Making Connections

Apologies for the Silence and Project Update

Firstly, I’d like to apologize for the lack of a post last week. Things have been quite hectic on my end. My day job has been particularly demanding lately, and on top of that, we’ve been working on some home renovations, which have left me with little free time to devote to this project. Even this week, I’ve only been able to dedicate a maximum of 1-2 hours to the work. However, I’ve used the extra time to brainstorm and theorize about the direction of the project moving forward.

Pivoting direction with the Character Controller

For the past few weeks, I’ve been experimenting with a custom character controller for the game, focusing on movement using the WSAD keys or a controller. But after some reflection, I’ve decided to shift gears a bit. One of my personal favorite control schemes, though it may not be the most popular for everyone, is point-and-click movement with free camera control, similar to games like Lineage 2. I enjoy how point-and-click movement and targeting influence gameplay. While action combat is undoubtedly fun and fast-paced, I feel that point-and-click systems add another layer of strategy to combat and PvP. They allow players to focus on their surroundings while simultaneously controlling their character’s actions.

Recently, I’ve been playing Albion Online, and I think it’s reignited my appreciation for this combat style. That said, one aspect of Albion that I dislike is its fixed, zoomed-in camera, which is common in many Diablo-esque games. I prefer giving players the freedom to control the camera and zoom, as it’s essential for strategizing and observing the battlefield from different perspectives.

A Networked First Approach

In addition to gameplay considerations, I’ve been diving into a course on networking for games, specifically focusing on Godot’s built-in HLAPI, as well as exploring GodotSteam. I’m planning to use Steam to handle authentication for player accounts. While the game won't be a full-scale MMO, I envision it supporting a player cap of around 2,000 players per server, with a map large enough to accommodate that number.

Given my background in networking and server management for work, the concepts behind a low-level API (LLAPI) are familiar to me. I’ve also previously developed a private Lineage 2 server in Java, so I understand how data and packets are transmitted and structured. Therefore, I don’t anticipate it being too difficult to learn how Godot manages their HLAPI. It will be interesting to see how everything integrates in a single application, as traditionally, client-server communication has been designed with the server and client running separately and being developed in parallel.

In Conclusion

Once again, I apologize for the recent radio silence on the project front. Rest assured, work continues, albeit at a slower pace. Progress may seem small at times, but I’ll continue to push forward and keep shouting into the void!