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     Post subject:Kite (Progress)
    PostPosted:Fri Apr 20, 2012 5:17 am 
     

    Joined:Wed Feb 16, 2011 4:47 pm
    Posts:184
    Time has come for some news about Kite (previously known as Cerberus). First off no, it's not dead, it's very much alive.

    Now to tell you the truth, development only started 2 weeks ago. Why ? because it's incredibly ambitious in the code. We want something that allows easy modding without modifying the core. However the design is quite difficult and lack of time put the project almost to a complete stop.

    Two weeks ago, while working on Onlink savegame, I got temporarily disgusted by the code (I will still try to finish the fix ;)) and started imagining a clean version and decided to try implementing it. That's how Kite started.

    We don't have much yet, but I want to already do an overview because you all have been more than patient. The first thing to know is that Kite is based on Python. The reason is that it is easier than c/c++ and PyPy can almost match the later in term of performance.

    In the current Kite world, there are only devices that can communicate to one another. A device is a piece of equipment with various functionalities (a phone, a router,...). These functionalities are plugins that can be linked or unlinked merely by setting a new type to the device. All there is to do to add a new functionality, is to write the plugin and add the type in the appropriate area. If the plugin is invalid, it won't be loaded and, for the device, it'll be like it's a functionality that does nothing and the game will run just fine.

    Image

    Two devices can communicate by the mean of messages. At log in time, a device will search for a router, ask it for a new IP. The router will then return what has been asked. In order to handle new messages, all there is to do is to set up end points and defining the message type.

    Image

    the third and final part is the base interface. Not much done here but we are already have the base ideas. It'll use a mix of json and python to render stuff. The only thing displayed for now is this:

    Image

    Finally. here are some things we want in the future:
    - One place for handling the savegame so if it fails, only that part needs to be changed.
    - Command Interpreter for better debugging.

    That's it for now.


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     Post subject:Re: Onlink Rewrite Development Blog
    PostPosted:Sat Apr 21, 2012 3:59 am 
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    Joined:Sat Jun 06, 2009 1:21 am
    Posts:581
    Thanks for the info, mc2m! :classy:

    And about its contents, I can only say I like what I read... A LOT!

    _________________
    I'll see you on the dark side of the (ferrous) moon.


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     Post subject:Re: Kite (Progress)
    PostPosted:Sat May 12, 2012 11:47 pm 
     

    Joined:Sat May 12, 2012 11:37 pm
    Posts:1
    I was quite worried when I could no longer access the Onlink site. Thankfully, my concern was for naught and I am thrilled to hear that the project seems to be alive!
    Thank you for the update, good sir; I wish you the best of luck with your work.


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     Post subject:Re: Kite (Progress)
    PostPosted:Sat Jun 16, 2012 12:38 pm 
     

    Joined:Sat Jun 16, 2012 12:35 pm
    Posts:6
    Quote:
    Thankfully, my concern was for naught and I am thrilled to hear that the project seems to be alive!
    This! :] (although I only discovered Onlink -after- their domain died :p)

    And; apparently the captcha on these forums stopped working while I was desperately trying to register as to ask questions and such today! ^^

    Glad to see the captcha back and you guys still working on stuff! Makes me even more excited to have found Onlink x]


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     Post subject:Re: Kite (Progress)
    PostPosted:Fri Sep 21, 2012 9:17 am 
     

    Joined:Wed Feb 16, 2011 4:47 pm
    Posts:184
    Hello everyone, Here's what I have done since last time.

    First I added the interpreter stuff I was talking about. So now dev can access the content of Kite in Kite, edit their code and reload it and refresh the screen. There will probably be more possibilities later on.

    I also talked about a "One place for handling the savegame so if it fails, only that part needs to be changed." feature. Well that has been tested with success... in Onlink.

    It is in debugging phase and gave satisfying results so far ([18-24]s for first save (world generated in [0.6-1.2]s) and [0.005-0.030]s for all the other saves; all done without any c++ optimisation so stats can only be better for you). Unfortunately, there's always a downside with that. my Master thesis is requiring me so I cannot finish that just yet.

    Now you're probably wondering why I'm putting this in the Kite progress. Well because I'm using Kite engine for that Master Thesis. All the following updates have been done with that in mind.

    Packages have been implemented. A package is the user content that will appear in Kite. That includes functionalities for devices,interfaces,pictures,generators for now. Modders will simply have to design a new package and it will interact with Kite. There is still a lot to do on package-core interactions but it's going well.

    Interface is partially done, you can draw shapes, text, pictures as you want and some actions like closing or launching an interface have been implemented. The whole content is to vast to be described here but I will write down a tutorial eventually.

    Now I will do my own package for the thesis and work a little more on the package-core interactions. In the meantime, I leave you with the todo list to give you an idea of what is to come.
    Quote:
    TODO for v0.1

    - Options

    - Package Manager

    - implement interface
    - text field components
    - basic animators (flash, slide(left,up,down,right),...)
    - highlight and click pictures
    - computer screens organisation and merging
    - next, previous buttons
    - actions
    - color gradient
    - decorator

    - Lanlade
    - interface creator/editor
    - translation

    - save game synchronizer

    - json schema tester ?

    - avoid crashing on external modules

    - inter-package management
    - functionalities selection
    - interface preference
    - graphics preference

    - package-core interface
    - access to generators (partial)
    - functionality updates
    - access to not owned content present in world (people,devices,...)

    Done for v0.1

    - interface basis
    - basic shapes
    - component id
    - text

    - Device handling

    - Command interpreter
    - reload("modulename") function
    - refresh function
    - print function

    - package support
    -package loading
    -loading order
    -enabling/disabling

    - Use py2exe to create an .exe file on windows


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     Post subject:Re: Kite (Progress)
    PostPosted:Fri Sep 21, 2012 4:01 pm 
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    Joined:Sat Jun 06, 2009 1:21 am
    Posts:581
    Thank you for the update, mc2m. We wait patiently for the first alpha! :classy:

    Also, I'm glad to hear the project is actually useful for you, with all the work you're putting into it.

    _________________
    I'll see you on the dark side of the (ferrous) moon.


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     Post subject:Re: Kite (Progress)
    PostPosted:Sat Sep 22, 2012 2:47 pm 
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    Joined:Sat Nov 17, 2007 8:45 am
    Posts:204
    It's ALIVE!</Robot Chicken>

    Yay!


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