1) I want to get confirmation that adding new World definition tags unsupported by old versions is OK. I've noticed as I review the WorldLoader code that many of the individual parsers throw Exceptions if they encounter an unfamiliar tag or attribute. This would mean that a world definition file created with a newer version of the engine can not be successfully loaded by an older version of the engine. I just want to make sure this is OK. I had thought that maybe old versions would only load what they knew how to load and ignore the rest. Instead, it seems you get all or nothing.

2) I wanted to get feedback on enhancements to the Chat\Say system. From other posts I've seen there may be a "To Do" list and that a more robust Chat system may be on the list. I'm hoping to add support for something like a Chat system and would be interested to see if there is a list of desired features already. The system I have in mind is not something like Chat Rooms, etc.., but more of enhancements to in-game communication with more selective targets for messages (Send to: specific character, player, room, group, guild, world, etc. on a per-message basis.)

yes about
1)

worlds built for new versions of the engine cannot run on old engine: this is not an issue.


2)

there are people who are not satisfied with the current chat. I don't mind it - even though I know that by using an Ajax mechanism you would avoid refreshing and it would be better looking and more accessible.

Most of the criticism was due to the fact that you don't see your own speeches in the chat box (you see it in the scene frame) so there are people who get confused with this behaviour, and in general that you cannot much customize the chat box (the number of displayed lines is the same for all)

Personally it is not an issue to me.

Take care: the chat box is used by the engine to send to the player's browser commands such as "refresh page" or "change background music" so you have to deal with this need and keep the funcionality somehow, or at least find an alternate way to make the client to "sense" the commands sent at server level.

Cris,
I believe I understand your concerns about the existing chat system and how the engine actually communicates with the browser through it. I will closely look at that interaction. Thanks for this info.

Based on this and other factors, I'm considering the idea that the existing Chat\Say system can remain intact largely as-is. The user would use the existing system to interact with the game engine. A new system to "chat" with other players individually or in groups or guilds would be a separate panel or panels and control sets.

Carl Nagle

dear sascanagl,

I am very pleased to see that finally there is someon who understands my point.
Its too late for my game though.

I was working for more than 5 months with an almost religious passion (5-10 hours a day) on a project that was condemned to failure. When I started I had absolutely no idea what I was diving into. At the End my game was already at 70% wich I think is a lot for a 1 man project having no coding skills at all when I started.

Chris, I want to thank you for your help. But you did not fix any of my bugs/problems (avatars beeing viewed from 4 sides for example) because you seem to be happy with your game. While you came up with new features for guys who just started their projects. While saying "build a game that works and I will build in what you people need".
This was very frustrating to see.

Sascanagl, I hope you will succeed,
Good luck!
Marius