StormWar 0.15.1 review

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StormWar is (actually, will be) a 3D realtime strategy game inspired by a quite unknown but great old game: NetStorm, Islands at war.

License: GPL (GNU General Public License)
File size: 0K
Developer: ThunderK
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StormWar is (actually, will be) a 3D realtime strategy game inspired by a quite unknown but great old game: NetStorm, Islands at war.

Game and datas are released under the GPL license.

Strictely speaking, StormWar will not really be a game, but rather a game engine. StormWar project's goal is to make a game engine with many limitations so that it is easy to edit or create a 'mod'.

A frequent error in game engines projects (that often lead them to a sudden death) is to make the engine too general, so that only developers are able to make games around them.

As much as possible, some limitations will be removed in the future, with the same condition in mind: keep it easy.

A mod contains all the modifiable datas used by the engine in comprehensive data files. These files are mainly based on variables, which is even much simplier than an integrated scripting language.
So every people with a few computer skills would be able to make (or at least modify) a mod.

The StormWar official release will include:

The StormWar engine, written in C.
The 'default' mod, namely the StormWar mod, which will tend to look like NetStorm.
Maybe other interesting mods and/or testing mods.

The goal will be to play against bots handled by the computer or human opponents over a network. The games will be automatically generated. It will be possible to play tournaments where the players will evolve by learning new knowledge.

Here are some key features of "StormWar":
Quite portable source written in C.
Many debugging options for developers and mod makers.

Core engine:

Mods support based on files.
Powerful variable system.
In-game shell with runtime functions.
Virtual modules with shell functions, preferences and shared ressources.

Game engine:

Automatic ground generation.
Bridges.

Graphical engine:

OpenGL rendering.
3D objects organized in parts.
3D animation by keyframes.
2D on-screen objects.
Graphical user interface management.
Flexible architecture (many things can be changed on-the-fly).
Bitmap font rendering.
Basic 3D texturing by 2D textures.
Bilinear, mip-mapped and trilinear texture filterings.
Lighting.
Simple materials.
Fast motion blur emulation.
Simple fog.
Gamma correction.
Manual camera positioning : scrolling, rotation around a point, panning.

Graphical user interface:

Widget tree.
Menubar and menus.
Game panel.
Graphical shell.
Dialogs.

Sound engine:

Music support.
Stereo sound samples mixing.
3-dimensional sound positioning.

Predefined environmental effects:

Cubic skybox.
Cloud layers.
Flocking (to simulate birds for example).
Lightnings with thunder sound.
Fog.

Requirements:
SDL library, version 1.2.x
SDL_image library, version 1.2.x
OpenGL library, version 1.4 (not tested below)
OpenGL's GLU library, version 1.x
SDL_mixer library, version 1.2.x

What's New in This Release:
The graphical engine has been rewritten to be easier to upgrade.
It now features 2D effects, 3D transparency, and a better animation system.
Keyboard and mouse management has been changed to offer a better gameplay.
Two units (sun cannon and workshop) were added, and the temple was updated.
The main music theme has changed.
Portuguese and Polish translations were added.
The game is not yet playable.

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