EOSERV Forum > Client Editing > Ethanmoffat's Custom Client Progress?
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Ethanmoffat's Custom Client Progress?
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Post #201915 Ethanmoffat's Custom Client Progress?

Is anyone helping him with the development of a client?

It's the first client I've seen the most progress in. He seems to be active on GitHub. Just not on EOSERV from what I've seen.

How long would it take to finish this client with 1 person? Or how about 5 persons?

Once it's complete, would we be able to make EO a lot more modern by doing things like:

- Better map loading (like Ethan has done)

- Character movement, speed, and graphics changes/abilities

And lots more..? With a custom client, and custom server software, we could turn this game into anything?
I know people will always hate on me saying something like that, as if the game is dead, and it will cost so much money to revive the game.
But with all the talented people that are, and used to be in this community, could do very well working together to turn this into a really fun game.
Maybe even something where you can develop a "plugins" feature allowing server makers to make their servers very diverse, and interesting.

7 years, 14 weeks ago
Post #201920 Re: Ethanmoffat's Custom Client Progress?

A custom client leaves the door wide open to any programmer competent enough to work with the packet protocol. In many ways, EO could benefit from having that protocol overhauled at certain critical parts. One of those things is certainly maps, which could absolutely be more dynamic given how basic the game is and how overpowered computers are now, compared to a decade or two ago.

tl;dr Yes, it would be good, but only if you knew what you were doing, or someone who knew what they were doing wanted to release their iterations of the client and server to the public. If they did so, you would want to be certain that whatever protocol changes they made are tight as fuck, or skids will rapidly infest your undies.

---
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7 years, 14 weeks ago
Post #201921 Re: Ethanmoffat's Custom Client Progress?

I remember seeing somewhere that he was infact accepting code donations and has set high standards for the code.

I dunno why everyones obsessed with a new client though, there's so much you can do with the current one that fixes/bypasses little glitches and even ways to use packets for other purposes. Honestly, ask yourself how much of a difference will a client make for you? Unless you're competent enough to code a solid client you'll more than likely end up causing more problems than you solve.

I didn't mean for this to sound like such a downer, and I'm really not trying to call out anyones coding skills. I just think there's more from the client than people think.

7 years, 14 weeks ago
Post #201924 Re: Ethanmoffat's Custom Client Progress?

Any dedicated person should be able to finish an EO client from start to finish in a month as long as they have their vision set in mind.

I don't think EO needs "better map loading". Animating a fade-in effect doesn't really add much when the maps are already capable of loading instantly. I did have this concept related to maps I wanted to try create one day though: 


There's plenty of benefit to be had just from having a custom client at all: Adding new NPCs and clothing graphics is currently a huge pain with all the hard-coded variables. The limitations on things like the # of items that you can have can go away, adding graphics doesn't have to require an external patcher program. Perhaps most importantly of all, your players can type at more than 40 WPM without dropping characters, it won't run like trash on Windows 10, you can fix the laggy 16 FPS GUI, alter things like the restrictions on chat length, flood rates, password length, etc. For a web-based client the benefits are obvious in that players can just start playing without having to download anything.

If you decide to start expanding on the basics of EO you can have stuff like a resizable game view (and widescreen finally), changing the GUI layout, adding floating windows, adding filtered graphics scaling so you don't have to look at tiny pixels or a stretched out blur. Something that I'm sure lots of people want would be a UI that can adapt to provide a usable experience on mobiles too.

Dynamic maps sounds like something interesting that opens up a lot of possibility, if it's like what I'm thinking of on EO Remake where people could drop barrels that no-one could walk through.

I don't think that a custom client that people could script themselves wouldn't be utilized. There's people who want to do simple things like hiding UI elements or stats that they don't use who would benefit from any ability to customize. I'm sure with enough creativity people could create bigger things such as the trading post that EO Remake had. I had a couple of ideas for allowing the server to provide scripting for the client, one using a declarative UI specification, the other using AngelScript. The server would send the byte-code to the client. That along with my client's ability to load all its graphics from the server means updates would very rarely involve the players having to all download new clients.

P.S. work on my client hasn't progressed from about a month ago because I'd rather whore myself out online than work on stuff. Started using the code from it to create a new open source map editor though which with any luck you'll hear more about soon.

7 years, 14 weeks ago
Post #201930 Re: Ethanmoffat's Custom Client Progress?
Sausage posted: (27th Dec 2016, 04:34 pm)

Started using the code from it to create a new open source map editor though which with any luck you'll hear more about soon.


... Yes please.

Also, the barrel-dropping is a good example of dynamic maps. I'd love to see even more exciting uses for less static maps in EO-style games.

---
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7 years, 14 weeks ago
Post #201931 Re: Ethanmoffat's Custom Client Progress?
Cirras posted: (27th Dec 2016, 07:56 pm)

Sausage posted: (27th Dec 2016, 04:34 pm)

Started using the code from it to create a new open source map editor though which with any luck you'll hear more about soon.


... Yes please.

Also, the barrel-dropping is a good example of dynamic maps. I'd love to see even more exciting uses for less static maps in EO-style games.


It's not the same but you can do this using items.. I've used the event crosses to block off areas before!
7 years, 14 weeks ago
Post #201986 Re: Ethanmoffat's Custom Client Progress?
Sausage posted: (27th Dec 2016, 04:34 pm)

Any dedicated person should be able to finish an EO client from start to finish in a month as long as they have their vision set in mind.

I don't think EO needs "better map loading". Animating a fade-in effect doesn't really add much when the maps are already capable of loading instantly. I did have this concept related to maps I wanted to try create one day though: 


There's plenty of benefit to be had just from having a custom client at all: Adding new NPCs and clothing graphics is currently a huge pain with all the hard-coded variables. The limitations on things like the # of items that you can have can go away, adding graphics doesn't have to require an external patcher program. Perhaps most importantly of all, your players can type at more than 40 WPM without dropping characters, it won't run like trash on Windows 10, you can fix the laggy 16 FPS GUI, alter things like the restrictions on chat length, flood rates, password length, etc. For a web-based client the benefits are obvious in that players can just start playing without having to download anything.

If you decide to start expanding on the basics of EO you can have stuff like a resizable game view (and widescreen finally), changing the GUI layout, adding floating windows, adding filtered graphics scaling so you don't have to look at tiny pixels or a stretched out blur. Something that I'm sure lots of people want would be a UI that can adapt to provide a usable experience on mobiles too.

Dynamic maps sounds like something interesting that opens up a lot of possibility, if it's like what I'm thinking of on EO Remake where people could drop barrels that no-one could walk through.

I don't think that a custom client that people could script themselves wouldn't be utilized. There's people who want to do simple things like hiding UI elements or stats that they don't use who would benefit from any ability to customize. I'm sure with enough creativity people could create bigger things such as the trading post that EO Remake had. I had a couple of ideas for allowing the server to provide scripting for the client, one using a declarative UI specification, the other using AngelScript. The server would send the byte-code to the client. That along with my client's ability to load all its graphics from the server means updates would very rarely involve the players having to all download new clients.

P.S. work on my client hasn't progressed from about a month ago because I'd rather whore myself out online than work on stuff. Started using the code from it to create a new open source map editor though which with any luck you'll hear more about soon.


The map preview is really cool! I like all the ideas you guys have.

The idea behind the client is to be able to support these types of ideas. I haven't been working on it much lately because I've been traveling, but I'll probably pick back up again soon-ish.

Code contributions are appreciated, but as someone mentioned I have high standards for myself and would hold contributions to those same standards. I think the biggest issue is that I don't keep a running list of TODO items on GitHub. I've been meaning to use the "Issues" feature to track unimplemented features, bugs, missing functionality, etc. but haven't taken the time to fill it in yet. I guess I could also put up some info on code style guidelines/requirements too.

---
class EOSERV {
Programmer | Oldbie
Open source EO Client: https://github.com/ethanmoffat/EndlessClient
};
7 years, 13 weeks ago
Post #201988 Re: Ethanmoffat's Custom Client Progress?
ethanmoffat posted: (2nd Jan 2017, 05:50 pm)

Sausage posted: (27th Dec 2016, 04:34 pm)

Any dedicated person should be able to finish an EO client from start to finish in a month as long as they have their vision set in mind.

I don't think EO needs "better map loading". Animating a fade-in effect doesn't really add much when the maps are already capable of loading instantly. I did have this concept related to maps I wanted to try create one day though: 


There's plenty of benefit to be had just from having a custom client at all: Adding new NPCs and clothing graphics is currently a huge pain with all the hard-coded variables. The limitations on things like the # of items that you can have can go away, adding graphics doesn't have to require an external patcher program. Perhaps most importantly of all, your players can type at more than 40 WPM without dropping characters, it won't run like trash on Windows 10, you can fix the laggy 16 FPS GUI, alter things like the restrictions on chat length, flood rates, password length, etc. For a web-based client the benefits are obvious in that players can just start playing without having to download anything.

If you decide to start expanding on the basics of EO you can have stuff like a resizable game view (and widescreen finally), changing the GUI layout, adding floating windows, adding filtered graphics scaling so you don't have to look at tiny pixels or a stretched out blur. Something that I'm sure lots of people want would be a UI that can adapt to provide a usable experience on mobiles too.

Dynamic maps sounds like something interesting that opens up a lot of possibility, if it's like what I'm thinking of on EO Remake where people could drop barrels that no-one could walk through.

I don't think that a custom client that people could script themselves wouldn't be utilized. There's people who want to do simple things like hiding UI elements or stats that they don't use who would benefit from any ability to customize. I'm sure with enough creativity people could create bigger things such as the trading post that EO Remake had. I had a couple of ideas for allowing the server to provide scripting for the client, one using a declarative UI specification, the other using AngelScript. The server would send the byte-code to the client. That along with my client's ability to load all its graphics from the server means updates would very rarely involve the players having to all download new clients.

P.S. work on my client hasn't progressed from about a month ago because I'd rather whore myself out online than work on stuff. Started using the code from it to create a new open source map editor though which with any luck you'll hear more about soon.


The map preview is really cool! I like all the ideas you guys have.

The idea behind the client is to be able to support these types of ideas. I haven't been working on it much lately because I've been traveling, but I'll probably pick back up again soon-ish.

Code contributions are appreciated, but as someone mentioned I have high standards for myself and would hold contributions to those same standards. I think the biggest issue is that I don't keep a running list of TODO items on GitHub. I've been meaning to use the "Issues" feature to track unimplemented features, bugs, missing functionality, etc. but haven't taken the time to fill it in yet. I guess I could also put up some info on code style guidelines/requirements too.


A to-do list, along with some more detailed documentation would be stellar. Looking forward to seeing what you do next.
---
Want to learn to pixel?
Pixelsource.org
7 years, 13 weeks ago
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EOSERV Forum > Client Editing > Ethanmoffat's Custom Client Progress?