Aug 13
MMORPG Tycoon Spline Roads
After some discussion over on the forums, I’ve finally implemented the new road placement system for version 1.1. Roads now pass through “Road Nodes”, which serve as anchors for splines. Each “road node” can have up to four roads attached to it. This means that in 1.1, you’ll be able to have nicely curved roads and branching roads, and it’s easy to specify exactly the path that roads should travel, instead of always being approximately straight lines between destinations.
There’s still a little work to be done in the interface (the road node graphics need to change their scale based upon the current zoom level, so they’re always visible but not obtrusive, adventurers need to actually use the nodes, etc).. but placement is working in my development branch, and I’m pretty happy with the behaviour.
For the curious, in this screenshot, there are six road nodes. Though I could have done it with just five. And those green dots are monsters (we’re zoomed too far out to see more detail than just dots)
It looks nice, but I’d prefer a little more wobble in the roads, instead of straight lines. Realistic roads rarely happen in straight lines. I suppose that would be up to the player, though. Who says people couldn’t eventually make a futuristic MMORPG, where straight roads would look better?
Cool
Splines? Splines in _Vector_Storm?
They’re still rendered as vectors. You could do this with a real-world vector graphic display, no problem.
(Did I mention that I’ve halfway added textures to the game engine? That’s the one to get outraged about. I mean, once I get around to finishing support for them.)