Suggestion for few new editing tools (and not only)

by Asmageddon on 11/15/2009 14:10, 2 messages, last message: 11/16/2009 07:47, 1953 views, last view: 05/02/2024 23:29

I really like making maps, so (as for now) Cube 2:Sauerbraten is my favourite game(editor), and I came with few ideas on how to expand engine possibilities and/or make making maps easier.

1) Tunneling mode - alternative mode for editing maps - here by moving mouse wheel you dig or 'extrude' surfaces you are pointing at. All corners get automatically 'smoothed' so they look naturally, there will be following options for it:
Noise amount - amount of displacement applied to newly created tunnels
Detail - size of single cube used for new tunnels (like gridpower)
Brush size - Simply brush size
Brush type - Cube or Sphere
Texture - teture that gets automatically applied to extruded/dug surfaces.
I think it would be extremly usefull especially when creating caves - it would allow creation of realistic looking caves in blink of eye.

2)Exporting parts of map as model - With this option you could automatically optimize selection and export is as a mapmodel (md2, md3 or whatever other format Cube 2 supports).
I think it would be usefull because creating even complex structures using Sauerbraten editing mode is very easy and cool. This tool would allow creation of models easily, and also freely rotate things like crates you have created by angle other than 90 degrees. To export selection it have to be larger than 'object' inside so it can be maximally optimized.

3)Heightmap mode for coop-edit mode
I'm not too much of a programmer, so I do not know, but is it really that hard to implement heightmap editing in multiplayer?

4)Enlarging map by amount other than '2x' and auto-enlarge
Would it be possible to increase map dimensions by any value and in any direction. Optional auto-enlarge feature that would automatically expand map when player tries to build something outside of current map

5)Scale selection feature
Simple option to scale selection by 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x, 256x or 1/2x, 1/4x, 1/8x, 1/16x, and so on on XYZ, XY, XZ, YZ, X, Y or Z axle.

6)Texture replace
Single command/button to replace one texture with another. Optionally you can replace ALL of that texture or only inside selection.

7)Physics engine
I know it is probably VERY hard to im.. wait a moment! There are already ragdoll physics... so there already is physics engine, so what about adding new entity type 'physobj' that is physical object with possibility to define used model, physic properties (friction, mass, restitution, etc.). It could be automatically created using model from my suggestion #2. Maybe with possibility to be created from larger amount of models from #2 that are connected to each other by non-rotating and non-moving constrains that can get separated at certain force (Yay! Breakable crates!)
If it would turn out to be too expensive to be used in multiplayer it could be singleplayer only feature as well.

Thank you for reading it all, hope you like it. I'm waiting for comments

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#1: ..

by Stealth on 11/15/2009 18:49

Some of these can already be done:

1) heightfield http://sauerbraten.org/docs/editref.html#heightfield

2) /writeobj http://sauerbraten.org/docs/editref.html#writeobj

5) copy something and then paste it with a larger or smaller gridsize

6) /replace http://sauerbraten.org/docs/editref.html#replace

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#2: ..

by SheeEttin on 11/16/2009 07:47

I don't think expanding the physics would be too hard to do... Just move friction, etc. into ent attrs, add scripted events (e.g. shot, killed)...
But we're still not going to see Source engine-caliber physics any time soon, barring anyone with actual skills taking it on as a project.

I actually tried expanding physics-interactive objects once, but I'm pretty much an utter failure at programming, so I literally got nowhere.

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