fodev.net

General => News and Announcements => Topic started by: AHS-9 on June 28, 2013, 07:53:13 am

Title: The Beginning
Post by: AHS-9 on June 28, 2013, 07:53:13 am
Welcome to fodev.net, the new international board for FOnline developers!

Why such forum? The FOnline scene always lacked a community website in English dedicated to developers. Informations about SDK are scarce and scattered - we see it as an obstacle in bringing more interest to FOnline. That's why former FOnline: 2238 devs decided to fill this gap by creating fodev.net. We would like it to be a place for all people focused on creative aspects of FOnline - place where you can discuss developing games, share ideas, ask questions, publish and share your work with others, announce new FOnline projects. A friendly hub for English speaking developers.

If you were registered on the FOnline: 2238 forum you don't have to create a new account - you can use the same login and password.

Of course fodev.net is not the only thing that we would like to do. We are still eager to create games. However, at least for now, we have decided to focus on something slightly different than a game - creating a new FOnline development kit with improved scripts and tools. Our aim is to create a better starting point for new projects. Only time will tell if we will be successful. This new endeavor is in very early stage and you can follow it on Github (https://github.com/rotators/fosdk). It's developed as open source.

Speaking about open source... we have one more news for you. To answer many requests of FOnline: 2238 fans, we have decided to release the source code of our game. We need to clean it up a bit and as soon as this work is done, everyone should be able to download the sources, start a FOnline: 2238 server or create their own projects based on it. This shouldn't take too long, so stay tuned!

With kind regards,
Rotators
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: wladimiiir on June 28, 2013, 09:01:05 am
New era has just begun. I like your intentions a lot. :)

I would like to know what does it mean for the improved FOSDK to be open-source? Do you accept any contributors, or is it only meant to be only a solution of Rotators? :)
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: Bartosz on June 28, 2013, 09:04:39 am
New era has just begun. I like your intentions a lot. :)

I would like to know what does it mean for the improved FOSDK to be open-source? Do you accept any contributors, or is it only meant to be only a solution of Rotators? :)

I see no reason not to accept contributions, if they fit the roadmap (which is not yet clearn at this point).

After all, contributions is what open source really is about...
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: Spiritwind on June 28, 2013, 09:19:45 am
Awesome to see this site up, it is also of course awesome that you guys have decided to release the source of 2238!  Much thanks to you there, and thanks for all the great memories in 2238! 

I look forward to seeing your improvements upon the sdk and tools!
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: wladimiiir on June 28, 2013, 09:22:17 am
I see no reason not to accept contributions, if they fit the roadmap (which is not yet clearn at this point).

After all, contributions is what open source really is about...
As I understand it, you plan to do it mostly (> 90%) based on Mono?
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: White150 on June 28, 2013, 09:47:12 am
Nice forum guys :D
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: Mr Feltzer on June 28, 2013, 10:15:46 am
This new theme is sexy, Its a shame to see 2238 go. but this is the way of the future I believe.
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: Izual on June 28, 2013, 10:18:26 am
To release the sourcecode is a brave decision. Thank you, guys.

Also, nice new forum. I'm going to sit here for a while :)
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: Bartosz on June 28, 2013, 11:40:34 am
Thanks for nice welcome;)

As I understand it, you plan to do it mostly (> 90%) based on Mono?

Would be great, but even this is not yet decided, we've got quite few possibilities of roads to follow.
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: Big Gun Thug on June 28, 2013, 12:11:22 pm
Thank you for fonline 2238. I wish you all the best luck in future projects.
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: Alvarez on June 28, 2013, 01:00:17 pm
Would love to share, learn and contribute.
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: fonliner on June 28, 2013, 01:15:23 pm
Nice to see that you opened new forum. :) New sdk? Sounds great but do you have all sources of fonline engine or only public sdk?
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: Outlawries on June 28, 2013, 01:46:19 pm
I am looking forward to the release it will be an honor to be able to use it.
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: Wind_Drift on June 28, 2013, 02:03:40 pm
Very cool. I'm looking forward to peeking under the hood.

A new SDK sounds excellent as well.
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: Nexxos on June 28, 2013, 02:10:46 pm
Out of the ashes of a world full of death, arises a world full of radiant life. Best of luck with the new endeavors.
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: Wipe on June 28, 2013, 02:24:20 pm
Nice to see that you opened new forum. :) New sdk? Sounds great but do you have all sources of fonline engine or only public sdk?
If you browse thru TLA changelog, you can already can see various changes in engine made by Rotators, so that should answer your question :)
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: fonliner on June 28, 2013, 02:33:11 pm
So can you interfere with the engine and cvet is not the solo/only owner? :D Good for you all!
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: brad smalls on June 28, 2013, 03:32:48 pm
i sence from the hostility to wards the name of Fonline 2 there will be A FO:2238 2
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: Bartosz on June 28, 2013, 03:37:31 pm
i sence from the hostility to wards the name of Fonline 2 there will be A FO:2238 2

Nah:)
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: JovankaB on June 28, 2013, 03:49:59 pm
i sence from the hostility to wards the name of Fonline 2 there will be A FO:2238 2

It's just that the name is confusing and doesn't really tell what FOnline2 is, because "FOnline" is the cvet's engine project and the whole environment around it and they don't make the second version of it, more like second (better) version of FOnline:2238 server from what I have heard. But it's not our problem.

We have no intention to be hostile towards anyone, especially developers (it would be quite silly considering that we run forum dedicated to FOnline developers) :)
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: Lexx on June 28, 2013, 04:44:11 pm
Btw. in case someone doesn't know yet: http://fo2238.fodev.net/
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: hejmr on June 28, 2013, 08:40:50 pm
Good to see you decided to publish the 2238 source. Way to go! Also wish you good luck with your future plans, it's a saints' work.
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: S.T.A.L.K.E.R on June 28, 2013, 09:21:22 pm
Yaaay
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: T-888 on June 29, 2013, 02:10:04 am
Rotators, good luck.

we have decided to release the source code of our game

I see, so be it. The rules of the game has just changed, a different kind of war will have to be won, the last one. This time not with weapons, strategy, but minds and solutions.
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: Eternauta on June 29, 2013, 04:33:04 am
Well, thanks Rotators for all the time and effort you spent on 2238. And I guess I have to say this too, although I'm not a game dev at all, thanks for releasing the codes.

Best of luck in all and any projects you decide to be part of.
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: Luther Blissett on June 29, 2013, 05:08:19 am
Glad you managed to find agreement on releasing the sources, and thank you for deciding to carry on with the SDK based forums - I imagine it was quite difficult to abandon a project you'd all put so much into, and appreciate the effort of carrying things on in a positive way for the wider community. As said previously, I look forward to what any of you produce in future. Good luck!

p.s. Enjoy cleaning up the "Well, I never thought anyone ELSE would have to read it - I just kept writing more things until it sort of worked" areas of 2238. You have both my thanks and pity :)
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: Gob on June 29, 2013, 11:01:20 am
Nice forum. Cheers to a new beginning !  ;D
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: k3tamina on June 29, 2013, 11:58:36 am
I'd love you so much if you planned to develop the new sdk all in C#
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: lithiumfury on June 29, 2013, 12:57:14 pm
I'd love you so much if you planned to develop the new sdk all in C#

Well basicly with mono integration anyone with enough skill in any .NET languages, heck even a kid (14/15 years old) fresh out of the 11th year (of the portuguêse school system) in programing could do that with java... you are asking for C# especially so I presume you know it well.

In my opinion I agree with the use of .NET languages, but the BASE sdk is of the Rotators choice, if i'm not mistaken every .NET language supported by mono is treated the same. So you can do one script in javascript other in Boo , another in C# , f# and so on after being compiled they are all the same...but of course its best for you to stick with one or two languages than having an application working with all .net xD






Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: BLDYMSS on June 29, 2013, 07:22:29 pm
Thx for the efford of putting this site up! I bet it can help a lot.
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: BenKain on June 29, 2013, 09:49:00 pm
Good to see the project come together. The new site looks great, and I am sure it will be a valuable resource to Fonline developers.
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: raynor009 on June 29, 2013, 11:30:46 pm
Question:

Is there anything new planned for the Mapper? Like an improved version of it or some new features ? Or release the src so others can improve it or build up on it.
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: Ghosthack on June 29, 2013, 11:35:19 pm
Question:

Is there anything new planned for the Mapper? Like an improved version of it or some new features ? Or release the src so others can improve it or build up on it.

Rotators doesn't "own" the source code to the mapper, it's cvet's work so he will decide if he wants to release it or not. We do have a few mapper scripts though, which will be released.
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: Gob on June 30, 2013, 01:38:29 am
I remember Lexx saying he made the mapper. Strange...
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: Lexx on June 30, 2013, 01:39:57 am
You remember wrong then, because I never said something like that. The only thing I did was the more pretty interface.
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: Gob on June 30, 2013, 01:40:47 am
You remember wrong then, because I never said something like that. The only thing I did was the more pretty interface.

Oh yeah sorry. Nvm then :P.
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: wladimiiir on July 01, 2013, 10:55:19 am
...we have decided to focus on something slightly different than a game - creating a new FOnline development kit with improved scripts and tools. Our aim is to create a better starting point for new projects...
Do you think you could give us some more info about the process of what you plan to do? For example:
Thanks. :)
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: Bartosz on July 01, 2013, 11:00:04 am
Do you think you could give us some more info about the process of what you plan to do? For example:
  • Do you plan to implement everything from scratch?
  • If so do you plan to implement it in AS or C#?
  • Do you plan to do some changes in hardcoded part of the engine? And do you even plan to use CVET's engine or create a new one?
  • Can we help?
Thanks. :)

Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: wladimiiir on July 01, 2013, 11:22:59 am
  • No, it's always good to reuse, depends how far we want to go.
  • I'm now pushing C# exclusive, as it gives more possibilities and frees of interop burden. (If we choose C# only, it would even differ from what's currently in Server/mono, because many things could've been done differently if AS hadn't been taken into consideration.
  • Starting new engine would be too much of a task. We definitely would want customized one, however, we're struggling currently whether to decide that backward compatibility is worth it, or not.
  • I suppose so, but that damned process of early decisions is somewhat blocking such initiative.
1. That's what I am asking - how far do you want to go? :)
2. Thumbs up for that.
3. From my point of view backward compatibility is not worth, if you would be forced not to introduce features that could be really helpful and better or pay for bad decisions made in the past. If you are trying to do better improved version of SDK, that should serve as a base for new projects, than screw backward compatibility and do it better. :)
4. I guess, it is not some decisioning that community could help you with. Or is it?
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: Bartosz on July 01, 2013, 11:30:41 am
1. That's what I am asking - how far do you want to go? :)
2. Thumbs up for that.
3. From my point of view backward compatibility is not worth, if you would be forced not to introduce features that could be really helpful and better or pay for bad decisions made in the past. If you are trying to do better improved version of SDK, that should serve as a base for new projects, than screw backward compatibility and do it better. :)
4. I guess, it is not some decisioning that community could help you with. Or is it?

1. Depends on 4:)
4. I guess community could state their needs for better SDK, but we're aware of many needs and limitations ourselves, we just need to somehow fit it into 'roadmap' picture, so we are deciding about "how", and not necesarily "what".

I guess lots of it should be exposed outside, to give people a chance to contribute, but also some things cannot be, due to the "closed" nature of engine. And things like choosing scripting runtime is definitely an engine thing, but once it's chosen, things like utility classes, frameworks are definitely open things.
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: Wipe on July 01, 2013, 11:49:05 am
Can we help?
Aside from engine changes, it would be great to have SDK repository which does not require any external content, which we cannot include (maste/critter datafiles). That means new interface, tiles, sceneries, sounds, roofs, items, and so on - and all that need to be enough to fill like 2 maps for demonstration purposes. That's a faaar future plan, a crazy one, but it would need a lot help from the community~
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: Outlawries on July 01, 2013, 12:10:46 pm
I wonder how long it will take to clean up the end party mess.
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: LagMaster on July 02, 2013, 09:45:10 am
can you tell me a link to the fonline2238 wiki please? wanna check some data there
Title: Re: The Beginning
Post by: Bartosz on July 02, 2013, 09:53:14 am
can you tell me a link to the fonline2238 wiki please? wanna check some data there

http://fo2238.fodev.net/wiki/Main_Page