Development Info Beyond Infinity in beta

[GreenNight]

The beginner's language used to be Pascal, now it seems to be Java.

Lazy youngsters! Back in my days we only had 0's and 1's to program with! And some times we only had the 0's!!!

Jokes apart it depens in what you're interested. I you want to advance fast choose a high level language (bare minimun C, better C++, perhaps even better Java, others are welcome) and stick with it. But if you want a longer road but with the pride of being able to pick up a large set of languages you need to learn several languages (at least at a basic level) before choosing one.

• Assembly. Needed to know how the rest work. You'll be glad when you encounter a problem and all you can see is in assembly.
  Imperative language: Pascal, C, basic,... in these you'll get the basis for the rest. If you're in a hurry you can skip this point and go to the one below
  Object oriented: C++, Java,... Good for abstraction and managing things that are not critical in speed or size.
  Other languages: Lisp, prolog, ML, ... these are really good to open your mind and see other ways to make some things.

If after studying some of these languages you stick with one you'll probably know less from that one than somebody who only studied that one, but in the long run you'll be more rounded and you'll be able to use the tool that suits the problem with less problems.

Peace, harmony and love to everybody!! :D

 

[triCritical]

I am forced to use C at times and the only thing I ever say to myself is how much easier this could have been in C++. Anyhow C is nice for a low level language and sometimes you just have to write code in C even if you like working in Perl, Python or C++. I will admit that C can be quite flexible which can hurt at times, but getting hurt in C++ can be a lot uglier.

Java is nice to, but it is slow like other have mentioned. But they did make networking down right easy. The Java compiler was probably written in C, He He.

 

[LastHero]

as the programmer of BI i have to say DELPHI is god
Actually i use Delphi because i started with Qbasic and as i found that somehow limited i moved to TurboPascal since we did not have anything better at home at that time...
There was only a Delphi programming course at school so i started Delphi...
Delphi is as fast and powerfull as C++ in most things.. Of course it has some restrictions (I would not try to code a OS in Delphi ...)



If you have any request what i should add into BI just post them here

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

as the programmer of BI i have to say DELPHI is god

I had a professor in college that also swore by Delphi. I never could understand why.

Actually i use Delphi because i started with Qbasic and as i found that somehow limited i moved to TurboPascal since we did not have anything better at home at that time...
There was only a Delphi programming course at school so i started Delphi...

I was forced to learn PASCAL in college, and I can't say I really liked that language much. Compared to C, it's extremely unforgiving, which is another one of my complaints about C++. I'd rather troubleshoot a glitch in my code than track down a compiler warning or error.

If you have any request what i should add into BI just post them here

Turn based would be nice. It's something the Infinity Engine could never do, but it'd be funny to see if a third party person, making an engine from scratch, could do it when BioWare couldn't make one flexible enough to handle it.

 

[LastHero]

I would have used C++ if i knew C++ but since i'm much better in Delphi i used delphi...
I don't know how i will implement fight system by now but as the rest of the engine i'll make it as flexible as possible.
If you search for an project like BI coded in C++ then search for GemRB Exfinity or N.A.O.M.I. onsourceforge they use c++...

 

[triCritical]

I remember someone from Blackisle telling me how poorly coded the IE was. The parts coded up in Pascal just made the engine more undesirable to work with.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

I would have used C++ if i knew C++ but since i'm much better in Delphi i used delphi...

Have you tried compiling it with Free PASCAL? It's supposed to be mostly compatable with Delphi, so I was curious if your project could be worked on by people with out access to Delphi.

I don't know how i will implement fight system by now but as the rest of the engine i'll make it as flexible as possible.

The problem with implimenting turn based would be with the timing of things like spells and other events. Basically, you'd need the sequential system, and then a "round timer" to trigger the spell events as well. Certain scripting issues might be problematic as well, if they involve gamestate timing.

If you search for an project like BI coded in C++ then search for GemRB Exfinity or N.A.O.M.I. onsourceforge they use c++...

Well, we don't have their attention, we have yours right now.

 

[LastHero]

Sadly enough FreePascal does not support dynamic array yet and i make heavy use of dynamic arrays by now.... I could change them to linked lists but that would be at lot of work and the code would not look as clear as it looks now.... But if FreePascal supports dynamic arrays (probably in the next release ) it will compile without problems i think so BI can be ported to a lot more platforms....
And since Delphi is free (even if those stupid bastards at Borland took the download offline ;( ..) everyone can access it

I could also make a fake roundbased system that automaticaly pauses the game after 2sec for example bzut i think that would be more annoying than usefull....

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

I could also make a fake roundbased system that automaticaly pauses the game after 2sec for example bzut i think that would be more annoying than usefull....

The infinity engine already had that with the auto-pause feature. I'm talking about full blown, sequential turn based - and all the wonderful things that go with it. For example, the Infinity Engine was limited to five attacks per round maximum because of the putrid real time system vomitted up by BioWare. With turn based, you don't have to have that limit because each animation can be handled within a creature/player's turn.

 

[LastHero]

The problem is that there will be large differences between realtime/roundbased battles like in many other games that give you those two options...
The files store information compliant to AD&D so it should be possible, too make a roundbased system out of it... The problem is that they have probably made the stats of the items/weapons/spells, so that they fit into an realtime game so there will be many ballancing issues then i suppose... but there are certanly enough modders around who will be more than wiling to port the data files to rundbased

 

[Spazmo]

And besides, Saint, although I agree with you that turn-based is better than RT, the goal here is to bring a faithful recreation of the Infinity Engine to the public, and IE is real-time. The majority of the people who might use this thing are BG/IWD/whatever fans, and they enjoy real-time combat. They have to listen to the target audience and give them what they want, and the target audience for this wants RT.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

And besides, Saint, although I agree with you that turn-based is better than RT, the goal here is to bring a faithful recreation of the Infinity Engine to the public, and IE is real-time. The majority of the people who might use this thing are BG/IWD/whatever fans, and they enjoy real-time combat. They have to listen to the target audience and give them what they want, and the target audience for this wants RT.

I'm not saying don't include real time, I'm saying I'd like turn based as well.

I'd also argue with you that it's a faithful recreation when there's a request for features. If it's entirely faithful as a recreation, there wouldn't be feature requesting.

 

[Walks with the Snails]

Aren't many of us the ones that say RT + TB = t3H suxx0rz, though?

Let the guy spend his free time how he wants. This is open source, so if someone wants to make a new version with changes later on after the heavy lifting has been done, they're free to. Good luck on your project, LastHero.

 

[Spazmo]

What WWTS said. It doesn't work in most cases, and we've been told time and again the Infinity Engine simply cannot do turn-based.

Requesting features that improve the product is good. Requesting features that miss the point isn't. Even if that's a bad thing, IE is a real-time RPG engine. Adding TB to it doesn't make sense.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

There's a reason why it should actually work in this case. AD&D is turn based. You've had a working model on how turn based should work in this system since the 1970s, after all.

Of course, there is a good point raised about the balance of the game being altered by this, since the Infinity Engine has a limit of five attacks per round due to the animation limitation of real time combat. However, given how insanely powerful you are at that point anyway, I'm not sure how big a concern this is really.

Requesting features that improve the product is good. Requesting features that miss the point isn't. Even if that's a bad thing, IE is a real-time RPG engine. Adding TB to it doesn't make sense

Reminder: Infinity Engine games are based on AD&D, which is turn based. Saying I'm missing the point for making a request to make the Infinity Engine AD&D games more like AD&D isn't missing the point, the point was missed when the engine was made in the first place.

 

[LastHero]

Of course the IE is primary realtime but many users not only Saint_Proverbius would like to see it TB....
Of course my primary concern is to recreate the negine as close to the original as it can be but the project was also made to include features that th original engine did not have ,for example TB, adding animations, adding classes, ingame editor, plugin interface, alpha blending, insane resolutions (ever played BG in 6000*6000 ), math in scripts...

And perhapse but i think it will be difficult to implement MMORPG

 

[LastHero]

New release

I just made a new release of Beyond Infinity it has a cnsole now and you can load mp3s now....
Scripts are beeing loaded but not executed yet....