blog_mar2008.htp

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<h3>DEVELOPMENT BLOG &nbsp;:&nbsp; 13th March 2008</h3>

<p>
It has been a while since the last OBLIGE release
(around 8 months), and judging by the web page you
may think that development has stalled or the project
has died.  I assure you this is far from the case!
Lots of work has been going on, and here is a summary
of what is happening...

<p>
OBLIGE is being rewritten.  All the of level building
code (except for the game-specific stuff) has been
retired and new algorithms are being developed.  The
new version is called "Oblige III" since it is the third
major version of this level generator.

<p>
The first big change is the map representation, which
was quite limited before, made up of 16x16 blocks, and creating
architecture with finer detail or arbitrary shapes
was not possible.  The new representation is similar
to the Quake map format, made up of "brushes" which
are solid chunks in 3D space (e.g. the floor is one brush,
and the ceiling is another one).  This allows to create
maps with "Extrafloors" for the advanced DOOM ports,
and also allows creating maps for true 3D engines
like the Quake series.

<p>
I have been working on converting this new format
into DOOM map format, and right now it works, and can
even generate Extrafloors, but a lot of smaller details
are not implemented yet, like special line/sector types,
railing textures, x/y offsets, and lighting.

<p>
I've also been working on Quake-1 support.  This means
creating the BSP files directly from the internal
represenation.  So far the level builds correctly,
has proper clipping hulls, and flat lighting,
plus there is a built-in texture extractor.  But it
lacks a proper lighting method, and visibility info.

<p>
Talking about lighting: I plan to implement it for DOOM in a
similar way to QUAKE, by determining how much light reaches
each sector from light-emitting entities and surfaces
(as well as the sky).

<p>
The GUI interface has been revamped.
The mini-map is nicer, a lot like what you see in an
editor or the automap in DOOM.
The GUI has a few more options, like
being able to select a specific theme for the maps, and some
options will allow a "MIXED" setting (e.g. for monsters, some
maps will have Hordes and some maps will have Few).
Plus I am working on supporting custom mods: you could download
somebody's mod, put it in the "mods" folder, and OBLIGE will
load it automatically and you can enable/disable it in the
MODS panel.  Mods can add new monsters and items, new themes and
textures, new prefabs, or even change the way levels are built.

<p>
Finally, I have some ideas for the new level building methods.
For example, I'm working on "Room-in-a-Room", which will allow
OBLIGE to create maps like MAP16 of DOOM II, where there is a
bunch of separate buildings scattered about a large outdoor
area.  The new code will directly support symmetry, so it can
make rooms (and possibly large areas) that are mirrored either
vertically or horizontally (or even both, four-way symmetry).
There are some new ideas for creating good deathmatch maps too.

<p>
All this is gonna take a while though :-)

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