Project 137: Star Commander: Context Sensitive Selection, Game Rules, Cover System, Gui’s

This week, most of my time was again spent on this project.

I concentrated mostly on the game rules, with some time also spend on some important graphical and GUI features.

I implemented a context-sensitive cursor which will display the chances of hitting whatever target is currently underneath the mouse. This gui is affected by the distance, fire mode, cover status, etc of the ai firing the weapon and the target being aimed at.

I created a complex cover system which I am quite happy with. Instead of just keeping track of whether a player or enemy is in cover or not, this system actually keeps track of the direction of the cover, meaning a soldier could be protected from the front, but vulnerable from the sides and from the rear. This allows for flanking and diversionary attacks to be used to great effect.

I spent a few days this week working on some modifications to the guiShapeName hud used in the T3D engine. I have added the ability to display multiple lines of text, and to display different text on different clients. This means that I can display custom stats and attributes for the players own squad, visible only to the player controlling that squad.