Current Features (March 2009)

Derange has been in development for quite some time now, so I figured it might be a good idea to review which features have been implemented so far to see where I’m currently standing. Many of these features have been rewritten from scratch at least a couple of times as I learned better ways to implement them.

Implemented features

• 3D graphics rendering using Ogre3D v1.6 (Shoggoth).
• Scriptable API using Lua v5.1 and LuaBind v0.7.
• Input device management using OIS v1.2.
• Support for multiple Locations with separate resource groups that can be initialized using DotScene files.
• Importing of DotScene files using OgreMax v1.6.23, creating necessary game objects as needed.
• Configuration through XML files using Xerces-C v3.0 for parsing and validating against XML schemas.
• Efficient resource management using Ogre3D’s capabilities.
• Flexible game object design, tightly bound to Ogre3D’s scene graph implementation.
• Multiple Controllers can be combined and attached to game objects to separate representation from the actual game logic applied.
• Easy to create game objects using a factory class which only requires the names of the object and the state to initialize it to.
• Skeletal animation support with smooth blending between different animations.
• Actors rotate smoothly in the direction they’re moving to using Slerp interpolation.
• Actors move using configurable speed and inertia parameters.
• Third person player control, with movement relative to the current camera’s position using the keyboard.

Near-middle future plans

• Collision detection, possibly physics simulation too. Need to figure out the pros and cons of the different third party physics engines available to decide.
• Automatic camera selection based on target proximity.
• Walking through predefined path nodes.
• Path finding.
• Mouse picking.
• Overlay manager for HUD display, menus, and on-screen debugging.