Learning the basics

[epsilonion]

Just learning the engine at the moment, only had it a couple of days.

I am focusing on level design at the moment and coming to grips with the workflow, for the purpose of showing what I have found to be the best engine I have used for making atmospheric levels.

I will be venturing into scripting after I have nailed the level editor.

The Pathing system is so easy to use.
Basic material setting.


Uber Materials setting:



Another scene test (dark internal).
I am very impressed so far, compared to another engine I was using the image quality is second to none.



Updated scene added atmosphere to the scene.



Screenshot:

[TattieBoJangle]

Looking great cant wait to see it when the material are in adv or uber it will fix alot of they buildings and make them look great keep up the good work.

[SolarPortal]

that is great and the first user fly through video.
Glad the camera entity has worked from the previous to last release aswell.

Keep up the great work! You will be a Skyline Guru in no time

[epsilonion]

Its one thing throwing things about in the editor its another coding and I am a beginner at both lol...

I have limited skills at programming, I have not touched any really for a good 20 years.. now I feel old.. lol

[TattieBoJangle]

Im sure they will help by putting some example scripts in the store as i feel it could be doing with some and users could work from there when it comes to coding for me and i bet any other person going to any engine it would be the AI one i wouldn't mind paying for

[SolarPortal]

yeah. We already have plenty of example scripts in the Asset Library.
"Asset Library/Scripts/Example Scripts".

There are also many presets already with microscripts, such as the FPS player character, Joystick Spell casting sorceress and much much more in the engine already. Simply open the microscript and study it. You will eventually see patterns and be able to get going from there.

Get going by starting with basics of printing hello world(gets debugging under the belt fast) and work up to the entity spawning, and translation manipulation, key events & mouse events. Then move onto physics and forces.
If you want anything specific, post it to the forums as a feature request and we can help you out. Users like @Shando and @antON already have a good grasp of lua and skyline lua, so they may also be able to help also.

[Shando]

[SolarPortal]

This is getting interesting , we have been waiting for advanced skyline scripting users to open the next side of skyline and its next set of functions.

@Shando, you could design the entire AI as a lua script, even if it runs slowly, you could then pass the lua script to us and we could convert it into a c++ function(s) which can be accessed by only a single or couple lua lines or even make it an action with adjustable properties which could then be expanded on yet again in lua.

This would make the all the code run as fast as possible in c++ with the only slow down of a couple of interpreted lines to shift through which is minimal in todays computing power, essentially the lua or action is a gap interface between the two. This is why we already have lua functions that do complex movements as we want everything to run in c++ for performance but use the lua for simplicity and new users to programming.

We are willing to convert scripts to c++. It was already one of our design ideas until we get the c++ SDK or at least a c# integration. At the start though we did have a plan of creating a conversion service, but for now we can do it for free.

[epsilonion]

If I have to be honest the main things that I am having problems getting my head around is the CEgui and game states.

I under stand changing the state to paused to load say a main menu or a ingame menu but all of the programming I have done in the past was for making applications such as stock control apps etc.. so game states are new to me.

The CEgui is a new concept to me as well, I have been used to using commands to draw to screen and is mousePos = x,y and x,y (if mouse is in a box) and mouse clicked then do whatever..

I think I will be fine with everything else apart from the above mentioned..

I started out in using JAVA when I was doing computer science at university all them years ago (when schools where still using BBC computers lol)... but I suppose if you dont use it for so long you loose it.

I must admit tho I am enjoying the challenge.

I would upgrade for C++ lol...

Shando I think I know you from another forum somewhere..

I will only ask for help if I am completely stumped, I love learning new things...

[TattieBoJangle]

[SolarPortal]

[epsilonion]

would it be possible to use a wysiwyg editor for the html.. just thinking of a faster workflow..
then rename the html files to rml ?

wondering if that would work?

[SolarPortal]

most html commands do work. Some things may not though. But i would say give it ago, not sure if its a faster workflow though.

Couple of rules:
> Everything that is used for dynamics. e.g. buttons, sliders etc.. need to have an id.
> The body must have a unique id across all other loaded gui's in skyline.
> There is no script, or jquery included.
> There is no php files etc..
> Tables are best created as Div tags for better repositioning.
> You will have to end up writing the lua command callers etc.. but we can help you with that. There is a help section on the gui editor though.
> The GUI Console is quite good at reporting errors.
> There are probably more, but it will be easier to help you when you have a problem.

Tip: When designing for width & height and other bits, try setting a background color to know the region it takes up.

If you find a tool that is MIT license and has source code for designing html files. let us know and we may be able to use it to create a quick way of putting a visual HTML editor together inside skyline. We have got it planned to do, but getting work done fast for starters is good. Then we can advance on it and make it proper.

[StarFire]

[epsilonion]

Can someone look at this mesh file please, all my models that have a open door can not be walked through when rigid body is applied to the mesh (as mesh).

I am wondering if it is problem with the mesh file thats been created as the FBX file has worked before...

Thank you in advance..

[TattieBoJangle]

I had a look m8 and i can walk inside and jump on the sides.

[epsilonion]

hmm wonder whats going on with it then.. set physics as mesh so that should be fine..

[TattieBoJangle]

could it be the character at fault ?

[SolarPortal]

Perhaps, the controller capsule is touching the top of the door.

checking it out now

Edit: Also try to engage the physics debug on the Scene Settings panel.

Edit2: I tried and got the same as tattie. i did scale down to 0.1, but this was too small and couldn't walk through it. So i scaled it up a bit, set to dynamic and back to static and it was fine.

[epsilonion]

lol i feel like an idiot, yeah it was the top not scaled it enough lol... sry guys

[SolarPortal]

no, these things can be confuding at first with new engines.
You can always reduce the controller height if you find it is too big for a small door etc.. or just scale the mesh.

[epsilonion]

Heres a quick one..

Can you turn the P off and the white star on point lights?

when playing through the editor it still shows.



I even exported the test scene to see what its like on standalone and where the white star is it was just a solid white rectangle.

[SolarPortal]

The point lights can be scaled down in the editor for now.
I will fix this today as we have complained about this too over the past couple of days.

Screenshot looks good though.

[Shando]

[epsilonion]

Updated with another video.. youtube does not do the scene justice.

the video does not really do the scene justice.