GL (I assume with Allegro GL) is of course another set of interesting issues and problems. ;)
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Post by bhagabhi »

Where are you heading regarding license's on DSB? Multiplatform? I would surely like to take a look at the source (the non-LUA one..) :)

After I have re-started coding on DotG I am only letting GPL (or similar) stuff in (using other stuff until all replaced) - Hence the call for contributions here (and the slow development rate at some extent)...
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Sophia
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Post by Sophia »

To be honest, since I've really been the only one writing DSB code I've not really thought about license etc. stuff in that much detail.

The vast majority of changes that your typical dungeon hacker would want to make can already be done with the Lua code. The C portion is mostly graphics drawing, functions that are called by Lua, and all kinds of other "system" stuff. It's also a horrible mess. I'll probably make a source release eventually when I can get around to cleaning up the code and delivering it in a form where it's actually possible for someone other than me to build a functional binary... and once I'm not completely ashamed of it :P
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