Google Earth

The new Mars surface map is possibly the most beautiful thing ever put on a computer.  Check it out.

Wormsign?

A victory today...  Got to see my first unit visible on the client!  Still lots of work to be done but it means I'm on the right track with network communication.  Now I have to get the graphics flow to match the original idea, including map synchronization, spice level updates, unit/turret/shadow/mask timing, etc.  Once I'm done with that, next will be the client input system, and finally I'll have to decide how to allow players to actually connect and start games.

1.34 Update

I have now almost completed the dedicated server structure, and will be working on the client interface soon.  All I need to do for the server is the last 5% of network signaling; then I have to make something to listen on the other end.  I've also analyzed the framework and required modules to get the .EXE file for the dedicated server down to about 600k (total).  The client will end up much larger than this of course, but should still shrink down a bit from the Preview releases.

Most of the major decisions regarding structure have been made, so now it's just time to get the work in to get things moving.

Happy New Year

Just wanted to wish everyone a good year coming up.  One my first priorities is to finish this project so I can move on to other things, so rest assured I'll be working on it.  Things are moving along slowly but surely and I hope to have more time to devote soon.  I'll post again before the end of the month.

Some progress ;)

As I've said, things are slowing down for a while for me, but I chip away every once in a while.  Today I successfully got a dedicated server administrator console up and running; so the system can run a game (with a small minimap for observation) without the active user interface for sound or graphics.  Networking is not yet operational and the other half of the equation (the client) still waits in the background to be assembled, but this was a major step in development.  I'm also happy to report that system requirements for running a server appear to be very low so far, but I already knew that network bandwidth will be the bottleneck.  Hopefully I can optimize code well enough to keep things running quickly over most lines.

Preview 4 update

Turns out the HBR1.com Ambient stream (which I still recommend you check out) was somehow causing crashes with my code when it hiccuped.  So, I've removed the stream altogether.  If you don't have the music files, I'll just leave it up to you to find music that suits the atmosphere.

Also, I've fixed a bug with Mercenary deployment, and added something some of you may like.  Try out the scrollwheel on your mouse if you have one.  ;)

Preview 4 up for download

This update contains mostly speed improvements with some minor gameplay updates.  You'll notice pathfinding behaving differently than previous games (if you pay attention to that sort of thing), and in general I expect most computers to experience much better frame rates with higher unit counts.

In the near future I'll be putting up the source code for this project at http://code.google.com/p/dune2/.  My focus in life needs to turn now to personal and professional affairs for some time.  If any of you are brave enough souls to look at my hideous source code, feel free to take a shot at bringing networked multiplayer capabilities to life.  Otherwise, you might have to wait some months before I get the energy and willpower to return to this project.  Thanks to everyone following and especially to the contributors.

And let this serve as an early birthday present where applicable.  ;)