P4Ns Dev Log

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xio. Like George Carlin once said: Some men are old men in their 20's. Are those TQ's or did you create them? I'm not up to date on vanilla conquer

These are modified garments. Using the fairy garment and trimming wings/recoloring/etc.

Original

[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

Modified
[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

Apparently modifying the garment shape doesn't really work because it breaks the animation data but doing some tweaks to it works fine and then just re-texturing of course with alpha blends.


My hope is that with proper effects the male/female cupid garments will look really, really good. Thinking I'll have a nice subtle pink aura around them with little hearts pierced by arrows periodically orbit your character.

Also looking into making a "cupid's bow" as a 131 weapon (same stats as 130) and maybe even a cupid's arrow custom arrow pack that would have a unique effect (I believe it should be possible to modify arrow glow based on type although I've not done it before)


<edit>

Working on custom weapons and arrows now. I've figured out how to do the texture of the arrow, the glow of the arrow and the hit effect of the arrow.

SUPER basic example

[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

Will be doing a lot more on this though before it's ready to go. Just wanted to show that it can all be edited to make custom themed arrow packs for event rewards.



Male suit is done!

[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]


NOT the final glow for the garment obviously but the bow V1 looks good. Gonna trim the feathers so they aren't a harsh edge before launch ofc.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]


Testing some diff effects and glows

[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

Awesome job Pro! I'm more of a lurker, but I enjoy watching your Redux Youtube logs when you release them.

Keep up the great work.

So our recent project has been adding functionality to the ancient client apex/triumph uses to allow 'cosmetic weapons'. This simply means the server can override how the client displays an item without having to actually create a new item or change its stats.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

This is valuable because it lets any item look like... any item. Obviously we can put limitations in place but if I wanted to make my backsword look like a bow? Sure, no problem. it'll still even function as a bow for skills! It'd look stupid but it abstracts the customization so that it doesn't interfere with proper sanity checks that are in place.

Now... My first rant is against how a lot of these styles of features have been attempted by servers in the past. I delayed adding customization to the client because the whole notion of creating duplicate versions of 130 weapons and assigning them custom looks is well... ridiculous. Sure it works if you just want to add a few weapons but what about those who want to make lower lvl weapons prettier? What happens when someone reborns, etcetc.

That approach is neither scalable nor friendly to players/developers. It works but it's messy and not really the way you want to be doing things.


The second rant more boils down to making things simple on yourself when dealing with client edits. Plan your item IDs in such a way that they do the work for you (EG: our 'tokens' to apply the look are just the normal item ID prepended by 1 such as 1500339 for super lvl 130 bow look). Using simple integer math it's trivial to select all items that look different from eachother, ordering that data in such a way with sql queries that it's easily parsed by a program you can write in 3 seconds to output all the itemtype, mapitemicon and itemminicon entries needed.

I KNOW it's basic stuff it's just such an easy trap for ppl not to watch out for. You add one item at a time and never think about how they link together but good lord it's so much easier planning 5 minutes ahead with this stuff.




Anyways... Rant over I just wanted to share some frustration and happiness with having all this stuff done. All in all about 500-600 new cosmetic items are now in the client and working :D (every weapon/dragon soul TQ ever created)

My next job will be going through and stripping down a lot of the dragon soul effects so they dont feel out of place in classic conquer. Many are just wayyyy too bright/flashy to be usable.

NEXT PROJECT!

Now that the cosmetic weapons are all in and working, it's time to actually add some custom content!

Cool story that no one ever bothered to clue me in to... You can easily import weapons from the unity asset store into conquer (assuming they are low poly). These weapons were free on the unity asset store and honestly look better than 99 pct of the shit in conquer.

Note: Glow effects are not there and the public C3 tool does not work for glows... so that will be a hurdle. Still they look pretty badass!

[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

So how did these marvelous creations get added?... Pretty damn simple...

Download the assets from the unity asset store
Import into 3dsmax (need older version, use the public c3 tool)
Rotate axis so they face proper way (each model is different, simple +- 90 degree rotations)
Reset position to 0,0,0
Re size model as needed
Export to .c3 file


Really nothing to it right? Thought I'd share it in case anyone else wanted to look into the process.


PS: I don't feel this info is anything special but I've never heard of the suggestion of pulling in assets from unity before so I want this knowledge out there. Here's a video of the step by step guide

[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

More and more work!

Angelius has been continuing his work on our client modifications. The next step will be the ability to embed any content we want into the game.

Examples include youtube videos, our live support system, vote pages, etc without having to exit the client.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]


Outside of that have been finishing up some of the looks for the new weapon set, playing around with some stuff on the unity asset store and fixing up some bugs behind the scenes on the source.

Goal will be to dive headfirst back into working on Origins (5517 project) in the coming weeks to get it ready for a full scale release. This week I was able to get a bit more work done on it including powerleveling exp, item composition checks as well as fixing quite a few nagging bugs.

Live support working in game!

[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

LOTS of issues with the live support in game. Basically old versions of IE dont like you submitting data thats in a text field by pushing enter... Lots and lots of hooks to make things work. Functional now though.

+100 pts for angelius on getting that working.

Castle defense!

Relatively ambitious event but we wanted to create something special for our players using the kingdom war map. Basically this is a PVE event where players work together to hold off wave after wave of monsters.

VERY early preview


Monsters select a random path to spawn at each with its own waypoints. each waypoint has an action to occur when they reach it (attacking gate, attacking pole, etc) and an optional continue action (EG: moving on to the next waypoint).

Next step will be adding variable player damage based on skill types (balancing archers vs tao vs melee will be important) and finalizing things like removing monsters when killed, some screen updates, scoring and rewards.


Honestly I'm pretty hyped about this event cause it's not something I've seen successfully done in other servers (I'm sure someone has done it... just not something I've played before).

Quote:

Originally Posted by pro4never Castle defense! Relatively ambitious event but we wanted to create something special for our players using the kingdom war map. Basically this is a PVE event where players work together to hold off wave after wave of monsters. VERY early preview [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] Monsters select a random path to spawn at each with its own waypoints. each waypoint has an action to occur when they reach it (attacking gate, attacking pole, etc) and an optional continue action (EG: moving on to the next waypoint). Next step will be adding variable player damage based on skill types (balancing archers vs tao vs melee will be important) and finalizing things like removing monsters when killed, some screen updates, scoring and rewards. Honestly I'm pretty hyped about this event cause it's not something I've seen successfully done in other servers (I'm sure someone has done it... just not something I've played before).

Blehh...a friend of mine gave me this idea like 4 years ago but I never got the chance to build it :( nice work though

Quote:

Originally Posted by turk55 Blehh...a friend of mine gave me this idea like 4 years ago but I never got the chance to build it :( nice work though

It's a super common suggestion yah :). I'm positive some other server has done it before but I can't seem to remember seeing a fully implemented system like this in any pserver. Pretty excited to see how it develops :)


Here's what's changing in the next version of castle defense!

Bosses

Every 5 waves a boss monster will spawn. Every 2-3 seconds it will heal ALL monsters on the map based on what wave it is (wave 5 heals 5 hp per tick, wave 10 heals 10, etc)

Players will receive a warning when this boss spawns and it will show its position on the mini map so they can track and kill it quickly.

Levels

Dealing damage to monsters will gain event experience. Every X EXP you will level up and deal +1 damage to all monsters inside the event. Your level is saved even if you log out but will reset every time there is a new event.

This means that archers who start off dealing 2 dmg scatters will be able to increase their damage by being useful and damaging mobs. Even if they aren't getting the final hits they are buffing their strength so they will get more rewards as the event goes on :)

Powerups!

We're starting small but have lots of ideas. Every minute 4 cyclone shrines will spawn in the middle of the castle. This is to help balance out the last few waves as you try to survive but also to give defenders a way to quickly exit the castle to hunt down bosses as they spawn.

We also plan to add some other powerups such as a bomb you can carry into a group of minions and detonate (killing yourself and dealing large damage to all nearby monsters) as well as some powerups to heal the gates to help stall out monsters and a lot more... We wanna start small though :)

Gates

Some early tests had a lot of frustrations with getting in/out of the castle. Now when you click the gate you will instantly teleport in/out of the castle based on which side of the gate you are currently on. Should make getting around a lot easier.

Notifications

As the event goes on it can be forgotten about. We want to make sure any new players logging in know the event is running so they can help come and defend. Every 5 minutes it now reminds everyone the event is running and asks them to come help.

As mentioned above, bosses will notify on the map where they are as well as reminding you in chat that you NEED to go kill them first (if not you're fighting a losing battle as dmg you deal to monsters gets healed!)


Its been a busy few days but... there's more!

Soccer Re-Write

Thanks to some changes in our client, we can now enable using skills while in transformations. As such we are re-writing soccer to be more team oriented.

When you are the ball, you can pass it to your allies by FBing them
When you are NOT the ball, you can freeze enemies by FBing them
When you are NOT the ball, you can steal the ball from enemies by FBing them

We're also changing scoring so that all 3 aspects grant score so that even if you aren't the one scoring goals, you'll still be gaining rewards.


Holiday Prep

We need to get ready for St Pattys day... we have a few ideas but you can't have a holiday event without a garment! It's pretty basic so far but coming along nicely.

We're looking to introduce our first set of themed weapon skills as well ;)

[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

Nice thread, always funny to follow someone's work. Keep the good stuff coming!

So last week was all about implementing a new donation system which is now live and tested on [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] it allows us to do things like process local gift cards and a ton of other options. We plan to use a similar thing for our other projects as well.

Next project is a bit more interesting though! To help boost player retention and to create some new content for our players we are working on embedding custom mini games into the client. This will include things such as our own custom slot machines, a daily spin to win wheel and more.

We already have websites embedded properly in the client so anything that can be made as a online game should be able to be integrated into the client. No need to use newer client, we can just any mini games we want through that system.

Will take a while to test and implement but we are pretty excited about the possibilities

dont dont make ur website arab

it can scare eu/na people, its a reality, i dont want play arab server

instead you should use subdomains instead of create 100 different website


Beta Server: beta.apexconquer.com
EU Server: eu.apexconquer.com
NA Server: na.apexconquer.com

Then localize your websites like this: eu.apexconquer.com/en/ or /fr/ /ar/ etc..

Be consistent, you are spearing multiple names everywhere, it's hard to catch your project, it's not profesionnal imo, and it's hard to take you seriously


just my 2cents


Also, you should add a custom ui for scheduling the events, like a popup notif saying events x start in xx seconds and button yes/no to join or no, and you should add more information about events, it's hard to know what to do..

use your webview to interact with your server, implement an api so it'll be easier

Quote:

Originally Posted by isma33 dont dont make ur website arab it can scare eu/na people, its a reality, i dont want play arab server instead you should use subdomains instead of create 100 different website Beta Server: beta.apexconquer.com EU Server: eu.apexconquer.com NA Server: na.apexconquer.com Then localize your websites like this: eu.apexconquer.com/en/ or /fr/ /ar/ etc.. Be consistent, you are spearing multiple names everywhere, it's hard to catch your project, it's not profesionnal imo, and it's hard to take you seriously just my 2cents Also, you should add a custom ui for scheduling the events, like a popup notif saying events x start in xx seconds and button yes/no to join or no, and you should add more information about events, it's hard to know what to do.. use your webview to interact with your server, implement an api so it'll be easier

All servers fall inside the redux network and all advertisements point to the redux conquer domain.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] auto forwards people to the appropriate server based on their location. The reasons for the multiple domains is because we simply don't want people starting on the wrong server. We want them blind to the existence of the other servers wherever possible. If not people tend to be obtuse and start on servers they have no business playing and then complain they want transfers (eg Egyptian players playing on the Na server and then spamming service chat about their ping issues or complaining they aren't allowed to speak Arabic there)

The reason the new server has Arabic on the site is because it's targeting Arabic players. That is what it exists for. It is intended to target two groups of players

Players not willing to play triumph because we don't allow any languages beside English there

Players who don't want to play apex or triumph because it's over a year old

We will be adding more localized versions of the site for original conquer once we attract some more international mods and will be adjusting the website chat based on geoip and account settings to avoid confusion.

Doing a custom interface for events is something we do plan to do, the issue being that when a website pops up you cannot interact with the other client elements until it's closed. Having it pop up every time there is an event would be quite intrusive.

We do have plans to integrate something like that but there are some limitations on our side for implementation. Custom buttons cannot be created dynamically and need to be patched in and synced by server and web elements block other interfaces so it's a balancing act. Still something we are working on though


<edit>

To touch on the regional stuff more. If I had planned to launch more than 1 server I definitely would have designed for it initially. If I had been planning ahead or had any idea how much attention the servers would get, I would of course have designed for accounts to work across servers and would have designed the sites accordingly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pro4never All servers fall inside the redux network and all advertisements point to the redux conquer domain. [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] auto forwards people to the appropriate server based on their location. The reasons for the multiple domains is because we simply don't want people starting on the wrong server. We want them blind to the existence of the other servers wherever possible. If not people tend to be obtuse and start on servers they have no business playing and then complain they want transfers (eg Egyptian players playing on the Na server and then spamming service chat about their ping issues or complaining they aren't allowed to speak Arabic there) The reason the new server has Arabic on the site is because it's targeting Arabic players. That is what it exists for. It is intended to target two groups of players Players not willing to play triumph because we don't allow any languages beside English there Players who don't want to play apex or triumph because it's over a year old We will be adding more localized versions of the site for original conquer once we attract some more international mods and will be adjusting the website chat based on geoip and account settings to avoid confusion. Doing a custom interface for events is something we do plan to do, the issue being that when a website pops up you cannot interact with the other client elements until it's closed. Having it pop up every time there is an event would be quite intrusive. We do have plans to integrate something like that but there are some limitations on our side for implementation. Custom buttons cannot be created dynamically and need to be patched in and synced by server and web elements block other interfaces so it's a balancing act. Still something we are working on though

I'm not in the team so hard to guess your plan, hope you'll manage to make everything in the right direction, i love your project

I also had this idea, i started to work on it as a personal project

A main window that embed conquer's window, i just wanted that because you don't allow custom resolutions, and i click all the time offscreen, pretty annoying when you are lvling and you bring your browser in front for example..

But you could use that idea to add everywhere UI controls that can interact with your server, instead of spamming the game window that is already flooded with game informations


EDIT: (about your edit)

It's never too late to make a change, if you think it'll worth it in the long run, then don't hesitate and prepare it

I think it's the way to go, one brand across different region, it's hard to make a name, don't need to divide your chance by spliting your project

Also if you are afraid of server that becomes dead over time, just add a server with that feature: Auto-Wipe every 6 month, and a "Pantheon" map, where we can see an effigy of the best Guild, wipe after wipe, in term of game ideas i have plenty, i'm working on my own MMO but it's offtopic (totally different from Conquer)

Quote:

Originally Posted by isma33 I'm not in the team so hard to guess your plan, hope you'll manage to make everything in the right direction, i love your project I also had this idea, i started to work on it as a personal project A main window that embed conquer's window, i just wanted that because you don't allow custom resolutions, and i click all the time offscreen, pretty annoying when you are lvling and you bring your browser in front for example.. But you could use that idea to add everywhere UI controls that can interact with your server, instead of spamming the game window that is already flooded with game informations EDIT: (about your edit) It's never too late to make a change, if you think it'll worth it in the long run, then don't hesitate and prepare it I think it's the way to go, one brand across different region, it's hard to make a name, don't need to divide your chance by spliting your project Also if you are afraid of server that becomes dead over time, just add a server with that feature: Auto-Wipe every 6 month, and a "Pantheon" map, where we can see an effigy of the best Guild, wipe after wipe, in term of game ideas i have plenty, i'm working on my own MMO but it's offtopic (totally different from Conquer)

Our client is old (patch 5017) and doesn't support higher resolutions :( there are ways to trick the client and hard code it but it's not the most elegant or easy thing to do and make it look good still.

We've added support for custom buttons but they have to be static images that we patch in before hand (so no countdowns or complex interfaces, also can only embed in main window, not specific sub windows)

We've added support for custom browsers but they are reliant on the end user's settings AND they block all input to the conquer window (so having them pop up asking if you want to join a pvp event is very intrusive)


Lots of options and lots of stuff we will be working on to streamline the server more but unfortunately there's just a lot of limitations on what we can do. At this point we're kinda into un-explored territory when it comes to client feature integration for conquer. I've never seen a server do the stuff we're doing (I'm sure someone has... just haven't seen it in a publicly playable server)



Currently the idea is that when a pvp event starts, the server will resync the custom buttons which will show sorta like the arena icon does in newer patches (medium size button near mall). When clicked it will open up a browser which shows what event is starting, a event description, maybe a clickable youtube video of how the event is played and a join/refuse button. When the event starts, it simply re-syncs the interface and removes that button.

When you join the website simply registers you as added to the event (we already lock website actions to your user through a random public key, a private key and the IP that you use to connect it so that you cannot spoof the URL params and mess with other players characters). When the event starts it will simply check those entries and try to add them to the event.

We would LIKE to expand on that and do things like live feeds of events (showing score, event state, etc) but again... it would be pretty intrusive to try to make available in the client and we have very limited screen realestate when it comes to adding new buttons.


That's the route we're planning to go with event notifications. It's the simplest, cleanest way I've been able to come up with that fits within the limitations we have in place.


In regards to branding, I agree the branding could be a lot better. People get confused no matter what we do. The idea was for Redux to take off as the common name for the group of servers (sorta like united generals is the parent name for like 5 -6 diff servers) but everyone just kept calling it apex or triumph. To be fair a lot of that is simply due to how our website is set up as you mentioned. We switched to using the redux domain and having all of our advertisements list it as redux back when triumph launched for that exact reason, to avoid people splitting their attention and treating them as different projects.

Why not just use a single name and basically do Redux US and Redux EU?

As for the feed, you are already able to load custom windows why not do something like this:
[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

Basically check if the screen is big enough and then add that window. If you want to load a website there, you should look into websockets. If you plan to use ajax refreshes you will use a lot of unnecessary bandwidth.