Working on the main game

So the editor is progressing nicely. Discussing with c-thru we have decided to make the entire crater as static geometry but have the buildings placed in the editor. So every game could have different building locations but the main craters or level geometery would look the same. I think that this is the best decision as we want sometime playable as quick as possible and it's much easier to just make the craters in max, export them and then add buildings.

So I started working on the main game. As usual the hardest and most difficult part is starting. I have planned for all games to be run through a server which means that if you start a single player game it would start up a server on your computer which only you can connect to. I am thinking that this would save us alot of time rather then building a single player then adding multiplayer support. It also requires doing alot of stuff I've never done before which is time consuming so my progess has been slow at this point while I move code around and do lots of experimentation.

Editor is working

So it's time for a quick update. Dave joined me in the quest to make the ultimate video games and he's one hell of a 3d modeler. Here's some of the buildings he quickly whipped up.

For the past 4 days I've been in RAD mode kicking out code like there was no tomorrow. I decided to stick with Ogre and get a map editor going. Here is the result.

For more information you should see the development thread on the freegamer forums where we post more often.

Progress!

With the release of Ubuntu Gutsy an updated package for Ogre 3D has been included so I have now been able to easily do game development on my main OS. Since my last posts I have been busy with life (as most people are). I moved to a different country and have continued on my university course. As always progress is slow.

Anyway, I like how elegant Ogre 3D is as an engine and although I have been making mistakes along the way (as you do in any development) I have enjoyed the ride.

In total I have probably only put in about 24 hours development time (minus the days the days of wondering why the models wouldn't load properly) but in that time I have been able to recreate the Alpha crater and fly around in a silverY.

Status of the project

It can be quite difficult from looking at this website as to what the objectives of this project are. The aim of this project was to do a Hardwar remake. This hasn't changed but after being able to locate the developer of the original source code I have also been attempting to get the original game released as open source instead.

The status of getting the original source code back is looking worse then before. This said I haven't abandoned hope of ever getting the original source code but I am also beginning plans for the Hardwar remake which is what this blog and website is all about!

What should the specific goals of this project be though? Should we aim to be a copy of the original game using the original data with the binary as open source? Should we attempt to improve upon what Hardwar has done and stray from the original game slightly?

Campaign to buy the source

Edit: You can track my progress here.

I have been talking to the people at the treasury and the possibility of obtaining the rights to the Hardwar game and releasing it under the GPL is getting stronger.

Having the Hardwar code under the GPL would be a big boost for free software game development..

• There are several technologies such as the AI and economy simulation which could be used in other games or help inspire others to write better systems.
  
• It would mean we could port the game to run natively on Linux and the Mac
• It would mean we could fix existing problems the plague the game.

I had attempted to get the treasury to release the code as open source themselves..

You have asked the Crown to make the software freely available, however, I should point out that the Treasury Solicitor is obliged to obtain full open market value for all assets that we deal with, subject to a minimum sale price of £500 plus VAT. In addition to the sale price you would be required to cover the Treasury Solicitor's costs plus VAT and disbursements. In order to obtain full open market value I would ask the HMSO to provide a valuation.

Therefore the next step would be to:

1. Get a UK lawyer that specialises in copyright law
2. Get money to purchase the rights.

Since I have neither I am asking anyone that is interesting in seeing Hardwar as free software to help me liberate this fine piece of work.

Getting the source back

An opportunity has arisen to gain the original source code of the game back. This would be a valuable contribution to the open source community that would ensure the survival of Hardwar under a free license.

You can find out more information at the free gamer forum.

Right now I am coordinating an effort to track down who owns the rights to the source code.

An update and some more details

I decided to tone down the site a little after I received a few emails. I should clarify that I am doing this project possibly for my university course, so I do not need or want any help at this stage till I have finished my course at which point I will release any source code I come up with under the terms on the GPL.

I have not had much time to work on this project since I have been busy since my last post with my job but what I have been working on is getting the terrain to load into the game correctly.

At this stage I was able to generate the alpha crater so I went back and made some better height maps of all the craters using some height map data I gathered from the Hardwar community. I won't post any pictures as it is not very interesting. I am going to continue to work on this but at this stage my progress is quite slow.