Hardwar » project http://www.hardwar.org A free software Hardwar remake Mon, 26 Sep 2011 08:55:35 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Open source game development http://www.hardwar.org/post/248 http://www.hardwar.org/post/248#comments Thu, 07 Jul 2011 03:29:24 +0000 Andrew http://www.hardwar.org/?p=248 Continue reading →]]> There is currently a great writeup by one of the developers of The Hero of Allacrost on one of the subjects that I get all the time as the main developer of Hardwar. I really suggest people go read it because I think it’s very insightful for users that always ask if we’re done yet or near release.

Unlike the HoA that has to develop an engine, editor and a game we have a lot less work to do. The engine we use is Ogre3D and the editor is Ogitor.

Resource wise we could really use more contributors from programmers. That would really push the development speed up. Currently it’s only me on the programming side hence the slow pace of development.

Personally I am fine with this as it’s my hobby. I gain enjoyment from developing this game so lack of progress doesn’t leave me demotivated. I know there are others out there waiting for this to be released. All I can really suggest is getting more involved so that we can speed up the pace and get stuff out the door.

]]> http://www.hardwar.org/post/248/feed 6 new site and forums http://www.hardwar.org/post/26 http://www.hardwar.org/post/26#comments Mon, 26 Oct 2009 02:56:46 +0000 Andrew http://hardwar.opengameart.org/?p=26 Continue reading →]]> There has been some big changes this week as I have migrated the site from sourceforge on to opengameart.org .

Since the server crash on forum.freegamedev.net it seems that unfortunately we have lost all our data. Our new forums will now be located at forum.hardwar.org . I’m hoping that you will all sign up and offer your support and help. Even if you don’t want to help contribute it would be great to populate the forums with some noise.

Code wise this week I have been reworking all the messaging code between the client and server. There are still issues with it so I have not pushed it up to launchpad yet.

If you’re wondering why exactly my policy on pushing code changes is that it should leave the game in a runnable state so that if someone downloads and compiles the code they can run it rather then having to play “guess the working revision”.

]]> http://www.hardwar.org/post/26/feed 0 Forum is down http://www.hardwar.org/post/19 http://www.hardwar.org/post/19#comments Tue, 06 Oct 2009 08:50:00 +0000 Andrew http://hardwar.opengameart.org/?p=19 So unfortunately the FreeGamer forum where we communicate through has crashed. I’m currently looking for a better long term solution and will try to keep everyone updated.

]]> http://www.hardwar.org/post/19/feed 1 Building Placement is working http://www.hardwar.org/post/18 http://www.hardwar.org/post/18#comments Sun, 05 Jul 2009 03:44:00 +0000 Andrew http://hardwar.opengameart.org/?p=18 Continue reading →]]> I’ve finally worked out most of the problems with the dragging and dropping of buildings in the editor and it now works! Not only that but the buildings are added to everyone who is in the game. Very exciting to see after all this effort.

I even made a video of two clients being connected to one server to show this off.

]]> http://www.hardwar.org/post/18/feed 0 Loading screen redux http://www.hardwar.org/post/16 http://www.hardwar.org/post/16#comments Sun, 22 Mar 2009 17:01:00 +0000 Andrew http://hardwar.opengameart.org/?p=16 Continue reading →]]> Only one day after posting my poorly done concept artwork for the loading screen and I received an amazing response back from the community.

Below I have posted my original drawing (left) and next to it is Tranberry’s effort (right).

As you can see it is really looking good and I am currently making an effort to get it into the game.

This however is taking time because I have removed CEGUI in favour of MyGUI, a different GUI library. I am also in the middle of finishing my university course so there won’t be many code updates until next month after my final year project deadline. I will be active in the forums though so please come and join in the fun.

]]> http://www.hardwar.org/post/16/feed 0 Forum http://www.hardwar.org/post/12 http://www.hardwar.org/post/12#comments Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:07:00 +0000 Andrew http://hardwar.opengameart.org/?p=12 I’ve been working on hardwar but rarely update this blog.

Instead please go to the free gamer forums to stay updated.

]]> http://www.hardwar.org/post/12/feed 0 Status of the project http://www.hardwar.org/post/8 http://www.hardwar.org/post/8#comments Mon, 24 Sep 2007 09:12:00 +0000 Andrew http://hardwar.opengameart.org/?p=8 Continue reading →]]> It can be quite difficult from looking at this website as to what the objectives of this project are. The aim of this project was to do a Hardwar remake. This hasn’t changed but after being able to locate the developer of the original source code I have also been attempting to get the original game released as open source instead.

The status of getting the original source code back is looking worse then before. This said I haven’t abandoned hope of ever getting the original source code but I am also beginning plans for the Hardwar remake which is what this blog and website is all about!

What should the specific goals of this project be though? Should we aim to be a copy of the original game using the original data with the binary as open source? Should we attempt to improve upon what Hardwar has done and stray from the original game slightly?

]]> http://www.hardwar.org/post/8/feed 1 Campaign to buy the source http://www.hardwar.org/post/7 http://www.hardwar.org/post/7#comments Mon, 13 Aug 2007 15:09:00 +0000 Andrew http://hardwar.opengameart.org/?p=7 Continue reading →]]> Edit: You can track my progress here.

I have been talking to the people at the treasury and the possibility of obtaining the rights to the Hardwar game and releasing it under the GPL is getting stronger.

Having the Hardwar code under the GPL would be a big boost for free software game development..

  • There are several technologies such as the AI and economy simulation which could be used in other games or help inspire others to write better systems.
  • It would mean we could port the game to run natively on Linux and the Mac
  • It would mean we could fix existing problems the plague the game.

I had attempted to get the treasury to release the code as open source themselves..

You have asked the Crown to make the software freely available, however, I should point out that the Treasury Solicitor is obliged to obtain full open market value for all assets that we deal with, subject to a minimum sale price of £500 plus VAT. In addition to the sale price you would be required to cover the Treasury Solicitor’s costs plus VAT and disbursements. In order to obtain full open market value I would ask the HMSO to provide a valuation.

Therefore the next step would be to:

  1. Get a UK lawyer that specialises in copyright law
  2. Get money to purchase the rights.

Since I have neither I am asking anyone that is interesting in seeing Hardwar as free software to help me liberate this fine piece of work.

]]> http://www.hardwar.org/post/7/feed 1 Getting the source back http://www.hardwar.org/post/6 http://www.hardwar.org/post/6#comments Wed, 11 Jul 2007 15:46:00 +0000 Andrew http://hardwar.opengameart.org/?p=6 Continue reading →]]> An opportunity has arisen to gain the original source code of the game back. This would be a valuable contribution to the open source community that would ensure the survival of Hardwar under a free license.

You can find out more information at the free gamer forum.

Right now I am coordinating an effort to track down who owns the rights to the source code.

]]> http://www.hardwar.org/post/6/feed 0 An update and some more details http://www.hardwar.org/post/5 http://www.hardwar.org/post/5#comments Thu, 24 May 2007 04:31:00 +0000 Andrew http://hardwar.opengameart.org/?p=5 Continue reading →]]> I decided to tone down the site a little after I received a few emails. I should clarify that I am doing this project possibly for my university course, so I do not need or want any help at this stage till I have finished my course at which point I will release any source code I come up with under the terms on the GPL.

I have not had much time to work on this project since I have been busy since my last post with my job but what I have been working on is getting the terrain to load into the game correctly.

At this stage I was able to generate the alpha crater so I went back and made some better height maps of all the craters using some height map data I gathered from the Hardwar community. I won’t post any pictures as it is not very interesting. I am going to continue to work on this but at this stage my progress is quite slow.

]]> http://www.hardwar.org/post/5/feed 1