New FOF Project (6/9)

[amak11]

I can't help that i'm FOF: live's Lead Graphics Artist

I wasnt saying nothing bad about it, i was just saying if anyone could join that isnt part of another project it would help.

It would help

[Atticus2]

I can't help that i'm FOF: live's Lead Graphics Artist

I wasn’t saying nothing bad about it, I was just saying if anyone could join that isn’t part of another project it would help.

It would help

So with the need of new members, I am creating a Google::Code project and calling it "Frets A’ Burning" thanks to lordhardware for the name. Ill need people to run this page, I cannot run this when I am already being flooded with codes to be written. Does anyone want to run a Project on Google::Code for the project?

- Note: this may sound like I am ill equipped for the job, but I am asking people to get involved with this project so that there will be a better chance in finishing, if I tried to do all this alone, I would give up, I couldn’t do it.

Also, I need someone to manage a website when the project gets far enough along with progress, the account is already created and ready to be edited, I just got my friend to create it with no changes it. So if anyone is up for these jobs let me know!

[KTownEgghead]

I'll aid with the Google Code page, as well as any official website you all come up with.

[jstump91]

I know a few things about administering Google Code projects, and I want to see some of the code. If you have been using some form of version control while working on it locally, I can help with getting it into Google Code's repository with all history intact.

Naturally, I can't do too much work on it, given that I'm a FoFiX developer, but I wouldn't mind helping you set it up if you need it.

[ryanpanties]

As far as keyboard (the instrument) support goes, should you (or anyone) choose to implement it...

Advantages Of Ten Notes:
If you want to in some way equate what we do on guitar parts, why not think about running with ten buttons... the same five we're used to, but a set under each hand, since you don't strum a piano. This might enable you to fit it reasonably easily into the space occupied by any two previously-supported instruments, effectively accommodating keyboard while still allowing you to run three players (keys+guitar<or>drums<or>bass+vocals). You're basically just running the two five-key parts that you've always been running through the program in that space, but designating them as one player for scoring and streak purposes. Even star power could stay independent by hand (effecting the over-all score, but only requiring you to hit the streak on one hand), rather than combining across. Ten keys also avoids the need for hunting down off-shade colors, as you can clearly tell the difference between right-hand-green and left-hand-green.

In Regards To Charting:
This would leave charters fairly close to the format they are already used to (and within the program they are used to charting in), making one hand first, then the other. I suppose the midi parts would read from parts "keys-left" and "keys-right", or some such designation.

In Regards To Difficulty:
Perhaps the lowest difficulty could be designed to run five-note-only and allow for 4-players, but i know nothing about the coding for any of this, so i'm just talking. Though the two-handedness would be hard at first, you would no longer have any finger-shifts to worry about, playing with five fingers on five buttons, so that might help maintain some level of possibility as people start trying to play a new instrument(controller), and the easiest difficulty could remain a one-handed introduction to playing with five-fingers on five-buttons. Alternately, you could leave it occupying two slots on all difficulties, but I would think charting standards would still come to rest something like this.
1 -Supaeasy- one hand playing, 5 buttons active
2 -Easy- two hands playing ten active buttons, but alternating hands only, never overlapping
3 -Med- two hands playing ten active buttons, at points simultaneously, but with chords kept simple (think fof-guitar-easy level charting but on 10 buttons)
4 -Amaz- anything goes, do what the song does within reason

Relative Pitch:
I know that 10 buttons does not make any musical sense, but neither does 5, and we're all used to thinking in relative pitches anyway. It would be a shame to leave relative pitch behind this early in the game and implement a mod (or program) that acts like it's trying to teach piano instead of expand the GH/FoF/RB experience. This format would allow you to hold relative pitch chords with one hand while doing relative pitch fills with the other, and i think that would replicate the piano/keyboard experience about as well as we could hope for while maintaining gameplay that doesn't feel completely foreign.

Controllers:
Playing on a computer keyboard gives you plenty of button options, but it's worth noting that your standard 'homekey" hand placement would accommodate perfectly with "v" and "n" as thumb keys. Beyond that, keeping this in 5-button increments might allow for increased freedom in a controller-mod direction, should anyone prefer to use guitar controllers (which are getting cheap!) as a two-plug basis for a DIY-keyboard controller.

Just my two cents.

Edit:

Charted Example:
I found a chart I did that demonstrates the concept. Doing intro tracks for the sake of the Coheed Discog thread at the time, i charted to expert and hard in the guitar tracks, but it would make a good 1-player keyboard part if you put the notes in an appropriate place in a midi. Run this song in two player FoF (P1 on hard, P2 on expert), ignore the fact that the first note or two are in duplicate, and you'll see what I mean. - Second Stage Turbine Blade @ mediafire

[Atticus2]

Advantages Of Ten Notes:
This is not a bad idea at all. Wouldnt know how to go about much of it yet, but good idea none the less.

In Regards To Difficulty:
This would be left up to the charter completly, only the charter could choose which notes to place at the exact offset.

Relative Pitch:
This is the best part about it, 2 handed movements, that would be great.

Controllers:
The keyboard would be used.

If only we had some more coders so i wouldnt be flooded with this.

[tauruskhan]

I would just like to point something out, that I feel a project which isn't multi platform from the beginning is a big mistake. In the end the dozen or so people who I know that enjoy FOF(ix) all run a *nix, be it Linux, BSD, or in my case OS X. I love the fact that it runs on any hardware. I think its one of the major things going for the game. I would say that the person who mentioned making modules for current game releases to add in functions seems like something of greater value to the community of users as a whole than a new M$ centric built game.

Some mention a reduced frame rate (even on high end HW), from 120 to 50, and a lag effect produced. Not to say that the code doesn't need refinement, but I would luv to hear some HW specs. because ava., system speed, over all cpu rate, and actually GFX card are gonna be huge factors when asking any program to display 120 fps of every moving/changing graphics (esp with a moving bg etc, or AA on). I would also like to ask why would one need 120 fps, seeing as the eye has trouble seeing anything above 24-30 fps.

Anyways just my two cents, I think growing a community and evolving what is out there is a better use of resources than creating a sepearate nearly the same faction that runs in parallel to the original. Many great projects have died, or suffered due to this, look at the beyrl community for a great example of what a pain in the rear that can be.

But as a code slinger by profession, I wish you're project nothing but the best, and I hope you learn vast amounts from your efforts

[Atticus2]

I would just like to point something out, that I feel a project which isn't multi platform from the beginning is a big mistake. In the end the dozen or so people who I know that enjoy FOF(ix) all run a *nix, be it Linux, BSD, or in my case OS X. I love the fact that it runs on any hardware. I think its one of the major things going for the game. I would say that the person who mentioned making modules for current game releases to add in functions seems like something of greater value to the community of users as a whole than a new M$ centric built game.

Some mention a reduced frame rate (even on high end HW), from 120 to 50, and a lag effect produced. Not to say that the code doesn't need refinement, but I would luv to hear some HW specs. because ava., system speed, over all cpu rate, and actually GFX card are gonna be huge factors when asking any program to display 120 fps of every moving/changing graphics (esp with a moving bg etc, or AA on). I would also like to ask why would one need 120 fps, seeing as the eye has trouble seeing anything above 24-30 fps.

Anyways just my two cents, I think growing a community and evolving what is out there is a better use of resources than creating a sepearate nearly the same faction that runs in parallel to the original. Many great projects have died, or suffered due to this, look at the beyrl community for a great example of what a pain in the rear that can be.

But as a code slinger by profession, I wish you're project nothing but the best, and I hope you learn vast amounts from your efforts

This project will be multi platform. I plan on making it available on all the Operating systems i can. Right now i dont know how to get that achieved, so i will be making the Win32 version first, then from there i will make it available to all the others.

Right now i have a working main menu, i will post some pics in the OP in a few.

[Lysdestic]

Call me crazy, but I've always assumed that cross-platform capability is much more easy to achieve when it is taken into account from the start.

[blazingamer]

Some mention a reduced frame rate (even on high end HW), from 120 to 50, and a lag effect produced. Not to say that the code doesn't need refinement, but I would luv to hear some HW specs. because ava., system speed, over all cpu rate, and actually GFX card are gonna be huge factors when asking any program to display 120 fps of every moving/changing graphics (esp with a moving bg etc, or AA on). I would also like to ask why would one need 120 fps, seeing as the eye has trouble seeing anything above 24-30 fps.

My brother explained this to me just last week. While video standard is only 25-30 fps, that is because we only watch it. Video game standard is between 50-60 on average, this is because we humans have a knack with our reactions to occur inbetween frames and the signals will be sent out then. If there are less frames per second then it will take longer for the signal to do what we wanted it to do and it won't happen on time in most cases. A higher fps for a game means it's more responsive and faster at performing the action with what is displaying.

[Atticus2]

Alright, so ive been working pretty hard on this lately. i have working ini files and im currently working on the options menu and getting everything loaded and written into the ini files if needed.

heres what the config.ini looks like:

Code: Select all

[Video]
Width=800
Height=600
FPS=50
BPP=32
Full_Screen=1          //   1 standing for false
Adv_Options=0         //   0 standing for true
Theme=data_files\themes\fab_theme\theme.ini
[Audio]
Frequency=22050
Format=MIX_DEFAULT_FORMAT
Channels=2
Chunksize=4096
[Player_Buttons]
Player_1G_up=SDLK_UP                       //   1G stands for player 1 - Guitar
Player_1G_down=SDLK_DOWN
Player_1G_start=SDLK_RETURN
Player_1G_exit=SDLK_ESCAPE
Player_1G_starpower=SDLK_PERIOD
Player_1G_whammy=SDLK_RIGHTBRACKET
Player_1G_strum1=SDLK_SLASH
Player_1G_strum2=SDLK_QUOTE
Player_1G_green=SDLK_F1
Player_1G_red=SDLK_F2
Player_1G_yellow=SDLK_F3
Player_1G_blue=SDLK_F4
Player_1G_orange=SDLK_F5
Player_1D_green_1=SDLK_a              // 1D stands for player 1 - Drums
Player_1D_green_2=SDLK_s
Player_1D_red_1=SDLK_w
Player_1D_red_1=SDLK_e
Player_1D_yellow_1=SDLK_r
Player_1D_yellow_2=SDLK_t
Player_1D_blue_1=SDLK_f
Player_1D_blue_2=SDLK_g
Player_1D_orange_1=SDLK_x
Player_1D_orange_2=SDLK_c
Player_2G_up=SDLK_UP
Player_2G_down=SDLK_DOWN
Player_2G_start=SDLK_ESCAPE
Player_2G_starpower=SDLK_PAGEDOWN
Player_2G_whammy=SDLK_PAGEUP
Player_2G_strum1=SDLK_INSERT
Player_2G_strum2=SDLK_HOME
Player_2G_green=SDLK_F6
Player_2G_red=SDLK_F7
Player_2G_yellow=SDLK_F8
Player_2G_blue=SDLK_F9
Player_2G_orange=SDLK_F10
Player_2D_green_1=SDLK_h
Player_2D_green_2=SDLK_j
Player_2D_red_1=SDLK_u
Player_2D_red_1=SDLK_i
Player_2D_yellow_1=SDLK_o
Player_2D_yellow_2=SDLK_p
Player_2D_blue_1=SDLK_l
Player_2D_blue_2=SDLK_SEMICOLON
Player_2D_orange_1=SDLK_m
Player_2D_orange_2=SDLK_LESS


Its pretty simple to understand right? I seriously need some coders to help out with this. If you are interested, please contact me. I had been getting e-mails from a few people and have lost contact with them now. So let me know if you can help.

[acrox999]

I've been doing some graphics but its not so good.

[Atticus2]

I've been doing some graphics but its not so good.

Well look over this ini file and see if it helps with the graphics.

Code: Select all

[Theme]
BG=data_files\themes\fab_theme\menubg.png
Menu_Font=data_files\themes\fab_theme\default.ttf
Song_Font=data_files\themes\fab_theme\song.ttf
Menu_Font_Size=38
Song_Font_Size=32
Option=data_files\themes\fab_theme\option.png
Song_Select_BG=data_files\themes\fab_theme\Menu\Song_Selection.png
Song_Select_Option=data_files\themes\fab_theme\Menu\Song_Selector.png


Code: Select all

BG= The background
Menu_Font= The font used on the main menu and in the sub menus
Song_Font= The font used when searching through the library of songs
Menu_Font_Size= Self explanatory
Song_Font_Size= Self explanatory as well
Option= the picture used to display which option you are about to choose
Song_Select_BG= The background used when searching through the library of songs
Song_Select_Option= the picture used to display which song you are about to choose

More things will obviously be added. this is just the bare minimum right now.

[cmsk8ter]

I can probably help with graphics im not all that good but I would love to help. also I'm currently in the process of learning to code c++ so maybe later I can help with coding.

[mekanyx]

now THAT would be awesome!!!!!

Mekanyx