Looking for C++ Developers

Introduction Hello Developer. I’m Steven, 22 years old and a University student of Media Information Management (College/University Amsterdam) in Holland. I’ve done a 4 year study Information Technology, where I learned the basics of programming. After this education I have worked 2 years in programming dynamic websites. I’m projectleader of the ‘GameDev MMORPG Project’ team. This team consists of around 30 developers from The Netherlands, England, Sweden, Denmark and the U.S. We are working on a ‘MMO Classic Fantasy Role Playing Game’ since 2001. We are looking for C++ programmers for our game. More about the game Our game is in the Classic Fantasy Genre. This means roleplaying with mages and warriors etc. We will have at least 5 different races. The game will be skillbased. Our main focus was on creating an original game with good gameplay. We tried to come up with lots of idea’s we never saw in other RPG’s. We are about to finish the design documents and design concept. Also our team has made several concept art pictures and 3D models.

Because we are a closed source group we can’t give away much more information about the gameplay. Coding the game Coding was started in Blitz3D because we though it would easen the coding of the game and therefore allow us to spend more time on gameplay issues. However, we stumbled upon several limitations in the 3D engine, network support and the lack of pointers. This forced us to reconsider using C++. For this reason we are looking for C++ coders. There are various areas in which we need development at the moment:

(Client -) GUI programmmer Will program the Graphical User Interface. Make buttons etc, make a useful tool to create new menu’s etc. After programming of course optimizing the code to best performance gui-use. This is for both the servers and the client, so Modular based.
(Client – Lead programmer Will do main parts of client, directs other programmers what they need to program.
(Client – Zoneload programmer (for a period of time function) Does the Zoneloading programming (module). This module will zoneload the world. Zoneload does also LOD and objectzone.
(Client – Tool programmer Does the tools of the game. This is: Editing tools, DM/WM Tools.
(Server – (Lead) programmer Will do all server programming and evt. Lead other server-programmers.
(Server – Database programmer Will make all functionality to efficiently write and read from the database, which contains all main data for the world and all data of players.

Technical info We have looked into several 3D engines for C++ and we fell Crystal Space 3D SDK may be the best for us. Suggestions/comments on this or other engines are welcome in this stage of development. One thing which is special to this game is that the world isn’t of a fixed size. When a player comes close to a new zone, the zonedata will be downloaded from the server (if it wasn’t previously available) or checked for changes (with a checksum). This way we can easily alter the world or increase it’s size, without the need to download patches. We already build a server and small client in Blitz3D to test some functionality. With this client and server we were able to:

login with the whole group
chat with each other
see each other move and jump
load zonedate from the server

Since Alpha 2 which will be completed within a month (still in Blitz3D) We will be able to do in editmode:

modifying and save the heightmap for current zone
create new land (heightmaps) per zone

Then we will also have:

better graphical environment (ie weather)
a big city (we wanted to test the size of the zone)
after some zone editing with the editmode we should have a nicer edited worldmap with tree’s, grass and that city

Development environment To coordinate development we use a project website which is accessible for all developers. This website is divided into ‘workarea’s’. Each developers has access to the ‘workarea(‘s)’ of the department they belong to (Graphics, GameDesign, Programming and Music). Meetings are held in The Netherlands, which often can be viewed realtime on the internet with IRC, webcam and audiostream. If we deem it unnessecary to do so, we keep IRC meetings after such a meeting and we post all log’s including IRL meeting log’s on the website. A lot is also discussed in the forums. We also have a maillinglist in which mostly I do make announcements. There’s a private site mail and each member does get his own mail address. Also there is an overview of each members contact options, including msn etc. A lot of communication is via Email and msn. Requirements to work with us To become a part of our team as programmer you’ll need at least 1 year experience in C++ programming. Experience in programming with the CrystalSpace 3D Engine System is not necessary, though it would be helpful. We restrict age on at least 16 years or older for programmer functions. If you do not meet these requirements but think you still might be useful to us you’re welcome to contact us. To become a developer you have to fill in an application form on: http://members.gamedev.nl/login/forms/devform.cfm More screenshots are available on: http://members.gamedev.nl/login/forms/screensforpublic/ The main Developers page is: http://members.gamedev.nl/ where above links are placed. If you have any questions or comments you can email me at: SmileBringer@gamedev.nl [edited by - SmileBringer on October 16, 2003 5:36:16 PM] Edit1: made screenshots work [edited by - SmileBringer on October 16, 2003 5:39:43 PM] Edit2: linking smaller versions of screenshot's

[edited by - SmileBringer on October 16, 2003 5:51:42 PM] Edit3: redesigning page. Edit4: Highschool - College/University [edited by - SmileBringer on October 16, 2003 8:47:35 PM]

quote:
Original post by Breeze
There are many reports of people with 0-1 FPS using crystal space - i would not use that even if it were the last engine in the world

I recommand ogre.sf.net, an excellent open source LGPL engine.

I am aware of these ''reports''.
Though I have spoken to CrystalSpace community myself and they are saying that their new engine (1.0) doesn''t have several of those problems.
Second reason: Planeshift is the reported game having problems with this mainly. This might also be some not so nice coding technics of them or maybe they use a lot different zoneloading then we will use. This can differ a lot in FPS. I have btw a very high FrameRate in PlaneShift.
Ogre is indeed a nice engine, though it doesn''t have as much features as Crystal does.

Well and as I already said along the line. I appreciate any comments and tips of other new engine''s which might be better. I will allways look into it.

Thanks for your comments Breeze.

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