Legends 0.4.1.42 review

Legends is an Online FPS reminiscent of Tribes. Legends is a fast-paced first-person-perspective online multiplayer game

License: GPL (GNU General Public License) File size: 118835K Developer: Legends Dev Team

0

Legends is an Online FPS reminiscent of Tribes.

Legends is a fast-paced first-person-perspective online multiplayer game. The game is designed to take advantage of the beautiful environments available from the Torque engine it is based on while still offering the breakneck pacing and variety of styles available from such classics as Quake and Tribes.

Gameplay is not the strafe-strafe-jump-strafe-shoot-strafe-run-like-hell style a lot of games espouse; the addition of a jetpack adds a third dimension of mobility that makes skill, forethought, and restraint necessities to winning.

Team sizes are going to be ideal between 10 and 15 on each side, and the network code will allow anyone with any bandwidth to play relatively smoothly. Game type offerings will range from the classic Capture the Flag to our own new type, affectionately called "Knockout".

Plenty of maps will be provided by us, but the beauty of this game is its customization possibilities. Mission creation has never been easier, with a stable, full-featured editor integrated into the game engine itself. Skins, models, and effects can all be modified by the end-user with commonly available tools.

Here are some key features of "Legends":
Platform Layer

Windows server & client with OpenGL
Mac OS 9/X server & client with OpenGL
Linux server, Linux client under development
Journaling
Integrated hierarchical profiler
Math library, Vector, Matrix, Quaternion, etc.
Efficient memory manager with extensive debugging features
Resource Manager
File and Stream IO
Keyboard, Mouse and Joystick Input
SFX/Music driver using OpenAL

GUI Engine

Build fully scriptable interfaces
Includes set of default controls
Write custom controls
Includes an integrated GUI builder
Extensive font support

3D Engine

Multi-pass texturing
Layered volumetric fog
Decals
Detail texturing
Environment mapping
Vertex and multi-pass lighting
True spherical distance fogging (for terrain, buildings)
Spherical distance clipping (for terrain, buildings)

Particle Engine

Integrated with scripting engine
Animate texture and scale
Specify particle mass, drag, starting velocity, etc.
Sophisticated particle generators which can emit multiple particle types at once

Interior/Building Engine

Portal based interiors
Seemless integration with the terrain engine
Detail brushes
Animated lightmaps
Buildings can be instanced, placed, manipulated and yes, scaled, with the mission editor
WorldCraft converter

Networking

Uses UDP and TCP
Award winning client/server architecture
Packet stream manager
Object ghost manager with partial object updates
Bit level stream packing
String and message packing
Uses the optimal Notified Delivery Protocol

Miscellaneous Libraries and Code

Spatial Database
Collision Testing
Vehicle Physics

Scripting Engine

Integrated compiler
Intermediate tokenized object format
On-demand compilation
C++ like syntax
Large complement of functions including math,object manipulation, fileIO, TCP/IP, etc.
Easily extend with plugins

Mission Editor

Integrated mission builder
Construct, place, size, scale and rotate objects
Multi-level undo/redo
Edit object properties
Control mission lighting
Mission scripting
Built-in terrain editor
Rule based fractal height field generator
Rule based fractal terrain tiling

Mesh Engine

Continuous level of detail based on a progressive mesh algorithm
Supports, bone, mesh, texture bitmap, texture coor. and visibilty animation
Mesh vertex deformation animation
Multi-bone mesh skeletal animation
Simple interface to multi-sequence animation manager
Damage detail level
Collision detail level
Projected object shadows (clipped against the environment)
3DS Max & MilkShape exporters

Terrain Engine

Continuous, seemless, LOD mesh generation (using screen error metrics)
Aggregated tile mip-mapping
Light mapped for hill and building shadows
Dynamically generated blend tiles
Altitude based fog banks
Seemless integration with the interior engine

Water Engine

Continuous, seemless, LOD mesh generation (using screen error metrics) for large bodies of water
Dynamic waves
Multi-pass wave crest and shoreline textures
Integration with terrain and interior engines

Sound

Multi-channel prioritized SFX manager
3D sound support; panning, volume, doppler, cones
OpenAL

Tools

3DS Max plugins, including an exporter and helper objects
WorldCraft converter and lighting
Integrated into the engine: GUI builder, mission builder, terrain editor, terrain generator

Requirements:
OpenAL
OpenGL
glibc 2.3
X11

Linux Build was tested on:

slackware 10, 6600GT (pci express), p4-3ghz, 512 MB ram
Gentoo linux-2.6.11-r3 5900 geforce, 2.8GHz P4, 1 gig ram
MEPIS (baby Debian liveCD), 2800+ AMD, GeForce3 Ti500, 1gig PC2700
PCLinux8 livecd, 1800mhz Athlon, Geforce4 MX 256meg, 1 gig ram
Debian linux / geforce fx 5500 / amd xp 2400+ 1gb ram

What's New in This Release:
Master Server address forced to new address - only 1 master allowed, preferences will be ignored.
Added command line and pref for setPerfCounterEnabled() for multiprocessor Windows servers.
Removed floors from Desolate, fog does not like them.
Removed disc idle sound.
Team scores should now update in the admin hud.
Increased player recharge rates slightly.
Decreased player recovery delay.
Fixed debrief GUI reporting a winner for DM and Rabbit when there was none.
Added ability to set the text sort bool for each column of the debrief GUI player list from the server.
Fixed player name change bug when hosting a server.