It's been 9 years...

les green01 · 11-01-23, 07:25 PM

good luck nothing im interested in

EAST · 11-01-23, 11:07 PM

Implementing the gateway and authentication servers into the networking, created the database and did the PHP wrapper. The servers all load on the Linux server, World, Gateway and Auth servers all connect to each other so a good day on that front.

Login and Registration popup forms are (mostly) done.

Couldn't make up my mind on style...Lobby is in the next style

Having a little trouble with the keyboard...

Weigh in if you have a preference as to styles.

While this game will have some good hardcore sim aspects it's not a sim, it's a game. At it's peak Iron Wolves had over 1800 registered players. It was a lot of fun and lead to meeting a number of the players in RL at the first Subsim gathering at the Cavalla and later at EnigmaCon in Eugene.

EAST · 11-05-23, 10:31 AM

A buddy emailed and asked what the inspirations were for D6:IronWolves.

The major inspiration was Iron Wolves of course. But there were a number of other games that are part of the mix:

Enigma: Rising Tide - this always felt like we never got to finish what we started with this game. From here we take Realistic ocean and physics, Playable weapon emplacements and fire control...

Silent Hunter - Sim aspects: selectable navigation, realistic targetting and fire control, realistic navigation

Mech Warrior - Crews. The way these crews were done kept things non-fiddly but still had an impact on your performance. The other thing that comes from this, Enigma and the next one are the ability to assign tasks, missions, etc. to other (AI crewed) ships that you would take on a mission. Crew have rank and ratings as well as skill and attitude or personality scales as well. The other thing I really liked from this game was the rearm, repair elements.

Tribes 2 - Command map. The idea of rising in rank in your faction to where you can begin to conduct the mission or the war. The ability to start a base, takeover a base, or just destroy it.

There's also a little bit of Call of Duty in there.

At it's core it's a surface, submarine combat game, but learning from Enigma and Tribes 2 - there are players who gravitate to tactics, logistics, defense/offense, etc.

the MVP will be Iron Wolves style play. The rest will come on as I learn the mechanics of implementing them.

The one lingering question I have is: Am I missing the plot? Is this type of game no longer appealing? Thoughts?

EAST · 11-15-23, 09:10 AM

Been working exclusively on the login process and security setup. Been educational to say the least. This is the first time having to hand roll a secure auth system. 2 small server apps and 1 large one running on Linux to handle a server side authoritative setup.

I love the engine choice (more on that later) with the one exception that it has no native ability to connect to a database. Had to build a hybrid system combining the game engine and native code on the server. Got that working this morning. Now data encryption, checksummed connection privileges, single use ticketing and SSL all in place. Authenticated Login works, returning sample data and state information for an admin interface from the various servers works.

Next up is the Registration path. Need to setup email confirmations and 2 stage signups (and signins) - figuring out how to send SMS from the server and allow the registrant to get the pin by email or sms.

Once registration is done I'll start populating the guest lobby and then the player lobby data.
Even if this idea is past it's prime, the tools are going to come in handy for use in real life work.

Sonarman · 11-15-23, 03:13 PM

Great to see you back here Kelly, this looks like a very interesting development especially if it involves surface vessels being controlled too.

I don't know if you've ever heard of it but a very obscure dos game called Fleet Tactical Command II (Sinclair QL & PC) might also be looking at for some inspiration it was a very early multiplayer game but it had an amazing feature-set somewhat similar to what you have outlined above re bases & logistics etc.

Basically the players were divided into two teams with a home port each and a resource rich island for capture between them players manned warships merchant ships and subs and many different systems including a complex damage system were implemented, shallows etc were a part of the game and players who fell afoul of them could be towed off by fellow team members, minelaying and minesweeping etc and many more elements eg at sea replenishment were also included, it was very graphically basic as a mid 80's indie game but was well regarded for its incredible depth.

This was its manual...

https://dilwyn.qlforum.co.uk/games/ftc/Operate.pdf

EAST · 11-15-23, 07:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sonarman

Great to see you back here Kelly, this looks like a very interesting development especially if it involves surface vessels being controlled too.

I don't know if you've ever heard of it but a very obscure dos game called Fleet Tactical Command II (Sinclair QL & PC) might also be looking at for some inspiration it was a very early multiplayer game but it had an amazing feature-set somewhat similar to what you have outlined above re bases & logistics etc.

Basically the players were divided into two teams with a home port each and a resource rich island for capture between them players manned warships merchant ships and subs and many different systems including a complex damage system were implemented, shallows etc were a part of the game and players who fell afoul of them could be towed off by fellow team members, minelaying and minesweeping etc and many more elements eg at sea replenishment were also included, it was very graphically basic as a mid 80's indie game but was well regarded for its incredible depth.

This was its manual...

https://dilwyn.qlforum.co.uk/games/ftc/Operate.pdf

That's a good suggestion, I'll check it out. I'm familiar with most of the sub / surface games - not UBOAT yet but it looks amazing.

Yes surface ships and subs in the first go round, possibly more if I can figure it all out before I die. Cheers!

EAST · 12-03-23, 06:22 PM

Been an interesting time learning security technology. My first implementation worked, but had a guy try to break it for me...np. Broke it in 5 minutes. Showed me what i had missed...refactoring time.

The good news is, on the second hack test he couldn't get anything!

So now back to where I was (more or less) with the last update, but with a fully secure login system. Can deliver lists of who's online, track last logins, etc.

Now I'm working on the registration portion. This is going much faster now that I know what I was doing wrong before. Even though the engine doesn't have DB connectivity, this method is pretty cool - all local to the db with no outside access.

During the period of intense frustration after the first hacks worked so well I went back to doing some work on the graphics side. Everything is looking pretty good - the ocean isn't Sea of Thieves ocean, but it looks pretty good. Taking some tricks that I learned working on Enigma I have my first bouyancy shader working...well mostly.

The models however...oi, ugly. I keep starting to learn Blender, but it's such slow going I'm not sure I could model a ship or sub as fast as they could physically design/build/outfit & launch one in real life. My hope is that maybe some of you uber talented people in the community might want to pitch in on the model side...?

Right now I've got some free (unanimated) models in game, but....not awesome.

Also watched a movie called The Last Sentinel (real "B" movie) that had an interesting concept for justifying the state of the world in the film....I'm going to examine how that would work with what I'm planning. It may also help moderate the expectations regarding historicall accurate Sim details. I imagine doing all the things you'd have to do to in a sub or ship, but in a degrading post-apocalyptic world. You'll still have to know tactics and equipment functions, but technology advances would be almost non-existent. Weigh in if you have an opinion.

Ok, back to work.

11-01-23, 07:25 PM	#1
les green01 Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Freeman Missouri Posts: 1,784 Downloads: 1405 Uploads: 0	good luck nothing im interested in __________________ I'll tell you what bravery really is. Bravery is just determination to do a job that you know has to be done. Audie Murphy

11-01-23, 11:07 PM	#2
EAST Sparky Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Eugene, OR. USA Posts: 153 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	DEVLOG 11.01.2023 Implementing the gateway and authentication servers into the networking, created the database and did the PHP wrapper. The servers all load on the Linux server, World, Gateway and Auth servers all connect to each other so a good day on that front. Login and Registration popup forms are (mostly) done. Couldn't make up my mind on style...Lobby is in the next style Having a little trouble with the keyboard... Weigh in if you have a preference as to styles. While this game will have some good hardcore sim aspects it's not a sim, it's a game. At it's peak Iron Wolves had over 1800 registered players. It was a lot of fun and lead to meeting a number of the players in RL at the first Subsim gathering at the Cavalla and later at EnigmaCon in Eugene. __________________ ENIGMA R.I.P.

11-05-23, 10:31 AM	#3
EAST Sparky Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Eugene, OR. USA Posts: 153 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	What are the design inspirations A buddy emailed and asked what the inspirations were for D6:IronWolves. The major inspiration was Iron Wolves of course. But there were a number of other games that are part of the mix: Enigma: Rising Tide - this always felt like we never got to finish what we started with this game. From here we take Realistic ocean and physics, Playable weapon emplacements and fire control... Silent Hunter - Sim aspects: selectable navigation, realistic targetting and fire control, realistic navigation Mech Warrior - Crews. The way these crews were done kept things non-fiddly but still had an impact on your performance. The other thing that comes from this, Enigma and the next one are the ability to assign tasks, missions, etc. to other (AI crewed) ships that you would take on a mission. Crew have rank and ratings as well as skill and attitude or personality scales as well. The other thing I really liked from this game was the rearm, repair elements. Tribes 2 - Command map. The idea of rising in rank in your faction to where you can begin to conduct the mission or the war. The ability to start a base, takeover a base, or just destroy it. There's also a little bit of Call of Duty in there. At it's core it's a surface, submarine combat game, but learning from Enigma and Tribes 2 - there are players who gravitate to tactics, logistics, defense/offense, etc. the MVP will be Iron Wolves style play. The rest will come on as I learn the mechanics of implementing them. The one lingering question I have is: Am I missing the plot? Is this type of game no longer appealing? Thoughts? __________________ ENIGMA R.I.P.

11-15-23, 09:10 AM	#4
EAST Sparky Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Eugene, OR. USA Posts: 153 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	UPDATE 11-15-2023 Been working exclusively on the login process and security setup. Been educational to say the least. This is the first time having to hand roll a secure auth system. 2 small server apps and 1 large one running on Linux to handle a server side authoritative setup. I love the engine choice (more on that later) with the one exception that it has no native ability to connect to a database. Had to build a hybrid system combining the game engine and native code on the server. Got that working this morning. Now data encryption, checksummed connection privileges, single use ticketing and SSL all in place. Authenticated Login works, returning sample data and state information for an admin interface from the various servers works. Next up is the Registration path. Need to setup email confirmations and 2 stage signups (and signins) - figuring out how to send SMS from the server and allow the registrant to get the pin by email or sms. Once registration is done I'll start populating the guest lobby and then the player lobby data. Even if this idea is past it's prime, the tools are going to come in handy for use in real life work. __________________ ENIGMA R.I.P.

11-15-23, 03:13 PM	#5
Sonarman The Old Man Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Ayr,Scotland,UK Posts: 1,392 Downloads: 79 Uploads: 0	Great to see you back here Kelly, this looks like a very interesting development especially if it involves surface vessels being controlled too. I don't know if you've ever heard of it but a very obscure dos game called Fleet Tactical Command II (Sinclair QL & PC) might also be looking at for some inspiration it was a very early multiplayer game but it had an amazing feature-set somewhat similar to what you have outlined above re bases & logistics etc. Basically the players were divided into two teams with a home port each and a resource rich island for capture between them players manned warships merchant ships and subs and many different systems including a complex damage system were implemented, shallows etc were a part of the game and players who fell afoul of them could be towed off by fellow team members, minelaying and minesweeping etc and many more elements eg at sea replenishment were also included, it was very graphically basic as a mid 80's indie game but was well regarded for its incredible depth. This was its manual... https://dilwyn.qlforum.co.uk/games/ftc/Operate.pdf __________________ "The action is simulated...the excitement is real!" Microprose Simulation Software.

12-03-23, 06:22 PM	#7
EAST Sparky Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Eugene, OR. USA Posts: 153 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Devlog 12.03.2023 Been an interesting time learning security technology. My first implementation worked, but had a guy try to break it for me...np. Broke it in 5 minutes. Showed me what i had missed...refactoring time. The good news is, on the second hack test he couldn't get anything! So now back to where I was (more or less) with the last update, but with a fully secure login system. Can deliver lists of who's online, track last logins, etc. Now I'm working on the registration portion. This is going much faster now that I know what I was doing wrong before. Even though the engine doesn't have DB connectivity, this method is pretty cool - all local to the db with no outside access. During the period of intense frustration after the first hacks worked so well I went back to doing some work on the graphics side. Everything is looking pretty good - the ocean isn't Sea of Thieves ocean, but it looks pretty good. Taking some tricks that I learned working on Enigma I have my first bouyancy shader working...well mostly. The models however...oi, ugly. I keep starting to learn Blender, but it's such slow going I'm not sure I could model a ship or sub as fast as they could physically design/build/outfit & launch one in real life. My hope is that maybe some of you uber talented people in the community might want to pitch in on the model side...? Right now I've got some free (unanimated) models in game, but....not awesome. Also watched a movie called The Last Sentinel (real "B" movie) that had an interesting concept for justifying the state of the world in the film....I'm going to examine how that would work with what I'm planning. It may also help moderate the expectations regarding historicall accurate Sim details. I imagine doing all the things you'd have to do to in a sub or ship, but in a degrading post-apocalyptic world. You'll still have to know tactics and equipment functions, but technology advances would be almost non-existent. Weigh in if you have an opinion. Ok, back to work. __________________ ENIGMA R.I.P.