(Historic Post: July 4th 2007)
Well I have been doing ALOT of work on RacerX and somethings have been added, well, are in the process of being added. Since the game is a combat-racer I decided to make a voice-chatting system since people won’t want to stop racing to type a message. I can currently record the sounds. I can also play sounds, which was a first for the project and this includes streaming sounds. (For the technically inclined this simply means I am using minimal memory to play the sound). To complete the voice-chatting system I need to send the recorded data to the other players, and make the system be able to deal with lag and other hiccups as the data is received… The only reason I put this on hold is due to my inability to test this on a network as it will have new challenges, and they need to be tested…
I have also been working on the artificial intelligence lately, as I have stated I was going to. Currently I have no noticeable progress but the track has nodes for the AI to follow. These nodes basically store information for each of the computer drivers to know where the road is, so they know where to drive. Hopefully by the end of the week I will have the cars driving around the track (slowly, and colliding through each other since there is no collision right now). So that is my current plan;
get the AI moving!
A few other additions that I need to add would consist of saving and loading the walls and trees that you can add in the LevelEditor, working on the finishing the voice-chatting system, and making the multiplayer lobby allow the players to setup their cars, (as well as letting the host change tracks). Some more information can be displayed to the HeadsUpDisplay as I now have the battery gauge working… That added a boost of excitement, even if it isn’t quite functional yet… hmm. Also some more support is required – keep my attention on the game! Maybe I will actually complete this one, which would be a great accomplishment since no-one is helping me on it…