WZ2100-esque

[Jimmbob]

How dare you talk about EA like that!

Haha! xD
and that is very cool , ahh the dreams of a future of Warzone!

[kage]

It's not unfeasible to make a wz-2100-esque game with graphics that good (or better) that would run on the same machines that the source engine is targetted for (or even using the source engine, though for oft-discussed reasons, this team isn't going to use the source engine as long as it's not FOSS). The trick is certainly scaling it down into a squad-tactics style game with more of a fluid, fully realtime feel (unlike the x-com/x-com-inspired genre of games).

Depending on the desired gameplay mechanics, it may even be possible to use dozens or hundreds of units in a fight per side -- a good way to get reasonable performance for this would be to couple the camera zoom with the number of units that can be controlled at once -- if you need to control 50 units, it automatically (and forcefully) zooms you out, and at the same time, picks much lower quality models and textures for the terrain, units, etc.

Another way to make it more responsive is to give the input and net threads priority over the graphics thread, keeping the graphics thread very asynchronus with the other threads. There are really a lot of things that are important in an FPS engine that are actually undesired in a strategy game (eg. making it so the player must exactly 'hit' a target for something to happen [anything else is cheating], while in an FPS, it's a war of the wits, and 'aimbot' style targetting could be both useful and without shame).

[whippersnapper]

....

yes, that is a common thread running throughout - wz inspires dreams of change AND the will to work at it.

"Here's looking at you kid." Great line. right up there with Gable's in "Gone with the Wind": 'Frankly my dear, I don't give
a damn."

BLACKSABBATH, good programmer & a prescient designer. in 'Total Warzone' new RTS game play was anticipated by several years that
came out as brand new in 'Supreme Commander' and even the recent C&C 'Red Alert 3'.

the wrp has a solid road map were in they have identified potent leverage areas of dev that are already in the pipe-line. expansive evolution
is the destiny of this project as those goals are brought on-line to full implementation. a very promising future indeed.

when Pumpkin was still working on the wz2100 sequel (2120) they were NOT using the 2100 source-engine. so there are other goals better
suited to a different code base/game engine. for example.... you can use 'TA:Springs' engine-source to create a total conversion of wz. and there are yet even more options, depending on your goals... for example, a "Warzone-esque" creation that is in someways a homage but is in NO way a clone (like TWZ)....

what all these approaches have in common is a burning desire to DO something, (wz2100 has that powerful effect to this day), moving toward a clear vision, working at it steadily and enjoying the process that amounts to a TON of challenging work to reach the specific goals of change. this type work commitment is also manifest in those who create new art, mods, ais and maps... the only assured reward for all the hard work is enjoying the process itself. and lastly, no matter how the doers differ in their goals and vision, you gotta respect the work commitment it takes to bring anything tangible to the table in a working state..

.

[Thraka]

I did a formation editor in VB6 for the proposed engine way back in the day. That was a lot of fun. I don't have any of that source code anymore though hehe.

[whippersnapper]

I did a formation editor in VB6 for the proposed engine way back in the day. That was a lot of fun. I don't have any of that source code anymore though hehe.

that's kwel - creating something like that. even if you don't have the source anymore you still did it.

i'm doing the path finding code (C++) for the wz-esque game i'm working on now and while i find it very interesting and challenging i wouldn't go so far as to say it is fun, at least not in the way other stuff is - which i guess says that no matter how far i go with coding i will never consider my self a real coder, just doing what needs to be done to get to the meat and potatoes of what i truly enjoy - scripting new gpms, features ....creating cinematics, music and campaign mission constructs..