| Re: Progress |
Sun, 21 March 2004 08:57   |
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| Ptolemy wrote on Sun, 21 March 2004 07:03 |
The only problem would be that it might then be a copyright infringement (though since the VML modfile has been allowed, probably not).
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I'm fairly sure you can't copyright the look of software. If you have any revolutionary ideas in the interface then you may be able to get a patent, but that requires a really major step forward, like from command line to windows/icon/mouse/pull-down-menus. Stars! probably doesn't fall into that category.
Besides which, I'm not sure that a straight UI copy would be the best thing. I can see the advantage in keeping the game logic the same (you can avoid lots of game balance issues), but the same doesn't really apply to the interface.
It would be interesting to see 2 competing windows GUIs though - your C++ version and the Delphi version.
I've been toying with the idea of working on a Java client (cross platform) or maybe a Palm handheld client myself.
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| Re: Progress |
Mon, 22 March 2004 11:07 |
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The #1 thing I would add to Stars! if I had a chance would be a better export function; sort of like NewReports=1 but much more complete. This would make it possible to write much better 3rd party utilities.
Imagine a fleet report that included a breakdown of the ship in each fleet, as well as a ship designs report giving the specs of each design. A utility could use this information to have a "threat" value for each fleet, and it might even be possible to write a battle simulator.+
With an open format turn file, FreeStars will have a huge advantage in this area.
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| Re: Progress / GUI |
Wed, 24 March 2004 11:03 |
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The subject of the copyright was discussed a little in some of the earlier posts and it seemed that there wouldn't be any copyright problems:
1. Provided the FreeStars wasn't being charged for and
2. The user interface wasn't identical
Granted, I'll work out a nicer galaxy map and the FreeStars graphics will be different as well as most menu names. However, we do need to have numerous functions the same as in the current Stars! version;
Planet build queue
a race design wizard
a ship/starbase design editor
a fleet display for waypoints, fleet composition and fleet orders (mineral/colonist load & drop, minelaying and remote mining).
a mass driver warp speed bar
a message window
These things will pretty much mimic the current Stars! functionality and could very well be seen as a copyright violation. On the other hand, it would be extremely difficult for anybody to sue a group of users from various parts of the world for re-programming the 'look and feel' when there is no profit involved.
One serious item though is that we are going to need ALL new graphics, ships, planets, starbases and the galaxy map. I'd like some aliens for the race design wizard also.
As for the galaxy map... Do we have a .xy file format defined yet? If not, we need to do that first along with some graphics that can be used to test the UI. Ideally, I'd like to use imbedded jpeg files to keep the graphics size down and that may mean including the jpeg decoder code in the GUI code(I think I have some though) - alternately, standard windows bitmap format can be used though it takes much more space.
Images of planets are easy enough - just make some from any picture of Earth (hmm.. maybe I'll allow them to rotate when the planet is selected). Ships are a different problem - any decent artsts out there?
For the ship/starbase design editor it is easy enough to use a different design concept and then it will be so different in the way it looks that it won't be a copyright problem - functionaly will be the same with slots chaged to 'tech-spots'. There was a game called Fragile Alliance where they were called 'hard points'. Since the GUI is new there is no need to use a simple block diagram to represent the ship. A nice image of the ship can be displayed with the slot spots marked and when items are added they can update the image.
Ptolemy
Though we often ask how and why, we must also do to get the answers to the questions.Report message to a moderator
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| Re: Progress / GUI |
Fri, 26 March 2004 02:14 |
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Since we are talking about quite small images for the battle sim it is far more code efficient to simply write the animation procedures directly into the C++ application. Using small jpegs, gif's or even my own custom image format will not take more than 3k per image anyway.
Personally, since I'm going to write a PC GUI anyway and I want some animation in it, I will put some animation in it. As far as using Flash goes, it's a waste of effort since the Flash code would have to be (at a minimum) linked into the compile process. That requires Flash link libraries that may or may not be available for C++. Writing image flipping code for the animation isn't difficult. The most time consuming activity is creating the necessary images.
We have to remember that not all users will have 1+ gigaherz machines so, I will write my code to be as tight and efficient as possible. A 150 megaherz machine will have just as smooth animation in the GUI as any 800+ megaherz machine does.
I already have animation assembly code subroutines I wrote some years ago that link into C++ programs. These are extremely quick even on older 486 machines. They will work perfectly for the FreeStars GUI.
Ptolemy
Though we often ask how and why, we must also do to get the answers to the questions.Report message to a moderator
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| Re: Progress / Clients |
Fri, 26 March 2004 06:14 |
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I agree 100%. Great care needs to be taken. The last thing in the world I would want to do is accuse a player of cheating erroneously. Sadly, some people are bound to try.
Ptolemy
Though we often ask how and why, we must also do to get the answers to the questions.Report message to a moderator
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| Re: Progress / Clients |
Fri, 26 March 2004 09:50 |
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| Kotk | 
 | Commander |
Messages: 1227
Registered: May 2003 | |
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As for encryption ... PGP-ing with player password should be good enough.
Host will just refuse action files with wrong encryption and player has to enter the password to encrypt the turn files received from host. No one can do anything with files without knowing password.
Current stars! flaw is that it uses same encryption for all files so anybody knowing the algorithm can easily do anything he wants with the files.
[edit typo]
[Updated on: Fri, 26 March 2004 09:50] Report message to a moderator
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| Re: Progress |
Tue, 08 June 2004 23:10 |
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| Sandman |
 | Crewman 1st Class |
Messages: 20
Registered: April 2004 | |
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I noted that the last listed date was last year and wondered if Freestars was still alive or not.
I also wanted to ask if you would want Beta testers at any point. My time is quite free and I'm familier with the game.
"Fascinating Captain."Report message to a moderator
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| Re: Progress |
Fri, 11 June 2004 01:42 |
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 TomT64 |
 | Petty Officer 3rd Class |
Messages: 45
Registered: August 2003 | |
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Speaking of clients, my progress is as follows:
GStars! Current Features:
- Loads TestGame.m1 and TestGame.xy (by extension) of the current FreeStars file spec
- Displays the universe, zooms it, and shows planet habitability and mineral info
- The menu is identical to Stars!, plus some FreeStars specific menu options
- The universe zooms with the mouse scroll wheel (when the galaxy pane has focus)
- Compiles in Linux and Windows
Short term goals:
- Display everything
- Make the Tech Browser show components from Components.xml
Medium term goals:
- Generate .x1 files based on changes made in the client
- Use FreeStars host program to make new game files
Long term (possibly pipe dream) goals:
- Floating windows for every subwindow, including Production Queue, as an option. Includes the ability to save changes if the queue is closed, or via a button
- Separate windows for Universe, habitability, messages, etc, as an option
- Styles or skins for the client
Also I agree totally that files should be encrypted. There are open source ways to do this, even one that uses SSH keys instead of passwords, perhaps, so no matter what, only the user with the key file can open it. Perhaps there can be many different methods, but only one is used per game (host option).
You can get GStars! source code via CVS at http://sf.net/projects/gstars/. I've also precompiled a win32 binary at http://www.tomt64.com/gstars/gstars-win32-0.1.2.zip
I may not have time to work on this for a couple of months, but anyone who knows C++ and wxWidgets is welcome to email me and offer assistance.
EDIT: Yeah, and to email me just go to the sourceforge page and click on "tomt64" somewhere.
[Updated on: Tue, 15 June 2004 19:19]
- TomT64
GStars! - A FreeStars Client (currently dead)
http://gstars.sf.net/
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| Re: Progress |
Wed, 16 June 2004 15:17 |
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A client that is basically a simple web server powering series of html dynamic web pages (based on template html files) for the interface would be much easier for a custom 'skin'. (and give more machine independance to boot)
My programming preference is generic c++, trying to master berkley style tcp/ip ports for the web part. Others may like java, etc.
[Updated on: Wed, 16 June 2004 15:18] Report message to a moderator
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| Re: Progress |
Thu, 17 June 2004 00:22 |
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| TomT64 |
| Petty Officer 3rd Class |
Messages: 45
Registered: August 2003 | |
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| Kotk wrote on Wed, 16 June 2004 10:29 |
True graphical customizability is even harder to develop and use. Making new skin is not just the location of graphic files. Texts, buttons, fonts, colors, sizes, locations and animations must all fit and function together. Otherwise it becomes ugly.  To make it all customizable for complete stranger takes signific programming effort.  Good art guys in software companies have quite deep knowledge of user interface design tools. 
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I was thinking "skin" as different from the graphic files (those tiny images in the tech browser and components, ships, etc). A graphic pack may indeed be used in conjunction with a skin, but I see no need to combine them in a program such as this one.
- TomT64
GStars! - A FreeStars Client (currently dead)
http://gstars.sf.net/
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Re: Progress
- he can suffer for having attempted to hack the turn.
