Home » Stars! Clones, Extensions, Modding » FreeStars » Hilton's FreeStars! Client
| Hilton's FreeStars! Client |
Fri, 11 March 2005 12:25  |
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 Hilton |
 | Crewman 1st Class |
Messages: 28
Registered: February 2005
Location: Calgary, AB, Canada | |
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Just thought I'd bring up some points on my own work. It should be noted that I have been planning a lot of features behind-the-scenes with my FreeStars client. I decided to bring this into a new thread rather than post across multiple threads.
First off, one of the items planned is a richer diplomacy system, which includes technology trades and map trades (via heavily encrypted subspace channels  ), various levels of peace and alliance, etc.
Although I agree with many that XML is not the most workable data format, it IS the most universal and modifiable.
I have also been working on rewriting the XML files to a more usable and scalable format, and I hope that LEit and the other coders will switch over to them. If not, well, darn.
The new XML files use UTF-8 as standard (my Windows client includes full Unicode and translation support, and I expect that any other clients will as well), and there is a strict DTD defined for them. (I expect only two individual formats, the rules file and everything else) This means that both clients and servers will be expected to produce files conforming to the DTD.
For those worried about size, don't be. Once compressed, a 50kiB XML file becomes as small as 5kiB (a 13% compression ratio). And the larger the file, the better the compression ratio - the entire 408KiB of the existing FreeStars XML files can be compressed as low as 28KiB (a 6% ratio). Size is NOT a worry. 
Of course, every option can be modified or disabled in the rules file (which means that in the default "Classic Stars" rules, none of the new features will be available). The rules file format is more or less completed and is considerably more flexible than the existing one; I am currently finishing up an editor for the format, and would love it if someone would help me out by filling in the standard Stars! components... I will be posting the editor as soon as a workable version is completed at http://www.freestars.org/
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| Re: Hilton's FreeStars! Client |
Sun, 13 March 2005 12:24  |
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| Hilton |
| Crewman 1st Class |
Messages: 28
Registered: February 2005
Location: Calgary, AB, Canada | |
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For the time being, I think it will be. I've never really played well with others in programming projects, especially when you get two people with different ideas and different programming styles. (Plus, I work in Delphi..most people don't.) I believe that single vision is good for a project, at least until it is fully developed... Most open-source projects suffer from a lack of single direction, either turning projects into feature swamps and bloatware, or simply letting the various programmers break apart until nothing gets done.
Some time in the future when the projects are further along, I may release it... but other people are also developing FS clients, which *are* open source (GStars is one example). If you are looking to help out, I'm sure some of them would welcome it - as would the FreeStars server project itself.
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| Re: Hilton's FreeStars! Client |
Mon, 14 March 2005 02:37 |
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| Madman |
 | Officer Cadet 1st Year |
Messages: 228
Registered: November 2003
Location: New Zealand | |
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| Hilton wrote on Mon, 14 March 2005 06:24 |
Most open-source projects suffer from a lack of single direction, either turning projects into feature swamps and bloatware, or simply letting the various programmers break apart until nothing gets done.
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Well, it's your choice keeping it closed source, but I don't think it's usually the open-sourcing is the problem, but the trying to design something by comittee, or waiting for the hordes of developers that never arrive. Making source available and having a single vision are not at all incompatible.
I'd encourage you to make your source available (under some appropriate license), even if you don't accept modifications at this early stage. That way, other people are likely to write code that 'plays nice' with yours, be possibly able to send in much more useful bug reports (There is a bug 'x'. It occurs because you run off the end of this array here ...), be able to port it to other platforms (OK, unlikely with Delphi) or even offer you chunks of useful code which you can accept or reject.
Also, it means if you lose interest for some reason, you leave something which can be built on. Consider this whole FreeStars project ... the main reason for existance, with all the effort that entails, is that Stars! itself (while very playable) has become something of an orphan.
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| Re: Hilton's FreeStars! Client |
Mon, 14 March 2005 04:12 |
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| Hilton |
| Crewman 1st Class |
Messages: 28
Registered: February 2005
Location: Calgary, AB, Canada | |
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You make some valid points, MadMan.
I would like to mention that Delphi provides full support for cross-compilation to Linux (via the Kylix compiler), so long as you avoid Windows-specific code. (Not to mention FreePascal and TMT Pascal, which do the same across a much wider variety of platforms.) But on that note, I *am* using a lot of Windows specific features (I am currently experimenting with a DirectX-based interface)...
I will consider opening my code, but not for a little while at least.
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