Ueda Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 Dear Ninjas, It's apparent that due to the lack of updates, some are beginning to lose faith in the project. My presence has also become somewhat of a repetitive cycle of giving short news posts to assure everyone that development is not dead. We have some very exciting news to present to you everyone. Though it may be viewed as bad news by some, it is definitely very good news for us all in the long term. Development until now Visual Basic 6 While developing Nin Online in Visual Basic (an ancient language that got it's last update in 2003, that's over 10 years to put it into perspective!) we were practically pushing the language to it's limits and we were still unable to create many wonderful features we would have loved to that would allow Nin Online to reach it's full potential. The IDE and Language itself were so ancient in fact, that moving a line of code or making a small change in one function would very easily break something else. As you can imagine, this was frustrating, as the engine broke frequently due to minor changes. The language is also no longer supported by Microsoft and is only running on our newer machines with tons of compatibility issues and fixes everywhere. This problem became even more apparent from our tests late last year where many players encountered issues simply getting the client to run for them. The only reason we were using this for our engine was because it had been our most comfortable tool to create games, since Robin, Eddie, Seth and I had all been working on Visual Basic games, particularly Mirage based engines for years. DirectX8 The renderer we were utilizing to bring to you the graphics in the versions thus far has been DIrectX8. Technology from 2000. As a result, our graphical presentation was not as good as we wanted it to be. We were very limited in terms of what we could do, even pushing the renderer to it's limits. We were unable to bring you many advanced modern rendering techniques like blending options. Development time was also severely hindered because we were using many old-school methods of implementing our graphics, such as manually recoloring sprites. First Conclusion Up until now, we have been limited on what we could do, and our development speed was being hindered by old development tools and technologies. The exciting future HTML5 I have personally always been a supporter of HTML5 technology. Since it's announcement years ago. But back then, the tech was slightly limited by the lack of stable support on different platforms and missing components such as audio, a good renderer etc, real time communication. All of this has of course, been improved over the past 2-3 years, so much so that it is hard to see the limits of this amazing technology anymore. We have cross-platform audio standards, WebGL (an advanced renderer) and WebRTC to settle our multiplayer needs. The most prominent benefit of HTML5 is of course that is is cross-platform across every modern operating system. HTML5 runs on Windows, Macintosh, Linux, iOS, Android, Tizen, Wii U and any system with a browser like Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Internet Explorer! All this, with one single code base. Construct 2 Arguably the best engine to create HTML5 games, Construct 2 has slowly filled the gap between the reality of creating Nin Online with it's amazing toolkit. With the latest announcement of WebRTC Datachannels support, there is literally nothing holding me back from making this jump to create Nin Online with the engine. The engine is very fast and efficient, it takes barely minutes to make a simple game, and it's only a matter of days to create a game like "Lazy Rocket". Apart from this, it is very expandable with it's Javascript SDK. Me & Seth have been very avid followers of this engine for years, we're comfortable with the tools, and quite certain that we'd easily port over the Nin Online experience back to it's current progress in a matter of weeks. There are also a lot of features we'd like to add to Nin Online to make it an even more wonderful game. WebGL As modern as a renderer could get, WebGL is an amazing modern renderer with modern capabilities. Check out how capable WebGL is here! Possible news features With all this new tech, we won't need to be held back by the limitations we once had. We will be able to bring Nin Online to it's full potential and all in a fraction of the time it would take to create a game like this in C++ or C#. With that, I'd like to tell you some big and small changes we'll be making to this new version of Nin Online. [*]Jumping & Platforming Jump onto rooftops, jump between them, drop off higher grounds. A whole new dimension to Nin Online! This opens up a lot of potential for combat and travelling. [*]360° Movement & Combat No more 4 Directional jutsu casting limitations. Shoot your fireballs at any angle. This will make for a dynamic combat experience! [*]Pixel-based movement Right now, our movement system is tile based with 8 directions. Pixel-based movement means that you will be able to move and stop at any point and not in every 32x32 tile. [*]WebGL Effects Imagine a fireball - glowing! or a Genjutsu making your screen do this to your screen. [*]More character customization Hair & eye colors and shades on every spectrum. This is easily possible with HTML5 tech. [*]Cross-platform! Play on your browser or download a client & updater. [*]Multiple Resolutions & Fullscreen mode Our attempts at a good implementation of multiple resolution support and fullscreen support in our Visual Basic 6 engine were failures. But with our new engine, this will a piece of cake in comparison. [*]Social integration This is up for debate, as I'm not a big fan of Facebook games for example. But this isn't out of the question. Development speed With Visual Basic 6, we were very limited to what kind of Jutsus and content we could create, because our system was very rigid and didn't give us the space to create a lot varied content, eg. epic jutsus & cutscenes. With this new engine, we'd be able to add new spells in a matter of minutes. Graphical implementation and coding entirely new systems are both also sped up significantly! Nin Online ProjectV2 Without further ado, I present a little demo codenamed "ProjectV2", I did in two days to showcase the engine and to show you guys the potential of the world of Nin Online in HTML5. It's very basic, and lacks the most important feature yet, multiplayer tests will be here in the near future! Version 0.0.1 ALPHA Controls Movement/Combat WASD/Arrow Keys - Movement Shift - Run Left Click/Z - Punch Right Click/X - Kick 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9 - Hotkeys (Jutsu Selection for now) Middle Click (Scroll wheel pushed down) - Use Jutsu Scroll wheel - Zoom in/out G - Test death Hair/Eye & Other Options H - Hold down to change hair hue Y - Hold down to change hair saturation N - Hold down to change hair brightness J - Press once to change hair style E - Hold down to change eye hue F - Toggle Fullscreen Final conclusion Here's to a much brighter future for Nin Online! One that is sustainable in the long term and hopefully more popular! We understand this might feel like a set back, but in actuality, this might be the biggest and best update to ever happen to Nin Online yet, you'll see I hope this restores some faith in Nin Online for you guys! I've been holding back the announcement for a later update, but I've been too eager to announce this myself. Regards, Rory 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabb Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 Hey! Thanks for the update! (: The demo is really cool, although the middle click for jutsu doesn't seem to be working. (Edit: it seems to work fine if I click and scroll simultaneously.) Also, the new features sound really awesome! Good job, good luck, and thanks very much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elk Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 Motivation Level: Azn (no pun intended) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fissez Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 This demo is the bomb bro!! If it's gonna be like that I really can't wait to start playing it :wub: !!Please finish it soon (and make it so that not only Silver & Gold can play, pleaseeee ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toirterraz Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 Motivation Level: Azn (no pun intended)Real life. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akiro Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 Interesting, just put multiple people in that small demo and you got yourself a decent arena combat game to tie people over but the future seems like its going to be alot bigger than possible before 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ueda Posted March 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 Motivation Level: Azn (no pun intended)Pleased to have you back, Elk. Once we have our base game set up, testing your animations will be as easy as dragging and dropping a few pieces of graphics around. Implementing it, not that much harder. This demo is the bomb bro!! If it's gonna be like that I really can't wait to start playing it :wub: !! Please finish it soon (and make it so that not only Silver & Gold can play, pleaseeee )Full speed ahead! Real life. Nice to see you again Keezus, hope you like how your fireballs and explosions are implemented 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toirterraz Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 Pleased to have you back, Elk. Once we have our base game set up, testing your animations will be as easy as dragging and dropping a few pieces of graphics around. Implementing it, not that much harder. Full speed ahead! Nice to see you again Keezus, hope you like how your fireballs and explosions are implemented Actually did. I just spammed them at least 50 times out of pure enjoyment. Kind of motivated me to go and work on something to show it up, but I don't have my Macbook -- yet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dairuto Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 awesome demo :DD well that changes everything more stuff will be possible then before Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ueda Posted March 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 Actually did. I just spammed them at least 50 times out of pure enjoyment. Kind of motivated me to go and work on something to show it up, but I don't have my Macbook -- yet. Anytime you're ready man I'll bug you for graphics soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akatsuki Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 Looking good! No wheel button for me (on a laptop) . Doesn't really bother me though. Keep up the good work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ueda Posted March 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 I'll think of a better control scheme soon and it'll be customizable in future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toirterraz Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 Anytime you're ready man I'll bug you for graphics soon. I'll be in contact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fissez Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 Any chance the game will develop to 3D in the future? Or will that be too much work :/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ueda Posted March 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 I want Nin Online to be a 2D game. I don't think I'd ever have such wild ambitions to attempt a 3D MMORPG with no budget :/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fissez Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 I see.. Well honestly with that demo you just posted I would never ask for more... It's perfect Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akiro Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 Great, Rory can end it there and forget about ninonline >_>Well done shin *claps* *edit* this isnt a serious post 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenyx Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 I'll admit I lost some faith but this....wow! Totally looking forward to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fissez Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 Great, Rory can end it there and forget about ninonline >_>Well done shin *claps* *edit* this isnt a serious postMy first applause... Im getting there xD -But you know what I mean.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ueda Posted March 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 Great, Rory can end it there and forget about ninonline >_> Well done shin *claps* *edit* this isnt a serious postAs lame as that was, I admit I lol'd. I'll admit I lost some faith but this....wow! Totally looking forward to it.Glad, it's only natural, I haven't kept anyone outside of the staff team in the loop for awhile. I was holding the announcement back until I did enough research about WebRTC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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