Map Format/System
One of the things I've been working hard on is the XML based map format. Which, on completion, will support:
- Pointing to a configuration file for terrain
- Showing objects, lights, etc based on the time of day, day of week, day of year, season, etc
- Placing, rotating, skinning, and animation meshes
- Providing scripts that do the rules of interaction with said meshes to the engine
- Placing and such particle systems
- Ribbon particles with trail scripts that they follow
- Atmospheric effects such as rain, wind, fog, snow, etc
- The placement of transports to other maps
- and more!
In the internal workings of the map engine itself, it will have to do many calculations depending on the features enabled by the user. Grass and such being affected by wind will likely be shader based, but the map engine has to pass the data to the shader and keep track of what should be shown when depending on month, day, season etc. It has to keep track of animated meshes. It has to keep the AI engine in works to make sure that there is constant activity around the player. It has to keep track of the sky depending on the conditions at hand, and more that I am probably forgetting.
Map Editor
Well, it has actually yet to be started, basically it has to be able to edit the Map Format in a fluent and nice way.
AI
Well, it appears that I may be getting a long lost team member back, who has agreed to pick up the work on his AI. Oh lucky day.
HDR and Bloom
Well wikipedia would be best to explain what HDR and Bloom are, =D.
Other stuff
Well, development has gone from snail-speed to blazing fast, let's hope it stays that way. Not mentioned here: I've completely redesigned the engine, and that's pretty much it.
