CobbledTogetherQuake

[ajay]

As I've got Quake compiling on Visual C++ Express Edition , I've decided to have a crack at changing/adding to/enhancing glquake with just the stuff I need for my next mod.
As someone who has just about paid their "hello world" dues in terms of C coding, and got a picture to show on a Dreamcast, I've obviously got a lot to learn. Now I could achieve this by learning in a methodical way, from basics through to more advanced stuff, or I could do it in the way I got to grips with QuakeC; copy and paste tutorials, tinker with them, ask many questions on here and then give up many times frustrated with my own ineptitude.

Anyhow, the features I'm going to try to add/change, in no particular order:
- Skyboxes
- Rain
- Fog
- Further draw distance
- Widescreen resolutions
- Increasing number of parms
- Centering the menu, horizontally and vertically (like DP)
- Transparency for brushes and models

Vague ideas that may or may not be possible:
- Dynamic lighting, by which I mean gradual day/night changes
- Increasing number of parms
- Different water (actually water that looks good in puddles!)
- 'Proper' doors
- Adding/removing items displayed on the hud
- ogg support, including being able to change track on the fly due to events (mood music baby)
- demo cutscenes, from level back to level

Now some of you may quite rightly point out that existing engines (mostly DP) have all or most fo these features already, but thats not really the point, as messing about with code is fun and I'll hopefully learn stuff along the way.

[scar3crow]

For rain, I assume you just mean an efficient particle system that originates from skybrushes?

For fog, global? Particle based and local?

For your definition of dynamic lighting, it should be noted the mod Kleshik has day and night cycles, but it doesn't discriminate, all lights gradually decrease in brightness, until the levels black, and then gradually increase shortly thereafter. Its interesting. I assume you want something a little less generic, and more accurate to day/night... You could have light entities without models (torches, flames, orbs) do a trace for skybrushes, and maybe using some more sophisticated checking measures, determine whether or not they are a "sky" light, and if they are, they're targeted by the gradually increment and decrement cycle.

Water that looks good in puddles should be more reflective, basically completely transparent...

Proper doors? As in rotating doors?

What do you mean from level back to level? As in... playing in the level, hit a cutscene trigger, you and everything but the cutscene is paused, youre taken to the cutscene, you watch the cutscene, youre taken back to yourself, you and all other entities resume?

[Spike]