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10 YEARS OF ROD - 1998 to 2008
IntroductionRod 3D is a remake of Rod which is under development right now prior to the release of the upcoming Meteor 3. Rod 3D beta testing started in early May 2008. Being a remake, Rod 3D keeps many of the original game's features, for example tiles and a basic selection of objects and enemies. In basic terms this is a 3D game where tiles have heights and models replace older object sprites. All of the original maps, monsters and weapons have been "digitally remastered". Rod 3D has the unique ability to toggle between first person and birds eye (classic) view at the press of a button (the F button to be precise). The game core is script driven (AngelScript), the game supports full mod support and comes with very user friendly editors built in including a map editor. Rod 3D uses AllegroGL and a host of other Allegro based libraries, check out http://www.allegro.cc for more free Allegro games!
DownloadRod 3D is currently undergoing beta testing and a 3 level beta vesion is avilable. As you would expect from a beta it is not perfect and there are some issues. DocumentationThe Rod 3D Documentation contains essential information for map and mod developers... Screen Shots (added 6 March 2008 - there are pre-beta and do not reflect the current game)
GraphicsRod 3D has been created using AllegroGL which extends the Allegro library by providing an interface with OpenGL. For best performance an OpenGL hardware graphics card is recommended although you won't need the latest and greatest cards for good performance. Typically an old GeForce FX 5200 is more than enough. Game Editing/ModdingThe game sports a map editor based on that of Meteor 1 but containing more modern (M2) features like waypoints, being able to drag things around and script triggers. There is also a tile editor for editing the upsized (now 32x32 vs 15x15) tiles and setting height properties. Naturally tiles can be imported and exported from a number of image file formats. There are no palettes like in the original (all graphics are true colour). As this is a simple game, the game rules (including object types, object classes, power ups and map list) are saved in base\game.ini which can be hand edited removing the need for several editors. Mods can be created allowing for an alternate "base" folder. Any files in the alternate folder will take priory over those in the regular base folder. ScriptingRod 3D supports scripting using the same C language as Meteor 2. The real advantage in Rod 3D is that there are now 2 scripts in action while playing. The game-wide script (base\game.c) is used throughout the game and would typically contain global functions (for example opening doors). The map script works just like in Meteor 2 and contains map specific functions (for example object to waypoint bindings and triggers). Interestingly any function from the game-wide script can be overridden (by using the same name) in the map script. SoundThe game uses the latest sound code supporting MP3 and MOD (+variants) playback as well as object loop sounds. The soundtrack is provided by both Shaven and Minomus. Be sure to check out their web sites and equally unique styles of excellent music!
NotesThe game has been delayed (it was originally due for release on 1 January 2008) as extra time was taken to improve and add many features. It took about a year (a few years on and off) to develop the GUI system “JGL” for AllegroGL/OpenGL. This revives the buttons, toolbars and menus etc from earlier games using “JGUI” making them usable in OpenGL. JGL is a total rewrite. All of the game and JGL code is object-based C++ offering improved stability. Links |
